Your house cannot be in order when your children are in disorder. Yes, children are blessings, joy, future, hope and arrows in the hands of their parents, but that is only when they are well educated, disciplined, godly and focused. But when they are undisciplined, untrained, or godless, they can become pain, regret, nightmares, shame, and the downfall of their families and society. We are expected to make every effort to see that our children become responsible members of the home and society, and this includes adequate and fundamental home training, good education, monitoring of their activities, their relationships and their development, giving them a solid godly formation. and most importantly live an exemplary life. Yes, they watch us. They listen more to our actions than to our sermons. They believe more in how you live than in what you say. So, we must always teach them by example; follow what we say, otherwise they too will become hardened and hypocritical like us or even worse. If we fail at any or all of these, then we must prepare ourselves to reap all the negative results and heartache that will follow. A wayward or undisciplined child can bring so much pain, stain, shame, tears, anguish and even curses to their families. How are you training your children? Are you paying attention to all its details? Invest quality time, resources, word and prayer in them now. Get your house in order before it’s too late for you.
Look at the family of Eli the priest in the bible. His two sons Hophni and Phinehas brought so much pain to man and to the nation of Israel. His actions brought about his own destruction, the death of his father, the loss of the priesthood and generational causes of his family, the defeat of the entire nation, and even the capture and desecration of the great Ark of the Covenant. . OMG! So much bread? May your carelessness, indifference not cost you so much in the name of Jesus! They called them rogues and you know what it means when the word of God directly calls someone a thief or a scoundrel. That must be serious. They were all wrong. These guys were robbing men and God. They will force worshipers to part with their meat offering, take select parts and even God’s portion. I mean the God who owns the sacrifice. And the worst thing was that they slept with the women who came to worship in the house of God. Jesus Christ! One of my children exclaimed: “Jesus Christ of Nazareth!” Did they do all this? You know there are some who have no respect for anything. They do not fear God or men. God is patient and that is why most people take him for granted. If you know what some people do, what goes on in some of our homes and offices, you’ll cringe and vomit. And the worst thing is that some of these things are done through the carelessness of some parents or with their tacit approval.
I mean, don’t you see some of the parents who directly or indirectly encourage their children to immorality, criminality, and other forms of evil? Some parents know that their children are living in prostitution, immorality, or that they cannot comfortably explain the source of their income, but those parents will keep them quiet or even encourage them. Some will take or fight for the gains from such acts. Look around you you will see many of them. Or do you want to talk about fraud, cultism, drugs, etc? In fact, parents now encourage their children to move out and ‘grab the wealth’ like everyone else. They will celebrate you. Woe to you if you ever try to remind them that you are waiting on God! Priest Eli took a long time before speaking out against what his sons were doing and worse, he didn’t do enough to stop them. And he unfortunately he consumed them all. If he doesn’t take responsibility for his children and others now, the repercussions, the effects will surely come back to hurt you, the society or those close to you. God sent a prophet to warn Eli and when he sent young Samuel back to him, it was getting very late and yet the atrocities continued. God will not wait for you forever. Nope! Now the terrible levy of Judgment!
Listen to the punishment. The priesthood was removed from the house of Eli. A generational curse of untimely death was also activated. They will always die young. No old man or woman will be found in his lineage. OMG! Then, as we mentioned earlier, the nation of Israel was defeated and enslaved twice. Israel lost more than 40,000 men in these battles with the Philistines. The precious and impregnable Ark of God was hijacked by the enemies. Can you believe it? Eli and his recalcitrant sons died. You know they thought they could play tricks on God. When they lost the first battle, they ran to get the Ark and took it to the next battle, but the enemy defeated them again and captured the Ark as well. God cannot be disappointed. You will always reap what you see. When you live in sin and disobedience, the real presence of God leaves you and you begin to wallow in vain security, boasting, tradition, false hope, and the security that will complete your downfall, failure, and punishment. The enemy did not capture God but his false hope and foolishness. Remember that the unchecked sins of Eli’s sons brought all these calamities. Now, how are you raising your children? What are you doing to ensure that you turn them toward God and lead them to be responsible members of the family and society? Are you sure you’ve done enough? God said that Eli did not do enough by passively, verbally and gently rebuking his sons. He expects you to be very firm. Fight with all your might and start on time. It is about lives, deaths, destinies, name, legacy and generations. It is worth fighting with everything we have. We will continue next week. God bless you!
Gabriel is the author of the books/audiobooks: The Power of Midnight Prayer, Receive Your Healing, Breaking Generational Curses: Reclaiming Your Freedom, Never Again!, I Will Not Die, Carry On and many others https://www.amazon .com /s?I=strip books&rh=p_27%3AGabriel+Agbo&s=relevancerank&text=Gabriel+Agbo&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1