Greetings,
I pray that
everyone is doing well. Please….I hope you invest time to read God’s
Order in the Family that I put together, as it can change your life and the
life of your family.
First, I
want to share with you a short story from the Healing Room Ministry at Faith
Bible Chapel. We had a 14 year old girl that came in with extremely
painful migraine headaches. She had been in a couple of times previously
was healed of a blurry eye problem. I reviewed the notes in her profile
and what the teams prayed about previously. I could see that the team was
praying for the symptoms that were manifesting in the physical like headaches
and such. Being such a young girl and experiencing migraines, my
immediate thoughts were that she had some sort of fear in her life that may
have triggered her migraines. Maybe some sort of trauma. I asked
her if she was in fear of something or if she had any trauma in her life.
Her answer was no. Her father interrupted our conversation to say that
she indeed had a severe head injury as a two year old and at the age of 13 had
a concussion from skiing. There it was. She had a trauma that quite
possible could have been an open door for fear to enter into this child.
We proceeded to command those two spirits of trauma/fears away and prayed
healing from the damage done and prayed healing of the migraines.
We believe that God healed her that night and hope to hear the praise report in
the future. Praise God.
God’s
Order in the Family
It is my
intention to bring to light the importance of God’s order in the family.
It is a subject that is very rarely taught and it is unfortunate that we don’t
fully realize and understand the consequences of not having Godly order in the
family. Compromising Godly order has been catastrophic to our families
resulting in dysfunctional families. Family members suffer from
rejection, unloving, anger, un-forgiveness, bitterness, hate, and self-hatred,
hopelessness which have manifested into sickness and disease from a compromised
immune system in many cases.
In God's
plan men and women were made for different roles. God first created Adam and
gave him the responsibility to work and keep the Garden. (Gen. 2:15 Then the
Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.)
Genesis 2:18 says that God made Eve and she was created to be a "helper"
for man. Her position in reference to man is defined as first "a
helper," literally, to "help" Adam in fulfilling his
responsibilities in the Garden. God gave that responsibility to
Eve. If Adam was to achieve his God directed objectives in life, he
needed the help of his mate. In the creation of Eve, God set forth His
plan for the role of women. God's plan was to have Eve be at Adam's side in
every way, from having offspring to being Adam's partner in all that was needed
for him to carry out his obligations. Eve was the needed part of Adam,
making him complete in agreeing with him mentally, physically, spiritually. She
was not made as an inferior being in any degree, but was made for a different
and equally important role and purpose in life.
Adam
upon seeing Eve and receiving her said that Eve was "bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23) recognizing that had God created
her from him (Genesis 2:22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from
man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man). Adam made a
marriage commitment and God instructed man to leave our parents and be
"joined" to his wife and they would be one flesh (Therefore a man
shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh Genesis 2:24). This statement showed commitment and
established the proper bound between them being devoted to each other. In other
words they would function as a unit in union. Adam understood his
responsibility and in initiating the marriage performed his duty as being the
one responsible in the union. Thus, the first recorded statement of Adam was to
demonstrate his leadership and responsibility to the woman in that he made a
vow of commitment and he gave Eve her name (Genesis 3:20). This set the
example for the future human race and God has not changed His plan.
In
Genesis 2, God established the family. God is a God of order and He set
the organization of the family in its creation. Any organization must have the
roles of its members clearly defined to be able to function and support the
organization. God gave the man the responsibility to be the head of the family
in providing provision and leadership. The woman's role in the family is as
vital and important as the man's in her domain as wife and mother. She
brings that special ability to provide love, nurturing, compassion and
protection to the children and a close partnership with the husband.
God
created Adam and Eve in perfect harmony and that continued without conflict
until Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. This began the
problem man and woman not accepting or fulfilling their God given roles. Sin
manifested itself in sinful pride and distorted this perfect union. Eve negated
Adam's responsibility in leadership and listened to Satan instead of her
husband. She apparently was easily deceived and she decided to eat of the fruit
of the forbidden tree (Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make
one wise, she took of its fruit and ate…). Eve then gave the fruit to
Adam (Genesis 3:6…She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate) who
relinquished his leadership role to Eve and plunged the human race into sin.
Sin degraded
the man's and woman's roles coming from the carnal nature and pride of mankind.
The biblical example affirms that men are to be the leaders in the home,
church, and state. Women were not created to rule these divine institutions,
because God gave that responsibility to the man. The prophet Isaiah was
condemning Israel when he said they had allowed women ruled over them (Isaiah
3:12 As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them.
O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your
paths”).
This
distortion of God's truth, looking through carnal eyes, fails to see that God
never in any way degraded a woman, but made her of equal importance in the
marriage union. Man is not the woman's master, but rather her provider and
leader. The truth is there can be no union or true biblical marriage without
the man and the woman functioning biblically in each of their distinctive
roles. If the man abdicates his role of being its spiritual leader, loving
husband/father, and providing for his family, the family falls into serious trouble.
(As a side note, it is especially critical that he conveys the love of God the
Father to his wife and children). The same applies to the woman who tries
step into the role of the man. In either case the family as God created and
structured it, is severely weaken or destroyed. Further, the same principle
applies in a local church when the man does not provide the leadership and when
woman step out of their God given roles and seek to rule over men. When this
happens in a church the organization and structure of the church is out of
order and sets an unbiblical example for the families of that church. This is
why it is so important for a church to present a proper and biblical example of
God's instructions to its members, their families and the world around
them.
We have
established the Biblical principle in Godly order in the family. So, the
next question is: How did we go wrong and why are families in shambles?
Although there were many contributing factors, I would like to discuss two and
they involve experiences of the families in the fifties and sixties. Life
and our needs were rather simple back then. Fathers went to work and
mothers stayed home with the children. Houses were small and a three foot
closet in the bedrooms was sufficient to hold clothes.
It was
towards the end of the sixties and early seventies, the women’s movement
started and one of the primary women involved in this was Gloria Steinem.
Gloria was behind the feminist movement advocated a collection of movements and
ideologies armed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political,
economic, cultural and social rights for women. A feminist advocates or
supports the rights and equality of women. In other words, they wanted
equal footing with men in opportunities and the decision making. This
movement does not seem significant now, but it was during a period of time
where the baby boomers were open to new ways of thinking that affected God’s
order in the family that had a trickle down affect to this day.
As we can
now see, men have given into this ideology without truly understanding how and
why this has affected our families. Satan has come in and defiled the
order in our families and he is doing to us what he did to Adam and Eve in
Genesis. He lied to them, has lied to us, and it has caused brokenness in
our families.
Starting in
the sixties and seventies all the way to this present age, our culture has
promoted bigger and better. The ads are everywhere. You are measured on
what you have. We wanted bigger cars, bigger houses, expensive vacations,
toys, entertainment, etc. We wanted to keep up with our neighbors so we
went in debt to buy more when it clearly says in the Bible You shall not
covet your neighbor’s house…Exodus 20:17.
Soon, the
wife had to go to work to support the family. To do this, the family put
the children in day care centers. During this time there was also a shift
of responsibility from the father to mother. Even when the mother was not
working, a great deal of responsibility was on the women in the decision
making. Father would come home from a hard day at work and he would sit
down and watch television. He would play sports with the guys on weekends
or hang out with the guys. All the while the women had no other choice but
to control the household. The children would naturally go to the mother
for any questions they would have. In essence, the man had checked out.
The Father was not there to provide order in most cases. The fatherly love that
the wives and children need so desperately was and is absent resulting in
rejection and feeling unloved. How do I know this? I see the
absence of the father in the adult children’s lives almost every week at the
Healing Room ministry that I am a part of. I see it in our family and all
the way back through the generations. I am not saying that all fathers
have checked out, but it is quite evident today that there is a severe
problem. Ask a child in today’s culture and they will say that they go to
the mother for most things. In other words, the mother is the decision
maker in far too many households.
Godly order
in the family has been compromised. Dad has given control to the mother
if she is not working. The working father and mother have given control
to the day care facility. We are in complete violation of God’s order and
we can’t understand why the family is in shambles? Godly family order is
one of the first things in the Bible that God laid out to mankind. This
is a curse of the family and the generations.
So how do we
correct this and break the curse? First of all, it is not
complicated. We as husbands and wives must acknowledge that we have not
followed God’s order for the family. Next we must confess our sin not
only for ourselves as husband and wife but for the past generations for not
having Godly order in the family.
Does it
work? Absolutely! How do I know? Because we have experienced break
through on a number of issues with son, daughter, and granddaughter
recently. Breaches have begun to be repaired and relationships are being
restored.
Ultimately,
who is to blame for this un-Godly order in my house? I must take full
responsibility because I failed to take on the role of leader as defined by God
in Genesis. I have confessed my sin and asked God for
forgiveness. Ignorance is not an excuse for us gentlemen. We must
repent and ask God for forgiveness.
Women, I ask
that you do as my wife did in confessing that she too did not following God’s
order for the family and asked God to forgive her as well.
I think you
will agree that Godly order in the family is very important. Our body,
mind (soul), and spirit are greatly affected as well when we don’t have Godly
order. When we don’t have Godly order, we are not in balance or agreement
with God and with that we can have chaos reigning in our family throughout the
generations. So, when we are out of order with God and the family,
everything is out of order including our physical and mental
health.
With that
being said I want to discuss the subject of Neurotransmitters. The information
I am going to share from a science prospective may allow insight into your life
and lives of others especially as it relates or links to our physical and
mental health. How we think, speak, and act affects our physical as I
discussed in the opening paragraph. Perhaps we can have a better
understanding of our sickness and disease if we look at the root cause of
sickness and disease.
NEUROTRANSMITTERS are the brain chemicals that
communicate information throughout our brain and body. They relay signals
between nerve cells, called “neurons.” The brain uses neurotransmitters
to tell your heart to beat, your lungs to breathe, and your stomach to
digest. They can also affect mood, sleep, concentration, weight, and can
cause adverse symptoms when they are out of balance. Neurotransmitter levels
can be depleted many ways. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that 86%
of Americans have suboptimal neurotransmitter levels. Stress (Fear), poor
diet, neurotoxins, genetic predisposition, drugs (prescription and
recreational), alcohol and caffeine usage can cause these levels to be out of
optimal range.
There are two kinds of neurotransmitters – INHIBITORY
and EXCITATORY. Excitatory neurotransmitters are not necessarily
exciting – they are what stimulate the brain. Those that calm the brain
and help create balance are called inhibitory. Inhibitory
neurotransmitters balance mood and are easily depleted when the excitatory
neurotransmitters are overactive.
Inhibitory Neurotransmitters
SEROTONIN is an inhibitory neurotransmitter – which
means that it does not stimulate the brain. Adequate amounts of serotonin
are necessary for a stable mood and to balance any excessive excitatory
(stimulating) neurotransmitter firing in the brain. If you use stimulant
medications or caffeine in your daily regimen – it can cause a depletion of
serotonin over time. Serotonin also regulates many other processes such
as carbohydrate cravings, sleep cycle, pain control and appropriate
digestion. Low serotonin levels are also associated with decreased immune
system function. Depression causes the Serotonin levels to fall and
doctors prescribe Serotonin (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft ) to bring up the
levels.
GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is often
referred to as “nature’s VALIUM-like substance”. When GABA is out of
range (high or low excretion values), it is likely that an excitatory
neurotransmitter is firing too often in the brain. GABA will be sent out
to attempt to balance this stimulating over-firing.
DOPAMINE is a special neurotransmitter because it is
considered to be both excitatory and inhibitory. Dopamine helps with
depression as well as focus, which you will read about in the excitatory
section.
Excitatory Neurotransmitters
DOPAMINE is our main focus neurotransmitter.
When dopamine is either elevated or low – we can have focus issues such as not
remembering where we put our keys, forgetting what a paragraph said when we
just finished reading it or simply daydreaming and not being able to stay on
task. Dopamine is also responsible for our drive or desire to get things
done – or motivation. Stimulants such as medications for ADD/ADHD
(Concerta, Adderall, Ritalin) and caffeine cause dopamine to be pushed into the
synapse so that focus is improved. Unfortunately, stimulating dopamine
consistently can cause a depletion of dopamine over time.
NOREPINEPHRINE is an excitatory neurotransmitter that
is responsible for stimulatory processes in the body. Norepinephrine
helps to make epinephrine as well. This neurotransmitter can cause
ANXIETY (Fear) at elevated excretion levels as well as some “MOOD DAMPENING”
effects. Low levels of norepinephrine are associated with LOW ENERGY,
DECREASED FOCUS ability and sleep cycle problems.
EPINEPHRINE is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is
reflective of stress (FEAR). This neurotransmitter will often be elevated
when ADHD like symptoms are present. Long term STRESS (Fear) or INSOMNIA
can cause epinephrine levels to be depleted (low). Epinephrine also
regulates HEART RATE and BLOOD PRESSURE.
It is my
prayer that you truly understand how important God’s order is for your family
and that you implement His order in your family to ward off curses, sickness
and disease.
Tony
Sanchez 11-20-14
