Topic — The Family: God’s Delightful Place
Dear Reader,
As God is interested in the family, so also is satan. Whatever is not good, is not God because God cannot behold evil. So, satan is behind whatever is not good in the home. God’s plan for the family is revealed in Genesis 2:18, And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him.
God established marriage for the purpose of making life good for man. After He instituted marriage, God confirmed that it was very good. However, it was not long after that the enemy came on the scene. As a matter of fact, it was soon after God performed the wedding ceremony, and declared, “Behold Mr. And Mrs. Adam”, that satan showed up.
Satan is the enemy of everything good. Having lost access to goodness immediately he fell from heaven, he cannot stand anyone else enjoying good. He is envious of any good thing, so he goes about reversing the order of things. This is what makes him wicked.
People attribute the crisis in homes to incompatibility or disagreements; but it is actually satan who is behind the woes in families. He has determined to cause havoc in homes. He would do anything or pay any price to shatter a home. Quite a number, even in the Church, are victims of this satanic onslaught against families.
Some wish they were never married, yet God says, “I created it for your good.” I can imagine Adam wishing he was never created, when he was driven out of Eden into the wilderness. I picture him running away from the wild animals, which had been his pets, before Satan entered the garden and sent him out.
I perceived that satan was envious of the fact that the couple were standing on their feet, while he was crawling on the ground. So, he came with a mission to have them grounded. But the good news is that although satan bruised the heel of mankind, to floor him, man can bruise his head and wound him fatally. This was what Jesus came to do on earth. As the seed of the woman, His mission on earth was to bruise satan’s head and empower us to do the same. God’s Word says: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).God’s Word also says in Luke 10:19,Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
To counteract the activity of satan against the family unit, Jesus’ first miracle was at a wedding ceremony in Canaan of Galilee (John 2). Whereas the first thing Satan did was to destroy a family, the first miracle Jesus performed was to wipe away shame from a family. Jesus summarizes the situation and His mission on earth very clearly in John 10:10; The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Satan’s mission of stealing, killing and destroying is first targeted at the home. His primary concern is how to steal the joy, peace and love that exists between couples. His plan is about how to move the man against the woman, so that one of them would eventually move out of their home; the same way he drove Adam and Eve out of Eden. He still prowls around looking for gullible people to drive away from their homes.
That is why you suddenly find a couple who, just a few minutes ago, were calling each other “Sweety” or “Honey”, pouncing on each other as bulls in a fight. The sweetness in their home turns sour, until it becomes so bitter that there is no trace of sweetness in it again. Perhaps, if the husband used to call his wife “honey”, satan comes in and moves him to say to her, “If this marriage wants to break, let it break. After all, marriage is not the Kingdom of God.” All satan wants is to destroy the union, by destroying the things that join them together.
That is why Jesus said: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.That abundant life is first directed to homes.
Satan hangs around beautiful things, so he can corrupt the beauty. He hung around Job, because his life was beautiful. He continued till he destroyed the beauty around him. Satan has not changed his techniques. Once he sees any joyful couple, he says, “I must get at them.” He hates to see any family being successful, and he would stop at nothing to destroy it.
Every family is vulnerable to satan’s attacks. He still goes about to and fro, as a roaring lion, seeking families to devour. However, it is within your power to oppose him.
One of the enemy’s trump cards against the home is polygamy, particularly in Africa. He deceives a man into marrying another wife under the excuse that the first is not living up to expectation. So, the man takes a second, a third, and even a fourth wife because he soon discovers that the subsequent wives are worse than the first.
Satan is a trickster! He has no power, only tricks. Right from Eden, he had no strength, but tricks. When you are unaware of his devices, he takes advantage of your ignorance to buffet you. He is still looking for families to push out of their gardens of Eden today. His method is still the same. He questions God’s instructions and challenges everything God says. He still whispers to husbands, “Has God said, ‘Thou shalt love thy wife as Christ loved the Church? But can you call that woman a wife? She is a witch! God said you should love your wife, not a witch”.
Then he goes to the woman and says, “Has God actually said, ‘Thou shalt submit to your husband in everything? No, not when it is obviously a stupid thing to do. Remember that the reason you went to school is to be able to reason out issues!
For you to escape satan’s tricks, you need to be born again. If you are already born again, rejoice because your case is settled. If you are not yet born again and you desire to do so right now, please pray this prayer with faith in your heart: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins and cleanse me with Your Blood. I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Make me a child of God today. Thank You for delivering me from sin and satan to serve the living God and thank You for accepting me into Your Kingdom.
Congratulations! If you prayed this simple prayer of faith with me, you are now born again and a child of God. He loves you and will never leave you. Read your Bible daily, obey God’s Word and seek Christian fellowship (John 14:21).
With this, you are guaranteed all-round rest and peace in Jesus’ Name! Call or write to share your testimonies with me through [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.
For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work, Building a Successful Home and Success in Marriage (Co-Authored).
“Please click HERE to read other inspiring articles by Pastor Faith Oyedepo”
Pastor Faith Oyedepo is the wife of Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide a.k.a. Winners’ Chapel, and Senior Pastor of Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, Nigeria.
