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Devotional for the week – 16 November 2009 Sermon Title: Seeing The Precious In Each Child I INTRODUCTION Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5 God knows us and has a purpose for us. God knows us even before we are formed in our mother’s womb. He thought about us and planned for us to be born on that day, in that place, to that particular family. We also learn from this passage that even before Jeremiah was born, God set him apart and appointed him to be a prophet to the nations. Because God created us therefore He knows the special plans and purpose He has for each one of us who believe in Him. The Lord God Almighty has sworn, “Surely as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” Isaiah 14:24 What God plans and purposes WILL COME TO PASS for He Himself is going to make it happen. God knows the plans and purpose He has for each one of us and He knows what it takes to get us from where we are to where we will be. Our job is just to remain in Christ, to turn our eyes upon Jesus, to walk in obedience to Him. Our role as parents Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 God has called us to train our children and He doesn’t leave us to figure out by ourselves how to do it. We are NOT alone in this journey of parenting for the God who formed our children, who knows them by name and has a destiny for them, has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Even though I have learnt much from parenting books and courses and the sharing of other parents, what works for one child may not work for the other, because every child is unique. Every issue that I encounter with each of my children, I have learnt to seek God’s perspective on what is happening and His counsel on what to do. II FEED THEM FOR JESUS Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 1. Teach our children the word of God It is so very important for us to spend time with our children reading the word of God, that they may know the truths in God’s Word and that the Bible is the final authority in everything. When the children know from young that God created the heavens and the earth, the plants and the animals, and man and woman they will not be deceived by the theory of evolution. When they know that God planned for marriage to be between a man and a woman, they will not accept an alternative lifestyle. We need to feed our children the truths from the Word of God for when they know the real thing they will be able to discern what is false or incomplete teaching. Even if we have missed out on Bible reading times when they were young, whether they are now teenagers or even adults now, we can still talk to them about truths that God has recently taught us or share testimonies of what God has done in our lives. 2. Model obedience to the word of God Children are very perceptive. They do not only learn from what we say but also by watching what we do. They do feel angry when we do something that we tell them not to do so, so let us try our best to walk the talk. Jesus said in John 14:21 “Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves.me” It is not enough to just know the word of God but our love for Jesus is demonstrated by our obedience to His commands. Let us model this obedience in the way we love others; the way we treat with honour those who serve us; the way we deal with our anger, yet not sin. We can be very transparent with our struggles in our Christian walk and even as we try to model obedience to our children, we do slip up. But it is alright, for God is still moulding us. That is why we all need the grace of God. 3. Know Jesus, the Word made flesh I like what Lelonnie Hibberd says in her book, Raising a Forerunner Generation: “The most important thing we can teach and pass on and model is not a set of rules, but Jesus Himself: a passion for Jesus, a desire for an encounter with Jesus, a vision of Jesus.” Many of us know about Jesus: we know that Jesus loves us, He died and rose again, He is the Son of God, He healed all who came to Him and did many miracles. But do we really know Jesus personally? Jesus wants us to experience His love that can touch our hearts as real as we experience the love of our parents, our spouses, our children; He wants to comfort us when we are broken-hearted; heal us when we are sick; make a way out when there seems to be no way. We can share our love for Jesus and our experiences of Him but until they encounter Jesus personally for themselves, it will just be head knowledge. And unless they seek Jesus for themselves and meet Him personally, they will find it increasingly difficult to live not just the Christian life, but life with all its ups and downs. III BRING THEM TO JESUS 1. Pray with our children One of my greatest joys in serving in Children’s Ministry is seeing the children having a personal and powerful encounter with Jesus. Just like adults, our children and youth do have anxieties about studies and do not feel good about not doing well or being compared with others. The children do have insecurities about relationships, whether they are accepted by their peers or liked by their teachers, handling bullies and are especially affected by their relationship with parents and also the parents’ relationship with each other. However, I have witnessed the children, in child-like faith, lifting their burdens to Jesus. He set them free from their fears, anxieties and anger. Jesus truly loves the little children and is making Himself so real to them. Let us pray together with our children, both in good times and difficult times. We can discern their needs as we talk to them. So please do not always start your conversations with “Have you finished your homework or have you studied for your test?” Instead, find out how their day was in school, what they interacted with friends about, how they feel about things happening around them. As they share their struggles with you, let us learn not to be so hasty to offer a solution, “Now you should do this or that,” or be quick to react to save them out of their troubles. Seek God’s perspective. Ask God what He is accomplishing in your child’s life through this trial. Keep bringing them to Jesus until they learn to turn to Him themselves. In Jesus, they will find comfort, strength and encouragement to persevere in their faith. 2. Pray for our children Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children. Lamentations 2:19 There is such power in prayer, especially when we pray according to God’s will. Let God show you what to pray for. He may lead you to pray a portion of Scripture or He may show you a vision or give you a word or phrase. God is faithful, what He has led me to pray He will bring it to pass. IV RELEASE OUR CHILDREN TO JESUS 1. Believe that God has good plans God created us and knows the plans he has for us; and these are good plans, full of hope to give us a good future. Parents, let us hold fast to this truth that God has good plans and purposes for our children. Memorise it, believe it and declare it aloud especially when our circumstances don’t appear to be good or hopeful. Last week, Pastor Joshua shared that when he was young, he was a naughty boy. At the time when his parents were disciplining him, I wonder if they ever imagined that their son would one day become a minister of God. One day, God reminded me that our children are like diamonds in the rough which are not very nice to look at. But under the hands of a skilful craftsman who sees what this raw diamond can become, he cuts and polishes it until he brings out the full brilliance of this precious gem stone. God sees the precious in each of our children because He put it there Himself. God entrusts to our care these uncut diamonds. He will allow trials to come that will cut and polish them till they shine like stars in the night sky, reflecting the glory of God. I know we become discouraged or fearful when we see the poor grades in the report card or when the teacher gives negative comments on our child’s conduct, and it is at times like these that we need to seek God and ask Him to open our spiritual eyes to see things from God’s perspective, what our children will be, not just what he is now. Please understand this: I am not telling you to deny that there is a problem nor is this an exercise in positive thinking. There is definitely a place to seek God for wisdom to help a child who is weak in his studies or to discipline one who needs correction. But when these bad reports come, negative thoughts enter our minds and fear grips us. When we operate out of fear, two things can happen: We want to quickly take control of the situation; we are paralysed into inaction, feeling utterly overwhelmed and helpless. God does not want us to parent out of fear, but out of faith. And this is NOT blind faith, but faith in WHO God is and WHAT He has promised. So when you sense fear creeping into your heart, give these fears to Jesus for only then will faith arise to trust God again, to believe that God is still in control of the situation, to remember His promise that He has good plans for our children. 2. Release our children to Jesus Indeed God has a unique destiny for every individual. God is rising up for Himself a generation of people who love Him passionately and are unafraid to pay the price for that intimacy. They know that they are not just called to the nation of Singapore but to the nations of the world, especially Asia. God is accelerating their growth. In the natural world, our children are learning more in school than we did at their age; in the spiritual realm, they also understand more truths about God than we did at their age. I believe He is training our children to be the Joshuas, Deborahs, Daniels and Esthers who choose to live by faith, to remain undefiled in the world they live in and to fulfil God’s destiny for them in their generation. Prayer Response Lord, we entrust our children to you, that You will raise them as You will. Teach us to keep abiding in You and be led by You as we bring up our children, nephews, nieces and grandchildren. Amen. Devotional based on a sermon by Mrs Sabrina Ng, Children’s Ministry Sunday.
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