All Your Family Needs Is Your Prayer!

I was so angry when my mum refused me to go back to Bloemfontein after my uncle’s funeral! I had a job to do there; I had pre-school kids to minister to!  God gave me that job because He’s got plans for me! How can my mum be so evil and stand on my way?  I am glad she refused though! God told me that yes, you still have to minister to those kids but how can you minister to others when your own family is not fixed! In order for you to go out there, you need to be whole, with fullness of joy! This includes mending of broken families or relationships, overcoming lustful thoughts and any other thing that still has a stronghold in your spiritual life! All my years I never enjoyed being home! I did not want to deal with my parent’s fights and other negative things that depressed me! As bitter as I was, this time I decided that I’ll just stay home because surely God has a plan and makes everything happen for a reason! (For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.)

My family and I never had a strong bonded relationship!  And it was really hard for me when I grew up! I never communicated much with my dad unless he asked me questions! My mother was just a pest in my life who was just so negative about everything! The only person I was close to is my sister who later on became really nasty to me after I decided to walk in God’s plan!  See, I thought that is how my life was meant to be for the rest of my life but when I called Jesus, He turned everything around! When Jesus said that He came that we may have life to the fullest, he was not only talking about experiencing spiritual blessings but also fullness of joy in our families! What we have to understand is Satan uses the people we love to discourage us. If he can convince your family to think that they hate you, then he his plan has been accomplished!

If your family members are not born again Christians, it gives the Devil the platform to do whatever he wants with the family! I believe that he places a Jezebel spirit in the household which will cause problems and fights! Some of the characteristics of Jezebel are, a need for attention, controlling, self-pity, blaming others for their mistake, victim hood, denial of responsibility for wrong doing and I believe there are many more! These traits were quite visible in my family and I’m so glad that God opened my spiritual eyes to see! So you find that members in the family unintentionally hurt you because the purpose of the devil is to cause havoc, bitterness and confusion in families!  Any word or deed that is done against you by your loved one doesn’t really come from them! The devil just uses their mouth and actions to hurt you because God created families to be wonderful so there is now way they could possibly want to hurt you. He created parents to take care of their children, to portray His love through them, to bless them,  and He also created children to love their parents unconditionally and to depend on them for their earthly wants and needs!  

Now the reason the devil focuses on breaking relationships between mothers and daughters, fathers and sons or vice versa is because he’s got plans for each one of them which will lead to destruction! For instance a young teenage girl may feel that she’s not getting enough attention from her father! So she goes out there and finds a sugar daddy who will give her the attention she needs! Realize that the chocolate or flowers or cellphones that he buys you is not equivalent to the value of your body! ( The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body) This young girl though is destructing her own life because not only is she fornicating, but she is also breaking another woman’s marriage! This brings curses in her life and a free way for Satan to do as he pleases with her! When the girl is guilt ridden, she gets depressed because Satan will always remind her of what she has done! Thoughts of suicide run through her mind until she has given up so much on herself that resorts to living a life with no purpose! She ends up drinking alcohol excessively, taking drugs perhaps, and involving herself in unsafe sexual acts! This could bring diseases such as HIV or curses such as barrenness and any other mental or emotional illness! Which then will lead her to committing suicide!  Wouldn’t you agree with me here that the devil has accomplished his plan in this young girl’s life? Unless she stands up and obeys God’s call she would have suffered greatly in life and will also suffer greatly after she dies!  That is not what God had intended for anyone but the devil by his cunning ways manages to destroy people by first attacking their families!

The devil is clever but if we have God’s wisdom we can overcome his evil plans that he has for our lives! Intense prayer and surrendering your family to God works when everything else fails! God has chosen you to bring change in your family’s life through faith, perseverance, love and hope! He has called you to be his witness!  You might have lived your whole life in a broken family but your prayers can change everything that seems impossible around! Trust in God to bring a breakthrough in your family’s broken situation! You are stuck with them forever so you can either choose to start about it or accepting that you are going to live in sadness and bitterness for the rest of your life? The devil knows that your family is the next thing close to God in your life! So the moment he breaks it, he would have been successful in his master plan, to kill, steal and destroy! To kill your dreams and confidence! To steal your joy and peace! And to destroy your life and your purpose as being part of your family!

As a child of God, Jesus gives you the wisdom to realize the devil’s tactics and he also gives you the confidence to stand up for what is right! My mother the other day went on all day reminding me of how fat I am! She came in and I was just having my breakfast and she said, “Titi you should stop eating! You will gain 110KG’s.” I said no ways! Now this used to depress me heavily in the past hearing those words from somebody who you feel should be telling you something different from what the world is telling you! But keeping quiet while the devil is cursing you through somebody you love never helps. You should be bold enough to say, “Satan I rebuke you, your words shall not come to pass!” Later on that day when I was sitting on the lounge, she came and held me on my back telling me how fat I am! I said well mama I don’t have a problem with the way I look. I am very happy with the way God created me to! If you’ve got a problem with it then sign me up for gym! She did sign me up! When you speak out for what you believe is right, God will use your loved ones to help you achieve your goals! See the devil knows that my weight is such a sensitive issue for me, and he thought that if he could use my mum to bring me down, then I’ll be angry at her and go out somewhere to find appreciation and love and end up sinning!  My mum doesn’t really mean anything that comes from her mouth because deep in her heart she loves me and she wants to see a smile on my face! So when I told her that if she’s not happy with the way I look like then she can take me to gym, she did not even hesitate! Now God has fulfilled my desire to go back to gym! When you start speaking up, what the devil meant for evil, God will use it for good! That is why the devil wants to break all communication channels in the family! When you don’t communicate, you allow feelings of anger and bitterness to grow deeply in you until you develop hatred for the people that you were meant to actually love and grow with! 

My mother has always prayed and believed that there is God all her life but her situations never seemed to change! That is because while she prayed she would also speak negative things in her life! She also began speaking negative things in my life too as a young child! “Titi, you are just like me. You were meant to struggle as much as I struggled in life.” And I used to keep quiet and believe what she was saying about me because I was scared of disrespecting her and since the devil had convinced me that I am “shy” , I couldn’t really do much! But her words manifested in my life because I could not perform well in University, I had a poor self image, I could not keep a relationship and etc. What the devil was doing is he was using my mum to curse me because he knew that I am my mother’s pride. When I did not perform well at school, then she’d be angry at me forgetting that she was the one who had spoken about it in the first place! The catch is, she doesn’t feel wrong because it was not her saying those words, but the devil using her. The devil knows that my joy, is my mothers joy! What she has is mine, my victories are her victories. So if he can curse me I would end up with nothing, therefore my mother ending up with nothing too! So when your loved ones say anything to hurt you, speak up, rebuke the devil and continue loving them seeing them through the eyes of Jesus! What your family really needs is your prayers to change your situation around!

When I accepted Jesus in my life, he brought life in my family too! The day I came back from my uncle’s funeral was the day I decided that enough is enough!  The devil had really caused much confusion and had I not prayed about it, it was going to destroy us! Sitting with my cousins on that Saturday evening after everybody had left,  my mum drove all the way from Mafikeng to Lichternburg to fetch my little sister and I. Confused we packed our bags and I had to be the one telling my grandmother and aunts that we are all of a sudden leaving! My dad was hurt thinking that we are the ones who asked our mum to come get us! Our grandmother was hurt that my mum, sister and I are just hurting his son! My aunts were angry at us because they thought that we are just ought there to hurt their brother which is my dad! But see, that was all a lie. My mum and my dad’s family don’t get along so the devil convinced her that it is just right for her to come and pick us up without even saying anything to anybody! The devil had filled each one of us with his filthy lies and thus caused us all so much pain!

I read Mathew 17, where Jesus healed a demon possessed boy!  "Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment." The bible says at that instant moment that boy was healed! It didn't take 10 days or a year but at that moment! And Jesus tells His disciples that , "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Are you going to believe God's word or are you going to believe your feelings or your thoughts? Do you believe that God is able to restore your family a this instant moment? Or are you going to wait 5more years until you have wasted money on psychologists and psychiatrists? Are you going to believe zodiac signs, sangomas or are you going to believe what God says about you?

The next morning when I got up, like a warrior I said, Devil, enough is enough! With boldness and authority I began praying! My sister was just in the other room but this time I did not care what she thought of me! She might as well listen to me because she is also part of the blessing anyway! I said, “Spirit of Jezebel listen to me! In the name of Jesus I cast you out!" You are no longer welcome in this house, in this family, in our lives!” I stood on God’s promises!!  I said God, breathe on these dry bones! Breathe on this family! The moment we start taking authority as Jesus’ followers everything will be fine! I am telling you today that God has restored my family! I now communicate well with my dad! For the first time in years I was excited about father’s day! I know look at my mum and I love her! She can be quite difficult but the spirit of God helps me to overlook any negative situation! My mum now helps me to clean the house instead of messing it up! For the first time in 22 years we were able to talk about sex! The devil doesn’t want this kind of bond between mothers and daughters! My parents have never fought ever since I came home like they used to do in the past! Instead they laugh together and can have a decent chat like normal people! My mother and I pray together every night and we stand in agreement for our family members! The devil doesn’t want families to pray together! Where two or three are gathered, God is there in their midst! 

 I continue to pray for them because we all make mistakes but we need not focus on the mistakes! Like any other relationship we have our ups and downs but Jesus enables me to go to my mother and ask for forgiveness when I am wrong! Love that is not linked to God runs out of energy, so I ask the Holy Spirit for His love to bond us!  We don’t choose our parents. We don’t choose our circumstances at home! We don’t chose the kind of house you live in, you can’t choose your mother’s words, but you can choose to stand on God’s word and use it to change your situation around! Our victory is assured! God has restored my family and each day is so great! Now we all wait in expectation for the blessings God has in store for us!

I will wait for You Jesus

You're the sun in my horizon

All my hopes in You Jesus

I can see You now arising!

Jesus, my precios King, I thank you so much for your great works in my family's life! Thank You so much for your peace, love and joy! Thank you for restoration and revival! Thank you for the great blessings coming our way! I love you King Jesus! Amen!