By Funmi Komolafe

Brethren, let’s give God all the glory.  He has  kept us alive to witness the last Sunday in the month of July.  This month alone, God has beautified the lives of millions of his children with amazing testimonies.  Yours is on the way in the name of Jesus.

When we also reflect deeply, we’ll realize that many that started this month with us are no more.  Not because they have committed more sins than we have,  God has just been merciful to us. That you are still alive is an indication that whatever you are trusting God for will soon become your testimony in Jesus name.

In the July 2nd edition of Joyful homes, we focused on men and the need for them to be prayerful and where they lack prayer power, the spouse should  be prayerful and lead  the family to  live a Godly life in the interest of the family.

Today, I return to that topic as I promised in the July 2nd edition. There is a general assumption that men do not have serious challenges when it comes to the issue of child bearing or marriage. This isn’t true as many men have given testimonies with regards to these issues.

We tend to assume that the greatest challenge a married man could have is financial.   He wants to be the head of the home financially  but beyond that, is the challenge of  having a joyful home.   A man may be rich, but lacks a peaceful home. His home might be hell on earth. Why?  Essentially because of his own conduct or the attitude of the wife or children.

I’ll return to these issues later in this article but first what does the Holy Bible say about prayer?

Our Lord Jesus said in Luke 18 vs.1 “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”.

Note that Jesus did not say men should pray when they are faced with challenges of stagnation in the work place, financial stagnation or child bearing.   He said, “ men ought always to pray”. In other words, whether things are going on  for you as expected, or beyond your imagination or  fallen short of your expectation, you must pray at all times. Has the Lord blessed you materially,  what are you using your wealth for?  To indulge in adultery,  taking advantage of young girls who seek employment in your office,  unnecessary display of  wealth, etc.

Brother, this isn’t why God blessed you.  He blessed you so that you can be a channel of blessing to other people.   Are you using  your wealth to promote his work?  If not, begin to do that today. Be a major financier in your local church.

What  is the quality  of offering that you give in your church?  Do you regularly pay your tithes?   Doing all of these has a reward  from God especially at the time you least expected.

Let’s take a look at  the man Cornelius in Acts of Apostles 10 vs. 1-4  “ There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion  of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God  with all his house, which gave much alms  to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw a vision  evidently about the ninth hour  of the day, an angel of God coming  in to him,  and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him,  Thy prayers and thine alms  are come up for a memorial before God”.

Brethren spare a few minutes to reflect on the simple Bible passage.  Do you fear God?  Do you live by his word?  Have you led your family in the way of the Lord? How many Christians  have ever benefitted from your wealth?

Cornelius did all of these and God sent an angel to him with a message.   No matter how comfortable you are, you still need a message from  God. A message that will lead you to take the right decisions at crucial moments of your life.   You need a message that  will change your life for the best and lead  you to the kingdom of God.

Let’s consider Joshua, as a leader of the people of Israel.  Joshua 24 vs. 15 “ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods  which your fathers served  that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”.

Sir, have you taken  a decision like Joshua?  Are you faithful to that decision?  If your answer is in the negative, retrace your steps.

The home for which you have not sacrificed anything is unlikely to be a joyful home.  Where do you go when you close from work? The beer palour? If you engage in this and you are confident that your wife and children do not know, remember that God knows.  Your lifestyle has a way of impacting on your children and your spouse.

Let me share with you the story of man who had a prayerful wife. This man closed from work and because he works unusual hours, he told his wife that he would be staying back at the company’s guesthouse .      He went to stay with a woman somewhere in Ikoyi.    He then told one of his friends while drinking that something within him tells him his wife will find out he wasn’t at work.

Any way, he slept there and on getting home, his wife asked him, where he was.  He insisted he slept in a guesthouse. Whereas the company has no guesthouse.She told him that she did not believe him.  The woman had a dream in which God revealed to her  where he was. In the dream, God told the woman to begin to pray against a strange woman that could turn her marital bliss into marital crisis.

Of course the woman believed the Holy Spirit and she continued to pray.  It did not take long before the  unholy relationship with this strange woman came to an end.

What do we learn from this?  The woman believed the Holy Spirit and applied wisdom.She didn’t go   fighting with him.Her prayer saved the marriage from crisis and the man retraced his steps.

Today, that family lives peaceful with their three children doing very well in their studies.

Had the man not retraced his steps, had the woman resorted to fighting and name-calling, what do you imagine would have happened?  All would have been losers.Even their children may become point of sorrows for them as lack of unity and love in the home  would affect their studies.

I  will not end this without giving you another true-life experience.

A man richly blessed in a local community decided to enjoy his wealth by taking  more wives. He married a nurse as his second wife. This woman made sure that she disconnected him from his first wife.

She didn’t stop at that, she attacked his first son who was doing so well in his studies.  This son, was  used as an example of academic excellence by parents in that community.

Suddenly, the boy’s life changed.  He not only began to fail his exams, he dropped out of school.  As  I write today, he  is unable to feed his family.  No career, no work.

A few months, before the man of the  house died, he made a shocking revelation.  He called a family friend  and told him that he found out that all the children, his nurse wife had for him were for his cousin.  Due the lust of the flesh, the man lost all.

The man was full of  regrets.   He lost all. Children that could have been his joy in his old age, became sources of sorrow. The children of the other women he found out were not his.

But the God of vengeance also came hard on the woman.  As I write today, the nurse woman is crippled and her children have moved her to another town because the  shame  had become unbearable for them.

Brother, uncle, daddy,  the choice is yours.

May the Lord Almighty lead you to profit in your marriage. Remember, the Lord   will only lead you if you submit yourself to be led by him.

Do have a blessed  week