following-Him
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Today the devotionals are taken from Word For Today (www.ucb.co.uk) and Our Daily Bread (www.odb.org). I hope they will be a blessing to you.
Word For Today
Preparing Them (1)11 Nov 2011'It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.' Lamentations 3:27Thinking maturity and spiritual growth will suddenly 'happen' to your children is like expecting an acorn to suddenly become an oak tree. Time, development and nurture are required to produce an oak tree - the same goes for raising children. And the earlier you start the better your results will be. 'It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.' Otherwise the passage of time will just produce unprepared children with habits and attitudes that are hard to shake later on when life requires them to take on responsibility. In the 'yoke' metaphor the untrained ox learns by being yoked to the well-trained one, sharing the workload and following its example. Parents tend to make two mistakes with their children. First, they over-function. They do everything for them, then blame the child for being lazy. Second, they under-function. They demand too much of the child, frustrating them and making them feel incompetent. The key to building character and confidence is not to do it for them but with them, teaching them responsibility. The yoke principle offers two great advantages: a) It provides the role-model advantage. 'Apprentice' your children by patiently, lovingly using on-the-job training to demonstrate and impart skills and competence. They'll appreciate you when the tools you provide them lead to a lifetime of natural and spiritual success; b) It provides the relationship advantage. Those training times and shared work leave space projects are great opportunities to develop and deepen an enduring and precious bond with your children.
Our Daily Bread
True Security
During the Cold War—a period of unrest between major world powers in the last half of the 20th century—Americans lived under the threat of nuclear war. I recall that during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, we seemed to be a heartbeat away from annihilation. It was heady stuff for a sixth-grader.
One of my strangest memories of those turbulent times was the school safety drill. An alarm would sound, and we would hide under our desks—for protection from atomic bombs. Looking back, I’m certain it wouldn’t have helped us in the event of a nuclear holocaust. It may have even given us a false sense of security.
While we may not face the same level of nuclear threat today, there are still many dangers that scare us—and some of them are spiritual. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our battles are “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” These are mighty foes indeed, but God has given us His protective love (Rom. 8:35,38-39) and the spiritual resources of His armor (Eph. 6:13-17).
The result? While we face powerful enemies, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). In our heavenly Father, we have true security.
Though danger lurks on every side,
In Christ our Lord we will abide;
Our God is strong, our hope is sure—
In Him alone we are secure! —Fitzhugh
Safety is not found in the absence of danger,
but in the presence of God.
Word For Today
Preparing Them (1)11 Nov 2011'It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.' Lamentations 3:27Thinking maturity and spiritual growth will suddenly 'happen' to your children is like expecting an acorn to suddenly become an oak tree. Time, development and nurture are required to produce an oak tree - the same goes for raising children. And the earlier you start the better your results will be. 'It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.' Otherwise the passage of time will just produce unprepared children with habits and attitudes that are hard to shake later on when life requires them to take on responsibility. In the 'yoke' metaphor the untrained ox learns by being yoked to the well-trained one, sharing the workload and following its example. Parents tend to make two mistakes with their children. First, they over-function. They do everything for them, then blame the child for being lazy. Second, they under-function. They demand too much of the child, frustrating them and making them feel incompetent. The key to building character and confidence is not to do it for them but with them, teaching them responsibility. The yoke principle offers two great advantages: a) It provides the role-model advantage. 'Apprentice' your children by patiently, lovingly using on-the-job training to demonstrate and impart skills and competence. They'll appreciate you when the tools you provide them lead to a lifetime of natural and spiritual success; b) It provides the relationship advantage. Those training times and shared work leave space projects are great opportunities to develop and deepen an enduring and precious bond with your children.
Our Daily Bread
True Security
During the Cold War—a period of unrest between major world powers in the last half of the 20th century—Americans lived under the threat of nuclear war. I recall that during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, we seemed to be a heartbeat away from annihilation. It was heady stuff for a sixth-grader.
One of my strangest memories of those turbulent times was the school safety drill. An alarm would sound, and we would hide under our desks—for protection from atomic bombs. Looking back, I’m certain it wouldn’t have helped us in the event of a nuclear holocaust. It may have even given us a false sense of security.
While we may not face the same level of nuclear threat today, there are still many dangers that scare us—and some of them are spiritual. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our battles are “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” These are mighty foes indeed, but God has given us His protective love (Rom. 8:35,38-39) and the spiritual resources of His armor (Eph. 6:13-17).
The result? While we face powerful enemies, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). In our heavenly Father, we have true security.
Though danger lurks on every side,
In Christ our Lord we will abide;
Our God is strong, our hope is sure—
In Him alone we are secure! —Fitzhugh
Safety is not found in the absence of danger,
but in the presence of God.