By Dr. Shana Wise
While doing ministry, sometimes the hardest challenges will come from your own family members.
My Testimony:
“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6 NKJV
Children: Have you raised your children in the Lord, but now that they are older and grown, their behaviors seem not to reflect their upbringing?
I am going through that now, however as they are finding their way as young adults, my many nights of worrying and praying for them has caused me to trust God even more so. Throughout these years, I have learned the importance and power of surrendering and dedicating them back to God.
As their mother, there are many things that I see with my natural eyes, and discern in the Spirit that are not righteous. When I see and feel these things, it causes me to have to believe beyond the present, many times, I have to speak (pray) into their future.
I have other family members whose souls are in peril. I can see Satan operating in their lives and it sometimes causes me grief in my spirit. Often times, I receive personal attacks because I choose not to go along with their unrighteousness. Over the years, God has giving me dreams or revealed something going on with them in spiritually which has caused me to pray fervently. During these times, I know that their very lives were on the line and the prayers save them from dying (lost).
Lately God has revealed to me that the spiritual warfare that I have been encountering is not about me but the souls that are connected to me. My prayers do have weight and power to destroy the enemies plan. Due to this fact, I find myself in battle frequently and sometimes it gets tiring and even exhausting! Yet, as I continue to trust God and seek His face and will during these situations, He has been teaching me the deep truths of His Word.
Some of these truths are:
The battle is not mine, it’s His. I’m just the vessel in earth to get His will accomplished.
When I am engaging in spiritual warfare, I truly have to walk by faith and not by sight. I cannot overcome by fighting in the flesh, I must fight in faith.
Acts 16:31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” My faith in Christ is sustaining my family. Like Noah’s family, they are benefiting off of my obedience and faith in God.
I encourage you to keep fighting the “good fight” for your family. God is using all things for our good. The challenges along with the triumphs that we have in our family, is serving as a purpose for our ministry to others outside the home.
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