IN THE EYES OF A CHILD

Proverbs 18:7
7 A fool's mouth is his undoing,
and his lips are a snare to his soul.
NIV

The Amplified Bible states this: 

Proverbs 18:7  A [self confident] fool's mouth is

his ruin and his lips are a snare to himself.

Titus 2:6-8

6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. 

NIV

Self control in our speech.......is speaking with a sound that cannot be condemned. It is speaking to our husband/wife with sound speech. It is speaking to our children with sound speech. It is speaking in the work place/church with sound speech. It is serious, it is of integrity and it is teaching.

So what are we teaching those around us?

Are we teaching something that will encourage the one standing next to us or are we just discouraging them?

Ezra 4:4-5

4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.  5 They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. 

NIV

In the above, we are reminded of those who just want to stop people. In just a few words they were to create delays and hinder the work. The hired came to trouble.

They were being discouraged at every turn of work they tried to deliver. They became the discouraged and lost their courage.

In reading in Ezra 4 there is much opposition. And when it is to the plan of the Lord, that kind is the opposition that has the subtlety of the old serpent, satan. In this case, superstition was a high priority and any who opposed it were those building the temple to God.

As in the case with the Israelites, those who pretended to help only wanted to delay the entire work and did not want it to progress any further. What is it written in Psalm 55:21................ His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords. NIV

Know any people like that? No?

You know they sound really nice with their speech.....

Ezra 4:2

"Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." 

NIV

It was a lie! They wanted to hinder .........their kisses as of the enemy....deceitful.

 We can do the same to a love one in our own family!

Any time we speak something against another, and maybe we never thought that it was a "negative" yet caused the other to be provoked is not good and will not build a good relationship and will not carry them forward, but cause them to stop "dead" in their  pathway. I do not want to be guilty of that to any one!  Do you?

What does it look like?

Romans 13:14……….14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.     NIV

Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not provoke or irritate or fret your children [ do not be hard on them or harass them], lest they become discouraged and sullen and morose and feel inferior and frustrated. [Do not break their spirit.] Amplified Bible

Have you ever seen a conversation between a parent and a child and the child has no alternative but to act their age? One can see from the unfolding moment exactly how the child expects it to play out! And they were right??? They, the child or children even speak what the parent will say next! Yes, they have been down that road before.

CHILDREN WANT TO BE A PART OF THE FAMILY  and I know from previous experience that children must be a part of all that is going to affect, effect, and contribute anything to the family as a whole. Now if it is between the mother and the father, of course not! But anything the child has been a part of is to be included as 'a standing member of the family'.

Is that not the work of the "devil" when we allow any discouragement to come upon our children or grand-children?  Children sometimes do not understand, because of their age, of certain things that a parent or parents are desiring to come to pass for their future. And leaving the child out of it when he/she sees them they become agitated, fretful, and just sullen adds TO the small child's world. The child becomes scared, his/her security is shattered. And does no one see it happening?

They want to understand, but they see everyone who is leading the family has tuned out and turned off..........when the child/children need to hear from them the most at that time.

Romans 13:14.......tells us to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and not to think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Would not terrifying a child by acting sullen be creating a force that will break their spirit?

Yes, again it is breaking their little spirit. We can laugh with them when hiking on a sunny day or may be even on rainy day..............no decisions to make, no big deals on the horizon...........but when the ground begins to shake, and the walls start moving, and the child sees a parent or parents shut down, the communication line is down. It is severed!

Should not be this way ever in regards to our child, children or grand-children. They want to be a part and they want to understand.  Children are to be continually nurtured and brought in to understand the workings in the family, not shut down at a moment's notice because they do not understand because of age. Help them to understand. Tell them what is going on, right now!

WHAT IF GOD SAID, "I AM NOT TELLING YOU BECAUSE YOU WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND. I AM KEEPING EVERYTHING SECRET FROM YOU FOREVER!" WOW!

By all means if it is a flesh thing, surely keep it to yourself. For you will have to deal with it sooner or later. But in something that pertains to what God is doing in and for the family it is to involve the entire family. Communication was the secret to Christ's ministry. In keeping step with Him, we keep the testimonies alive. They keep us aware of the God who invades the impossible when the views of those around us are focused on the temporary physical circumstances.

In the eyes of the child, their world is closed off. And without a constant awareness and of our speaking truth about every situation, we keep them connected to us and to the vision God has for the entire family. If we do not do that, then we will see without doubt "vision and ministry" reduced to nothing more than we do in our own strength and amounts to kicking up some dust!
Ever seen those who just "kick up some dust" while they think they are ministering life?

We should not want to kick around the dust. In the scripture below we are reminded of those who go their own way.......Isaiah 29:4

4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground;

your speech will mumble out of the dust.

Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth;

out of the dust your speech will whisper. 

NIV

Understanding that this will occur, we should take the extra step to make sure our child/children/grand-children are involved in decisions that pertain to them: like school, like taking a trip, in any sickness occurring, any project they are involved in, anything we need to live for God, they will also need!
When I was very young, and we went to visit grandparents in another state, I always remember my younger sister desiring sternly for her pillow. It went with her, as some resemblance of her bedtime at home, while visiting in another's home. My Mom always placed it close to the luggage so that it would not be left behind. Kids can be left behind without parents even knowing it. We need to awaken to things of God for our families, our loved ones who God cherishes.  They need to know that we always must go to Him for direction, not looking at the views of others..........and until our young ones are able to do that.........we must be that line that keeps them connected to life and truth in any regard to an outside situation involving the whole of the family.

My prayer today is for those who have been broken, either by previous relationships that broke the human spirit by being provoked, goaded and maligned. I pray for those who have been dealt a great blow by a loved one who came back with anything but love.

Father, thank You for Jesus, the Son of Your love. Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Help us Holy Spirit. You see the damage done. Show us how to minimize that which has been caused. Help us to speak and see restoration to that which has done by our speaking, our own doing, and acts of just provoking another to wrath. Today we desire to be those who will be salt to those in pain and anguish. We choose to be those who will abide in truth and be committed to be responsible when others cross our paths who may be dealing with a loss, or just cut off from God's plan for them by another. Help us to understand in how to communicate with our children and grand-children that we will not provoke them but lead them in life that is everlasting in YOU Father. Show us what to speak and how to be constant in teaching with integrity and not as a spoiled one wrapped up in the flesh nature. It just leads back to the dust.

Father, Your Word is true and we confess and profess that Your Word is for us. You will never leave us or forsake us. We ask today to support those who have trials and tribulations that are weighing them down. We come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in this time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) Strengthen our hearts for the battle ahead and give patience as we wait on You. We pray to be those who rejoice in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfast in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

We are family. We are to act like a family..........and in this journey help us to encourage our family. Help us to be the "kind".

"Your Love O' Lord endures forever----do not abandon the works of Your hands. Amen.

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV

The Love that We Share

Psalm 90:14
O satisfy us with Your mercy and loving-kindness
in the morning [now, before we are older], that we may
rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad in proportion to the days in which
You have afflicted us and to the years in which we have
suffered evil.
16 Let Your work [the signs of Your power] be revealed to
Your servants; and Your [glorious] majesty to their children.
17 And let the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord
our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands--
yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it.

In this Psalm we are directed to prayer!
I always hear my husband pray for our meals, and over our family, home and that which God has given to us as in the job (finances), a vehicle for driving to work, a place to attend church to worship our God and especially that extra time to have with our grandchild and family. We plan to come together with our love ones at different times during the year. But it was just over the weekend, I heard my husband speak, "the love that we share".

I told my husband that is important for the love we all share for the Lord, binds us together. In thinking and praying on this for today, I was brought back to Moses who prayed this for the whole of those who would ultimately die in the wilderness. There were many who were not going into the Promised Land. And Moses prayed a prayer.
Take a look back at the entire prayer in Psalm 90 and think on the wilderness, and the surroundings. The only people were those they had known in Egypt. Moses had brought them out of bondage under the leading of the Lord. Moses had obeyed to do what the Lord showed him to do in his connecting with Pharaoh, to the plagues, and to ultimately bring them all out. Moses prayed from what we read here from Psalm 90...and verse 11-12...."Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of you, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

In dealing with people, as to living around large volumes of people, and being in contact with many different ethnic groups ( men and women alike) we are to have a love that can only come through knowing Jesus and His love. It is having the wisdom of God.  Like Moses and his leadership ability, much was gained by hearing and obeying God and His directions. He had much to contend with and mostly was due to a people who were "slaves" to their own thinking, their lack, their depending on making bricks, and not looking for the "new" to life!
If we take note and look back for a moment we can see that which Moses probably saw for all that was recorded. Persecution was to come, and it came in the Garden of Eden. In all that was recorded and we can read here in the Holy Bible, we can see Cain kill his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8), Ham the son of Noah, mocked Noah (Genesis 8:20-23). We also see in the time of Isaac the son of Abraham being mocked by Ishmael.(Genesis 21:8-10)
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac." NIV

 Esau had wanted to kill his own brother Jacob. (Genesis 27:41-42)
41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob." 42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, "Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you.
NKJV
And we come back to that of Joseph who was the exalted in Egypt and became the deliverer to bring food to a people and a famished land. Forgiveness!

It was by harassment and bitter hate that Joseph was given over into a pit, to become a slave and become the deliverer for his family and many others in a time of severe famine. It was in that love he had for them all, the ability to forgive, that allowed him to move forward in live and see a life that was beautified by the glory of the Lord.

We see Joseph as the fourth son of Jacob. It was the not the first son or the second son of Jacob, but the fourth who played such a great role in the history. Yet, the tribes are all important in the foundation of the family of God and those who would follow.

Yes, the love that we share.

We may not understand the thinking of some we come in contact with, but surely God gives us wisdom to understand our fellow man or fellow woman!

In Matthew 25 we find this: 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you blessed of My Father [you favored of God, appointed to eternal salvation], inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me [with help and ministering care]; I was in prison and you came to me [ignoring personal danger].

37 The the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?"

40 the King will answer and say to them, ' I assure you and most solemnly say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it for Me.' 41 "Then He will say to those on His left, 'Leave Me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (demons);42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me [with help and ministering care]' 44 Then they also [in their turn] will answer, ' Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?"

45 Then He will reply to them, ' I assure you and most solemnly say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these [my followers], you did not do it for Me.' 46 Then these [unbelieving people] will go away into eternal (unending) punishment, but those who are righteous and in right standing with God [ will go, by His remarkable grace] into eternal (unending) life." Amplified Bible

Now in all my years of hearing and being taught, I always heard this as for doing for those who are lacking, sick and without........anybody.. especially those you did not know.......BUT.......never heard it as verse 45 speaks..............the "followers" of Jesus. Now that takes or makes a shift in another direction.
Let's see, if we start in the "home", are we seeing after ........say not only those within our home, but what about those who live far away and maybe alone?  (you know a relative) What about those who are the saved, and in need of some help and  ministering care?
It is interesting that the whole chapter is talking about two kinds of people. In light of the teaching, we see people who are to be lights to the world. As the Gospel is presented to us, we too, look for those outlets to minister that same light to others. It begins within us and then to others. It begins in our character of that which we boast. Is our boast in the Lord or in our own goodness and  what you might do for me?

Let's look first in the home: as the spouse, do we look out after our spouse? Do we see where we might help them in their day, in their work, or around the home? Will we see after them when they are not well, see after them when they are not around.......say, like at the work place? Then do we help in the way of laundry, doing dishes, or maybe planning and preparing a meal, the wife usually prepares. How about taking the "kids" to school even though they ride the bus? What if we took some extra time to show those of the house of God, those "followers" of Jesus we care about them even when they are not around!
To that spouse, do we say........"I appreciate you". "Thanks for all you do to help me!"? Do we take time to text them that message of how important they are to us? Will we take time to mend a favorite shirt, a little girl's princess dress, or how about designing something of ribbon over a neckpiece for earbuds that you do not use, but is a help to another? What about calling someone to invite them out for dinner with your family?
Then the "follower" of Jesus you go to church with, will you invite them over for a holiday? If they are alone most of the time, what if we had them come for dinner on Sunday or maybe a barbeque on Friday evening?

There are all kinds of harassment going on right now! One surely has a view whether on the roadway, in a mall, at school or in the workplace. At some point today in a given moment someone is being bombarded by those who will hate and harass, and seek their own agenda. But ours is suppose to be that like Jesus........and to love no matter what.
I believe that the Psalm 90 that Moses prayed for those who would die in the wilderness was a prayer for any who live out their lives in knowing nothing but slavery, although God has the way through His mercy and grace. I believe he desired the children of these people to see and know of the miraculous that their God had done for them in that wilderness. Yes many died there. But many went into the Promised Land to see and know more of God. Our choice is choosing that which is or should resemble Moses that he cared for those given into his hand for keeping watch. They brought a lot of heartache and much time in prayer to Moses for them.

In our coming in and our going out, may we speak with peace to others with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May we speak grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. It is the Lord Who gives grace to the humble!
May we respect those who work hard and who is over us in the Lord and who admonishes us. (2 Thessalonians 5:13-24)  In close encounters with family and those of the family of God, we desire to hold each in the highest regard in love because of his work.  We pray to be those that would encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone making sure nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Praying for those of the body of Christ to be joyful always (verse 16) to pray continually (verse 17) to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for us in Christ Jesus.
Today, may we, "the beloved" build ourselves up on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit and to keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. To guard and keep ourselves in the love of God, expect and patiently wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) which will bring us unto life eternal. And refute [so as to] convict some who dispute with you ( or us) and on some have mercy who waiver and doubt. We strive to save others, snatching [them] out of the fire; on others take pity [but] with fear, loathing even the garment spotted by the flesh and polluted by their sensuality. [Zechariah 3:2-4) It is to the one only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be the glory (splendor), majesty, might and dominion and power and authority, before all time and now and forever (unto all ages of eternity). FOR IT IS THE LOVE THAT WE SHARE!  Amen. (so be it.) Amplified


You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV