The first institution God established on earth was the family.

It is, without question, the most important to God and the most hated by Satan.

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God’s greatest desire and plan for us and our families is that we would live in peace and harmony with Him and each other— that we would enjoy walking together daily in His presence. He blessed us with the plentiful earth to watch over and govern. However, Satan, God’s sworn enemy, is hell-bent on destroying our families. We are in a battle of the ages. What is at stake is nothing less than the destinies of our children and grandchildren and the kind of world they will grow up in.

Evil forces on every side are attempting to pull families apart beyond anything we could have previously thought possible. Hordes of demonic spirits have been assigned to use every deception and temptation imaginable to break up marriages and terminate the rights (and even the inclination) of parents to raise their children with a biblical worldview.

Ungodly influences are redefining and distorting God’s original design for the family, right down to what it means to be a man or woman, boy or girl.

In one way or another, we all are experiencing the fallout of this battle in our personal lives: broken families (our own or those around us), unprecedented levels of anxiety and conflict, and the tragic collapse of the ideals that built our nation.

Is it any wonder then that we are currently seeing levels of brokenness and disintegration in families like never seen before? Know this: the battle is bigger than you even know. It goes beyond simply the stability and security and happiness of your family or mine. The very structure of the family unit is under attack, and thus the future of civilization is at risk. We are in a war over our families, and it’s a battle of life and death.

As the Family Goes, So Goes the Nation

Satan knows the value of family—how it was designed to be the bedrock of society, the basic building block of nations, and the future of God’s work on earth. To the degree that families are strong, a nation is strong. To the degree that families fail, nations crumble. Satan knows that if he can destroy the family, he can destroy the nation. It is no wonder he has put a bull’s-eye on the nuclear family. It is no wonder families everywhere are experiencing what feels like an all-out attack!

Perhaps you’ve never thought about how everything in the world revolves around the family:

The family establishes the values that influence all of society.

It is in the home that children learn right from wrong. The family is the place where character is formed in children—the place where they learn to honor God or deny Him. Thus, the effects of the family reach beyond the four walls of the home and extend to the moral, social, and civil life of the nation. Every young person steps from the door of home into the field of life. And the way our young people learn to conduct themselves at home is the same way they will conduct themselves in culture, transforming it for better or worse.

Family is the building block of a healthy economy.

Strong families produce wealth. For millennia, families have worked to create their own businesses, developing the flow of revenue. Even the root word for economy in Greek is oikonomia, which means “family” or “household management.” Today, family-owned businesses are still the backbone of the economy in many nations. Thus, if we have stronger families, we have stronger schools, stronger churches, and stronger communities with less poverty and crime.

The Kingdom of God grows through families.

Much of the Bible is the record of how God worked through families to achieve His purposes: Moses and Aaron; Joseph and his brothers; Ruth and Boaz; Esther and Mordecai—and, in the New Testament, through families like Timothy, Lois, and Eunice; and Priscilla and Aquila. The covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and later David all happened within the context of families.

The family is the foundation of salvation.

In fact, the apostles’ explicit intention was to influence the family unit as a whole, as we see when Paul and Silas encountered the Philippian jailer:

Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. …And without delay, he and all his household were baptized (Acts 16:30-33 BSB).

Over and over in the book of Acts, we see that entire households accepted the Gospel and were baptized together. This is how the early Church grew so rapidly.

The family is the means by which the stories of God’s goodness and faithfulness are passed down from generation to generation:

We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done…so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born…. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds (Psalm 78:4, 6-7 NIV).

Family is the blueprint for how God’s Kingdom is established and grows on earth.

We see this when God gave a mandate for families in Genesis 1:27-28: “be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth” (AMP). Satan hates the fact that humans are made in the image of the eternal God and that they can procreate and raise godly children to influence culture and rule the earth.

This last point leads to the most important aspect of why Satan opposes the family. To understand the depth of the evil one’s hatred for God’s design, we must go back to creation and God’s original blueprint.

God’s Original Design for the Family

The first family’s home was set in the context of a beautiful garden. God’s original design was that home would be like Heaven, saturated with peace and joy. Truly, it was Heaven on earth. Life for Adam and Eve was simple, and the highlight of their day was spending time with Him and each other. They filled their days walking and talking with the Lord, caring for the garden, and keeping it fruitful and protected. The Garden of Eden was a picture of God’s design for home. His tangible presence was there. Adam and Eve had everything they needed in abundance.

We see this plan unfold when God created Adam and Eve and commissioned them as a family. Their purpose was to bring children into their world, raise them to walk with God, fill the earth, and inhabit it, expanding their garden home. As they did what God had instructed them to do, they would extend the rule of God’s government throughout the earth.

We see God’s plan for family clearly defined in the Genesis account:

So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:27-28 AMP).

God established a partnership with Adam and Eve and empowered them to be fruitful, multiply, and take dominion in the earth. You may be asking the question, “What did God mean when He said to take ‘dominion’?” In Hebrew, the word is ra’dah, which means “to operate in authority, rule, tread down” and “conquer.” The Lord told Adam and Eve, “You will govern, manage, be fruitful, multiply, and rule the earth with Me.” The two Hebrew words used for fruitful and multiply are pa’ra and ra’ba. Pa’ra means to bear fruit like a tree, being productive and reproductive, while ra’ba means to become great or many, to multiply and increase.

Also, the Hebrew word for dominion in verse 28 is ka’bash, which signifies the need to subdue and dominate. God’s original intent was that His creation would be governed by humans.

Think about it—one of the primary themes of the Bible is, “Who will rule the earth?” In its first chapter, God gets right to the point: “I want family, and My family will ‘rule’ the earth (their home) for Me (see Gen. 1:26-28). They will be the extension and expression of My Kingdom’s government there. This is how I will release My influence, My righteous Kingdom ideals and ways, into the whole earth.” That is true, and it is profound.

The Hebrew word for dominion and rule in this Genesis passage makes clear that the Creator was delegating to Adam and Eve this responsibility (ra’dah)—“to rule over, to govern.” The ancient Hebrew psalmist knew this truth when he changed the word ra’dah (“dominion” and “rule”) in Genesis 1:28 to ma’shal in Psalm 8:6, which means “absolute dominion and rule through God.” The psalmist clarified that God meant that all creation was delegated to Adam and Eve—“to rule over, subdue, and govern.”

When God created Adam and Eve, male and female, in His own image, He gave them authority over everything He had made. Satan at this time was subject to Adam and Eve’s authority! But, through deception, Satan, coming as a serpent, convinced Adam and Eve to agree with and submit to his words in disobedience to God. In so doing, Adam and Eve forfeited God’s goodness and relinquished their authority. They surrendered to Satan the keys over mankind and the earth, submitting to his rule.

But that wasn’t the end of the story—all was not lost. God knew this would happen and had created another plan; He had a “second Adam” ready to step in and redeem all mankind. So God sent into the world His one and only Son, Jesus, who was all man and sinless, to reclaim His creation and restore its governing authority (see Luke 10:19; 1 Cor. 15:21-25; Eph. 1:20-21; 2 Pet. 1:3). This unfolding story in the Bible narrates the clash of two kingdoms, God’s and Satan’s, with mankind as the prize.

The history of mankind is all about whose family will rule the earth—God’s or Satan’s. So, that is the heart of the matter. God designed family to carry out His purposes—to govern, manage, and rule, and to defeat Satan’s rule and reign in the earth. No wonder Satan is doing everything in his power to dismantle the family and destroy our children’s lives and future!

Satan’s Strategy to Destroy the Family

Have you ever thought about this? Everything we see in the news headlines today, the most pressing assaults against our culture, are all aimed at the family. Every critical issue—marriage, sexuality, our children’s identity, and the lives of babies in the womb—are at the epicenter of every battle.

Moving these ungodly ideologies to become accepted as social “norms” is an overarching strategy of Satan. And he’s using every sphere of culture to work together synergistically to move his agenda forward. If you think about it, currently every one of the seven spheres of culture seems bent on destroying the family—whether it be the entertainment industry, news media, government, education, business, or, sadly, even some churches and denominations.

Editor’s note: God has a plan for Your family. Ask Him and listen for His direction and promises. For prophetic and practical help safeguarding your family, check out Fire on the Family Altar by Cheryl Sacks, available from Prayer Shop.

If you’d like to hear more from Cheryl Sacks on this topic, make sure you watch our last Pray with America’s Leaders webcast!

How are you praying for the families of America? Share your prayers for your family below!

(This is an excerpt from Fire on the Family Altar by Cheryl Sacks, available from Prayer Shop. Used with permission. By Cheryl Sacks from Destiny Image. Photo Credit: Patricia Prudente on Unsplash)