Every household has a choice to make. By default, we serve the lesser gods of this world—money, our lusts, power, and prestige. However, we do have the choice to serve our Father God instead. When we make that choice, God declares he is for us, not against us. The curse is broken and we begin to experience his blessing and lasting peace. Joshua challenged the Israelites to choose to make God their Lord. It is the same challenge we take up in this chapter.

This lesson is intended to help you define and understand who is a part of your household. As you consciously begin to extend blessing to members of your immediate and extended household, you will experience his presence with you. Your attitude
toward circumstances will change. You will see God at work in different and sometimes miraculous ways.

The lordship of Jesus is the foundation of households of faith. His lordship is unqualified and universal. Making Jesus the Lord of your household is like building a house upon a huge rock. The biggest storms and highest floods can’t destroy it. When the foundation is solid, the household is stable. This lesson encourages you to build on Jesus, the Rock.

This lesson looks at the way Jesus lordship affects our lifestyle commitments. When we covenant with God for his blessing, it changes our lifestyle. We don’t live to please ourselves but to please him. We identify as citizens of his kingdom with its benefits and obligations. Our highest aspiration is to do what he asks of us. This affects our entire lives.

After establishing the foundation, this chapter looks at the first of four pillars that sustain and build up our households of faith. Servant leadership challenges us to redefine the popular concept of leadership. Godly leadership is expressed through a sacrificial attitude towards others in our households. When a mutual attitude of service prevails, households are built up and flourish.

The second part of this pillar challenges what the world values and its view of possessions. Godly stewardship starts by realizing that all we have comes from our heavenly Father. Therefore, it is only ours to use as he ordains. This includes our bodies, talents, use of our time, our money, and all our possessions. This lesson encourages us as households to manage our God given resources in order to thrive, and also be able to share them with others.

The second pillar is healthy relationships. This is a very important factor to household well-being. Many households experience deep fractures in their relationships. The good news is that God is in the business of restoring relationships. This lesson explores the need to repair these relationships and the encouragement to make this a priority.

This lesson looks at the power of confession and forgiveness as a means of access to God’s grace. Grace is divine in its origin. It makes possible the humanly impossible. Grace is the ointment that heals deep wounds. Extending grace is not an easy process but help is available to achieve it. We must tap into it if we are to thrive as households of faith.

This lesson explores the things we do together that build us up as we walk with Jesus. It emphasizes the need to be united in purpose and to do things together that build relationship. It will help us understand that discipleship is not as much about religious practice as it is about developing our intimacy with Jesus, hearing from him, and
together, walking in the obedience of faith.

The second part of this pillar addresses our role as “witnesses” to God’s grace and work in the world. Much of this witness is through our lifestyle commitments. But we are also
called to “proclaim” the Good News of the Kingdom of God. A household of faith gets
engaged in addressing social issues. It also helps other households to place their faith
in God and become households of faith. A strong godly influence on those around them,
is the mark of a mature household of faith.