Parenting: Father and Mother

Text: Psa. 127:3-5
More Lessons: Eph 6:1-5, Deut. 4:9-10
Bible Reading in one Year: Isaiah 58-60

A father has a priestly role in the home. The work of a priest is to bless the people and represent them before God. A priest is the cover for the people he represents because he appears before God for them. So a father is a burden bearer of the house. He carries the burden of all his family members before God and intercedes on their behalf. A priest blesses the people he represents and prays against any curse that might be placed on them. A priest also guides and leads: the leadership of the father should first be seen in creating a spiritual atmosphere where the wife and the children can grow. He leads them in the way of the Lord by first being an example for the whole family to follow.

The Lord says of Abraham …I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD… Gen 18:19. This is the role a father should play in the house. Doing the will of the Lord should not be a matter of choice for the wife and the children; it is what the father should command to be done. The days we live in are days where there are laws and regulations that have collapsed the true nature of the family institution that God created. Many of our fundamental rights are totally against the Bible. A child in some developed countries can get his parents arrested for correcting him for doing what is wrong.
This is what the world is becoming and we should not forget that we are Christians and are not of the world. The father is an instructor. As an instructor he should not spare the rod. The Bible says in Pro 13:24, He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him quickly. The little things you ignore today may later hunt the future of the child you spoilt. A son who is without chastisement is like a bastard. Children have their excesses and most times these are not to be ignored. There are stories all around of parents who go to their children's school to fight because a teacher disciplined them. Discipline does not kill a child but ignoring discipline does (Pro 23: 13-14). Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying: Pro 19:18. When you truly train up a child in the way he should go, you have secured the future for him because he will not depart from what he has learnt.

Children are God's heritage and we have the responsibility of raising them for the glory of God. Parenting is not limited to fathers alone, it is an assignment for fathers and mothers together. Since it took the two to bring forth, the two must also build them. Fathers must carry their wives along in building the children and leading the home. The consequences of a divided home can only be imagined. A home comprises of the father, mother and children and all have a God-given role to play in the making of a good home.

Prayer/Action
*Ask God for a priestly anointing upon all present and future parents.
* Ask God to help all mothers to be true help meets and co-builders in the bond.

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Parenting: The Father

Text: Gen.18:19
More Lessons: Eph 6:1-5, Deut. 4:9-10
Bible Reading in one Year: Isaiah 55-57

Fatherhood is a blessing because a lot of things culminate into maturing a man to the position of a father. A father has the oversight because he has seen what others coming after him are just seeing or about to see. … keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen…especially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God. Deut. 4:9-10. A father is a bundle of experience, experience with man and God. A father, as the one in our text should be able to share with his children certain experiences, especially the ones where he encountered God. It is not enough to be called a father because a man is able to impregnate a woman.

Experience goes with fatherhood. It is by the experience garnered over the years that a father can lead others to becoming fathers. A person who fathers without experience will fail in his role. The experiences God has taken you through as a father are not for fun, but they are proofs of God's faithfulness and should be taught to the younger generation. Fathers should tell the younger generation about the faithfulness of God and His ability to perform His counsels. The revelations of God that the fathers have received are to be taught to the children so that the children can in turn seek God and have something to teach the generation after them. That is the plan of God as we can see in our text.

A father is also a provider. The providing ability of the father comes from trusting God for supply. When a man ceases in his responsibility to provide for his own house, that moment he ceases to be a man of faith and he's worse than an infidel, for the just lives by faith. A father has the responsibility of teaching his children to trust in God for the supply of their need. Though most of the things the children need come directly from the father, he should use this to teach them that God is the Jehovah Nissi like Abraham told Isaac when he asked for the ram for the sacrifice. Our children should be taught the faithfulness of God in providing their need.

A father is the defender and protector of the family. He is the Chief Security Officer of the house. This is not only physically but spiritually. He must be sensitive to the things that happen around him. He must keep his home from intruders and make sure that every member of his house is secure. He has the spiritual oversight of the house and must do all to be on guard at all times.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that fathers will not fail in their God-given assignment to lead the home.
* Pray that parents will be good and positive role model to their children and wards.
* Pray that God will rescue our homes from Satanic hijackers.

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One Body in Christ

Text: Col. 4:16
More Lessons: John 17:21-23
Bible Reading in one Year: Isaiah 52-54

After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea: Col 4:16 (NIV). The Church of Christ must function as a single entity. In today’s text, the Apostle Paul instructed the Colossian Church to share the revelations they were taught with the Church at Laodicea and vice versa. The early New Testament churches did not have conflicts of teaching and doctrines because they received from one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all who is in all and through all. The reason for the many differences in doctrines, revelations and teachings today is that people are teaching the traditions of men and not the Word of God.

The Word of God is the standard for one and every church congregation. God still speaks to His church and what He says to one, He says to all. That is why all the books of the Bible written by different people in different ages do not conflict and all speak of the same subject; they all point to Christ. This should be true of the words God speaks to us today. Jesus in John 17 says: I pray that THEY ALL may become one even as I am one with the Father. The will of Jesus is that all of us may be one and not divided. Anything that causes division is not of the Lord. There are many doctrines that have come into the church but not from the Lord. Those are the horns that have scattered the flock of Jesus. They don't have their source in God. When we see much of differences than oneness in the church and emphasize on these differences than what unites us as Christians, then we are not functioning as the Lord desires. The divided church is not of Christ because a house that is divided against itself cannot stand. Jesus promised to build His Church and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That means that the Church Jesus builds is not a divided Church and will stand in the face of all the barrage of the artillery of hell against her. The Church of Jesus will be strong again and hell will not overcome it.

Prayer/Action
* Pray against all the forces that are working against the unity of the Church.
* Ask God to bind His Church together again in answer to Jesus’ prayer.
* Ask God to use you to unite your local assembly and not to break it.

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Don't Wash your Net Yet

Text: Luke 5:1-7
More Lessons: Psa. 1
Bible Reading in one Year: Isaiah 49-51

We often find ourselves in certain situations and the only option we think of is to give up. That was the case with Simon Peter; he and his crew had laboured all night but with no result. With all the skills he had in the fishing profession, he toiled all night but caught nothing. There are certain forces that can make a man labour without any result to show for it. They make him do much but with little to show for the much that is done. I pray for you today, that those forces will not overcome you. Do you feel discouraged? Do you think that things are not working the way you planned? You may even wonder why things are not working despite all the experiences you have. I tell you this morning that God is not sleeping; He knows your plight. Do not wash your net yet. What you need is just a word from the Master. His word never fails. God is set to bless your labour. You shall no more labour in vain. This year will not pass without people celebrating with you. Jesus entered Peter's ship and taught the people from it. If you study this scripture very well you will notice that it wasn't only Peter's ship that was there, in fact there were two and it wasn't only Him who did not catch any fish. He was not even the only person who had washed his net. His colleagues were there with him but Jesus entered into his ship. Once the Master's need was met, He in turn met Peter's need. Can you use your business for the Lord? Can you allow God to do what He wants with your job? We may be finding it difficult to make progress because we have not opened up ourselves for the Master's use. When we allow Him access into our life, He blesses us in return. Don't give up on that business. Don't drop that project yet. All you need is submit it to Jesus, hear what He will say and do it.

The devil may want to dissuade you and make you disbelieve the Word of God; your experience of the past may be the enemy you have to face. Because it did not work out last year does not mean that it will not work out this year. That you dug before and you could not get water does not mean that if you dig today, there will not be water. This might just be the last trial you have to make to catch the draught that will break the net. Peter’s testimony was that he had to call unto his partners to help him as the catch was great. He got this result because he acted on the Word of God.

Prayer/Action
* T ell Jesus you will not quit nor give up.
* Ask God to lead you like Peter to a sacrifice that breaks the siege.
* Ask God to grant you the faith, hope and strength to wait until the darkness is over and a new day dawns.
* Today, sow a seed to break your siege like Peter did.

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