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Character
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| Pray for Your Children |
1. That they will come to a saving knowledge of Christ early in life. Ecclesiastes 12:1 ¶ Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; Mark 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
2. That they will hate sin. Psalm 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Romans 7:14 ¶ For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
3. That they will be caught and genuinely repentant when they are guilty. Psalm 119:71 ¶ It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Psalm 90:8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 2Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
4. That they will be protected from the world, the flesh and the devil in each area of their lives - spiritual, emotional, and physical. 2Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. John 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Psalm 4:8 ...for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
5. That they will have a responsible attitude in all their duties and dealing with people. Daniel 6:3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 1Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stepiano coversds, that a man be found faithful.
6. That they will respect those in authority over them. Romans 13:1 ¶ Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. blips 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Ephesians 6:2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
7. That they will desire the right kind of friends. Proverbs 22:24 ¶ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: 25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. Proverbs 14:7 ¶ Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
8. That they, as well as those they marry, will be kept pure until marriage. 1Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1Corinthians 7:1 ¶ Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
9. That they will be kept from the wrong mate and saved for the right one. 2Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
10. That their future mates will learn to walk with God as they are, and that they will be prepared for the work God has for them together. Proverbs 22:6 ¶ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Genesis 2:18 ¶ And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
11. That they will learn to totally submit to God and resist the devil. James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you... 1Peter 5:8 ¶ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
12. That they will be singlehearted, willing to be sold out to Jesus Christ. Romans 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
13. That they will grow in the Lord all their lives and will make separation a way of life. Colossians 1:9 ¶ 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; 10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. blips 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14. That they will mightily love God and His word (KJV). Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
15. Let them know that you are praying for these things for them so that they will know how you expect them to live! Proverbs 22:17 ¶ Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 19 That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. 20 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, 21 That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?
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The Boy for Me!
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When a gentleman advertised for a boy helper, nearly fifty came to see him. Out of the whole number, he chose one and dismissed the rest. "I should like to know," said a friend, "why you picked that boy who had not brought a single recommendation." The man said, "You are mistaken; he had a great many. He wiped his feet when he came in, and closed the door after him showing that he was careful. He gave his seat instantly to that lame old man, showing that he was thoughtful and kind. He took off his cap and answered my questions promptly, showing he was honorable and orderly. As I talked to him, I noticed that his clothes were pressed and that his hair was combed. When he wrote his name, I noticed that his fingernails were clean.
"Don't you call those little things recommendations? I do; and I would give more for what I can tell about a boy by using my eyes than for all the letters he can bring."
Rare indeed is the young person today with the traits above. Parents, it's up to you for they will be no better than you make them. --Copied
Proverbs 20:11 Even a child is known
by his doings,
whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up
a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
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Why Bad Kids
Happen to Good People |
by Charles Finney
There is one common and grand difficulty, which has seemed to stumble Christians, in respect to their laying hold on the promises in regard to their children, and counting upon their being converted, sanctified, and saved with any sort of certainty. It is this: Many good men have, in all ages, had shameless and reprobate children. To answer this, I point out that good men are not always perfect in judgment, and therefore may be, and sometimes doubtless have been guilty of some primary error in training their children.
A great many good men have been so occupied with the concerns of Church and the world as to pay comparatively little attention to the training of their own children. Their children have been neglected and therefore almost certainly lost. Whatever the case, when they have been trained up in the way they should go. So, the condition has not been fulfilled.
Many good men have lived in bad neighborhoods, and found it nearly quite impossible to train up their children in the way they should go without changing their locations. And although they saw the daily contact of their children was calculated to ruin them and did, as a mater of fact, prevent their training them up in the way they should go, yet they have, probably from absence of duty, remained where they were, to the destruction of their children. In such cases, the ruining of their children may be chargeable to their neighbors, because the influence of their neighbor's children prevented their bringing them up in the way they should go.
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Editor's note: However, the parents will give account to God for not doing all they could to preserve their children from such things if it was in their power at all to do so. Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Dear Christian mother, if you are insisting on living in a place that makes it very difficult to raise children up to be godly because you like the location, want to be near the stores, can't give up your beautiful home, have to live in the city, have to live near your family, or whatever other excuse; you need to consider this prayerfully, espebliplly if your husband has already expressed a desire to relocate. If he has not, go to him humbly and share your concerns telling him that you are willing to move and even learn to get by on less so that your children don't have to live among such evil people, if he (your husband) feels that it is the Lord's will for your family to relocate. We knew a family once that actually moved to another place because they had three daughters entering their teens and they were living in an extremely vile town. They had reason to be concerned for their daughters' purity and that they would not be able to raise them all the way up in the way they should go, so they sold their very nice home and moved hundreds of miles away to a better location.
One thing that can be a terrible influence on children is assoblipting with ublipved or back-slidden family, or Christian family that doesn't like your convictions and wishes to "liberate" your children. If you are sacrificing your control over raising your children ...in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 for the sake of being near family that is a bad influence, then you need to do some serious thinking and praying. I know a lady that regrets the fact that she allowed her mother-in-law to care for her daughter when she was small because she turned her daughter against her and her husband. The daughter is living for the Lord today, but it was a hard thing for her to get past that rebellion that was taught her by her own grandmother!
2Corinthians 12:14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. 15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you... Praise God for parents that still have this godly attitude in these selfish, "me-first", end times! Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Here is some important information about the Walt Disney company. If you think that they are all right for kids or that you'll pick and choose what you use and view from them, please, think again. This article will tell you what they stand for:
We maintain that Disney has had a serious problem for years and has never been a good source of entertainment for children. Consider nothing more than the early title "The Sourcer's Apprentice". Acts 8:9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. 11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. This scripture describes quite well the attitude topiano coversd Disney that many Christians have had. Although not calling it the power of God, they have certainly been bewitched by Disney's sorcery.
graphics by mary vannattan