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Introduction:
We began our Fall Family Focus: Built by the Lord, by noticing the
following passage. Unless
the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his
sleep.
We learned our homes must be built by the Lord,
that is, founded on the Lord’s word. We have invested the last
five weeks learning how we must work to let the Lord build our
homes. As we conclude, we want to remember that our homes can only
be built properly when the Lord’s hand is with us, when He is
blessing us and our homes. We know the Lord can bless us even in
our sleep. However, for the Lord to bless us, we must invite His
blessing. Matthew
7:7-11 explains how gracious our Father is and concludes
by saying, “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give
what is good to those who ask Him!” As we conclude our family
focus, we want to examine the roles in our families and learn the
blessings for which we should be praying. Granted, we may ask for
many physical blessings—homes, financial security, health,
prosperity, etc. However, in this lesson, we will briefly take
note of the spiritual blessings for which we should pray. Discussion: I.
God bless our husbands. A.
Ephesians
5:23-25
demonstrates the husband is the head of the home. He is the
leader. However, unlike worldly leaders, his leadership is meted
out through love. As we seek God’s blessing on our husbands,
they should tie back to these two aspects of his role in the home. B.
As a leader, we should pray that God grant our husbands
wisdom to know where to lead (James
1:5). We should pray that God grant our husbands
understanding of their wives, and by extension their children, to
know how to lead (I
Peter 3:7). We should pray that God bless them with the
humility to serve as a godly leader (Luke
22:25-27). We should pray that God bless our husbands with
strength to keep watch over our souls as the one who would give
account for us (Hebrews
13:17). Further, we should pray that God strengthen us to
be a blessing to our husbands that he may perform his duty with
joy and not grief. C.
As one who leads in love, we should certainly pray God
bless our husbands with the characteristics found in I
Corinthians 13:4-7. May God bless them with patience,
kindness, humility, propriety, an even-temper, selflessness,
righteousness, strength to bear all things and hope to trust all
things. D.
Our husbands have a great responsibility, may God, through
His word and providence, grant them the blessings needed to
accomplish their role. II.
God bless our wives. A.
Genesis
2:18
demonstrates the wives’ number one role is to act as a helper to
their husbands. As Ephesians
5:22, demonstrates, they are to do so in submission. As we
seek God’s blessing on the wives among us, our requests should
tie back to these responsibilities. B.
As a helper, we should ask God to bless our wives with
wisdom, knowledge and foresight regarding what is good for their
families. Proverbs
31:12, 21 demonstrates the wives’ need for goodness and
foresight. We should pray that God bless our wives with
discernment to make proper choices of management (Proverbs
31:16). We should pray that God bless our wives with the
strength and stamina it takes to manage the home (Proverbs
31:25, 27). C.
As a helper who submits, we should ask God to bless our
wives with the humility necessary to submit to a man who is
sometimes flawed (perhaps more than sometimes). She needs the
humility Jesus had as He voluntarily submitted to the Father (Philippians
2:5ff). We should pray that God bless our wives with the
capacity to love their husbands enough to submit. We should pray
that God bless them with the characteristics in I
Corinthians 13:4-7.
Especially for those who must submit to an unbeliever, we
should pray that God bless them with patience and endurance that
they might win their husbands through a proper example (I
Peter 3:1-2). D.
Our wives have a great responsibility in the home, may God,
through His word and providence, grant them the blessings needed
to accomplish their role. III.
God bless our parents. A.
As Ephesians
6:4 explains, the parents’ job is to bring up their
children in God’s discipline and instruction and to refrain from
provoking their children to anger. As we seek God’s blessing for
our parents, our prayers should hearken back to these
responsibilities. B.
According to Strong’s
Enhanced Lexicon, the term translated “bring them up” in Ephesians
6:4, means “to rear up to maturity.” We need to pray
that God bless our parents with the foresight to envision what
maturity means, to see what their kids need to be by the time they
leave the home. We need to pray that God bless our parents with
the wisdom to discipline and instruct their children to that point
of maturity. Further, we need to pray that God bless them with the
wisdom to know when to push the child further and when to accept
them where they are. We need to pray that our parents have the
self-discipline to pass the torch on to their children (Deuteronomy
6:4-9). We need to pray that God bless our parents with
the ability to manage and redeem the time they have with their
children (Ephesians
5:15-16). C.
In order to refrain from provoking their children to anger,
we need to seek God’s blessing on them to know and administer
discipline, correction and punishment in the proper manner to
produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness and not to vent anger,
assuage embarrassment or accomplish vengeance (Hebrews
12:7-12). Further, as with the other roles, we need to
pray that God bless the parents with the ability to love their
children as I
Corinthians 13:4-7 defines love. Beyond that, we need to
pray that they can love their children as Titus
2:4 speaks of love. That is a brotherly love or a
friendship love. This is the ability to look to their children and
say, “I like them and want what is best for them.” We also
need to pray that God bless the parents with the ability to allow
their children what God allows them according to Ecclesiastes
11:9, to pursue the impulses of their heart and the desire
of their eyes, so long as they are remembering their creator. Finally, we need to pray that God bless parents with the humility
to say, “I’m sorry, will you forgive me?” when they have
done something wrong and the humility to forgive their children,
when the children make the same request (Matthew
18:21-22). D.
Our parents have a great responsibility in the home, may
God, through His word and providence, grant them the blessings
needed to accomplish their role. IV.
God bless our children. A.
Sadly, in our society children are prompted to be glorified
leeches who take and take and never stop taking even when they are
no longer children. The role of children in the home, however, is
demonstrably different according to two passages. First, in Ephesians
6:1-2, they are commanded to honor and obey their parents.
Second, in Luke
2:52, Jesus exemplified proper childhood growth by
“increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
men.” When we pray for God’s blessings on our children, we
need to hearken back to these responsibilities. B.
In many ways, it is difficult to pray strictly for the
blessings on our children. After all, so many of their blessings
will be funneled through their parents. Therefore, we begin to
pray for God’s blessings on our children by praying for God’s
blessings on their parents. We need to pray that God bless our
children with good role models and instructors for parents. C.
As we pray for our children to honor and obey their
parents, we need to pray that God bless them with the wisdom and
longevity to see the good in their parents’ discipline (Hebrews
12:11). We need to pray that God bless them with the
wherewithal to live by their parents’ wise instruction (Proverbs
1:8-9). We need to pray that God bless them with the
capacity to love their parents (I
Corinthians 13:4-7) and through that the resilience to
continue on even when their parents make mistakes. D.
As we pray for our children to increase in wisdom and
stature and in favor with God and men, we need to pray that God
bless them with the commitment to hide God’s word in their
hearts (Psalm
119:9, 11). We need to pray that God bless them with the
wisdom to refuse evil and choose good (Isaiah
7:16). We need to pray that God bless them with the
strength to withstand peer pressure (Proverbs
1:10). We need to pray that God bless them with the
presence of mind to remember Him, God, even as they stretch their
wings and pursue the impulses of their heart and the delight of
their eyes (Ecclesiastes
11:9-12:1). E.
Our kids have a great responsibility as they grow up in our
homes. May God, through His word and providence, grant them the
blessings needed to accomplish their role. V.
God bless our grandparents. A.
One role we do not spend very much time discussing is
grandparents. In our modern society, grandparents are not part of
the nuclear family as they once were. Yet, grandparents perform a
great role in our families. As demonstrated by Lois in II
Timothy 1:5, grandparents play a part in passing on the
faith. As we pray for our grandparents, we need to hearken back to
this role. B.
Proverbs
20:29
says, “The glory of young men is their strength, and the honor
of old men is their grey hair.” In a society that increasingly
discounts our senior citizens, we need to pray that God bless our
grandparents with the realization that the wisdom they have from
experience is worth just as much, if not more, than the physical
work the young and strong can accomplish. We should pray that God
bless our grandparents with honor and respect from those of us who
have not experienced what they have (Leviticus
19:32). We should pray that the grandparents are able to
instruct with patience (just as preachers are supposed to, II
Timothy 4:2) recognizing that it took them time to learn
what they know and it will take us time as well. We should pray
that our grandparents have the wisdom to pass on what they have
learned about serving God, not only to their children but also
their grandchildren (Deuteronomy
4:9). Certainly, we should pray that our grandparents are
blessed with the wisdom to know when not to meddle. At the same
time, we should pray that our grandparents are blessed with
children who know they can still learn a great deal from the
people who raised them. C.
Our grandparents have a great responsibility in our homes.
May God, through His word and providence, grant them the blessings
needed to accomplish their role. Conclusion: Many times we hear about people who pray for hours at a time and wonder what on earth it is they are praying for. If you want to work on increasing your prayer life and becoming a better intercessor for your brethren, why not take the congregational directory and pray for these blessings on our members? If the Lord is going to build our homes, we have to invite Him in through prayer. May God richly bless our husbands, wives, parents, children and grandparents.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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