Monday Devotional: What Is Our Primary Purpose For Raising Our Children?

by Cranston Chester

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these”. (Matthew 19:14 NIV)

As the father of toddlers, like our Heavenly Father who said “…plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11), I want nothing but the best for them. I’m often thinking that I would like for them to be scholars first then everything else thereafter. Even though that is wonderful, it never sat well with me because something was missing. In Proverbs 22:6, the scriptures say, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it”. (NIV). This scripture can be interpreted as each child has special gift(s) from the Lord and we have a responsibility to nurture them as parents.

And we should!

Then I remembered growing up as a child attending a missionary school in kindergarten. Whenever I remember the songs we sang, it always brought joy to my heart. It also convicted me when I was in the “world”. My eyes were opened to this scripture (Matthew 19:14) one day by a man of God when he said that our primary purpose for raising our children is for them to have a “personal” relationship with God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everything else follows. We cannot answer for them on judgment day, but we can lead them to the Light that is higher than us.

We can have daily devotional time with our children and teach them how to pray. This should be a fun time because this is the least we can the do with the gifts(s) He blessed us with in our children. Continue to encourage them that they should always pray “first” whether they are in a good or bad situation. Also, continue to be the loving and caring fathers to them as your Heavenly father is towards you. Even when disciplining them.

Children learn mainly from what we do not what we say, we must have a personal relationship with God that is “visible” to them. Even though God blessed us all with free will, whenever our children become young adults, can we look ourselves in the mirror and truly say that we did all we can to lead them to Christ?

It is never to late. Simply, ask God to not only bless you with the wisdom, but to order your footsteps to teach your children about a personal relationship with Him. Then be open to His will being done in their lives!

Man2Man Recap: Be Mindful of the ABC's of Man

Brothers, what a blessing once again it was to come together as men of God and break the bread of life together - which is the Word of God. Today's speaker was Minister Mark S. Lewis and he introduced a powerful concept that he called "The ABCs of Man". Basically, if you go through the alphabet, what truths about the Bible and what it says about you does the Holy Spirit bring to mind?
He began with the powerful letter 'R':
We must REPENT, so we can be REAL, and then we will be RELEVANT.

Brother Stansbury shared how it is important to be VIGILANT, so that we are VIABLE and then we as men will have a VOICE.

Going in this same vein of thought, we turned to James 1:19-22 and this took us to the letter 'S':
Be SWIFT to hear, SLOW to speak, and SLOW to wrath - this is where we spent the majority of our lesson because there were some powerful revelations from that scripture.

Minister Lewis shared a recent experience where he asked a person a simple question and they began to give him a lot of details that (in his flesh) he really did not need to know. What he really wanted was the answer to his question and he could have easily cut the person off and asked for 'the abbreviated version'. However, he was SLOW to speak and SWIFT to listen, allowing the person to finish everything they had to share, and after it all, he thanked them and hung up the phone.

After getting off the phone, his wife shared with him that she was so proud that he had not cut the person off, because the person needed to share their heart - cutting them off may have hurt their feelings and ultimately weakened the power of Minister Lewis' witness and ministry.

Such a simple example illuminated to each of us how easy it is to hurt our witness, just because we want to speak, before we have listened to the person speaking with us. The last part of the S's is SLOW to wrath - often when we speak too quick, we stir up wrath in the other person, or if we misinterpret what they are saying, anger is stirred up in us. This leads to conflict that advances the enemy's agenda but does nothing to glorify God. SWIFT to hear gives us an opportunity to be true vessels of God's love and when we are SLOW to speak, our words are peppered with love rather than the wrath that might have otherwise been festered in the moment.

REMINDER: Man2Man Bible Study Tomorrow!

Brothers Breaking Bread Breakfast - April 4th, 2009

PERTH AMBOY, NJ - Determined, Disciplined and Doing - the focus of the Cathedral Men's Ministry, was in full display this Saturday morning as we hosted Brothers Breaking Bread Breakfast. The topic was "Men's Awareness: Christian Consciousness in Today's Culture". As each man walked into the event they were greeted by members of the Executive Committee who each wore a memorable black suit and sky blue ascot combination, visually underscoring our determination to be disciplined and unified as men.

The Cathedral's Banquet Hall was packed with men from 9am to noon who were determined to worship God in spirit and in truth. The event opened out with a spirited worship session that edified every man in the room and ushered in the presence of the Lord.

Then came a word of exhortation from Elder McCullum where he challenged every man in the room to take their eyes off the Genesis 3 story and focus back on Genesis 1 where man was endowed with authority and dominion. He encouraged every man to focus on their purpose, hear what God is saying and move forward regardless of any attacks the enemy might have.

Next up was the keynote speaker, Elder Henry H. Rodgers who shared from the heart about the importance of coming to "make a difference instead of complaining that a difference needs to be made." He encouraged every man not to "sleep during the revolution that is going on right now." He drew from the scripture Matthew 26v36 where the disciples fell asleep when they should have been awake while Jesus was praying. He left us with a powerful quote:

"Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humbled that he knows no more"

We must strive to have the humility of Wisdom and avoid the pride of Knowledge.

After the word, we all filled ourselves aplenty with a delicious breakfast catered by Pastor Smallwood's Two Fish and Five Loaves restaurant where he described the menu merely as "The Works".

As we broke bread together, we shared in a lively discussion about a wide range of issues from infidelity to political action. God was glorified and the men were edified.

Enjoy the following short slideshow from the breakfast: