Put your house in order (2)
Your house cannot be in order when your children are in disorder. Yes, children are blessings, joy, future, hope and arrows in the hands of their parents but that is only when they are well-brought up, disciplined, godly and focused. But when undisciplined, untrained or godless they can become the pain, regret, nightmares, shame and the doom of their families and the society. We are expected to put in every effort possible to see that our kids become responsible members of the home and the society and these including proper and foundational training at home, good education, monitoring their activities, their relationships and development, giving them solid godly background and most importantly living exemplary life. Yes, they watch us. They hear more from our actions than our sermons. They believe more on how you live than what you say. So, we must always teach them by example; walk our talk, otherwise, they will also become hardened and hypocrites like us or even worse. If we fail in all or any of these, then we must prepare to reap all the negative results and heartbreak that will follow. Wayward or undisciplined child can bring so much pain, stain, shame, tears, heartbreak and even curses to their families. How are you training your children? Are you paying attention to all their details? Invest quality time, resources, word and prayer on them now. Put your house in order before it becomes too late for you.
Look at the family of Eli the priest in the bible. His two children Hophni and Phinehas brought so much pain to the man and to the nation of Israel. Their actions caused their own destruction, the death of their father, loss of priesthood and generational causes to their family, the defeat of the whole nation and even the capture and desecration of the great Ark of the Covenant. My God! So much of pain? May your carelessness, indifference not cost you that much in Jesus name! They were called rogues and you know what it means for the word of God to directly call somebody a crook or a scoundrel. That must be serious. They were in everything evil. These guys were stealing from men and God. They will force worshippers to part with their offering meat, took choice parts and even God’s portion. I mean the God who owns the sacrifice. And the worst was that they slept with the women that came to worship in the house of God. Jesus Christ! One of my kids would exclaim, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth!” They did all these? You know there are some who don’t have respect for anything. They neither fear God nor men. God is patient and that is why most people take him for granted. If you know what some people do, what happens in some of our homes and offices, you will shiver and throw up. And the worse is that some of these things are done because of the carelessness of some parents or with their tacit approval.
I mean, don’t you see some of the parents that directly or indirectly encourage their children in immorality, criminality and in other forms of evil? Some parents know that their children live in prostitution, immorality or that they cannot comfortable explain the source of their income, but those parents will keep quiet or even encourage them. Some will take or struggle for the profits of such acts. Look around you will see many of them. Or do you want to talk about those in fraud, cultism, drug, etc? In fact, parents now encourage their children to move out and ‘grab wealth’ like others. They will celebrate you. Woe to you if you ever try to remind them that you are waiting on God. Priest Eli took a lot of time before he spoke against what his sons were doing and worse he did not do enough to stop them. And unfortunately it consumed all of them. If you don’t take up your responsibility on your kids and others now, the repercussion, the effects will sure come back to hurt you, the society or the people close to you. God sent a prophet to warn Eli and by the time he was again sending the young Samuel to him, it was already getting very late and yet the atrocities continued. God will not wait for you forever. No! Now the terrible Judgment came!
Listen to the punishment. The priesthood was taken away from Eli’s house. A generational curse premature death was also activated. They will always die young. No old man or woman will be found in their lineage. My God! Then, like we mentioned earlier, the nation of Israel was defeated twice and enslaved. Israel lost more the 40,000 men in those battles with the Philistines. The precious, impregnable Ark of God was abducted by the enemies. Can you imagine that? Eli and his recalcitrant sons died. You know they thought they could play pranks with God. When they lost the first battle, they ran to fetch the Ark and took it to the next battle, but the enemy defeated them again and also capture the Ark. God cannot be deceived. You will always reap what you sow. When you live in sin and disobedience, the real presence of God leaves you and you begin to wallow in empty assurance, boasting, tradition, false hope and security that will fully perfect your fall, failure and punishment. The enemy did not capture God but their false hope and foolishness. Remember the unchecked sins of Eli’s children brought all these calamities. Now, how are you bringing up your children? What are you doing to make sure you turn them towards God and bring them to be responsible members of the family and the society? Are you sure you have done enough? God said that Eli did not do enough by just passively, verbally, mildly rebuking his sons. He expects you to be very firm. Fight with all your might and start on time. It is about lives, death, destinies, name, legacy and generations. It’s worth fighting for with all that we have. We will continue next week. God bless!
Gabriel Agbo is the author of the books / audiobooks: Power of Midnight Prayer, Receive Your Healing, Breaking Generational Curses: Claiming Your Freedom, Never Again!, I Shall Not Die, Move Forward and many others. Tel: 08037113283 E-mail: [email protected] Website www.authorsden.com/pastorgabrielnagbo