There is this widely used phrase that says family comes first. Before you throw stones at me, I need you to open the eyes of your spirit and journey with me in this quest to search for the deep things of God.

So many people are in the yoke of, ‘family comes first‘. Most have forsaken their God-given purposes in the name of family coming first. Most have refused to undertake God-given agendas in the name of family comes first. Most have become slaves of ‘have a good name in the society’ because they fear being ostracized or told all sorts of things.

This explains why very few people today can do things away from family. They cannot do things that contradicts norms or society expectations. For example, there are so many people who are very prophetic. The Lord might show them their relative’s death but they wouldn’t dare say it because of how the society will view them. But maybe God was counting on them to save them.

We have people that see in the spirit, for example, they may see in full detail that maybe two people in the family who want to get married are not meant for each other but they cannot say a word. Why? Simply because family comes first and you cannot in no way hurt them. They fear being told, “Are you God?”

Because the devil really knew this, he emphasized the phrase of family comes first while destroying families in the background. All he needed was to corrupt the authority, and because family comes first, everyone else will follow. Do you think it is a coincidence God tells Abraham, “Leave your family’s land?”

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:1 NKJV

So why do you think the Lord told Abram to get out of his country, his family and his father’s house? Why did He have to be that specific? Why did He have to repeat Himself? God knew that family will distract him from being a father of many nations. Even his own country shouldn’t be an option.

He knew that if he had the option of family, he could always be soothed by his kin that he doesn’t have a child. He would ask his father for a small loan or for help. God never wanted family to be an option for him. He wanted him to be blind, to blindly walk to a land He will show him, to blindly walk to Egypt where He will show Himself strong to him and sustain him. This is because he was planting a seed in him. A great seed that his descendants will live in and enjoy.

God knew he will be the father to a nation and many nations. He needed to plant a seed in him so that that nation of people that will have to look upon God for everything, for provision, for food, for jobs and for ‘impossible’ things like the splitting of the Red Sea. All these wouldn’t have happened if Abraham did not leave his country, his family and his father’s house. He would still have an ordinary name – Abram. It is not until today you leave your country, your family and your father’s house that you will get a new name.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that you forsake your family. I don’t mean that you do not visit them nor provide for them. What I mean is, it shouldn’t come in between you and the agenda God has given you. Do you realize that the phrase, “Family comes first is never in the Bible?” Regarding provision, the Bible says;

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

It is okay to be different from your family, it is okay to have a different view and opinion. It is okay to follow a certain faith contrary to what they believe. Most families have failed in this, “They want to press in their ideologies, faith, beliefs and even purpose into the hearts of of each member of their household.” They would force their belief down their gut and they would end up hating and forsaking the faith.

Most families have been dictatorial. Because of religion that forces one to conform, they have turned powerful prophets of God into doctors, powerful movie producers into lawyers and great activists into mere business owners to blossom the family legacy and not the agenda of God.

Jesus had to leave royalty. He had to leave the biggest family in the universe to come down and become a man, he had to endure a fallen world and take captivity captive. As if that’s wasn’t enough, he had to leave his own family for the agenda of God. How many times do you hear his brothers being mentioned in the Bible? How about his parents? Were it not only when He was being born? This is what He said when his family came looking for him;

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”

But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Mark 3:31-35 NKJV

Jesus outrightly said that He is not much into family. He told them in their face that He is for the agenda of heaven. Do you think you will have families in heaven? Your wife and kids? Dear Child of God, your family is ‘whoever does the will of God’ as Jesus said.

If Jesus were a staunch family person you and I would not be saved. You and I would not know what salvation is. He would be busy going home every weekend sorting out family issues and resolving disputes. He would never have advanced the kingdom of God. And again don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that he hated his family nor he forsook them. It means that He prioritized something else bigger than family and in that, a bigger Christian family was born.

So many people today are held captive by family. They live a life for their families. They are controlled on everything they have to say, do or think simply because of the image of some entity called family. If your family is not for the agenda of God, then that’s not your family. Harsh right? Yes, it comes to that.

Do you hear the families of the disciples being mentioned and given precedence in the Bible? Who is the father and mother of Paul and what did they do for the Lord? Who as the mother of Stephen the apostle? The Bible seems that as unnecessary, it is irrelevant.

So where did Elijah come from? A Tishbite from Tishbe? To show you how families are not as prime as we paint them to be, a person whose whereabouts we do not know gets another  guy, out of his rich family. I am talking about Elisha, who leaves everything to be a servant of Elijah.

Jesus, the rock of offense told one of his disciples

Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 

But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Mathew 8:21-22 NKJV

Which pastor today in their right mind can tell a minister serving in their church, let the dead bury their own dead? If a pastor dares preach this word today, they will be called all sort of names and a BBC documentary will be aired for all the world to see.

Jesus further crowns it and says

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Matthew 19:29 NKJV

There it is, many who are first will be last. The ‘family that comes first’ will be last. And those that chose to be ‘last’ by leaving their family, country and their father’s houses for his agenda will reap a hundred fold.

Dear child of God, the agenda has been clearly set. We are at the end times and the battle for soul is more fierce than ever. It is time to know that this is not the time to hate each other to call each other all sort of names or to compete on whose church is greater or more spiritual than the other.

If anybody is doing the agenda of God, no matter how shallow, that is your brother or sister. They are closer to you than your fallen dictatorial family members who not only carries the agenda of God but paint Him otherwise. Don’t go attacking men of God no matter how wrong they look in your eyes. You cannot preach forgiveness and lack it.

Don’t attack your fellow Christians that are ‘sinning’ differently than you. It is time to wake up and transcend from mere talk and habits to, ‘What can we really do for the lord?’

Join us for fellowship (Details are on the poster in this post), share these words of life to someone who really believes family comes first – It is not Biblical.