TonyScott.org

For Our Children…

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

 ^6-9 Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.

Longfellow wrote concerning children:

            You are better than all the ballads

            That ever were sung or said;

            For you are living poems,

            And all the rest are dead.

The words “son” and “daughter” are from an original root meaning “to build.”  The Bible instructs us that children are to be regarded as divine gifts, pledges of God’s favor, and as His heritage. The Bible is literally a book about children.  It teaches that all children are received on trust as belonging, first of all, to God.

As His property, but loaned to parents to love and care for, they should be taught that they belong to God as well as to their parents.

It is never too early nor too late to teach children the truths of God’s Word. The first and primary responsibility of parents is to bring their children to Jesus for His blessing and salvation.

Jesus was ever touching and blessing children in the New Testament.  He warned that no one should offend them.  Offend means “cause to stumble.”  It is a betrayal of trust.

In Deuteronomy 6, the word “diligently” is used concerning how children are to be taught.  The word means, “to sharpen” and is associated with sharpening weapons, as arrows and spears, to make them penetrate deep into the flesh of victims.

God’s Word must be driven deep into the soul and spirit of a child by love and modeling of holy living.  Parents are supposed to be the first interpreters of God’s Word to their children. But in almost all the civilized countries of the world, the foundation of home and parenthood are being destroyed.

Love without marriage, marriage without love, easy divorces, abortion, homosexuality and same gender marriages all are attacking the sanctity of the home and marriage as God meant it to be.

Every child comes into the world full of promise and parents are charged with a Godly responsibility to raise that child in the ways of the Lord.

If you missed this weekend at TheChurch on Strayer 10.17.11

From the beginning of humanity, God intended the family to be the premier institution of life.  Love, faithfulness, and truth are the highest virtues of the human mind.  None is possible without the faithfulness of God. 

To have a faithful family, we must understand that “preparation always precedes production.”

Building a faithful family involves at least three steps:

1.  The pre-requisite of discipleship.

The term implies all that belongs to the completion of a home, a family ─ the idea, the dream, the plan, the construction, the furnishings and most importantly, the filling of the home with the living community. What’s the foundation you have laid for your family?

2.  The process of discipleship.

Teach fitting and sound doctrine which provides right living.  What types of activities and habits are you displaying in your home?  Are you using sound doctrine to teach your family?  Each of us is to be an example of good deeds.  We are to model, show a pattern of Godly living within the home.

3.  The product of discipleship.

The way we live in front of each other should be a deposit of a precious treasure into their lives.  Our lives should be sound, fit, wholesome, above reproach, giving no one an opportunity (a reason) to speak evil of us. As we pass on our “family experience” to our children, we have a sober responsibility to “fully obey what we know as His Truth.”  What we do and teach our children and family will have an everlasting effect on them when they leave the home.

If you missed this weekend at TheChurch on Strayer…

Isaiah 4:5, 6 (AMP)

⁵And the Lord will create over the whole site, over every dwelling place of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy (a defense of divine love and protection). ⁶And there shall be a pavilion for shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and a shelter from storm and from rain.

Whatever definition we use to identify the meaning of favor – graciousness, kindness, approval, and acceptance – it must include alignment.

Divine alignment has always been God’s prerequisite for obtaining His favor.  Favor from God brings an advantage, substance and weight which enhances and empowers our abilities.

Since family is God’s premier institution on the earth, you can rightly conclude He wants every Christian family to enjoy favor.

The favor God most desires for us as individuals and as families is the presence of His glory.  When we align our family with His divine order, we experience the fullness of God’s provision.

God wants to fill every house with His glory.  His presence will bring hope, healing, wholeness and happiness into the family. Glory is God’s promise of His radiant presence available to any individual, family or group who will align with His divine order.

Four things will assist you in bringing His glory to your family:

1. Fill your home with worship.

2. Assess the details of your family life.

3. Insist on truth and integrity with each family member.

4. Do not allow anything that is unclean, impure, or sinful into your home.     

Continuously pray and store up prayers around God’s throne for your children and your children’s children to the third and fourth generation.