Pray For Teachers

With the school year now underway, you have no doubt established a routine of getting your kids up in the morning, dropping them off to school and picking them up in the afternoon. Some of you may even include a time of prayer, either before or after school, for your children's safety and success in their studies. But have you ever prayed for those men and women who are responsible for your children's welfare during the day?

Children spend more of their waking moments with their teachers than they do with their parents. Teachers can and do exert a considerable amount of influence over your children.  I am sure you can recall some favorite teacher who inspired you and helped to make you the man or woman you are today. For some children, the only guidance or show of love they will ever receive is from a teacher. And this is why we need to pray for them.

As someone whose first career was teaching, I know how challenging this job can be. It's not easy to try to mold the lives of thirty-odd children with varying needs, abilities and backgrounds. Yet, this is what teachers do everyday. In recent times, teaching has become more demanding. Teachers' skills, patience and even their safety are being tested all the time. We need to pray that God will give our teachers the grace, wisdom and strength necessary to keep on giving their best even when things get tough.

Let us pray that teachers will not become "weary in well doing" (Galatians 6: 9) but will work "Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (Ephesians 6: 6) and that God will "Make them perfect in every good work to do his will, working in them that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever" (Hebrews 13: 21). 

If you wish to encourage a special teacher in a tangible way, here are some ways you can do it:

a. Write a note to the teacher(s) letting them know you appreciate their hard work and that you are praying for them. 

b. Give a gift - a mug filled with chocolate, a small basket of apples, nicely wrapped, or a daily planner decorated and signed by you and your child. 

For more ideas, see the link below.  

If you enjoyed this blog post, why not share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest by clicking the relevant button below? Until next time, may God keep on holding you in the palm of His hands.

Parental Mistakes

As parents, we all make mistakes. I know I have made more than my fair share, but I know that God

does redeem our mistakes, and I thank Him for that. One of the saddest examples of parental mistakes recorded in the Bible is King David's reaction to the rape of his daughter, Tamar.

In case you are unfamiliar with the story, it goes like this: Ammon, Tamar's half brother was so infatuated with her he could think of nothing else. His friend, noticing his depression, asked him what was the matter. Ammon told him, and his friend came up with a plan. He told Ammon to pretend to be ill and when the king asked him what was wrong, he must say he was ill and could Tamar come over to his quarters and make some cakes for him.

Ammon did as his friend advised, David instructed Tamar to go over and bake the cakes for her brother and, you guessed, he raped her. The Bible goes on to say that Tamar begged Ammon not to send her away because she was now a disgraced woman. However, he now hated her more than he had loved her, and had her thrown out of his house. Read 2 Samuel 13: 1 - 20.

The Bible describes King David's reaction in a very short sentence: "When King David heard all this, he was furious" (v 21). In my Bible next to this verse I wrote, "And he did nothing."

The following verse reads, "Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar" (v 22).

David failed to deal with his son's wrongdoing and as a result Absalom (another son) killed Ammon, revolted against David and was later killed. David lost two sons because of his failure to act when his son did wrong.

Maybe David was very busy running the kingdom, but there is no record of him ever confronting Ammon about what he did, or having him apologize to his sister or try to make amends. He simply allowed  Ammon to go his merry way, and suffered the consequences. 

David is not the only father in the Bible who neglected to discipline the sons. Remember Eli, the priest? You can read about him and his sons in 1 Samuel 2: 12 - 26.

 Parents, we must discipline our children in a way that fits their age and their wrongdoing. We can't brush things aside, hoping they would just resolve themselves. This is not the same as what I wrote earlier about leaving our children alone. You can read that post here. This is something that happened under David's roof, and affected two of his children. He should have got involved. 

If we are unsure of how and when to discipline our children, tiny or grown, we can ask God to show us what to do, and He will. 

Don't Leave Your Children Alone!

If you are a follower or regular reader of this blog, you may recognize the above title as being the opposite of one I wrote a couple weeks ago. Here's the post. So, you may be saying, should we leave them alone, or shouldn't we? Well, it depends. If your children are grown and no longer under your roof, you leave them alone.

If they are still under your roof, meaning you are still responsible for them, then don't leave them alone! You care for them, spend time with them, talk to them and listen when they speak to you.

You might say that it's only commonsense that young children be supervised, but all too often we hear of a child losing his/her life because the parents were negligent. In some cases, they were abandoned. Those stories tear at our heart strings and even incur our righteous anger. But that's not all that I'm referring to in this post. There are many children growing up nowadays with little or no parental guidance. They are left to their own devices - they watch whatever they want to watch on TV, wear whatever they choose to wear, and receive little or no instructions about God.

In today's society, parents, Christians as well as non-Christians seem to be in a quandary as to how they should bring up their children. The Bible has a lot to say about the way we ought to bring up our children. Let's look at some of them:

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 11: 18 - 19.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live(30: 19)

I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed. Psalms 37: 25 - 26

A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. Proverbs 13: 22

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

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. (23: 13)

The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.(29 : 15).

  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19 : 14)

'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise' ?"  (21 : 16)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6 : 1

 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (v 4)  

Parents, don't leave your children alone! 

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When Should You Teach Your Kids About Jesus?

Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This question was asked in a forum I visited last week. A young woman wanted to know how to introduce the subject to her seven-year-old nephew who is also her godson. One person suggested teaching by example, another suggested it was not her place to do that; she should first consult with his parents. I told her what I do with my own little grand-daughter and what I did with my older grandchildren - read them Bible stories, give them coloring books with pictures of Jesus and other Biblical characters and teach them children's hymns.

I think this woman's heart is in the right place. She did not say if her nephew's parents are Christians. We don't know if the child gets any Christian teaching at home, and in today's culture he is not going to get any in school - unless he goes to a Christian school - or from the media. Jesus said, "Suffer little children and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19: 14).

So, at what age should we begin teaching children about Jesus? If you are the mother, I would say, from the womb. Studies have shown that babies hear their mother's voice while they are still in the womb, therefore if you sing Christian songs to him, he will hear and pick up on that. After he is born, you continue singing and doing the other things mentioned above.  And, of course, pray with him and take him to church.

I am proud to say that the church I attend has a very strong child development center, and the children from four years and up are active in church. They sing, dance, read the Bible and participate in plays. This morning, a little girl who seemed no older than seven did the scripture reading. The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old , he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22: 6). Is this what you want for your children? Then start early.

Listen to the video below of a seven-year-old girl singing Amazing Grace.

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Should Our Kids Read Books With Profanity?

Some time ago  I received a lot of comments on this blog and on another forum when I posed the question about modesty in dress. About fifty percent of the respondents felt it was okay for women, and men, to wear shorts to church and some of the other fifty percent said they would not wear shorts to church, but they didn't see anything wrong with it. Now I come to another controversial topic which someone else started, and which I felt that as a Christian parent and grandparent I should get involved in. The question was, "Should YA (young adult) books contain profanity?"

I am wanted

Last week's blog focused on abortion and the struggle that some women face in making the decision to have or not have a baby. And while some of them choose to go the abortion route, others sum up their courage and deliver the baby. Some choose to keep it, while others may give it up for adoption.

For many childless couples, adoption may be their only hope. When they finally overcome all the red tape and hold that precious bundle in their arms, that baby is as loved and wanted as the baby who was conceived by a willing mother.

Last week I met a couple who had adopted one of our students. The interest they showed in the child's education was greater than some natural parents show in their children. That couple reminded me of my aunt, who with her husband, adopted a little girl, who is now a grown woman. Even though my aunt and her husband have now passed on, Susan, as I will call her, remains a part of our family. After she came to know her natural mother, Susan told me she didn't miss anything by being raised by her adoptive parents. She couldn't feel the bond with her real mother as she did with her adoptive mother. I have heard similar stories from other adopted children.

Which brings me to thinking of the way God adopted us into His family and showers us with the same love and the same blessings as He gives to His own. We receive the same inheritance as those who originally belonged to God, that is the Jews. "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans 8: 15). Abba is a Jewish term of endearment for Father, similar to Daddy or Papa. It is intimate; it is loving and is reserved for the children. But we, who have been adopted by God through Jesus Christ, have that same privilege to call Him Abba, Father.

"But when the fulness of the time has come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Galatians 4:5). So there we have it. We are God's children, His heirs, the apple of His eye, the ones He loved so much that "He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

So those of you who have been adopted by loving parents, consider yourself fortunate. You could have been aborted, but instead you were brought into the world and given a place in a loving family. Many children are born through unplanned pregnancies, but when you are adopted, the whole procedure is carefully planned and carried out. You are special. Someone went through a lot of trouble and paid money to get you. In the same way, Jesus went through a lot of trouble, paying for us with His own precious blood, because the Father wanted us. Think about that this week. He, the Creator of the Universe, wanted us and desired us.