The Family Charge
As we prayed for our nation in a corporate prayer meeting recently, the words, “Take Charge” came to my mind. Take charge of what? God shows us this clearly from the beginning of creation. In the first chapter of the Bible He gives a charge. What is this charge? It is the first words God ever spoke to ears of man, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion…”
To whom did God speak these words? Was it to the leader of a nation? Was it to a certain political party? Was it to the ministers and pastors of churches? No. It was to a man and wife and the children God would give them. It was a family charge.
As we see our nation turning away from God to humanistic philosophies and our political parties becoming more and more liberal we despair for righteousness to rule in the nation. However, I believe we must take our focus off trusting in a certain leader or a certain political party. We must come back to where God started. And that is with the family! God told a family to take charge of the earth.
When we relinquish God’s mandate,
the enemy takes charge!
The more families give up the mandate God has given them and release their responsibilities to government and organizations, the weaker the family becomes--and the weaker the nation becomes. A nation is as strong as its families. Families are God’s plan for living. Committed families are God’s plan for a prosperous nation.
But we have to do it God’s way. God did not leave us ignorant. He showed the plan in the first few chapters of Genesis. He showed us that it starts with the marriage where the man “shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (2:24) God wants a husband and wife to be one, not two separate entities doing their own thing, but one—one flesh, one spirit and one purpose. We must work to make our marriage strong. We must put aside selfishness, independence and our own agenda and commit to help our husbands fulfill the charge God has given us. To fulfill this world-encompassing Genesis command we cannot be anything else than positive, uplifting, committed and encouraging supporters!
God uses the word "help meet" to describe His plan for wives. The word meet is the Hebrew word neged and means 'part opposite, counterpart, mate, in front of.' In other words, she is opposite to man, but fits him perfectly like a glove. The word help is the Hebrew word ezer which means 'helper, to come to the aid of'. The amazing thing is that it is the same Hebrew word that is used when it speaks of God being our help! For example, “God is our help and shield." (Psalm 33:20)
Even more amazing is that the word ezer is first used regarding a wife, before it is used regarding God! In "the law of the first mention" the word help is given to a wife! We reveal the image of God when we help our husband and submit to his covering and leadership.
Worldly philosophy laughs at submission. It despises commitment and laying down your life for another. But what is the result? A harvest of failed marriages and hurting children. It’s time we committed to God’s way, the one who planned it in the first place. The devil’s independent way always brings destruction; God’s way is life and happiness.
The feminist agenda woos mothers out of the home. They are led to believe they have more important things to accomplish than to make their home a loving sanctuary and to raise and nurture the children God gives them. Once again, this is the enemy’s plan to weaken the family unit and to cross purposes with God.
The devil would rather have children raised in day care centers than in the home. This way he can sow seeds of deception in their minds from a young age.The more he can incite mothers to follow their own careers rather than the highest calling God has given to them, the more he can steer the new generation into his deviant thinking. This is already happening. Even many Christian women have imbibed the thinking of the world rather than God’s eternal Word.
Parenting is also weakened. Many fathers have forgotten their responsibility of fathering, the highest calling that God has given to a man. When fathers abdicate their mandate to provide, protect and lead their families in the ways of God, the family declines. When mothers leave their homes and relegate motherhood to a subsidiary part of their lives, the nation wanes.
The first home that God created was called Eden, which means “delight”. The first home was a prototype of all homes to come. God wants our homes to be a delightful place, a place where everyone loves to be, a place where we experience the presence of God; a place where we nurture and train our children and prepare them for life. God wants the Eden home to be spread across the world. He wants us to take dominion over all deception and evil and spread God’s love, truth, joy and salvation across the earth.
He wants us to have His vision--His vision for life, love and family. God loves life. The first charge to families is to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. God wants the earth to be filled with the godly seed, children who reveal His character. When we limit the number of children we have, we limit the image of God in the earth. We limit what God wants to do. Because God’s people have listened to the deceiving enemy and limited their children, the world is now bereft of millions of godly children who could be filling the nations with His glory. The devil has succeeded and is laughing up his sleeve! We have been sucked into his lies, we are weakened, and we have given up the Genesis charge.
Finis Dake comments on Psalm 127:3-5, “Each child will in the process of time be a defense, support and propagation of the eternal reproduction of man and fulfillment of the plan of God for man. The more arrows one has, the more enemies he will slay, the more powerful will he be in the earth. The more children born and saved to help God administer the affairs of the eternal plan for man, the more reward God will have.”
It is an undisputed fact that the people who obey God’s mandate to be fruitful and multiply are the people who will subdue and take dominion. Before dominion comes multiplication. It is an eternal law. If we as God’s people want to multiply God’s ways across the world, we must first be fruitful! Currently, the Islamic people are outnumbering western civilizations seven to one! They are on their way to taking dominion, unless we wake up!
We are to be on the offensive, not the defensive!
The early Christians not only embraced the children God wanted to give them, but they gathered abandoned children, took them into their homes and raised them for God. This should be the philosophy of all God’s people. We are to be on the offensive, not the defensive. We are to take charge. We are to embrace the children God will give us because they will help us in this great task of spreading God’s love and salvation across the earth. But we also need to take charge of the needs in this world—the widows, the orphans and the deprived. We can gather an orphan into our home, sponsor an orphan, or help another family to financially adopt an orphan. This is pure religion and undefiled. This is taking dominion.
Instead of relying on government agencies to help us out, we need to strengthen our marriages and families. It’s time for families to take charge again. It is time to strengthen our marriages, strengthen our families and fulfill the mandate God has given us. Strong, healthy families are God’s answer to the nation’s needs.
NANCY CAMPBELL