Jesus Connection ______a family connection
Book loving runs in the family…
I wanted this title to be a fill in the blank at the end. If you would like to fill it in please post in the comment section! I love reading the comments and we all can learn from each other. This post is about family. I have an incredible relationship with my family. We are always planning something and with a theme! In my family everyone one has their own personality and flavor they bring to the table. Shout out to my family and if the Lord leads please post your insight/connection in the comments below as well!
THE OLD CONNECTION
Replying to a blog about the story of Michal (if unfamiliar, please read the story of King Saul in 1st and 2nd Samuel) I explained one of the major reasons why her life ended up being a sad love story was because of her father. By the way, I also played her role in the story of David; an amazing play my mother wrote and directed. I had to really dig deep to understand her. How did a lovely princess with eyes for a young warrior to the degree that she takes a huge step in defiance helping him escape being killed by her father turn into a bitter woman who looks down at the man she once adored? It was her father’s undoing of her innocence but you have to read it for yourself if you haven’t already.
I realized the family connection in the Old Testament could make or break a person whether they came from rags or riches. Literally, God snatched the kingdom from the House of Saul and gave it to a different family, the House of David. Tragically, in Judges 11, Jephthah, an Israelite judge sacrificed his own daughter because he made a promise to God if he gave him victory in a battle he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house to greet him. Mind you God didn’t tell him to make this promise, this was his own weird idea. Seriously, what kind of promise is that; obviously something that would come out to greet you from your own house would be a family member! That family member was his own young daughter!! Date plans over, skills learned over, individual life plans over because her dad made a stupid life altering decision so although devastated because he loves her like a father should; he goes ahead with the plan. The girl even is gracious enough to ask for two months to go on a girls trip to the mountains to mourn. Some interpretations said she wasn’t sacrificed literally, I must note, but that she was dedicated to the Lord. That sounds so much better. I hope it is the latter because it is better to be a virgin for the rest of your life than for your life to be terminated for no reason.
The bible has more family drama than any script Hollywood can write. I don’t know why some people say the bible is boring. I’m like, “What book and chapter are you reading?”
Back to Saul, why did his family suffer?
Saul’s disobedience in his actions and in his heart caused God’s favor to turn from him.
“As Samuel turned to go, Saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe. And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to someone else-one who is better than you. And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!”
Samuel spoke the truth in those lines!! He was not holding back! I can actually visualize him giving a little spittle action, the words were so raw. He didn’t care if he was talking to the one and only king of Israel. Samuel was on assignment and he was speaking words directly from God. He was fearless.
That day God’s glaze turned to a new king not yet proclaimed. This glaze looked away from the family of Saul. It was to their detriment. Saul went coco loco, his son was slain, and his daughters were caught in the divide of a royal household making way for the next dynasty. Today, we can say, “That’s not fair! Think about the children, they’re innocent!” Why should one person determine how the family goes down?
Well folks, the father was the representative of the family then, if he had a bad reputation so did his family. They all took the fall. Saul allowed the distraction of greed and power to block out the voice of God in his life. That cost his son Johnathan to be dethroned and for his daughters to be disgraced. A family name meant everything in biblical times and it still does if the name is well known. Barrymore in Hollywood is a well known name, Wayans as well. There are connections in a name. In the movies like the Godfather, Don Corleone’s family was well known in the community and protected by the mafia but they were also valuable targets for their enemies.
Status matters even for today’s wealth building, families with higher connections look out for families with high connections. Powerful families marrying into powerful families guarantees wealth stays in the family.
But what if you don’t come from a powerful family? What if you have always seen struggle in your life? What if the patriarch is absent or has no signs of prestige? Are we doomed to walk the Earth uninsured, incapable of rising from the history of our name? What if we come from a family we are ashamed of, a family we disengage with or a family that has abandoned us? What if someone in your family has committed a terrible crime? What if your lineage is corrupted by the actions of your forefathers?
How can the stain of what someone else did be removed from us?
Different scenario, maybe we are the ones who messed up our family’s image or we come from a incredible family that is making waves and everyone is holding each other up, so? What does that say about us? Does those great things or terrible things represent who we are,
individually?
Our last name doesn’t tell our whole story…
We are always on our way somewhere…to a new adventure…
A NEW CONNECTION
Jesus has given us adoption papers. They lay on the table of our hearts. All we have to do is sign them with a confession and agreement that He is Lord and we are grafted into the greatest and largest family with eternal connections; our connections don’t just work in heaven they work here on Earth too. It is multi-realm accessible.
“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.”
We may not come from riches and we may not come from poverty or maybe we do. The commonality between us all is that we need a Savior. Our family connections or lack thereof doesn’t define us. How we spend our time matters and what we do with a heirship that has been passed down matters. Jesus cares about the individual. He cares about our dreams, our passions, our gifts, our spark. Our sparks are different colors, and your spark may move differently from my spark. But it’s your very own unique, individual spark. Jesus sees your spark and wants to cradle it and he wants to keep it aflame with the knowledge of your purpose and foster it’s unparalleled design. It can never be duplicated, it’s made just for you. With God we all have equal opportunities. In Him we share the same Father and the same inheritance.
The question is will we accept this connection in faith or deny it’s even there?
In this new family connection you may fall but the father never stops being your agent of insurance; you’re forever covered. In this family, when we fall our brothers and sisters in Christ should be the first ones to help us up. In him, our biggest fails become our strongest testimonies that have the potential to gain more family members. God can use our mistakes to bring others closer to Him.
We aren’t perfect but he loves us anyway.
Do you know a family member that hasn’t had a chance to sign their adoption papers?
Let’s continue to pray for our individual family members to become apart of God’s magnificent family tree! A family tree that has heavenly clout, supernatural connections and elevates above worldly fame. If you are that person I pray you join The Family with all the right connections. In this life, it’s never too late to respond to his open invitation.
“Heavenly Father,
I ask that you receive my “Yes” as an acceptance of you being patriarch of my life. I call Christ my Savior and he lives in my heart. Fill me with desire to learn about the purpose and the plan you have for me. Lead and guide me in your ways, open doors that no entity can shut. Take me to another level with you. I pray that anything that I am holding against my natural family members be extracted from me and replaced with forgiveness, peace and pure love that you have for them. Anyone in my family that doesn’t know you personally, I pray they encounter you this week. I know my words have power to create and influence so I let my words set goodness in motion for my family and the family of believers in Jesus Name
”
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Shalom to your body, soul, spirit and dome!
Time together is a time to celebrate- no holiday needed. But we love those too!
