Notes from this week's podcast: I Know It Will Cost Me Something!

Continuing the theme with the situation of our home 

Think about, search the Truth, pray earnestly as if your life depended upon it. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you, and implement it for your home. 

We are in a world where darkness has gained much temporary victory. The light in our home has been dimmed. 

God wants us to restore joy in our lives. 

Institutions like the President, Congress, political parties, economy are false hope. I believe the one institution that God is waiting to revive, to restore, to get back in order is the home. That's God's order. It was intended to be the place of peace and rest. 

If you're in the Word of God with the intent to hear the Holy Spirit -- the direction, the teaching, the guiding of the Holy Spirit -- you won't get lost in the darkness. 

The home is the institution that God wants us to get back to the foundation that everything will spring out of and that we will operate here on earth. Our goal is really to establish in our hearts with the true intent that "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 

We will bow before God and fear a holy God. We will reverence Him. We will exalt Him as the authority, the ruler and reigner over our home. We will follow His commandments, leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit. Submit to Him so that He is glorified. 

God is working His plan to redeem us not just to get us to heaven but to get us back in a home, living with Him that's filled with His glory. It just exemplifies everything that God is. 

So our goal is to get serious about our home. Any darkness is unacceptable in our home. When we see that darkness, we will purpose to agree with God and replace it with light. 

Where do we start? One step at a time. 

We've surrendered our home to be a house, a storage unit for a lot of decaying morals and values that God never intended for the home to house. 

If you're a Christian, do you know who dwells among you in your home? Father God. 

The foundation of every home must first be established on a sacrifice. To obey the Word of God, to establish God as the one that you will worship in your home, it will require a sacrifice. And every sacrifice will cost something. What sacrifice is God asking you to make for your home, for your family? The sacrifice that you make today, the price that you pay for that sacrifice today, God is setting it up for a blessing for the generations that follow you, your family that God be exalted, worshiped. 

We've allowed it to get out of order. There's some cleaning up that needs to be done. Restore the presence of God. Clean out the filth. And reestablish the light. Bring the light back in and let it expose the darkness. Once we do this -- make this sacrifice -- we build an altar before the Lord and we have declared before our home that we will serve the Lord. 

The next thing that we must establish is God's ordained authority over the home. (a) God being the spiritual authority over the home (b) God's ordained authority: the man to lead the home; the woman to nurture the home; the parents to raise the children in the Word of God. Once we establish God's authority back over our home, then we need to tear down the altars that we have built. 

> How much time does our family spend before the false altar of the television or iPhone versus before the altar of the Lord?

The home is to be a sanctuary, a place for God to dwell. And then know that this home is a place of protection -- separate us from the world, the influence of the world. We ask God to restore our home to its original intent. We may need to do some cleaning up -- intentional, to be righteous, to expose the darkness with the intent to replace it with righteousness. Purge our home. Ask: Why do I do what I do?

Make room for the man to be the priest and protector of our homes. Keep praying aloud the Word of God over your home. We don't want the world to undermine the Word in our home. Be strong in the Lord. Don't be concerned about what people think when you take a firm stand in your home. Keep your face like flint before the Lord because God will strengthen you. 

My prayer is that we all out of that obedience, see the reward of that sacrifice. But if we don't see the reward here in the physical, I believe that as David experienced in generations to come, he saw it spiritually. 

The home is the foundation of restoring the hope and future. 

We are not fighting for victory. As Christians, we're fighting from victory. Christ on the cross already has victory over the powers of darkness. Our task is to stand firm our ground. Get ourselves lined up with the heart of God. Occupy our homes until God returns. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. That begins in your home -- becoming a sanctuary where God's presence dwells among us -- the sanctuary is truly where God wants to dwell in the home. That is what God is waiting for. 

Scripture for further study: Genesis 2:15, 2 Samuel 24:18-24