Elect Lady's Corner

Sometimes, family members seem to be the hardest people to reach when it comes to witnessing to them about salvation. It’s hard because sometimes it’s familiarity and they know you and it’s hard to accept instructions from you. You are a reflection of what or who they should be and they’re not that person. So, they don’t want to talk about it! 

Other times, you don’t know what to say because they were raised the same way you were, or they heard the same gospel that was preached to you but made a decision not to surrender to the truth of the gospel. Sometimes, it’s difficult when it seems they are prospering or enjoying living a worldly life, and may have more material things than you do.

But I pray it’s not because you live a double standard before them; saved when you’re at church but living an Ungodly life after you leave church or the saints. So, you’re too ashamed to tell them about the power of Jesus to save, when you don’t have power in your life to keep you saved.  But the best decision to make is to not give up on your family to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior! If He did it for you, He can do it for them!

I was encouraged to share this message with you as I was studying the book of James. It is interesting that throughout Jesus’ earthly life, we never hear about any of Jesus’ siblings or family members being a part of His ministry, with the exception of Mary His Mother; who was a part of His first miracle when Jesus turned water to wine. 

It is said Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters according to Matthew 13:55-56. But when we seek to find out how Jesus’ family felt about His ministry it doesn’t seem favorable. St John 7:1 (NIV) said: “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in (purposely staying away) Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.” (This is Jesus’ own kindred the Jews seeking to kill Him) 

V.2 -5 said: “But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to Him, Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret.  Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.” 

(Now, these were His biological brothers not believing in Jesus.) Another time as Jesus was ministering to the multitudes in Mark 3:21 (NIV) it said: “When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said: “He is out of his mind.” So, Jesus’ family does not appear to be on one accord with Him. However, we should never give up on our family because you don’t know how much they are listening and hiding in their hearts the words and lifestyle that you are living. 

So, as I was studying the book of James, it dawned on me that this was James the brother of Jesus who wrote this epistle.  And, even though it didn’t seem like Jesus’ family responded to the many miracles He performed such as the wedding at Cana where He turned the water to wine, or the 5,000 people Jesus fed with the 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread, or Lazarus being raised from the dead, or going into a city and healing everyone in the city, or the power in His words as He preached the Word and cast out devils, etc., we find that after Jesus death and resurrection, His brother  James became the head of the Church and wrote the epistle of James. 

The book of James is one of the most powerful books in the Bible that teaches us on the purpose and power of “faith.” Apostle Paul tells us what faith is and the necessity of having it in Hebrews 11:1 and 6a: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But without faith it is impossible to please Him...” 

But James picked it up and said: in James 2:20: “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” In other words, verbal faith is not enough, but faith must manifest itself in works.  And because we know all scripture is given by the inspiration of God, so God inspired James to write this epistle. But, just as Jesus never gave up on His family or denounced them because of their unbelief and ridicule towards him; so, I encourage you to never give up on praying your family but believe God to save them and do a “James’s transformation” in their lives. 

Remember, if God saved you, He can save them too, because He loves them the most.