Growing Children Of Destiny

(Family Success)

 

Welcome to a new month of advancement in your life in Jesus' name. God is set to restore the remaining blessing that has been appointed to you in redemption in Jesus' Name. This month, I shall be discussing with you: Growing Children Of Destiny!

If you must grow children of destiny, you have to start from yourself. If you are not on the path of your destiny, there is no way you can grow your children into that glorious path that God has choosing for them.
Therefore, this week I shall be discussing the topic: Leading By Example.

The primary way to raise your children is by being a good example to them. Your children's spiritual need for character moulding, the fear of the Lord, active Christian service, etc, can adequately be taught by example. The Bible says: ...Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity (1Timothy 4:12).

Children are natural mimics.  No matter what you teach them, they learn better by example. It is not enough to instruct your child on what to do or what not to do; the child must see you do what you are preaching. Remember, an ounce of example is worth a ton of preaching.  Children want to follow the examples of their parents.
Whatever character trait you don't want to see in your children, ensure it has been dealt with in your own life first. You cannot hide your real self from your children at home. If you want your children to be persons of integrity, do not tell lies over issues and do not teach them to lie.

Children are a reflection of their parents. Murmuring, grumbling and complaining parents will definitely have murmuring, grumbling and complaining children. Stingy parents will have stingy children. Your child will prefer to do just what you do than do what you teach. Simply ensure that what you speak and what you do are the same. You should live a life worthy of emulation.

If you are not going to raise lazy children that will grow and not be able to keep their job, then, let them see you as a diligent father or mother. The Bible says: The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute(Prov. 12:24).  Use scriptures such as this to teach them and demonstrate what diligence means.

When my son gained admission into the institution of higher learning, it was observed that while others go about playing and whiling away time, he always sat somewhere reading. One of the management staff called and reported that,"David reads too much". This recommendation was never a surprise, because he is from a family where reading is part of the family legacy. He is a successful adult today, and a blessing to his generation.
God's Word in Psalms 112:2 says: His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.If a righteous man will see his generation blessed, he must be ready to grow them into blessed adults by being a good parent first.

It takes being a child of God to truly comprehend and understand how to grow your children into destiny. If you are not yet born again and you would like to, please pray this simple prayer: Dear Jesus, I come to You today acknowledging that I am a sinner needing Your forgiveness. I believe You died for me and rose again on the third day. Forgive me my sins, wash me with Your Blood and write my name in Your Book of Life. Thank You Lord for saving me.
Congratulations!  You are now born again and a child of God.

Speak the Language

I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

— 1 Corinthians 9:22–23

 

The Bible says we should not be conformed to this world. It also tells us, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).

So how do we impact our culture today? How can we change it for the better? The apostle Paul sheds some light on this: "I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world" (1 Corinthians 5:9–10).

The idea is that we want to influence the world, not have the world influence us. And we start by speaking in a language people can understand. As believers, we can get frustrated because it doesn't seem like people are listening to us. But maybe it is because we sound like we are from a different planet.

If we want to engage this biblically illiterate culture, we have to break the terms down. We can't assume they understand any of it. If you go to another country where they speak another language, you have to speak to people through an interpreter, or you have to learn the language yourself.

The greatest example of this was Jesus himself. We see Him engage the woman at the well, a woman who had been married and divorced five times and was living with a man she wasn't married to. Jesus didn't condemn her. Instead, He built a bridge, appealed to her inner spiritual thirst, and then brought the solution she needed. And that is always the objective of evangelism: to build a bridge, not burn one.

Worth Living (and Dying) For

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

— 2 Timothy 2:3

 

If you want to be a Christian, it is not going to be easy. Wimps need not apply. But if you want to be a man or woman of God, this is what Jesus says about living this life in the real world:

"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11–12)

Our faith in Jesus Christ is worth living for. And our faith in Jesus Christ is worth dying for. But if it is not worth dying for, then it is certainly not worth living for. So we need to man up—or woman up—and be mature followers of Jesus Christ.

For some, it is not the kind of life they want to live. For others, it is very appealing. But here is what we need to know: as we pursue Christ and put God first, happiness will come as a byproduct. Happiness will not come as a result of chasing after it; we will never find happiness from seeking it. But if we seek God and put Him first in our lives, we will end up being happy people.

Not only that, but Jesus promises the guaranteed destination of heaven to the person who believes. No prophet or guru or religious leader can bring that to us. Nor can any material thing. Nor can any relationship. No personal experience can bring it. But Christ can—as we follow Him and as we believe in Him.

The Mark of a Spiritual Person

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

— Philippians 3:12

 

It has been said that he has the most need of righteousness who least wants it. In other words, if you think, I am really doing well. I don't really know that I need more righteousness, then you are in greater need than you realize.

The apostle Paul, after years of walking with the Lord, said, "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me" (Philippians 3:12).

A real mark of a spiritual person is they are always hungry and thirsty for more and more and more. But there are certain things that spoil our appetite. Sometimes we feed on spiritual junk food and diminish our spiritual appetites. They are not even bad things in and of themselves, but some things just take the edge off our appetite.

So periodically we need to ask ourselves a question: Is this thing I am engaged in—this relationship, this pursuit, this activity—making me more or less hungry for spiritual things? Does it draw me closer to God, or does it in some way keep me away from Him? Is it a wing or a weight in the race of life? Does it speed me on my way, or does it slow me down?

Hebrews 12:1 tells us, "Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." If you are really hungry and thirsty for righteousness, you will find it. Because if you really want something, then you will put yourself in that place where you will get it.

Meekness, Not Weakness

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

— Matthew 5:5

 

Meekness is not weakness. Sometimes we confuse the two. But the difference between a meek person and weak person is this: a weak person can't do anything. A meek person, on the other hand, can do something but chooses not to.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). The word "meek" from the original language was used to describe reining in a stallion. It is the idea of a horse being controlled by a bit and bridle. The horse is choosing to submit to authority. That is meekness. It is power under constraint.

Although Jesus said, "Blessed [happy] are the meek," we don't celebrate meekness in our culture. Instead, we celebrate assertiveness. We celebrate getting things from other people, sometimes even taking advantage of other people. When is the last time you saw a movie that celebrated the virtue of meekness? When is the last time the big buildup for the movie was the moment when the good guy meekly restrains himself, even though he was wronged? We don't want to go to a movie like that. We want to see a payback movie in which the first half consists of bad things happening to the hero, and the last half consists of bad things that come to the people who did those things to the hero. That is what entertains us. That is what our culture celebrates.

How different this is from what the Bible teaches. The Bible celebrates meekness. The biblical worldview says last is first. Giving is receiving. Dying is living. Losing is finding. The least is the greatest. Meekness is strength. The idea is that we are living by God's truth—not by what our culture says should make us happy.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."