Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna the word of God to keep us
through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all of
that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to live
healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host, author
speaker L. David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good morning.
It is Monday, September four, twenty twenty three. Hello, my name
is L. David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day and today is no
exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series through the Book of Ephesians.
Our caption for today is advice to parents, and yeah, how many
of us actually need advice as parents? I think everybody should really jump up
and raise our hands because parenting didn't come with a manual. Yes, we
have the Bible and we need the Holy Spirit to teach us as we are
seeking Godliness as we parent. Yeah, so before we get into that I'd
like to say welcome to you and ask you to go over to your Daily
Portion dot com if you have not already done so, and please please click
the joint button so you can come into our online community. Also pick up
your Daily Portion book, and in the meantime, also share where you are
in the world in that website. That way I can continue to build my
map and know that God is spreading his word throughout the world through you,
and it's a blessing for us to be encouraged by this. Let's go ahead
and pray, and then we will get underway. Father in Heaven, thank
you for giving us this new day and for the privilege we have to be
better parents. Father, I'm asking you to show us wisdom and teach us
how you relate to us as we learn to relate to our children. In
Jesus name, I pray, Amen and Amen again advice to parents. Let
me begin by reading directly from the lesson. There was a document, a
religious document available to the people at the time that Paul was alive, and
this is what it says. I'm not talking like I condone it. Please,
We're about to show a contrast between what this says and what Paul,
under the Holy Spirit's inspiration says, Okay, he who loves his son will
whip him often. This is what they were teaching people in those days.
Pamper a child and he will terrorize you. Play with him and he will
grieve you. Discipline your son, and make his yoke heavy so that you
may not be offended by his shamelessness. This is from Sarak. I don't
know if that's how you pronounce it thirty versus one, nine and thirteen.
H Yeah, So that is not what God was teaching his people. God
was not teaching us that. And so we're going to read the council in
stark contrast to what they were hearing from other sources, and the Bible reads
and Ephesians chapter six in verse four and ye fathers, and I would add
here parents, guardians, anyone who has anyone who has responsibility for children.
And ye, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. There are some
things that parents can do to antagonize and provoke our children. I wish I
had the time, but God is saying, don't do that, but bring
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Notice here that discipline
is not completely left out, but there is a highlight here. The highlight
is to nurture our children. You see, it's not whipping our children.
It is not terrorizing our children. It is not fill in the blank,
you know those things that we read from the other source. It is about
nurturing the child and bringing them into a discipline awareness right, and a desire
where we have the opportunity to share one and the desire for them to serve
God, the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Here's what Paul said in
Colossians chapter three in verse twenty one, and the Bible reads, fathers,
provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Now we have
even more context. We don't want our children to be discouraged. Brother and
sisters, those students over which over whom you have responsibility in your classrooms,
teachers. Yeah, so we don't want to discourage them, so we must
not provoke them. Sometimes people call their children's names over and over again.
That's provoking. Sometimes people when they're speaking to their children and they call out
to them, or they use a certain tone with them. It is always
for correction, But never do Some people get the children's attention simply to say
I love you filling the blank name girl, I love you filling the blank
name boy. Yeah. So we need to invest the time in nurturing,
showing appropriate, healthy affection, giving them a desire to be in our presence
based on how we relate to them. Think about it when you are relating
with those children. Now, I'm going to give a three point parenting call
to action, right, because sometimes we talk about this stuff philosophically, but
we want to have a call to action. So I'm calling this rethinking the
power in parenting. Rethinking the power in parenting. Number one, embrace loving
discipline. Yeah, embrace loving discipline. So discipline has to do with structure,
giving our children's our children's structure, giving them the opportunity to see how
they can go from point A to point B to point C in all vital
areas in their lives, beginning with how they connect with God, our Father.
Yeah, giving them the discipline that says, this is how you can
connect to God. You can pray. You can pray, and prayer is
is speaking to God as to a friend. We can show them that kind
of discipline. Well, how do I do that, mommy? How do
I do that? Daddy? Well, you can at any time just call
out to him and say, God, this is what I'm thinking, this
is how I'm feeling. Would you please give me help or guidance in this
area. Would you please forgive me for the thing that I didn't do that
I should have done, or forgive me for the sin that I committed.
Thank you God. And so now that discipline is really a system. It's
system oriented that says I know how to connect with God. And over time
you teach them about other things that are also practical in their lives, like
how they relate to business, how they relate to what they have to do
in terms of tasks in school, how they relate to people, how they
relate to solving problems and other processes and procedures in their lives. So embrace
loving discipline. So it's about It's about mutual love and mutual respect. Number
two represent God's love. God wants us to be a manifestation of his love.
So as parents, embody God's disposition of love and kindness and patience in
the home. Showcase a demeanor that uplifts and educates rather than one that suppresses.
Ellen White wisely states, and I quote be pleasant in the home.
Restrain every word that would arouse unholy temper. Yeah, so we don't want
to antagonize our children. We don't want to fire on them that and then
it puts them in a position to fight or run away. Fight or flight
response should not be something that crops up in our children based on what we
do with them. So we want to represent God's love. Third and final,
prioritize communication. It's essential to communicate with your children in a manner that
doesn't provote anger or resentment. So we want to prioritize communication. It is
through open channels of communication, understanding, and empathy that the true discipline and
instruction of the Lord can be imparted. This approach not only strengthens family bonds,
but also ensures a harmonious environment conducive to growth and spiritual understanding. Those
are your call to action. Three. Prioritize communication. Number two represent God's
love. Number one embrace loving discipline, and in that case we are rethinking
the power of parenting. Of a wonderful day. Peace. Thanks for joining
us listening. Friends, Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but
by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your
daily portion with L. David Harris. Make it a great day.