by tpiatt
When I was was young there were a few circumstances that occurred that turned my world on its head.
Now that yet another situation has turned my world upside down and been the cause of confusion, I realize that:
even as a child I was learning some lessons about God,
about life, about human nature… and myself.
I may speak about the other types of lessons sometime, but for today I want to share a few lessons I have learned about God… when my world seems turned completely bottom-side-up.
**The verses often quoted from Romans 8 are not idle platitudes:
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered…. These past few weeks I have been so grateful to have this comfort. When my heart is overwhelmed, The Spirit of God intercedes FOR ME at the Throne of Grace!
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.…And God listens.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.… I have seen it before, and I know I will see it again: Even when it seems that God could not work a situation out, I turn around and His name is being glorified and the darkest hour IS “just before the dawn.” While I do not yet see the rays of a new day pouring over the horizon of my heart, I am just as confident in them as I am of my salvation!
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.… and “bad things happen” because this world is a sinful place, but God uses circumstances to mold my life to be more like Christ.
**It is not about my supposed position of service or paid ministry that makes me useful to God. It is my heart being conformed to the image of His Son, so that I may be counted among the “firstborn” of God.
**It amazes me to watch how God uses us, sinful creatures, to accomplish His will, giving Himself supernatural Glory and causing His Name to be praised!
Verse 35 asks who could separate us, His own, from the love of Christ... and the answer in all of us should be the same as the apostle’s:
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There are others hurting and questioning over some current situations in the life of my family. I give them these verses from II Thessalonians 1:
11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.…
**Remember that God has called each of His children to proclaim His Gospel to the lost. That is our highest calling!
And I pray that those hurting and confused over issues would ask for Lord to **remove all secondary causes** -meaning the human instruments-
and believe that God IS in control.
He wants us each to learn something,
**and the ultimate Glory is for God’s name to be praised in your own heart and life, even through this.
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One of the hardest and yet most rewarding things we can learn in the Christian life is it TRUST GOD…
…we are not commanded to trust any man or the wisdom of men.
Only trust God.
He is the only one that loved us enough to take the punishment of our sin upon His own body to pay for it.
In Proverbs 3 we are told:
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: …bind mercy AND truth about they neck. Often truth seems to call for judgment,
**but God asks us to COMBINE truth WITH mercy.
4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man… and this combining truth with mercy {goodness, faithfulness, kindness} will bring us favor with man-this is a good thing.
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding…
**our own understanding will fail us.
Our own heart is full of wickedness. ALL men’s hearts are full of wickedness.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths… But God can and will direct the path our lives take when we acknowledge Him.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil…
We must not seek a wisdom from our own experiences
…or from a man.
This wisdom is faulty and flawed by sin.
Only fear the Lord. Only live your life as far from evil as you can…
8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones….
and your soul will be healthy and ready to stand before Him…
…even if your heart is breaking.
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by tascha
When we take a time out and teach our children about something specific that is wrong, do we give them the whole picture?
I do not necessarily mean when they are very small, and we are simply training obedience; but when they are taller, older, more able to reason out a situation. Say, maybe when they are 4 or 5 years old {some may be younger, others older… just a general age here}.
I know that my 8 year old is able to rationalize things she wants to have or do. She understands consequences, even if she does not always think them through: It might be fun to run across the parking lot, but if you are not looking for cars… they might not be looking for you either.
My 5 year old understands actions and consequences fairly well: I should not wave that stick around in the house because I might hit someone or break something…
My 4 year old is learning. And if you can keep her from melting down too quickly {working on that, too!}, she can be reasoned with. She understands when it is explained: No, you cannot sit on your baby brother even if all you want to to is hug him because he will then scream at you and pull your hair, and you do not like that. {seriously, that is how she “loves” on him.}
I cannot tell my girls that doing those things are not fun to make them not do them.
Because they ARE fun.
Some things are not necessarily wrong. But when the are done in a wrong way or time or place, they become sin.
And sin is often “fun.”
Racing a friend to your class across the parking lot IS fun. And running is not bad. Twirling around the house with your princess wand… that’s FUN. Trying to love your baby brother, that is so sweet! It’s a good thing, right?
But I am failing them if I do not teach them to reason out and think through the whole situation.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12
Now, I am not saying that each of these specific scenarios will result in death if my child chooses to do it; but they each CAN result in hurt.
And it is part of my responsibility as Momma to teach them that while sin, even thoughtless behavior, can be fun, we must consider any possible consequences before choosing to partake.
And which consequence is worse: having fun while racing in a parking lot and risking being hit by a car [which is WHY Mommy asks you not to do so] OR possibly being called a name for choosing to walk calmly and with a bit of decorum.
Choosing rather to suffer affliction [being called names or mocked? that is painful for any person] with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season [that exhilaration of racing… it’s fun!]; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt [God will reward your doing right]: for he had respect unto the recompence [looked at the possible consequences and chose the eternal reward of doing right over the singular pleasure of doing wrong] of the reward. Hebrews11:25, 26
While I expect unquestioning obedience [though I have not always taught it consistently], after they have obeyed I sometimes talk to them about possible consequences if they had chosen to disobey.
And on the flip-side, when they choose to disobey and are facing those consequences, I speak to them about the reward they forfeited to have that little pleasure.
…Each child is different.
There is not formula or cut & dry system to this.They understand different illustrations and often require different amounts and types of correction.
But every child must be taught how to reason, how to determine if a seemingly inconsequential action or activity does, indeed, have consequences, what those might be, and understand the personal responsibility of deciding if the momentary “pleasures” are worth it.
by tascha |
One of the passages I read this morning was in Luke 6… where the Lord Jesus says:
Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? …why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? … Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. [select from verses 39-42]
Usually I hear this passage preached or spoken of as a reason for “not judging” your brother… And I like this quote I have seen recently: “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.” which implies that we all sin, because we do!… but there ARE appropriate times and places to give judgment.
And I don’t think I’m going where you think I’m going… { 🙂 }.
I am turning the tables on myself here.
Often, I find myself disciplining my children… for acting: just-like-me!
Not – how I acted when I was a child {that’s another post!}, but how I acted… – yesterday.
I see the mote in my brother’s [child’s] eye but NOT in my own, until it has driven me crazy… in my child’s life!
Recently, and again this morning, I have purposed to asking God to help me see the beam/mote/problem in my own life before the same thing in my children causes me frustrations.
Because- while I can punish them for doing wrong and teach them about what is appropriate and kind, etc. {as I should!} -until I actually acknowledge [that’s the hardest part] and change these situations in my own life, all the teaching and disciplining and punishing will be counter-productive!
And then the Lord gives grace and wisdom for me to deal with the same in my children’s lives. {It is always a lesson in patience.}
{Being a mother is one of the
most rewarding things I have ever done,
but it is also quite humbling! 🙂 }
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by tascha
DISCLAIMER: I have no illusions that my children are perfect. Their teachers tell me when they have done wrong to prove it! …and we have correction discussions multiple times daily. It takes W.O.R.K. And I do realize their ARE children who require extra effort… and I have no idea how I would handle them, except that God promises to give us grace for our own trials and not another’s. And those few times I have received praises… they often come back to haunt me when we have shameful days. I fail everyday. I correct in haste with an unkind voice more often than I would care to admit. I do not train when I should {because it takes T.I.M.E.}. But every time, I know that I have a Loving Heavenly Father who is ready to hold my hand and walk me through it… one-more-time. over-and-over-again. daily.
From Proverbs 29
The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. [verse 15]
Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. [verse 17]
Several times through the book of Proverbs, child correcting and training and the rod are mentioned. And it is spoken of twice in this one chapter!
{While I do believe there is a right and a wrong way to physically punish a child, that is not the point today!}
The fact that I must give correction… I must reprove [tell them they are wrong] and train [show/tell them how to be right] my children…
that is the point.
And these two verses give the basic reasons why:
Children will not learn wisdom [how to think and act with discretion, in a way pleasing to the Lord] without correction and discipline and training. And often punishment is involved [the rod].
Reproof and correction are not punishment… just a ‘time out’ or spanking or whatever method is employed for punishing wrong- that is not training.
Punishment alone is not the answer, but it is a vital part.
we must walk this path of life WITH them
As parents, we must take the time- and as a mother I have much more opportunity to do this than my husband… and often fall very short- to speak with and train our children- a kind, loving voice instructing our children what is right, how toys are to be put away, how siblings are to be treated, etc.
Truly, as in verse 15, when we leave untrained, uncorrected children all alone… the mothers are shamed– often to the point of reprimanding in anger [BEEN THERE!].
But when loving reproof and training have been employed by {preferably} both mother and father… those children will give rest to whomever is in charge of them, with just a soft word of correction.
They will be a delight unto their parent’s souls.
Others can tell when a child has had loving correction and consistent discipline [both the rod and the training, hand in hand]… because they will make comments like: “oh, your children are so well-behaved” {to which I try to reply: “They are God’s gift to me!”}…
or “how do you make them all behave?” {to which I just smile {and try not to crack up laughing}! most people do not really want to know that sometimes crying is involved…}
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Let’s connect on FACEBOOK!
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I’m also on Instagram!
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and I’m on Twitter!
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