Tuesday, October 2, 2007

No Harmony at Home...

I recently received an email from a mama
that was distraught over difficulties
she is having at home, particularly with
a young, school age child.
She described herself as being
heartbroken, depressed, and unsure of what to do.
Though I felt it unwise to share the situation,
I felt compelled to share some of my response...


Dear worried and sad mother ~
"I am sorry to hear of your situation.
It truly grieves my heart. I have been praying
the Lord will give me wisdom in my response.

The most pressing issue

that He has laid on my heart is this:

**We cannot have right relationships at home
without the right relationship with Jesus Christ.

**We cannot have peace at home
if we do not have peace with God.


The Lord can only hear our prayers,

help us, give us wisdom and victory
when we know Him as our personal Savior
and are having right fellowship with Him.

Above all else, we must be born again

and saved by His blood.
There MUST be a time

that we have acknowledged
that we are sinners and deserve Hell ...
"As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one."
~ Romans 3:10

"For all have sinned and come short

of the glory of God." ~ Romans 3:23

"For the wages of sin is death;

but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord." ~ Romans 6:23

Jesus Christ is our only way to Heaven...
"But God commendeth his love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us." ~ Romans 5:8


"Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, buy by me."

~ John 14:6

"Neither is there salvation in any other:
for there is none other name under heaven

given among men, whereby we must be saved."
~ Acts 4:12

"For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast."
~ Ephesians 2:8,9



We must confess our sins,
put our faith and trust in Christ only
and ask Him to save us...
"If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

~ 1 John 1:9

"For God so loved the world,

that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life."

~ John 3:16

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved." ~ Acts 16:31

"For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved."
~ Romans 10:13

Without Jesus Christ as our Savior, all is in vain.
I pray the Holy Spirit will use His Word

to reveal the Truth to you
and that if you have not received Him
as your personal Savior,
He will reveal your need to you and you will accept Him.


If you have accepted Him as your personal Savior,

**we need to
"...grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
(2 Peter 3:18)

There is a desperate NEED to be in His Word DAILY
and to be in prayer, in fellowship with Him.


"Search the scriptures..." ~ John 5:39

"...received the word with all readiness of mind,
and searched the scriptures daily..." ~ Acts 17:11

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope."
~ Romans 15:4

"...O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:
my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee
in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is"
~ Psalm 63:1

"Pray without ceasing." ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:17

"Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit..."
~ Ephesians 6:18


What is aforesaid, is the most important of all.
If we do not have Jesus Christ as our Savior
and are not in fellowship with Him,
our efforts in other areas of our lives are in vain.
We must have Him...
"For with God nothing shall be impossible." ~ Luke 1:7
"...for with God all things are possible." ~ Mark 10:27



Regarding our children...
**The MOST important thing

we can EVER do for our children
is to lead them to Jesus Christ.
They NEED to know Him as their personal savior

just as we do.
It is our #1 responsibility as their parents!


"The Lord is ... longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance."
~ 2 Peter 3:9

"But Jesus said, Suffer (allow, send forth) little children,
and forbid them not, to come unto me:
for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
~ Matthew 19:14


**We MUST fervently pray for our children.
"...pour out thine heart like water
before the face of the Lord:
lift up thy hands toward him

for the life of thy young children..."
~ Lamentations 2:19


Praying for our children is crucial.
And not just quick prayers here and there

(although those are good, too)
but we need to be on our physical knees,

laboring in prayer daily.

"...always labouring fervently for you in prayers..."
~ Colossians 4:12

"Pray without ceasing." ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:17

If you are unsure where to begin
in praying for your children,
I posted a list that may be helpful.
You can find that post
HERE.
The more you pray, the more the Holy Spirit

will guide you in what to pray for.
Also, when I read my Bible for the day,
I pray the Scripture that I read for my children

(and for myself and my husband).


**We must
"Train up a child
in the way he should go..."
(Proverbs 22:6a)
We need to be teaching and training
our children with His Word.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"

~ 2 Timothy 3:16

"...bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord."
~ Ephesians 6:4

"And these words, which I command thee this day,
shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down,
and when thou risest up."
~ Deuteronomy 6:6,7

Every day, every situation, all day long...
is an opporturnity
for us to teach and train our children

what the Lord says.


**We must do it in LOVE.


"With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love"

~ Ephesians 4:2

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
~ Galatians 5:22,23

1 Corinthians 13 is the perfect example of love.


I have, also, shared other thoughts
and ideas in previous posts.
I will list them below so that you are able
to read one at a time at your convenience...

* What Can I Do About My Children

*
How Do You Do It?

* The ABC's of Loving Our Children

*
Peace in Parenting


If you desire to have a few resources to use,
I have some listed in my sidebar

that I have enjoyed and found helpful.

I pray the Lord will use this to His glory.
You are in my prayers.



"For this cause we also, since the day we heard it,
do not cease to pray for you,

and to desire that ye might be filled
with the knowledge of his will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God;"

~ Colossians 1:9,10 "


11 comments:

Amy ~ (Life's Small Treasures) said...

Great advice, and the fact that you pointed this person directly to scriptures and prayer is wonderful, because without the Lord we can do nothing.

Very encouraging~Thanks!

Karen said...

Very wise encouragement, Christina.

Unknown said...

Amen, sister! Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Hallelujah! :-D

Pam--in America said...

Thank you for posting this! Your response was perfect, and I really enjoyed the link to The ABC's of Loving Our Children.

debhmom3 said...

What a great post. You know, I've been thinking a lot about this as I have had a very sore throat this week and have barely been able to talk, let alone "raise my voice", and you know what? I haven't needed to! I am going to work very hard on keeping my tone as though I have a sore throat. :) I don't neccesarily "yell" all the time, but sometimes I'm not using a tone with my children that is respectful, and if I don't respect them, how can I expect them to show my respect? Certainly something to think on....

Paula said...

What a wonderful response! Thank you for sharing. :)
Blessings,
Mrs. C

Unknown said...

AWESOME! You certainly were a vessel for the Lord to use! This was all so easy to read and orderly but full of good stuff! I think she will find it a blessing. I just prayed and asked the Father to intercede in her situation. And oh that she might take these verses and this godly advice to heart!

You're awesome Cristina!

Heather said...

I *really* enjoyed this. What a blessing..such Godly wisdom. Praise the Lord.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad I stopped by as its been a while, and this post was a very touching one and your response was gentle and yet strait to the point with scripture to back it up.

Anonymous said...

How I wish I had read this concise statement from you, yesterday before I had dinner with a believing friend...

**We cannot have right relationships at home
without the right relationship with Jesus Christ.
**We cannot have peace at home
if we do not have peace with God.

I stumbled and fumbled to explain this very concept to this well-meaning friend who turns (and turns others to) all kinds of Christian authors rather than to the living, inspired, infallible Word!

How things would be different if we all (my own humble constant prayer too) stepped up our study of Jesus Christ rather than trying to make sense of things by studying one another.

'Hope that's clearer than mud. ;)

Anonymous said...

What a blessing to have come across this post today. Thank you so much, it's a wonderful post!

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