We hear Joel 2:28 in church and think about how revival needs to come to the younger generation. But, instead of concentrating on that part of Joel 2:28, I want to draw your attention to the “old men will dream dreams” phrase.
"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 2:28
I used to overlook that part of the verse most of the time, thinking, “I’m not going to be old for a long time yet, so I’m not going to talk or think much about the old men dreaming dreams.” But it is the older people in our society who dream dreams for the younger generation; and so it must be the parents who dream dreams for their children.
They Didn’t Ask for This Garbage
Looking at the culture barrage hammering our teens, whether it’s what is sold to them, written to them––movies and music––or the point-and-click pornography available to them, there is one thing we can all agree on: Our children are not the ones who invented these things.
Just about every one of these social influences, media entertainment, technological inventions or opportunities on the Web destroying kids, have been dreamed up by the older generation. These older dreamers prey on young people because they have plenty of money. They appeal to young people’s most corrupt desires to get them to empty their pockets.
The fact is, the kids didn’t ask for this garbage; they were sold it by people trying to make a lot of money without any thought to moral consequences. Of course they will tell us, “If people didn’t buy it, we wouldn’t make it” as if it’s a moral obligation to sell people things that will destroy them just because they buy it.
Here’s the question: Are we not dreamers? Cannot we, the people who love God, dream a dream for the young people in our churches? Is it only the secular culture that has a dream for our children?
You can protect your kids from the disaster of being shaped by a confused generation of adults selling media, but it will take deliberation. It will take sweat. It will require emotional and mental engagement with your kids, starting when they are at a very young age.
Dream for Your Kids
Dream a dream for your kids. You can determine if they will be entertainment oriented or service-to-others oriented; constantly appeasing the flesh and desiring the next thing to engage and tantalize them, or those men and women who lay down their lives as a sacrifice for others? As you dream for your kids teach them how to think critically and pursue growth in their relationship with the Lord. If you sacrifice now, you’ll reap a blessing for the rest of your life; and the world will never be the same.
Not only must we be the dreamers, but we must also teach our kids to be the dreamers for their own generation. These will soon to become the leaders who will soon determine the culture and morals of America. You can help them get a vision of how God could use them to change their generation and make a difference in the world.
Every time we allow our kids to watch, see, feel, touch and embrace this culture, they become a part of a dream belonging to someone else. The fact is, we must either be the dreamers or we will be a part of somebody else’s dream.
Merely giving birth does not make you a parent. Sacrificing while your children are small, laying down your “deserved” freedoms and deeply thinking about how you’re shaping your children will ensure their lifelong freedom from the chains of slavery to our culture. It’s called loving your children.
It’s called being a parent.
Scripture Of The Day: "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 2:28 (NIV)
Showing posts with label reaching our children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reaching our children. Show all posts
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The Father I Can Count On
Growing up I was jealous of a dear friend of mine. She was pretty, intelligent and rich by my youthful estimation. But what she had that I desperately wanted was a dad. Her father adored her, treated her like a princess. Whatever she needed he gladly provided. Whatever she wanted she just had to ask or pout long enough. It seemed she’d melt his heart every time. Yes, I was jealous.
Only once I witnessed him scold her. And it probably hurt him more than it hurt her. But even that scolding was done because my friend’s dad loved his daughter. Years later, I saw how this human father’s love so reflects the love of Father God. And people like me who grew up without a father so appreciate this Godly love. 1 John 3:1 says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are.”
It’s the love of God that shielded me from creating ill-feelings towards my own biological father. I met him for the first time when I was 30 years old.
Even as an adult, the little girl within still yearned to sit on his lap, still felt deprived of a daddy’s love. Those childish desires wounded my heart the day I saw my father playing with his last child, a baby sister I also met for the first time. The flood of jealousy I felt for my dear friend came rushing back. It’s a good thing “Abba” Father was there again to comfort me with healing words. My life has been a witness to the truth of Psalms 58:5 that God is, “A father to the fatherless.”
Almost as far back as I can remember I could sense God nearby. He was the one I turned to for conversation, for counsel even as a teenager. I remember sitting in my empty hometown church one day just relishing the quiet silence and the sweet awareness of God.
He was the only Father I could truly count on. My mother used to say she was both mother and father to her children. But with all her unselfish, sacrificial love, even she couldn’t fill the void left by my absent earthly dad. Only an ever-present God could do that. I can rest assured that He’ll never leave, forsake or abandon me. God has proven unequivocally that truly He is the Father I can always count on.
Scripture of the Day: "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.: - 1 John 3:1
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Easier Than We Think
Learning new stuff is hard work! As a matter of fact, it may be the hardest thing in life – learning. Sometimes learning new things means having to unlearn old stuff. It’s a huge challenge. As a matter of fact, it requires emotional work, mental stretching, sometimes considerable financial investment, and sometimes the sacrifice seems to outweigh the long term benefit. With all said, there are some things that are just worth learning. The risk of not learning it weighs far greater than the alternative. This is the reality of life. In many cases, the question is, are you willing to take the risk and invest the sweat equity to make it happen?
Reaching our children and successive generations is one of those realities that are worth the risk. Not learning how to ‘reach’ our young people has the risk of successive generations not having the metal toughness to handle what life delivers. Not reaching our children runs the risk of being ignorant about the realness of God, the handiwork of God, and even the unfailing love of God. Not reaching our ‘blessings from God’ runs the absolute risk that integrity, moral living would be diminished, righteous standards would be lowered and erased, and common sense (however you define it) would be desecrated. All hopes of a civil society, powerful families, ethical government, neighborly love, and genuine concern of people would all but become figments of our imagination.
And while none of us would disagree with these strong suppositions, we approach them as if they are impossible feats and inconceivable destinations. Our government has had enough panels and written reports to fill not only the Library of Congress, but every local library that exists. Many youth leaders at local ministries and para-church organizations have been dismissed because the assumption has been that they aren’t reaching enough young people. Our educational institutions have politicked and debated the issue for years with similar results. There are glimmers of hope to all of these challenges. The Word of God offers us hope.
Deuteronomy seems to paint a picture for us that our children are not only reachable, but when we reach them, they can handle all of the prosperity, success, freedom, and great lifestyles that will be afforded to them. It wouldn’t make sense for one generation to work to build great opportunity that the following generation destroys.
So God invites His children, “Love GOD, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! (6) Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you (7) and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. (8) Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates” (Message).
It becomes clear that if we approach our lives in this way, rearing our children with this perspective, and shift our resources (time and dollars) to this paradigm, the results that we get from the investment in our children become incalculable.
These verses beg the question “Is this hard to do?” I don’t think it is. It’s not an overnight feat easy to be done, but it’s not a reality that escapes our lifestyles. We are admonished to:
1. Love God with all you’ve got.
2. Make God’s Word visible in every place you can.
3. Teach and provide understanding of God’s Word to your children
4. Be diligent to make sure every area of your life is synchronized with the authority of God’s Word.
So, what we clearly see now is that reaching our children isn’t as hard as the idea of obeying God. Here’s where we must learn something new. It is hard work, there are risks involved, but we must resolve simply to obey God, like our very lives depend on it. Indeed, our children’s lives do.
Scripture of the Day: "5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." - Dueteronomy 6:5-9
Friday, July 1, 2011
Dreaming For Your Kids
We hear Joel 2:28 in church and think about how revival needs to come to the younger generation. But, instead of concentrating on that part of Joel 2:28, I want to draw your attention to the “old men will dream dreams” phrase.
"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 2:28
I used to overlook that part of the verse most of the time, thinking, “I’m not going to be old for a long time yet, so I’m not going to talk or think much about the old men dreaming dreams.” But it is the older people in our society who dream dreams for the younger generation; and so it must be the parents who dream dreams for their children.
They Didn’t Ask for This Garbage
Looking at the culture barrage hammering our teens, whether it’s what is sold to them, written to them––movies and music––or the point-and-click pornography available to them, there is one thing we can all agree on: Our children are not the ones who invented these things.
Just about every one of these social influences, media entertainment, technological inventions or opportunities on the Web destroying kids, have been dreamed up by the older generation. These older dreamers prey on young people because they have plenty of money. They appeal to young people’s most corrupt desires to get them to empty their pockets.
The fact is, the kids didn’t ask for this garbage; they were sold it by people trying to make a lot of money without any thought to moral consequences. Of course they will tell us, “If people didn’t buy it, we wouldn’t make it” as if it’s a moral obligation to sell people things that will destroy them just because they buy it.
Here’s the question: Are we not dreamers? Cannot we, the people who love God, dream a dream for the young people in our churches? Is it only the secular culture that has a dream for our children?
You can protect your kids from the disaster of being shaped by a confused generation of adults selling media, but it will take deliberation. It will take sweat. It will require emotional and mental engagement with your kids, starting when they are at a very young age.
Dream for Your Kids
Dream a dream for your kids. You can determine if they will be entertainment oriented or service-to-others oriented; constantly appeasing the flesh and desiring the next thing to engage and tantalize them, or those men and women who lay down their lives as a sacrifice for others? As you dream for your kids teach them how to think critically and pursue growth in their relationship with the Lord. If you sacrifice now, you’ll reap a blessing for the rest of your life; and the world will never be the same.
Not only must we be the dreamers, but we must also teach our kids to be the dreamers for their own generation. These will soon to become the leaders who will soon determine the culture and morals of America. You can help them get a vision of how God could use them to change their generation and make a difference in the world.
Every time we allow our kids to watch, see, feel, touch and embrace this culture, they become a part of a dream belonging to someone else. The fact is, we must either be the dreamers or we will be a part of somebody else’s dream.
Merely giving birth does not make you a parent. Sacrificing while your children are small, laying down your “deserved” freedoms and deeply thinking about how you’re shaping your children will ensure their lifelong freedom from the chains of slavery to our culture. It’s called loving your children.
It’s called being a parent.
Scripture Of The Day: "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 2:28 (NIV)
President and founder of Teen Mania Ministries, a Christian organization reaching millions of young people worldwide, Ron Luce passionately declares the Gospel through Acquire the Fire TV broadcasts, youth events, camps and media resources, challenging teens to take a stand for Christ. For more information about Ron, log onto http://www.teenmania.org…
"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 2:28
I used to overlook that part of the verse most of the time, thinking, “I’m not going to be old for a long time yet, so I’m not going to talk or think much about the old men dreaming dreams.” But it is the older people in our society who dream dreams for the younger generation; and so it must be the parents who dream dreams for their children.
They Didn’t Ask for This Garbage
Looking at the culture barrage hammering our teens, whether it’s what is sold to them, written to them––movies and music––or the point-and-click pornography available to them, there is one thing we can all agree on: Our children are not the ones who invented these things.
Just about every one of these social influences, media entertainment, technological inventions or opportunities on the Web destroying kids, have been dreamed up by the older generation. These older dreamers prey on young people because they have plenty of money. They appeal to young people’s most corrupt desires to get them to empty their pockets.
The fact is, the kids didn’t ask for this garbage; they were sold it by people trying to make a lot of money without any thought to moral consequences. Of course they will tell us, “If people didn’t buy it, we wouldn’t make it” as if it’s a moral obligation to sell people things that will destroy them just because they buy it.
Here’s the question: Are we not dreamers? Cannot we, the people who love God, dream a dream for the young people in our churches? Is it only the secular culture that has a dream for our children?
You can protect your kids from the disaster of being shaped by a confused generation of adults selling media, but it will take deliberation. It will take sweat. It will require emotional and mental engagement with your kids, starting when they are at a very young age.
Dream for Your Kids
Dream a dream for your kids. You can determine if they will be entertainment oriented or service-to-others oriented; constantly appeasing the flesh and desiring the next thing to engage and tantalize them, or those men and women who lay down their lives as a sacrifice for others? As you dream for your kids teach them how to think critically and pursue growth in their relationship with the Lord. If you sacrifice now, you’ll reap a blessing for the rest of your life; and the world will never be the same.
Not only must we be the dreamers, but we must also teach our kids to be the dreamers for their own generation. These will soon to become the leaders who will soon determine the culture and morals of America. You can help them get a vision of how God could use them to change their generation and make a difference in the world.
Every time we allow our kids to watch, see, feel, touch and embrace this culture, they become a part of a dream belonging to someone else. The fact is, we must either be the dreamers or we will be a part of somebody else’s dream.
Merely giving birth does not make you a parent. Sacrificing while your children are small, laying down your “deserved” freedoms and deeply thinking about how you’re shaping your children will ensure their lifelong freedom from the chains of slavery to our culture. It’s called loving your children.
It’s called being a parent.
Scripture Of The Day: "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 2:28 (NIV)
President and founder of Teen Mania Ministries, a Christian organization reaching millions of young people worldwide, Ron Luce passionately declares the Gospel through Acquire the Fire TV broadcasts, youth events, camps and media resources, challenging teens to take a stand for Christ. For more information about Ron, log onto http://www.teenmania.org… Monday, June 27, 2011
Selective Amnesia
by Darius Wise
There’s a short passage of scripture that always serves as a constant reminder to “not forget” where the Lord has brought me from. Ephesians 5:8 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
It’s the first five words of the passage that really grab me: “For you were once darkness". Wow, can you remember when? I can. I can remember what it was like to be lost and consistently living in sin. What did your “darkness” look like? I can remember battling through addictions, fighting through low self-esteem, lying, cheating and stealing all in the name of “fitting in.” I really like the way Paul put it in 1 Cor 13:11. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
So what is it? What aids children in “putting away childish things.” Here are four keys to effectively reaching our children:
1. Love unconditionally – Unconditional love is described well in 1 Cor 13:4-8. Paul articulates well what godly love is and what it is not. Love is patient and is kind. It doesn’t envy, nor does it parade itself, it’s not puffed up. Love doesn’t behave rudely, nor does it seek it’s own. It’s not provoked and it thinks no evil. It doesn’t rejoice in sin, but rejoices in truth. It bears, believes, hopes and endures all things. It simply never fails. I think if this text becomes our measuring rod of how we love, we’d begin seeing the fruit of this kind of love in each of the children we’re connected to.
2. Step Into Their World– Has someone ever attempted to do something for/with you that seemed like a chore or duty to them? Well, if you’re anything like me, doesn’t that bother you? I’d much rather you WANT to step into my world vs. you feel OBLIGATED to. When we authentically and intentionally reach out to connect it literally breaks down the subconscious barriers/ walls of protection most children put up.
3. Relate Without Compromise – Much too often, I witness parents, youth workers, and pastors alike attempt to win kids by acting like kids. Unfortunately, that just never works. Our Children don’t merely need friend’s, they need mature, loving guidance.
4. Be Patient & Don’t Forget – Earlier in the article, I attempted to take you back down memory lane because for some reason we forget. It’s as if when we age we decide to get selective amnesia. Let us not forget that someone was patient enough to graciously walk us through our mess, so why wouldn’t we do the same for someone else?
In order to reach them, we must always remember, we were once them.
Scripture Of The Day: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” - Ephesians 5:8 (NKJV)
Darius Wise is Chief Ministry Officer for New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, where Bishop Eddie Long is Senior Pastor. Wise’s inspirational leadership, executive management and business prowess have served him well throughout his 10-year tenure at New Birth. He is currently earning a master’s degree in organizational leadership.
There’s a short passage of scripture that always serves as a constant reminder to “not forget” where the Lord has brought me from. Ephesians 5:8 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
It’s the first five words of the passage that really grab me: “For you were once darkness". Wow, can you remember when? I can. I can remember what it was like to be lost and consistently living in sin. What did your “darkness” look like? I can remember battling through addictions, fighting through low self-esteem, lying, cheating and stealing all in the name of “fitting in.” I really like the way Paul put it in 1 Cor 13:11. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
So what is it? What aids children in “putting away childish things.” Here are four keys to effectively reaching our children:
1. Love unconditionally – Unconditional love is described well in 1 Cor 13:4-8. Paul articulates well what godly love is and what it is not. Love is patient and is kind. It doesn’t envy, nor does it parade itself, it’s not puffed up. Love doesn’t behave rudely, nor does it seek it’s own. It’s not provoked and it thinks no evil. It doesn’t rejoice in sin, but rejoices in truth. It bears, believes, hopes and endures all things. It simply never fails. I think if this text becomes our measuring rod of how we love, we’d begin seeing the fruit of this kind of love in each of the children we’re connected to.
2. Step Into Their World– Has someone ever attempted to do something for/with you that seemed like a chore or duty to them? Well, if you’re anything like me, doesn’t that bother you? I’d much rather you WANT to step into my world vs. you feel OBLIGATED to. When we authentically and intentionally reach out to connect it literally breaks down the subconscious barriers/ walls of protection most children put up.
3. Relate Without Compromise – Much too often, I witness parents, youth workers, and pastors alike attempt to win kids by acting like kids. Unfortunately, that just never works. Our Children don’t merely need friend’s, they need mature, loving guidance.
4. Be Patient & Don’t Forget – Earlier in the article, I attempted to take you back down memory lane because for some reason we forget. It’s as if when we age we decide to get selective amnesia. Let us not forget that someone was patient enough to graciously walk us through our mess, so why wouldn’t we do the same for someone else?
In order to reach them, we must always remember, we were once them.
Scripture Of The Day: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” - Ephesians 5:8 (NKJV)
Darius Wise is Chief Ministry Officer for New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, where Bishop Eddie Long is Senior Pastor. Wise’s inspirational leadership, executive management and business prowess have served him well throughout his 10-year tenure at New Birth. He is currently earning a master’s degree in organizational leadership.
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