Open Heaven 17 June 2024: Spend Time With Them 1
MEMORY VERSE:Proverbs 17:6 “Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.”
READ: Deuteronomy 11:19-21 (KJV)
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Read Yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional here
A major danger in this generation is that parents are so busy with work that they neglect their children. It is absolutely wrong for domestic helps or nannies to spend more time with children than their parents. (1 Corinthians 15:33) says that evil communication corrupts good manners. Whomever children communicate with the most is whom they learn from the most. If you are a parent, you owe it to God to raise the children He has given you and not hand that responsibility over to someone else.
Nowadays, it is almost as if couples are competing with each other on who makes the most money. So, while men are out working, women are also working, leaving children without proper care. Fathers and mothers must both be available to raise the children that God has given to them. Psalm 127:3 says that children are God’s heritage; in other words, when you leave this world, what God expects you to leave behind for Him are the children that He has brought under your care, and this is not limited to your biological children. Parents are only caretakers, and if they damage what has been placed under their care, they will pay dearly for it.
There were times I wanted to play football with my peers as a little boy, but thank God my mother was always home to send me inside the house to study my books. I thought she was being mean, but she built in me the ability to ignore distractions and focus on my goals. The fear of my father’s punishments also put me in check while growing up. My elder brother was quite strong, but the day I saw him crying when my father disciplined him, I determined never to do anything that will make my father discipline me.
Some children develop bad habits right under their parents’ roof. However, the parents only get to find out several years later, and at that time, it takes only the grace of God for them to change. If you are a parent, don’t be too busy to train the children that God has given you. When you leave this world, the cars you drove and houses you bought will not matter; what will matter are the children you left behind. There is an African adage that says, ‘If you refuse to build your child because you are building a house, the child you did not build will sell the house you built.’ As a parent, the children God has given to you must be your priority, not material possessions.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: How much time do you spend with your children every day?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 73-77
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – Spend Time With Them 1 – written by Pastor Enoch Adeboye
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Open Heaven 17 June 2024
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