The Awareness of God in the Spiritual Family

You may have grown up in a family that marked you, for better or worse. You carry wounds that have never fully healed. Pastor Jacques MBALANDA, invited to ICC Montreal for a seminar on restoring the awareness of God in the family, wants to help you land today. Not to ignore your history, but to shine a different light on it.

The message is simple, and it changes everything: Jesus did not come only to save you individually. He came to bring you into a family. A spiritual family that becomes your true home, your place of building, your eternal inheritance. When this awareness awakens, the way you live out church, your relationship with those around you, and your destiny take on a whole new color.

This article faithfully reproduces the teaching delivered on Sunday, March 8, 2026, the last day of a four day seminar on the family. Take the time to read it, to meditate on it, and above all to apply what the Lord is going to tell you.

Outline of the teaching

1. Jesus came to reveal the Father

The disciple Philip made a request to Jesus that may sound like yours: "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus answers him with a hint of surprise: "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:8-10).

Why does Jesus insist on this revelation before everything else? Because the problem in a family always starts with the father. The mother carries the child, the mother nurtures, the mother creates the atmosphere. But the one who sets the direction, the one who leads, is the dad. Yet in our world, it is precisely the father figure who is most broken, absent, fractured. Many are no longer fathers, they have become mere "biological donors."

Jesus came to restore the true model. He came to show you who the Father is. Matthew 11:27 confirms it: "No one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Before any ministry, before any miracle, Jesus wanted you to know who your Father is.

2. You were sent as a conqueror, not as a victim

When you came into the world, God did not look at your dad and your mom to decide whether he would place you there. He saw a landing strip. He said, "I am sending a conqueror to go and conquer." Your birthplace is not a prison, it is a mission base.

Pastor Jacques states it firmly: even if your biological parents only ever took care of your outer shell without ever touching your inner being, God already knew your worth. He raised you up to block the works of the enemy, not to remain nailed to your wounds. Like Abraham, who was neither Jewish nor a believer to begin with but was called by pure grace, you are called to move, to expand.

3. The family is the factory where God builds you

The family is not only a place to live. It is a factory. It is the first school, more decisive than any university in the world, because when you enter university, you are already built; but when you arrive in a family, you have nothing, and brick after brick is laid down.

This is why Satan attacks the family so relentlessly. By breaking the family, he breaks the destiny of the children. Pastor Jacques states it plainly: "90 percent of the wounds we carry, we received from our families."

Note that family is not limited to "biological mom and dad." God knows your story. If you were raised by an uncle, an aunt, neighbors, a foster family, that is still your family. And sometimes, the one who took care of you is worth a thousand times more than an absent biological parent.

4. Jesus brought you into a new family

Here is the heart of the message: through the new birth, you no longer belong first to your biological family, but to the family of God.

Paul writes it clearly: "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). You were not left outside. You were grafted onto the tree. You entered by adoption: "You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" (Romans 8:15).

Jesus himself redefined his family: "Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother" (Mark 3:35). And he takes the logic all the way: "I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother..." (Matthew 10:35-38). This is not a call to hatred, it is a reminder of order: your priority has changed. If your biological family rejects you because Christ lives in you, rejoice. It is an opportunity to measure how truly Christ has become your life.

5. Salvation enters your house

Look at Zacchaeus in Luke 19:6-10. When Jesus invites himself to his house, the crowd grumbles. Zacchaeus begins listing his good works: "I give half of my goods to the poor, I restore fourfold anything I have taken by fraud." But Jesus sweeps that list aside with one word: "Today salvation has come to this house."

It is not what you do that gives you access to the family. It is salvation which, by entering your life, also enters your house, changes your status, and connects you to a dimension no one can take away from you.

6. Live your spiritual family: be a conqueror who multiplies

An awakened awareness produces fruit. If you truly belong to the family of God, you cannot remain a spectator. Jesus sent out his own: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15). You did not come to church only to receive, but also to bring forth new life.

Pastor Jacques puts it with both humor and firmness: no one in a family is useless. Every child grows up and, in turn, takes care of the younger ones. In the spiritual family, this is called making disciples, winning souls, weaving bonds, helping young people get married, forming future fathers and mothers, opening your home. The spiritual family is not only multiplicative; it is exponential.

Key takeaways

• Jesus came first to reveal the Father to you. Without this revelation, you will remain spiritually an orphan, even at church.
• God sent you into the world as a conqueror, not as a victim of your family circumstances.
• The biological family builds or destroys; 90 percent of your wounds come from there, but they no longer define your identity.
• Through spiritual new birth, you are adopted: you are a child of the household of God, a member of an eternal family.
• A living spiritual family multiplies: it raises disciples, cares for newcomers, and shapes the next generation.

Personal application

1. What image do you carry of the Father? Is it shaped by the face of your biological father, or by the face of Jesus?
2. What family wounds do you keep dragging around like chains? Are you ready to hand them over to the Father so he can begin the restoration?
3. How do you live out your belonging to the Church: as a customer who comes for a service on Sunday, or as a child of the household who takes care of the family?
4. Who have you concretely taken under your spiritual wing over the past year? What "spiritual baby" is God entrusting to you right now?
5. Are you aware that you were sent as a conqueror where you live, work, or study? What will you change starting this week to live it out?

Verses cited

• John 14:8-10 · "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."
• John 1:18 · "No one has ever seen God; the only Son... has made him known."
• Matthew 11:27 · "No one knows the Father except the Son."
• Ephesians 2:19 · "You are members of the household of God."
• Romans 8:15 · "You have received the Spirit of adoption."
• Mark 3:35 · "Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."
• Matthew 10:35-38 · "I have come to set a man against his father..."
• Luke 19:6-10 · Zacchaeus: "Salvation has come to this house."
• Mark 16:15 · "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel."
• Romans 5:5 · "God's love has been poured into our hearts."

FAQ

What is the "awareness of God in the spiritual family"?

It is the daily awareness that, through the new birth, you have entered the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). The Church is not a place you pass through on Sundays, it is your eternal family, one that builds you up and to which you contribute.

Do I have to reject my biological family to live out my spiritual family?

No. Pastor Jacques is clear: Jesus does not call you to hate your family, he calls you to put it in its proper place. Keep honoring and loving your own, pray for them, love them. Simply, your priority and your identity now come from Christ, not from your clan.

How can I heal from wounds received in my biological family?

By truly attaching yourself to your spiritual family. Sit down in the household of God, let the Holy Spirit cleanse your heart, surround yourself with fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters in Christ. Restoration happens through lived belonging, not through isolation.