Frequently we find that even though we are Christians and have a good relationship with the Lord, our home situation is not a warm one. Many times both mates are saved, but just because both are born again does not mean that there is a warm family situation.
With this in mind, I would like to discuss how to warm your own home life.
If there is anything that Satan likes to do, it is to knock around a Christian home, causing contention and division. Perhaps your home does not have the joy and abundance of life it is supposed to have in Jesus.
When the truth comes forth, it brings light into any situation. As the Word goes forth, I believe it will not only bring light into your home life, but it will also help you to help others to warm their nests too!
Warming Your Nest
Here is a scriptural technique for warming your nest:
- The first step is for you to make the communication (the fellowship, the embracing) of your faith for your household effectual (energetic) by acknowledging who everyone in your household is in Jesus Christ.
Every member of your household who is born again is a begotten one, a saint. You need to acknowledge that fact by your confession and by the way you treat them. You need to treat them with respect.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't discipline your children, or that they shouldn't do the dishes or pick up their clothes; but you shouldn't talk to them in a condescending way to get it done. - The second step is for you to identify with your family members. In his letter to Philemon, Paul refers to one of his disciples, Onesimus, as his son: "...my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels" (Philemon 10-12 KJV).
Paul obviously had a strong affection for Onesimus. He called him his son, his bowels, himself. He identified totally with him. Do the same for your loved ones. Identify with them. Become totally one with them. - The third step is for you to acknowledge and appreciate the worth of your family members. Onesimus was a runaway slave of Philemon's whom Paul had met and led to the Lord. The name Onesimus means "profitable." Here Paul writes to Philemon that while Onesimus was once an unprofitable slave and a thief, now he is truly profitable both to Paul and to his master Philemon.
Did you know that your children were profitable? Not only profitable to the Lord, but also profitable to you! Sometimes I think that the sweetest lessons in faith that I have learned have come from my children. - The final step is for you to express confidence in your family members. Did you ever say to your mate or your children, "I have confidence in you. You'll do well"? That is such a key thing. That is making your faith effectual by acknowledging what your household is in Christ Jesus
What do you confess for your mate? "Aw, that bum! Always grouchy; always nasty! Steady disposition - always hateful!" Or do you confess who your family members are in Christ Jesus and who He is in them? Remember, faith is not what you see. Faith is what you know to be true from the Word.
I have noticed that as I have confessed the Word about my son and my daughter, they have begun to act upon my confession. Mike is a wise son, a totally committed man of God. Sarah is a wise daughter, and she pleases her father.
You might say, "Marilyn, do you always see that?" No, I don't see it with the natural eye all the time, but that's when I confess it the most! Make your faith effectual by acknowledging every good thing that God has in your household.
You'll warm your nest and change it from being a cold, indifferent situation into a victorious, harmonious place of peace and joy.
Did Jesus come to give us a life of disaster? Or did He come to give us life in abundance? The last verse of Malachi says that in the last days the Lord "shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers" (Mal. 4:6 KJV). We need to quote that for our families and make it effectual.
Jesus has never called us to criticize; He has called us to edify, to build up. If you sincerely want to see your family and home life changed and transformed by the Word, then make this prayer confession with me:
Father, I know that the power of life and death is in my tongue; Your Word says so. I know that I am an instrument either to build or to destroy.
Right now I enter into a covenant with You that no corrupt communication is going to come out my mouth against my mate, against my children, or against the Church which is the Body of Christ. I am going to live to edify and to build, not to destroy.
Your Word says that I quench every fiery dart that the enemy fires against me by my faith. I take the Word of faith, and I put out the fire of the devil right now. There is no weapon formed against my home, against my relationship with my mate or my children that shall prosper.
Every weapon shall go down, in the name of Jesus. I thank You that it is my heritage to put down weapons of the enemy, to put down tongues of condemnation, for righteousness is of the Lord.
I am the righteousness of God right now. Thank You for our warm nest that produces the best people who are totally committed to You.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
by Harrison House Authors
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Encouraging, optimistic, always upbeat, and energetic at the young age of 90, Marilyn Hickey actively ministers internationally, most recently in Sudan, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, India, China, and Pakistan, as well as domestically in the United States through Bible Encounters and speaking engagements. Marilyn has had audiences with government leaders and heads of state all over the world. She is the first woman to join the Board of Directors of the largest church in the world, Dr. David Yonggi's Church Growth International in South Korea. She has traveled to 146 countries and plans to visit many more in the years to come. She and her late husband Wallace were married for over 50 years, and have two children and four grandchildren. 
