THE DEVIL’S PLAN FOR THE FAMILY

Family enjoying summer together at backyard (Image: http://www.rawpixel.com)

Hi there, it’s been quite a while since I got the opportunity to sit down to write again, but I’m glad to be able to share again!

Shall we go straight into the matter?

In the past few articles, we had been able to see the family in some depth as God would help us. In those articles, we saw how God ordained and intended the family to be where He prepares all the goodness He has in plan for the world, creating all of creature in families and how all of His workings are through generations of men to perpetuate the blessing. Hence the family is the most basic unit of cultivation and perpetuation of God’s blessing. Also we saw how the world perceives the family to be, seeing it mostly in every other way except from God’s standpoint, seeing it more from a scientific point of view as one of human origination for adaptation and survival.

Moving on today, I want to begin to highlight the several devices of the enemy against the plans of God concerning the family as the wellness of each family is the wellness of society and the godliness of each family is the godliness of society.

We should not be ignorant of the devices of the Devil as Christians.
2Cor. 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Infact, as Christians who know that we are in a battle against the enemy of God’s plan, we should pay attention to our adversary’s gimmicks, so we can take necessary measures to protect and guard God’s plan over our souls, all who are and will be joined to us.

Before I get into it, I want to quickly state that, the ability of parents to build a generation of home-grown, God-conscious, God-loving children as parents is tied to their own success and fulfilment in life as far as God is concerned.

Abraham earned God’s trust & therefore God was compelled to share a secret plan of His with him because He trusted him to “command his children and household after him.”

Gen. 18:17 And the LORD said, “SHALL I HIDE FROM ABRAHAM WHAT I AM DOING?
18 “since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 “FOR I HAVE KNOWN HIM, in order THAT HE MAY COMMAND HIS CHILDREN AND HIS HOUSEHOLD after him, THAT THEY KEEP THE WAY OF THE LORD, to do righteousness and justice, THAT THE LORD MAY BRING TO ABRAHAM WHAT HE HAS SPOKEN TO HIM.”

So, God even in His sovereignty, had to convince Himself that even if He wanted to, He could not hold back from revealing His current plan concerning His works around Abraham’s territory, an action He was about to take that will resound in the anals of time. God had to further tell Himself that the reason why He will bring what He has promised Him to pass is connected to Him successfully training his family in the way of the LORD in doing righteousness and justice.

Same was the story of Noah who found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Bible says He was a just man and perfect in his generations. His generation was kept pure and undefiled at a time when God had lost hope in all souls on the earth. It was so bad that He had to wipe off all human souls except the family of Noah.

Gen 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Noah and the Flood
9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

How good and pleasant it would have been if there were other men in that generation who laboured to keep their families pure. They would also have found grace in the eyes of God, but rather they mocked him when he preached the message of righteousness and salvation that could have redeemed them from the impending doom and destruction coming upon them in that age.

When we refuse to permit God in our families, the Devil begins to have His way and very soon the bloodline becomes corrupt and when there is corruption, the end is destruction. Just like an orange that no longer has wholesome taste and therefore no longer a blessing to the soul and body it should bless soon begins to decompose and end up in the bin, that is how it is.

Remember also the fig tree that refused to yield fruit for Jesus on the day He needed it according to (Mar. 11:12-14)?

12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.

That tree ended up cursed. when we read further down to verses 20 and 21, it is recorded that the cursed tree dried up and not in a way that it could be resuscitated, it dried upwards from the the roots.

To my mind, I believe this is how families that would not produce fruits that bless the heart of God will also not be useful to themselves or men in their generations. This is what the Devil is always gunning for – to get us to a point where we may not be useful for ourselves, to men or God.

Thanks for following through with me. Join me as we continue along these lines in the next article.

God bless you!