The Sunday Conversation | with Pastor Luke Okoro | 05. 06. 2022
Psalms 1:1-6. 2 Peter 1:5-7.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his ways? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought thee; O let me not wander from your commandments.
Thy word have I hid in my heart , that I may not sin against thee. Psalms 119:9-11.
Sign number 17
He is not the priest and spiritual head of his home as he abandons matters spiritual to the wife, and sometimes, to one of the kids that appears promising as a believer. It doesn’t occur to him that he is meant to teach the wife and children the way of the Lord, and to develop spiritual targets of the family. Genesis 18:19. He remains perpetually a baby christian , seriously unable to hold his family up before God in prayer and fasting. Job1:5. Genesis 35:1-5. Deuteronomy 6: 3-7
Jesus says in Luke 18:1 that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. This man faints in prayer always because he doesn’t exercise spiritual authority over his family. The implication is that his family lacks spiritual direction most of the time. When God wanted to relocate Jesus to Egypt for safety and away from Herod, He spoke to Joseph, and not Mary, even though she was the channel used to bring Jesus to the world. Very often God speaks to men , rather than their wives on issues affecting their families. This is only possible for men who are priests of their homes. You are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation and a peculiar people. Are you? 1 Peter 2:9.
Sign number 18
He negotiates fasting. When a man can hardly pray, it’s not always easy for him also to have regular pattern of fasting for self and family. All too often he tries to weigh his options about fasting, the days it will be easier for him …for whatever reasons? Sometimes…the fasting days are postponed, shifted and finally abandoned because there was no comfortable day found.. He cannot tell his colleagues to excuse him for office lunch. He cannot ask his wife to allow him a day or two for private fasting and prayers.. He must necessarily eat all his breakfasts, all his lunches and dinners. He must also do all the romances. Yet , he wants power to overcome sin and Satan overwhelming him and his family. What a husband. Indeed, he faints in the day of adversity because he has little strength for fasting, and prayers. Proverbs 24:10. Power is received at the altar of fasting and prayer. Not by giving, not by singing, or any other spiritual exercise.. The Holy Ghost is also received at the place of fasting and prayers. The Generations who will rebuild the old waste places for the years to come are raised through fasting and prayer. Fast, Fast , and Fast with prayers. Isaiah 58:12-14. That’s what men who understand the times do for their families.1Chronicles 12:32. Daniel 11:32.
Sign number 19
He shies away from every church assignment, especially the ones that will bring him into contact with his Pastor. This is because he doesn’t want anybody to know the flat state of his spiritual life. He claims to be too busy in the office. And sometimes, he cajoles the wife to support him , and make a case for him to be believed. He shuns Church vigils and , even when present, sleeps away because 1, he didn’t plan to attend, and 2, he can hardly hold on for long in prayers. The admonition of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 for ceaseless prayers doesn’t make much sense to him .
Sign number 20
Like a teenager, he does not grow out of fun and fantasy with friends outside the family circle , as against coming home after work to meet and play with his family. The presence of his kids irritates him. He prefers to come home when the kids are asleep. He doesn’t seek to know his children. Again, he is poor copy of fatherhood.
Sign number 21
He marries to satisfy sexual lust, hence not much efforts are committed to making the marriage work. He isn’t committed to caring for the wife, or the children,; Or to building peace with the in-laws. Such men do little to keep the peace of the family. He doesn’t think about the effects of his actions on the family. He lacks any mechanism or wisdom at conflict resolution with in-laws, although sometimes, he foolishly reports his wife to her parents, especially the mother in-law; Maybe to curry favor or to justify his truant misbehaviors.
Sign number 22
Out of fear like a child, he tells lies, even when there are no real dangers. He lacks reflective understanding to appreciate that lying devalues a man , dents his integrity before reasonable persons. He is a habitual liar. He forgot that it was lies that denied Gehazi the benefit of assuming the prophet of God in Israel after Elisha. He inherited leprosy instead. The same was the sin of Annanias and Sapphira. Both died disgracefully as dishonest apostles. Are you caught in this trap? There is still hope for you today: repentance.
(To be continued). God bless.
Happy Sunday.
•Pastor Okoro, a revivalist and marriage counselor, can be reached on:
08051000462.
June 5, 2022.
