Check out this short video on God’s Great Plan. Click on the image below to get more information about this beautifully illustrated book.
Monthly Archives: March 2014
34 posts
The love of wisdom is not natural. Wisdom is something that you and your children must learn to love. Without wisdom life will not go well, you will live life like the fool, as one who doesn’t know God. Paul calls living this way futility. This is not the life you want for your children. But remember, wisdom is an acquired taste. If you desire wisdom for your children, you must acquire a love for wisdom for yourself. The beginning of Proverbs two describes the consuming passion necessary to acquire wisdom and the knowledge of God. There is a great sense of urgency in the first five verses of this chapter: My son, if you accept my words and store […]
Parents, you know the day will come when your children will face a situation where they will have to decide in an instant whether or not to give into temptation. That moment will come when you are not there to give direction or warning. All of your training, discipline and instruction will be on the line in that moment. This is a sobering reality. When that moment comes the scales will be tipped positively or negatively by one key component: your influence. One definition of “influence” reads this way: “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something.” You won’t be there to say, “don’t trust, her”, or “he’s […]
It is a challenge to patiently, lovingly, firmly confront a child who chooses to go his own way. For some fathers, it is easier to just ignore their children’s need for care and discipline. Other fathers also take an easy path by becoming angry and threaten severe consequences or engage in physical intimidation. These approaches do not honor God. They do not bless the child. These two damaging responses, indifference and anger, stem front the same root cause – fear. Fathers, are you listening? God created men to be confident, compassionate, caring leaders. But then, there was the fall. While Eve chose to verbally engage the serpent, Adam, who was with her, chose not to protect his wife. Instead, in fearful […]
It is easy to pray for good things. We want our loved ones to be healthy and safe. We desire for our country to turn to God in repentance. It is good to pray that our children will come to know and love Christ more deeply. These are good things. But do we have the courage to pray for something more? I think we sell God short in our prayers when we only ask for things that seem to good to us. In the prayer of our Lord, Christ gives us something better to ask for: he asks that God’s kingdom will come and that his will be done. Wow! This request requires trust in God. This […]
You don’t worship God to appease him. You don’t give to God to impress him. You don’t love God to flatter him. You don’t obey God to make him like you. You don’t pray to God to show your piety. You don’t praise God because he needs you to do so. You worship, give, love, obey, pray, and praise God simply because he is who he is! God is not in need of your worship. He must be worshipped because of his holiness, his majesty, his power. His very existence demands it!
Parents, when your children sin and they are not respectful to you, how do you feel? Do you focus on how painful it is to be disrespected? The most natural, ordinary response is to consider the disrespect an offense against yourself. You might well respond in anger and frustration. This is what ordinary parents do. You might get angry at them. You might just let your children know how painful this is for you. You might yell. You might walk around in silent pain. You might tell your kids they have gone too far this time. All these responses would be ordinary and totally understandable. But, if respond as an ordinary parent would, you associate God with the ordinary actions […]
Where is Malaysian Airlines flight MH370? Will Russian President Vladimir Putin order the take over of all Ukraine? Will the health care debate be resolved? Will things stabilize in the Middle East? The world has once again stumbled into uncertainty. The 24/7 news media is all abuzz with speculation and differing scenarios from expert and not so expert pundits. How does God fit it into all of this? Well, he does much more than fit it in. He is Lord of all of it. Paul says that in Christ: “…all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before […]
The brilliant colors of spring are beginning to appear, at least where I live. Some of you will have to wait a bit longer. Spring happens because earth is once again in position to turn its northern hemisphere towards the warmth of the Sun. On March 21, the spring equinox will occur when the equator is pointed directly at the sun. There will be exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. This not a random event. Neither is it an event governed by the laws of science. Science can only observe the faithfulness of God’s active providence. However accurate these observations may be, they are not laws that govern our world. The spring equinox and the corresponding […]
Men these are things to ask your wife and children to pray for you. Have the courage to ask your family to help hold you accountable for these things. •Love Christ first. •By your sacrificial example encourage your wife to love Christ first. •Love your wife so that she is confident you understand her deepest thoughts & moods. •Love your wife by honoring her in the presence of your children. •Love your wife by joyful sacrifice to enable her spiritual growth. Also love your wife by being sacrificially involved in the daily household needs. •Love your wife by seeing her sins as opportunities to show the grace of God to her. •By your sacrificial example encourage your children to love […]