The Whole Family

God has given me so much to chew on and think about this past month; things in regards to my personal life and also in the lives of others. I wanted to share a story about one of my really good friends and I, and the conversation we recently had.

Last night, I headed up to his house in hopes to sit down with a few of the men to share Gods Word. Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 guys that I try and meet with were not there or had just got back from work and did not have time to sit down. So it was just my friend and I, out side of his house, hanging out, sharing stories. I had prepared to share from John 15, how God wants to get rid of the branches that don’t bare fruit and how He wants the ones that are bearing fruit, to bear as much as possible. And how we must “remain in Him” and how He will “remain in us”.

Well, we got to talkin and before long, I could tell we weren’t going to be talking about John 15 anymoreJ Our conversation headed in a different direction. A good one though. He started talking about how he wants his entire family to come to faith, not just himself. He is the only believer in his household, but he is not living out his faith to the fullest. He said, “Taylor, its tough. How can I go to church on Sunday by myself, and then on Monday take my wife to see the spiritists if she has an illness?” He went on to explain how he has to take care of his wife and his family even if it contradicts his new beliefs. He told me how he doesn’t want to walk “two paths”. He followed by saying he hopes that one day “his whole family can get in the boat and all of us go to church…TOGETHER”.

God put 1 Peter 3 on my mind and I opened up my Aukan Bible and read it to him. He heard how Peter was encouraging the women on “winning over” their husbands by the way they live. Maybe their husbands don’t want to hear Bible stories and don’t want to hear about God (like my friends wife), but their husbands cannot help but see how these women live out their faith. I told Ba Japen that these same words can be applied in his life. How he needs to live out his faith with all his heart and that his wife would see it. She would see the way he lives for the Lord. He really understood.

I was encouraged by his desire for his families salvation. I told him that I had been praying for his whole family every week. He called them all outside to pray. Everyone came, except his wife. Please be praying for her. I feel that if she comes to know the Lord, those precious children of theirs will not be far behind.

Please keep praying for my freind, his wife and his three kids! We hang out a lot each week, but usually Thursday nights we sit down to get into the word. Please continue to pray that God would bless those times we spend in the Word. I know it has power! Thanks for the prayers! God bless.