Restoration of the Family

For communities to be restored, the family must first be restored to God's design and purpose. But for families to be restored, certain things must come first.

First, men and women must be restored, recreated in the image and likeness of God. There is a commonly held view we are all in the image and likeness of God. False! When mankind rejected God's authority; disobeyed God; rebelled against God, and submitted themselves to the rule, the authority and pow=r of Satan, they lost that image in which they were created. They lost the glory of God in which they were created. When they looked at themselves, they were so ashamed and terrified at what they had become, that they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, and ran from the presence of God.

There is also another fallacy that, if a man and a woman are living together, they are husband and wife. False! God made a man and a woman in His image and likeness to be the foundation of the family. God united together a nam and a woman who were in His image an likeness. It must remain so. So, there needs to be a restoration of marriage to God's original plan and purpose. For a man and a woman to be husband and wife, they must both be in the image and likeness of God. The image and likeness of God must first be restored in them. This comes about by a relationship with Jesus Christ. "If any man (or woman) be in Christ, he is a new creature." He is a new creation. "Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new."

Another serious misconception and deception is that "God said, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth." The point these people are making is,
God said it, we are just doing what God commandewd." Wrong! God said these words to a man and a woman who were in His image and His likeness. It is that kind of man and that kind of woman He wants to bring forth and bring up children. They were to bring for and bring up others after their kind. They were not only to bring forth, but also to bring up children in the image and likeness of God just as they were. They were to bring up children of the kingdom of God. This is parenting of the highest sense.

Finally, for the family to be restored after God's pattern and design, God Himself must choose and unite together the man and the woman in His image and likeness whom he wants to join together. It is He who made the man. It is He who made the woman. It is He who brought the woman to the man. It is He who joined them together to make one flesh. It is God at work all along. It must be so today.

The command that God gave to the man and the woman that they sould not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil, applies to every area, and every department of our lives. In every aspect of our life, without exception, we must be obedient to God. That is the rock, the foundation on which the family is built.

So, before communities and nations can be transformed, the family must be restored. This requires that first, men and women must become a new creation in Christ Jesus. It means that there must be a restoration of human sexuality, and sexual conduct to what is pleasing and acceptable to God. God Himself must choose and appoint the man and the woman to be joined together. Therefore men and women must seek God and hear from God about who shall be their partners. There must be obedience to God all along. Parenting must be nothing less than men and women bringing up their children as children of the kingdom of God, in His image and likeness.

So what have we seen so far? For Nations to be transformed, there Must be a New Man. It must begin with the men. Then through the ongoing, consistent witness of the New Man, A New Womanhood Must emerge. The Ne wman must lift up women, not pull them down. New men and new women whom God appoints for each other,are unirted by God in mareriage. Then they bring forth and bring up children as children of the kingdom of God, in His image and likeness. These are all very serious challenges. That is why it must be God at work all the time, and obedience to God all the time. It is this kind of family that is going to change the community and the nation.