“Avoid relations with unbelievers in which your relation endorses the unbelief or consequent sins, and avoid the kinds of relationships that involve the interweaving of deep personal values (like marriage). On the other side, don’t avoid relationships where you can have clear testimony to the truth and are allowed to stand on Christian principles, even if you are sometimes criticized for getting too close.” —John Piper
“Let there be a method in our giving, so that the poor may not go away empty nor the subsistence of the needy be done away and become the spoil of the dishonest.” —Ambrose
“Passion for the glory of the Lord is the key to making a difference all out of proportion to who we are. It is not the prerogative of old or young, intelligent or simple, men or women. This passion can flame up in the heart of any saint. Do we want it enough to seek it?” —John Piper
“Of one thing we are very sure. There will be a full restoration of the apostolic gifts and the full power of Pentecost before the coming of the Lord….” Read more of this quote from Dr. Charles S. Price from over 75 years ago.
“Some ministers today preach only a positive message. To hear them tell it, every Christian is getting instant answers to prayer and receiving miracles; everybody is feeling good, living well; and the whole world is bright and rosy. I like to hear that kind of preaching because I really desire all those good and healthy things for God’s people. But that is not the way things are for a great number of very honest, sincere Christians.” Read more in David Wilkerson’s post At The Breaking Point.
“Judgment is God’s job. To assume otherwise is to assume God can’t do it. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever!” Read more in Max Lucado’s post Judgment Is God’s Job.
You may have seen the headlines that claimed children with same-sex parents fared better than children in traditional homes. Hold on a second: the research was flawed.
“The people with the calculators have seen the problem, but they have not seen God. They have figured things out, but they have not figured God in.” —A.W. Tozer
“What you do with television in your home will help determine whether you and your family will be dumbed down. Let me suggest that you not watch (or let your kids watch) shows that play to the lowest common denominator in humanity… shows that are written and produced for, yes, I’ll say it…dumb people. You might think they’re harmless and amusing, but are they really the best use of your time and, more importantly, your brain?” Read more from Mark Atteberry in his post The Dumbing Down Of America.
“We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.” —Henry Ward Beecher
“Whatever we may undertake with a sincere desire to promote His glory, we may comfortably pursue. Nothing is trivial that is done for Him.” —John Newton
“I would never follow a leader who doesn’t follow a leader.” —John Maxwell
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” —George Bernard Shaw
“Quiet heroes dot the landscape of our society. They don’t make the headlines, but they do sew the hemlines and check the outlines and stand on the sidelines. You won’t find their names on the Nobel Prize short list, but you’ll find their names on the carpool, and Bible teacher lists. They are parents! Heroes! Their kids call them mom. Dad. And these moms and dads, more valuable than all the executives and lawmakers, quietly hold the world together. Be numbered among them. Read books to your kids. Play ball while you can and they want you to. Make it your aim to watch every game they play, read every story they write, hear every recital in which they perform. Children spell love with four letters: T-I-M-E. Not just quality time, but hang time, downtime, anytime, all the time! Cherish the children who share your name. Succeed at home first!” —Max Lucado
Dr. Tim Elmore has a great post called How Failure Can Be Your Kid’s Best Friend. And exciting news … he has a new book coming out! I cannot wait to read Twelve Huge Mistakes Parents Can Avoid.
“The cosmos exists to help you know God, the Maker. And the main message is that He is very great and that we are very small. We need to feel this greatness. We need to be able to say, ‘You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You’ (2 Samuel 7:22).” —John Piper
“It is a serious fault if a believer is in want, and thou knowest it, or if thou knowest that he is without means, that he is hungry, that he suffer distress, especially if he is ashamed of his need…. If he is in prison, and—upright though he is—has to suffer pain and punishment for some debt (for though we ought to show mercy to all, yet we ought to show it especially to an upright man); if in the time of his trouble he obtains nothing from thee; if in time of danger, when he is carried off to die, thy money seems more to thee than the life of a dying man; what a sin is that to thee!” —Ambrose
“When the Middle East is fragmented in this horrible war, this savage, savage war between militant Shiites and militant Sunnis … the only place where you have freedom, tolerance, protection of minorities, protection of gays, protection of Christians and all other faiths is Israel,” said Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister. Read more about the wrong-headed decision of the Presbyterian (USA) Church to divest in Israel.
“Kind words are the music of the world. They have a power which seems to be beyond natural causes, as if they were some angel’s song which had lost its way and come on earth. It seems as if they could almost do what in reality God alone can do—soften the hard and angry hearts of men. No one was ever corrected by a sarcasm—crushed, perhaps, if the sarcasm was clever enough, but drawn nearer to God, never.” —Frederick William Faber
Parents want to give their children the best they can give. But that doesn’t come through education, or possessions, or even the loving attention of devoted parents.
King Abijah started out well. When King Jeroboam came from the north to attack him with an army double the size of Abijah’s army, Abijah delivered an impassioned speech to his men. He reminded them that the northern tribes of Israel were in rebellion against God, but that he and the southern tribes of Judah still had God’s favor.
In the middle of his speech, some men of Israel launched a surprise attack from behind, and the men of Judah cried out to God for help. With the Lord’s help, Judah routed the Israelite army. The Bible says, “The men of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers” (see 2 Chronicles 13, emphasis added).
But something happened to Abijah. The scriptural account says that he became sinful and wasn’t fully devoted to God “as the heart of David his forefather had been” (1 Kings 15:3).
Did this happen because he thought his speech and his strategy won the day? Maybe his speech was just for show and he didn’t really believe what he was saying. Did his grandmother lead him astray by her idol worship? Perhaps Abijah’s 14 wives were his downfall.
In any case, Abijah sinned and God’s righteous judgment was going to fall on him and his people. Then the Bible says,
Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. (1 Kings 15:4, emphasis added).
Although Abijah sinned, God looked back to his great-grandfather in order to bless Jerusalem. Wow!
I pray that my life can be so devoted to God that His blessing can extend to my descendants. I know they have to choose for themselves that they will follow God, but I want my life to be a help and not a hindrance. So help me God!
It’s a concept that is observed in almost every discipline of science: in biology, physics, astronomy and other areas things naturally flow in the path of least resistance. What is true in the physical sciences is also true in the social sciences, especially in the relationship between a father and his children.
There’s a story tucked away in the records of the kings of Israel (see 1 Kings 15:33-16:3) in which Baasha comes to the throne, and immediately kills all of the descendants of Jeroboam, a previous king. Baasha is not only removing potential rivals to his kingship, but he is also bringing punishment on a family which had caused Israel to sin. But then Baasha walks in the exact same sinful path as Jeroboam!
A prophet was sent to confront Baasha. His name was Jehu son of Hanani. Hanani was the prophet God sent to Asa, king of Judah. In other words, Jehu is following in the same path of his father Hanani.
Two sons, both with free wills to choose their own path, and yet both of them chose the path their fathers set for them.
Children can choose their own path, but the path of least resistance is the path the father walks.
Notice I said “walks” (present tense). I’ve seen in both the Bible and in the lives of people around me, that a Dad who starts out well but finishes poorly, sets a path for his children that is away from God. But those Dads who start out poorly, but turn to God later in life, set a path for their children to pursue God.
Dad, the best time for you to set the path for your children is now … today!
The good news is that you don’t have to do this on your own. Jesus said that even us Dads who are sinful have figured out how to give our children the best that we can. If we sinful Dads have figured that out, Jesus said, “How much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (see Luke 11:11-13).
Your Heavenly Father wants to give You His Holy Spirit to help you set the right path for your kids. And He wants to give His Holy Spirit to your children to help them choose—and stay in—that right path.
Why does God want you and your kids in the right path? So He can pour out the best gifts on you! For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right(Psalm 84:11).
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you set a righteous path for your kids today!
“Adolescence is an attempt to grab the privileges of adulthood while still clinging to the privileges of childhood” —Rabbi Daniel Lapin. This got me thinking: How am I preparing my kids for adulthood?
Charles Darwin said his pursuit of knowledge diminished his joy of discovery. Read this: Let Darwin Teach You.
“To know nothing but Christ, there must be a continual flow of revelation from the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God, if He searches the deep and hidden things of the Father, and if He is to be a well of living water springing up, then that well of flowing water must be a continual, never-ending revelation of Christ. It awaits every servant of the Lord who is willing to wait on the Lord—quietly, in faith believing, trusting the Holy Spirit to manifest the mind of God.” —David Wilkerson
As he does so well, Ken Davis uses his hilarious adventures on the golf course to teach us about Golf And Repentance.
“It is delightful to worship God, but it is also a humbling thing; and the man who has not been humbled in the presence of God will never be a worshiper of God at all. He may be a church member who keeps the rules and obeys the discipline, and who tithes and goes to conference, but he’ll never be a worshiper unless he is deeply humbled. … There’s an awesomeness about God which is missing in our day altogether; there’s little sense of admiring awe in the Church of Christ these days.” —A.W. Tozer
“The most paralyzing thing we can do for our relationship is to define our spouse by their past, rather than by who they are in the present.” Read more from this post Top 10 Relationship Killers.
Craig T. Owens 