Open Heavens Daily Devotional For Sunday, 25th October, 2015

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: SUNDAY 25TH OCTOBER 2015

THEME: RAISING GODLY CHILDREN?

Memorise:
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4

Read: Ephesians 6:1-4
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise
3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Message
When God gives you children, He expects you to raise them in a godly manner. For this reason, He sent you this express command in Proverbs 22:6:
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

This passage of Scripture tells us to "train up a child". In other words, even when God gives you several children, each of them requires personal attention. Every child is different from the other. Never lump children together without making out time to teach, instruct, correct, rebuke, discipline and lead them by example individually. Every child that God gives to you is hungry to take something out of you. Let them take the life of Jesus out of you. Personal attention is very crucial to the development of your children and wards.

Also, carry them along with you when you are going for church programmes. There are parents who leave their children at home when they are going to church. When you ask why they do that, they say their children are already youths and should be left to decide things for themselves. That scenario suggests that the parents are carefree. If you fail to bring up your children in the way and admonition of the Lord, you will be courting trouble. Joshua's resolve in Joshua 24:15 is very important to us here. He said both himself and his household would be devoted to the service of the Lord. In other words, he must have made serving God an attractive thing to his family. There are some pastors' children whose primary desire is to become pastors; other careers or professions are secondary options to them. Their desire shows that their parents have done a good job on them. But if you are a pastor and your child says the last profession he will ever consider is to be a pastor, check it out, something must have gone wrong in the training of that child. Do you always paint the ministry in bad light to your children? How do you present the Christian faith to your children or wards - as interesting or as a burden? Do you just dole out dos and don'ts to your children, or do you take out time to patiently explain why things should be done the way you want them done, and why certain things should not be done? It is your responsibility to raise your children to fear and love God.

Key Point:
While some families are raising leaders and builders of nations, others are raising miscreants and misfits. Everyone will give account to God over how they raised their children.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: DEUTERONOMY 2:26-4:14 and GALATIANS 6