Insights Into Successfl Parenting

“Insights Into Successful Parenting”

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Someone has collected some interesting prayers given by children.

1. Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother but what I asked for was a puppy. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up. Joyce

2. Dear God, is it true my Father won’t get to Heaven if he uses his golf words in the house? Anita

3. Dear God, I bet it’s very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. Nan

4. Dear God, Please send Denis Clark to a different summer camp this year. Peter

The admonition of the Lord to the families in Israel in Deuteronomy 6:1-9 has stood the test of time down through the centuries. The foundation for successful families is based on how adequately parents teach their children the commandments of God. “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Our constant prayer is “Dear Lord give me wisdom in raising our family. Help me to personally keep your commandments and faithfully teach them to my children.”

What Moses is saying here is that our life-style day after day should reflect God’s love and God’s teachings from Scripture.

To be successful in parenting you need to:

I. Build A Strong Foundation for Your Home

Both the teaching of Moses in Deuteronomy and Jesus in the Gospels teach us to build a strong Biblical foundation for our family.

God’s Word is to have the highest priority in our home. When you build your family on the teachings of the Bible you build a strong foundation.

Jesus told a parable about a wise man and a foolish man. Matthew 5-7 Jesus gave teachings we call the “Sermon on the Mount.” At the end of his teachings in (Matthew 7:24-27) Jesus said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; hut it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who build his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The home build on God’s Word stands strong amidst the storms of life. Christ is our solid Rock, all other ground is sinking sand. When the principles of scriptures are applied to the home and family life, the foundation is secure.

The Psalmist in Psalm 127:1 sang out: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” Only when God is at the center of our home do we have a strong foundation.

Is Jesus Christ the head of your home? The key to a successful home is allowing the architect, God, who created the family, to be the builder of the home.. Take Jesus out of the center of our home and we have a home built on sinking sand and a life of frustration.

A strong foundation is not built over night. It takes years to build. It demands day after day and year after year building. It takes time to build a strong foundation.

One of the myths of parenting is this: “It’s not the quantity of time that matters, it’s the quality that counts.”

One of the books about the life of Billy Graham tells about his early years of successful city wide evangelistic campaigns. His crusade in Los Angeles went on for weeks. After eight weeks of the campaign thousands of people responded to the invitation and prayed to receive Christ.

Toward the end of the crusade, Billy Graham’s sister-in-law and her husband came to Los Angeles, bringing a baby with them.

The evangelist squeezed in time to be with his relatives. During that meeting he made a comment that the little girl was cute. He asked, “To whom does she belong?”

The sister-in-law’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Why: She’s yours. She’s yours, Billy.”

Billy Graham had been away from home so long he didn’t even recognize his own little Anne when she was brought to the crusade. That night the great evangelist resolved that he would spend more time at home with his children.