Disobey

P 3184 I Wonder?

/ DVH

I must say I am not sure how this new system of being a specific age before you use social media, is going to work out overall. I think it is a great idea. But good luck reinforcing something when your teenage kids are expert at using your logic against you. What is wrong with a parent saying: “No?” Or, “It’s dinner time put your phone down please!?” Or… “We are having a no-phone day today and that includes parents!” It seems to me that parents are now scared of their kids and there is something seriously wrong with that! (Read 2 Timothy 3:2)

In my opinion, children need to learn to self-regulate, and parents don’t always have the time to be nice about it. One of mine ran on the road when they were little, I did not make a suggestion or give an alternative response!I screamed: “Danger!” And ran after them. We are not raising totally autonomous little beings – our children live in a world with other people – and they need to learn to act accordingly. This world is not there to contribute to them, they are here to contribute to it!  One of mine bit someone else’s kid when they were little…but they only did it once! 

I did some homework in this subject and found that “no’ is a bad word to use when you are parenting. Blimey… ! I’m glad I’m not parenting a child now! I told mine when they were angry with me for disciplining them: “I’m your parent, not your friend, now go and do what I say.” I can understand the fear of being reported – going to jail for smacking your kid will do that to you. Crazy stuff! It seems Big Brother is watching, and Big Brother ain’t all that wise!!

However, I subscribe to what the bible says — back in the Ark it worked for me!  Proverbs has lots of useful teaching kids info in it. “Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” Proverbs 13:24. Now there’s a shocker, and here’s another one! “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” Proverbs 22:15. 

I wonder what today’s world would make out of Abraham tying up Isaac and plopping him on an altar, all ready to kill him? Abe’s only lame-o excuse was: “God told me to do it!?” Or what about Hannah dropping off her little boy at the local synagogue at the age of three or four and leaving him there? Now there’s a new kind of all day-every day daycare!

There are loads of scriptures like the three I put above – but I’m pretty sure in today’s world we choose to ignore them. Because …we know better than God nowadays … He’s old fashioned…apparently! How does that go again?? How well is this tolerant attitude working on those teenagers pinching other people’s cars, beating up elderly people, and running around carrying machetes? Let’s think this idea through for a bit. If our children learn “no”when they are little, they will eventually learn how to discipline themselves. Or perhaps they will end up in grown up jail, because we’d rather look good!

I know that there are some kids who will disobey just to test the boundaries. I had some of those. Have we forgotten that boundaries represent security? Kids need security! We must always pray about stuff, but we need to teach our kids Godly boundaries too. The bible is an action book – not a book full of theories. God’s book has loads of practical daily applications. But one of the ways you can teach your kids is to set a good example. 

It’s no use talking about not stealing if you continue to cheat on your income tax. Or maybe you don’t take back money that is not yours when the check-out chick gives you the wrong change! Telling them not to squabble will have a short shelf-life if you and your spouse regularly have word fights as a love language! What you watch on TV is another way to witness to them. I used to tell mine: “Jesus wouldn’t watch that, its demonstrating how to do stuff we don’t do, because we follow Him.” The Lord disciplines us for our own good – love doesn’t always say ‘yes.’

On the positive side: my hubby, (grandpa), takes any or all of our grandkids out with him, when he is visiting the neighbours to bless them with a gift, or helping them out. Our grandson, who is 15, asks a bazillion questions afterward. It has opened up all kinds of conversations. Faith is not just a Sunday event, it’s a lifestyle. And yes, I have had more than one of my own kids reject that lifestyle … but praise Him that the Word of God eventually prevailed and now they have their own faith – without any pressure from me. Now my kids teach ME stuff. Boy, that was a hard nut to swallow initially, but I’m the better for it. They help to keep me honest about what I believe. 

My last thought on this subject is this:  our world today is totally happy to accept the premise that we don’t have to respect other people. ‘I will only respect you if you have earned it.”  Hooey! The people who say that guff don’t respect or acknowledge Almighty God  – so why are we following them? That’s backwards! I know I’m old-fashioned, but respecting other human beings is essential. It facilitates relationships. A lack of interpersonal respect promotes anarchy. The whole idea that I’m the only person who can decide whether things are good or bad is terrifying.

I wonder — how are you parenting your kids as you follow Him? Bye. 👋

P 2840 We must remember, we sin against GOD, first.

/ DVH

“Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” 2 Samuel 12:13. 

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”Luke 15:21.

“Against You, and You alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in Your sight. You will be proved right in what You say, and Your judgment against me is just.”Psalm 51:4.

We often talk a great deal about sinning against each other, but today I want to talk about the fact that first of all, any sin is against Him. When we dismiss or disobey His word, our sin is dismissive of God’s holiness. Yes, we need to fix things with others, but we need to start at the top … with Father God Himself. Everyone of our sins had a consequence. And Jesus bore the penalty of those consequences on His body – so we need to treat these things with humility, honestly, reverence and respect. 

Let me be as clear as I can be … Our sins are absolutely, positively, completely G.O.N.E. – gone forever! Thrown into the sea of forgetfulness, with a NO FISHING sign clearly displayed. That sign needs to be read over and over again because guilt and shame no longer belong to us. “Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.”John 8:34-36.

This means that before we repent and repair things with others, first of all, we need to thank God and His precious Son again, for all Jesus suffered and chose to do for us. Thankfulness, not guilt is now our response – however presumption is not a right response either. We need to treasure our relationship with our Loving generous Father above all else. There is no longer any fear in sin and God’s love has now taken over our way of thinking, doing and being. We live a life of love now, standing by our choices- we are now free to choose His Will, His Way.

We’ve been set free from the demands and focus of sin, to focus upon HIM.  Freedom means we can still sin – however, now, we’ve been empowered not to!! Instead of blame and shame motivating us, we can be confident that we can restore things – simply because Christ’s death on our behalf has empowered us. Now we praise Him for all He has willingly done for us and we go back into happily submit to His will, His way. The point of the ‘get out of jail free card‘ is not carelessness – it is redemption. So we must acknowledge our sin against His freely-given goodness.

Here is another scripture for all of us to think on today:“My little children (believers, dear ones), I am writing you these things so that you will not sin and violate God’s law. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [who will intercede for us] with the Father: Jesus Christ the righteous [the upright, the just One, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every way—purpose, thought, and action].”  1 John 2:1. The best news ever is this, JESUS is in the throne room praying for us, every single second of the day. IMAGINE THAT! Because of what He willingly did, sin is not the “norm” for us. Our new normal life is in Him. THAT’S WHERE THE POWER TO OVERCOME COMES FROM!

Almighty God does not wink at our sin … it says so in the book!  An exchange took place 2,000 years ago and Jesus Christ became the Lamb Who was slain, forever. It’s part of His title, just like Prince of peace, wonderful wise Counsellor, and Saviour of the World. So when we sin and disobey God, we take ourselves out of fellowship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, Who is the One Who helps us – and the Son. The One Person Who perfectly understands how hard it is to be human! Dumb move … He knows the way through temptation!

Let’s be clear. God made sure all this stuff was written down, we have a book! Now we do not have to be dragged about by our weaknesses, and weird ideas. Because of what Jesus did, we have a live-in Helper. The Holy Spirit was our midwife! He birthed us and now He is raising us, day by day as we learn to live a life of obedience. God did not just trust our discipleship to ordinary men … Jesus Christ, Who followed the Holy Spirit’s instructions to the letter – is still making disciples! 

We have the bible to show us where we are out of order with His ways and we need to respond to conviction with real repentance. Because when sin happens we stop walking with Him and start hiding from Him. And people don’t just hide by leaving the church, they hide in busyness, and by elevating things that are distractions, or supposed  recreational activities. Dead people don’t need that stuff – they don’t have an opinion or a need. That’s why we rely upon God to meet them!

If we sin, we need to go to our Heavenly Father, first, and confess our faults, errors, lapses, nasty attitudes and selfish ways and He will empower us to overcome. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Bye. 🕊️

P 2650 Rest belongs to us.

/ DVH

Nobody can chuck us out of the place He freely gave us. It’s ours. SomeBody died to pay for it in full, and He gave it to us, LEGALLY. The only way we can lose the benefits of His kingdom is if we undervalue what we’ve been given. Every single day we can rest in our new position, IN CHRIST, safe and assured that we belong to Him and He will have our back. The only thing that can pinch that safety and security from us is what we choose to believe. Resting in what He has done, in a nutshell, means we believe in His goodness no matter what is going on around us. Good or bad, our trust is in Him.

When we carefully read the scriptures we can plainly see that from their beginnings, the Israelite nation did not value what they were given. He gave them Himself –  and they needed to acknowledge Him with their trust and obedience. Sadly the Israelite nation refused to enter into the Lord’s REST. They fussed and fretted, and grizzled, moaned and complained. Obeyed one day only to disobey for the next few hundreds of days! We must learn from them that there can be no rest for anyone, if we continue to cultivate two minds. “A double minded man can’t receive anything from the Lord.” Abraham himself demonstrated what God can do with a man who believes Him and rests in what He says.

Father God proved He was Who He said He was by what He did for that nation … over and over again. We also need to remember, even though their disobedience led to punishment, the Lord has never, and will never ever let go of them, despite THEIR FAITHLESSNESS — He will always remain faithful to His promise. Their history with Him should encourage us as we bumble along, even when we miss the mark! Our God is not only reliable, He is also faithful, and honourable. He keeps His promises. 

“Now the promise of entering into God’s rest is still for us today. So we must be extremely careful to ensure that we all embrace the fullness of that promise and not fail to experience it. For we have heard the good news of deliverance just as they did, yet they didn’t join their faith with the Word. Instead, what they heard didn’t affect them deeply, for they doubted. For those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest! For He has said, “I was grieved with them and made a solemn oath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ” God’s works have all been completed from the foundation of the world,” Hebrews 4:1-3, 6-7. TPT  “Those who first heard the good news of deliverance failed to enter into that realm of faith’s rest because of their unbelieving hearts. Yet the fact remains that we still have the opportunity to enter into the faith-rest life and experience the fulfilment of the promise! For God still has ordained a day for us to enter into called “Today.” For it was long afterwards that God repeated it in David’s words, “If only today you would listen to His voice and do not harden your hearts!””

It is extremely important that we choose to learn from their mistakes, and understand that what we’ve been given spiritually belongs to us, but we are still answerable for what we do with it! Nobody, no circumstances – whether uncomfortable, difficult or easy – can take, or trick us out of believing what God has said and done FOR US is true. That’s what faith is.  We don’t believe in the results, or what we can see. WE BELIEVE IN HIM! His goodness, His unchanging faithful character. Our God does not lie. Rest has been given to us. Now instead of fretting we know SomeBody else has our back.

When we believe what He said and did, and respond with obedience, we enter into a place that has already been reserved for us… REST. It takes faith steps to enter into rest. However, we don’t have to worry about how things will turn out, because we have a whole book that explains our relationship with Him. This means we know that ‘He will work ALL things together for our good, because we love Him and we are called according to His purpose.’  That BTW includes not having enough money, nowhere to live, a grumpy spouse or some other person we know. Difficulties aren’t our problem – believing what He says is! We have been blessed to be able to come from a place of rest. Striving to get stuff right is exhausting, as well as fruitless.

We cannot follow Jesus unless we are totally certain that His Way is the only Way. We also cannot follow Him unless we are utterly convinced that He truly is God! That means we seek to know what He wants in and from our lives, then we do whatever He tells us to do. My advice to anyone reading this blog today, is learn to live in REST. It is our God-given right. Bye. 🙌