"Kids will have questions, Will you have answers?"

The Word tells us in Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." As parents we are responsible o teach our children the ways of the Lord and to live a life the pleases Him (Deuteronomy 6:7). Essentially we are making disciples for Christ in our families(Matthew 28:18-20). The hope is our children will grow in the ways of the Lord.

After reading this scripture and understanding that if I train my child correctly they will learn the ways of Christ and bring honor to His Name. But as of late this scripture has made think of how I am living my life, if I train my child to follow Christ when they come of age and understand His Word better will my life match God's Word or will I look like a hypocrite to them?

If I teach and train my child to act in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control am I living that life. Or am I opposed to live a life to please Jesus because the word like sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and orgies are a better description of who I am. I am an example of what it means to follow God's Spirit or am I an example of what it means to follow the devil (Galatians 5:16-26).

These are real life questions that as parents we will have to answer when the time comes. I am not preaching perfection but I am preaching transforming our ways under the Grace of God and by the Strength of His Spirit (Romans 12:2). We can easily dismiss this or pawn it off or we can act as responsible parents and live a life the pleases Jesus in every circumstance and every situation.

When your son asks you "Daddy how did you deal with lust? Did you fight against it or did you give in and say "I am just a man?" Or when your daughter ask, "Mommy how did you submit to you Daddy as the Word tells wives to, did you let him be the spiritual leader, did you encourage him, respect him, or did you stifle his leadership?" When kids asks, "How come you and Uncle Mike don't talk any more, why do you always mock people at church, why Daddy...Why Mommy?" Listen the list can go on and on but if we are truly training our children to follow Jesus we will have answer these tough questions and we can either try to justify our actions or we can humbly admit we wanted to gratify our selfishness as opposed to living for Jesus.

I am not saying we all go back to our parents to question them but I am saying if we call ourselves Christians and we are teaching our children the ways of the Lord, we must look at our own lives in every situation and ask "Our my actions/reactions pleasing to Jesus." Instead of trying to prove our actions as acceptable let's live like people who are dead to sin and alive to Christ (Romans 6:11).

I challenge you as a parent to live a life that reflects Christ and not a life the reflects your opinions because your kids are watching. Stay focused, you can do this!

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable.

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/

Rock'em Sock'em Christians

Christians easily lose focus on how to love each other. We have a tendency to look upon each other as the enemy. Our intent changes from loving each other to inflicting emotional harm. Love is the most excellent way but hate has a more satisfying feeling to us. So we chose to hate never realizing the world looks at us like spoiled brats playing "Rock'em Sock'em Robots". But we profess the love of Christ with the same mouth we use to curse our brothers. We distort God's Word to our advantage and act as if God loves us more than the person we hate.

We have missed it Christians. God so loved the WORLD that His died for us all. It was the greatest extension of grace and mercy in all of history. So why do we fail to give it so often. Anger gets the best of us and causes to act out in fits of rage, when this happens we fail to promote the righteousness of God. But love leads others to see their faults, admit their sins, and change. God's Love for us lead us to acknowledge our wrongs, confront our sin, and follow after Him.

I am not speaking as a man who has no experience of learning to love those he is trying not to hate. I am speaking as a man who is fought the battle within himself to love through the power of Christ. Your Christian brother is not the enemy nor is the unbeliever who does not know God. They are just people who have accepted the lies of the enemy. Yes they speak ill of you, ruin your reputation, mock you, and use scriptures to hurt you. But God's grace outweighs sin and His loves conquers all. The fight is not with those we see, it is with the unseen enemy. It is with the one who has deceived us and deceptively gained control. But the God in us is stronger than our hate and the enemy's lies. We do not have the power to change others or but we do have the power to forgive and love.

We must stop playing the devil's game of hate boxing and start embracing each other with the love of Christ. The world will never taste and see the Lord is good if we as Christians keep putting a bad taste in their mouths with our hatred and ill-treatment towards one another. Stay focused you can do this.

James 1:20, 1 John 4:4, 1 Corinthians 13, Ephesians 6:12, 2 Thessalonians 3:15, John 3:16-20


"In His JOY!"

Read The Word, Share The Gospel, Be Accountable

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/