“And
you shall love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your
entire being and with all your might.
6 And
these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own]
minds and hearts; [then]
7 You
shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate and
teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your
children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk
by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
8 And
you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets
(forehead bands) between your eyes.
9 And
you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Dear people of God, a friend of mine told me recently how
someone he knew travelled to a European country to survey their schools there
because he wanted to send his child over there for high school education.
After visiting 5 schools to make enquiries, the family decided
to return to Nigeria for their child’s high school education.
The major reason for their decision was that all 5 schools
visited abroad were tolerant of LGBTQ views and they did not want their child
to be corrupted by ungodly teaching about marriage being between a man and man
or woman and woman.
Thank God for their spiritual eyes of understanding being
enlightened to know truth from error and deciding for the Truth of God’s Word.
Today’s children and youth are faced with so many pressures from
society, classmates, friends in the neighbourhood, relatives, etc.
Every parent who professes
Christianity must pay attention to God’s Word in Proverbs 22:6, (NKJV), “Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The Bible says children are a heritage or special gift from the
Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward – Psalm 127:3.
Unlike humans who sometimes gives gifts to others and don’t
bother what happens to the gifts, God requires an account from every human to
whom He has given gifts.
Whether it is the gift of children, financial resources,
spiritual resources, talent, etc, it is God Who has given and God requires a
diligent account of these gifts.
Therefore, parents should focus more on the spiritual well-being
of their children so that they would turn out to be responsible God-fearing and
God-loving adults in future.
Who do your kids have as their role model? That would tell what
they pay attention to and how it would influence them.
When you and family visit your local church for mid-week or
Sunday services and there is a children’s class, you should diligently enquire
from your kids what they were taught, Bible verses taken and the lessons they
learnt to be sure they are following God.
At home, there should be a daily morning and night prayer time as
a family and each child should be trained to say the opening and closing
prayer, lead praise and worship, take the day’s Bible reading followed with
discussions by the entire family.
This activity should be done with the father and mother present
and not just mother and children as many homes do these days.
If you truly love God and cherish your soul, spouse’s and
children’s souls, you would never joke with prayer time and bible study time with
your family.
The society all over the world today is rotten because parents
at all levels are paying more attention to the material well-being of their
kids than their spiritual well-being.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking care of your kids
materially.
However, when as a parent you neglect or fail entirely to teach
your kids and exemplify with your lifestyle the reverential fear and love of
God Almighty and Father of my Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, the devil and his
members would train them for you and turn them into the monsters we see in
today’s society.
What do you think is responsible for the abysmal level of moral
decadence we have in today’s world with the youth wearing dreadlocks, dressing
half naked, sagging trousers, adorning strange hair styles, watching
pornography and sharing with their friends, joining cults in high school and
primary school, listening and dancing to ungodly music with immoral lyrics, telling
lies, involvement in internet and all manner of frauds, spending more time on
social media than on activities that improve their spiritual well-being?
Dear friend, you may not have started early with godly training
of your kids, but it is never too late to start and the time to do so is today
and now. Note however, that you cannot give what you don’t have.
You must therefore ensure you are well grounded in spiritual
matters as it concerns God’s Word and commandments in the Holy Bible. You achieve
this by committing quality time daily to personal study and meditation of God’s
Word.
It is first and foremost your primary responsibility to model
Christ and Christianity to your kids in word and deed. The Church is the
secondary place where they learn about Christ and Christian living so you
cannot abdicate your own responsibility to the church.
Ensure you know and engage with your kids not by shouting all
the time at them but by being loving but very firm whenever you need to.
Let your discussions always centre around issues that edify or
build them up spiritually in the way and fear of God and don’t shy away from
asking questions and answering their questions when they ask because they are
learning new things everyday.
When they study the Bible themselves, then when your kids say
something that is not right, ask them to show proof from the Bible and if not,
you show them yourself from the Bible so they can see that God’s Word contains the
right information on every subject matter in this world.
Even when your kids offend you, never make the mistake of
raining curses on them because you are prophesying into their lives and demons
are thus given a legal right to enforce your negative pronouncements over their
lives.
Discipline them as the need arises but speak words of life into
their lives because you shall have whatsoever you say as the Lord Jesus Christ
has revealed to us in Mark 11:23.
Why do you think there are so many social miscreants or “area
boys” as they are known in Lagos State, South West Nigeria? It is because many
years ago their mothers used to rain curses on them whenever they misbehaved
and so they have turned out to be what their mothers prophesied into their
lives and have become a great nuisance to the society.
Every parent would surely account to God for the gift of their
children from God. Therefore, do not neglect to do as God has commanded in
today’s main Scripture text above.
Jesus Christ is coming shortly to take in Rapture ONLY those who
are qualified according to His righteous standards in the Holy Bible.
Are you living a genuine life as His disciple? Are you ready for
Him? Repent and come to Jesus today, for tomorrow may be too late for you.
Once Jesus takes away His children, the entire earth would come
under God’s wrath and Divine judgement in a most terrible manner never
experienced before.
Why do you risk your life in sin, risk the grave danger, pain
and suffering ahead and risk ultimately damning your soul forever in the lake
of fire?
May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on
it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Holy Name, Amen.
Gabriel Ama.