Okay, so I’m a week late. But I had to write about what I shared in a brief homily delivered to family and friends last week on Mother’s Day. My scriptural reference was Matthew chapter 20 where Salome, the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John (and likely the sister of Mary), approached Christ to ask a favor. In verse 21 she said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” Remember that, even though Christ had already started to speak of his suffering, his followers still expected some kind of earthly kingdom, overthrowing the Romans. That’s one Jewish mom with a lot of chutzpah. She was thinking big. She was bold. She was brash, but Christ didn’t condemn her desire. We need more moms like that. She was a spiritual warfare mother.
After decades of ministering to broken lives, many of them demonized, I’ve made some interesting observations. I have no intent to diminish the important role of fathers, but here’s what I’ve noticed:
- A strong mother can help to compensate for a spiritually inept father. It’s not God’s best plan, but a godly mom can help to fill the vacated role of an ungodly dad.
- A warfare praying mom can keep a kid out of sin when they are determined to rebel.
- An abusive mom is often worse than a bad dad. We expect more of moms, so when they fail a child, the hurt may be very deep.
- An Ahab dad can damage a child. But worse yet, a Jezebel mom can turn a youngster into a dangerous menace. (If you question this, read my latest book on JEZEBEL. To order CLICK HERE.)
In summation, an unloving or neglectful father causes profound emotional damage, but the brokenness from a derelict mother is harder to heal. Those involved with inner healing and deliverance will likely find that what I say resonates with their own experiences in ministry.
An encouraging word: HE CREATED ALL THINGS
Christ is the Creator. Not of just you and me, but EVERYTHING. Colossians 1:16 puts it this way: “For by Him all things were created . . . all things were created by Him and for Him.” You can’t get much more specific than that. The evolutionist may argue that Bible doesn’t say how He did it. True. But HE DID IT! There was no “ascent of man” from primordial soup. No transition from monkey to souls with intelligence. Most importantly, it didn’t just happen. It was designed by intelligence. Knowing this gives life meaning that there is purpose, not randomness to our existence. Be encouraged that God made you and He formed you with intent and design.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
