I gave up being a hippie for this???? You bet!

RESPECT

Have you noticed how little of it there is today? When I was a teenager everything was changing, Hippies were taking over. The “Father Knows Best” mentality was being run over by a Mack truck of free love, LSD and pot. I suppose every generation of adults feels the same way about the teens. There were the beatniks and the beginning of rock and roll in the generation before me. I don’t know, I think we were worse. Bra burning, flag burning and neighborhood burning seemed a little more severe than weird poetry and finger snapping.

The thing I do know is no matter what was going on in society most of us were taught the importance of respect. I remember thinking at the time how outdated all that was. That “respect” was such an old-fashioned term and only old people cared. Now, when I wonder what ever happened to plain old respect it makes me wonder if I am just old and out dated. I don’t think so.

As parents it is our job to teach our children how to react to God by how we train them to respond to us. If we allow our children to question everything we do then they will question God. This leads to a lack of the “fear” of the Lord which is, after all, the beginning of wisdom.

I am always concerned and distressed when I see parents ask their 2 year olds what they want to do. Not that I think learning decision making is wrong but when the 2 year old runs the family with their “decisions” it puts a responsibility on the child they should not have to handle.

The other thing that happens in these situations is the parents manipulate the child into what they want them to choose. How does this train them in the way they should go?

I see several blockages to their ability to walk with the Lord as adults:

1. They grow up thinking that what they want is of utmost importance and have no respect for authority
2.  They learn to manipulate to get what they want
3.  They do not learn to fear God which is the beginning of wisdom

Wouldn’t it be better to teach our children how to humble themselves before the Lord? To hear God and be quickly obedient? To fear God and obtain the wisdom that brings? To respect authority?

You probably fall into one of 2 categories:

You either know someone who has children or you have children—ok that was a no brainer. 

Are you praying for them? Do you pray for the parents to stand up and be parents? To raise Godly children? Do you pay for the children you know so that they will grow into Godly men and women? Find the scriptures on children rearing, memorize them then ask God to show you who to pray for and how. Start declaring truth over their lives. We need a Godly generation to be prepared to mentor and train the spiritual babies.

Who are you interceding for today?