The Power of Relationships

Today's message on Revive Our Hearts was entitled "The Power of Relationships."  Go HERE if you'd like to read or listen to the whole thing.  This part just really spoke to me, so I wanted to post it.



The first is in the context of the home, our families. Now, that will vary depending on your season of life as to who that is. But it may involve parents, marriage, children. All of us come from a family.



You may not have any living family members now. You may not be married. You may not have children, but all of us have, at one time or another, had some sort of family relationship. If you're here on this planet, you have had some sort of family.


Now, the family may have been much less than ideal. But God's plan is that we need our families. It is within the context of the family that God intended that we should learn many of life's most important lessons.


We need marriage; we need parent-child relationships. If you are married and you are battling in that marriage, remember that you need that mate, that God is using that mate even if your mate is not a believer, even if your mate is not a godly person. God knows exactly what you need in your life to help you become more like Jesus.


If you have children, God knows exactly what you need to help you become more like Jesus. Sometimes God uses those children. I see some big smiles here or maybe groans (I'm not sure which), but you're relating to this.


God uses your children, kind of like heavenly sandpaper, to expose who you really are and to show you needs in your life. "Two are better than one." In the context of the family, we grow and become more of what God wants us to be. We need our families. Let me say that if things are not right at home, then they're not right!

I've been so sad over the years to meet some women who are actively involved in Christian ministries, in prayer ministries, in Bible study ministries and in teaching the Word of God to others.

But then you get to talking with them about their family and it's a disaster. Their marriage is a mess; their children are a mess; their relationships in their home are fragmented and broken.


Now I'm not saying that those women are responsible for all the problems in their families, but I am saying that you can't ignore what's going on at home and expect to just leave your home, escape it, and have a fruitful ministry outside your home.


So the family, your family is a context in which God wants to help you become more like Jesus, a context in which He wants you to focus on developing healthy, intimate relationships.