Family “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”

Family

“As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”

From stencils on the wall, to plaques and frames hanging and sitting around the house Joshua’s words have become famous 

But how do we take such a stand?

How can we practically work it out when the house is divided?

Disagreements, arguments, fear, anger, bitterness, come into every house

How do we stop the division and let God be Lord?

Where love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control fill the house

To give God first place we must pray

If you are going to be like Joshua and say

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

You will need to know when and how to stop and pray

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12

Your greatest strength is with God

The closer you get to God, the closer you will get to each other

The closer you are to resolving the issues of life 

 “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”

Famous words of Joshua.

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

This saying looks real good as a plaque on the wall.

They make them in so many designs.

Thousands of homes have this famous saying

hanging on the wall or framed on a shelf.

But what does it mean?

Joshua’s statement was a

declaration, a choice, a conviction.

It was also a confession to all the heads

of families that had crossed the river

and were starting a new life.

Joshua said to take a look at the gods and the

way of life on the other side of the river.

Take a look at the gods and way

of life in the land you now live in.

Joshua is saying make a choice.

Before you can serve the Lord

you have to make a choice.

Joshua declared he and his family were not going to

do things like the Egyptians they grew up with. 

They were not going to do things like

the people they were now living with.

Joshua was turning away from

the example of their fathers.

Joshua says…

       

"Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness…”

As easy as it is to hang a plaque

on the wall, it can be easy to say…

“For me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

As they say…

 “You can take the people out of Egypt

but you can’t take Egypt out of the people.”

 

If you are going to declare…

“But as for me and my household,

we will serve the LORD."

You will have to realize you and your

family have things from the other side

of the river in you that will resist.

So how do we make our family a

family that will put the Lord first?

When Sandy and I got married we found

we had different ways of doing things.

We were both Christians

but had different beliefs.

Different ways of doing things.

Months after the honeymoon we were in

our 55’ mobile home and an issue came up.

You know one of those arguments that if we did

not solve it the world would come to an end.

As fear, anger, resentment became

part of our battle, we were no longer

attacking the problem, but each other.

Sandy tried to retreat from the living

room down the hallway to the bedroom.

I chased after her to force her to see it my way.

She made it to the bedroom, closed the door,

sat on the floor bracing the door closed with

her back against the bed and feet on the door.

The only thing that saved the door was

fear the neighbors would hear us fighting.

I went back into the living room got on

my knees at the couch and began to pray.

I prayed God would show Sandy how wrong

she was and establish my leadership in the house.

The heavens were like brass.

It was so obvious to me that my prayers

were not getting past the low ceiling.

When I came to the realization God was

not listening, I humbly asked God to help me.

Somehow the issue that would bring the

world to an end didn’t matter anymore.

I didn’t need to be right.

The anger, bitterness, and a host of other things

changed in me to restored love and reconciliation.

I got up from my place of prayer and

walked to the back of our mobile home.

Sandy also was praying and got up

and walked to the front of the trailer.

We met and embraced in the

hallway not saying a word.

We had forgotten what the

issue was that started it all.

All we knew was God’s love for

us and our love for each other.

This was a very important time in our

lives because it set the stage for us to say…

“But as for me and my household,

we will serve the LORD."

We have had many disagreements

over the last 47 years.

Here is how we resolve them…

When we find ourselves in a disagreement and

the things from the other side of the river

like anger, bitterness, resentment arise,

 we stop to pray!

Sometimes we pray together and sometimes

we need space between us to pray.

Every time through prayer we regain focus.

The focus of love not hate.

The focus we are in this together

and it is not easy on either one of us.

  Most of the time we do not have

the answer in that time of prayer.

The answer we do get is how

to work together in love.

Rome was not built in a day.

The problems you face in marriage,

 the problems you bring into the marriage

are not going to be conquered in a day.

  

Therefore, the most important issue

is how we solve this together.

Learn not to force issues.

When things get ugly
(look at me, look at the me)
retreat to prayer

with your spouse or children.

They may not want to pray, that is ok.

 Ask them to give you some space to pray and ask

if they would take a few minutes in a quiet room.

God’s Spirit is amazing…

 That little bit of time to pray or be in a quiet

room is all He needs to work on the heart.

I know the Bible says…

 Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.

And that is what it means.

It did not say don’t let the sun go down

till you have the problem resolved.

  The first year of marriage can be rough.

 Sandy and I stayed up all night fighting one night.

It became morning and I needed to go to work.

I said to her…

 “I love you and want to see us both in agreement,

can we set a time when we can deal with this

issue because I know it is important to you.”

 

  Sometimes you need to set aside time

that will better serve you to resolve issues.

If you are going to be like Joshua and say…

“But as for me and my household,

we will serve the LORD."  

You will need to know when

and how to stop and pray.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

Your greatest strength is with God.

The closer you get to God, the

closer you will get to each other.

Scripture Reading

Joshua 24:14-15 NIV

14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."