Peggy Joyce Ruth, aka "the Psalm 91 Lady" is author of a variety of Psalm 91 book titles with over six million copies in print. She taught a weekly Adult Bible Study for more than 35 years in her church in Central Texas as she shared how to make God’s Word your final authority. Known for her easy-to-understand style of communicating the Word of God and warm storytelling, Peggy Joyce's heart is that her books and teachings will bring you into the same freedom from fear she experienced and help you put God's Word to work ​in your life.
Many of you have a loved one now, either in your immediate family or maybe in your extended family, who is not yet been born again? I don't care how much kingdom living you're experiencing in your life, or how close you are to the Lord, or how sweet the fellowship is between you and God. When you know that you have a loved one who could possibly spend in eternity separated from God in hell, no matter how much joy of your salvation you're experiencing, you're gonna lose all your peace and you're gonna lose all of your joy when you think about their eternal destiny without Christ. It's impossible not to. But are you aware that you can do something about it besides worry?
Speaker 1:You know, some people think, well, there's nothing I can do. But refusing to think about it, or just hoping they're gonna come in, that's not gonna do one bit of good. But you can hope them right into hell, but I'm gonna give you something to join your faith to. Now many people have lost loved ones to the enemy out of maybe a lack of knowledge or, they don't know what their rights are. But we do not have to sit back helplessly and just let the tragedy come.
Speaker 1:I think God knew that there was gonna be no kingdom living. There was gonna be no peace, no joy. If we had a loved one facing eternal agony, and and there was something that we could do and we didn't know about it. So he he just made a way. And there's something we can do, but like every provision that God's made, we're gonna have to appropriate that provision.
Speaker 1:Now I'm believing that after today, the Holy Spirit will have sparked something inside of each one of us now, to believe that not one single relative of ours will die unsaved. If we just do now what the word of God says. And not one of us now in the interim will have to be anxious or have to be fearful or uptight. So if you have children living at home, this Bible study is for you. If you have children that have already left home, this Bible study is for you.
Speaker 1:If you plan to have children at any point in time, this Bible study is for you. Or if you never plan to have children of your own, but you have living relatives, then this this Bible study is for you. And I hope you got the point. This Bible study is giving us information of what our rights are to claim our children and and our loved ones. Now, two things keep us from our rights.
Speaker 1:And Hosea 46 tells us, our people are destroyed for lack of knowledge of the truth of the word, and also, they reject that knowledge. But today, we're gonna take care of any lack of knowledge now. I want us to look at acts 1627 to 31. And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors open, he drew his sword and he was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm for we're all here.
Speaker 1:And he called for the lights and rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. And after he brought them out, he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your household. Okay.
Speaker 1:Now that jailer wasn't asking for anyone but himself. He said, what must I do to be saved? But Paul was the one who included his whole household. So Paul's telling us something here that we need to grab hold of. Now I'm not saying that you believe and then you say, okay, that takes care of my family.
Speaker 1:No. We're not talking about some magical formula. That's not what we're talking about. Every person has to accept Jesus as his personal savior. But I am saying that spiritually, as a relative now, God has given us some things that we can do that are spelled out very clearly in the word of God to ensure their salvation.
Speaker 1:And if there's any hope for that, boy, we wanna grab hold of it. We don't wanna overlook it. If there's even a chance, then we certainly would do anything that God's telling us to do. And we don't wanna let ignorance of the word or neglect the truth, because there's nothing in this world now that we can do for a member of our family that even remotely compares to the love gift that we can give to them by playing a part in their salvation. That's the most important gift we could give to any relative.
Speaker 1:Now it takes a little effort, but anything worth its salt is gonna take a little bit of effort. But what we're gonna be talking about now is going to reap eternal rewards, not only for them, but for us as well. You know, I've been amazed how I've known men and women who they'll work weekends, maybe they'll hold down 2 jobs, and maybe deprive themselves of of necessities at a time to be able to give their family a nice vacation, or give their family a new car, or an education, you know, health insurance. Any number of things that will wear out and and pass away. And yes, they just do anything, you know, to give their family those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:Yet, few Christians either don't know how, or they're not willing to make the effort to do what it takes to give that loved one an insurance against an eternity in hell. This has to be the deception of the enemy. When when someone will work that hard for a vacation that's gonna last maybe 2 weeks, you know, and not be willing to work even half that much for an eternity for their loved one. Now the answer seems way too simple, but it will work. God's ways are so simple, and God's ways work.
Speaker 1:Okay. Here's the answer in a nutshell. First of all, you have to walk the Christian walk yourself. It's not gonna work for you to try to get your relatives in heaven if you're not walking the walk yourself. So that's the first thing.
Speaker 1:And then we have to learn how to pray effectively to be obedient now to the answers that God gives us. We have to say, oh, that is an answer. That is something I can do. And then reach out and put it to work. Now assuming that you're walking the walk for your you you know, for your yourself, we're gonna be talking now about how to pray effectively for our relatives, for our loved ones.
Speaker 1:Now you may be saying, well, I've prayed for 20 years and it hadn't done any good. You know? Well, I want us to see today what an effective prayer is. Now I'm gonna give you the definition of an effective prayer. An effective prayer is taking into God's presence, his word in faith.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna say that again because it's so important. That's what an effective prayer is. It's just taking into God's presence what his word says, and doing it in faith. Now, this is what effective praying is, whether we're praying for their healing, or maybe for their salvation, or for their deliverance, whatever. You're gonna be praying effectively when you take into God's presence in faith, whatever it is he says on the subject.
Speaker 1:Okay. Now, first John 5 14 and 15 tells us that we can we have to have confidence if we're gonna pray effectively. We need to have confidence. In other words, we have to expect results. Now you're never gonna be able to pray an effective prayer if you don't have any confidence in what you're praying.
Speaker 1:This is your confidence, which you have before him, that if we ask anything according to his will, and we know it's his will for our loved ones to go to heaven. So if we pray anything according to his will, we know that he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we've asked from him. Okay. 1st John 5 14 and 15.
Speaker 1:Okay. So our confidence is asking anything according to his will, and then knowing that he hears us. And if we know he hears us, we've got it. He's gonna give it to us. Well, how do you know if you're praying something according to the will of God?
Speaker 1:Well, the way we know is if it lines up with the Word of God, if it's a promise in the Word. You can have confidence that you're praying according to the Father's will if you're praying exactly what God tells you to pray. What the word promises. And the Bible says that if you pray according to his will, if you pray according to his word, you can know that God hears you. That's a promise.
Speaker 1:And the Bible goes on to say, when you know that God hears you, you know that you're going to get the request that you've asked for. That's wonderful. I mean, sometimes God says it so simply in his word that we read right past it. These are unbelievable promises that he's making. But we need to ask ourselves, do I believe that?
Speaker 1:It's God's word. It's first John 5 1415. Okay. Let's apply this promise now to the salvation of a loved one. Now this promise is gonna give us confidence to know that we will receive exactly what we've asked for.
Speaker 1:Effective praying is not begging, is it's not pleading and crying and going around with a long sad face. You know, that's what a lot of people do. Oh, my family's not saved. They're not going to heaven and they're just going around and they're miserable. But God is telling this is simply just taking God's word on the subject and just presenting it now before the altar and trusting God.
Speaker 1:It's just it's just a simple decision that we make. Now it stands to reason that you'll not be able to pray an effective prayer for your loved ones, and you'll not be able to take God's word into his presence and make a difference if you don't know what the word of God says. And a lot of people don't know they can do this because they don't even know that the word tells them they can do this. So we've gotta know what God's word says. Now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wants every single person to be have eternal life with him.
Speaker 1:We know that. Because the Bible tells us that it's not God's will for even one to perish. So picture all the promises that God has made up there in heaven, and picture yourself down here on earth. Those promises are not bestowed automatically. They're real, and God wants us to have them, but they're not bestowed automatically.
Speaker 1:There has to be a connection. I want you to remember that word. There has to be a connection between that person and the promise. Now someone has to ask in faith and has to meet the conditions. Now that's how to appropriate the promises.
Speaker 1:That's the connection that's our responsibility. So you need to write that down because that's so important. Now I've done a little bit of mental survey through the years and I've heard testimonies now of victories. Maybe someone was protected in war or maybe there was a healing testimony or a salvation testimony. And almost every time, they'll say, well, my mother was praying or I had a grandmother that was praying.
Speaker 1:Someone was making that connection. This is important. It it reminds me kind of an electrical outlet. It's gonna sit there dormant all day long. That electrical outlet is just sitting there on the wall until someone plugs an electric plug into the outlet.
Speaker 1:Then the electricity flows. Now you can be the plug that taps into the power outlet source to let that power of God's promises flow into the situation. And that helps me to be able to see that, to see that electric plug and see that we can be that. Everything God promises, everything that God wants to do for us has to have a connection. It's not gonna happen without a connection.
Speaker 1:And we need to remember that because it's important. In Isaiah, God said, this is what I want to do, but now I need someone to intercede and ask me to do it. I think that's interesting. That scripture always amazed me that the Lord said, I wanna do this, but I've gotta have somebody asking me to do it. In other words, he was saying, I need someone who'll be the connection.
Speaker 1:He said, I need the connection. Ask me to do it so that I can do what I wanna do. And we can be that connection. Okay. Now we're gonna look at another example in the word because he's done What he's done for 1, he'll do for all of us if we meet the requirements.
Speaker 1:Okay. Let's see what he's done for others. In Genesis 7 verse 1, then the Lord said to Noah, end of the ark, you and all of your household. For you alone, I have seen to be righteous before me. Now I think it's interesting that from this scripture, it appears that maybe even Noah's sons were not righteous.
Speaker 1:That kind of gives us that impression because he said, Noah, you alone have been found to be righteous. But Noah was obedient to do what God told him to do, and we find that Noah and his sons entered the ark. Okay. Now, after 7 more days, he said, I'm going to send rain on the earth 40 days 40 nights. I'm gonna blot out off the face of the earth every living thing that I've made.
Speaker 1:And Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him. And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of the waters came up on the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him entered. Now some of you may be fearful because your children, maybe they've already left home and you're thinking, well, it's too late. Noah's sons were grown.
Speaker 1:They were grown and married. But Noah was obedient to do what he was told to do, and all of his sons, they were saved. What you find physically in the old testament, you can apply spiritually under the new covenant. We need to remember that anything you see physically under the old covenant, you can apply spiritually in the new covenant. Because those happenings, they're a type and shadow to show us, to teach us what we can have.
Speaker 1:We can see it in the physical, and when we see it in the physical then it that's a promise to us. We can put it to work in the spiritual realm. Now Noah was obedient to do exactly what God told him to do, and he it literally became salvation for his entire family. So don't get into fear if your children are grown. It's never too late with God, as long as we do what God is telling us to do.
Speaker 1:And he's already told us in the word of God on this subject. We know what his will is. His will is that none should perish. Okay. Now I wanna show an example in the negative.
Speaker 1:Old Eli the priest, he had sons that were grown and God had told Samuel that he was getting ready now to judge Eli's house forever, he said. Because of the inequity which Eli knew about. Because his sons brought a curse on themselves and Eli did not rebuke them. First Samuel 3 verse 13. Now Eli had been told something to do and he refused to obey.
Speaker 1:And he missed out on the promise, and he witnessed the destruction of his entire family. Now if you're serious about this, God's gonna tell you what to do. If there's a point of obedience, if there's something you need to do, God will make sure you know about it if you're listening. And if you'll pray and get before God, God is not gonna hold back any information that we need. He'll tell us exactly what we need to do to make these promises come to pass.
Speaker 1:Okay. Now, let me give you some examples. If your children are still at home, your point of obedience may be just to begin being consistent in your discipline. Now this is a big one, you know, because God is going to give you very clear instructions. And God expects us to be consistent in our discipline.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 2313 and 14 says, do not hold back discipline from the child. Though you discipline with the rod, he's not gonna die. You will discipline with the rod and you will deliver his soul from hell. And we need to pay attention to that. Okay.
Speaker 1:Discipline can be the connection now between your child and his salvation. It can be the connection. So this may be a point of obedience, to be consistent with your discipline. Now you have may may have made it harder for your child with your inconsistency, but there's never a situation where it's too late or too tough with God. You know, a lot of people can say, oh, I didn't do it right.
Speaker 1:I didn't do it right. Well, repent. And God will be able to cover it and get you back on the right track, because there's never a situation too late or too tough for God. Now if we've blown it, we just need to repent. And I mean sincerely repent.
Speaker 1:And get the blood of Jesus over it and then do it right. Now your point of obedience maybe to make your child's spiritual well-being a top priority. Put it at the top of the list. We have a lot of things that we want for our children, but the top of the list should be our child's spiritual well-being. You may need to be spending some quality time with your child, being attentive and just listening to him.
Speaker 1:That may be what God's telling you to do. But if you'll be sincerely interested and say, God, I really wanna know what is it I'm supposed to be doing. I promise you, god will tell you. Our children, no matter how young they are, they're smart enough to know when we're looking right at them when they're talking, but we have our mind a 1000 miles away. They know it.
Speaker 1:They're smart. So we need to learn to give our children undivided attention. Now from the time that our children were babies in a crib, Jack would come home late. His he always came home late from work, and he'd pick those kids up, wake them up, and I think, oh, I just got them to sleep. But he'd wake them up, and he'd pray with them play with him, and love on him.
Speaker 1:And the moment that they were old enough, he would take them with him every time that he could. One time he had bought a Pepsi Cola truck from up north, and he had to fly up north to get the Pepsi Cola truck and drive it back home. Well, Bill was just 2 years old. And he said, I'm gonna take Bill with me. And I said, you're gonna take a 2 year old with you on the plane?
Speaker 1:And, yes, I I wanna take it with me. And I said, okay. And so they started off on the trip. Well, a little interesting side note, we didn't know that Bill had the mumps. So I had 2 come home with the mumps, but they had a fun trip anyway.
Speaker 1:When Jack mowed the yard, one of the kids would always ride on his shoulders. And as they got older, Bill and Jack would spend long hours together. They're building fences. They built a lot of fences, and they would talk the whole time. And a lot of times, he would take Angie on a hamburger day.
Speaker 1:A lot of times, I'd go on to bed, and Jack wouldn't get to bed until maybe 12 or 1 o'clock because he'd be up talking to the kids and letting them talk to him on things that were important to them. And he'd sit there and listen. And and I said, how can you you always act like you're so interested. He said, I am interested. This is important to them.
Speaker 1:In fact, once, when they started getting older, he said, I I know he was talking to me, and he said, I know what to talk about with Bill, with a boy. I don't know what to talk about with a girl. And I said, you talk about absolutely nothing. You just listen. That's all a woman wants is just to have someone listen and act like they're really interested.
Speaker 1:He said, I can do that. You know? And so he would. He'd sit there and listen and listen and listen. If you just listen to your children, that's gonna develop a relationship, and then your opinion on spiritual matters will be important to them.
Speaker 1:It's amazing if you listen to them, and they know you really care about what's important to them. The time's gonna come that your opinion will be important to them. Now God may be saying be in church with your children and let them see you operate in your spiritual role in the family. Okay. This is a very important point of obedience.
Speaker 1:If your role with God is not important to you, it's not probably won't be important to them for a while. So if our lifestyle contradicts the word in any way, then we need to change immediately. And so that's one of the first things that needs to be suggested. Because nothing brings confusion faster to a child than when they see inconsistency in their parents walk with God. Now sometimes by the arm of flesh or by our reasoning, we're trying to put the word to work.
Speaker 1:And if we're doing it by the arm of flesh, or we're trying to do it by the letter of the law, sometime it can just come across harsh. And that's not gonna work. But God God tells us that the letter of the law killeth, but the spirit giveth life. We can know how to flow in the spirit, and when they see that we love God and we're serious, then it's gonna mean something to them. It's not going to come across harsh.
Speaker 1:Now, God may be saying to begin letting that loved one, whether it's a loved one at home or maybe the member of an extended family, begin letting them know that you love them unconditionally. I'm not necessarily, of course, this is important with our children. But this, we need to learn how to do with our extended relatives, the ones we want come in into the kingdom. God certainly loved us when we were unlovely. And so sometimes, your point of obedient is just to right a wrong, or maybe a situation happened between you and a relative, and it's kind of just set there and it's doing damage.
Speaker 1:Praise God and say, Lord, I I wanna learn how I can fix this and make it right. And sometimes it's just to intercede and believe God and do nothing in the natural. Just, just pray. But if we want it cleaned up, I truly believe God will clean it up. Whatever the point of obedience might be, God's gonna let you know.
Speaker 1:And if we want it badly enough, we'll be obedient to do what he tells us to do. You know, I remember Ivan Tait saying that he wanted to preach to his mama because she wasn't a Christian. And the Lord said, no. I want you just to love her. And so he said that he would hug her, and he'd love her, and kiss her, and say, oh, mama, I just love you.
Speaker 1:And his mama finally came into the kingdom. So God will tell us exactly what to do. Whatever it is that relative needs. But whatever point of obedience God may or may not call you to do, at least we need to cope in contact with those lost relatives. You know, sometimes a phone call or just a note in the mail.
Speaker 1:Not preaching at them or not necessarily talking about spiritual things, but just keeping the line of communication open. It lets them feel your love, and it lets you it lets them feel your concern for them. So find ways of just showing them an interest in them. Too many times what we do, we lose contact with unsaved relatives because we don't have anything in common, you know. And instead of recognizing the commission now that we've been given concerning their soul, sometime we let our different lifestyles just cause us to pull away.
Speaker 1:It's just easier because we don't have anything to talk about a lot of times. But light has to come in contact with darkness before it can extinguish the darkness. We need to realize that. So we need to keep in contact with them to let that light be there. Now you may be the only light in some relatives life.
Speaker 1:So sometimes our light has to make contact with their darkness, so that their darkness can be put out. So that light can come in. Now, don't get into anxiety over what to do. Just ask God. It is amazing.
Speaker 1:We can ask God and sometimes he gives us the simplest little thing to do. But it'll when God tells us, it'll work. Jack actually drove out of state and went 3 states away just to keep in contact with his relatives. And that wasn't anything that he particularly wanted to do, but he said, a lot of my relatives are not saved. And he was he was desperate about that.
Speaker 1:And sure enough, he went, and it was amazing how many he was able to lead to the Lord. Some of them are still serving God today. In fact, one called us not too long ago, said, I just love to come and be in the ministry with with you, because he didn't lose contact with him. Just show genuine interest. You're not the savior, so don't get into any false burden.
Speaker 1:Just keep asking God, Lord, what do I need to do? And it may just be a simple phone call. Whatever it is, do what God tells you to do. Now, Noah was obedient to do what God told him to do, and that was simply, God says go in the ark and take your family. That was all he was told to do, and it worked.
Speaker 1:God did the saving. Now, our responsibility is simply to do anything we're told to do, and then know that God will do what he promises to do. Just begin thanking him that it's done. Thanking him for their salvation. Don't quit thanking God.
Speaker 1:Lord, you're gonna get them saved. I'm trusting you to do it, because you're putting your faith out. And God will find ways that you may never think of, but he'll find ways and he'll do it. Confess your thanks every day for what God's doing until you see the results. And then, of course, just keep thanking him after that.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm wanting us to see the simplicity of what God requires. Sometimes we think, oh, if if I ask God what he wants me to do, no telling what he's gonna ask of me. But it's amazing the simplicity of what God is requiring out of us. Sometimes it's the simplest little thing that we'll get through. The children of Israel were getting ready to go into the promised land, And the news about how their God had parted the Red Sea and the stories that were being told about all the miracles they'd had in the wilderness, it that preceded them long before they ever entered Jericho.
Speaker 1:So it wasn't something they had to do. It was just it was just simply that they had to be happy over what God had done and evidently they were telling it. It's why the news preceded them. And that is what opened the door for them. Because when they got into Jericho, the people in Jericho were terrified because they had heard all about these miracles.
Speaker 1:Joshua 21, then Joshua the son of Nun, sent 2 men as spies secretly saying, go and view the land, especially Jericho. So they came into the house of Rahab, the the harlot, and Shelah, and they lodged there. And verse 12, then Rahab said, please swear to me by the Lord, since I've dealt kindly with you, that you will deal kindly with my father's household. And give me a pledge of truth. Show me something to let me know that you're you're gonna take care of us.
Speaker 1:Then Rahab was given a point of obedience and she was told something to do. Verse 18. They told her, unless when we come into the land, you tie a card of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us stand and gather to yourself into the house, your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your family's household. And that so that scarlet thread now, that was a top and shadow of the blood of Jesus. And she said, according to your word, so be it.
Speaker 1:So she sent them away and they departed and she tied the scarlet thread in the window. Now I'm sure that that Rahab might have thought, oh, boy, I'd be in big trouble if if the king ever finds out what I'm doing. You know, she probably also wondered, do you suppose these spies are even gonna remember me after they win the battle? They may not even remember what they promised me. But anyway, she was obedient to do.
Speaker 1:And she tied that scarlet thread in the window, and then she brought her whole household inside the house, just as she had been told to do. And in Joshua 62223, after they won the battle, Joshua said to the 2 men who had spied out the land, go now to the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her. So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had. They were all brought out, all of her relatives, and placed them outside the camp of Israel. God doesn't forget the promises.
Speaker 1:He just that he never forgets. Now you may be saying, Noah had to physically gather his sons into the ark and Rahab had to physically gather her, relatives in the house. But what if I can't get my family to do what they're supposed to do? What if I can't make them do it? Well, what we see under the old covenant physically is a type and shadow of what we can do spiritually under the new covenant.
Speaker 1:I wanna say that because it's so important. We see all these things that were done in the natural, in the physical realm, in the old testament. But that's just to give us a type and shadow. That's to give us a picture of what we can do spiritually now to make it work. And so if we read these old testament stories and we just simply think of them as an exciting history story, that's not gonna work.
Speaker 1:A type and shadow is to teach us what to do. When we see what they were doing in the Old Testament, then that's a type and shadow for us to do it now, spiritually under the new covenant, in order to get our victory. And it works if we'll do that. Rahab put the scarlet thread in the window that was a representative, a a type and shadow of the blood of Jesus, and we are to verbally put that blood over our household every day and name each member, you know, to come under that blood. And that's what we need to be doing.
Speaker 1:They were told these things to do. That's a type and shadow for us now to put the blood of Jesus spiritually and start naming those relatives that we're calling in. There's also another type and shadow of the blood in the Old Testament. Because as the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, they were told to kill the Passover lamb, put the blood on the door facing. And then Moses said, now bring your entire family in under the blood.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says that when the death angel comes, the destroyer came, but he couldn't cross the bloodline. Okay. Exodus 1223. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptian. And when he sees the blood on the on the 2 doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and he will not allow the destroyer to come into your house to smite you.
Speaker 1:Okay. The Bible says, where the blood is, the destroyer cannot come. So verbally, in faith, we need to put that blood over our family. If we'll do that, we have a picture in the Old Testament showing us the protection they got from doing that. We can do that spiritually and have the same protection.
Speaker 1:God was showing us in the old testament, so we'd know what to do today. Now if a type and shadow of the blood of Jesus could give that much protection under the old covenant, How much more the actual blood of the Lord Jesus will protect our family. Okay. Now the person doesn't have to hear us. We're not having to do it in front of the person.
Speaker 1:We can put that blood and and, appropriate it out loud over different family members. They may never know that we're doing that, but God hears. He knows it. And also, Satan knows it. And he knows that he's lost.
Speaker 1:Now I don't think a day goes by when we fail to confess. Lord, I thank you for the blood of Jesus. It's a blood protection over our family, over our land, over all that belongs to us. And confess Psalm 91 every day because that's your personal covenant of protection to cover you and to cover your household, your grandchildren, your, your brother, your sister. I mean, do all your relatives, because God's given you that privilege.
Speaker 1:Sometime you may even your church family. It tells us to do it over our family. Sometimes we can just say, Lord, that's my family too. And every day, we're supposed to thank God that they're under a blood covering and they're protected. And so we need to spiritually do that.
Speaker 1:And and when we do it, we can say, Lord, we saw it work in the Old Testament. And so if it worked for them, it's gonna work for us. Joshua 622, and Joshua said to the 2 men who had spied out the land, now go into the harlot's house and bring the woman all she has out as you've sworn to her. You told her you were gonna do it, now go do it. And everyone Rahab had in the household was brought out and put into a place of safety.
Speaker 1:And I believe that we make our own limitations. I've I've always believed that that we limit ourselves. God's not limiting what he's gonna give to us. And we may be the only one in our entire family who's saved. And it's very tempting to think, you know, what can I do?
Speaker 1:I'm just one person. I have 25 unsaved relatives. And that's easy to think that way because we're thinking, well, you know, there's nothing I can do. But we can do exactly what Rahab did, and we need to name every one of those unsaved relatives and get a vision now of seeing them saved. And then tell the enemy, Satan, I defy you in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1:My family is under a blood covering, and spiritually, I've put them there, and you're never going to succeed in taking them to hell. You'll never be able to do it. They have been claimed for God, and you are never going to have them. We need to be that sure. No matter how they may be living in the world.
Speaker 1:They may be in all kinds of sin. But what he showed us in the old testament, we don't know what Rahab's family was doing. Those brothers and sisters might have been in in in, all kinds of sin. But when she did it, they were saved. When we do it some way, God's going to get our our children, our relatives and bring them in.
Speaker 1:What that does, it releases all the forces in heaven to work in our behalf. You know, it's exciting me to think that when I'm obedient to God, then he releases the forces of heaven to work for me. Of course, it's gonna work, including the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit begins to draw each individual into a place of total surrender to the Lord. Now, Job's friends were wrong when they judge Job's heart. But some of the statements that they said were true, so we can learn from the truth.
Speaker 1:In, Job 22 23, he said, if you return to the almighty, you're gonna be restored. If you remove all unrighteousness far from your tent and place your gold in the dust, then the almighty will be your gold and choice silver to you. For then, you will delight in the almighty. You'll lift up your face to God. You'll pray to him and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
Speaker 1:You will also decree a thing and it will be established for you and light will shine in your way. When you're cast down, you will speak with confidence and the humble person he will save. He will deliver one who's not even innocent and he will be delivered through the cleanliness of your hands. Okay. Now that came from Job's friends, but it's it's a powerful truth that they were saying and we need to claim that.
Speaker 1:If we have an unbelieving husband or wife, you know, I I think there's an unbelievable promise here. In 1st Corinthians 713 and 14, it says, and the woman who has an unbelieving husband, but he consents to live with her. The Bible tells us, let her not send him away. You know, let him stay. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband.
Speaker 1:For otherwise, your children are unclean, but now they're holy. When we're doing what God's telling us to, it even covers our children. It's amazing. I seldom hear this anymore, but years ago, I I would hear maybe women cry and they just bemoan the fact that their husband and all their children were lost. You know, they're just and they'd be down at the altar crying and and going on and on.
Speaker 1:Now there may be time for deep intercession in the spirit, but not that kind of crying where they're just crying because everybody's lost and there's nothing they can do about it. When we're crying in deep intercession, it's because we're believing God, and, we're sending out our cries, you know, in faith to God. Okay. Listen, if one person in a family is saved, there's light. It just it can be just one person.
Speaker 1:And we have to remember that light extinguishes darkness. Darkness doesn't put the light out. So we need to quit being down in the mouth because that despair now is a tool of the enemy to keep us from doing the very thing that would have brought our family in. We need to realize sometimes what we're doing out of our despair and our unbelief, That's keeping it from happening. God says, I want you to see what I did in the old testament, let that be a testimony to you.
Speaker 1:And then also know that if I make a promise to you, it's gonna work if you'll do it. So we need to pray for their forgiveness and and claim every day. Make out covenants, read those covenants, claiming their salvation that they'll come into the Lord. When Jesus heard that Lazarus the dead, he didn't get all excited and uptight and in despair. He just had a calm assurance because he knew what he was gonna do.
Speaker 1:Now you've gotta realize, Jesus was living on earth as a man. So he was having to operate in faith. But he knew that when he did what God was telling him to do, it was gonna work. And, he knew it was going to overthrow the plan of the enemy. You can overthrow the plan of the enemy.
Speaker 1:The Bible over and over is telling us that we have those promises. Philippians 128, when you're not alarmed by what the enemy's doing, we get so alarmed over what we see the enemy doing. But he says, if you're not alarmed by what the enemy's doing, that's a sign of destruction for the enemy and a sign of salvation for you. We need to memorize that. Because most of the time, when we see what the enemy's doing, we get uptight and frightened and, and disturbed.
Speaker 1:But he said, when if you're not let alarmed by what the enemy's doing, that's a sign of destruction for the enemy when we don't get alarmed by it. And it's a sign of salvation for us. Okay. We don't have to be alarmed. Most of the time, we see what the enemy is doing.
Speaker 1:We get alarmed. But God said, no. That shouldn't be an alarm to you. God wants us to be calm and assured and know that what we're doing is going to bring our relatives in. And start thanking him every day.
Speaker 1:They may not look like they're coming in, but we can say, God, you made a promise. I'm trusting your promise. And you've given me something to do, and I'm gonna do it every day, and I know it's gonna work. Okay. Now later, you can look up acts 1112.
Speaker 1:But this is the story of Cornelius, and he was sending for Peter. And when Peter came, Peter gave the good news and he accepted Jesus. And then Peter said, this has become salvation for you and for your entire household. So start claiming that when you do what you've been told to do, when you do the right thing, then just like in the Bible, when they did it, it became salvation not only for the person doing it right, but for their household. Claim that for yourself.
Speaker 1:Lord, I'm doing what you're telling me to do, and just like you promised in the word of God, you said that when I did it, it was gonna be salvation for me and salvation for my entire household, and and claim it. In Luke 19 verse 2, Jesus told Zacchaeus to come down because he's going to have dinner at his house. Well, Zacchaeus was a sinful man. He was a tax collector. But when he repented and accepted Jesus, Jesus said, today salvation has come to you.
Speaker 1:Is that what he's saying? No. He said, today salvation has come to you and to your entire household. So we can claim our household. If they did it in in the in the Bible, in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, that is a a something we can grab hold of and put to work.
Speaker 1:Genesis 18, Lot and Abraham had parted ways because the servants were in disagreement. And Lot had taken the fertile valley and he had moved his family there. But Abraham had been left with a mountainous desert. And verses 2023 tell us that Sodom and Gomorrah sin was exceedingly, exceedingly grave. But Abraham asked for Sodom and his family, Lot.
Speaker 1:So God said, okay, Abraham, because you've asked for their protection, if there's 50, I'm gonna spare the city for your family. So Abraham starts reasoning and he realizes there's probably not 50. That's pretty evil place. And so he said, well, Lord, wait a minute. What if there's just 45?
Speaker 1:And God said, okay, for 45. Okay. I want us to stop and think what God's willing to do here. All Abraham was asking, and God said okay. And it and so he said, well, maybe just there's only 40.
Speaker 1:God said okay. 35. God said okay. I'll do it for 35. Whatever he was asking for, God was saying fine.
Speaker 1:You know? And he got all the way down to 10. And God even consented to spare the city for 10 righteous. But we find out that they couldn't even find 10. So God didn't have any obligation, but he went a step further and he said, you know, well, I'll take care of Lot and his family.
Speaker 1:You know? And he'll do for us if we will intercede and just believe him. Just believe his word. Now you may think there's another way in the world that some of your relatives, you know, could ever possibly come into sin. Because maybe they look like they're in a hopeless case, and you think, Lord, I don't see any way they can be reached.
Speaker 1:But God has not quit using the angels to go in and snatch them out of the jaws, of Satan. Norville Hayes tells about his daughter who was in the depths of sin. But he kept interceding and he kept telling God, lord, I'm not turning her loose. She's coming in in for salvation. And so it wasn't long until an angel appeared to her in her bedroom.
Speaker 1:And boy, she came in to the Lord and she's been serving God ever since. Genesis 19 verse 1 and 15 and 16. Now the 2 angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting by the gate. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and he bowed down with his face to the ground. Now, he was asking for the whole city.
Speaker 1:They couldn't find any righteous, so he said, okay. Let's do it for your family. And so at verse 15, when morning dawned, the angels urged Lot saying, up and take your wife, your 2 daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he hesitated. So the man seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his 2 daughters for the compassion of the Lord was upon him, and they brought him out and put him outside the city.
Speaker 1:Now Lot was not even really in in in, cooperation, and they still because of Abraham praying, they still dragged him out of the city. So we can take that and we can say, you know, if I'm standing for my relative, my relative may be fussing and fighting and not willing. But, Lord, if you did it for Abraham, you'll do it for me. You can take just like they took Lot's hand and said you're gonna do it anyway because Abraham prayed. Lord, you'll do that for me.
Speaker 1:You'll take my family by the hand and say, you'll do it for me because your relative prayed. Even when our relatives are hesitant, we can still pray a man. So we need to expect the angels to take them by the hand, literally pull them out of the destruction. Just remind God, Lord, I'm doing this because you did it for a lot. If you did it for a lot, you'll do it for me.
Speaker 1:Now the evil of the city was about to turn back on the heads of the people there. And then in verse 22, the angel said, hurry, escape now, for I cannot do anything until you arrive at Zoar. They said, we can't do a thing. We can't destroy the city. We can't do anything until you get there.
Speaker 1:Okay. Why couldn't they do anything? Because Abraham was interceding. That's why they couldn't. And the destruction couldn't come until the his loved ones were, taken to safety.
Speaker 1:Okay? What a promise this passage of scripture gives us. So begin to confess over your family members. Destruction absolutely cannot come over my loved ones until they're in a place of safety. If he did it for them, he'll do it for us.
Speaker 1:Lord, I thank you that destruction cannot come over my loved ones until they're in a place of safety. Now just because Abraham loved God and had faith in God, that would not have saved Lot. But because he loved God and he said, God, I I'm putting I I've asked and you've made a promise to. If we'll intercede and stand in the gap and believe just as Abraham did, that can be the connection that he's waiting for. We can be the connection for every single unsaved relative that we have.
Speaker 1:Now there may be don't no one but you to ask in behalf of your relatives. And don't count of your other Christian relatives to be standing in the gap. Because a lot of times, we may have relatives that are saved, but they may not be doing any praying. So we can't wait on that. We're going to have to determine, Lord, I am not going to let so and so die and go to hell.
Speaker 1:Satan, you're never gonna have him. Make up your mind. No child of mine will ever die and go to hell. Devil, you will never have one of my children. Devil, you will never have one of my parents or you'll never have old aunt Susie.
Speaker 1:You're never gonna have a member of my family. We can do that. The the word of God shows us through the old testament and into the new testament that we have that right. Now some of you may be struggling right now thinking, are you trying to say that I have the authority to keep my child or to keep my loved one out of hell? I Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?
Speaker 1:Listen, you most certainly do have that authority in your family. And not only can you exercise that authority, but God expects you to. He has given you example after example after example. But it's not gonna do us one bit of good if we don't take those examples and use them. We have be given the ministry of reconciliation.
Speaker 1:He's given us the ministry to reconcile people back to God starting at home. Luke 10:19, you've been given authority over all the powers of the enemy. Jesus said, I've given you the authority. The only power that Satan has is to influence and deceive. Sometimes we think he has all this power and authority over over our family.
Speaker 1:But Jesus said, I've given you the authority, and the only power that Satan has is just to influence and deceive. And when he does that, if we allow that to happen, then he can come in and steal. But Satan deceives to get his way. But you are the one who has been given the authority to make it go God's way. We've been given that authority, but it's not gonna do us one bit of good if we don't use it.
Speaker 1:We have authority over the enemy's power to influence, so use it. Begin confessing every day, Satan, I bind your influence off of my relatives. I bind your influence. Your power over them is broken and I bind the confusion, the deception, and I call relatives, call them by name, I call them into the kingdom. Command the power of the enemy to be broken.
Speaker 1:The enemy only has power when we give him the power. He can only influence and deceive until we give him the power. We don't have to. Luke 10 verse 20 tells us, nevertheless do not rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your name is recorded in heaven. I think it's interesting that right after he tells us that we have authority over the enemy, in the very next verse he's telling us about our eternity that we can have with him.
Speaker 1:The eternity that our our loved ones can have with him. In other words, as we take that authority over the enemy, it ensures not only their salvation and our salvation, but the salvation of our entire household. We have a covenant with God. We have a promise, and we need to start claiming it. So next week, what we're gonna do, we're gonna start here and we're going to explore this subject a little bit deeper because we do not have to lose one relative.
Speaker 1:We don't have to. It's shows us over and over and over in the old testament, and over and over in the new testament. But we've gotta see it and believe it and put it to work. Father, I thank you that we don't have to have one of our relatives, one of our children go to hell. You've given us so many promises here.
Speaker 1:They're just obvious. But, Lord, they're not gonna do us one bit of good if we don't put them to work. So, father, I thank you in Jesus' name that as we see what you did in the old testament, that's a type and shadow of exactly what we could have under the new covenant. When see when we see what you did in the new testament over and over, father, help us not to overlook these promises. Help us not to just sit back and get in fear and think, oh, no.
Speaker 1:My family's not gonna go to to heaven and watch them go straight to hell. Father, help us to take what you've promised and put it to work, and we can we can literally be the connection to bring every single member into the kingdom. In Jesus name. Thank you.