In coming to prepare this message I was trying to look for something really profound and a title that would just catch the attention of the hearer, so I really sat and pondered what it meant to integrate your family and your ministry I realized you are a leader, you are a disciple, you are a spouse and a clown. Because integrating your family in ministry is like a juggling act. You are a bit of everything and anything. Half the time you feel like a leader and the other half of the time you just feel like a clown, because you are running in so many directions and trying to toggle so many things at one time that you don't know whether you are coming or going and whether those balls are going to drop on your head one after the other.
 

Particularly as a mother, as a wife, as a leader, as a disciple, a cook, housecleaner, a washer woman - there are just a hundred things that you are having to take into consideration. And just when you think, "Lord I'm saturated. There isn't possibly one more thing that I could possibly fit into this schedule. There isn't one more thing and one more gift that I can use or jiggle right now," He gives you another responsibility.

You know you would think you would fall under the load. But instead of falling you get stronger and stronger. I have chosen a passage from Colossians 3:18 to summarize what exactly Craig and I are going to be sharing on.

 18 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love [your] wives, and be not bitter against them.

20 Children, obey [your] parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

21 Fathers, provoke not your children [to anger], lest they be discouraged.

22 Servants, obey in all things [your] masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
 

Can you see so many things that are contrary in this Scripture? Where do you draw the line? Where do you stop being the disciple to become the leader? When do you stop being the leader to become the spouse? When are you the great might apostle and when are you the dishwasher? Where is the line? How do you find balance, and what you tend to do is balance yourself on one or the other. You either withdraw and become the disciple and the dishwasher and the cook and everything else and you don't find time for ministry, or what tends to happen is that you swing to the opposite extreme. You take the bull by the horns and you become the great mighty leader, but as you are becoming the great mighty leader, particularly as a woman, you then try and take that leadership ability into your home and there comes conflict in your marriage. There comes conflict in your family, because the leader that you are in ministry, the head that you are in ministry, you cannot be in your home. The Word says, "Wives submit to your husbands."
 

So okay I stand up in ministry and I am a leader. I am the leader and the head. Now I have to suddenly cut that off and submit and become the disciple in the home. Now I am the wife and the mom. It is like you have to just switch roles, like you have to cut one off to embrace the other. How do you do it? How do you cope? By the grace of God! It has taken me a good few years to find that balancing line and a good few knocks on my head, and a good few fights with my husband where I had to learn, "Submit, woman!"
 

What applies to a leadership position and what applies to the ministry does not apply to the home. When I walk into the bedroom he is the king of his castle. He is head of the home. But yet when it comes to ministry I play the leadership position and I am leading and instructing him.

I know that a lot of you ladies are in this position today and I can see that you are identifying. It is very common in the Body of Christ today that women are taking a tremendous leadership role in the ministry. Is this wrong? No. What is wrong is when women take the leadership ministries into their home and try and be the head of their home and try and be the leader in their home when the Lord is very clearly saying, "No. The man is the head of his home. You must come under him."

"But Lord, I've got better potential than him. I'm a stronger character! I've got more gifts and more ability."
 

Now I must come into submission to somebody who might not even be serving the Lord. That is not fair. You want to rebel and get out there and change everything and the Lord is saying, "Shut up and submit!"
 

That is a heavy lesson to learn especially if you are a strong character. I am a driver/expressive. I am a natural leader if you will. So even in the natural you just want to get in there and take over.

"He doesn't know what he's doing anyway. I'll make the decision!"
 

Wrong! It is not God's order. That is not God's order for the Christian family and it is not God's order for the church. Where do you begin? The call to leadership is a call to servanthood. Before the Lord will raise you up as a leader; before He will set you up as an example He will make you a disciple first.
 

We have been sharing this whole weekend on the local church, our role in it and our position, and the Lord opened my eyes to see that the family is like a local church. Les was sharing and said of the Bishop that unless he can rule his house well how can he possibly rule the church? Unless he can rule his home how can he be set up as a leader in the Body of Christ?
 

So before you can step out and be a great leader in the local church and in the Body of Christ you need to learn to be a leader and a disciple in your own home. Now you create the correct pattern in your home and what happens? When you move into the local church you take that with you.
 

I am doing a series at the moment called, "Building a Family Heritage" and the Lord showed me how each family is like a stone in the building of God, how each family is a brick, and how we bring that brick and we join it to the Kingdom of God. Well what kind of brick are you joining to the Kingdom of God? Is it a brick that if another one is put on top of it, it crumbles, or is it going to remain solid for generation after generation, that as it builds up over time you have this big solid building?
 

This is why the enemy has attacked families. Why has he attacked Christian families? Because if he can bring division in the family he brings division in the local church. If he can bring division in the local he has brought division in the Body Universal.
 

You see, we are looking at the end product and we say, "We have to try and work our way back."
 

No. We have to start at the base root. We have to start where it all begins, and that is in the home. If you want to change the Body of Christ universally start in your home, because what you build into your family gets taken to the local church. And what gets built into the local church gets taken to the Church Universally. We want to get out there and change everything at the top, but what the Lord is saying is, "No. If you wand to build a solid foundation come right down to the foundation which is the family."
 

What is the enemy doing though? He is attacking the family. He is bringing separation, strife, abuse, and he is breaking the family apart. He is bringing pressures of the world to bear on husbands and wives, putting them under external pressures that are unnecessary, to break them apart, to make the foundation shaky. He is brining our children under worldly influences in the Schools, in the media. He is destroying their minds, he is destroying their spirits. And what happens when you try and bring that into the local church? There comes the same System, the same attack, the same abuse. You can't try and cover it up and come to church and pretend everything is okay, because what your home is, is what your church is going to be.
 

The Lord is saying, "Build your own ministry. Get going guys. I want you to start your own local church," but whatever is in your family you are going to drag into that local church with you.

That is a tremendous responsibility, but as leaders sometimes we forget the importance of it. Like I said earlier, we want to start at the end product and work our way back down and say, "Well my family will just kind of come in line as I progress with the Lord."
 

You see you have to understand it starts with the family, it doesn't end with them. That is your seed. That is your foundation. Whatever is in your home, whatever your roots are and your structure is. Even as an apostle, whatever your pattern is in your home you are going to carry it into the local church and you are going to carry it into the Church Universal.
 

How do I know this? Well I have lived it all my life! I am a result and I stand here as living proof of the foundation that my father laid into me all my life. I have brought into the Body of Christ universal what was put into me as a child. I have brought and I am giving you this whole weekend everything that was built into me in the family. Was this built into me in the local church? No. Was this built into me by my mind being fed by an education system? No. This is something that was built into me when I was a little child that just started to learn to speak and grew up in it. The foundation was build solid back then. Now I can stand and bring that foundation with me and put it into my children. And they now can become a benefit to the Body of Christ as well. And so it grows and grows and grows.
 

Now what we have here amongst the team is a foundation of a local church in amongst us. We have a solid foundation. What I had in my home has been brought into the local church, and now to the Universal Church. It seems kind of a long way round to do things, but yet when you rise up to that level of leadership it is solid. It is like the foundation that Dethra shared on. It is a solid foundation. The enemy cannot break it.
 

He tried to shake us. He tried and we had to go through the pain of divorce and a split up family and the struggles that go along with it. He tried to destroy us. He tried to destroy my sisters, but that foundation was so solid that he couldn't shake it. He could bring everything that he possibly could think of against us as children and as adolescents, and he could not break the foundation that had been put into us by our parents! They had built something solid into us. They had built principles, they had built the Word, they had built reality.
 

Les is right. He can go tomorrow and I will stand up and I will continue to be a reproducing asset of what he is, because of what he built into me. I also know that my children, even at this young age, will be able to reproduce what I have put into them even now, because the Word of God is eternal. It doesn't wane. It does not suddenly get weak. It does not rub off. Once you have got the Word into them it is sticking.
 

Your children, if you have built the Word of God into them as Les shared, you have no fear that they will not come back to God, because they have the truth in them. They cannot escape it. It is part of them and it is sticking like glue. They can run as much as they like - I know I tried it - but it followed me. It was in my blood. It was part of what I was. It flowed in my veins. Other things will pass away, but the Word of God will never ever pass away.
 

Are you concerned that your children are going here, there and everywhere and going crazy? Did you put some Word into them? Did you put some reality into them? It may look like it is covered up at the moment. You may think, "Oh Lord, I've failed. Look at them." But you have built something into them that will remain. Your fruit will remain. It will be tried in that fire out there, because it is fire. It is hell. It will be tried in that fire, but that Word will come forth like gold.
 

Right now you may be looking and all you can see is dross, but it is going to come forth as gold. Your teenager might be doing things. Do you think Les is going gray and bald just for the fun of it? I think I did most of that and the rest of my sisters helped along. He had that key, though. I wish he had warned me about that key! I could not run away. It was what I was, it was who I was. And yes, I went and tasted and did my thing and that is when I met Craig. The Lord had a good sense of humor and dragged us both back in. But it was who I was and what was built into me.
 

It starts with the family. Do you want to make an impact on the Body of Christ? Do you really want to make an impact? Start with what you have. Start with the foundation that you already have around you. You have already got the potential for a local church right at your fingertips. I am not just talking any local church. I am talking about a local church where you can truly pour your heart and soul into your children, into your husband and into those closest to you.
 

They cannot run away. That is the best part. They can try and get away as much as they like, but you know what? You belong to me. Tough! You are stuck with it. They can't leave.

I don't know how many times we have got into conflict and I would say, "Lord I just want out of here."

Les would say, "What are you going to do, swim back?"
 

I am stuck. I had to face it. We had to go through it. We had to go through the pain of change and being molded into one unit, but they can't run away, because they were born to you. You are joined. It is not like anybody else that will come in and say, "Oh forget it. I'm out of here." No. They are tied for life. That blood keeps you together, and for as long as that blood keeps us together, I just want you to know that I am going to be feeding the Word of God through these veins until you are saturated with it whether you like it or not. In that you are building a solid foundation on which not just to base your ministry and life, but a brick for the Body of Christ universal.
 

The most important part of being part of this little local church is being a wife. It says in Ephesians 5:23:
 

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.

24 Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so [let] the wives [be] to their own husbands in every thing.
 

Les shared how Christ is the head of the church and how we are members of His Body. Well, my husband is the head of our home and I am a member of his body. This body belongs to him. He is my pastor. He is Christ to me. He is my leader and my head, and this body is a part of his member. His body is a part of mine and that makes us one, but he is head. Just like Christ and we are one in the Body of Christ, but He is the head, so this same picture applies to the home. He is my pastor, he is my head.
 

Now I might have a greater leadership capability sometimes. I might at this stage be ahead of him in ministry. But when it comes to the home he is my pastor. It is kind of like the difference between ministry and office isn't it? When you are in ministry you are in subjection to the pastor, but when you move out into the Body of Christ universal standing in office, you take the leadership.
 

Can you see the two hats that you have to wear there? In the home he is my pastor and I submit, and if I feel that something needs to go a certain way or that a certain decision needs to be made and he says, "No," he takes the responsibility on his shoulders before God, not me. Our husbands carry a tremendous responsibility before God. If there is a failure in the home, if there is something that goes wrong and he makes a wrong decision, the responsibility is on his shoulders. We don't realize that though. Just as the pastor is responsible for the flock and if he steps out of line and makes a wrong decision he is responsible for those sheep.
 

Now if I am sharing with Craig and say, "Love, I believe we need to go this way," and he says, "No I don't," and things go wrong, he is responsible before God.
 

As a wife there is security in that. Why do you want to take the lead? We carry so many responsibilities on our shoulders already that want to crush us that for goodness sakes, let him have it. He can have it! I don't want to be dominating. I don't want to be the decision-maker. I don't want to rule the roost. He can do it. I don't need that responsibility. I have a hundred other things to try and remember to do.
 

That is why the Lord has made the man why he is. And you know we ladies need to learn to step back and allow them to be the head. We need to allow them to fail, even if it is affecting us, knowing that in our submission we release the Holy Spirit to move on our behalf. But you know, we want to change them. We don't like them being that way. It bugs me.
 

"If he is going to be a leader he must do it like this. In fact, I'll show him!"

We are not prepared to allow the Holy Spirit to teach him to be the leader the Holy Spirit wants him to be, not the leader we want him to be. Come on, every lady likes a big strong man who will sweep her off her feet, but she wants to show him how to do it.
 

"No that's not how you sweep. This is how you sweep, love!"

We want him to be that leader. There is no lady who will debate, "I want my man to be the leader, but I want to show him what kind of leader I want him to be first."
 

No, that is not the way it works. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to make him the leader He wants him to be. And trust me, when that time comes it will surpass even your own expectations. In your submission you release the Holy Spirit to pound him if he is out of line. In your submission you release the Holy Spirit to build him up if he is down. In your submission you have more power and authority than if you did try to show him how to do it.
 

If you would stand back and allow God to move past you, He can do a better job than you can. He can use better tools than you have. Our strength, ladies, is not in our ability. It is in our weakness. It is in our submission. It is in allowing him to be the pastor of our little local church. My husband comes even before my mentor. We are one flesh and we work as a team with him being the head. Now if he tries to pull his own way and he is out of line, God is going to get him. I don't need to do it.
 

I don't need to try and say, "Get in line!"
 

He will get the brunt of it on his own shoulders if I simply stay in submission. But you see, what happens is if I try and go above him, not only do I block the Holy Spirit from reaching him, but then I get it. I get the attack from the enemy. The man is made with the broad shoulders so that he can shelter us from the attack of the enemy.
 

Now what happens when you come out under that and you try and come above, not only are you blocking his relationship with God, because it is God, the husband and the wife. Not only are you blocking your relationship and preventing the Holy Spirit from changing him, but you are laying yourself wide open for attack.
 

Come on, you have heard it preached that women are more prone to deception. It is true, and do you know why? It is for that very reason, because they are out of order. It is not because they are more prone to deception, but because they keep coming out from the correct order. The minute you do that you come under a greater attack than you have ever faced and are able to handle. Add that to all the other responsibilities and tasks that we have to accomplish and you can't possibly stay on top. It is impossible to keep up with all of that.
 

I have learned this one from very heavy experience. I am trying to get out there and do my thing and thinking, "You can just catch up when you feel like it. I'm blazing a trail and you can do what you want to do. I am doing this thing on my own." I got into deception and ran for cover. I learned my lesson the hard way. Run for cover!
 

Now does your husband need to be spiritually better than you? Does he have to have more knowledge than you? No. It has nothing to do with knowledge. It is a spiritual issue here. If his spirit is out of line he is responsible to God, and Craig will be sharing on that issue of what his responsibility as a husband is. My responsibility as a wife though is to make sure that the line stays straight. You see, when the line stays straight it is God who pours down His anointing on the husband, who pours down His anointing on the wife, who pours down the anointing on her children.
 

My children are blessed in my submission. Because I am keeping the line straight the anointing that is in him and that is in me is poured out onto my children. Now what happens? We get this good wide base and solid foundation. If I am stepping out of line though what is happening to my children? They get attacked every time. I take away their covering. I actually take away the protection over my children when I do that and I leave them wide open for demonic attack.
 

If my children suddenly start getting sick, start coming under oppression and start acting up I look at myself and say, "Am I in line? They are not being covered. What's up?" I pull myself in line and the blessing flows from the head down. The same happens with Craig if he is out of line. The attack comes. You see the blessing comes from the head down. It is perfectly Scriptural. What power we have as mothers and wives to keep that flow going down to build that foundation.
 

You want to build up children that know the Lord and that are firm in their convictions? Stay in line. The Lord will bless you through your husband, even if your husband is out of order. Just by you staying in submission and in obedience to His Word, He will bless you and He will bless your children. Doesn't the Word say that the children are justified through the belief of the mother, if the father is not even saved? It will happen just because she comes in line, just because she is according to his order.
 

He cannot help Himself. His Word is true. So do not be concerned if your husband or your partner does not share the same passion or the same zeal for the Lord. You just get in line. The minute you do that you are leaving him wide open for the Holy Spirit to get in there and do His stuff. You see, you are actually covering him. You are protecting him from what he needs to face to come right. If you are trying to stand above him you are actually getting in the way. Get out of the way and let that lightning bolt strike in the right place. Let it strike, because if he is out of order it is going to strike, by your faith and by your submission. God cannot deny Himself and He cannot deny the promises of His Word.
 

As a pastor of this little local church my husband is there to meet my needs. I could not stand up here to preach unless my needs were being met such as my needs for acceptance and recognition. I am on shaky ground if I have to stand up here and try and have those needs met by those that I am preaching to. It is like Les shared, "Can you stand and preach in a dark room where you are not even getting any feedback?" Do you need to preach so people will say how wonderful you are.
 

My husband should be telling me how wonderful I am before I get up to preach, and he does, and that is what gets me up to the pulpit. He is the one who says, "That was a powerful message." He is the one that says, "I accept you and I love you," and when I fail he is still there for me. He meets those needs in me so that when I come to minister to the Body of Christ I don't have to try and have those needs met through them. I can pour out all the time instead of trying to get, because my needs are met at home.
 

Now what happens when I am suddenly the leader and discipling and mentoring others? I had better be sure that there is no need in me, otherwise I am getting myself into trouble with other relationships, because I am going to form unnatural bonds. We have seen this in the Body of Christ. Have you not seen this yourself with mentors and disciples getting into unhealthy relationships, especially when you are crossing the genders?
 

As a woman I disciple many men - probably more so than women believe it or not, and if I was not secure in my marriage can you see how the enemy could get right in there and bring division in the Body of Christ? It starts in the home. It starts in your relationship. I dare not try and minister unless I am secure in who and what I am and I am secure in my marriage.
 

You see it works the other way around too. I meet his needs for recognition and acceptance. I don't tear him down with my tongue. I don't insult him and make him feel like a fool. I build him up. I give him the recognition he needs. I tell him how wonderful he is. I give him respect and I make sure that the children give him that respect.

I say, "He is your father and this is how you treat him. You respect him."

As Christ is to the Body so my husband is to my family and we give him that due respect. Why? So that when he stands to minister he is not trying to have that need met from those that he is ministering to.

How many times have we seen this happen with affairs happening in the local congregation? Let's be honest, how many pastors have fallen that way? And it doesn't start because they are simply promiscuous. It starts with a counseling case. It starts with somebody listening to them and telling them how wonderful they are.

"Wow pastor, you're so clever!"

Could it be that they are not getting that at home? Could it be that their wives are not saying, "That was an incredible message. Wow! I'm so proud to be your wife."

They are meeting that need for acceptance and saying, "Man, you look good in that suit this morning. Wow, you're the best looking husband a woman could ever ask for."

Build that into him. When he stands up to preach behind that pulpit he must already be walking tall, because his wife has built him up so much beforehand. He stands up there and can give out not having to accept because he is already built up. He is feeling pretty good about himself, because I have made him feel good about himself. I have built up his image. He doesn't need to try and psyche himself up now to try and build that image in his mind. I have already done that. I have already said how proud I am. I have already built him up. I have recognized him for what he is. He doesn't need to run around.
 

I have had so many woman coming and saying, "My husband is no good. He wants to do this and he wants to do that and go there, and he's forever trying to impress everybody else."
 

Well are you filling that need in his life? Are you actually recognizing him and giving him that respect? If your husband is striving for the next level and the next level in business or in ministry and he is never at home, are you giving him something to stay at home for? Are you building that recognition into him? He is running around and getting into the wrong kinds of relationships for people to meet that need for acceptance and love.

So you condemn him and say, "He's such a pathetic husband. He is running off every five minutes. He doesn't come and meet my needs and do the things that I need done."

Are you meeting his need for acceptance? Because when he is secure you are secure. When his needs are met your needs are met. It is a very selfless task to be a mother and a wife because sometimes we have to pour forth first. It is God's order that you both pour, but sometimes you have to pour forth up to him first before it pours back down to you and your children.
 

If things are going wrong in your family and your needs are not being met and you are feeling lonely and left out and you have that need, sometimes a woman just needs to be noticed. She needs to be made a fuss over. You have to actually put that need aside though and pour the recognition and acceptance into him. And once he is standing he is secure and he pours it back down to you and down to the kids, and a solid foundation is formed.
 

We hold tremendous power in the Body of Christ being wives, because as we build into our family and into our husband, so it gets built back down to us. We build up and feed up and it gets fed back down to us. We take that into the local church, and not only do we take an example with us, but we build that into the church and the local church becomes strong and there is a solid foundation.

I function in my gifts in the home. Just as in the local church every member has a gift, has an ability and they contribute it into the local church, so I use what the Lord has given me and I find my place in the home and I give. What is your role? What is your responsibility? What do you have to offer? I wish I could say that it was because I was such a wonderful housewife, but the Lord knows I am lousy. But hey, I can encourage. The socks might not always be clean on time, and let's not even talk about the ironing and the washing that I have to catch on.
 

That is not what it means to be a wife. Those things are our responsibility and that is fine, but that is not really what it means. What you have to contribute is not just your work. It is your attitude in your heart. Just as in the Body of Christ mowing the lawn and taking out the trash are things that need to be done, but that should not be the whole thrust of what you are contributing. You should be contributing of your spirit and your heart and your attitude and support.
 

What is your role in your home? What do you have to give? You might not be the best housewife. You might not get everything straight and neat and on time, but what do you have to give? Whatever it is, as you give it you are contributing to your little local congregation there and you are building it up and you are edifying it and you are strengthening it. You are creating that firm foundation.

Being a mother is one of the most wonderful privileges of being part of this little local congregation. It says in Proverbs 4:3:

3 For I was my father's son, tender and unique in the sight of my mother.
 

There is an expression, "He has a face only a mother could love!" That is what us moms are here for. Our children are tender and unique in our sight. We build into our children that acceptance that they don't need to go out into the world and find it. Do you want to stop your children from going off the rails and following every peer group and every whim and fancy? Give them that need for acceptance and they will stand as leaders, automatically.
 

You don't need to teach your child to be a leader. You don't need to teach him to stand strong. Just give him that acceptance and build the correct image in him from young and when he stands in the world he will automatically be what you made him to be. He will be that leader. A lot of us have had to deal with issues in our own lives because we did not receive that from our own mothers. We didn't get that acceptance, and so we were shy and insecure, and when a great leader came we followed that great leader instead of being a leader ourselves. We went with every whim. We didn't want to be left out. We felt too insecure to go against the grain. And so we would often get ourselves into some hot water and into some bad situations because we needed the acceptance of the crowd. We needed people to like us and we would do things, bad things even, just to be accepted.
 

Now if you want to stop your child from being that kind of person, accept him. Let him be tender and unique in your eyes and let him know that he is tender and unique in your own eyes. Build into him that acceptance. Accept him in his weakness. Accept him in his strength. Love him and nurture him. Isn't this what a mother is all about? And when he stands up in the world you will not need to teach him to be a leader.
 

I have not had to teach my children to be leaders. They don't have any other social involvement other than us. They don't play with other kids because everybody is Spanish speaking so they can't relate. I have not taught them to be leaders. I have just accepted them for who they are. I even notice that when they do come into public situations or social situations they automatically take the lead and step in and do their stuff.

Did I teach them to do that? I wish I could say I did and take the glory for it. I didn't teach them to be that way. I just poured acceptance into them. I just loved them and nurtured them and accepted them for who they were. As I did that they are going to rise up to be leaders because I am, by being in line, allowing the Holy Spirit to come down and mold their lives. And by accepting who they are and just loving them for who they are I am creating leaders of tomorrow that are going to stand firm on their own foundation.

I teach them the law. I pour the Word of God into them, because they cannot run away from that. They may be able to run away from many things in their lives, but as I pour that Word into them they cannot run away.

You know it used to drive me nuts when I was going through my little spurt of rebellion. I had a couple of years when I just chucked this whole ministry nonsense out. I didn't want this preacher father and this ministry thing. I was sick of being in the ministry. I was sick of this whole thing. I was just going to go out there and do my own thing.

Do you know what killed me? You know all these songs that we are singing? Do you know how full of the Word they are? Les had pumped these songs into me and forced me to learn these songs when I was a child. When I first started playing the drums he forced me to play them. I used to hate them, but he made me learn these songs. I didn't even know it at the time though but they were so saturated with the Word, and when I went off and did my own thing you know what came out?

"That song is driving me mad!"

It came back out of me and the Word was speaking. It spoke to me when I would not listen to him.

When I said, "I'm not going to listen to this. I'm going to do my own thing. You're just an old fuddy duddy. You've never even been a teenager, so what would you know anyway! You don't live in the world that I live in. You don't know what it's like in today's modern world, thank you very much. It's a different set of rules to what you had before."
 

I would run off and those songs would come and play in my head over and over and over again and remind me. I could shut out his voice and walk away from him, but I couldn't walk away from what had been built into me. The Word of God had been built into me and when the Lord wanted to and when Les was releasing his prophetic key, those words would just come straight out again. They were just popping straight out of my spirit, because they had been pushed down there for years.
 

If there is one thing I do with my children continually, it is build the Word into them. We have the Word Play that we sell here at GMRN. It is called WordPlay and some of you have it. What it is, is an instrumental backing. Les played his guitar and spoke Scripture promises onto tape. It has a beautiful spirit on it, and I play this for the children, especially when they are going to bed at night and they are restless. It is the Word. John has memorized the whole tape. It has probably got about four hundred promises on it. It is a full ninety minute tape with just one Scripture after the next on it. He couldn't fall asleep often so he would lie in bed and memorize them after they were spoken.
 

Those children know the Word. Okay, Deborah gets a bit confused and she kind of takes one half of this Scripture and one half of that Scripture and makes here own, Deborah 3:1, but the point is the Word is in them.
 

When they play you hear, "You know John, the Bible says that that's not the way you act. You know, the Bible says this. The Bible says that! You walk by faith not de sight. This is what the Bible says."

Sometimes they don't even understand the Scripture, but they know it! It is in them. The Word is in them. And then they will come up and say something and I know it has penetrated. You know, wherever they go, no matter what they do, no matter how I fail as a mother, they will have that foundation, because where I fail the Word of God and the Holy Spirit is their foundation. It is not how well I teach them. It is not how wonderful I am. It is not how patient I am. It is not how much I give and supply to them. It is how much I allow the Holy Spirit to do in them. We are human and we are going to fail, I have failed and I will continue to fail. But the Holy Spirit will never fail them. He will never ever fail my children.
 

I don't know how many times I can remember that I have had to step back and allow the Holy Spirit to take over. He has done this as a death many, many times where I have tried to get in there and raise the perfect kids. I tell you what, deciding to preach a series on the perfect family was the biggest mistake I ever made.

He said, "Well the first thing I'm going to show you is how lousy you are at this."

Everything started going wrong. I had such a big mouth on all these principles I was going to teach and the kids just went against every rule for a solid month. I just stopped after the first message. I thought, "I've got to go back to the drawing board."

The Lord said, "It's not you, it's me. It is not you that's going to make them into the perfect leader, it's me. Your role as a parent is to release the Holy Spirit to raise them and to allow yourself to be used when I call on you to be used."

When I could step back and say, "Okay, I let it go, Lord. It's not my will, but your will must be done," He moved on them.
 

You know children are very sensitive to the Holy Spirit, more so than what we are, and they respond. He worked on them and He changed them, and I can never stand up and say, "Well I've got such wonderful kids because I'm such a fantastic mother." No, I have such wonderful kids because I have such a fantastic Jesus! The Holy Spirit will make you into that foundation, and you know what? There is a security and a relief in that, because it is not my works. You do fail.
 

You go to bed sometimes and you think, "Oh man I shouldn't have said that. I'm going to scar them for life. I shouldn't have done that. They are going to grow up with this fear in them."

Don't we do that? We lie there and think, "You know what? I said that thing to them and they are going to remember it one day when they have kids and it's going to scar them for the rest of their lives. Oh Lord!"

The Lord said, "Just relax! You're going to give yourself an ulcer." He said, "Just give them to me and I will bring healing."
 

You know when Deborah was first born we were put in a situation where I had to stay with my mother-in-law who is the same temperament as me. We had two me's in the same house! It was frightening. Now I was a new mother, I was very insecure about what and who I was, and so being a strong leader she stepped in and took over. It came to the stage where Deborah didn't know who her mother was. She could not even call me mom. She did not know who to recognize as her mother, and there was this constant tug of war. It got to the stage where I would try and step in and she would reject me. She would actually not even want to come near me.

I built up such a resentment and became so angry. And you know after that situation dissolved and the Lord moved us here I had this guilt. I could start seeing the fruits of that time in her life, because my mother-in-law is not saved either. I could start seeing the fruits and fact that she had a desperate need for acceptance. She became a very needy person.
 

I thought, "Lord, I have failed as a mother. I did not protect her. I did not step in and be what I should have been for her."

That guilt is what was keeping her there. That guilt, because I was always trying to make up for it, and I overcompensated on the other side trying to make up for it. For as long as I was doing that she was staying the same, until eventually I said, "Lord, I can't do this," and I let it go.

The Holy Spirit moved in and we called her in and Les prayed for her. The Lord moved in, in inner healing and He just walked through that whole time and wiped it clean, as though it never happened. He spoke healing and He created the bonds and broke the bonds that should not have been there, and she came right. It was like night and day. I could not believe the change that came over her, but I had to get to that point of letting go and saying, "I can't do this."

Sometimes we have to get to that point of saying, "I can't do this," because when we can come to that point the Holy Spirit can step in and do what He wants to do. Then comes the resurrection, and then comes the change. No matter how you have failed as a wife, as a mother, as an example, if you can let go and just allow the Lord to be Lord, He can make restitution for you. He can fill the gaps that you left out. He can fix what you have messed up. He can heal the stars that you have behind.
 

You have to let go of that guilt. I feel the Holy Spirit impressing it so strongly on me. You have to let go of the condemnation and the guilt, because for as long as you are holding onto that guilt you are preventing the Holy Spirit from bringing change in your child's life. You are preventing the Holy Spirit from bringing them to the place He wants them to come to. You are preventing the Holy Spirit from making them into the leader that He wants them to be.
 

Your guilt and your fear and the condemnation that you have on you is preventing your child from being what God wants him to be. Die and let it go! Stop hanging on. You have not failed. The enemy is a liar. Satan is a liar, and he is confusing your mind and he is condemning you. It is not of God. You have not failed. You are washed by the blood of Christ. You are washed clean. You are blameless in the sight of God, now let it go! You stand as a king and queen before Him. Let it go. As you let it go He is going to move on your children. It is His promise. I feel that very strongly, and I am saying it prophetically.

You must let them go and go away if that is what it means. Let them go into the darkness if that is what it means. See them on that boat and cut the tie and see them going off. Are you prepared to make that commitment for the Lord? Are you prepared to put your guilt and condemnation in the boat along with it and just let it go off? Let it go and let them go. Step back. Allow the Holy Spirit to take over. He can do a better job than you can. You have to put your trust in His hands. You have to put your faith in Him and not your own ability.

You let go of that guilt and condemnation and you turn to Satan and say, "Satan, in the name of Jesus I reject those lies, because they come from the pit of hell. I have not failed. I am not a failure as a wife and a mother, and as a father. I have not failed. I break the power that you have over me right now in the name of Jesus and you loose your hold of my mind. You loose your hold on my life right now! I reject it. I am washed by the blood. It is gone. What was done is done. What is under the blood is under the blood. Now you get out of here! I stand on your neck and I say that my child will stand in the power and the glory of God, not because of what I am but because of who He is."
 

The Lord is going to build a solid foundation in your child. Because of your commitment your children are blessed. Because of your stand your children are blessed. It is their inheritance. It is your inheritance, and it is God's perfect will for you. I am going to end off here. I believe the Holy Spirit has taken over and He is sharing what He wants to share right now.

As you are reading this there are memories coming to your mind one after the other of the things you have done, of the things you have said, "If only I had done this differently. If only I had changed that. If only perhaps I had jumped in there when I should have, it would be different now."

Stop it! You are living in the past, and for as long as you are living there the Lord cannot move you on to the future. Let each one of those things go.

Say, "Lord, I let it go. I should have done it, but I didn't."

It is over. He has cleansed you. He says, "You are forgiven. I will make restitution for you. I am interceding for you right now at the right hand of the Father, and as I intercede I am pouring blessing down on you and on your family." He says, "It doesn't matter. Not only doesn't it matter, but just because you are such a blessing to me I am going to take the mistakes that you have made. I am going to take all those mess-ups that you have made, and I am going to turn them around for my glory. You are going to see your child rise up in a way that is going to astound you, and it will be because of the mistakes you have made. They are going to turn around and say, 'If it wasn't for the mistakes that were made in my life I wouldn't be who I am right now.' "

I want to tell you something, if I had not faced the difficulties I faced as a child. If my parents had not gone through that divorce and if I had not seen that rejection from my mother, I would not be who you see today. I would not be the vessel that the Lord is using today if it was not for what I had faced in this world.

Does the Word not say that, 'All these things were done unto them for models for the Body of Christ?' All those things were done to me that I might be a model. All those things are being done to your kids so that they may rise up and be a model. The Lord is going to use even your failures for His glory. He is going to use it for His glory, and He is going to use it to make them into what He wants to make them into. Isn't He just glorious? Isn't He magnificent that He can take the worst enemy and just turn it around for His good?

Thank you Jesus. Holy Spirit do it, just do it. I speak to those families and I say, "Be raised up and be strengthened, and may the anointing come on you."

I see your child standing there and suddenly the power of God comes upon him and he says, "What was that?"

"Holy Spirit fall on them now wherever they are. Fall into their hearts. May a sword go into their hearts right now and shake them. Shake them out of that situation, shake them out of those chains. Shake them out of that bondage in the name of Jesus, and set them on the path. Pick them up, pull their feet up from that situation and plant them on the right road, in Jesus' name. Let it be done Lord, according to your Word. Thank you Father."

The Lord has given it to you, He has promised it to you, now you stand on that promise and you don't accept any lie from the enemy. He has done it. Today you can mark the date, He has done the work. From today is a new day. Amen.