It’s Not Your Fault!

“Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.” (Isaiah 1:2)

We've all heard it, although I hope none of us has ever had to say it, "Where did I go wrong?"  When teenagers run wild, and young adults go against everything their parents have taught them, the parents usually blame themselves.  I know my own parents asked that question many times.

After bringing up their children in the knowledge of the Lord; introducing them to the love of Christ, and teaching them right from wrong,  and after demonstrating to their children that God is the author and finisher of their lives, after all this, the children of the godliest parents sometimes go off course.  Not only do the parents blame themselves, they also sometimes come under the scrutiny of others.

And yet, our God is the God of second chances.  If you have examined your life before God, and He has forgiven your sins, and if your wrong and even ask your children to forgive your shortcomings, and if you have done everything right, and they still go wrong, then it's not your fault.  It's their fault.  Because to sin is a choice; the choice of the person who has the decision to make.

We can't make the choice for our children.  You can teach them how to make good choices, but the choices they make are theirs alone, right or wrong.  My parents did the very best they could, holding me up before the Lord for many years and never giving up.  Both my parents and my dear grandmother prayed for me up to the day I finally committed my life completely to the Lord.  And then they continued to pray for me until the Lord called them home. 

God understands about children going astray.  He's been in the parenting business for a long time, and sometimes even His children wander off into the desert of rebellion.

Bring your children before the Lord often.  Allow Him to keep them, and if they choose to wander off, He knows what to do.

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

 Raising Children for the Lord

It's such an awesome privilege
And a big responsibility,
God has given to us as parents
This wonderful opportunity
To raise our precious children
And instill into their lives
The wonder and amazement
Of the love of Jesus Christ

So they will learn to trust in Him
And worship and to pray,
To love others with the love of God
And to honor and obey
As parents, we've been entrusted
To raise them in God's love
To be there to encourage them
When they feel like giving up

And to be there just to listen
When life deals some painful blows
And comfort them when they feel afraid
And when tears begin to flow
To share with them those joyful times,
The precious moments in their lives
When doors begin to open up
And opportunities arise

Through everything they face in life,
Let's be there cheering them on,
For we only have one chance at this,
For childhood soon is gone
So let's rely on Father God
To raise them to become
Men or Women who trust in Him
And in His precious Son.

© By M.S.Lowndes

 

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.

Discover how you can find peace with God.

                                                                                 

 

Are You Thirsty for God?

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

Some time ago I discovered a continuing pattern and promise in scripture.  Those who come to Him thirsty are promised to have their thirst satisfied.  I wonder how thirsty you might be.  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how thirsty are you for God to work in and through you?

It doesn’t seem to matter where I am on a mission trip, whether in the interior of Alaska, the heart of India, or in the hills of Haiti people everywhere are thirsty.  It seems that these are the ones that God puts in your path on any mission trip.  Sometimes they are poor, sometimes rich, sometimes young and sometimes old, but their thirst is obvious.

They don’t all decide to have their thirst satisfied.  Some are like the rich, young man in Matthew 19 (See verses 16-22) who came to Jesus, thirsty, but not willing to have that thirst satisfied because of what it will cost them.

You are going to encounter some thirsty people along your journey, and God is sending you to give them a cup of cold water in His name.  But what about you, are you thirsty?  Every so often in life we have moments of deep-down soul-thirst.  Life has beaten us up, torn us down, spun us around and we realize we're desperate for God.  We need his help and we long for His presence. 

Will you have your thirst satisfied?  You may be painfully aware that you're dehydrated.  You need to recognize your thirst, abandon substitute means of filling it, and turn to the true refreshment of God Himself.  Are you willing to pay the cost to have it satisfied?  

When our thirst for God is extreme, we find encouragement in the promise of Jesus to give us living water, water that quenches our deep need for God.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.

Discover how you can find peace with God.