Explanations often lead to monologues, especially with teenagers. This is not a helpful communication pattern. The goal for good, biblical communication with teenagers is the combination of questions that lead to dialogue. But these questions must come from a genuine interest in your teenagers for who they are, not for what you want them to be. In this context, let me ask you a question. When you need help with a problem, do you look for answers from any random person? The answer is obvious. You ask the people whom you trust and respect, someone who will really listen to you. Let me take this one additional step. Suppose a friend from church calls and asks you for advice on […]
Monthly Archives: January 2014
42 posts
Sleep does not always bring rest. Here is a prayer to focus our hearts and our thoughts on the goodness and glory of God as we sleep: O Lord God, who has given man the night for rest, as you have created a day in which he may employ himself in labor, grant, I pray, that my body may so rest during this night that my mind cease not to be awake to you, nor my heart faint or be overcome with apathy, preventing it from adhering steadfastly to the love of you. While laying aside my cares to relax and relieve my mind, may I not, in the meanwhile, forget you, nor may the remembrance of your goodness and grace, […]
God has not called parents to explain but to train. Explanations often lead to frustration and anger for both parents and children. Children are not in need of lengthy, compelling explanations. What they are in need of is the understanding that God must be obeyed. Ephesians 6:4 addresses this issue: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Explanations tend to focus on getting someone to agree with you. The logic for explanations runs something like this: If I can just get my children to understand the reason for my direction, then they will be more likely to follow my instruction. While this may sound like solid reasoning, […]
A conversation between a mom and her 12 year old daughter. “Hey, Mom.” “Yes, Erin.” “You have a minute?” “Sure, what’s up?’ “I watched another program on the Science Channel that was talking about how life began on earth. I’m good with what you and dad have told me, but I just want to make sure I have it down. Can you help me by going over things again?” “No problem, glad you asked! You remember that there are really only a few ways that modern science thinks how life could have begun?” “Yeah, uh, one is that over a long time, like billions of years, stuff that was all organic…” “Erin, […]
Your children were born to worry, just like you. If you allow the issues of each day to dominate your life the result will be worry. Believing you alone have to care for your needs each day leads to worry. This means you will model worry for your children. Defensively, you and I might respond like this, “oh, I am not an obsessive worrier. I don’t worry about dirty doorknobs. But I am concerned about the things that are really important, like our meals and other basic important things.” Nice try, but this can still be worry. If Jesus instructed you to ask God for your daily bread, then you can trust God to provide. By reading the verses […]
When Jesus says this is how you should pray parents should take notice! God wants you to pray that his kingdom will reign in your home. To pray effectively, in a way that honors God as special and holy, we must pray that God’s purpose and plan must prevail and not our own. However, the reality is that we come to God most often when we have a problem. If this is the example your children follow, it is not a good one. This is the point to stress to yourself and to your children. By crying out to God that you want his kingdom to rule and his will to be done, you are implicitly saying that his purpose […]
Corporate worship is a collective experience where people sing praises to God, listen to his word and pray together as a body whose only hope is the redemptive grace of God. But there is another aspect to corporate worship, an individual dimension. While we can pray, sing, give and listen together, only each of us as individuals can seek the face of God in repentance. I can’t repent for your sin and you can’t repent for mine. Blame shifting makes for a weak church and insincere worship. When you come face to face with the God you worship, you can’t shift the responsibility of your sin to the person sitting next to you or to your spouse or your […]
People often ask where is God. They want to see a sign that he exits. They question his power. The truth is that God shows himself and his power all the time. He demonstrates his power in awesome and terrible ways that tell us he is not to be trifled with. Earlier this morning I heard once again the loud peals of thunder. Later, there was the sound of rushing wind. As I went outside on the front porch the wind was blowing sheets of rain parallel to the ground. The weather bureau said a tornado was passing just to the south. The wind was roaring. Then it began to swirl in different directions. And then everything was calm. The […]
The prophet Elisha spoke these words regarding a man with normal eyesight. He could see everything there was to see with human eyes. But, obviously, there was something important that his servant was missing. This is a lesson parents must remember. If your children believe that what is important is what they can see with their eyes then they will be severely hampered in life. How much time do you spend talking with your kids about the importance of what they cannot see? What is unseen is of far more importance than what we can actually see. Do your children know that you believe that? Parent, it is your job to help your children understand that what is unseen is […]
Even the world wants children who obey and do what they are told. But the apostle Paul says that simply coming when called is not enough. Paul says children are to come when called, in the Lord, that is in the power of God. That is radical. It means your parenting may not be evaluated only on how quickly and how correctly your children respond to your directions. Your parenting must lead your children to do these things in the Lord, otherwise they are not doing right at all. Here is what Paul says: Children obey your parents in the Lord. Ephesians 6:1 What is so radical about that, you may ask? The radical part is the last three words: […]