act christian toward your own family

8/9/2019 Act Christian Toward Your Own Family

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Prophetic Word From the Lord

Act Christian Toward Your Own Family

Faith without works is dead. I have seen so many of My precious

people just playing church from week to week. So many have

ceased to be a bright and shining light even within the limited contetof their own immediate families! So many parents in cold

congregations barely ever mention My "ame to their kids. #houghthey might put on their Sunday best manners when among other

believers in the church house$ they don%t even S&'( their own

children what )esus is like by the way they interact with them from day

to day. #heir Sunday manners and their regular manners are polaropposites.

*arents$ even +hristian ones$ yell rudely ,yes$ it IS possible to be rude

to a child$ not just an adult- at their children when they want them todo something$ or find fault with them in any way$ instead of +/M/0

speaking to them in a tone of love and gentleness. My Son was12"#/2 with small children$ and very patient toward them. &e knew

they were still growing and maturing$ still learning$ and most of the

little children who approached &im genuinely wanted to please &im.)esus took time to listen to their childlike concerns$ comforted them$

blessed them. 3ut today%s harried$ anious$ work4weary parents areso stressed out from the hardships and demands of day4to4day life

that they find it hard to slow down and communicate in a tone of love.#hey don%t talk. #hey YELL!

#he worst disrespect parents can show towards little children ,andteenagers too- is to mock them for perceived faults and failures.

Some parents make fun of a teenage girl for putting on a few pounds$so she ends up being an anorectic because she longs for dignity and

fears mistreatment. Instead of saying thank you for a lovely picture

drawn by their five4year4old$ critical parents will poke fun at thedrawing%s imperfections. (hen kids bring home a bad report card$

some parents fly into a rage and call the poor child stupid even if hetried his hardest to please #&2M. Immature +hristian moms and dads

live vicariously through their children$ especially their sons. (hen

junior fails to score a home run out on the baseball field$ dad mightberate him for slipping$ tripping or being too slow. &e might even

mock his son%s masculinity for being a wimp.


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Misguided parents think they%re doing their kids a favor by insulting

and ridiculing them for failure to live up to #&2I5 epectations. If thechild utters a feeble protest to protect his or her dignity$ they%re told to

shut up and grow up$ and stop acting like a crybaby. fter all$ if they

can%t take a little kidding from those who allegedly love them$ theywon%t be able to go out and face the 52/ dog4eat4dog world! #he

parent is allegedly toughening their son or daughter up todesensiti6e them so they%ll develop a thicker hide.

+hristian parents$ "'(&252 do I teach such perverse child4rearingmethods in My &oly (ord! Instead$ My Son taught (hatever you

want others to do to you$ treat them the same way. Fathers$ wouldyou want 0'75 son to call you a limp4wristed sissy or a hopeless

loser8 Mothers$ would you want 0'75 daughter to call 0'7 a fat$ la6y

couch potato slob no one will want to take out8 +ruel words wither thespirit of an individual and create countless future problems. 0our sins

against your son or daughter will come back to haunt you and I%ll holdyou just as accountable as if you%d insulted a fellow adult. S#" is

behind a lot of subtle and not4so4subtle abuse going on in professing+hristian homes today. If you talk about )esus to your kids and then

act like the devil ecept when you%re at church$ don%t be surprised if

your mied4up kids reach the point where they don%t want anythingfurther to do with Me$ just because you presented a false$ ugly picture

of +hrist in your own life. If you cause just '"2 of these little ones tostumble and depart from the faith$ it would be better for you if a

millstone were tied around your neck and you drowned in the depthsof the sea ,Matt.9:;


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3eing mean to somebody$ especially those under your authority$ canreally hinder your prayers ,I *et.=;?-. It%s bullying$ not training for

character development!

fter being insulted and belittled throughout their childhood by

loving parents$ some grown4up kids still take cutting criticism fromjudgmental$ harsh parents. #he stressed4out child finds it difficult$ if

not impossible$ to honor their father and mother when those parentsrefuse to honor them as worthwhile human beings formed in My own

image. +ountless caustic putdowns eat into a child%s soul like battery

acid$ eroding his or her self4esteem and making them think they%re afailure and good for nothing. I have had to patch up many fra66led$

wounded souls who got chewed up and spat out by families whoshould have supported them$ loved them in a *'SI#I@2 way$ and

rallied around them when things got tough in the outside world.

lot of homeless folks out on the street wouldn%t A52 go home to

their parents for any support. 2specially so4called +hristian parentswho are steeped in the &ealth and (ealth 1ospel and believe so

much in financial success that they find their own walking4woundedchildren an embarrassment in front of respectable +hristian friends.

#hese parents manage to find a lot of not4so4subtle ways to let their

down4and4out kids know how they feel about them. Some homelesspeople would rather free6e to death out on the sidewalk than face the

chilly treatment they%d get at home.

Many (estern believers confuse the 1ospel with the so4calledmerican Aream. If someone fails to catch the brass ring at thereligious carnival of *rosperity$ they%ve allegedly flunked out of My

Mythical School of Faith$ and are a lousy +hristian and aren%t worthbothering with. #hat%s the satanic lie My merican ,and some

2uropean- +hristians are being marinated in by polished$ professional

con artist preachers out for a Buick buck. *eople are worth only what%sin their pocket ,or bank account-. 2ven +hristian believers believe this

hogwash$ and treat their own flesh and blood accordingly.

#he *rodigal Son went out to make his own way in the world$ armedwith bagfuls of cash from the sale of his part of the family inheritance.'h$ he had lofty plans for his future$ but he made a lot of dumb

decisions. #he *rodigal Son was a sociable guy who didn%t want tolook like a sBuare or a tightwad too stingy to treat his pals to a good

time. #hrough the bad influence of bad friends$ he got suckered intothe swinging party animal scene$ and to such an etent he became


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promiscuous and blew all his dad%s hard4earned finances on prostitutesand wild living.

(hen all his inheritance money was spent and the *rodigal Son had no

more resources to fall back on$ he reali6ed he had to swallow his pride$

get up out of the hog pen of failure and go home to his dad. #his ladreali6ed he ran the risk of being raked over the coals for failure and

irresponsibility$ if his dad spoke to him at all. 3ut surely they wouldn%tbegrudge him a few kitchen scraps they were going to throw out

anyway. It was worth a try.

Foul4smelling$ footsore and raggedy$ the *rodigal Son limped toward

his old boyhood home$ hoping against hope for a civil welcome. &isolder brother$ who had /(0S lived responsibly and "2@25

disappointed his parents$ got ticked off when he heard about his

brother%s homecoming. #hrow the bum out would have been hisattitude$ had his father not said that it was a wonderful thing that his

lost brother had been found$ and it was like life from the dead. #hefather of the *rodigal Son kept things in perspective$ though his son

had broken // the laws of success and lived a wild$ undisciplined$wasteful life and had sBuandered money his dad had sweated for years

to earn. (hereas the *rodigal Son had once been wild and

headstrong$ he became meek and teachable$ and humbly appreciativeof the blessings of home. 0et even 32F'52 the *rodigal Son proved

he%d changed$ his dad embraced him and welcomed him home. "osharp words of rebuke or I told you so. "o scolding. "o ridicule. "o

insults. )ust love and all the healing that love could bring to a soulshattered by sin and its conseBuences. +harity ,M0 /'@2 I" +#I'"-covers a multitude of sins ,)ames C;>DE I *et.;:-.

+hristian parents$ don%t 2@25 tear down your precious little children

and growing youngsters when they need encouragement to mature

into loving$ strong$ capable$ +hristlike adults. (icked words ministerdeath to another person%s soul! fter years of being belittled$ insulted

and mistreated by other family members$ even if they say they%re justkidding$ there will be dire$ sometimes permanent conseBuences. #he

grownup child will not face the workplace with the same degree ofconfidence as someone who has always been treated like a worthwhileindividual. #hat person might cry at the slightest provocation because

life hurts. If they%re a man$ they might bottle up these bad emotionsso much that it gnaws at their innards like a corrosive poison and could

manifest in outward bodily illnesses. If they%re a woman$ they mightlose their natural feminine tenderness of heart and become so


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mistrustful and cynical they can%t stand working around the public$ oreven in the social setting of an office.

Many wounded believers need to be set free from spiritual bondages

put on them by members of their own family before they can be all

I%ve called them to be in the earth! #o constantly speak negativewords over your son or daughter$ brother or sister is to +75S2 them

and set them up for future heartache and failure.

Aon%t ever allow insults to fly back and forth between your children.

Some say sibling rivalry is a very normal$ natural part of growing up$and there must be something wrong with any child who never fights to

maintain hisGher place in the pecking order. /et My will be done onearth as it is in heaven. Ao people fight for power in heaven8

Aeath and life are in the power of the tongue ,*roverbs 9:;>9-. #rulyan evil tongue is a world of wickedness$ set on fire by hell itself ,)ames

=;


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needs to be warned that 1od in heaven watches and hears everythingthey do and say$ and they are ultimately accountable to Me$ not just to

their parents. *eople saying I%m sorry out of social pressure torepent can #2M*'55I/0 escape trouble. 3ut without godly sorrow

there can be no real repentance or reconciliation with Me ,> +or.?;9D-.

lways make the punishment fit the crime. If$ for eample$ an older

child verbally abuses a younger sibling by bragging that he gets to goto camp because he%s loved a whole lot more than the younger one$

then he shouldn%t get to go. Instead$ he ought to spend that time at

home studying what My (ord teaches about love. nd once the childhas prayed for forgiveness and received a fresh anointing of My love$

he must A2M'"S#5#2 that love by being a friend and good eampleto his offended sibling.

&ave compassion on those smaller and weaker than yourself$ just as Ihave shown 0'7 compassion. tiny child who offers to help you clean

up after supper and drops a dish should not automatically bepunished$ if at all. #hat child has far less control over his chubby little

hands than you have over your mature$ skilful ones$ and chances are itwas an accident. If the little child enjoys a close relationship with you

and wants to please you$ they probably feel bad enough about the

mishap. If they act embarrassed or upset about it$ they should becomforted and reassured that it wasn%t their fault and you still love

them. 2ven go so far as to thank them for loving you and helping you. broken plate is far less of a tragedy than a tiny broken heart.

(hile it%s important to eplain why bad behavior is wrong$ childrenespecially need to be reminded that #&2I5 sins helped put My precious

Son on the +ross. nd those sins include every thoughtless cruelword$ every mean prank$ every bit of malice they%ve ever harbored

toward others. Forgiveness in +hrist is free but it doesn%t come cheap!

+hristian parents$ children learn by watching your daily eample.

Aon%t just tell them about )esus and &is love. S&'( #&2M!

act christian toward your own family

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