Today we will be looking at showing gratitude to your parents. Parents can be wonderful. They can be overbearing as well. They can reel out commands, rules, and guidelines. They tell you what to do and what not to do. They tell you when and when not to watch the TV.
To you, it seems as though they were over children. They just grew into adulthood one day.
Well, I have good news for you. Your parents love you. They love you so much they want the best for you. The rules and laws they give you are to bring out the best in you, not necessarily to restrict you.
They want to see you excel in your studies and in life. They want you to become a successful parent someday.
So the next time they tell you to wash your clothes, for example, know that it’s for your own good. They don’t want you to be a dirty person. When your clothes reek of sweat and are dirty, people will not want to associate with you and you could get teased or mocked at school by your mates. This could affect your self-esteem, making you withdraw from others.
Even the Bible encourages us to keep clean as it portrays the state of our hearts before God.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Wash and make yourselves clean. Isaiah 1:16 NIV.
Again the Bible tells you to obey and honor your parents so that it might be well with you.
Ephesians 6:2-3 GW “Honor your father and mother, that everything may go well for you, and you may have a long life on earth.” This is an important commandment with a promise.
Hello precious child, there is something interesting for you to learn here today. We are continuing with the wise words of king Solomon from the book of proverbs.
Our verse for today is
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. – Proverbs 2:3-7
This verse talks about the importance of searching for wisdom and how we as God’s children should seek after wisdom.
Our study verse first of tells us that if you and I want to be wise, we can’t just sit and wish to be wise, we have to seek for it, look for it, search for it, and that’s how we get knowledge and be wise children.
See the words used in this verses, the Bible says;
1. We should cry after knowledge
2.We should lift up our voice for understanding.
3.We should look for it as silver
4.We should search for it like an hidden treasure.
All these words are powerful.
It means we have to actively do some certain things to be wise, our effort is need to get wisdom.
The Bible says, until we look for wisdom, we won’t find it.
When we seek to be wise, that’s when we will find wisdom.
How will this happen?
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. – Proverbs 2:6-7
God will give it to us, and he gives it out of his mouth. This means through his words, and words are found in the Bible How interesting is that?
God had laid up wisdom for us in the Bible, these words are to guide and direct our everyday lives.
All we need to do is read his word like searching for treasures, that’s how to get wise dear.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I receive the grace to search the word of God like treasures in Jesus name. Amen.
ACTION PLAN: Read your Bible today.
DECLARATION: I am committed to reading and search my Bible everyday. I am wise in Jesus name.
Who are you walking with, dear child? Friendship in life is very important. As children, the kinds of friends you keep go a long way to determine the kind of future you will have.
Have you ever considered the word ‘friend’? did you notice that the last words are spelled ‘end’? this simply means your friend will determine your end.
How do you want to end in life? That question can only be answered by your choice of friends.
But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man. – 2 Sam 13:3 [KJV]
The summary of the story we see above is that Amnon wanted to do something, but he couldn’t. by the time he told his friend, he suddenly had the energy to do what he couldn’t do initially.
See how Amplified Bible describes Jonadab.
But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very crafty man. – 2 Sam 13:3[AMP]
The company you keep determines what accompanies you! In the final analysis, you will act like the company you keep, smell like the company you keep, and in fact, you look like the company you keep.
My question for you this morning, dear children, is this; who are your friends or associates? Who are you walking with? Who are those that will determine your end?
If you walk with a crafty person, you will learn his ways. If you walk with passionate people, you will catch their passion. If you walk with people who are on fire for God, you will catch their fire as well.
Here is my concluding verse.
Don’t fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you. – 1 Cor 15:33 [CEV]
May God help you to make the right decisions. Amen.
Declaration: I make the right decisions in the name of Jesus.
Prayer Point: Lord, help me to make the right decisions.
Action Point: Review your friends in the light of this article.
I hope you have been following our series on obedience, and learning how to obey God. We have Father Abraham as our case study and I believe we have learnt one or two things in the past few days.
The truth is that obedience pays. The bible says Abraham obeyed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Wow! What a testimony.
This morning, I will be sharing with us how to obey God.
There are several ways by which you can obey God. Let us consider a few.
Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. – Genesis 12 verse 1,4 (NKJV)
One way we are to obey God is by obeying Him wholeheartedly. Obey with all your heart, not part of your heart. In God, it is either you give him all or you give him none.
See what God says about your heart
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, – Deuteronomy 10:12 (KJV)
The same way you cannot love God halfheartedly is the same way you cannot obey God halfheartedly.
The obedience God recognizes is obedience that is devoid of grumbling or complaining.
When your parents ask you to do something for them, and you grumble, murmur, or complain, you lose the blessing therein.
Let’s learn to obey God wholeheartedly so we don’t lose our reward.
Still talking on the issue of obedience, this morning, I want to quickly show us a few practical ways to obey God as children.
Remember, we are considering the life and times of Father Abraham
Genesis 12 verse 1,4 (NKJV): Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
1. By being obedient to His Word.
The word is God. The only way you can be obedient to God is by obeying his word. If you disobey God’s word, it is as good as saying you have disobeyed God himself.
So dear children, my question to you this morning is; are you obedient to his word?
2. By being obedient to spiritual authority.
Oh yes. There are several authorities that have been placed over us as children. When you obey such authorities, you are obeying God.
Examples of constituted authorities include your school, your church, your family, and so on.
Note that no authority can spring up without the input of God Almighty. So when you obey them, you are obeying God.
There are many more ways we can obey God, but I hope you have been able to draw out lessons and action plans from the above as regards your obedience to God.
