I Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
There is no other heart as broken as the heart of the parent who has wayward children. And by wayward I don't mean just moving out of the home to be on their own and do as they please. I mean being away from God in either the things that they do or in their rebellion toward their parents.
We need to understand that the devil wants to mess up our lives. If we are saved...he cannot take us to Hell....but he will try to mess up our families. In fact...he knows if he can mess up families that he can get to the church as well. Our churches are only as strong as our families are.
God does not want us to isolate ourselves and try to hide from the devil...because the devil can get to us anyway. Christians should make sure their families are in church hearing God's Word as it is preached. Christian families should be involved in everything that is good...right and godly. Now does this mean instant success in the family....no it doesn't. There are many good families that are involved in all the right good and godly things yet their children have made decision to go wayward from God. We as parents can do all we can do to raise up and train our children as God wants us to but the decisions our children make are their's. They have a will and make their own choices.
If the Word of God is the final authority...we must be in the house of God when the doors are open. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:25 "No forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, is the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." That day is the Second Coming of Christ. Many Christians run their families using their own reasoning. They say "I run my home" or "You listen to me." However if we are Christians...God runs our homes. If we allowed Him to run our homes...we would not have as many problems. When parents and children submit themselves to the Word of God...the problems are minimized. Will they be completely gone? Take it from me...no they won't!! But they will be fewer in number.
My husband and I keep our children in church and do all we can with the Lord's help to raise and train our children according to God's Word but we still have problems with our children. No home is exempt from problems. But trust me...they are fewer in number and severity when you are doing what is right in God's eyes as a parent. These problems hurt the heart of a parent no matter the situation but with Christ and His grace to get us through we are able to make it through.
16 comments:
Hi Julie,
Amen! We need to keep our children close. Keep them busy doing things that will interest them and that will keep them away from temptations that is all around them today. There is so much evil out there. AND WE NEED TO ALWAYS PRAY FOR THEM!
I did a blog awhile back concerning a child that ran away. It is was in a book by Philip Yancy.
Everytime I read this out of the book, I cry because I see forgiveness and love and most importantly I see Christ.
Cristina
http://baptist-girl.blogspot.com/2007/02/whats-so-aamzing-about-grace.html
Amen Sis. Julie!! I am *so* thankful our family loves to be in church. Both of my children (one married and one still at home) love serving the Lord at church and I am so thankful! We are not perfect by any means and of course my kids have had their issues (my hubby and I too!), but as you said--being consistently in church, hearing the Word preached--makes dealing with those issues a whole lot easier! : )
What a great post! It was so very true.
Ginger
sis. cristina....Prayer is key in keeping our children from harm and from the devil's devices.
sis. mishel...I'm so glad to hear the your family has done all y'all could to protect y'alls children from worldly influences. I know it had to help them turn out for the Lord.
ginger...Praise the Lord!!
Good post Julie. I will admit as a teenager I hated the fact that I had to be in church everytime the doors were open. Now as an adult I can see it was one of the greatest blessings my family gave me.
Love, Lyndy
sis. lyndy....I would that I had been raised in church during my younger years. I can now give my children something that I didn't have though...they've been in church since they were little and I thank God for the opportunity He is giving them that I didn't have.
Amen Mrs Julie how the christians need to heed this post. I think one of the greatest problems we have is parents being inconsistent from the church to the home. They play the part at church but at home they are different. This is why I believe many of our young people end up turning their back on the Lord. Good Post.
Bro Tim
bro. tim...I totally agree. Thank you for your faithfulness to this blog site.
Yes, we have a very real enemy. As you said, one of the first places he hits us is in our marriages (and families). Remember what he did to Adam and Eve? They fell, their marriage relationship was changed, and of course so was the relationship between brothers, Cain and Abel. Same parents, same loving Father, but one of those children became the first murderer. God cautioned Cain to not let sin overcome (or master him), but Cain chose to murder his own brother anyway. Pretty heavy story, isn't it?
I've been learning more about Ruth Bell Graham, Billy Graham's wife. Evidently she wrote a book about Prodigal children. Their daughter (also named Ruth) was divorced TWICE, and also wrote a book, In Every Pew Sits A Broken Heart. So how could the daughter of the great evangelist fall so far into sin? I'm not sure, but I've come to the conclusion, that anyone of us could do the same, if we're not careful.
So your admonitions to be in church and be in the Word are timely. Like the younger Ruth Graham, I'm guessing that many people sitting in our pews have bleeding, broken hearts.
Have a good weekend sister!
Hugs, e-Mom
e-mom...I believe you are right. I know that we have one man in our church whose home is broken up. His wife took off and he has no idea where she is. She took their two children. He'll be the first to admit that he caused the problem but he has gotten his heart right and is on fire for the Lord and is praying for his wife and children to come home. In fact....he is "preparing for rain" so to speak (as in what the movie Facing the Giants portrays). He was without a home for a time and without anything since his wife took off on him and took everything they had. But now he has a home and God has furnished the home he has now for him and he is praying expecting his wife to come back home. That is what we are all praying for.
I said all that to say this....his home breaking up affected not only his home but also our church. It hurt our church and caused alot of hardship for our people and for my husband as he was counseling the couple for a long time during their difficult times together. But she took off and now he is doing right so now we pray and wait on her.
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