Train Up A Child Day 16

So what about the day when you know you have poured the pure Word of God into the heart of your child and yet they run in the opposite direction. What about the day when you look at them and you question why you even bothered to invest so much time, energy, and prayers into their lives because they have thrown it all back up in your face. What about the day when you cry out to God because you can’t figure out where you went wrong…

What about that day?  

Train Up A Child Day Sixteen

16.  Train them remembering continually the promises of Scripture.
   
I name this also shortly, in order to guard you against discouragement.  You have a plain promise on your side, “Train up your child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).  Think what it is to have a promise like this. 

Promises were the only lamp of hope which cheered the hearts of the patriarchs before the Bible was written.  Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, — all lived on a few promises, and prospered in their souls. 

Promises are the cordials which in every age have supported and strengthened the believer.  He that has got a plain text upon his side need never be cast down.  Fathers and mothers, when your hearts are failing, and ready to halt, look at the word of this text, and take comfort.
   
Think who it is that promises.  It is not the word of a man, who may lie or repent; it is the word of the King of kings, who never changes.  Hath He said a thing, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Neither is anything too hard for Him to perform.  The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. 

Reader, if we get not the benefit of the promise we are dwelling upon, the fault is not in Him, but in ourselves.
   
Think, too, what the promise contains, before you refuse to take comfort from it.  It speaks of a certain time when good training shall especially bear fruit, — “when a child is old.” Surely there is comfort in this.  You may not see with your own eyes the result of careful training, but you know not what blessed fruits may not spring from it, long after you are dead and gone. 

It is not God’s way to give everything at once.  “Afterwards’ is the time when He often chooses to work, both in the things of nature and in the things of grace. “Afterward” is the season when affliction bears the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11).  “Afterward” was the time when the son who refused to work in his father’s vineyard repented and went (Matt. 21:29).  And “afterward” is the time to which parents must look forward if they see not success at once, — you must sow in hope and plant in hope.
   
Cast thy bread upon the waters,” saith the Spirit, “for thou shalt find it after many days” (Eceles. 11:1).  Many children, I doubt not, shall rise up in the day of judgment, and bless their parents for good training, who never gave any signs of having profited by it during their parents’ lives. 

Go forward then in faith, and be sure that your labour shall not be altogether thrown away.  Three times did Elijah stretch himself upon the widow’s child before it revived.  Take example from him, and persevere.

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So what about that day?
On that day precious one… stand.
Stand on the promises of God.
Stand on the seed that you planted and pray for rain.
Trust that God is the one who reaps the harvest.
Walk by faith and not by sight.
Many times we selfishly want to see the results of all our efforts, but often it is not for us to see, lest we take credit for what belongs only to God…
All is for His glory.
So if your child is in rebellion, rebellion against you and rebellion against God and you know with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind that you trained them up in the way that they should go… that way being to walk in obedience to the Creator God, their Savior and Redeemer… then trust that you did not toil in vain.
Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast,
immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your toil
is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58
holding fast the word of life,
so that in the day of Christ
I will have reason to glory
because I did not run in vain
nor toil in vain.
Philippians 2:16
You Mom…
and
You Dad…
Obey God… and leave the consequences to Him.

>Good Is Not Always Right

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Then he erected there an altar
and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
Genesis 33:20
 
Jacob has reconciled with Esau. He is supposed to be on his way home, for God’s command was to “return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives” (Genesis 31:3). Jacob stopped for a while in Succoth, and now he has made it to Shechem, where he has bought land and pitched his tent. Here he erects an altar and names it El-Elohe-Israel, or “God the God of Israel.”
 
We don’t know why Jacob chose to stop here and set up camp. Whatever his reason, we will soon see that he stopped too soon. Perhaps he thought that by erecting the altar he could compromise with God. Perhaps he thought he was making a wise decision, yet he does not consult his God.
 
Don’t we as the church, as individuals, sometimes just do what we want to and then expect God to bless it just because we say it is for Him and His kingdom? “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). How many “good” decisions made without seeking the counsel of God have brought bad consequences?
 
One of the hardest lessons in this journey through life is that what seems good is not always right. This is the privilege, the advantage; we have in following El Elyon, God Most High. Our God knows the beginning from the end, He knows the best path, and He will guide us if we will just listen. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth” ( John 16:13).
 
The bright moment here is that God is no longer just the God of Abraham and Isaac, but Jacob now proclaims Him as his God, the God of Jacob. Jacob has learned a lot about the God of his fathers in the past years, but he still has a lot to learn.
Don’t we all?
 
Oh Father,
 
Let me not set up camp too soon. Help me to always be where You desire me to be; not my will, but Your will be done. Oh Father, I have so many times made decisions based on my own knowledge instead of waiting for Your answer and for Your guidance. Never have those choices produced good results. This journey of life is not always easy, it is not always fun, and I long for the day that I am finally home; but until that day, help me to not grow weary. Let me not lose my love of the journey, the wonder of seeking You, the moments of revelation, the discoveries of truth. Let me place my foundations not in this world but in the solid rock of my Savior and His Word. Oh Father, may I chase after You and pursue You with a passionate heart.
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen.