Many people will come in and out of your life, but there's nothing like family! They're with you to the end.
One year at Christmas time our family was all packed in the Suburban, and I had grandchildren all around me. I was sitting there with one on my lap, one on my right side, one on the left side. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

Just having my family with me, I told Jerry, "I'm the happiest anybody could be in the world." I think that's the way God is when His family comes home.

Satan Is Anti-Family
In reading the book of Genesis, I noticed that in the very beginning, the first thing we see is Satan working against the family. He is against husband and wife, brothers and sisters, all family relationships. He tries to divide the family by turning brother against brother, sister against sister, mothers and fathers against children and children against parents.

His strategy is to destroy the family unit. That is Satan's plan but it's not God's plan. God will have what He decreed in the very beginning. He will have a family that is in His image and in His likeness.

Ephesians 3:15,18 (AMP) says,

For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named [that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name]. That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]."

God loves us so much that He sent Jesus into planet earth and then into hell itself as our substitute. His love went to the very abyss for us.

So as a parent, we have to grow in the love of God that we would go into hell itself for our children. In other words, we will do what it takes to rescue our children. If God would do it for us, He expects us to do whatever is necessary to rescue and redeem our own children from Satan's domain.

Express Your Love
One of the most important ways to express love is unconditional love. It is a commitment to your spouse, to your children, and to your family for life. No matter what failures happen in their lives; no matter what mistakes they make, you love that person forever. That's the heart of God.

You should be committed to help them be successful in whatever they want to do. It starts out small. It starts out in gymnastics or piano lessons. It starts out in Brownies or Cub Scouts or dance. Whatever it is, you are committed to help them be successful and be the best in those areas.

Then of course it changes as they grow older, and you begin to be committed to them when they date, when they get married, to their spouses. You are committed to them no matter what happens. You are always there to listen and to help.

Don't you see that as the heart of God? God's always there no matter what happens during the course of a day. He's always there to listen and to help.

Schedule Time As A Family
One of the many ways that we, as parents, can show our love to our children is to schedule time with them. It doesn't have to be big earth shaking events like taking them to Disney World and spending thousands of dollars. Simply put together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some potato chips and go to the park and just have one-on-one time with your child. I love doing those things!

Turn the television off and sit down as a family. Play games, put up badminton nets in the back yard, basketball goals in the driveway, everything that you can imagine for you to be outdoors playing together.

Communicating warm loving approval to our children doesn't just happen naturally. You have to work at it to show your family how much they mean to you and how much you love them.

Being with God in prayer communicates our love to Him, and it's the same way when we are with our families communicating our love to them.

If you have family members who are mixed up with drugs and into alcohol or the occult, God has preordained and planned a good life for them before the foundation of the world, and you have to allow the love of God to be so developed in you that you don't turn your back on them but be willing to pray them back.

Be willing to do whatever it takes to love them unconditionally and intercede for them. Don't give up on them.

Many adults are so preoccupied with their own needs, and their own problems that they don't have time for the family. They don't have the tendency to listen carefully. You have to really check yourself in this area even where your spouse is concerned. Your family is more important than that business meeting or working late. Don't let opportunities pass you by that could make a lasting impression on your family.

Schedule time with them. Pray for them daily.

Don't be in such a hurry all the time. Cook meals together as a family. Do your shopping together. Read stories about Jesus together.

God's plan for family is to love them, to restore them to health, to get them back out there. We should be the same way. No matter how discouraging some of your family relationships may be right now, there is hope. God is the God of restoration.

Develop the love of God in your heart towards them through prayer. Don't allow Satan to destroy your family unit through strife, unforgiveness or hurt feelings. Let the Holy Spirit heal those wounds so relationships can be restored to the way God intended them to be.

Many people will come in and out of your life, but there's nothing like family! They're with you to the end. This holiday season, let's prove to our family how very precious they are to us!

Copyright © Jerry Savelle Ministries International
All rights reserved. Used by permission.