Who is family? Jesus says… His voices echoes in the crowds of faces glowing from His reflection. The face of God touching theirs. The words of Heaven descending on hearts ascending up to Him. Coming alive. He is the One they’ve been waiting for… the Savior… the healer… the lover… the replenisher. Beckoning souls to enter into relationship with Him.

“Those who do the will of My Father in Heaven…” Jesus says in Matthew 12:50…

“That is My family.”

In Matthew chapter 12, we find Jesus unveiling the core definition of family and our interconnection in the Spirit. Rooted and established in a Kingdom kin. Not a human bloodline.

A royal bloodline. A chosen people. A holy heritage. Connected by Jesus.

In Matthew 12 Jesus is preaching as the crowds gather around Him. Then verse 45 it says, “While He was still talking His brother and mother wanted to speak with Him.” 

It’s very poignant it says “while He was still talking…”. They interrupt Him. There is something in Jesus’ family that cannot separate His normality as a part of their family with His divinity as the Son of God.

They are still treating Him like He is under their roof. Under their jurisdiction. But Jesus is no longer the baby in the manger. He is the King. And He will not be limited by anyone not even His family.

Jesus makes it clear who His family is.

“Reaching His hands outward to His disciples…” listening to His every word Jesus says, “Here are My mother and brothers!” 

His disciples are family.

The ones He called.

The ones He walks with.

The ones who follow Him as Messiah.

The ones who are on board with His mission. And have solidified a commitment with Him in covenant.

God’s family is not in human blood, but in Jesus’ blood…
Beloved blood. ♥️
From Him in covenant relationship.

Following Jesus is what grafts you into the family.

Jesus does not denote His human family as family here.

They believed they were entitled to immediate access to Him. But Jesus does not give it.

If the prerequisite for family with God is that you do His will, then they are not doing His will. Because Jesus says “those who do My will are My family” and He only points to the disciples. His brother and mother are not desdribed as such. They do not yet respect Him as Lord nor His mission.

Mark 3:21 further highlights familial resistance towards Jesus when He began His ministry. Crowds of people were following Him and His family utters harsh disrespect, slander and criticism of Jesus. “And when His family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Notice the word “seize” here. “Kratesai” in Greek.

It’s the same word used when the Chief Priests and Pharisees tried to “seize” Jesus over and over again as He taught and the word used when they “seized” Jesus to crucify Him.

That’s a big red flad right here that something dark and evil was going on with Jesus’ family members in how they opposed Him.

Don’t let your family limit where God is taking you.

Sometimes your family can be the biggest opposition of what God is doing, because they have close proximity to you and the devil will try to use them to speak false words to you, if they don’t truly seek the Lord.

Don’t listen to anything that opposes the Lord and His Word, no matter how close someone is to you. If their Spirit is not linked with God then what they will pour into you will not be beneficial but only detrimental. 

When you seek the Lord, it triggers the spirits around you that don’t honor Him as Lord. And it can cause division. Don’t be surprised. Jesus said it would happen.

Jesus said, “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” Matthew 10:35

Why do Jesus’ words divide?

Because not everyone yields to truth.

Don’t expect to have a close relationship with someone who hates God. You can love that person and have as much of a friendship as able, but it won’t be possible to forge a deep spirit connection with someone diametrically opposed to your spirit.

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14

You cannot grow a deep connection in your heart with someone who resists the Lord and abhors God. Because your core being operates from 2 different places.

Don’t build a home with someone whose faith is juxtaposed with yours. You cannot share intimacy with someone whom your soul cannot connect with on a supernatural level.

Jesus said “a house divided against itself will not stand” in Matthew 12:25.

I’m reminded of the story of Joseph. And how when he was in Egypt living in abundance, his family’s house did not stand when the famine came.

Why?

Because they opposed the Lord. Their scheme to destroy Joseph attracted destruction on themselves. Inflicting harm on another because of their faith in God only ensures God’s wrath will find you. But the good news is… God is merciful and gracious if we repent and admit wrongdoing. Joseph’s brothers would come to terms with the reality their murderous hearts were wicked in the eyes of the Lord, and they would need to ask for forgiveness from Joseph who now held the power of their livlihood.

Be careful about trying to ruin someone else’s destiny. God will ensure His purposes come to fruition, just as He did for Joseph. And the harm you wished on another person, will only boomerang back onto you. Avoid all of that catastrophe by awakening your Spirit to live with Jesus’ blood in your veins and not human blood. Then you will live with fruits of the Holy Spirit that produce life and not death for people around you.

Jesus cannot pause His mission for anyone who does not want to see His Kingdom fulfilled. And right now in this moment in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus’ mother and brother are literally halting the Kingdom of God from advancing. People are listening for the hope they have been waiting centuries for… and Jesus is not going to be silenced.

So Jesus says no and keeps on moving.

Jesus came to seek and save His beloved people, and this mission takes priority.

“For the Son of Man has come to save the lost.” Matthew 18:11

Jesus will not give access to anyone who halts His mission. Jesus pauses for anyone who seeks Him genuinely. Who yearn for His love and want Him to be Lord. 

Don’t let your earthly family stand in the way of God’s calling on your life.

Jesus ignores His mother and brothers in this moment because they stood in the way.

Jesus reaches towards His disciples lavishing approval because they stood for His Kingdom.

Where do you stand?

With God?

Or against God?

Jesus stands for anyone who comes to Him for life… giving you a heritage in a Kingdom family forever.

God’s family is not marked by human blood, but by Jesus’ blood. 
Family in the Kingdom of Heaven is fused in supernatural connection.

Seek the Lord regardless of your family’s reaction to you.

You don’t need approval from your family to say yes to whatever God asks of you. Nor can you gain salvation from them. God is your Savior. You live for the purpose of God alone.

In the story of Joseph, his brothers attempted to destroy Joseph so that His dreams would never come true. They envied Jospeh. Slandered Joseph. Mocked Joseph. Beat Joseph. And killed Joseph. Or so they thought. But you can’t kill what God anoints. God always has a better move after the devil makes his. God still ensured that Joseph’s destiny came to fruition. And then Joseph’s authority made it possible for his family to be blessed by the end of the story once repentence and godly sorrow cleansed his brothers’ hearts. Paul says in Romans 8:28, “What the enemy intends for evil, God uses for good.”

How do you love your family if they oppose your destiny in Christ?

God still calls us to love… Anyone can love someone who reciprocates that but can you love the one who smites you? Jesus did.

1 John 4:20 is a strong foundational principle for what God expects when it comes to loving others regardless of who they are. “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

Love is required. And you can only love purely if you go to God unendingly.

This is the difference between a Jesus follower and a non-Jesus follower.

The Jesus follower still loves even when persecuted. Even by their own family. Just like Joseph forgave his brothers years after they tried to kill him and sold him into slavery. But his brothers first had to come to Joseph and admit what they did, and plead for mercy. If you want mercy, ask the God of mercy for Him to change you by making Him the Lord of you life.

Maintain healthy boundaries and don’t yield your spirit to people in your family who are against God in you. There’s nothing to be gleaned from that. Jesus went on His way and kept ministering. Alongside His true family. His disciples.

Stand with Jesus and He will establish you in His Kingdom family.

The disciples who stood with Jesus… they walked into the greater depths of encountering Him. Venturing into the thrill of seeing Him move and partnering with Him to see His beloved people awakened to life by His salvation.

Kingdom family beckons you to greater in your life with Jesus.

They don’t oppose you nor hold you back.

They delight to see you flourish.

They empower you and join with you in the joys of success and in the delight of encountering more of God’s presence all around.

I can see Jesus trudging forward. The friction of family resistance not shaking him the least bit. He had a job to do. A mission to accomplish. And He knew what it was. Nothing would hold Him back from seeing His Beloved Bride restored to life like He came to do… and He was willing to obliterate every hindrance in the way of that. To make you His family… His Kingdom family.

Real family fights for each other.

Family strengthens one another.

Family uplifts one another.

Family inspires one another.

Real family speaks pure and not impure.

Family unites together in one goal, one connected passion altogether linked by one commonality and this is ours in the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ. The One who came to claim our hearts and waltz us into the Heavenly spheres of everything brilliant and beautiful. Wonderful and fruitful. Fulfilling and satisfying.

Family is meant to delight in one another and we do as we delight first in the King who makes us new by His blood. A holy blood. A Beloved blood. Linked together as one people related by One Creator.

Your soul shares a deep connection with those who are alive and awakened to their eternal existence in Jesus.

You are Jesus’ beloved because you want Him to be and His blood is in you. Making you part of His family. His is lineage. His inheritance. His royal bloodline. Enduring eternally intertwined with God and His people. A heavenly Kingdom. A Kingdom family.

Connect our hearts Jesus

in You

infuse

infinity’s hues

of a heritage

You died to give us

awakening life to crown us

by Your side

as Heaven’s Bride

a Kingdom Family

we will arise

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua 24:15