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Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
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Today’s message
Today I turn my heart to this final word of God in the Old Testament. He ends the book pointing to the home: parents and children turning their hearts to one another. Then, silence. Four hundred years. When God chooses the last words before the silence, He does not speak of spectacles; He speaks of covenant, table, lap, forgiveness. There is power in the family. It is not a catchphrase; it is heaven's strategy to change a generation. If the root of disorder arises at home, the root of restoration also begins there.
God fulfills what He says. Jesus stated about John: he is the Elijah who was to come (Matthew 11:14). What did John do? He prepared hearts to receive the Messiah. Orphanhood dissipates when the Father is revealed. Jesus came to reveal the Father to us. And when there is a lack of a father, God presents Himself as the father of the fatherless and the judge of widows (Psalm 68:5). See the path: a restored heart at home, a way prepared for Christ, heaven touching earth. Family is not a devotional detail; it is the axis of God's movement.
Disorders I need to face in my context
- Wrong alliances that give legality to idolatry and break patterns at home.
- Outward religiosity, cold heart inside, broken affection between generations.
- Men annulled, women overloaded, roles reversed and old wounds.
- Paternal absence becoming a pattern, leaving marks of insecurity and fear.
- Children repeating what they see, not what they hear, within the home environment.
The restoration of the family is not an option; it is the way for a great move of God.
What is our place in this scenario? Positioning in the family. Do not outsource the care of your home. Do not use the gospel to point out the other's mistakes and hide your omission. Start where the axe fell. Remember 2 Kings 6? The iron sank, but when the prophet threw in a stick, the impossible happened. I believe in the cross of Christ thrown exactly at the point of the fall: there guilt ceases, crooked alliances break, and affections reconnect.
Steps of restoration I ask of you today
- Turn the heart: turn to listen, to ask for forgiveness, and to truly embrace.
- Take responsibility: lead by serving, without hardness, with consistency and example.
- Break wrong alliances: renounce pacts and habits that hurt your home.
- Bring the cross where it fell: take the point of the fall to Jesus and start again from there.
- Care for your family as a prophetic act, preparing the way for Christ.
I do not promise ease; I announce a path. The restoration of the family is not an option; it is the way for a move of God. Start small and faithful. Pray the name of each one. Seek out those you have hurt. Close gaps. If you decide to take the cross of Christ and throw it where it fell, supernatural things can happen. There is a new beginning for your home. There is a time for family restoration.
Did you know
- Between Malachi and the New Testament, we speak of about four hundred years of prophetic silence, broken with the announcement related to John the Baptist.
- Jesus identified John the Baptist as the promised Elijah, fulfilling Malachi 4:5-6 by preparing hearts for the Messiah (Matthew 11:14).
- The account of the axe that floated occurred on the banks of the Jordan, when the sons of the prophets were enlarging the place of gathering (2 Kings 6:1-7).
Key phrases
- There is power in the family.
- Jesus came to reveal the Father to us.
- When a man positions himself within a home, he can be sure that the children will follow his example.
- There is a new beginning for your home.
Translated from the Portuguese original.
Seek
To seek today
Go deeper
Go deeper
O Poder da Família - Pr. Vanderson Nunes
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