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Intention

That families would invite Christ into their homes and would come to know His presence when they pray and read the Scriptures together. That they would learn that He is their Brother, and His Father is their Father

Scripture

“Now Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Look, your mother and brother and sisters are outside asking for you.’ He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those sitting in a circle round him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’” – Mark 3:31-35

Reflection

This teaching of Jesus is also recorded in Matthew and Luke, but in Mark it is placed in the clearest context. If you go back ten verses, you will read that his family is worried about him. His relations set out to take charge of him; people were saying “He is out of his mind.”

In this moment, Jesus himself is experiencing what he talks about on several occasions in the Gospels: that even family ties are not as important as what God wants; that following God is above every consideration, even if it means painful separation from what we hold most dear.

As Christians, we are on guard against succumbing to idolatry: in other words, putting created things on a par with, or even above, our Creator. Money, the pleasures of this life, even power, can be gifts to be used for good, but can also become idols which can steal our hearts away from God.

In our contemporary Australian culture, we get mixed messages about families.

There are many aspects of our economy and society which are not “family friendly”; and yet there is also a sentimental rhetoric, which can be heard in both secular and religious voices, which risks idolizing and distorting the good that is the family.

We can drive out our false ideas by prayer and fasting. The true renewal of family life comes from within the family: where we invite Jesus to become the centre of our life together.

He is standing at the door and knocking. If we bring him into the centre of our family circle, he will heal what has gone wrong and nourish what is good.

Prayer

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Amen.

31 Days Prayer Points

1. Pray for the restoration of FAMILY, FATHERHOOD and MOTHERHOOD in our nation. Malachi 4:6
2. Pray for healing for MARRIAGES, protection for CHILDREN and restoration of the sanctity of LIFE. Isaiah 58:12
3. Pray for Revival, Renewal and Reformation for Australia, that our nation might return to God. 2 Chronicles 7:14

We invite you to support this month-long Prayer & Fasting campaign to raise up prayer for Family and Nation. Every donation to the Canberra Declaration helps us spread the word and make a stand for Family, Faith, Freedom and Life.

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