Steps To Being A Good Parent Part 3

In our last two articles we noted that a parent must cultivate their own spiritual life and a parent must understand that their children are a gift from God. God owns them and simply lent them to us to raise for His glory. In this article I want us to concentrate on a third important element in becoming godly parents. A Parent must fulfil his/her responsibilities. This will not be an exhaustive list but simply some important responsibilities that a parent must not ignore.

First of all we must love them. If we are going to love as God loves (imperfect of course as sinful people) we must purpose their good. This will take spending a lot of time with our Lord in prayer seeking what is best for our children. We must gaurd against our selfish desires and realize that everything we do for them needs to be for the purpose of leading them in the direction of a knowledge and love for God. This will include discipline. Sometimes our love must be tough love. But we must never forget that discipline is for the purpose of training. Consider a few verses from the Bible. (Proverbs 22:15) Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. (Proverbs 13:24) He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Secondly, we must be committed to the task of raising our children. If you are not willing to spend quality time with your children, they will struggle to mature both mentally and spiritually. If you are not spending time with your children, someone or something else will influence them for good or for bad. Some parents are totally consumed with their jobs, but your children are more important. We have to work, but we cannot afford to neglect our children. Good parenting takes commitment!!

Thirdly, we must be parents of prayer. Our real power comes from a committed prayer life. God works through prayer! We must be praying for God's strength to parent wisely and to make right decisions for our children. We must be praying for their salvation. Once they are saved we must pray for their spiritual maturity, decision making, usefulness for God, and to follow God's leading for their lives. Parents, we have a lot to pray about, please don't neglect your prayer life!

Fourthly, we must protect them. Protect them from both physical and spiritual harm. We must protect them from what they watch, read, listen to, from any influence that would lead them away from God. It is our duty to teach them how to make right decisions based on God's Word and principles.

Fithly, we must be an example for them to watch. Parents this is very humbling, but we must "practice what we preach." If we don't set the example someone else will!! Exhibit to them how to love and serve the Lord. We do a terrible injustice to our children when we tell them one thing and we do another. We must follow Paul's pattern; (Philippians 3:17) Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

Sixthly, we must be the primary instructers in our children's lives. It is the job of the parent first to teach our children especially in the things of the Lord. Don't expect this to be the job of the Sunday School teachers alone. Some parents feel that is the job of the church or later the Christian college. No parents, they are to help but the primary job belongs to you. Our children need instruction from the word of God. Douglas Wilson exhorts; "children of Christian parents are to be brought up in an enviroment dominated by the Word of God." Take your bilbe and read deuteronomy chapter six and Psalm 78. Parents teach your children to have disciplined lives, how to love God, how to pray, how to cultivate a relationship to God, how to follow God's will, and etc. We have a lot to teach them, but it is a true privilege to raise our children.

These are only a few responsibilities that parents must practice. Their are many more that could be listed, but for sure we cannot ignore these. Parents, we have a big responsibility before us, but it is well worth it. Take your job as a parent seriously. Go to God for strength and wisdom because we cannot do a good job in our own strength.

Steps To Being A Good Parent Part 2

In our last article we observed that a good parent must cultivate his or her own spiritual life. Why should we expect our children to be spiritual and love the Lord if we fail to love the Lord as we ought to. Thankfully the Lord can work in our children inspite of us, but we do have an obligation to model genuine christianity to them!



In this article I want to emphasize a second point and that point is that Parents must understand that their children are a gift from God. God created our children. They belong to Him. We must never forget this. We sometimes get the idea that we own our children and we make decisions for them that seem to bear out this idea. Don't get me wrong, we need to make decisions for them while they are young, but those decisions should be done with a dependence on our sovereign God. We must also remember not to push our children to do things or pursue careers based upon our desires for them. We need to spend much time in prayer seeking God's will for our children and guide them in their decisions based on biblical principles.



Secondly, we must never forget that our children are on loan to us from God. He is the giver of every good gift. (James 1:17) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Children are a wonderful gift from God, but they are also an inheritance from the Lord.



(Psalms 127:3-5) Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.



The word for "heritage" means "something inherited." Children are an inheritance from God- God's blessing to you. What an awsome inheritance!! Do you realize that this is the only inheritance that you will ever receive that you could possibly take with you to heaven when this life is over. We have the privilege to share the gospel to our children and raise them to honor God!! Hannah understood this when she prayed for a child and God gave her Samuel.



(1 Samuel 1:11) And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. (1 Samuel 1:28) Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there. {lent him: or, returned him, whom I have obtained by petition}



Read the story in Genesis 22 about Abraham and Isaac where God tested Abraham's allegiance and trust by asking him to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering. Wow, can you imagine even the thought of such a thing. Now understand, that God was simply testing Abraham. Abraham so trusted God that he was about to offer up Isaac, when suddenly God provided a ram in the thicket for the burnt offering. Now listen to verse 12. God is speaking. (Genesis 22:12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. Abraham loved and trusted his God, but he also understood that Isaac was God's and on loan to him.

God has given us our children for a reason. Do you really understand that? Children are not a bother, or a nuisance, or even an obstacle in our way, they are wonderful gifts from God. We have a responsibility before God to raise them according to God's standards and for His glory!! If you can understand these truths, then you will be more ready to raise wonderful children and be the best parent that you can be with God's help.

Stay tuned for part 3.

If you have questions concerning true Christianity, then check out this link. http://www.christianitypureandsimple.org

How Can We Be Good Parents? Part I

We have a great need today for godly parents. All around us we observe broken homes. Unfortunately, we even observe many problems within Christian homes. Who or what is to blame? Society? Teachers? Our churches? Pastors? Sunday School teachers or youth pastor? NO, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Parents, we are responsible for our children! We MUST own that responsibility! E. Allen Griffith hits the nail on the head:

"The need of our day is for godly, devoted parents to commit themselves to rearing their children with strict adherence to the principles and instructions found in the Word of God. That commitment will require time and energy that few seem
willing to invest in family life."

Friends, with God's help we can be the parents that God wants us to be. I want to emphasize three points that I believe will help us to be good parents. In this first post I will elaborate on my first point which is that a parent must first cultivate their own spiritual life.



We must take our spiritual life very seriously. Too many Christians struggle to work on their own spiritual growth. We do have a part in the process even though we know that the Holy Spirit is the One who ultimately must be working in our lives. First of all we need to commit ourselves to complete obedience to the Word of God. Deuteronomy 6 is a great passage for parents to study. In order to keep their part of the Covenant with God, they were to obey the Law and teach it to their children. Covenant faithfulness required obedience. In Deuteronomy 6 obedience is emphasized in the first three verses. Verse one states "that ye might do them." Verse two states "to keep all his statutes and his commandments." And verse three states "and observe to do it." Obviously, obedience is crucial to our spiritual walk. James also emphasizes the importance of obedience to the Word.

James 1:22 "But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." James 1:25 "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

Parents, not only is obedience to God's Word important, but we must also have a passion for our great God. Do you enjoy spending time with your God? Do you spend any quality time with your God? Why is it that we can go through our day with barely even thinking about our great God? He has done so much for us. Just read Ephesians chapter one and if it does not move you friend, then you have grown spiritualy cold. Deuteronomy 6:5 exhorts us to "love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

If you do not desire the Word and to obey it, there is a good chance niether will your children. We need the Word of God to instuct us and only then will we be able to raise godly children by God's standards. Our children also need to see that we absolutely love our great God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Passion can be contagious and our children will learn by watching us. If you fail to cultivate your spiritual life, I promise you that you will struggle in raising your children for God's glory. Stay tuned for more later!! God Bless!!

Quotable

I was studying for tonights devotional at church and found a very good quote on the subject of knowing and following God's will. We will be looking at Psalm 25 and I was particularly thinking through vv.4-5. "Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I waite all the day."


The Quote is by Sammuel Annesley. "Do what you know to be your present duty, and God will acquaint you with your future duty as it comes to be present."

Have You Learned to Trust God? Part2

In my last post we were considering the topic of trusting God. Most believers would say that they are, but often our actions sell us short. It seems to be easier said than done. We must learn to completely put our trust in our gret God or we will struggle in our christain walk.

We ended last time with the latter part of v.5. The Psalmist exhorted us not to "lean on your own understanding." The word "lean" has the idea to "prop up" or "support one's self." We are finite beings who cannot see all or know all, therefore, we must trust in our God who does see and know all things. He knows what is best for us and He knows how to take care of us.

The beginning of v.6 goes on to tell us that, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him." First of all, understand that the word "ways" has the idea of "a course of life" meaning in all that we do we must acknowledge Him. What does this mean? To acknowledge God is to know Him, to depend on Him, and to be aware of His will and desire for us and submit to it. Acknowledge that God has every right to direct and guide us for He created us and provided salvation for us. Too many people (including believers) mess up their lives by trying to live independently of God.

Now notice in the latter part of v.6 what happens when we acknowledge God's sovereignty and right over our lives. The Psalmist writes, "and He shall direct thy paths." The word "direct" has the idea "to be straight" or "to make right." God will straighten our path. He will level the path. In other words, He will remove the obstacles that hinder the direction we ought to be going. If we will learn to completely trust & submit to God, He will bring us to His appointed goal for our lives. God has a plan for each of us. Left to ourselves we fail to see it, but God is waiting to direct us in the way He wants us to go!! Life only has real meaning when lived in dependence upon God and His will!! Otherwise, we look like the dog (or in our case the cat) who constantly chases his tail but fails to catch it. We tire out and never achieve anything worth while. Remember this great verse; "The steps of a good man (or woman) are ordered (established) by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way." Psalm 37:23

Trusting in the Lord is vital for our Christian life. All to often circumstances arise and we do not know what to do, where to go, or how to fix the problem. But always remember God Does!! He is waiting to "to direct our paths" if we would only turn to Him in complete dependence.

What problems are you facing today? Lost your Job? Diagnosed with Cancer or some other health problem? Have you received unexpected bills that are depleting your bank account? Have you lost a loved one? Do you feel like your life is going nowhere? Or are you simply confused on what God wants for your life? Turn to Him in prayer and dependence. Confess any known sin. admit you don't know what to do and that you need His help. If you are sincere and one of His children, then He will help you!!

Psalm 146:3-5 "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returnet to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:"

Isaiah 26:3-4 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:"

God Bless and keep your focus on our wonderful, loving God!!

Have You Learned To Trust God?

(Proverbs 3:5-8) Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.(KJV)

Are you having a hard time trusting in the Lord? When difficulties and problems come your way, are you tying to fix them yourself? Or just fretting over them? Anxiety and self-reliance will only fail us and cause us much grief. Friends, if you know Christ as your Savior, then we have all that we need to live a joyful and confident life, even through the trials of life! The essence of religious faith is trusting in our wonderful God. He knows us. He knows what is best for us. He cares about us deeply. Listen to Gods Word: (1 Peter 5:7) Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.(KJV)

Provebs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord. Trust has the idea of security and confidence. We are secure in Christ. We are righteous in Christ and therefore in a right standing with God. Trusting God is also being confident to boldly meet life's problems and temptations without fear or anxiety. There must be an absolute dependence on God because He has proven Himself trustworthy!

Think about Israel for a second. They could fully trust in God because He has proven Himself faithful to them even though they failed to be faithful to Him. Just think about God's deliverance, protection, and leading in the following examples: The Exodus out of Egypt, the wilderness journey, and the conquest of Canaan where forces were far superior to themselves. I could give many more examples, but don't miss the point that God never failed them. Therefore they were exhorted by the Psalmist to, (Psalms 37:3-5) Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.(KJV) Israel had no reason not to trust in their wonderful God and neither do we! God provides salvation, He sanctifies us, provides for our needs, and even promised to never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.(KJV) God is trustworthy, therefore, all beliefs, decisions, and the problems of life need to be submitted and entrusted to Him.

Notice the second part of v.5; and lean not unto thine own understanding. We need to trust the Lord because we are not capable of taking care of our selves contrary to popular secular belief. He is Sovereign. He sees and knows all things. He is all powerful. We are simply created beings in need of help from the Creator. Don't trust in your own resources, strength, or intelligence because we will simply mess things up. I think most of our experiences will bear this out. The biblical author makes clear we are not to trust in our own understanding. He means our own insight or our own way of thinking. Without the working of the Holy Spirit our understanding is distorted because of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (when man received a sin nature). Left to ourselves we have no hope, but praise be to God He intervened and provided salvation and guidance to those who will trust in christ as their savior. We need a close, vibrant relationship with our God if we are to live for the glory of Christ.

I'm out of time, but will continue this article soon. God Bless and think about these things!!