"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Ephesians 1:15-18) I want us to think about the wisdom part of this. What do we need more in this world than wisdom? Wisdom to walk righteously in this wicked world and wisdom to raise our children up to be righteous. I heard one sister say, "I don't do mornings without a prayer for wisdom." How about you? Is a prayer for wisdom on your lips daily?
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I am constantly amazed by little ones. My youngest is currently about 15 months and lately she has been surprising me during worship. On Sunday morning, after several prayers, she said, “Amen!” each time. Also, during the sermon, when I thought she was focused on her lift-the-flap Bible story book, she repeated a word her daddy said from the pulpit. Yes, these little ones definitely hear more than we think. So, what are you filling up in these little spongy brains? Their lives 24/7 need to be filled with good things. Are you watching soap operas or shows with bad language? What do the little eyes see on the TV? What do they see and hear through the company with which you keep? I challenge you to make a focus on your entertainment and social lives – every aspect of your lives – because they see and hear it. If we don't we be considered a hypocrite and our children turn on us when they are grown – or worse, turn on the Lord when they are grown! “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
(Philippians 4:8) “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) There are days that try the patience of poor Mommas that are trying to be the mothers they ought to be. What is a Momma to do on those days? Here is a good section of scripture to think on those days when you need a bit of extra patience and strength: “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:9-17)
"To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power." (Psalms 21:1-13)
The "matchup of the millennium" as the LSU - Alabama game was billed may have
been up in the air until the final snap, but the battle between God and Satan was over before it even started. The devil may not have accepted defeat, but he is defeated. The only thing left for him now is to drag down as many people as he can with him to destruction. Don’t let yourself be one of them. Be sure you are on the right side in the matchup for your eternal destination. If we stick with God we can’t lose, let that encourage you to stick with it through the tough times. 1Co 15:54-58 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (55) O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (56) The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (57) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1Jn 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (5) Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 2Co 2:14-16 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (15) For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (16) To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? Rev 12:10-11 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (11) And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Do you believe in censorship? In our country people are obsessed with the
idea of freedom of expression. Many don’t believe anything is inappropriate if someone wants to say, show, or do it. As Christian fathers we must not allow our homes to have that same kind of anything and everything is allowed atmosphere. The Bible teaches us that we should only say those things that are good and profitable (Ephesians 4:29) and that we are to take even our thoughts captive to the will of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Our children may think that we are intrusive, snoopy, untrusting, not respectful of their privacy, etc., but that is our job. If we are to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), then we must correct them when they are wrong and discipline them when they need it. The only way to do that is to know what is going on with them. A few years ago when the movie Moulin Rouge came out and the main song from it was on the radio there was a young girl who would go around the church building singing phrases from the song. It had a catchy tune I must admit. The phrase she seemed to like best was part of the chorus and it was in French so she probably had no idea what she was singing. That is dangerous. I asked her mother about it and she didn’t know what it said either, but I did because I have had two years of French. I don’t know all the plot of the movie, but it was apparently promoting immorality and the phrase in the song was a loose woman (possibly a prostitute) asking a man if he would like to go to bed with her that night. That song was inappropriate for anyone, but certainly not good for a young Christian girl to be singing, yet that and much worse are on the radio regularly. We can’t just allow children whose consciences have not yet been fully trained to freely listen to all that is out there. I have a little quiz for you. I have a cd of kid’s Christmas songs. It has the following songs on it. 1. Santa Claus is Coming to Town 2. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer 3. Do You Hear What I Hear 4. I Want Candy 5. We Wish You a Merry Christmas 6. Jingle Bell Rock 7. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree 8. A Holly Jolly Christmas 9. All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth 10. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow Now the quiz question. Only one question with two parts: Which of these songs is completely inappropriate for young children to listen to and Why? I know there are some who do not celebrate Christmas at all and would not allow their children to have such a cd and I am fine with that as the head of your family you have to make those decisions for your house. There are some who would be offended by the fact that "Do You Hear What I Hear" is a somewhat religious song and either they don’t want to mix Jesus with Santa Claus or don’t want religious songs with instrumental music. Others would take offense to the fact that "A Holly Jolly Christmas" Uses the euphemism "By Golly". Others might not like Santa Claus or think that Grandma being run over is cruel. Those may all be valid concerns, but most people would not give a second thought to "I Want Candy". You may even now be asking, "Why should that one bother me?" Let me explain why that is quite probably the most offensive song and the one that should have been left off the disc. Regardless of your feelings about the other songs, "I Want Candy" is totally inappropriate for children. I am not a dentist or a health nut, I probably let my children eat more sweets than is good for them. If the song were about candy I would not have near the problem with it even if it might be showing a selfish, give me kind of attitude. The problem is that the song is a boy singing about how he wants a girl named Candy. Maybe you don’t have a problem with your 10-year-old boy wanting a girl, but I certainly do. You can’t tell by the title of things what they are about sometimes. Things that at first glance may seem innocuous have enough poison to kill after a few doses. As good fathers we should not give a snake instead of fish or rocks instead of bread (Luke 11:11). We must consider the books, magazines, music, internet sites, movies, TV shows, games, etc. that we are allowing our children to be exposed to every day. We need to periodically examine them again to see if there may have been something we missed or if perhaps we have learned more about something that could be poisonous to our children’s spiritual health. We need to be thankful all the time, but around this time of year it is on everyone's minds. This week in my FaceBook status, I have been focusing on spiritual blessings. Let's share here. What is your #1 favorite spiritual blessing? Please comment! Share scriptures as well!
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A challenge to be thankful! Grab a notebook and pen! For the entire month of November, write down something you are thankful for each day! And while you're at it, put this verse in your heart. Once a week, we'll be talking about thankfulness on this blog as well! "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body;
and be ye thankful." (Colossians 3:15) |