Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing … I Want To Be Just Like You … poignantly singing of how we can - and should - lead others like our kids to the Lord.
Wanting to be just like Dad !!
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2 Timothy 3:14 … 15 [ESV] ... 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
… Paul exhorted Timothy to live out the truths he had learned from God’s word that Timothy’s mother had taught him and how he, Paul, was leading him toward.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2 Timothy 3:10-17 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul desired that Timothy follow in the teaching about God he received as a children from Timothy’s mother and from him, Paul, as his mentor.
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Reference Passage : … Deuteronomy 6:6-7 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… The OT Jewish tradition was to teach their children in the ways of God from God’s word.
Reference Passage : … Proverbs 22:6 [ESV] … 6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
… Wisdom from God thru Solomon exhorts Godly parents to raise their children in the ways of God so that they will walk with the Lord.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 19:14 [ESV] … Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
… Jesus strongly commanded His disciples to do all they could to let children come to Him for His blessings and care.
Reference Passage : … 1 Corinthians 11:1-2 [ESV] … 1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.
… Paul knew that if believers followed him they would be following the ways of the Lord.
Reference Passage : … 3John 1:3-4 [ESV] … 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
… John, writing to a Christian disciple, expresses great joy that he (Gaius) had come to walk the path of the Lord.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Winn Collier, teaches on the importance of Christian parents raising our kids or being disciplers … to seek the will of God from God’s word and then by leading others to those truths by example. … The ODB author wrote: An outspoken atheist believes it’s immoral for parents to teach their children religion as though it were actually true. He even claims that parents who pass along their faith to their children are committing child abuse. Though these views are extreme, I do hear from parents who are hesitant to boldly encourage their children toward faith. While most of us readily hope to influence our children with our view of politics or nutrition or sports, for some reason some of us treat our convictions about God differently.
There was a time, 3+ decades ago, when I was that atheist with two young children, thinking and modeling that the things taught in the Bible were foolish. But PTL (!!), I came to my senses (long story) and became a parent who, as in the attached photo, desired that my kids followed me to learn about God. I learned by following other strong Christians, that the scriptures [like those above] strongly admonish Christian parents and Christian leaders to seek the will and ways of God by modeling those truths in the way we live. And I’m pleased to praise God that my kids have done that, now having led our five grandkids to the Lord.
So, if you’re reading this and you have kids, or you’re a mentor or discipler of other young people, I’m praying here today that we all do what Paul and John were desiring from their followers [see scriptures above]. Teaching and discipling young Timothy and Gaius, Paul and John so desired that these young men, their spiritual “children,” follow their lead in seeking out God’s will and following His ways from learning His word. And when we do that we’ll be leading young people, maybe our kids, toward glory.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Jesus, … for leading us so that we can lead other young seekers to Your glory.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to do all we can to lead our kids or to disciple others to follow Christ. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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