Family: August 5, 2013

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY AUGUST 5, 2013.

FAMILY

DEFINITION:  

A household; descendants of a common ancestor; lineage.

SCRIPTURE:

And God said to Abraham, "And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Acts 3:25.

To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. II Timothy 2:2.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We have a large family with six children and twenty grandchildren. As God has blessed us with our family He has also given us experiences and knowledge in the raising of our family that we can now share with friends like you. We trust our comments will be a help and aid to assist many families to move toward having a happier family.

Nothing has been more important to us over the years, except our relationship with God and our Lord, than our family. Together we were committed to raise our children by Biblical principles and to have them honor and serve our Lord and Savior. We learned that little things made major differences for us.

For example, we made it a priority to have dinner together with the entire family every night. One may say that this is not that important but frankly it is VERY important for all families and we think it sets the ground work for training a family in the ways of the Lord. This is because it demands a commitment for every member of the family to be there for each other and to value the special relationship family members have with one another.

Having dinner together gave each one in the family an opportunity every night to share their activities and concerns with the family. It gave us as parents an opportunity to listen. This is when we could hear problems beginning and we could talk about them before they became a problem and could be dealt with as only a situation.

Dinner was also a time when we could read the Bible together as a family. Also it gave us a time to pray together as a family. And finally we memorized verses from the Bible together each week as a family. This is why we have a memory verse of the week at the bottom of each of our daily devotionals to you.

It was also important for us to put our children's schedule ahead of ours all the time with very few exceptions, unless it was work related. We always tried to go to their school activities and their sport activities. We believed then, and still do, that it is important for children to know that you are there for them and that they are worthy of your time.

Families today are basically dysfunctional because they do not communicate and spend quality time together. Both parents work today so children come and go as they want. Parents become too busy to do things with their children, including having dinner together, and communicating with their children. This is unacceptable if you want a happy family. Another major concern is that when problems come up concerning relationships with spouses and children the problems are not dealt with because everyone thinks they will go away with time. They do not. They only grow to be major concerns.

To read more about how we raised our family including reading about the high mountains we climbed and the low valleys we went through, we urge you to get our book: NO PROBLEMS ONLY SITUATIONS! This is available to you by going to our web site: www.thehungersolution.org. We are running a special price for this for the next week. So we encourage you to get your copy. We will sign a copy for you before we send it to you.
 
The scriptures point out two important facts about family that we want to emphasize today. First in Genesis, and again in the book of Acts (above) we are reminded that God promised Abraham that in his seed, through him, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This blessing comes to those of us that put our Lord first place in our lives. Our goal as parents must be to teach and lead our children to live a Christ honoring-life in all that they do. God blesses us when we honor Him and let Him control our lives.

The Apostle Paul in the verse above talks about his relationship with Timothy as a son. Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote II Timothy. He was writing to Timothy, a young man, whom he had mentored in life, in faith and in ministry. Although Paul was never married and had no children he recognized the importance of a father's role in the spiritual growth of a child of God. Paul and Timothy had developed a father and son relationship that was strengthened by the spiritual bond of their mutual desire to serve the Lord.

Timothy came from a deeply spiritual "family" heritage. His grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice taught him the scriptures and they were involved in leadership at the church at Lystra. This is where Timothy met Paul and from there Paul took Timothy as a son because of his love for the Lord and desire to reach his world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In training Timothy, Paul continually pointed him back to his Godly heritage, emphasizing the importance of parents, grandparents and the home for spiritual growth.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Ephesians 6:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

PRAYER:

Thank You for not only my family but the family of God that I am part of because of what you have done for me. Thank You for the line of ancestors you have given my family beginning years ago with Abraham. As we study Your Word together as a family may we learn from those that have preceded us. Make today a most blessed day for us because of our faith in You.