Welcome to a family gathering. Some time ago the Holy Spirit spoke to me concerning the verses in Malachi 4:5, 6 where it says

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

It became clear to me that the prophetic burden of the Lord is families. And the main way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to restore families in the Lord. Now I have been blessed with a large family, now well over 40, and I had never held a family gathering to honor these prophetic words. Especially since I can see clearly that we are entering to time referred to in Scripture as ‘the end of days’. Malachi begins this scripture quoted above with reference to these days

“For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” Says the LORD of hosts.” – Mal. 4:1-3

This ‘dreadful day of the Lord’ will not be pleasant of comfortable for most of the world but, God will give the ‘spirit of Elijah’ to those who are obedient to prepare their families to ‘trample the wicked’. This is the heritage for those who fear the Lord, as Malachi wrote

“Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. “They shall be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.” Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.” – Mal. 3:16-18

As God blessed Abraham because God knew he would “command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice” (Gen. 18:19), so the spirit of Elijah would bless me if I turned my heart toward my children as Malachi prophesied. How will Elijah’s spirit do this? By remembering

“Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments.” – Mal. 4:4

Horeb is where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, so I want to give them again to you my family –

“I am the Lord your God:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me: humanism, Satanism, money or hedonisms (pleasure or happiness is the highest good)
2. You shall make no idols: of things in the heavens, or on the earth, or under the earth, or in the water: witchcraft
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: call yourself Christian then act like the world
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy: remember the Lord Jesus became the sabbath rest for us so do His work always and not your own.
   Remember, the Lord knew you and ordained you from the womb: (Psalm 139:16) and that you are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
   Remember the Lord created heaven and earth in six days and not as the evolutionist teach
5. Honor your father and mother that your days may be long on the earth: listen to their wisdom and obey their commands
6. You shall not murder: this means you shall embrace the sanctity of life both before birth and after birth – this includes abortion
7. You shall not commit adultery: don’t defile the marriage vows you make, and don’t commit spiritual adultery which is turning to the world after you have committed to the Lord
8. You shall not steal: this means take from another what is rightfully his, it also includes fraud and insider trading
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor: this also includes fake news, and lies to gain political favor
10. You shall not covet anything that is your neighbors: that leads to political avarice and socialism

If we instruct and train our children in these truths, we will have the blessings of the Lord. To keep these commands before us and to be quick to repent if we fail to keep them is the pathway to blessing and protection from the ensnarement’s of the devil.

Since we are grafted into the root of Jesse, the Israel of God, I want to conclude with the blessing God commanded Aaron to give to them –

“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace. So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” – Num. 6:23-27