How To Train a Child For God

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when we is old he will not depart from it"
(Proverbs 22:6)

One of the greatest areas of discipleship is to raise, train, and disciple our own children for Jesus Christ.  What I am afraid happens too often is we teach them about God rather than guiding and directing them into an experience with God.  Can fathers discipline his sons in love and not in anger?  Can mothers treat their daughters as sisters and not as their slaves?

At the end of the day, we are fooling ourselves if we think we did such an great job or even an awful job.  We take credit where the credit should be given to God and even good parents can raise their kids right and the Devil comes along and snatches them away through temptation and sin.  We sometimes forget that Adam and Eve had the perfect parent and yet they still created a mess of things.  So know that it is by God's power and not our wisdom that matters in the end.  Here are a few guidelines for parents:

1.  Let your child or children know that you too are also one under authority.  All authority comes from God and even parent's authority is delegated from above.

2.  Surrender your children to God for they are ultimately His anyway.  Anytime we try to posses tightly or hold onto too tightly, we will lose our hold in the end.  Let your children know that everything belongs to the Lord, even your family.

3.  Parents, bless your children.  Whether they are awake or asleep at night, pray God's provisions, God's protection, God's blessing on the lives of your children.  God can do more in five minutes what you can do in fifty years.

4.  Love your children with God's love.  Our love will grow impatient, it will grow weary, it will fail in the end.  Only God's unconditional love will meet the challenges of being a godly parent today.

5.  Model Christ in every way and in everything you do in front of your kids.  Surrender every attitude, every thought, every prayer, every deed that is done to the glory of God.

6.  Live truthfully and honestly before your children.  Admit when you are wrong.  Don't try to hide your faults or pretend to be something you are not before your children.  Your actions speak louder than your words so let your words and actions match each other.

7.  Parents, please do not show partiality in the treatment of your children.  Partiality creates jealousy and even hatred among siblings.  Often the child that is given preferential treatment is so spoiled and pampered that the favorite proves to be the scourge of the parents while the poorly treated one proves to be a comfort and support later in life.

To Protect and To Serve

The new courageous movie has a little of everything. A great script, humor, action, and a great challenge to fathers who want to be the men that God has called them to be. The movie is not just about the challenges and courage of policemen but also the behind the scene challenges of life and family struggles. I saw grown men weep at this movie and I needed a few tissues myself. For a well done movie in every way, I highly recommend the new movie "Courageous." If there is something missing in many Christian homes and families, it is courage under fire!

There are also workbooks that men and women can work through called "Resolution." This ais another way discipleship can work within the context of families. I still remember the impact the movie 'fireproof" had on families, but even more the fireproof book was a tool I saw literally saved several marriages that were crumbling. If husband and wives are not doing some kind of discipleship study togetether, I would recommend this one to couples.

The Not-So-Family Friendly Bible

"THE BIBLE IS MORE THAN JUST A
PLACE TO STASH YOUR DRUGS"

- Thor Ramsey


The Bible is not as family friendly as we have all been allowed to believe. I remember as a younger Christian being offended by discovering that our Bible versions were sanitized. You know, "The SV Bible (sanitized version). It's where biblical scholars have tried to tone down, tame, and not make as offensive some of the more crude and course language of the Bible. Whether it be the prophet Ezekiel railing against Israel with sexually explicit statements or the Apostle Paul calling everything proverbial crap (you can fill in the blanks here) compared to knowing Christ, things are not as near as neat, clean, and tidy in the Scriptures as some people would like them to be.

Or people don't like to talk about the texts of terror, messy parts of the Bible, nor does the Bible really care about making various biblical heroes always look good. Nor is the Bible or even Jesus afraid of you "not getting it." The Bible tells us the truth so matter of factly at times that the truth is neither flatterning nor does it always "feel good" to hear it stated so bluntly.

Some have even said that the Bible is a dangerous book. Maybe people who live out this dangerous gospel are the only ones who really know what this book 'really' says?