God Pays Attention to our Intentionality
We’re in the midst of our February series at Valley Family Church: Intentional Family. Pastor Tim Gilligan joins us from Ocala, Florida and shares an encouraging word detailing 2 principles for us to live by in order to build and maintain intentional families. If we live by circumstances, we’ll be tossed all over the place. But if we live by principles, we’re established, settled, and unwavering. In God Pays Attention to Our Intentionality, we discover God-approved principles for us to live by that will strengthen, heal, and nurture our families today and for generations to come.
Principle 1 - God pays attention to our intentionality.
In order to have intentional marriage, intentional families, intentional relationships, we have to actually be intentional in our efforts. When our hearts are in it, when we really mean to do it, when we make an active effort toward God…this is when God responds. When we’re intentional in our efforts, God blesses our efforts, meets us where we are, and helps us get where we need to be.
In God Pays Attention to Our Intentionality, at timestamp 6:38, Pastor Tim Gilligan shares a personal reflection of the disintegration of families in our culture throughout generations past. His story reminds us that there are so many pressures of life that push, pull, and actively work against the unity of family in our present culture.
Our marriages/families/relationships are a target for the enemy. The enemy has a strategy of disintegration against our families. Meaning, the enemy’s strategy is to break down and dissolve our relationships. We see proof of that in the first part of John 10:10:
(NLT) The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy...
In order to get back on track with God’s divine plan for families, we have to make an intentional effort to seek Him and align ourselves with His purpose. Jesus gives us guidance on how to do just that in Matthew 7:24-27:
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
In this passage, our families are the house. And Jesus describes two families facing the same storm but seeing two very different results. Why is that? When we build our families on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, we, as a family unit, can weather any storm. Amen!
If we look at our culture, our nation, today, we see kids that were never parented now parenting their own children. We have grandparents parenting their grandbabies. We have dysfunction. We have brokenness. We have the noise in the land of houses falling, just like Jesus mentioned in Matthew chapter 7.
Here’s the good news: We can do better. There’s help from God and hope from God to help us in this endeavor. Praise the Lord! There is nothing that God cannot do. There is nothing outside of God’s power to fix and mend.
Our Almighty God is The Creator and The Redeemer. When we worship Him, serve Him, and trust Him as Creator and Redeemer, He will create new things in our lives and redeem things that need to be fixed. Turning to him is the key to doing better; He is the key to building and maintaining intentional families.
Discussion:
What areas do you struggle with in doing things God’s way and according to His plan?
How are you intentional in your pursuit of the Lord?
In what ways can you make an intentional effort to get on track with God’s divine purpose for families?
Principle 2 – It’s not what has happened until now; it’s what happens from now.
What has happened up until now does impact and affect us. But…if we sit, unmoving, focussing on what has happened, we’re left stuck, broken, and hopeless. If we trust God and take Him at His word and walk in His ways, then we’re impacted by what happens from now on moving forward.
Proverbs 24:3-4 (AMP) 3Through [skillful and godly] wisdom a house [a life, a home, a family] is built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation], 4And by knowledge its rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Isaiah 32:17-18 (NKJV) 17The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. 18My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places,
Righteous simply means “God’s way of doing and being.” In Isaiah we see that the effect of doing things God’s way is peace. In Hebrew, the word for peace is “Shalom.” It means complete hope, a sense of nothing missing, nothing broken. It’s more than peace.
In God Pays Attention to Our Intentionality, at timestamp 15:55, Pastor Tim Gilligan shares a powerful illustration of Shalom and how the word applies to our families. Just like a woven piece of fabric, our families can be filled with strands of Shalom–forgiveness, patience, love, commitment, compatibility. Also like a woven piece of fabric, our families can be torn, damaged, ripped, snagged.
When our families’ Shalom is damaged, we don’t focus on what happened until that point; we focus on what happens from that point. We lean into God, we seek Him and pursue Him passionately and He, by His perfect love, comes in and reweaves and repairs our Shalom.
If we do it God’s way, we’ll get God’s results. The result of doing things God’s way is absolute, all-encompassing peace. Everybody wants Shalom; God alone is able to do that for us.
Isaiah 57:20-21 (KJV) 20But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
As we see in this passage from Isaiah, there is no Shalom for the wicked. In Hebrew, wicked means “to twist.” God’s telling us that we cannot twist His truths, His ways, and still have peace. That’s just not how it works!
We know that the enemy is a thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. What a thief goes after reveals what is treasure. We know that the enemy is out to steal, kill, and destroy our peace, the Shalom of our families, our greatest treasure.
Throughout the New Testament God makes his way clear to us. He tells us clearly what to do and what not to do. When we do things God’s way, peace comes. If we twist His truths and go against His way, we will not experience Shalom; we will not experience His plan for our families. Let’s commit to thinking, speaking, being, and acting according to God’s way!
Discussion:
Is there something that has happened until now that’s holding you back from God’s plan for your family?
What are some of the ways the enemy has twisted God’s truths in our present culture and society?
What are some of the strands within your family’s fabric of Shalom that help bind you together?
Building Shalom
No matter what anybody else does–the government, the celebrities, the influencers, the culture–we have to decide to do it God’s way so that we may experience Shalom for ourselves and for our families. Shalom is one of the most attractive, desirable things on this planet.
Yes, our Shalom will get snagged and it's’ going to rip–we live in a fallen world. But through his perfect, unending grace, God will rebuild and reweave our Shalom in accordance with His plan and purpose.
Psalms 92:13 (NKJV) Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Being planted in the house of the Lord is part of our wholeness and Shalom. It’s not just believing; it’s belonging. In Psalms 23, David says, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” The foundation and heritage of our church is strong; the future of our church is strong. It’s for such a time as this–these days–that Shalom will be the most desirable thing among all nations.
We as a church strive to combat spiritual emptiness. God pays attention to our intentionality. It’s not what has happened until now; it’s what happens from now. God is in the business of miraculous wonders! He is in the business of restoration. He is in the business of families.
As we continue through the Intentional Family series and throughout 2022, may we continue seeking God with all our hearts as we discover and live out His plan and purposes for both our nuclear families and our church family. Let’s do things God’s way. Amen!
Prayer:
We pray and declare over our homes and our families the Shalom peace of God. We declare peace to our houses. We declare no weapon formed against us will prosper. May God Almighty cover, carry, and surround all who dwell in our house. May He bless and refresh all who visit here. May His holy presence always abide and be noticeable. We declare any spirit of darkness and depression cannot remain. No evil shall befall us neither shall any plague come near our dwellings. Ours is a safe place, a blessed place, a place of rest, and a place of creativity where dreams are discovered. A place of laughter and joy, a place of healing and hope. A place where all feel safe and valued. Father God, defend, restore, protect, and provide nurturing blessings. Where the fabric of Shalom is ripped, cut, or snag, God we trust you to mend, repair, and restore. Bless our homes and help us to use our own words to bless and create a life-giving atmosphere in our homes. We declare peace, SHalom, over our homes in Jesus name. Amen!
