 |
| ** |
In the last couple of weeks I've had experiences that have left me feeling troubled in my spirit and both experience involved children. In my first experience, I went to a WalMart to buy scrubs for the intravenous admixtures class I was taking. While I was sorting through the scrubs to find my size I heard the voice of a woman screaming and cursing at a boy that appeared to be about 8 years old. She walked without caring if the child was keeping up with her. When she realized the boy was not walking fast enough, she turned around and verbally insulted this child. I watched as this poor baby hurriedly ran past me with tears in his eyes as he tried to catch up to the woman I am assuming is his mother. I had no idea who this woman was, but I felt like crying for the sake of the boy. A few days after this experience I was parking my car when a mother and 4 children between the ages of 3 and 10 walked up the car parked besides my car. The mother was on the phone and every other word that came out of her mouth was vulgar. She then directed her anger from her phone call to her children. As I walked away I could hear her calling her daughters derogatory names and I could see the fear in their faces. Once again a part of my heart cried. I cried in both instances because I knew that what I witnessed in both experiences were not isolated events. I cried because I knew these children were innocent and precious before God, yet their parents will probably never let them know. Around the time these experiences occurred, I was finishing up my study of the book of Ephesians and that's where God taught me the importance of the parent-child relationship.
Everyone that knows me knows that I am pro-life and I can never support an abortion. I believe that a child is a child from conception because my Bible tells me in Jeremiah 1: 5 that God knew us even before He formed us in our mother's womb; however, God does not want us only to fight for the lives of unborn children, but to fight for these same children after they are born! We may applaud ourselves for not terminating our children in the womb, but after they are born our words are killing them! In both of my above experiences I cried because I knew those children's hopes, values, and self-worth were being killed by their own mothers! If God has blessed you to bring a life into this world, He will require that you raised that child up for His glory! The book of Ephesians 6:4 says,
" And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord".
God has given parents two duties: to train their children in the ways of the Lord and to bring up their children in the admonition of the Lord. As a verb train means " to teach a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time." The Lord is releasing His child into your care with the hope that you will teach that child His commandments, but how can you accomplish this if you yourself do not know the commandments of God? It is impossible to teach what you don't understand. The definition of train says teaching through practice and instruction. If we are not practicing holiness, we cannot pass this principle of holiness to our children. If we are not practicing love and selflessness, we cannot expect our children to show the love of God to this generation. Simply put, the Word of God says you cannot gather grapes from thorn-bushes meaning the fruits you bear is a reflection of the seed you sowed (Matthew 7:16). In addition to training a child, Ephesians 6:4 also tells us to bring them up in the admonition of the Lord. As a noun admonition means "counsel, advice, or caution". In addition it can also mean "a gentle reproof". Admonition is different from training because training says, "this is how it should be done" while admonition says, " this is the consequence of doing it wrong". Children need to know both sides of God. Yes God is love and that love caused Christ to die on the cross that we may have life and be reconciled back to the Father, but God is also a Just God that is too perfect to stand sin.
What happens when we fail as parents? When we do not caution our children it will only be a matter of time before they forsake the ways of the Lord completely. The book of Judges chapter 2 tells us about a people who once loved and feared God, but these people died without passing on the ways of the Lord to their children. We are told, " When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they forsook the LORD of their fathers.....and the anger of LORD was hot against Israel."- Judges 2: 10-14
There are so many warnings in those verses of Judges chapter two. When we fail as parents we give birth to children who will not know God, children who will follow after false gods, children who will do the very things God calls evil, and children whose actions will provoke the anger of God. If you do not raise your children, the world will raise them. Do not give your children to Baal! Fight for your children and give them a fair chance of knowing God. Pray for your children and protect them from the influences of this world. Encourage your children and speak life into them that they may realize from an early age that they are precious in the sight of the Lord and that they are children of the Most High God. Shield your children with love for it is easier to accept our Heavenly Father's love when we've experienced a glimpse of it at home first. God will require an account of your children from you one day. The Bible tells us that if a city has a watchman who sees a sword coming and does not warn the people of the town, the blood of those people who were not warned will be on the head of the watchman because he saw the sword coming and not did warn. (Ezekiel 33:2-6). Parents are the watchmen of the family. As parents if you know the ways of God, but do not teach your children to prepare them for what is coming, their blood will be on your head. May this not be our portion. It is not too late nor too early to ask God to guide you in raising your blessings. I pray for all parents: May the Lord grant you the wisdom to bring up your child(ren). I pray for all future parents: Lord teach us from today what we need to know to be godly parents to our unborn child(ren). May all our declarations be, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD". Amen
Yorkamazing <3
Find My Blog on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/FeeFeBlogs
Find Me on Instagram: Instagram.com/Yorkamazing
Today's Memory Verse (TMV): Provers 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it"
**= google image reference: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a9/f3/6e/a9f36e9ad636c54fcf4733ece30f04d1.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment