Our families are vulnerable to the attack of Satan. How do we protect our children? Satan is the lion. He is the dragon that deceives, steals, and kills. He is the serpent of lies. He is an uncontrollable supernatural being. How can we fight him? We fight by making sure our children understand that they were designed by God for a purpose.
We fight Satan by starting with our own salvation. We spend time in prayer, meditation, and God's Word. We make ourselves strong. Then we protect our children. We can't take care of them if we are vulnerable. We would never succeed and then we are leaving the children exposed and alone (more vulnerable than before). We have to teach them how to take care of themselves and protect themselves as they get older.
We need to stripe culture, media, technology, friends, and school for a portion of the day to show them how to focus on God. The last thing we want to do is to tell children to go follow their hearts. Satan will jump all over that and pervert their hearts before they can really develop how to focus their desires.
Happiness is situational. We can't train our children to do things that solely makes them happy. It teaches them to always be looking for something better. They lose focus from God and start down a path that will never fulfill them. Adults teach this with good intentions. We all want our children happy, but they need to be prepared to face the real world with real struggles.
Children are sinful by nature. We are born into our sinful nature and it is what is natural.. That is why they have to be taught on how to follow God. They need correction. If you are not willing to correct your children, then how can you claim to love them. God corrects us because He loves us. If He just allowed us to live in our sin with no consequences, then that would mean that we meant nothing to Him. It would mean that we didn't even register as a part of His world.
Satan wants to have control over people. He wants sin to rule our lives because that means that he has won (at least with the people that he has). God created the laws to reveal sin to us. It is meant to show us who we are without Him. He allows it so we can see our need for Him. It does not bring Him any pleasure to see us struggle, fight, rebel, or be in any kind of pain. Same goes for a good parent, but like God, a good parent will allow their children to face consequences to learn a valuable lesson.
If your sinful nature is allowed to master you, then you are in Satan's clutches. The good news is that you do not belong to Satan. You still have now to repent and turn to God. You can find the peace today of pushing your sinful nature away and embracing a pure and holy relationship with Jesus.
Punishment is part of the consequences of sin. It is necessary or why would anyone see their need to change. Punishment is painful, but that pain grounds you. It removes any delusions of things being different than they really are. If you get to know God, then the confusion of why you are in pain will go away.
Children need God. He is there with open arms. He wants to protect your children. The best way to have the protection of God is to understand God and His rules. If you understand why He places them, then it helps to avoid them. It helps you love and respect Him.
Children are going to follow the example of their parents until they are old enough to really start thinking for themselves. You want them to be able to have an established relationship with God before they go into the world exploring and testing limitations. It will help protect them in a way that you cannot.
You need to show your children how to worship God. Teach them how to have a relationship with Jesus. Teach them how to listen to the Holy Spirit. It is more than rules and regulations. It is about you making your relationship with God the number one priority.
The right behavior is good, but without conviction it is superficial. We all need God's love and our relationship with God to be the motivation to do what is good in the world. We need to be good and do what is right in honor of God. Children chose to obey their parents or they do not. If they do obey the parents, then the parents need to teach them to do so in respect to God more than respect to the parents. Obedience is how we all honor God.
We need to work with children when they are children. At some point they will no longer be your responsibility. They will have to answer for themselves the decisions that they have made in life. Raise them while they guidance, protection, and correction. Then let them go to live their lives as the person that they are. Do your best and then let go.
Parents need to pray. No matter how old their children become or when they go out into the world as an individual, you can still pray. Pray for forgiveness in the areas you may not have honored God in raising your children and accept God's forgiveness. If you need to ask for your children's forgiveness, but then let it go even if they do not forgiven you. Unforgiveness is on them, not you.
Chose to pray over preaching to your children. Prayer will go farther than lectures or demanding a set time. They will learn what they need to by how you live your life, your prayers, you time with God, and how you talk. They learn by example more than talking. The power of God is more powerful than the influential power of Satan. No matter what you children are not alone in the world and neither are you.
Genesis 4, Mark 10:5-9, Romans 5:12-17, Ephesians 6:1-4, & Colossians 3:18-21
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