Parents And Children (Part Two)
I want to look at the book of Proverbs 22:6 which gives us God’s instructions on rearing children, the passage says “Train up a child in the way he should go : and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. The meaning of the above, is that children are not going to stay with their parents forever. As I rightly stated at the beginning, the Father and Mother have vital roles to play in the life of the children. According to the Bible, “Train up a child in the way he should go”, it means a time will come that the child will leave his parents. “Train up”, so when we now fail to train the children it means that the ways of the child will not be bright, it means that the child will be wayward, it means that the child will not attain where he is supposed to be, it means you now rob the child of his right, because the child will definitely leave your house when he is grown, but it is the training which the Father and Mother bequeaths on the child, that is the upbringing which he will use in going to wherever he wants to go, and the Bible says that the training will stay in his character and in his blood till he dies, hence anywhere he goes to, he will exhibit the training and upbringing which his parents gave to him. If he goes to Lagos the training will follow him, if he goes to Asaba the upbringing will follow him, if he goes to Warri the training will follow him, if he goes outside the shores of Nigeria the training which the Father and Mother inculcated in him, will follow him in his talk, in his character, in his greetings, in his eating and in everything he does.
Let me give you an example, there is a woman who has three children residing in my street, few months ago sometime around December 2020, she came to fetch water at the borehole in my church, the woman said that she has never carried a basin of water on her head before, so when she put the basin containing the water on her head, the woman fell with the water, she came the second time, she also fell again with the basin of water and the water soaked her and the clothes she was putting on.
What does it signify? It means that when she was younger the Father and Mother never trained her on how to fetch water, imagine the woman saying that she has never done it before, so in actual fact, the upbringing of a child matters a lot, and that is exactly what I want everyone of us to know.
The book of Genesis 18:17-19, God’s promise to Abraham, look at what is said concerning Abraham in the passage, so that when you only concentrate in looking for money, you forfeit the training of your children, which will later become a great problem.
The above Bible passage says “And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in Him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him”. According to the above Bible passage, if you don’t train up your children properly, you will not partake from the blessings of Abraham, you will miss the glory and blessings that God promised Abraham.
I repeat, the training and upbringing of the children should start from the Father and Mother, both of them should have an equal stake of 50% commitment in carrying out the task. Money is good but Children is greater than money, it’s like when someone built a house and the house is beautiful, you don’t say, this house try, rather you will say that the builder of the house tried. So if you want to get blessings and honour, you must make out time for your children at home and spend quality time with them. When God said “Abraham my blessing I will not hide but before I bless you, you must be someone who train up your children in my ways”. What is His ways? God’s way is the Holy Bible, the word of God, what God said.
God said Don’t spare the rod, so when you spare the rod the child will spoil, that is, when a child has done wrong use the cane to correct him, this one that school authorities are saying that teachers should not flog any deviant student is a taboo, it is not scriptural. Discipline is in the cane, discipline is when a Father and Mother have time for their children, then with decent upbringing your children will not be able to steal and squander the money which you have laboured for.
That is why you see that politicians and three quarter of the so called rich men do not have wealth because the men and their wives don’t usually have time for their children, and after their demise their children will sell off all the properties of their parents, because God has said so. God instructed the Father and Mother to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord, God didn’t say that the man nor the woman alone should do it, No.
When a woman learn to tell her children that she will report them to their Father when he comes back from work, the woman is now projecting their Father as the head of the house, then something good will be seen in the life of the children. But when a woman tells the children “Don’t mind your Father”, the children will become wayward and their behaviour will bring shame to their Mother, that is what the book of Proverbs says.
God told Abraham, in the passage we read earlier “You must bring up your children in the fear of the Lord, your children should be just and they should be the children of judgement, children that people will see outside and say that they actually received parental care and upbringing. That is the word of the Lord, that is what God expects from us.
Ephesians 6:1-4, says “Children, obey your parents in the Lord : For this is right. Honour thy Father and Mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on earth. And ye Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. Once you are a Christian you must learn to use the word of God to guide your children so that they will prosper. If you don’t do this, you will have wayward, stupid and vagabond children, who will be armed robbers, fornicators, adulterers and liars, thereafter you will know no peace. Some men desert their house because of the characters of their children, some men leave their children in the custody of their wives and run away from home, why? Because the man never had time for the children and his wife.
As parents you must learn how to spend quality time with your children and when your children comes back from school, you should endeavour to know what they learnt from school and how they are coping with their studies.
The woman (their Mother) has to report to the man (their Father) about the behaviours of the children, their level of performance in their studies, the state of their school uniform whether is torn or still okay to wear to school.
Timothy is one of those persons who was brought up in the ways and fear of the Lord by his guardian. As recorded in the book of Second Timothy 3:15, which says “And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”.
When someone is wise he will not be brutal and foolish, many children today are foolish because they lack the knowledge in the word of God. But Timothy, from his childhood knew the word of God and the Bible stated that he was brought up in the ways and fear of God, an outstanding feat which made him so great and responsible during his days.
This is the word of God, this is what you are expected to do and when you are fully committed to doing it, your life will flourish exceedingly and you will be fulfilled in all ramifications.
For people who need counseling and those who want to be part of sponsoring this Ministration, they can contact the Prophet of God through this Phone Number 08037452147.
Prophet Joseph Igbodo, is the General Overseer of Divine Faith Evangelical Mission International, he is also the Proprietor of Job Orphanage Home and the Proprietor of St. Stephen Trust Widows Home, all in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Prophet Joseph Igbodo,
Calvary greetings to everyone in Jesus Christ Mighty Name, Amen.
I want to appreciate God for this message of life. This is Part Two of
“Child Upbringing : Parents And Children”
