One time my daughter Sarah said to me, "Mother, you know at camp this year, I went forward because I felt like I didn't have the assurance that I was saved. But I don't want people to know about it because it could look bad on us."

I said to her, "Sarah, I don't care how it looks. The important thing is your relationship to God. It really doesn't matter what other people say. It matters that we please Him; that's the most important thing."

And I believe the same thing about our home relationships. It doesn't matter what people say. It matters whether we please God, and there is only one way to please Him - by faith in His Word.

We must look to what God's Word says about our situation rather than what we see happening around us. Frequently, when everything is going wrong in our family relationships we tend to look for someone to blame. "What's happening in my home?" we ask. "It's my wife! If she weren't such a nag, we'd have good family relationships."

Or we say, "It's my husband! If he weren't such a bum, we'd have a marvelous home." Or perhaps, "It's that rebellious son (or daughter) of ours! If it weren't for him, we'd have a peaceful home."

We always like to put the cause of our disharmony in the home on some other member in the family. But the Bible teaches us that we set the atmosphere in the home, and we do that by taking the Word of God and praying and confessing it for our home.

You are the one to set the atmosphere in your home - not your mate, not your children, and not the devil. Don't say, "Well, it's circumstances." You have power over circumstances!

Source: The Spirit-Filled Mother's Guide to Total Victory
by Harrison House Authors
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers