Keys to Family Power

Introduction

There are 7 keys to build power in your family that I will be sharing - one key a week. It is NOT my sharing that will help your family. Only YOU can help to bring power to your family. How? By digesting and practicing the keys. So, the format of my sharing will be 1) giving the basis of the key, and 2) giving suggestions for you to practice the key each week.

I have experience good results with the practice and I assure you that you will also experience the same if you practice the keys diligently.

Today, I begin to share the first key ... and glory to God for giving us our family and the strength and wisdom for us to build powerful families for His kingdom.

Key # 1 - Pray for one another

Prayer is key. When Christians pray for one another, they release the power of God upon each other.

Prayer will stop the envy, strife, confusion and selfish ambition. Prayer kills the causes for broken families - "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every evil practice." James 3:16. Many of us may have experienced how envy and selfish ambition have tried to destroy our family and so can relate to this to some degree.

When you pray for another (and by this I mean that the family prays together), it is difficult to criticize or fight each other. The Holy Spirit just does not allow the "praying for" and "fighting against" each other to co-exist. Something spiritual happens when we constantly pray - our own attitude is changed, and that will make us better partners for our family members to live together with. And when we constantly pray together as a family, all our attitude undergo the same change - for the better.

Most importantly, when we pray together, the spirit of prayer gets into us and allows God to mould us.

When the family members pray together, the act itself binds them together. In the flowery language of old, Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us that ".....A three-fold cord is not quickly broken." Interestingly, the physical world has adopted a Godly principle of a three party relationship - take a look at the ropes that are used up to today - they are made of three cords bound into one and it is proven to have the best strength.

The three-fold cord is used as a physical representation of our relationship with God and our family. Unless we have God as the third party in our family, it will be a long hard struggle to have a happy family.

And lastly, when we pray for each other in the family, we defend each other - yet another important key to having family power. When we pray with the family, we create a wall of defense against spiritual attacks around our family.

To have a Godly and successful family relationship, we need to pray for and pray with the family constantly. Start now.

Suggestions for practice .

1. Start praying with your spouse, if you are not already doing so. Start to pray, holding each others' hand for 5 minutes a day either in the morning or before bed time.

2. Concentrate on praying for each other rather than for your own needs. Do not pray over negative traits of your spouse (it becomes like a complaint about your spouse to God - don't do that). Pray for the positive aspects of each other, eg, for your spouse's ministry, for God to multiply your spouse's goodness etc.

3. Add one more prayer time (twice a day). Use the second prayer time to pray for the children. Pray specifically for each of them.

4. Get all in the family to pray at least once in the week. Ask each member to pray for each other specifically. You may ask each member to say what area they need prayer support in. If this is not possible, then at least pray with each child individually, eg., before their bedtime or during meal time.

Next key ... Accepting Each Other - will be posted on 22 Sep.