Lion Heart ENCOURAGE - Raising Godly Offspring

Intro:

Hey Man of God! Raising Godly offspring is one of the main purposes of marriage, and it is a command from the Lord.

But it ain’t an easy one.

I think every generation had their share of difficulties when raising children, and ours is no different. But the challenges we face as parents needs to be face head on or you will lose them.

These challenges can’t just be ignored, and we just hope that they will get through it. The challenges of old were an ‘enemy at the gate’, but today’s enemy is within our walls. Within our very homes. Fight, or you’ve already lost.

Get ready, I’m shooting from the hip today. 😊

Encouragement:

Malachi 2:15: NLJV

‘But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.’

This is God’s desire for family. It is indeed why He constituted the family. You see, raising Godly offspring can only happen within a family. This is pivotal. Yes, I understand that life happens and not everyone ends up in a family, but ideally, family is God’s nursery of His Kingdom.

So, Kingdom. Are we raising a generation that will be part of His Kingdom? What is that and what does it mean? Kingdom essentially means ‘King’ – ‘dom’ or ‘where the King has dominion’. Are we living a life where the King has dominion, and are we training our children in this way?

We can’t get into exactly what God’s Kingdom looks like in this post, but please read the very familiar ‘Sermon on the Mount’ to see what His Kingdom looks like.  Matt Chp 5-7. (It’s good to understand that this sermon was delivered to a Jewish audience)

So, if we are His children, and we endeavour to live as He has purposed, to live with His Kingdom growing in our lives, then how does this direct how we raise our children?

What’s your role? 

And this is the meat and potatoes of this ENCOURAGE post today my brothers. As a father, or grandfather, what is your purpose in raising children. Be aware that the natural sinful position of a man is passivity, or aggression when woken from his passivity. Put the old man to death, crucify it. Get up and fight for your family.

Practical ‘Kingdom’ Parenting in 3 steps:

1.        Leading them to Jesus

2.        Defending them from danger

3.        Providing for their needs

And in each of these, you as fathers play THE lead role.

How do we lead our children to Jesus?

This is your main purpose in life as a father. Leading your children to Jesus.

Firstly, it’s a path and a practise that we need to be familiar with. There is no way you can lead your children to Jesus by pointing at the path in the distance. No. You have to walk ahead of them on this very path. If you’re pointing the path out, i.e. standing at a distance and not walking it, all you’ll get is a superficial ‘Christian’ child. No depth, just masks.

Their Christianity will mimic yours.

But when we practically and daily walk that road ourselves, seeking the FACE OF THE KING, then your children are naturally draw to follow you on the road.

So how do we seek Jesus? (Please see my post of seeking the treasure), but in short:

• Genuinely, ask Jesus to fill you with a hunger for Him

• Ask Him to reveal Himself to you, then:

  • Study His word to find Him

  • Join the saints in fellowship and worship

  • Spend daily time in prayer and praise

• Be ready to respond to Him

  • He will always initiate, and it’s up to us to respond. Be ready to respond.

I know these steps seem over simplified, but boy, if you follow these from a genuine open heart, they have the power to transform your life completely, because they will lead you to know the King!

How do we defend them from danger?

Two main aspects here, firstly we need to be willing to get up off the TV sofa and do something. It requires action and commitment. Secondly, based on studying His word yourself, you need to become skilled in recognising what danger looks like. Danger rarely comes around the corner with a ‘Nuclear Waste’ sign hanging around its neck, right? No, satan is not stupid. He disguises it, and slots in the lies amongst the truth. I explain it to my children like this, that it’s like a boerie roll, both the roll and the boerie-wors is truth, but satan layers it with a poisonous sauce, and so he disguises the lies amongst the truth.

Most of today’s dangers are not physical, they are ‘patterns of thinking’. 2 Cor 10:3-5 KJV

‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

‘As a man thinketh, so is he’ James writes. Satan is after our children’s minds!

And you my brother, are the gate keeper! Want it or not, believe it or not, you are the gate keeper. What you allow in, gets in. What you keep out, stays out. This applies both to you and your children.

If you think allowing your child free access to any and all media they want is good, then you’d better think again. If you think giving them a cell phone at a young age is ‘helpful for modern logistics’, then you’re sorely mistaken. Cut the sewer pipe of the internet connected to their brains! Put strong and holy limits on internet/device usage. Children DO NOT have the maturity and understanding to handle what the internet throws at them. Even if you use ‘filters’. The ‘child friendly’ channels today are boerie rolls!!

Men should ‘Provide and Protect’. It’s YOUR responsibility to protect them from the harms of today’s modern world. Do it!

Moving on from digital holiness, let’s talk about your children’s friends. Don’t assume that their friend’s homes are as Christian as they appear. Be aware of who their friends are. Do you know them, have you met them?

What do they do after school. Lots of ungodly things can happen between the last bell and pick up time. Pray, pray, pray! Be wise, don’t allow things to develop. Put logistical barriers between your children and possible dangerous situations. God will give you wisdom.

When they’re invited to a party, make sure you know the parents. Walk in with them. Like a protective parent, survey if this is a safe place to leave your children for the evening. And if they’re younger, don’t just drop and run ‘because you need some me time’. No, stay the course. Attend the party with your child. Be there, to enjoy it with them, showing them that you care enough to give them your time.

Providing for their needs?

This is another one that can rot their souls if not clearly understood. If your children gets everything they ask for, you’re spoiling them. Now often we use the word ‘spoil’ in a good/fun way, but really spoilt food is rotten food.

It’s good to gain an understanding about what spoils a child. Because we live a relatively prosperous life, I was very concerned about spoiling my own children. I wanted to give them valuable and useful things, but I didn’t want to run the danger of spoiling them. Now it is true, too many things definitely spoil a child. (Actually, it probably spoils adults too)

Work and hardship are a counter balance to being spoilt.

When my children were much younger, I was very concerned about this, and I took it to the Lord repeatedly. I didn’t want to run the risk of spoiling them. And God really spoke to me about this. He gave me Godly wisdom for which I’m eternally grateful. God led me to understand that when a child/adult understands VALUE, they are less likely to get spoilt. Value = the cost of something. This could be the price or the effort that something ‘costs’.

He furthermore taught me that one teaches value through work and hardship. It ‘s only through earning something, really working for it or suffering through it, that we grow in our understanding of how valuable something is. Let’s take you as a human for example. How valuable are you? Well, we aught look no further than the suffering, pain and hardship that Christ endured to save us, to understand our own value. That’s how much you’re worth. There’s a catch though, when we only see it at a distance, it really doesn’t carry that much weight. It needs to be internalised.

You can’t tell you child that it ‘cost me 3 weeks salary to pay for this hockey tour’. That’s too nebulous. Pain, work and hardship need to be personally experienced for it to teach us. And so, you need to find Godly and loving ways to allow your child to work and to experience hardship before they will understand value. And once they understand value, they can never get spoilt.

Lastly:

Thanks for reading through this one today, I warned you that I would be shooting from the hip, but it’s crucial that we can talk straight. 😊 Now for some ointment. God is Good and Gracious. He is patient. He understands that we are weak and frail. He has grace for that. ‘There is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. Don’t allow condemnation and shame into your heart. Resist it. You are cherished by God. If you feel that you have not done well in these areas, then forgive yourself! Very important. And maybe even ask your children for forgiveness if appropriate. But then, step forward into a new day. Repent of the old ways, and follow after God with all your heart.

Prayer Request:

Please continue to pray with me that God open the right doors in Mamelodi! I continue to attempt to build relationships in the township, but it’s not easy.

If any of you have established relationships, please, maybe we can work together. Please contact me.

As always, please fwd this message to those who you think can benefit!

Your Brother in Christ,

Stanley 

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