Proverbs 3:5-6 “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

GPS

Maps are pretty much a thing of the past. With today’s GPS systems we can travel just about anywhere we want with our smartphone’s map app. Just type in the address and whamo, the address pops up and gives you the best route to take. Even if you miss a turn it reroutes you and gets you back on track.

God’s GPS for us, of course, is His Word. Not only does He know the best route, but He also knows the safest and most rewarding route. He may take us through some dark valleys and some perilous turns, but He will always be with us. We never lose satellite connection, unlike our earthly GPS. Now, we may choose to take another route, and He will let us, but He is always there when we realize we have gotten ourselves on a dead end street.

TEACHING MOMENT

The next time you are taking a road trip and you put the address of your destination into your map app, how about taking that opportunity to talk to your children about your eternal destination? Make a game of it. Talk about the things you see on the trip and how that might compare to your spiritual journey. You know, yield signs can mean waiting on others to join you on the journey. Stop lights could mean waiting on God to give you the “go sign” to proceed with a decision. A sharp curve could mean following the Lord around an obstacle that Satan has placed in your path. You get the picture.

The main thing is to let your kids know that no matter where they go, God is always a prayer away. We can always punch in the address to heaven, and He will take us right where we are and direct us to Him. When you arrive at your trip’s destination, whether it is a short or long trip, and you feel the excitement of getting there, compare that to reaching your eternal destination. It is one from which we never have to leave. We will live with Him forever and enjoy the inheritance of the saints.

Hey, I’m ready now! Are you?

I Thessalonians 2:7-8 “7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.”

GENTLE

There is a word in these two verses that is translated differently here than any other place in the New Testament. “Gentle” is translated elsewhere as babes, infants or childish. What is Paul trying to say here and why did the translators use “gentle” here? Paul is simply saying he came to the Thessalonians not in boldness and harshness, but like a baby or infant would present themselves, tender and gentle. Then he goes on to compare that word to how a mother cares for a child she is nursing. What a beautiful picture.

So how are you approaching people? My brother-in-law and Pastor understood this. He always approached others in this fashion. That’s why EVERYONE believed he was their best friend. They all felt accepted and loved by him. He was always so kind and giving of his time. Just like a nursing mother cannot rush the feeding of her child, Wayne would take the time, even when he didn’t have it, to talk with someone who asked. And he did give his whole life to the preaching of the Gospel.

TEACHING MOMENT

How in the world do we teach our children this principle? There is only one way, which we seem to see a lot. We have to model it for them. If we aren’t patient and gentle with them, they will not be with others. As they see us live out this principle, they will learn how to emulate it also. It will become part of their DNA too.

The next time you start to get aggravated with someone, stop and apply this principle. You are doing it, not only because the Lord tells you to, but also because the next generation is watching. They will take mental notes. And the next time they encounter someone who needs to be treated gently they will have the image of you doing the same. Now that’s leaving a legacy!

Psalms 150 “1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. 2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. 3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”

REAL PRAISE

I remember singing the hymn “Praise Him, Praise Him” when I was growing up at First Baptist Church of Pelham, GA. The lyrics read, “Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer.” Have you praised Him lately? I don’t mean just raising your hand(s) in church while singing a chorus. I mean really praise Him. Read through the verses above again and stop and meditate on each verse. Then praise Him for His work in your life right now.

TEACHING MOMENT

Our kids need to be taught how and why we praise Him. It’s not just about emotion in a service. It’s not just getting “our praise on,” as some people say. Praise is about recognizing Who God is and why He is worthy of it. Our kids can praise Him standing or sitting. They can praise Him singing or praying. They can praise him with voice or instrument. There is no limit to how we can praise Him.

Have you ever had a praise service in your home with your children? Why not set aside a night this week to do that? Get your family in a room and talk about some ways you can praise Him together as a family. I promise you that your children will come up with some creative ways. Let them. Any thing that is directed toward the Father in praise will work. The Lord loves the praise of His people. I bet He especially loves the praise of children.

Stop being so “high and mighty” and let your praise begin. Abandon yourself in praise. Even if you are going through a tough time right now, let yourself be enveloped with praise for all He has done, is doing and will continue to do. Praise Him! Praise Him!

Psalms 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

You’ve heard that term all your life, right? Brokenhearted! But what does it mean? Does it mean how you feel when someone you love leaves you for another? Does it mean deep disappointment? Does it mean deep sorrow? Well, here in this verse, it literally is “heart broken” in the Hebrew. The word “heart” can be translated as feelings or emotions. The word “broken” can be translated as crushed or destroyed. Wow! Get the picture!

But let’s not focus on that. Let’s look instead at the word “heals.” This is the word “rapha” in Hebrew. One of God’s names in Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. He is the ONLY cure and treatment for a broken heart. People run to relationships, alcohol, drugs, sex and a myriad of other things to try to soothe a broken heart. But the only thing that can heal it is the One Who created it in the first place.

TEACHING MOMENT

Your children, if they haven’t already, are going to experience a broken heart at some point in their life. Mom and Dad, you can’t heal it. You can let them cry on your shoulder. You can offer counsel, but you can’t heal. You have to point them to Christ to receive the healing balm they need to apply to that open wound. What is neat about His bandages is when they are removed after the healing has taken place, they don’t hurt. You don’t have to count to three and jerk it off. Because of the way God heals, the wound heals completely. There may be a scar for some of those wounds, but He heals wholly.

So when you are faced with a brokenhearted child or one yourself, trust the Healer. Let Him apply the ointment and bandage. His tender kisses and touch can heal the deepest wound.

Colossians 3:23-24 “23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING

My dad worked hard all his life. He began working at a textile mill at age 16 and retired there at age 61. He worked part time also painting houses and later selling insurance. My dad taught me a strong work ethic. I have always liked to work, sometimes too much.

But these verses aren’t talking about that. These verses are talking about our motivation for work. Who are we trying to please? Who are you trying to impress? It says clearly that we are to work for the Lord. Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, homemaker, carpenter or a landscaper, do it all to please Him. When you work to please Him, your earthly employer will be pleased.

TEACHING MOMENT

Teaching our children to work this way is ONLY done by example. They don’t need to hear us complain about our work place or our bosses. They need to hear us thanking the Lord for our work. They need to see us go above and beyond to accomplish our work. They need to see us balance work and family. They need to hear us praise our coworkers. Get the picture. You are framing their work ethic by how you view work, whether than how you work.

What are you teaching your kids today about work? Will they see how to treat their employers or employees from your example? Do you need to apologize for speaking wrongly about your boss in front of them? Do you need to make things right with an employee? Remember, we will receive the reward from the Lord, not men.

Psalms 141:3 “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

WORDS

Read that verse again. Now, what have you said this week that you wish you could take back? Maybe it was a curt word to your spouse or child. Maybe it was a derogatory remark about someone in leadership at your church. “Oh, I would never do that.” Right! Maybe it was spreading a little “prayer request.” Words are like toothpaste. Once they are out of the mouth, it is impossible to get them back in.

TEACHING MOMENT

How do we teach our children to guard their mouth and keep watch over the door of their lips? Look at the verse one more time. We can’t! The Lord has to do it. In this verse, David is saying, “God, I can’t shut my mouth. I need you to guard and keep watch.” We can discipline our children for saying the wrong thing, and they may stop saying those things around us. But we know they will continue to talk out of turn away from us. Only the conviction of the Lord and a changed heart can cause them to stop spewing unkind or negative words.

Do they hear you doing the same? Let me challenge you today. Will you let the Lord guard and keep watch over your mouth? Will you let Him be your tongue? Will you let The Word be your words? Will you let Him do a double check of your thoughts BEFORE you speak? That is so hard, isn’t it? We all believe we have the right to be heard. Do you realize that ALL our rights were nailed to the cross? We have NO RIGHTS! The only rights we have are those given to us by the Father. We are His bondservants. We do and say what He wills.

I promise you today that someone is going to cross your path that will test you in this area. Won’t you allow Him to control that monster in your mouth? I have heard someone say that the Lord gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen to Him today and show your children how to be the Lord’s mouthpiece and not your own.

Best Verse: Colossians 1:5 “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel”

GOSPEL OF HOPE

Having a loved one receive their heavenly reward is a blessing. Sure, it hurts knowing you won’t see them again, but we know the hope we have in Christ. And where do we get that hope? This verse tells us – the gospel. There is no other source of hope. The gospel tells the story of God’s plan of redemption for us. That is why we have hope. There is NOTHING we can do to gain hope – except acknowledge Jesus as Lord and bow in surrender to His will.

TEACHING MOMENT

Have your children ever hoped in something that didn’t happen? What a letdown! Getting cut from a ball team, perhaps. Or maybe not getting invited to that party they wanted to go to. Maybe your daughter was wanting that one special guy to ask her to the prom, but he chose someone else. Hoping in things or people just leaves us open for disappointments. We must help our children learn where true hope lies. It only lies in Him.

The next time your child has their hopes crushed by someone, take them to this verse. Our hope is laid up for us in heaven. The very best God has for us is waiting for us when get to heaven. Notice the verse says it is “laid up” for us. The word means it is reserved for us. Every believer has hope reserved just for them. No one can take that away. It is waiting in heaven with our name on it.

I am so glad my hope is not in the results of a Presidential race or the outcome of football game. I am glad my hope is not dependent on my wife, children or friends. My hope is promised to me by the only true promise keeper – Jesus Christ. He IS my hope! He is my reservation keeper! He is the hope giver! Won’t you rest in Him? Won’t you give your children the word of truth, the gospel, where they can find true hope?

Beloved, be hopeful! This world is NOT OUR END!

Psalms 136:1 “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

MISUNDERSTOOD

It is funny. When I wrote that verse, spell check underlined “lovingkindness.” It didn’t recognize the word. It’s no wonder! It’s a difficult word. No one really understands it. Look at some of the definitions from Strong’s Concordance – “favor, good deed, kindly, loving-kindness, merciful kindness, mercy, pity.” What a wide range of descriptions. But this Hebrew word, חָ֫סֶד, checed (kheh’-sed), is such a basic word to describe God’s relationship to us.

This word basically describes how the Lord relates to us, even though we DON’T deserve it. Despite our disobedience, lack of faith and rebellion, when we turn to Him, he shows us his lovingkindness.

TEACHING MOMENT

When your children disobey, does that change the love you have for them? When they come to you, showing remorse and asking for forgiveness, do you turn them away? Do you tell them, “Come back when you can behave and then we re-establish our relationship”? Of course, you don’t. You bring them in and hug them tightly. You may still discipline them (this word has that definition too), but you love them back to yourself.

Our children learn lovingkindness, not by watching us, but by experiencing firsthand from us. We must be the lovingkindess of God to them. We must show them what it looks like to welcome a wandering soul. We must pull them back into a relationship. Is that easy? Not always. But it can always be sweet.

Will you do that today? Will you read the entire 136^th Psalm to them? Read the first part of each verse and let them read the second part. After a couple of verses they will be able to just recite the phrase “for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Then the next time they mess up, and they will, they will know that through you they can experience this lovingkindess that only comes through Christ.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

MIND GAMES

What are you dwelling on? Or maybe I should ask, “What is on your mind all the time?” If you are like me, I am thinking of my day’s schedule, my work/ministry, paying the bills, working out or other earthly things. But look at the list of things Paul is telling us to dwell on. None of those things in that list have anything to do with our normal stuff.

What is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise? Nothing in this world, that’s for sure. Paul is pointing us heavenward. He is trying to get us to focus on the things of God, not man. So will you confess with me and begin to focus upward?

TEACHING MOMENT

Teaching our children to get “eternal eyes” is hard. Kids are concrete thinkers, for the most part. They have a hard time grasping concepts they can’t touch, see and hear. But is there anything more real than our faith in Christ? Is there anything more concrete than the love of Christ? Look for ways today to show your children how to live true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise lives. By living that way they make those things very evident for others to see.

And you – will you join me in doing the same? We need true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise lives. We need to be a beacon of light in a dark world. We need to be living in such a way that when people see us, those words of this verse shine like a lighted billboard at night. People see us and say, “Now I get it. I see Jesus in them.” Now wouldn’t that be just what Paul is saying? Wouldn’t that bring joy to the Father?

Psalms 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”

DISUNITY

You may or may not remember the Rodney King incident that happened quite a while back. It is very similar to what we see happening all over the globe now. One incident involving police officers and an individual led to riots and mass demonstrations which led to riots in the streets. Chaos! Confusion! Total lack of unity!

Rodney King’s famous line was, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Very good question, but it is one for which we have the answer. Sin! Flesh! Self! That’s why! Until we all bow to the One True God and surrender to His will, we will NEVER dwell together in unity. Our flesh demands its rights and will knock down anyone or anything that gets in its way.

TEACHING MOMENT

Our children must see us dwelling in unity with each other, especially in the Body of Christ. They must hear us saying unifying things, not dividing things. They must see us reaching out with the “olive branch” of peace to those whom we have had conflict. They must see….. Well, you fill in the rest.

With whom are you in disunity with today? Go to them and make it right. If necessary, be the wrong one. Be the first to say those horrifying words “I’m sorry.” Are you able to mouth those three syllables? Can you admit you could be wrong? Can you humble yourself before others?

Oh listen to me my friends. We must show our children how to live as broken, surrendered, humble vessels of the Lord. We must be willing to be the servant to all. We must show our children that is okay to be the last in line, if that is what the Lord wants from us. We must show them how to bow low before the Father, whether or not He ever lifts us up.

Look at the verse again. It says “how good and pleasant.” I don’t know about you, but I much prefer good and pleasant to bad and ugly. Be the one who makes things good and pleasant. The Lord will bless you AND your children for it.