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Loving Our Children

Lesson 5

LESSON 5

REALITY CHECK

 

 

In the past we have discussed how Satan is a real and formidable foe.  He wants to destroy the family and it is wise for us to understand this enemy and respect him.  Knowing how he operates  is valuable so we can have an offensive strategy against him.

 

Today we are going to step back and give a good look into the world we are now living in and have a reality check.  Being informed about the culture and dangers around us is crucial so we can be wise in how we combat Satan and all the ways he desires us to walk away from truly discipling our children as the Bible commands.

 

This lesson is more of a summary of the book written by George Barna of the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University.  The book is entitled,

“Raising Spiritual Champions”

 

For many years the Barna Group have be doing research into current trends in christianity.  This book is full of data that, quite honestly is depressing.  After reading this book I  was somewhat discouraged and fearful for the future of the Church.  Then I had to remind myself that the Church has always been under attack and the remnant ALWAYS remains.  Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  We want to be a part of that remnant, we and our children.

 

Barna defines a spiritual champion as someone who,”is devoted to fully imitating the life of Christ-thinking like Him, acting like Him, and living for Him.  This is the goal of christian parenting.  He explains that past research has shown parents who raised strong christian children who maintained their faith into adulthood engaged in many similar approaches.

 

Some tactics were:

Nurturing a solid, lasting relationship with the child

Prioritizing spiritual development

Establishing God as ultimate authority

Inflexible Bible based priorities and boundaries

Setting high but attainable expectations

Encouraging traditional values and character traits

Consistent discipling of each child

Influencing the choice of their children’s friends

Modeling and expecting spiritual practices every day

Aggressive management of social media

Encouraging participation in service to a local faith community

Consistency being the most important in these areas

Research shows that a person’s world view is usually established by the age of 13.

 

Current research shows us what 13-14 year olds believe today.

 

8% believe that the wealth they have is given to them by God for them to manage for His kingdom

 

10% believe there are moral truths

 

17% believe  success is defined as obedience to Christ

 

17% believe Jesus is only way to be forgiven of sin

 

18% believe the Bible to be their primary source of moral guidance

 

21% believe they will live eternally with God because they accepted Christ as their Savior

 

27% believe God is basis of all truth

 

70% say Satan does not exist

 

61% say Jesus sinned while on earth

 

12% read or study the Bible other than when at a church event

 

18% pray to God

 

20% intentionally thank, praise or worship God apart from Church events

 

There were more in the book yet this gives us a bleak picture of the average teen in America today.

 

 

The next group of statistics were taken by surveying parents who claimed to be Born Again Christians.  And these may answer the question of why youth are so far from a Biblical world view.

 

45% prioritize consistency

45% prioritize influencing friends

50% consider supervising social media as important

44% consider service to others as important

58% share their faith with their children

41% encourage participation in a church body

35% feel shaping a christian world view as important

 

When all was said and done only 11% of Born again Christian parents fit the profile of a parent raising spiritual champions.

 

The things parents ranked higher as priorities:

 

Academics, fun, a carefree lifestyle, life experiences, exercise and physical health

 

Disciple making only ranked at 23% importance

Only one third of parents have spiritual goals for their children and 23% think the spiritual development is up to the Church.

 

On that front, Barna warns you may want to know the following statistics.

 

A large nation wide survey among pastors of Christian churches showed that only 41% have a biblical world view and among children’s ministers it was only 21%.

 

Some views held by children’s ministers:

 

64% believe there is no absolute moral truth

 

53% accept reincarnation

 

56% accept sexual relations outside of marriage.

 

About half believe:

 

Jesus sinned while on earth

The Holy Spirit is not a living entity that affects lives

They would prefer socialism to capitalism

42% do not believe human life is sacred

54% say they are not certain they will live eternally with God when they die

 

So……………….

We are up against many oppositions to Christ and the teaching of the Bible.  We are bombarded everywhere with a secular world view and are told a Biblical world view is for the weak and ignorant.

 

What can we do as parents?

 

George Barna in his book,” Raising Spiritual Champions,” suggests getting to work on discipling our children despite what the world is doing.  It is a spiritual battle and we need to put on the armor of God and fight for our children.

 

Ephesians 6 :10 - 18

 

The belt of truth.   Accept the Word of God as truth.  Search for truth in all circumstances, every decision, and hold the Bible as the authority in the life of your family. And when God’s truth is revealed in the life of your family point it out to each other.

 

The breastplate of righteousness.   Obedience to God through his word must be our standard .  We must unapologetically hold our children to the standard of Christ.

 

Shoes of peace.    Conviction and confidence in the word of God , even if it goes against all that is around us brings us peace.  Peace with God.  Doing things God’s way brings peace in our lives as well avoiding all the chaos the worlds ways make.  Again, point out to your children when God’s ways brings about peace and when there are examples of the world’s ways bringing heartache.

 

Shield of faith.    Having faith in the Holy Spirit and Gods promises to transform us into the image of Christ develops the character of Christ in us.  It is transformed people who will help others experience transformation as well.

 

Helmet of salvation.    Knowing what Christ did for us compels us to draw a line in the sand and stand for His ways and HIs will

 

And Barna reminds us of the only offensive weapon  the sword of the spirit, the word of God.

Our guide and our love!

 

 

STUDY QUESTIONS

 

1.WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO WIN THE BATTLE FOR OUR CHILDREN’S SOULS?

 

2.Share the things that help you stay in the fight.

 

3. What are the things that challenge you the most?

 

Fear?

Comparison?

Looking foolish to the world?

Not having the strength?

Family members who oppose you?

 

4. What are the things that give you the most strength to keep fighting?

5. What would you like this group to study next?  To do? Suggestions are welcome for future studies.cp

WOMEN’S ROLES

Lesson 1

“ROLES, NOT IDENTITY”

 

As we look at the creation story in Genesis, we see that God was satisfied with each day of His handiwork.  We see the phrase “And God saw that it was good” over and over.  On the sixth day God said:

 

“Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness”  “So God created man in His own image.”

 

God ordained man to rule over creation.  The Bible says that male and female, He created them.  And God said it was not only good but “VERY good”

 

In Genesis 2:18 God indicates the first thing that He said was not good during the seven days of creation.  And that was, it was not good for man to be alone.  In all of creation, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and the beasts fo the land, there was not found a suitable helper for man.

 

“So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept she took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.  And from that rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.” Gen. 2: 21 and 22

 

Woman was created to be a “suitable helper”.  The King James Bible uses the term “Help Meet”  What does that mean?

 

As we look at scriptures that talk about the role of women, we can be thrust into so many emotions.  These scriptures can be hard to swallow.  But I ask the question, Are the scriptures difficult or is it my heart that is not soft enough to meditate on these verses? Do I have preconceived ideas, negative past experiences, or selfish, self preserving defenses that go up immediately as I look upon such ideas?

 

In Elyse Fitzpatrick’s book entitled, “Helper by Design”  She says this about handling such scriptures as she started the project of writing her book:

 

“Honestly, there were days I strongly considered forsaking the whole project.  Then, when by God’s mercy, I once again regained forward motion, I felt I was walking in the dark…trying to learn what I just tripped over, picking up a stone, holding it…examining it, experiencing it.  What does the heat of this rock mean?  Is it really blistering hot or is it just that my hands are so cold?  Is it genuinely sharp?  Does it have to cut, or am I hanging on to it too tightly or holding it in the wrong places?”

 

I believe that as we look at what God instructs, it does not have to sting. If we open our heart to God’s instructions we will see something powerful and beautiful.

 

Let’s remember a few things before we begin.

 

  1. We are God’s beloved children.  (Eph. 5:1)

  2. Everything God instructs is for our own good and pleasure. (Jer. 29:11)

  3. God longs to bless us and give us the desires of our hearts. (2 Chron. 16:9)(Psalm 37:4)

  4. We can only control ourselves. (Phil. 2:12-13 )

 

As women we fill many roles.   We are daughters and sisters. We may choose to marry taking on the role of helper and wife.  We may have children taking on the role of mother.  We may choose roles like teacher, health care provider, coach, boss of a company, etc.

We must remember that no matter the roles we fill,  they are not our identity.

Our identity is CHILD OF GOD CREATED IN HIS IMAGE.  This is the main point I want to get across in this lesson.  And I believe that if we put this truth into our hearts it will help us accept the role of helper to our husband. It will help us embrace the role in a different light.

 

As a christian woman, our goal in life is to reflect Christ in all we do.  To be His hands and feet.  We seek to glorify God with the work of our hands and to glorify and imitate God within any role we fill.

 

Elyse Fitzpatrick suggests that we can gain greater understanding of what a helper does if we imitate our Heavenly Father who is our great helper.

 

 

IN WHAT WAYS IS GOD OUR HELPER?

 

God strengthens-

Psalm 54:4 - “Behold, God is my helper:  The Lord is of them that uphold my soul.”

 

Isa. 41:10 - “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

 

Psalm 46:1 - “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.”

 

 

God sustains-

 

Isa. 46:4 - “I will be your God throughout your lifetime- Until your hair is white with age.  I made you and I will care for you.  I will cary you along and I will save you.”

 

God comforts-

 

2 Cor 1 : 3-4 “…God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.  He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others….”

 

God protects-

 

2 Thes. 3:3 - “…The Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”

 

 

We can always count on God to hold to his promises.  So, in that light let’s answer these questions.

 

  1. Can our husband always count on us?

  2. How can we strengthen our husband?

  3. How can we help sustain him?

  4. What is the best way to comfort our husband?

  5. How can we protect our husband?

  6. How do we treat our husband in a time of trouble?

 

We all know that the world is a tough place.  As we go out to work and purchase and live our lives we can be knocked down in many ways.  I want our home and my presence to be a source of strength, comfort and protection to my husband and family.  I want my husband to want to come home because it is the place where he feels safe, secure, respected and a respite from the world.  As wives, we have the power to create an atmosphere that fosters those characteristics.

​

Last night Frank came home and to my surprise he said to me, “ My eyes were really opened today.”  He had been out plowing snow for 13 hours. This caught my attention. “ I just want to thank you for being the kind of woman that you are.”  Ok. That was nice. Why was he compelled to say this?  Apparently he had witnessed some conversations where he was shocked at how the man in those conversations was being spoken to.  He heard great disrespect, ungratefulness, and ugliness.  He said he could not imagine being spoken to in the manner he had heard.  I said thank you and asked, “ So my nagging isn’t so bad?”

He laughed and said,”Bring it on!”

I love my husband with all my heart and was so thankful he sees me as a source of strength, comfort and a safe haven from the world.  I am not perfect by any means but I only want my husband to thrive in our lives and family.

 

 

 

 

Being a helper to our husband goes far deeper than just having dinner ready at a certain time.  It is not a lesser role.  It does not devalue us.  If anything it is a beautiful thing when we show the love that God shows. It is tremendously powerful when we “build our house”.  We want good things for the man we love.

 

As parents it is a wonderful gift to give our children; showing them how to love and honor another human being and to strive for what is good in another person’s life.

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