Numbers 16:1-3 “1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action, 2 and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown. 3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’”

Jealousy is a dangerous thing, isn’t it? Wanting what someone else has just because they have it and you don’t can get you in all kinds of trouble. Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On were jealous of Moses and Aaron because of the position God had placed them to rule over and lead the people. They were jealous of the Priesthood. Wow! If they had only known the heavy weight that was on them! Their jealousy led to the death of approximately 15,000 people.

Our children will fight this battle from an early age. What is the favorite word of a two year old? “Mine!” They want anything someone else has, especially a toy or a snack. They see it, and they want it. If we don’t teach them early how to share and how to be content with what they already have, we will see this escalate as they grow older.

One of the best ways I’ve seen for children to learn this lesson is by teaching them to give. Have your kids once a year go through their toys, books, and clothes and pick out some items they would like to share with another child that is less fortunate. Now, I don’t mean to give up that old torn up, ragged out item. Have them select something that they really like but don’t really need.

When they see the look on the face of the child or the parent when they give that gift, they will want to do it more. They will learn that everything we have should be held with an open hand, willing to give it up for someone else. What a lesson!

Mark 5:17 “And they began to implore Him to leave their region.”

This chapter begins with the story of the demon possessed man in the region of Gerasene. Can you imagine having a man living in the local cemetery who screamed all night and ran around with chains hanging from him and cutting himself with rocks? Wouldn’t that be a little scary? Would you not be a little happy if he left the area or stopped behaving that way?

Well, Jesus shows up and casts all those demons out of the man. He became calm and everything looked great. So, why did they ask Jesus to leave in verse 17? Because he had cast the demons in the pigs and they had ran off the cliff and died in the sea. He was costing them money. 2000 pigs just died and they were basically saying, “Why don’t you mind your own business? We were just fine before you got here. Why don’t you just leave?”

We need to teach our children that we WANT Jesus “messing around” in our daily lives. We WANT Him in our homes. We WANT Him in our playtime with our friends. No matter what He does, it is ALWAYS for our good. We just have to trust Him.

So they next time you hear your kids say, “Won’t you mind your own business?” make sure they aren’t talking to Jesus. Lol Our business IS His business.

Numbers 12:1-2 “1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); 2 and they said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?’ And the Lord heard it.”

What a powerful lesson we can learn about the superb hearing of the Lord. Here in this passage we see Aaron and Miriam complaining about Moses’ wife. Now understand – we don’t know for sure who this woman was, but we do know that the term “Cushite” referred to her skin being dark. So Aaron’s and Miriam’s problem with her was her skin color.

Now isn’t this a great verse to discuss with our children, considering the times in which we live. There is racial unrest everywhere. People hate people just because their skin is a different color. When we talk about people or call them names the Lord still hears. He is just as disappointed today as He was then.

If you read on in the passage you will see that this one little conversation, perhaps in private, had consequences, and I don’t mean just on Miriam (her leprosy). Her punishment caused the ENTIRE nation to have to wait until she could be pronounced clean. We need to teach our children that their words can have consequences. They can hurt people who in turn could hurt people who in turn…. Well, you see where this is going.

The Lord is ALWAYS listening. He knows our words even before we say them. He wants our words to be encouraging and loving. So teach your little ones the power of their words. Teach them to build up and not destroy.

Mark 4:21 “And He was saying to them, ‘A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand?’”

What a perfect verse to share with our kids! This is a verse that is so easily played out with your children. Go into a room with a lamp and a basket (or something else) that will cover the lamp. Turn on the lamp and then turn off the room light. Now cover the lamp with the basket. They will see very quickly how dark the room gets with the lamp not being allowed to shine its light. Even if a little of the light shines through, they will get the message.

Now tell them how the light of Jesus in our lives needs to shine so others can see it. We need to let it shine brightly. We do NOT need to hide our light. Not only is it easier to see in a well lit room, but it may prevent someone from stumbling. Our “Jesus light” can also help someone in a dark world and perhaps keep them from stumbling.

After you have done this with your child, the hard part begins. YOU have to live it. YOU must let YOUR light shine. Your child needs to see YOU shining YOUR light in dark places. When you are in the store and someone is not kind to you, let your light shine. When you are in traffic and someone cuts you off, let your light shine. When you see someone asking for help, let your light shine.

You see, roleplaying is one thing, living it is so much more! Now go shine your light!

Numbers 7:89 “Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him.”

Can you just picture this? Moses goes into the Holy of Holies and talks to God! That must have been amazing! But also sad! Because He only spoke to Moses! The other people didn’t hear His voice. Moses told them what He said.

We have the privilege today to help our children hear God’s voice directly. Now, I don’t mean they will hear His audible voice like Moses did. But we can show them through prayer and reading of His Word how to hear Him. God is just as eager to talk to us as He was to talk to Moses – maybe more.

How do we hear Him? Well, we have to stop talking! We have to listen. My wife accuses me sometimes of having “selective hearing.” If we are watching something on TV, I literally have to pause or mute the TV and turn to her to listen to what she is saying. I could hear her with the TV blaring, but I would not be listening. So, we must teach our kids to get quiet and listen.

We also have to teach them to ask God to speak to them. One of my favorite songs our choir sings is “Speak Lord.” I literally cry singing that song because I so desire to hear His voice. I pray most days that He will speak to me and give me direction for the day. When I stop to listen (really listen) He does that. If I am open to His guidance He will lead me.

Hush! Did you hear that? Did you hear the Master? He is speaking!

Mark 3:5 “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”

Parents, do you tell your kids all the time to not get angry? We tend to do that a lot. We don’t want our children to be mad at someone. We don’t want them to lash out at another person to try to hurt them. That is good parenting. We want them to love others.

But you can see from this verse that there are times when anger is justified. Jesus was angry with those who opposed Him healing this man in the story just because it was the Sabbath. The word “anger” there really means anger. But it also has the definition of anger that God has toward sin. That’s what should anger us!

We should teach our children that unrighteousness should anger us. Things done to others to harm them should anger us. Abortion should anger us. You get the picture. However, notice Jesus’ reaction. He didn’t lash out at the crowd. He simply healed the man.

We need to teach our children that we should go about doing good in the very presence of those who hate us and God. We should bless others despite their actions. We should follow the example of the Master. Be angry but sin not. Now that’s a lesson worth teaching!

Numbers 1:54 “Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which the LORD had commanded Moses, so they did.”

Isn’t that a simple verse? God told Moses to tell the sons of Israel to do something, and they did it. Bam! Done! Obedience. Wouldn’t that had been the easy thing to do? But we know from the rest of the story that the people did not always simply obey. They rebelled and felt the consequences for their disobedience.

Aren’t our children the same? Sometimes we ask them to do something and they just do it. Heck, sometimes they do it without even being told. We are amazed and pleased. Our heart jumps a beat with pride. We think, “I’ve got this parenting thing down! What’s so hard about this?”

But then…little Gertrude rebels. She stomps her little foot and crosses her arms and says, “No! I am not going to bed! I will not clean my room!” All our parenting pride goes out the window. We don’t have a clue what we are doing. Been there? Done that?

May I encourage you today? Take pleasure in those moments of obedience. Mark them down. File that away. Because we know there will be times when our children will buck our directives. That’s okay. Those are teaching moments. Many times we can learn more about ourselves in those difficult times than we will ever teach our kids. We can reflect on how WE stomp our feet and cross our arms at God.

We are just like the Israelites in the dessert. We want our way. Our children want their way. Only by dying to self and teaching our kids to die to the flesh can we have true obedience. Hmmm? Dying to obey! That’s it!

Mark 1:35 “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

Is there a better lesson we can teach our children than this? Even Jesus, the Son of God, part of the Godhead, found time to get away to pray. It says he found a “secluded place” so no one or nothing could bother Him. If He took the time to do that, how much more do we need to do that?

Years ago I had an office which had been a dorm room at a Children’s Home. It had two closets as you walked in the door, one on the right and one on the left. I turned one of those into a Prayer Closet where I could go each morning and pray. I loved that little closet. I could literally “hide” and pray for the staff and children.

Moms and Dads, why not help your children find a spot where they can pray? It could be the corner of their room or another place in the house where it is safe and quiet. Wouldn’t you love to be like the disciples when they searched for Jesus and find your child praying in secret? That would bless my heart.

Teaching our kids to pray is so easy. We just have to model it for them. I love to hear children pray and I guarantee you God does too. Surely He smiles when their prayers reach His ears.

Leviticus 23:3 “’For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.’”

Have your kids ever asked you, “Why do we go to church on Sunday?” Well, here’s a great verse to share with them. Now, I am not going to get into the debate about Saturday versus Sunday as the correct day to worship. My point today is that there is a command from the Father to set aside a time to rest and worship. He spends a great deal of time in Leviticus talking about how His children were to worship Him, so it must be big deal.

It seems today we have relegated Sunday to just another day. I remember the old Blue laws which didn’t allow businesses to open on Sunday. My hometown was one of those towns that had that restriction. Even today, many of the businesses in my hometown don’t open on Sunday.

I have the greatest respect for Chick-Fil-A for their stand for this. They have made the business decision to stay closed on Sundays to allow their employees to spend that day with their family AND church family. I am sure if they were open on Sundays, they would have a huge crowd. But they are honoring the Lord rather than man.

We need to teach our children the importance of the Sabbath rest (whether that be Saturday or Sunday for you). The next time you visit Chick-Fil-A with your kids why don’t you bring up this verse and tell them Truett Cathy’s story (http://www.truettcathy.com/timeline.asp ). You never know how little Elrod might just file that away for future reference when he is faced with a similar decision.

Matthew 28:16 “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.”

This passage continues with the much quoted verse where Jesus tells His disciples to go make disciples in all nations. We quote that verse a lot, but verse 16 caught my attention.

Jesus did not appear to them and tell them to go to Galilee. He appeared to some women (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary) and told them to tell the disciples. When the disciples heard Jesus’ command they obeyed. They just went where He said He would meet them, and then they received this “Great Commission.” This was perhaps one of the greatest thing He said to them in all the time He was with them.

Parents, your children need to learn to obey you even when you are NOT around. They need to know that the directions you are giving them are for their good. They don’t need to know the “why” every time. The disciples didn’t know why they were going to Galilee. They just know He said, “Go!”

Don’t get me wrong. We need to talk to our kids and explain things to them, but I have seen too many Parents who are too “wordy” when it comes to parenting their child. Some times the child just needs to obey because you are the Parent. This kind of goes with the fifth commandment, in which we are told to honor our parents. It’s the only commandment with a promise.

May I encourage you today to “just obey”? Don’t try to rationalize your obedience. Don’t try to understand the reasoning behind the command. Just obey! Trust the Father! Trust the Son! Trust the Holy Spirit’s leading! I promise you They will never lead you wrong.