Obey All The Way

God never ceases to fail to teach me right along with my girls during their Bible study time.

My girls are studying in the book of Esther still. Today during the lesson we were digging further into the life of Haman and his ancestry... we began with the review of 1 Samuel 15 which covers Saul's disobedience to God's command.

 Then Samuel said to Saul,

“The LORD sent me to anoint you

as king over His people, over Israel;

now therefore,
listen to the words of the LORD.

Thus says the LORD of hosts,

‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel,

how he set himself against him on the way

while he was coming up from Egypt. 

Now go and strike Amalek

and utterly destroy all that he has,

and do not spare him;

but put to death

both man and woman,

child and infant,

ox and sheep,

camel and donkey.’”  

1 Samuel 15:1-3

This was the Lord's command to King Saul.

It was rooted in Exodus 17:8-16.

Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim

Exodus 17:8

Now how did Saul follow this command,

this instruction,

this open door
given to him by the Lord?

But Saul and the people spared Agag

and the best of the sheep,

the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs,

and all that was good,

and were not willing to destroy them utterly;

but everything despised and worthless,

that they utterly destroyed.

1 Samuel 15:9

Yeh... Saul did not fully obey the word of the Lord.

Here God had opened the door for the people of Israel to take out this enemy. He had made the way for them to utterly destroy this evil among them... yet they decided to do what seemed right in their own eyes and despised the word of the Lord. They had blew their opportunity to utterly remove this enemy from their lives... because they saw profit and wealth in the possessions and power over the capture of the king.

So what were the consequences of this moment of disobedience?

"For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He has also rejected you from being king.”

1 Samuel 15:23 

Saul then went after his rebuke to do the right thing... but the blessing was gone. The opportunity had passed, the right now would not fix the wrong back then.

The damage had been done.

The choice had been made.

The consequences for the actions would come.

Partial obedience is whole disobedience.

How long and how far would these consequences reach?

  Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus,

“There is a certain people scattered

and dispersed among the peoples

in all the provinces of your kingdom;

 their laws are different from those of all other people

and they do not observe the king’s laws,

so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. 

If it is pleasing to the king,

let it be decreed that they be destroyed,

and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver

into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business,

to put into the king’s treasuries.” 

Then the king took his signet ring from his hand

and gave it to Haman,

the son of Hammedatha

the Agagite,

the enemy of the Jews. 

The king said to Haman,

“The silver is yours,

and the people also,

to do with them as you please.” 

Esther 3:8-11 

600 years is how far in this case...

So let's bring this home.

As I was studying through all this with my girls what hit me was this...

How many of my current struggles are the result of my very own Saul moments?

Moments when God had opened the door...

made the way...

went before me...

and said now go and utterly destroy all of it.

Don't save any of it. 

Spare nothing.

I don't care how cute and harmless it appears or how valuable it appears to you.

Destroy it!

It will mean death and destruction and turmoil to you from now on if you do not do this complete now. This is your chance. Seize it. Go! I am with you. I will fight for you. You will have victory if you do it now and you do it My way...

I wish I could sit back and criticize Saul and shake my head at his rebellion and foolishness with a feeling of superiority because I would have never been so stupid and arrogant and rebellious... but I can't.

I shake my head, but I shake it because I can see myself in him...     

One of the reasons I rejoice so much in the words grace and mercy and forgiveness and redemption and hope and new...

And He who sits on the throne said,

“Behold, I am making all things new.”

And He said,

“Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

Revelation 21:5

  

Train Up A Child Day 11

Well we have made it over half-way through our Train Up A Child journey with Mr JC Ryle. I have learned that as a parent we have been on the right track in alot of areas and this study has encouraged me to remain diligent and determined to stay on the right track. I have also learned that there are some areas that I need to work on...

Train Up A Child Day Eleven

11.  Train them to a habit of always redeeming the time.
   
Idleness is the devil’s best friend.  It is the surest way to give him an opportunity of doing us harm.  An idle mind is like an open door, and if Satan does not enter in himself by it, it is certain he will throw in something to raise bad thoughts in our souls.
   
No created being was ever meant to be idle.  Service and work is the appointed portion of every creature of God.  The angels in heaven work, — they are the Lord’s ministering servants, ever doing His will.  Adam, in Paradise, had work, — he was appointed to dress the garden of Eden, and to keep it.  The redeemed saints in glory will have work, "They rest not day and night singing praise and glory to Him who bought them." And man, weak, sinful man, must have something to do, or else his soul will soon get into an unhealthy state.  We must have our hands filled, and our minds occupied with something, or else our imaginations will soon ferment and breed mischief.
   
And what is true of us, is true of our children too.  Alas, indeed, for the man that has nothing to do! The Jews thought idleness a positive sin: it was a law of theirs that every man should bring up his son to some useful trade, — and they were right.  They knew the heart of man better than some of us appear to do.
   
Idleness made Sodom what she was.  "This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her" (Ezek. 16:49).  Idleness had much to do with David’s awful sin with the wife of Uriah. — I see in 2 Sam. 11 that Joab went out to war against Ammon, "but David tarried still at Jerusalem." Was not that idle? And then it was that he saw Bathsheba, — and the next step we read of is his tremendous and miserable fall.
   
Verily, I believe that idleness has led to more sin than almost any other habit that could be named.  I suspect it is the mother of many a work of the flesh, — the mother of adultery, fornication, drunkenness, and many other deeds of darkness that I have not time to name.  Let your own conscience say whether I do not speak the truth.  You were idle, and at once the devil knocked at the door and came in.
   
And indeed I do not wonder; — everything in the world around us seems to teach the same lesson.  It is the still water which becomes stagnant and impure: the running, moving streams are always clear.  If you have steam machinery, you must work it, or it soon gets out of order.  If you have a horse, you must exercise him; he is never so well as when he has regular work.  If you would have good bodily health yourself, you must take exercise. 

If you always sit still, your body is sure at length to complain.  And just so is it with the soul.  The active moving mind is a hard mark for the devil to shoot at.  Try to be always full of useful employment, and thus your enemy will find it difficult to get room to sow tares. 

Reader, I ask you to set these things before the minds of your children.  Teach them the value of time, and try to make them learn the habit of using it well.  It pains me to see children idling over what they have in hand, whatever it may be.  I love to see them active and industrious, and giving their whole heart to all they do; giving their whole heart to lessons, when they have to learn; — giving their whole heart even to their amusements, when they go to play.
   
But if you love them well, let idleness be counted a sin in your family.

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When I was growing up there were two words we knew never to say...
"I'm bored"

I grew up with two of my male cousins and my Aunt, when I remember my childhood my Aunt and cousins are always there in my mind's memory. You see my Aunt was my Mom's sister and she was married to my Dad's brother. My Dad and Uncle both drove a diesel truck around the country so my Mom and Aunt helped each other out greatly. 

Now both of them hated this phrase "I'm bored". Usually this phrase was uttered because we five kids had come up with a plan of what we wanted to do or where we wanted to go and we had offered said suggestion to this plan and was told "no".

So then we thought if we sat around moping, looking absolutely pitiful, with nothing to do... they would look over at us in our pitiful state and choose to do our will. When we were ignored for a matter of time in our purposeful pitiful state we would say "I'm bored" 

To this both my Mom and Aunt (who had no doubt been busting their butts doing the needed things to care of two homes and five kids while Dads and Husbands were working away from home) would turn to us and fire would shoot out of their eyes and their heads would lift up and spin around at least three times and then out of their mouths like a sonic boom would come... "BORED! Did you really just say, 'I'm bored."???  Well let's see if you're so bored then....."

This would lead to a list of chores of cleaning and working that would take us until bed time to accomplish... oh my talk about a backfire, lol. 

And guess what...
true to my raising, if my girls ever make the mistake of uttering this phrase themselves...
and they do...
and yes, they do so with the very same motive that I uttered it when their age...
fire also shoots out of my eyes and my head lifts up and spins around and the sonic boom reply now comes out of my mouth :-) 

I can also still concur with Mr Ryle, busy is better for me. There is an acronym floating around Christendom attached to this word...
I have even used it myself.

BUSY- Being Under Satan's Yoke.  

If you are too "busy" to be about the things of God, then yes you are under Satan's yoke...

But if your "busy" is about the Father's business... then I believe this acronym is a lie.

A very dear sister in Christ and I were talking a few days ago about how we do better when we are busy. I have often had people comment on my amount of activity and the truth is I am better in my walk with Christ when I am busy about His business. 

Therefore be careful how you walk,

not as unwise men but as wise, 

making the most of your time,

because the days are evil. 

So then do not be foolish,

but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17

  

Train Up A Child Day 10

How important is the truth in your home?

Train Up A Child Day Ten

10.  Train them to a habit of always speaking the truth.
   
Truth-speaking is far less common in the world than at first sight we are disposed to think.  The whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is a golden rule which many would do well to bear in mind.  Lying and prevarication are old sins.  The devil was the father of them, — he deceived Eve by a bold lie, and ever since the fall it is a sin against which all the children of Eve have need to be on their guard.
   
Only think how much falsehood and deceit there is in the world! How much exaggeration! How many additions are made to a simple story! How many things left out, if it does not serve the speaker’s interest to tell them! How few there are about us of whom we can say, we put unhesitating trust in their word! Verily the ancient Persians were wise in their generation: it was a leading point with them in educating their children, that they should learn to speak the truth.  What an awful proof it is of man’s natural sinfulness, that it should be needful to name such a point at all!
   
Reader, I would have you remark how often God is spoken of in the Old Testament as the God of truth.  Truth seems to be especially set before us as a leading feature in the character of Him with whom we have to do.  He never swerves from the straight line.  He abhors lying and hypocrisy.  Try to keep this continually before your children’s minds.  Press upon them at all times, that less than the truth is a lie; that evasion, excuse-making, and exaggeration are all halfway houses towards what is false, and ought to be avoided.  Encourage them in any circumstances to be straightforward, and, whatever it may cost them, to speak the truth.
   
I press this subject on your attention, not merely for the sake of your children’s character in the world, — though I might dwell much on this, — I urge it rather for your own comfort and assistance in all your dealings with them.  You will find it a mighty help indeed, to be able always to trust their word.  It will go far to prevent that habit of concealment, which so unhappily prevails sometimes among children.  Openness and straightforwardness depend much upon a parent’s treatment of this matter in the days of our infancy.

*************************************************************

God is very clear on the importance of speaking truth. I would have to say that in all honesty this is probably the biggest struggle of all mankind. This is why it's importance MUST be taught and practiced in our homes.

We can find all kind of reasons why we think we need to lie about something. We will lie to not hurt someone's feelings, or to not get ourselves in trouble. We will lie because we simply fear speaking the truth.

We will lie to keep a business deal in place or to get a job or keep a job or too simply stretch the truth or omit information to make more money.

 What is desirable in a man is his kindness,
And it is better to be a poor man than a liar.

Proverbs 19:22

In all honesty I have had a lie come out of my mouth and immediately once it passes through my lips I think "where in the world did that come from and why on earth did I say that?" Usually this happens when I fear that I am going to make someone angry at me or someone is already angry with me and I do not want to make it worse...

I have learned that fear is the root of the lies that have always come out of my mouth... it might not be every one's root, but it was/is mine.

As I am learning not to fear anyone more than I fear God speaking the truth at all times is becoming much easier and more my nature, because in Christ I received a new nature and I am being transformed more and more into the image of Christ.

As I have learned this about myself through the Holy Spirit and through the study of His Word I am also learning to ask my children the "why" behind their lies. I want them to look at their hearts, to examine themselves, to discover what thing in their flesh led them to speak the lie.

You are of your father the devil,

and you want to do the desires of your father.

He was a murderer from the beginning,

and does not stand in the truth

because there is no truth in him.

Whenever he speaks a lie,

 he speaks from his own nature,

for he is a liar

and the father of lies.

John 8:44

This passage of Scripture is a sobering truth. It was this passage of Scripture that I sat down and shared with my children the first time I caught them in a spoken lie. I believe they were both around the age of 2 yrs old. I sat down with them in my lap and I shared this with them in love and with kindness.

I explained to them that in the future lying to us will bring grave consequences. There are two things in our home that we dealt with using spanking as the discipline... blatant disobedience to something we knew they understood fully and lying. We explained to them how important it was that we could take them at their word and we also shared with them how once trust is lost... it is a long time regaining. 

Another sobering passage...

But for the cowardly

and unbelieving

and abominable

and murderers

and immoral persons

and sorcerers

and idolaters

and all liars,

their part will be in the lake

that burns with fire

and brimstone,

which is the second death.”

Revelation 21:8

Only the truth shall last until all eternity...
If we want to share eternity with our children and with our Father we must be people of truth, for our God is the God of truth, our Jesus is the way and the truth and the light.

Train Up A Child Day 9

Jesus said quite plainly that if we love Him we will obey Him.

“If you love Me,

you will keep My commandments.

John 14:15

Here also is this flip side of this... because God so loved us and knew that true love obeys the one they love in faith He not only gave us written instructions on how to obey Him, He sent His own Son as example just to teach us how to obey in love. 

Our job as parents is too teach our children how to obey in love and we are too teach them with love, just as Jesus taught us, we are also to teach them by example through our own obedience in love to our own parents, just as Jesus taught us... 

Train Up A Child Day Nine

9.  Train them to a habit of obedience.
   
This is an object which it is worth any labour to attain.  No habit, I suspect, has such an influence over our lives as this. Parents, determine to make your children obey you, though it may cost you much trouble, and cost them many tears.  Let there be no questioning, and reasoning, and disputing, and delaying, and answering again.  When you give them a command, let them see plainly that you will have it done.
   
Obedience is the only reality.  It is faith visible, faith acting, and faith incarnate.  It is the test of real discipleship among the Lord’s people.  "Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John 15:14).  It ought to be the mark of well- trained children, that they do whatsoever their parents command them.  Where, in deed, is the honour which the fifth commandment enjoins, if fathers and mothers are not obeyed cheerfully, willingly, and at once?
   
Early obedience has all Scripture on its side.  It is in Abraham’s praise, not merely he will train his family, but "he will command his children, and his household after him" (Gen. 18:19).  It is said of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, that when "He was young He was subject to Mary and Joseph" (Luke 2:51).
   
Observe how implicitly Joseph obeyed the order of his father Jacob (Gen. 37:13).  See how Isaiah speaks of it as an evil thing, when "the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient" (Isa. 3:5).  Mark how the Apostle Paul names disobedience to parents as one of the bad signs of the latter days (2 Tim. 3:2).  Mark how he singles out this grace of requiring obedience as one that should adorn a Christian minister: "a bishop must be one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity." And again, "Let the deacons rule their children and their own houses well " (1 Tim. 3:4,12).  And again, an elder must be one "having faithful children, children not accused of riot, or unruly" (Tit. 1:6).
   
Parents, do you wish to see your children happy? Take care, then, that you train them to obey when they are spoken to, — to do as they are bid.  Believe me, we are not made for entire independence, — we are not fit for it.  Even Christ’s freemen have a yoke to wear, they "serve the Lord Christ" (Col. 3:24). 

Children cannot learn too soon that this is a world in which we are not all intended to rule, and that we are never in our right place until we know how to obey our betters.  Teach them to obey while young, or else they will be fretting against God all their lives long, and wear themselves out with the vain idea of being independent of His control.
   
Reader, this hint is only too much needed.  You will see many in this day who allow their children to choose and think for themselves long before they are able, and even make excuses for their disobedience, as if it were a thing not to be blamed.  To my eyes, a parent always yielding, and a child always having its own way, are a most painful sight; — painful, because I see God’s appointed order of things inverted and turned upside down; — painful, because I feel sure the consequence to that child’s character in the end will be self-will, pride, and self-conceit. You must not wonder that men refuse to obey their Father which is in heaven, if you allow them, when children, to disobey their father who is upon earth.
   
Parents, if you love your children, let obedience be a motto and a watchword continually before their eyes.

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Obedience is evidence of faith and love. We clearly see this from the example of our Savior. We must teach our children to obey us... and then we must expect it. Teaching them the importance of obeying us will teach them the importance of obeying God. And as we teach them to obey us we point them to God... our rules and expectations of our children should always line up with God's Word. If we teach them to obey God, then obeying us is just part of it.

Tonight at our church was friends and family night for our fall drama, The Judgment Seat. My Shelby is serving in the nursery for our JS actors' and volunteers' children and my Bekah is running cards for registration. She was getting ready for a break and so we were about to walk out the door for me to take her to the childcare area. On the way out one of our volunteers was explaining to her that when she got the ice scoop to get ice out of the ice maker she needed to put it up on top, not leave it in the ice maker.
All my Bekah seemed to catch was "this goes on top"  
To which she replied, "no, Jesus goes on top."
Then our volunteer laughed and said "well yes put this under Jesus then."
Then Bekah replied, "but parents go under Jesus."

Whew! Well we have made it the first seven years with stuff in the correct order...
I'll let you know how things look five to six years from now :-)

Train Up A Child Day 8

Have you ever considered that you can help your child to learn to have faith?

And He answered them and said,

“O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?

How long shall I put up with you?

Bring him to Me!” 

They brought the boy to Him.

When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him

into a convulsion, and falling to the ground,

he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 

And He asked his father,

“How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. 

It has often thrown him both into the fire

and into the water to destroy him.

But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 

And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’

All things are possible to him who believes.” 

Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said,

“I do believe; help my unbelief.”

Mark 9:19-24

Yes, God has placed upon us the great and mighty privilege and responsibility of teaching our children how to believe, how to trust, how to have faith. We can indeed be used by our God to help their unbelief. We will be used by God to train them up to a habit of faith... if we ourselves surrender to this habit by faith ourselves.

Train Up A Child Day Eight

8.  Train them to a habit of faith.
   
I mean by this, you should train them up to believe what you say.  You should try to make them feel confidence in your judgment, and respect your opinions, as better than their own. You should accustom them to think that, when you say a thing is bad for them, it must be bad, and when you say it is good for them, it must be good; that your knowledge, in short, is better than their own, and that they may rely implicitly on your word. Teach them to feel that what they know not now, they will probably know hereafter, and to be satisfied there is a reason and a needs-be for everything you require them to do.
   
Who indeed can describe the blessedness of a real spirit of faith? Or rather, who can tell the misery that unbelief has brought upon the world?

Unbelief made Eve eat the forbidden fruit, — she doubted the truth of God’s word: "Ye shall surely die."
Unbelief made the old world reject Noah’s warning, and so perish in sin. 
Unbelief kept Israel in the wilderness, — it was the bar that kept them from entering the promised land. 
Unbelief made the Jews crucify the Lord of glory, — they believed not the voice of Moses and the prophets, though read to them every day. 
And unbelief is the reigning sin of man’s heart down to this very hour, — unbelief in God’s promises, — unbelief in God’s threatenings, — unbelief in our own sinfulness, — unbelief in our own danger, — unbelief in everything that runs counter to the pride and worldliness of our evil hearts. 

Reader, you train your children to little purpose if you do not train them to a habit of implicit faith, — faith in their parents’ word, confidence that what their parents say must be right.
   
I have heard it said by some, that you should require nothing of children which they cannot understand that you should explain and give a reason for everything you desire them to do.  I warn you solemnly against such a notion.  I tell you plainly, I think it an unsound and rotten principle. 

No doubt it is absurd to make a mystery of everything you do, and there are many things which it is well to explain to children, in order that they may see that they are reasonable and wise. 

But to bring them up with the idea that they must take nothing on trust, that they, with their weak and imperfect understandings, must have the "why" and the "wherefore" made clear to them at every step they take, — this is indeed a fearful mistake, and likely to have the worst effect on their minds.
   
Reason with your child if you are so disposed, at certain times, but never forget to keep him in mind (if you really love him) that he is but a child after all, — that he thinks as a child, he understands as a child, and therefore must not expect to know the reason of everything at once.
   
Set before him the example of Isaac, in the day when Abraham took him to offer him on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22).  He asked his father that single question, "Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" and he got no answer but this, "God will provide Himself a lamb."

How, or where, or whence, or in what manner, or by what means, — all this Isaac was not told; but the answer was enough.  He believed that it would be well, because his father said so, and he was content. 

Tell your children, too, that we must all be learners in our beginnings, that there is an alphabet to be mastered in every kind of knowledge, — that the best horse in the world had need once to be broken, — that a day will come when they will see the wisdom of all your training.  But in the meantime if you say a thing is right, it must be enough for them, — they must believe you, and be content.
   
Parents, if any point in training is important, it is this.  I charge you by the affection you have to your children, use every means to train them up to a habit of faith.

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As a Christian parent I have come to realize that God is on my side. He has a way of backing my words and proving my point without me ever having to do a thing but trust Him. I have lost count of the times He has stepped in with what we like to call in our family a "God-slap". 

A small example is when the girls were little we could tell them to stop running in the house. And if they refused to obey and continued to run when we left the room, it would never fail that they would fall or run into something, then they would come to us crying wanting pity and sympathy, we would look and say "Were you running in the house after we told you not to?"

They would sheepishly nod their "yeses"

And we would remind them that God was watching even when we were not. And they needed to be thankful that their disobedience did not cause more harm than what they had already received.
When we tell them to do something or not to do something we are not trying to be mean or ruin their fun. We just know more than they do and we knew that this would eventually happen if they kept running in the house. 

We have also learned that if we as parents will be faithful in prayer and fellowship with our Savior, the Holy Spirit will let us in on what is going on in our girls hearts and lives, even things they are trying so hard to hide from us. He will give us a heads up. He will let us see things that apart from His eyes we would have never seen. My husband and I both have learned and have often have reminded our girls that we are fully aware of the knowledge that God is on our side and we actually know more about them than what we let them know we know.

Honor your father and your mother,

that your days may be prolonged in the land

which the LORD your God gives you.

Exodus 20:12

This 5th Commandment is our stamp of legality to be able to say in full confidence "because I said so, that's why!" 

I have never felt the need nor the desire to "explain myself" to my children, neither has my husband. My parents never felt the need either. I learned to either take their word, believe it, and walk in it with a happy ending... or I could ignore it and suffer the consequences.

I can in all honesty tell you that I have absolutely no recollection of my parent's ever being wrong. In my minds memory and my heart's confidence I can only recall that they spoke truth to me at all times and every time I went against their truth I suffered greatly.

This is the awesome benefit of godly parents who choose their words wisely and speak honestly. I learned that I could take God at His Word because I had first learned that I could take my parent's at theirs.

My parents spoke truth, they meant what they said, and said what they meant.

Now note my parents were not perfect. I know they look back and wish they had done certain things differently... but what they did do was in truth and in love, not pampering love, but perfecting love.

You shall be careful to perform

what goes out from your lips,

just as you have voluntarily vowed

to the LORD your God,

what you have promised.

Deuteronomy 23:23

This is indeed one of the hardest commands to keep with children where discipline is concerned. The old saying "this hurts me more than it hurts you" is really true, yet you just don't get it until you become a parent.

You set your standard of discipline and then they break your commands, your rules, and you have to flesh out your words. You must administer the exact discipline you said would be the consequence and there is no turning back ever. If you slip the first time, if you cave, you are in trouble.

If you say it, do it.

Teach your children that your Word can be trusted and is to be obeyed.

Calgon Take Me Away

Do not let the calm and reasonable "Train Up A Child" posts fool you... this Christian housewife and momma is on edge.

It is Judgment Seat week and the tired has set in, along with a dull headache due to lack of sleep.

Nice left me about 10:30pm last night when I threw the semi-black duct tape across the basement that is used for our Hell scene because it would not cooperate.

So last night it was after midnight before I got into bed again... and then my stupid dog has me up at 2:30 in the morning. I thought that maybe, just maybe I would leave him in the hall for the night...

Oh yeh did I mention that my husband has been in Connecticut since Tuesday... (ugh... deep sigh....)

Usually when I am in the bedroom the dog lays down at the end of the hall by our door and he stays there. He follows me where ever I go... I think it must be because I am the one who usually feeds him... because he is not always the favorite on my list.

Anyway, at 2:30am he begins whining and snorting in the bulldog kind of way and so I get up and take him outside. So here I am out in the middle of my front yard in my pj's at 2:30 in the morning. The dog does his business and I call him back in and he just looks at me like, "what? you talking to me?" 

I go in the house to find the leash.
Can I find the leash at 2:30 in the morning?
Of course not!

Our dog doesn't have a collar on, because he stays in the house and the collar tears him up for some reason, he will scratch at it until he removes all his hair and makes sores. So no collar. The leash is a rope that is threaded and fits around his head... it's a vet leash.

Well I finally get him to come in the house and call him to his kennel for bed...  
Does he come?
Of course not!
He runs down the hall and parks it in his corner.
I think, well okay, maybe he really did just have to go and relieve himself and he will be quiet the rest of the night.

I finally crawl back in the bed.

Guess who starts whining again just about the time I am at that moment of drifting off into oblivion?
Ugh!
Up again.
This time I am going to put the dog up. I must sleep.

I call him to the kennel again.
Does he come?
Of course not!

So here I am with a death grip around the nape of my dog's neck dragging this 75 lb dog through the house to his kennel...
Oh he's going in!

Finally sleep.

Then morning comes... and I realize that sometime this week I lost every floor in my house and every table and counter top... they are no where to be found. All I can find is dirty dishes and paper and toys and I think there are at least 8 sets of shoes in the living room floor and the garbage can runneth over... all of them!

I hit the floor finding the floor, doing laundry, dishes...oh my I need my coffee!
Quiet time?
Nope didn't happen this morning.

And my morning attitude showed it...

I had to confess to my girls that their mom is on overload... with a short fuse today... tired... with a dull headache... a husband that's still out of town... a dog that is aggravating as all get out... a house that is a wreck... a Mary Kay order to divide with totals to tally... and it's bill day... the fact is I just need grace upon grace today...

And some BC Powders and more coffee probably wouldn't hurt.

Train Up A Child Day 7

So just how important is it to drag your children to church even if it be while they are kicking and screaming- pouting and stomping- grumpy and hateful...

Train Up A Child Day Seven

7.  Train them to habits of diligence, and regularity about public means of grace.
   
Tell them of the duty and privilege of going to the house of God, and joining in the prayers of the congregation.  Tell them that wherever the Lord’s people are gathered together, there the Lord Jesus is present in an especial manner, and that those who absent themselves must expect, like the Apostle Thomas, to miss a blessing.  Tell them of the importance of hearing the Word preached, and that it is God’s ordinance for converting, sanctifying, and building up the souls of men.  Tell them how the Apostle Paul enjoins us not "to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" (Heb. 10:25); but to exhort one another, to stir one another up to it, and so much the more as we see the day approaching.
  
I call it a sad sight in a church when nobody comes up to the Lord’s table but the elderly people, and the young men and the young women all turn away.  But I call it a sadder sight still when no children are to be seen in a church, excepting those who come to the Sunday School, and are obliged to attend.  Let none of this guilt lie at your doors.  There are many boys and girls in every parish, besides those who come to school, and you who are their parents and friends should see to it that they come with you to church.
   
Do not allow them to grow up with a habit of making vain excuses for not coming.  Give them plainly to understand, that so long as they are under your roof it is the rule of your house for every one in health to honour the Lord’s house upon the Lord’s day, and that you reckon the Sabbath-breaker to be a murderer of his own soul.
   
See to it too, if it can be so arranged, that your children go with you to church, and sit near you when they are there.  To go to church is one thing, but to behave well at church is quite another.  And believe me, there is no security for good behaviour like that of having them under your own eye.
   
The minds of young people are easily drawn aside, and their attention lost, and every possible means should be used to counteract this.  I do not like to see them coming to church by themselves, — they often get into bad company by the way, and so learn more evil on the Lord’s day than in all the rest of the week. 

Neither do I like to see what I call "a young people’s corner" in a church.  They often catch habits of inattention and irreverence there, which it takes years to unlearn, if ever they are unlearned at all.  What I like to see is a whole family sitting together, old and young, side by side, — men, women, and children, serving God according to their households.
   
But there are some who say that it is useless to urge children to attend means of grace, because they cannot understand them.
   
I would not have you listen to such reasoning.  I find no such doctrine in the Old Testament.  When Moses goes before Pharaoh (Ex. 10:9), I observe he says, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters: for we must hold a feast unto the Lord."

When Joshua read the law (Josh. 8:35), I observe, "There was not a word which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them." "Thrice in the year," says Ex. 34:23, "shall all your men-children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel."

And when I turn to the New Testament, I find children mentioned there as partaking in public acts of religion as well as in the Old.  When Paul was leaving the disciples at Tyre for the last time, I find it said (Acts 21:5)," They all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed."
   
Samuel, in the days of his childhood, appears to have ministered unto the Lord some time before he really knew Him. "Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him" (1 Sam. 3:7).  The Apostles themselves do not seem to have understood all that our Lord said at the time that it was spoken: "These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him" (John 12:16).
   
Parents, comfort your minds with these examples.  Be not cast down because your children see not the full value of the means of grace now.  Only train them up to a habit of regular attendance. Set it before their minds as a high, holy, and solemn duty, and believe me, the day will very likely come when they will bless you for your deed.

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My husband and I have been blessed to have girls who have never fought us on church attendance. They have always loved to go to church and they always look forward to going.

Even my girls who are up there almost every day while I work in various areas, our church is as much home to them as our house. They help clean it, they help move stuff, they know their way around it, they can tell guest where everything is at because they are intimately involved in the service of our church.

Yes my children are the ones that you will see roaming the halls barefoot because their socks and shoes are piled up in the middle of the gym floor somewhere, and they will be laughing and giggling while most likely they are found standing at white board in a room with a dry-erase marker teaching each other Sunday school lessons.

My girls love to be in the house of the Lord and I believe they love it because they know it's home. The people there- they love as they love their aunts and uncles and cousins. They are family because we raised them with them. Our church is not a place we show up to for an hour on Sunday and then leave... Our girls are growing up serving in the church, not just making an appearance.

"I do not like to see them coming to church by themselves" I also have to say that this is one of things that has began to disturb me much here lately. The division of families in the church. We seem to have decided that is okay for our children who still live in our home to attend elsewhere than we do just because "at least they are going somewhere".

My step-daughter moved in with us when she was around 13 years old, her mother and step-father lived in North Carolina. About a year later her mother and step-father moved back to Alabama. My husband and I extended an invite for them to check out our church. They were always welcome in our home as was their family and we wanted them to know that they were just as welcome in our church home. I truly believe that at that point in time, we could have served the Lord with them within the same assembly of believers had they chose to buy a home in our area. Being a family united is just that important to us.    

I also used to teach children's church that occurred during Sunday morning worship and I truly believed the children needed to have this time to learn. However, I have grown to believe that they need this time... just not during Sunday morning worship. It's fun and they love it and it's so much easier as a parent of little ones to enjoy the service without having to hush or control little ones... but all of this is part of training them up... is it not?

"Neither do I like to see what I call "a young people’s corner" in a church." I have to admit that this is the first time that I have really thought about the youth corner...

So as for the youth corner, maybe we would not look over to see so much whispering, so much texting, if every once a while parents said, "No, honey, sorry but you are sitting with me... What your friend comes alone becasue their parents refuse to come? Well bring them to sit with us as well, and hopefully we can be an example to them for the family that they themselves will have one day..."

So parents let us be diligent to teach our children to not forsake the assembly.

Let us first teach by example.

Then let us teach by making it important enough to discipline them over.

"You go because I said go... period"