Teach Your Children Not to Fear

As a kid, I was a member of the Girl Scouts. The first level is called the “Brownies.” Our troop of girls was very young, around seven and eight years old. One Saturday we went to a Girl Scout Campground to a large cabin surrounded by heavily forested acreage. My mother came along to help with the activities; she brought my three-year-old sister with her.

A friend and I wanted to go walk the dirt trails around the cabin. Mom said, “OK, but take your sister with you.” My friend and I set off, each one of us holding one of my sister’s hands. We were away for about 20 to 30 minutes. Upon our return Mom asked, “Where’s your sister?”

I had no idea. I had forgotten she was with me.

Mom chastised me, “I told you to watch her!”

Mom ran quickly into the woods frantically calling my sister’s name. She found her, my innocent little sister who had trusted me.

That episode in my life and my mother’s was a bit traumatizing; neither of us ever forgot it.

Our children are a heritage from the Lord. They are His favor poured out upon us. The children are our continuation of who we are long after we are gone. The children of believers carry the mantle of Christ to the generation to follow after them. (Psalm 127:3-5)

But what are our children learning during this time of pandemic, unrest, rioting?

Are they learning to live in fear?

Or are they learning that God is in control and will never leave them nor forsake them? (Isaiah 41:10) (Hebrews 13:5)

But the mantle must still be passed, just as the mantle of Elijah was passed to Elisha, his successor. (1Kings 19:19)

What will they pass on? Fear? Fear is of the darkness. It is not of God. (2Timothy 1:7)

Lord Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” (Matthew 19:14) This is the first step. Bring your kids to Christ for all things.

Teach them to pray, as Lord Jesus taught us to pray.

Teach them to trust in God no matter what we go through, because life is tough. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Teach them to read the Word and apply it to their lives.

When they grow older, they will not depart from this. (Proverbs 22:6)

Do this in your home daily.

Children across the United States are returning to public school this week. Their teachers are afraid. The children will be taught fear. But God tells us not to fear. This is why children of believers must be taught at home.

Fear if left to fester becomes a weakness the enemy plays upon. It can turn into paranoia. (Mind.org/UK) But the mindset can be overcome with the Word of testimony. Speak to your children about all the things that God has done in your lives—how He has saved you physically, mentally, spiritually. Speak to them of God’s great power and His miracles. Write them on your children’s hearts. (Revelation 12:11) Even write them on paper to refer back to.

Bound for Virginia, In 1620, the Pilgrims landed far off course, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were sick, dying, tired, hungry, and were dreading the coming icy winter sheltered on the Mayflower. Yet, they endured, for the sake of God’s glory and their freedom to worship God. They brought their children across the Atlantic to an untamed wilderness, arriving with little.

Our American spiritual forefathers left everything for this freedom—freedom for their children, whom they taught at home and kept separate from the world.

The hands of Pilgrim children were not held by the King of England, nor the authorities of Holland, but by Lord Jesus, Who is the Head of the Church through their parents. (Colossians 1:18)

Yesterday I sat and spoke with a friend. She had gotten herself into trouble when she was young. “Everything that led me down the wrong path, I picked up in public school,” she said. Today, she is a godly woman raising two children. She knows the darkness and pitfalls that need to be avoided.

Do everything you can to demonstrate and teach the power and love of Lord Jesus in your children. If we as parents and grandparents do not instill Christ in our children, they will fall to the enemies surrounding us who teach fear. It is up to us adults to take the children by the hand and keep them out of that darkness.

Read More:

PULL CHRISTIAN CHILDREN OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS

(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon

Trusting The Love of God

As kids, my brother, sister and I delighted in summer afternoons sitting on the front porch steps eating watermelon slices held in our hands. Red-hued juice ran out the corners of our mouths, dribbling downward on the concrete stairs. Large black seeds were regularly found in each bite. We spit them out upon the grass. Kiddingly, we joked that if you swallowed a seed, a watermelon would grow inside your stomach!

As children, life was full of simple pleasures. Those days remain in our memories and are good to look back upon with fondness.

Lord Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

Children are rather simple. They know when they are loved. Then they trust, willingly, easily, and respectfully (most times).

We must know that we are loved. (1Thessalonians 1:4)

I once asked the Lord for all the love He would give me. He showed me in His Word that He has already done this. God the Father sent what was most valuable to Himself, He gave up His Son’s presence. He watched what His Son went through. Not easy. But God the Father did so out of His great love for us. He gave Jesus.

Isaiah the Old Testament prophet wrote, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Immanuel means, “God with us.” How great is His love, to send His Son, to be with us, to be even one of us.

This prophecy was fulfilled approximately 800 years later in Matthew 1:23, “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel (which means, ‘God with us’).”

How great is the love of God! The fullness of God completely and permanently dwells in Lord Jesus. (Colossians 1:19) He is the Trustee of God’s love to us. He intercedes for us. He is the Door to Heaven and to God the Father. (John 14:6)

Jesus did not grow up playing Nintendo, riding a bike, nor eating sushi. He did not have the luxuries of running water, electricity and the internet. He was not spoiled, though He was the Son of God. He came as a servant. He came to lay His life down that we would know God better, His love for us. He came that we would have eternal life.

All of this was done at the Father’s good pleasure, because He loves us.

It was not easy. It was not without thought. It was good.

As God planned in His love for us in the past, with His Son’s life, death, and resurrection, so He continues to plan for our future. Trust Him. It may not be easy. It is not without thought and planning. It is good. Trust Him as a child trusts his loving father.

(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon