Parenting,
the art of raising the next generation of godly seeds, is one of the principal
reasons why God inaugurated the family—the institution called home. However,
only couples who see marriage not as an end in itself but a means to an end
recognize this. Many couples labour at child bearing. They fast, visit mountains,
receive the laying on of hands and prayer of men of God to be pregnant. Some
even go extra miles medically to pay huge sum of money in the name of employing
‘Assisted Reproductive Technology’ just to ensure pregnancy and child bearing. Those
who have no delay in getting pregnant are very good at “knowing” their partners
(in the language of the bible) to become pregnant. Some of them consciously
embrace family planning to avoid too many children, too close conceptions and
too frequent pregnancies and deliveries. However couples who can do all of
these to ensure child bearing, do next to nothing to ensure godly children are
raised. They leave child raising to fate. They see no reason to be intentional
in raising children while they are conscious and international in ensuring child
bearing, they are really consciously or unconsciously non-challant about child
raising. Some have even transferred their parenting responsibility to house
maid. Majority have left it into the hands of the school teachers, society and
even the media. Some commit younger children to the elderly ones to be trained
by them. We have grossly neglected this principal purpose of God for instituting
home. Even believers are not left out of this. We enroll these children in
schools but we are ignorant of what godly parenting entails. We simply also can’t
just give godly parenting what it demands not only because we do not know what
it requires but also because we are just not ready. The aftermath of this is
what we see in our society today the children that were not trained are
actually selling the houses we labour to build.
·
The clowns that came out of our homes
are the politicians governing us today. And you know what? “We care actually
groaning under their rulership because they are bunch of wicked souls. God’s
people remember that it is only.
“When the
righteous are in authority that the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth
rule, (according to the scripture) the people must definitely mourn.”
Prov.29:2
·
Instead of having a wise son and a wise daughter
who makes glad his/her father, we have foolish children who have become the heaviness
of their mothers’ hearts. Prov.10:1
·
Instead of raising children as the
heritage of the Lord who are mighty arrows shot by the hands of the Almighty
God through the platform of godly parenting; we give them to the devil as the
mighty weapons of destruction. Psalms 127:3-5
·
Instead of raising children like Samuel
who had developed a spiritual listening ear to hear what God had in mind for
His people and served as God’s mouth piece; we are raising Eli’s children-like
individuals who have the effrontery to be sexually immoral even in the
tabernacle of the congregation as altar boys/girls, choir members and even
ushers. 1Sam.2:21-26 and 3:1-21
·
Instead of raising saviours like Joseph
who through the exercise of their God-given gifts and talents are committedly
rescuing their generation from intense famine; we raise a company of people who
are contributing to the evil in our days. Gen.41:14-46 and 50:20-21
·
Even children of the ministers of the
gospel are turning out like the children of Samuel right under their nose. Such
children walked not in the ways of their fathers; instead they turned aside
after greed, took bribes and perverted judgement. 1Sam.8:1-3
·
Instead of believers’ children turning out as
assets to themselves, their parents and society; they are liabilities of
varying degrees to themselves, their parent and society at large; and are
considered as great nuisance.
These
and many more are the things that are falling apart in our homes and by
extension in our societies just because our centre (homes) cannot hold in
intentional, Holy Ghost-directed, love-motivated and spiritual-approach to
kingdom parenting.
To
this end, God has called and ordained us to rise up, speak to the darkness,
void and emptiness prevailing in our homes and societies (especially in the
aspect of lack of kingdom parenting); so that light can replace darkness; void
can give way to shape and fullness can replace emptiness as godly parents who
are on a mission to raise godly children are recruited and equipped for kingdom
parenting task.
If
you identify with this need either as an individual pastor and/or congregation
of God’s people; and if you are motivated to turn things around; we encourage
you to stage a programme(s) to address this need. If you consider us suitable
to fill this gap we are at your services for series of teachings on kingdom
parenting in your church among parents and intending parents. We are equally
available to provide ministers of the gospel, school teachers and those who are
passionate about raising the next generation of godly parents and godly
children necessary training required for adequate equipping.
We
shall appreciate if you can organize this at your convenience and at a
frequency you consider appropriate considering the urgency of the matter. The
organization and the logistics necessary are in your control, all we do is
provide the training as you give us your platform.
Yours
in Christ’s Vineyard
Dr.
Israel Adeyemi Owoade
President,
Covenant and Light Gospel Mission, Ile-Ife, Osun state, Nigeria.
israeladeyemigmi@gmail.com
08137731718,
09092870794
0 comments:
Post a Comment