JeremyHigdon.com

The boys before bedtime... or silliness in sleepers

 

No doubt about it... Jeanine and I are blessed...

What are you thankful to God for today?

The Family Circus... Parenting Part 3

The roles of being a parent are tough... but crucial! We have talked about two roles so far and have two to go... here is number 3...
 

3. Protecter

Proverbs 4: 23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

• battle is going on right now for the heart and our kids' hearts

• We need to prep them for battle... believe and know it's real...

• We as parents need to pray for them...continuously!

• Spend time with them... quality and quantity... dad dates, mom time

• Prepare soil and watch out where child is weak... and help build protection in that area!

• Open spiritual eyes // Be vigilant // Go all in

• Here is what we are to give to our kids as we protect them....
  

1. unconditional love... “you matter” --  significance and security... parent with grace

2. focused attention

3. maintain ongoing communication... turn tv off

4. meaningful touch...
   

5. fun!

One more role to go...

The Family Circus... Parenting Part 2

We are in the middle of our series called "The Family Circus" and are posting on the roles of being parent... we continue with the second role....

2. Teacher

A. How to obey

Eph 6: 1, 2 Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 2 “Honor your father and mother”. This is the first commandment with a promise.

• Obedience is a process.. don't cave... be consistent.. .obedience protects

• learn and teach to obey... will help our kids function the rest of their life!

B. About Jesus

Deut. 6: 4- 9 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

ex. Family devotions, prayer time, family sayings, values, goals, memorize verses

ex. Fewer then 1 out of 10 families do this...how to pray, study Bible, worship

Don't be lazy! Raising “good” kids is not the goal...goal is to introduce them to Jesus and move toward growing, deeper relationship with Him...

Tell them God stories...give God credit He deserves....

Ps. 78: 1- 8 O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying,
    2 for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
    3 stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.
 4 We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation
   about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.
 5 For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel.
   He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,
 6 so the next generation might know them even the children not yet born—
      and they in turn will teach their own children.
 7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles
      and obeying his commands.
 8 Then they will not be like their ancestors— stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
      refusing to give their hearts to God.

God loves your kids more then you do...let that sink in! We need to teach them about Jesus, His love, His salvation plan, and His purpose for our lives... it's all about Jesus... and our job as parents is to teach about Him!

The Family Circus...Parenting Part 1

Due to technical difficulties... our audio for the parenting message became corrupted...believe me, we have no idea how that happened!

But, I did want to share some of the key thoughts from the message... over the next three days, the roles of a parent will be given here on the blog...

We begin with...

1. Parent first not a buddy or friend

Our kids will have plenty of friends, buddies, amigos, pals, etc... throughout their lives... they only have two parents...that is our first priority to our kids...be the parents!

Deuteronomy 8:5 Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.

Discipline -defined...

1. training to act in accordance with rules; drill:

2. activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training:

3. to bring to a state of order and obedience by training and control.

4. to punish or penalize in order to train and control; correct; chastise.

This role of parenting = coaching, influence

Disciplining, being the one who makes and enforces the rules, training, coaching, influencing...it's tough...and our kids won't love it...but that is what we need to do as parents!

Your child is a gift from God...and He gives us the job of parents... it's a tough job, hard work but we find our strength in Him!