Tag Archives: Godly Parenting

Parenting–A Lifetime Calling??? A Word from THE WORD!!! #249

14 Wednesday Aug 2024

Posted by in Abundant Life In Jesus, Choices And Consequences, Confidence, Godly Parenting, Parenting is a lifetime calling!, Parenting matters

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Parenting—A Lifetime Calling??? A Word from THE WORD!!! #249

As we see schools starting around us, the big yellow buses, and children laughing and playing, there is more to childhood than laughter (yet there is nothing much sweeter than the laughter of babies and young children, any children!).  As a dear old friend (who is now with The Lord) of mine used to say regularly, “The problem with children is ‘parents!”  When we as parents fail to heed the biblical admonition to raise our children in the fear of The Lord and instruct them in righteousness, it seems to me that one of the biggest problems isn’t lack of instruction (while we do lack a biblical world view in much of Christendom), as much as a lack of personal knowledge of God and His Word, and a life that displays the truths of God in all our ways.

Let’s peruse just a few things that The Word says about children and parents, and I’d like to start with a passage that many are familiar with in part; but the extended context can impact us even more, than just verses five and six.

“My son,

forget not my law;

but let thine heart keep my commandments:

2 For length of days,

and long life,

and peace,

shall they add to thee.

3 Let not mercy and truth

forsake thee:

bind them about thy neck;

write them upon the table of thine heart:

4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding

in the sight of God

and man.

 5 Trust in the LORD

with all thine heart;

and lean not

unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways

acknowledge him,

and he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise

in thine own eyes:

fear the LORD,

and depart from evil.

8 It shall be health to thy navel,

and marrow to thy bones.”  Proverbs 3:1-8

I pray that we will heed the truths which God gives with us and pursue a holy and righteous response to God’s call upon us as His children, as well as being parents to our own children, and an influence upon the lives of those children that God’s puts in our circle of influence!  And you do have influence on these lives, be it good, bad or indifferent—you are making a difference—are you leading them to Jesus or to hell?  Will you and I be the standard that calls others to follow Jesus, or do we repel others by being unfaithful ourselves?  Will you be the one picking up the stones in the way, or being a stumbling block to others—young or old?

“Go through,

go through the gates;

prepare ye the way of the people;

cast up,

cast up the highway;

gather out the stones;

lift up a standard

for the people.”  Isaiah 62:10

Jeremiah left a sobering message for his people; may we heed it today.  I encourage you to read it in context—a warning from God that we do reap what we sow.  (See Galatians 6:7)

“Set ye up a standard in the land,

blow the trumpet among the nations,

prepare the nations against her,

call together against her the kingdoms

of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz;

appoint a captain

against her;

cause the horses to come up

as the rough caterpillers.”  Jeremiah 51:27

Are you holding up God’s standard (banner/flag), or the world’s?  God knows, and the consequence is being set even now.

“Train up a child

in the way he should go:    (See John 14:6)

and when he is old,

he will not depart from it.

7 The rich ruleth over the poor,

and the borrower is servant to the lender.

8 He that soweth iniquity

shall reap vanity:

and the rod of his anger

shall fail.

9 He that hath a bountiful eye

shall be blessed;

for he giveth of his bread

to the poor.”  Proverbs 22:6-9

Some simple but profound principles of God, and Paul gives us another that we need to heed today.  Many today say, “Anything goes”, and while there may be a measure of truth in that, what they fail to proclaim is that for every choice there is a consequence!  The choice is yours, but choose wisely, there is a test—and please teach your children what God says, not man!

“Be not deceived:

evil communications

corrupt good manners.

34 Awake to righteousness,

and sin not;

for some have not the knowledge of God:

I speak this to your shame.”  1 Corinthians 15:33

(or as the NASB says, “…Bad company corrupts good morals..”)

May we dig into God’s Word and be prepared for the battle facing us in this nation; in this world.  We are called to be faithful before our God, and the world—a lost and dying world that needs Jesus!

Paul gives a great standard if we will but heed it:

“Let him that stole

steal no more:

but rather let him labour,

working with his hands the thing which is good,

that he may have to give to him that needeth.

 29 Let no corrupt communication

proceed out of your mouth,

but that which is good

to the use of edifying,

that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,

whereby ye are sealed

unto the day of redemption.”  Ephesians 4:28-30

Always remember there are little eyes and ears watching everything we say and do!  As Jesus said, may we be “…wise as serpents, and harmless as doves…” (See Matthew 10:16) Remember parenting is a lifetime calling!!!

Amen and Amen!!!

Ice Cube Philosophy??? Bible Ballistics: BBs #551

24 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Consider Your ways, Faithful is He that has Promised!, Father of lies, IN Jesus!, JESUS, Lies, What's The Word?

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Bible Ballistics: BBs #551  Ice Cube Philosophy???

 

I’m sure you’re wondering what “Ice Cube” philosophy is all about, and I’ll be glad to share it with you this morning! I saw a phrase the other day that struck my heart, it said something like, “We can’t raise our children like we were raised, because we live in a different world!”  I must tell you that when I read that it just broke my heart—we have bought the lies of the enemy and have become so entrenched in the culture and philosophy of the world that we are convinced that the “world” we live in is what dictates our life, our belief, and our actions!  That is totally not true, and it surely isn’t a biblical way to look at things and isn’t how we are to order our lives!

This is the very thing that Paul warned the Romans about—and it is what “Ice Cube” philosophy is all about.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren,

by the mercies of God,

that ye present your bodies

a living sacrifice,

holy,

acceptable unto God,

which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed

to this world:

but be ye transformed

by the renewing of your mind,

that ye may prove

what is that good,

and acceptable,

and perfect,

will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2

Paul calls believers in Jesus to give ourselves to God as a living sacrifice—Jesus wants us to live for Him, not just to be willing to die for HIM!  He calls us to know the same things that Paul called the Galatians to remember:

“I am crucified with Christ:

nevertheless I live;

yet not I,

but Christ liveth in me:

and the life which I now live

in the flesh

I live by the faith of the Son of God,

who loved me,

and gave himself for me.”   Galatians 2:20

This takes us right back to Paul’s call to the Roman believers: “be not conformed to this world”! We are not to let the world “squeeze us into its image”, or to fit our post—we aren’t to be like “ice cubes”! Water is poured into any form and frozen in that form, it takes on the form of the mold—regardless of what that mold is.  You can make square cubes, round cubes, animal shaped cubes, or virtually any shape that you can imagine.  But followers of Jesus are clearly called to NOT be ‘frozen’ into the world’s mold! We must never say that our life style, our parenting skills, or our beliefs are “conformed to this world”!!! We are to “withstand in the evil day”!!! And friends, that is where we live– “in the evil day”—; but may we never, never, never give up to that which is trying to prevail over us! Jesus has promised us that the enemy will not prevail against us when we walk with Him, live for Him and obey HIS principles.

But there is a price!  We will be ridiculed, called names and laughed at when we stand for God’s Word and His ways.  Yet HE promises us that His plan will work—it has worked– for God never fails!  Deuteronomy chapter 6 is the most profound outline for parenting ever given (in my humble opinion!).  I will share it with you here, but I’d encourage you to read the entire chapter.   I’ll simply make a few comments on it, and let it speak for itself.  God gave His people a few simple (not easy, but simple) steps to faithful parenting and passing the baton of truth and faith to the next generation.

Love God—first and foremost in all things yourself—

Live, speak, share and proclaim His Word in all—

Do these things before your children at every turn—

Use teachable moments to share YOUR trust in God—

       (Simply put—practice what you preach!)

Then, when time has passed, and you have lived a life

different from the world

your children will ask WHY?—

And then—you have the wonderful opportunity

to share your personal testimony

of what God has done

and is doing

IN you—NOW!

We are NOT to conform to the world, but we are to share truth with our children in a world that is running amuck with the lies of Satan!  Ponder God’s antidote to the world’s lies!

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God

with all thine heart,

and with all thy soul,

and with all thy might.

6 And these words,

which I command thee this day,

shall be in thine heart:

7 And thou shalt teach them

diligently

unto thy children,

and shalt talk of them

when thou sittest in thine house,

 and when thou walkest by the way,

and when thou liest down,

and when thou risest up.

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign

upon thine hand,

and they shall be as frontlets

between thine eyes.

9 And thou shalt write them

upon the posts of thy house,

and on thy gates…

…17 Ye shall diligently keep

the commandments of the LORD

your God,

and his testimonies,

and his statutes,

which he hath commanded thee.

18 And thou shalt do that

which is right

and good

in the sight of the LORD:

that it may be well with thee,

and that thou mayest go in

and possess the good land

which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,

19 To cast out all thine enemies from before thee,

as the LORD hath spoken.

20 And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying,

What mean the testimonies,

and the statutes,

and the judgments,

which the LORD our God

hath commanded you?

21 Then thou shalt say unto thy son,

We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt;

and the LORD brought us out of Egypt

with a mighty hand:

22 And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

23 And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in,

to give us the land which he sware

unto our fathers.

24 And the LORD commanded us

to do all these statutes,

to fear the LORD our God,

for our good always,

that he might preserve us alive,

as it is at this day.”  Portions of Deuteronomy 6:5-24

Amen and Amen!