HomeARC ML 1142
"TRAIN UP A CHILD ... !" (Pr.22:6)--By Father David DFO 1142 Compiled 1/82
--A "How To" Lesson on Raising Your Little Ones!
(Compiled from the writings of Father David.)
1. BEARING BABIES & HAVING CHILDREN IS THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE IN THIS NATURAL LIFE!--The creation of new eternal souls for the Kingdom of God! It is just as exciting as having spiritual babies, & their training is just as important, if not more so, as we can start it from the very beginning & not have to wait until the World has almost ruined them so that we have to wash their filthy brains first before we can even start filling them with God's good, clean Water of the Word!
2. WITH OUR PHYSICAL BABIES WE CAN START FROM SCRATCH & save at least half the battle & we ought to be producing the World's most wonderful children, our greatest, most effective & most impressive sample & testimony to the whole World! I think our own children are going to outdo any other kind of disciples we may possibly have! Because how could anyone beat such a start?--Blessed of the Lord before birth, given of God to His children for His service, born to genuine Christian missionaries on many foreign & home fields during active service for the Lord.
3. THEY REALLY HAVE COME INTO THE FAMILY THROUGH THE BIRTH CANAL & they should have the best & brightest future in the whole World, blessed by God!--Children born for the glory of God as gifts of God, reared & trained in the nurture & admonition of the Lord to live all their lives for His Love & His Glory!--Taught to love & serve the Lord & others from the very beginning, & blessed by God because of their faithful parents from the very start!--What a head start!
4. TO ME THEY'RE THE MOST EXCITING LITTLE THINGS IN THE WHOLE WORLD, & I love 'em & I love to be around them & surrounded by them & busy teaching & training them as I was with mine when they were small, & still am with all of you crazy little kids! Thank You, Jesus, for our precious children that are such a joy to our hearts, that encourage & inspire us, Lord! We look at them & we know that You live to have created such beautiful little ones & made them so good & so precious & so obedient & such a blessing & such a testimony. Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus!
"GIVE GLORY TO THE GOD OF CREATION FOR THE LIFE THAT HE HAS MADE!"
5. BABIES ARE ETERNAL GIFTS WE'RE TRAINING, NOT JUST FOR TIME BUT FOR ETERNITY.--That's the most precious gift!--God's greatest gift!--His Love in a little child--so sweet & beautiful!--They're treasures! More precious than gold or silver or jewels or pearls or diamonds or emeralds or any of those things, they're precious! They're all treasures, because they'll last forever!--Isn't that wonderful? Little new created souls, they are going to be with us always! TYJ!
6. THINK WHAT A THRILLING THING IT IS! It is worth paying the price of a little sickness & a little weariness. God is using you dear mothers to create an immortal soul! God has done it, but He's using you to do it, you're the tool, creating something that is going to last forever! It's the biggest miracle since the creation of the World, every time a woman has a baby there's another immortal soul that is going to live forever! What a miracle!
7. AND ALTHOUGH IT'S VERY MYSTERIOUS HOW THE LORD ORDERS HIS CREATION & PLANS IT & decides on who should have babies & who should not, we know that He does not make any mistakes about making babies any more than any other part of His creation. God ordained you to give birth if He gave you a baby! God is the Creator of human souls. God is the Creator of pregnancy, not just merely some man [EDITED: "making love with"] a woman! I [EDITED: "made love with"] my wife thousands of times but only had four children! How come I had four children?--God ordained those children to be brought into being, He created those children, not I. We were merely the human instruments that God used.
8. HE'S THE ONE WHO CREATES THAT SPARK OF LIFE, OF SPIRIT, the human soul, the union of spirit & body to form a human soul. I'm sure He knows what He's doing when He creates a baby through you & the mechanics of you & your mate. You could work at it all you want to, & some people I know do, & never have any children. Other people that don't even want 'em have 'em 'cause I guess the Lord knows they can, they need 'em, they ought to have 'em or something. It's a miracle of God all the way through.
9. I DON'T BELIEVE THAT ANY HUMAN BEING, HUMAN SPIRIT IS CREATED WITHOUT THE TOUCH OF THE DIVINE, the touch of the hand of God! I think when He decides He's going to have another soul in existence in this Universe, He makes that definite decision & He creates that soul & He endows it with the spirit when He gets ready & that is a direct creation of God, ordained of the Spirit of God.
10. JUST LOOK AT OUR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN!--What could be more beautiful than our babies? They're so close to God, straight from Heaven. Look at you, God ordained you, before you were ever born & before the foundation of the World. He foreknew that you were going to exist because He chose to create you. You were chosen, you didn't just happen by accident. (See Jer.1:5.)
11. SO I WOULD ABSOLUTELY BE SCARED TO DEATH OF GOD TO INTERFERE WITH HIS NATURAL PROCESSES, do anything to interfere with the natural course of nature, the way God made you & the way He intended for you to be. So [EDITED: "make love"]! You're not going to have any babies except the ordained souls of God & children of God He intends for you to have!
12. (PRAYER FOR BABY TECHI:) BLESS THAT PRECIOUS LITTLE TINY LIFE THAT YOU CREATED, Lord, such a miracle.--A whole new soul for Thy Kingdom, Lord, an eternal everlasting immortal soul, lying swaddled in those little blankets, Lord, she's going to live forever! It's so wonderful, Lord, the only thing You give us that we can take with us, the souls You give us, & the babies & children reared up in Thy nurture & admonition. Thank You, Lord, for them. Help us to prize everyone as precious, thank You Jesus. Bless Davidito tonight too & all our children wherever they are & their families, Thy children everywhere, thank You Lord.
13. (SINGS:)
"SWEETEST LITTLE GIRL, EYES SO SO SHINING BLUE,
MAKES YOU THINK THAT HEAVEN'S COMING MIGHTY CLOSE TO YOU!
Sleeping in her mama's arm, looking up at you,
Makes you think that Heaven's coming mighty close to you!
Sleeping on her mama's breast, looking so sweet & fine,
That's the way she gets her rest, 'cause she knows she's mine.
Sweetest little girl that God gave us too,
She is a little angel, came from out the blue!
Looking at her mommy, eyes all shining blue,
Makes you think that Heaven's coming mighty close to you!"
GOD'S GIFT IS GOD'S WORK
14. SOME OF OUR FOLKS ARE JUST BEGINNING TO LEARN THAT CHILDREN ARE A HARD JOB, A LOT OF WORK. I guess some of them figured that since they were a gift of God, God was going to take care of them! It's like the old story about the farmer: He had been a pioneer & had hacked his farm out of the woods in the jungle. So the preacher was out visiting one Sunday afternoon for dinner & the farmer was showing him around the beautiful farm. The preacher wanted, of course, to give God all the credit. He said, "My, what a beautiful farm the Lord has given you!" The old farmer said, "Yeah, but you should have seen it when the Lord had it!"
15. CHILDREN ARE A GIFT OF GOD, BUT THEY'RE ALSO THE WORK OF GOD. So it doesn't stop with the gift--that gift is a lot of hard work. When God gives you children, then your first duty to God is to those children! That is God's work! God gave them & they're His children, but He wants you to take care of them & train them!--And it's a full-time job! By the time you've got one or two kids, your job is cut out for you!--That's the Lord's work! So don't ever say, "I haven't got time to take care of my kids.--I'm too busy with the Lord's work." Baloney! Those kids are the Lord's work!
16. AND THEY ARE A BIG JOB! But with a big job comes a big reward & with big responsibility comes lots of benefits. So you should be very proud of & very thankful for them.--It's the greatest life & greatest work in the World to be a mother for the Lord & to be rearing "knew disciples" for Jesus, PTL! And they'll be a great blessing to you too.
17. I THINK YOU GIRLS ARE WONDERFUL TO BE MOTHERS!--It's a big job but Jesus will help you. He made it all. It's all His idea so He knows just how to finish it. "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the end." (Phil.1:6) In fact, I think Motherhood is just about the greatest calling in the World!--Mothers of the next generation! They are the ones that are molding the future & making the World!--They make it through their children. The World of tomorrow is what the mothers of today make it, according to the way they raise their children.
18. WHAT AN IMPORTANT JOB A MOTHER HAS! It doesn't seem very important, does it, taking care of nothing but a baby, changing diapers? But who knows what that baby will be someday?--Who knows how important that child may be to the Lord? One human immortal soul is worth more than all the World.--One little babe is worth more & going to last longer.
19. SO DON'T EVER DESPISE IT OR MINIMIZE IT! Taking care of children is probably the most important job there is, molding a little life & teaching it everyday. A child learns 80% of what he's going to learn in his whole life before he's five years old, so think what you're teaching them!--It's going to be 80% of everything they're ever going to learn!--Pretty important to teach them well & teach them right. No wonder if you train the child in the way he should go, when he is old he shall not depart therefrom! (Pr.22:6) How could he? That's 80% of all he knows! He might stray a little now & then just to see what the rest is like or how the other half lives, but he'll always come back to the Father's house. PTL!
20. SO THOSE FIRST YEARS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT & therefore you can't wait till he's five years old--every single passing day is important & what he's learning everyday. And you are responsible as a parent to see to it not only that he's fed & clothed & protected & sleeps & is physically well & healthy, but also that he is mentally trained & taught & spiritually inspired.
21. (MARIA: SOME PEOPLE HAVE A DOCTRINE OF JUST LETTING THEM GO--if they learn they learn & if they don't they don't--well, I don't believe in forcing them to learn something they don't want to learn, but most children want to learn, & they can learn a lot more than they do if you just leave them. The time is so short for the World & for our children that we've got to give them the opportunity to learn as much as they can.) Amen!--You're responsible! And if you haven't got time to do it yourself, you had better be sure you find somebody who can & who does it right & the way you know it ought to be done, or God is going to hold you responsible when you stand before Him one of these days, or even before that!
22. ARE YOU EQUAL TO THE TASK?--NO, BUT GOD IS!--And He will help you to make them His good children, His faithful witnesses & His future rulers if you'll do your best as His queen mothers & kingly fathers to rear them in His house as the fine & worthy princes & princesses that they should be & must be to rule His future Kingdom with us! God will help you if you try!--Amen?
"TENDERLY GATHER THEM IN"
23. MY MOTHER & THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK CARE OF ME REALLY MADE ME WHAT I AM TODAY! I can never remember her teaching me anything but the Bible & about the Lord & spiritual values & Bible characters & truths, & my father the same. The rule of thumb was: If it didn't have anything to do with the Lord, just forget it! My mother was in love with Jesus, thank God, & she instilled that love in me.
24. BUT PEOPLE WHO WONDER HOW TO TEACH A LITTLE CHILD ABOUT JESUS MUST BE PEOPLE WHO DON'T EVEN KNOW HIM! Goodness gracious, I just can't imagine!--We talk about Him, we pray & everything.--You just do it from your heart! Davidito received Jesus at a little over two years of age!--As soon as he learned to talk sufficiently to understand what he was saying.
25. YOU CAN EXPLAIN GOD TO YOUR CHILDREN as soon as they understand what a mother & a father are, someone who loves them & takes care of them & who gave them birth & created them.--You can explain that there is a great Father, and although they cannot see Him, He is everywhere, He is the Spirit of Love, He is Love. In fact even before he talks you can lead your small child to the Lord all the time by your example & your love, talking to him about the Lord & talking to him about Jesus!
26. THEN WHENEVER HE'S OLD ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO SAY, "DEAR JESUS, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR BEING BAD!"--Even if he doesn't understand what sin means he knows what being bad is. "Please come into my heart & help me to be good."--That's all they have to do! If your child is old enough to understand the words & old enough to speak them himself after you, you can lead him to Christ & he can believe what you say, which is the Word, & he can receive Christ through asking Him in, even if you have to tell him what to say.
27. SO LEAD YOUR CHILD TO JESUS NOW! Tomorrow may be much harder! The sooner the better--for both him & you! Why not now? "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, & forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God!" (Mk.10:14) "For He shall gather the lambs with His arm, & carry them in His bosom." (Isa.40:11) PTL!
CHILDREN IN THE WORD!
28. OUR WHOLE EMPHASIS WITH OUR OWN CHILDREN, with myself when I was a child & then with my children when they were small, was to memorize the Word, the Word, the Word! My parents had drilled the Word into me!--I heard the Word from the beginning. The governesses & all the Sunday school teachers read us the Bible & told us Bible stories & I loved them & believed them & I think they were a tremendous influence on my life.
29. THE BIBLE ITSELF & THE BIBLE STORIES PRESENTED PROPERLY WERE A TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE, because I really knew it was God & the voice of God & the Book of God! I know that it wore grooves & channels in my brain that were never erased, thank God. That constant reading of the Bible itself does take hold & you remember, & they will remember. I'm sure that's why I know so much Scripture & I can remember what it sounds like, because I began so young.
30. AND BOY, I TELL YOU, THAT WAS ONE THING WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT USED & WHICH STOOD BY ME THROUGH THOSE YEARS, my knowledge of the Word! I was made to memorize the Word from a tiny tot! Time & time again when something came up in school, some false doctrine of evolution or astronomy or whatever, I would question it & instantly I would get Scripture!--I knew the Truth, I knew the Word, & the Scripture would come to me. The Holy Spirit was faithful to bring Scriptures to mind about every situation on every occasion. I would think of actual Scriptures or Bible stories or Scriptural examples to fit everything that happened.
31. THEN LATER ON WITH MY OWN KIDS, although I was away a lot, when I was home I spent all the time I could with them, & even took them with me on my travels when I could, & constantly taught them myself when we were together, including a one-to-two-hour Bible story nearly every night, usually translated into their own words of simple language & acted out for their amusement while trying to help them get the point, which they seemed to really enjoy!
32. THEN WE'D TURN ON THOSE BIBLE RECORDS FOR THEM TO GO TO SLEEP BY, & we'd always know when they were asleep when nobody got up to change the record again, they were so fascinated by God's Word! Hallelujah!--And that's the way it ought to be in each of our families & that's the way each of you ought to be doing it, only now we have our own cassettes of our own Letters too!
33. I CAN REMEMBER READING THE BIBLE TO THE CHILDREN WHEN THE LITTLE TINY ONES, HO & FAITHY, WERE ONLY ONE & TWO. Of course they couldn't understand an awful lot so the littlest usually dropped off to sleep first. But they sat there & listened, & God only knows how much they absorbed or what they understood. They learned the Word from the time they could talk. They heard the Word all the time! They learned the Word, they memorised the Word, they sang songs that would really sing the Word, they could quote you chapters & chapters of the Word. We just made the Word absolutely primary!
34. I USED TO GIVE THEM CLASSES, SOMETIMES ALL DAY, TEACHING THEM THE WORD, reading the Word, telling them stories, absolutely baptizing them in the Word, immersing them in the Word!--I think sometimes they thought they were almost drowning in the Word! For we gave them the Word day & night, & prayer & singing & praise & testimony, & we had a very happy little Heavenly home right in our little tiny trailer.
35. (AARON: AND LET ME TELL YOU, IT REALLY HAS A GREAT EFFECT ON A LITTLE KID 2, 3, 4, 5 years old when his Dad takes him aside every night without fail & reads a passage of the Bible to him & dramatizes it & acts like it really happened, makes the characters real & reads about Moses & Samuel & David & all these different fellows.--That's how my life started, with a Dad who really cared enough to really teach me the Word. I was taught the Word from the very beginning & I thank God for that! TYL!)
"STORY-TIME"
36. I ALWAYS LIKED TO GO IN & TELL THEM A STORY WHEN THEY WERE GOING TO BED.--It was the last time of the day & they could think about it all night long. I'd pray with them at the same time.--Even if you don't have much time to spend with your children, always pray with them, tell them goodnight & pray with them if you can, or be sure somebody does.
37. THEY'D SIT THERE OR THEY'D LIE THERE IN THEIR LITTLE BEDS & they'd listen to Daddy read the Bible, & because the other kids showed interest, the little ones showed interest.--They really imitate their elders. I don't know if they always got a lot out of it, but I know Faithy at three or four understood everything & wanted me to read the stories to her. (Maria: A regular King James Version?) I would read it, then I'd translate it. I'd take the King James Version & translate it into the Daddy version, about every verse, almost every phrase, to explain exactly what was happening. I'd read each verse & translate it, then I'd act it out, & they were just fascinated, even without pictures or anything!
38. I DIDN'T HAVE A PUPPET SHOW, BUT I WAS THE SHOW when I used to read my kids the Bible. I mean I illustrated it & jumped around & went through the motions & when the whale swallowed Jonah I threw myself on the floor & wrapped myself in a rug! And the kids just really loved it! Even dear little two-year-old Faithy really got a bang out of Daddy's antics!--They just laughed & laughed!--Always knew they were in for a good night's entertainment! The Bible was never like that before! You can make it very interesting if you really act it out & illustrate it.--Get excited!--And if you're excited, they'll be excited!
39. YOU JUST CAN'T HOLD KIDS' ATTENTION WITHOUT QUITE A BIT OF ACTION.--That's why David likes my stories! You've got to keep up the action or he loses interest. If you think they're funny to listen to, you ought to watch one!--Ha! You've got to put in the action & dramatize it or you don't hold their interest. I just grab anything that's handy to illustrate the story:
40. WHEN WE WERE HAVING THE HURRICANE STORY I GRABBED A TISSUE BOX & said, "Some of the buildings fell down flat!" & I smashed the box! And I said, "Other pieces of roof tore off & flew all over the place!" & I grabbed a bunch of my papers & started throwing them all over the room like this! David just sat there absolutely dumbfounded!--Imagine Daddy littering up the floor! Then he laughed & laughed & laughed!
41. YOU OUGHT TO SEE IT! If you guys saw me in action telling the stories you'd probably think I was crazy for sure, but David likes it! He likes it. And another thing, you've gotta give them that suspense line: "And suddenly, you know what?!"--And he's sitting there with his mouth practically hanging open waiting for "what!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
42. SO, PTL! THE WORD HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCK OF OUR WHOLE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM!--The good, wholesome, nourishing, upbuilding, uplifting, encouraging, inspiring, feeding truth of the Word of God! And the more you read those verses over & over to children the more they begin to really absorb them. Their minds are just like a little sponge, a little tape recorder, a little computer, they just sop it all up.
43. SO DON'T NEGLECT THE BEAUTIES, THE RICHES, THE TREASURES & THE POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD!--"And these Words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, & shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, & when thou walkest by the way, & when thou liest down, & when thou risest up." (Deut.6:6,7)--Amen? "Feed My lambs!" (Jn.21:15)
44. GOD WILL BLESS YOU AS YOU SOAK YOUR CHILDREN IN HIS WORD!--PTL!
SOME TEACHING TOOLS & TIPS!
45. BECAUSE WE'RE NOT GOING INTO LIFE TO TRY TO MAKE SCIENTISTS OR MONEY-MAKING BUSINESSMEN OUT OF OUR KIDS, their basic school education should be able to be accomplished within six or seven years at the very most. All they really need is to be able to read & write & figure, the 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting & 'Rithmetic--& the 3 G's: General Biology, General Social Studies & General Science. (See ML Nos.371 & 1036.)
46. AND NOW WE HAVE OUR OWN EDUCATIONAL TEXTBOOK FOR OUR OWN CHILDREN!--With everything you need to know for your child's education from babyhood through the basics through a complete elementary education!--Simple enough for you to teach your own child, & Bible-based enough to have eternal values, the best possible education in this World that you could give any child!--TYJ!--So use it!
47. IN FACT, OUR ENTIRE WAY OF LIFE OFFERS OUR CHILDREN THE BEST EDUCATION THEY COULD POSSIBLY GET!: In the Word & the nurture & admonition of the Lord, growing in faith & living by faith & witnessing, litnessing & learning to be mobile, learning to live Selah, learning to survive, etc.
48. IT IS PROBABLY EVEN INFLUENCING OUR KIDS A GREAT DEAL IF THEY HAVE MORNING OR NIGHTLY MEETINGS AT THEIR HOMES like they ought to have, even if they just listen. As a young boy sitting in church all the time, nearly every night, listening to all kinds of preachers, I probably got a pretty good education! So I think that our smaller children--all the children, in fact--should attend our inspirational sessions & enjoy the music, singing, dancing, testimonies, etc.
49. EVEN WHEN WE'RE HAVING A BIBLE STUDY WE LET TECHI WANDER AROUND & SHE DOESN'T BOTHER ME. The Lord must have had a lot of children playing around His feet when He was teaching, because all the mothers & the fathers & the kids were there. We know there were some children there because one time the disciples didn't want them to bother Him, but He said, "Come on. This is what you oughtta be like." (Mk.10:13-16)
50. AFTER ALL, OUR HOMES SHOULD BE PLACES WHERE THE CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT JESUS--not just about toys & Montessori bells & all that junk some people buy with their money.--I don't know whether they need all that fancy equipment to teach them.--You can make your own! The kids themselves can make things to illustrate the Bible stories, & this really helps them to remember. (Maria: I wonder how they'd get materials & things to know what to do?) Oh, they could dream it up!--Read the Bible & just dream up things to illustrate out of the Bible, out of the Bible stories. (And use FC's wonderful, ready-made Flannelgraphs, teaching aids, etc.)
51. THERE ARE SO MANY BIBLE STORIES & SO MUCH TO TEACH OUT OF THE MO LETTERS, WHY SHOULD WE TEACH THEM ANYTHING ELSE? I can't figure out why we should teach our kids anything but Bible stories & true stories & the things the Lord gives, like MO Letters the Lord has given. Why would you have to teach them Hans Christian Andersen's or Grimm's Fairy Tales or Mother Goose Rhymes or anything like that? I think a lot of that stuff is of the Devil!
52. AND NEVER TELL A LITTLE CHILD ANYTHING THAT'S NOT SO OR ANY OF THESE BIG FAIRY TALES about the stork brought you & Santa Claus & all that baloney, because he believes you, he really trusts you! Otherwise when he gets grown up enough that he finds out it's not so, he's going to throw out everything you ever told him. He's not going to believe & trust you about anything! If you tell him about Jesus he'll think, "Ah, that must be a lot of baloney too!"--Or you tell him all those Bible stories, "They must be a lot of fairy tales too!"
53. SO WHEN YOU'RE READING KIDS STORIES, ALWAYS BE SURE TO DIFFERENTIATE between the ones that are true & the ones that aren't true. You've got to be very careful about what you teach children at an early age, because they're really impressionable & it'll really stick with them, if not consciously, subconsciously.
54. AND LET ME TELL YOU, WHAT YOU DECIDE TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE YOUR CHILDREN, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE! Even when I was teaching school I brought out God in every subject & in every field, showing that there was perfection in all things & that the Perfect One had a hand in the creation of all, that there was a reason for everything.
55. OF COURSE VIDEOS, TELEVISION, MOVIES, ETC., ARE ANOTHER MODERN MEDIUM OF EDUCATION, information & inspiration which the children love, & they are a great educational tool & entertainment for them! Years ago in my little family, the kids & I would often sit & watch television, watch a movie after supper. Eve was of the old Holiness School who didn't originally believe in going to movies at all, but I felt there was some good in them & some relaxation & recreation & education. You had to take the bitter with the sweet & just get whatever you could out of them.
56. SO I SAT THERE & WATCHED IT WITH THEM & MADE SURE THEY DIDN'T LOOK AT ANYTHING THAT WASN'T WORTHWHILE, like today's "Sesame Street" or Muppets, which absolutely insult our intelligence! It's just typical of today's insanity, absolute idiocy! Yet they say it is one of the most popular series in all of America--of which the most popular character is the Piggie! Imagine! Think what they're feeding their children in the States & all over the World where they promote those shows.--Nothing feeding, nothing spiritual, nothing with any meaning, just all meaningless!
57. SO I SAT WITH THEM & MONITORED THE TV, & if I didn't like it I explained why I didn't like it or why it wasn't good or why that was bad, or if there was something difficult they didn't understand I would explain it to them, or I could bring in good applications of the story or use it as an illustration, explain it to them & interpret it for them, etc.--Just as we do today with our videos, I think the same thing is true. I don't think the kids should just be allowed free rein to watch any movies they want without supervision & without your choice & selection.
58. I ESPECIALLY DON'T THINK SMALL CHILDREN SHOULD WATCH ANY KIND OF UNPLEASANT MOVIES. In fact, I don't think blood & guts & violence in movies is even good for adults, much less for children!--I didn't believe in watching trash & stuff that I thought wasn't good for them. So I closely, very closely supervised their TV watching, & for God's sake & your children's sake, please do the same!
59. ANOTHER WONDERFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR CHILDREN IS TO BE ABLE TO LIVE ON OR VISIT A FARM OR OUT IN THE COUNTRY, seeing farm animals & so on. It's really a good experience for them & they'll never forget it no matter where they go.--They'll always remember the farm & the animals & all that, & it's so good! My little family always loved to visit the farm because they always had lots of kids to play with & lots of interesting things to do there, ride the hay wagon & watch the animals & play with the little baby goats & sheep & milk the cows & chase through the woods & fields--all kinds of things that were interesting to do on the farm that you couldn't do in the city. A farm is about the most interesting place in the World!
60. SO TRY ON OCCASION TO TAKE YOUR LITTLE CHILDREN TO SOME QUIET LITTLE NEST, away from the hubbub of the pit & the babble of the crowd, if & when you can, to some quiet place, close to God's glorious creation, where they can marvel at the work of His Hands & see Him in His handiwork, understood by the things that are made, so that they may know God, & glorify Him as God, & be thankful, & have their simple hearts enlightened! (Of course, for many more exciting, inspiring & helpful teaching & training tools & tips, study the real-life accounts of Davidito & his adventures & learning experiences in the Dito Letters!--PTL!)
SEX-ED!
61. ... It's so ridiculous to teach them that there's something wrong, nasty, dirty or evil about sex & sex organs. I think they should learn the natural, normal way--that sex is something wonderful & good, to be enjoyed & appreciated, that there is nothing wrong with your sexual organs, and that they are to be enjoyed as well. (See ML No.258.)
62. I BELIEVE THE CHILDREN OUGHT TO GET THEIR SEX EDUCATION WHENEVER IT COMES NATURAL, whenever they're curious & whenever they want to know. ...
63. WHAT COMES NATURALLY IS UP TO THEM, BUT DON'T TRY TO SIC THEM ON EACH OTHER or encourage it. ... Whenever they are investigative or curious, well, that's one thing. ...
64. I DON'T BELIEVE IN ENCOURAGING IT. ...
66. SO LORD, BLESS OUR CHILDREN THAT THEY MAY BE BROUGHT UP NATURALLY, in the way You intended them to be, the way You made them to be, & the way they naturally are if they're permitted to be natural. TYL!--Amen?
CHILD-TRAINING & CHASTIZEMENT
67. I DID THE BEST I COULD FOR MY CHILDREN & I BELIEVE WE SET THE EXAMPLE WITH THEM.--We weren't perfect & we made lots of mistakes, but because we constantly sought God's help & guidance, they certainly turned out a whole lot better than most. TYJ!
68. BUT BECAUSE ALMOST EVERY CHILD IS A SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL CASE, we can't just make set rules for everybody in every situation. Every situation is different & parents are different & children are different & there are almost as many different ways of dealing with children as there are children in the World, so that we simply are not able to deal with them all exactly the same way.--But we will try to just set down some general guidelines & general information on how we did it.
69. THE LITERAL MEANING OF THE WORD TRANSLATED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AS "CHASTIZEMENT" IS "CHILD-TRAINING" IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK.--And we soon found out with our children that we had to be very faithful in their child training, or chastisement, & thereby train them up in the way that they should go. Disciplining a child is hard work, just as hard, if not harder, on the parent than on the child. ... Keeping up with a child & catching him in everything he's done wrong is hard work. You can't let them get away with a thing, otherwise you'll end up with a spoiled child who thinks he can get away with murder!
70. IF YOU ARE AN INDULGENT PARENT OR NURSE or are apt to be indulgent with the child & spoil him just to keep from having to discipline him, well you may save yourself a little trouble now, but you're going to have a hell of a lot more trouble later! If you give him everything he wants & let him do as he pleases right now just to keep the peace, there's going to be hell to pay!
71. AND LET ME TELL YOU, ONCE THEY'RE SPOILED IT'S HARD TO UNDO! Eve took Deborah for a visit to her relatives when Deborah was only 10 months old & Deb was pretty well behaved, pretty well disciplined before she left. But she came back & she was rotten! Eve said, "I couldn't believe my father, he was so strict with me but he let Deb get away with anything!"--Two months with her grandparents & relatives just absolutely almost marked her for life, she was so spoiled & used to getting her own way & getting whatever she wanted.
72. SO YOU MAY JUST REAP IN YOUR CHILDREN EXACTLY WHAT YOU SOW, especially if you don't discipline them!--That's a parents' job, to train up a child in the way he should go.--And the word for child-training is chastening!
"BACK TO THE GARDEN!"
73. EVERY LITTLE CHILD IS JUST LIKE ADAM & EVE IN THE GARDEN ALL OVER AGAIN. You spend most of your time laying down the law & telling them what to do & what not to do & what's right & wrong, & they spend most of their time experimenting to find out if you're right. So you have to do just like God does: First He lays down the law & the rules & tells you, "Now if you be good & obey these rules, you'll have certain privileges & blessings & be allowed certain things & be able to eat of every other tree in the Garden, but just don't eat of this one. You can have all the rest of these blessings, just don't fool around with this one because it's dangerous! But if you do, this is what we're going to do about it." (Gen.2:16,17)
74. NOW YOU DON'T WANT TO BE UNREASONABLE IN YOUR PROHIBITIONS & PASS UNREASONABLE LAWS that are almost impossible to keep because it's just against human nature. If you make unreasonable laws against certain natural vices, or you make your laws too strict & too stringent, it's almost impossible for anybody to obey them! If you lay down a law or a rule that the child just can't possibly meet, too high a standard, then you're just making him a criminal so to speak.--You're making him break it because you've made the commandment too high, he can't keep it.
75. SO YOU'VE GOT TO SIT DOWN WITH THEM & TALK IT OVER, then lay down the law & let them know that this is right & this is wrong.--You like this but you don't like that, they can do this but they can't do that. And if they do the right thing you'll reward them just like God does, but if they do the wrong thing you warn them in advance that you're going to punish them, & you hope that this fear of punishment or retribution is going to deter them, or keep them from doing it.
76. I KEPT MY CHILDREN WELL-INFORMED OF THE WORD OF GOD & THE RULES OF THE HOUSEHOLD, rules of behavior. They knew what the rules were before they broke them, which they frequently did, but at least they knew what the rules were, & I was not guilty of not having told them. You cannot punish children for doing something wrong that they didn't know was wrong, it's not really fair.--But you may have to stop them & teach & train them in some way not to do it again.
77. WITH EVERY RULE & EVERY LAW THERE ALSO HAS TO BE SOME KIND OF AGREED FOREWARNED PUNISHMENT. It's not really fair to tell them what the punishment is going to be afterward, because then you lose the value of the deterrent effect of the forewarning or threat of punishment. The purpose is not just merely to have a set system of punishments after it's already done, but it is to try to scare them into not doing it ahead of time.
78. I ALSO ALWAYS MADE SURE WITH MY KIDS THAT I DID WHAT I TOLD THEM I WAS GOING TO DO, because if I didn't keep my word, then there was always the hope they could get away with it.--The promised sentence has to be carried out! God did the same thing with Adam & Eve. There are very few places in the Bible where God commuted the sentence. Once God laid down the sentence & they rebelled, He had to carry it out because He had given His Word.
79. MY KIDS KNEW WHEN I TOLD THEM, "NEXT TIME YOU DO THAT, YOU'VE HAD IT!"--THAT I MEANT IT. And that's the only kind of discipline that works: The kind where you mean what you say & you keep your word & your kids know it & they know if they do that & get caught they're really going to get it. Many a time I have wished that I didn't have to enforce my own laws upon my children & I've tried to sort of get out of it.--But once you let them get away with it & they find out you're not going to enforce it, then there's hell to pay because they figure they can get away with it every time!
80. --BETTER NEVER TO HAVE PROMISED THAT SPANKING THAN TO HAVE PROMISED IT & NOT GIVEN IT!--Because then your child will think that you're a liar & you don't intend to keep your word & you're a very lax parent! The moment a child finds out, whether he be a baby or a teenager, that your "no" doesn't really mean "no" & that your threat of punishment will not really be carried out--the minute he finds out he that can get away with it--he'll do it again! And the worst of it is that even if he doesn't always get away with it, even if he only gets away with it once, he'll always try again hoping that this is another time he can get away with it!
81. A LAW WITHOUT ENFORCEMENT IS NO LAW AT ALL! A punishment without application is no punishment at all! If you don't enforce it, your word means nothing.--The law is of none effect. Once you've vowed a vow, sometimes you'll have to keep that vow even to your own hurt or the hurt of your child, because it will have a worse effect, more far-reaching & more long-lasting & more dangerous, for you to fail to keep your word & to be found a liar.
POINTERS ON SPANKINGS!
82. I USED TO USUALLY PUNISH THE OFFENDING MEMBER: If they did something wrong with their hand I'd take their hand & slap it. ... Spanking the offending member helps them get the point of what's done wrong, which member it was that committed the sin or did the wrong thing.
83. NOW THE LITTLE BOTTOM IS NOT VERY OFTEN THE OFFENDING MEMBER unless it sits somewhere it shouldn't, but it makes a very handy well-padded spot to apply the chastisement where it's not going to damage anything, but the child still will be able to feel it effectively. ... But never use a hairbrush or anything that could actually break the skin & hurt them.--Or never hit in a place that could possibly injure them, such as across the knuckles or on the head near the ear.--I also never believed in pinching.
84. MY POLICY WAS TWO WARNINGS & THE THIRD TIME WAS THE CHARM OR THE HARM IN WHICH I SOCKED IT TO 'EM. First I warned them simply not to do it, it was not right. If they did it the second time I'd warn them again & say, "Well, I told you once not to do it, but you've done it again. Now if you do it any more I'm going to punish you."
85. BUT WATCH OUT ABOUT GETTING ANGRY AT YOUR CHILDREN & HITTING THEM QUICKLY & HARD in some way that you might actually injure them. Be very careful never to strike your children on the ears, as you could rupture an eardrum & cause permanent damage, or anywhere near the eyes where you could accidentally injure them.
...
88. AND REMEMBER, WHEN THE CHILD-TRAINING, THE CHASTENING, THE PUNISHMENT IS OVER, THEN IS THE TIME TO LOVE, TO COMFORT, TO ENCOURAGE, "lest that which is lame be turned out of the way," become discouraged. (Heb.12:12,13)--Lest you get so hard on them they just can't meet your standards & they give up & quit. So encourage them all you can.--Forgive, comfort & love 'em up! LOVE NEVER FAILS! GBY & give you great love, patience & wisdom!--And also the mercy to forgive when needed or necessary or advisable!--Or deserved because of great repentance & Godly sorrow!--Amen? PTL!
LOVE & MERCY
89. CHILDREN NEED DISCIPLINE, BUT IT MUST ALWAYS BE TEMPERED WITH LOVE & MERCY.--Remember that prayer? (See ML No.75.) You always have to weigh their motives. Why did he do it? If he really had a good motive even though it seemed wrong, you always have to forgive him. Children will often do that: If you ignore them & neglect them & don't pay any attention to them & don't give them enough love, don't give them enough attention, sometimes they will do something they know you don't like just to get your attention.
90. WE ALWAYS TRY TO USE A LOT OF LOVE & PERSUASION TO GENTLE THEM.--Not just severe discipline to break them. With my first family, sometimes they were pretty bad kids & I had to sock it to 'em & lay it on 'em. But now we've got such good children & such obedient children & such spiritual children & such wise children & such amazing children, we hardly ever have any trouble with them! We've hardly ever had to really spank David. ...
91. (MARIA: EACH CHILD'S DISCIPLINE MUST BE TAILORED TO HIS PARTICULAR NEEDS, HIS INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY).--A lot depends on the temperament of the child, the kind of child as well as the way the child has been treated or mistreated, trained or untrained. Some kids really need heavy discipline. Those who can't be controlled through love have to be controlled through fear. A child not only has to love you, but he's also got to fear you & respect you & not be allowed to get away with outright defiance. Even the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, & if you begin to have a little wisdom it will eventually lead you to getting smart & loving Him. (Pr.9:10)
92. BUT THE BEST KIND OF SO-CALLED PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE CHASTENING OR CHILD-TRAINING, something that will teach them something, train them & help them to learn the lesson, & help them never to make the same mistake again. I know I would rather my father had given me a beating any day than to have to sit down & hear one of his lectures for an hour or two. I much preferred him just to give me a good walloping so I could get it over with & get out & back to play again. To me that was the worst punishment of all, but I guess that's where I learned a lot. I probably learned even more from some of his sermons than from some of his spankings!
93. SO "TRAIN UP YOUR CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO." (Pr.22:6)--It takes time & patience & understanding & lots of real love to train a child, instead of just knocking him around & violently forcing him to do things he doesn't understand or thinks are not right or unfair. We need a lot more love & patience & prayer & reasoning with our children if we're going to really teach them why they must do so-&-so & help them understand why it's necessary. Not always just say, "Do it!" & swat them if they don't.
94. YOU MUST STRIKE A HAPPY MEDIUM. "Let your moderation be known unto all men." (Phil.4:5) Be "temperate in all things" (1Cor.9:25), & hit a middle-of-the-road in your scoldings & chastisements & applications of the rod. Don't be too easy on them, but don't be too hard on them either. And always try to show them why & try to get their willing cooperation through understanding & reasoning, as the Lord does. Then, only after repeated warnings & repeated wilful defiant disobediences & an absolute refusal to obey, are you justified in using loving force--as God does!
95. BUT BE SURE IT'S IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT with the meekness & quietness of a tender, gentle, loving, & contrite heart in all humility. Be sure that you're in the right spirit as you correct them for their mistakes & their errors & their sins, even as God does us & as we would want others to do unto us for ours.--Loving & forgiving one another for Christ's sake, even as He hath forgiven us for our sins. (Eph.4:32)--Amen?--"Love never fails!" (1Cor.13:8)
HEALTH & SAFETY
96. ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS YOU HAVE TO TEACH A CHILD ABOUT IS DANGERS, & the best way to keep children out of danger & trouble is to keep them away from it, forbid them to even go near it, because they're bound to be tempted, even if they know something is dangerous & you've forbidden them.--But if you let them get around it & play around it, it's not the child's fault.
97. IT'S ALSO USUALLY OUR FAULT WHEN CHILDREN CATCH DISEASES OR COLDS.--It's not because of their sins, but the sins of the parents or caretakers. They either didn't keep them warm enough, didn't make sure they got enough rest & good nourishing food, or allowed them to come in contact with strangers or people who had disease--or all three or more. So sorry to say, parents, whenever your children are sick, afflicted or in an accident, especially young children under the ages of 5, 6 or 7, it's usually your fault somehow.
98. AS I'VE ALWAYS SAID, ACCIDENTS DON'T JUST HAPPEN!--THEY ARE CAUSED by our own neglect & carelessness, or that of others! The best way to prevent them is to make it impossible for them to occur! Completely remove the conditions or items that could make them possible!--A fence at the top is better than a hospital at the bottom!--An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
99. ONE OF THE MAIN PREVENTATIVES OF HAVING ACCIDENTS IS: DON'T TAKE CHANCES! Don't just assume that such & such is so. You have to be extra careful with babies & small children so that accidents just can't happen. That's why I get so concerned when I see a little baby sitting on the floor in someone's kitchen. Keep little kids out of the kitchen!--It's a very bad place for them to be! When Davidito was a baby they used to set him in a little chair up on the table way up high, which isn't so bad, but when you've got them down on the floor you can spill stuff on them, drop stuff on them, etc.--Of course if he's very active & not just a very, very young baby, he's apt to work himself off the table & fall by himself to the floor.
100. SO THE WAY TO AVOID ACCIDENTS IS TO PREVENT THE CONDITIONS WHICH MAKE THEM POSSIBLE.--Make it impossible for them to happen! This is why, when I was a young father with four kids, I would never even let them play with any kind of strings or ropes for fear they would get choked. As long as I was watching that was one thing, but I knew I wouldn't always be there, and they might try it then & get hung or something.
101. OF COURSE THE MAIN THING IS TO LIVE CLOSE TO THE LORD & TRUST HIM & then avoid the conditions under which these things can happen as much as you possibly can. Avoid taking any chances with anything! If there's a chance of only one in a thousand that the conditions will cause an accident, avoid them. The Devil will take advantage of the situation if he can, especially if you're not real cautious, so why let him have the chance?
102. SO LORD, HELP US NEVER TO TAKE CHANCES, not even for a split second or moment, to take risks of any kind, thinking we could get away with it. Help us to be prayerful & cautious & thoughtful & not be careless or take risks with the lives that are dependent upon us. Help us not to have any unguarded moments, Lord, but to guard every moment in prayer & watching, cautious & avoiding any conditions where an accident could even possibly happen. Help us to make it impossible for accidents to happen. Help us to put materials & tools away safely so the children won't be tempted to play with them or pull them down on top of them. Help us to keep the children out of the kitchen, Lord, which is a dangerous place, & help us not to leave anything in the reach of children that might harm them.
103. WE HAVE TO WATCH & GUARD THEM A GREAT DEAL until they become mature enough & old enough to take care of themselves. We have to trust You a great deal to do what we can't do, Lord. We can't do everything, but You can. But we can do our part, Lord, & our best to cooperate with Thee & not be careless or unmindful, unwatchful or unprayerful. So help us, Lord, in Jesus' name.
104. --MAY GOD HELP US ALL TO BE GOOD STEWARDS OF THE MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS HE'S GIVEN US: OUR CHILDREN! We really can't afford to lose any! Please treasure & protect yours as never before!--Amen?
"DESPISE NOT THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS" (Zech.4:10)
105. MY OWN MOTHER RESENTED EVERY SINGLE CHILD WE HAD WHEN THEY WERE BORN, & even after the first one, when Aaron was going to be born, she made Eve stay home. But I insisted & she reluctantly let us drag two along with us. But when the third, Ho, was born, that was it!--"That's it, you're fired, not more kids, I can't take three around the country with me!" It's funny that Ho was the one that made her say, "That's it, quits!"--But he became her favorite later.
106. JUST A FEW YEARS LATER SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY ABOUT ALL THOSE KIDS & wanted to drag them around the country with her in evangelistic work & wanted to have them up on the platform singing & everything else, & they were the biggest attraction!--The very kids that she resented. So you see, even the best of people can sometimes be wrong.
107. I REMEMBER MOM, TOO, who had been an outstanding youth leader & teacher, when with four small children, two of them still in diapers, thought she would never have a ministry again. But she did what she could with what she had in her hand, & God blessed it & magnified it & increased it abundantly, until now she can take a large share of the credit for the fruit of this tremendous Family throughout the World!
108. AT FIRST SHE THOUGHT HER MINISTRY WAS OVER.--She was just a wife & mother, no longer a woman preacher, no longer a youth leader, no longer an organist.--She wasn't anything anymore, except a mother. But she became the mother of a new Family & a whole revolution--just by taking good care of her kids & teaching & training them! She took them out on the street, & good night!--
109. THEY DID BETTER THAN BOTH OF US COULD EVER HAVE DONE! Can't you just picture Eve & I standing out on the street, me playing the guitar & she preaching? How far would we have gone? She might have held out her tambourine & we'd have gotten a few nickels, maybe. ...
110. OUR LITTLE CHILDREN BECAME OUR MINISTRY! They were our ministry from the beginning, although we didn't realize it, & they eventually became our major ministry! They were the ones who were now ministering! I'll never forget when they were small, how somebody would stop at our table at the restaurant & say, "Oh, what nice children you have!" And Eve would have Aaron whip out his little ukulele & say, "Why yes, of course, would you like to have them sing for you?" Then they'd start singing a little song & the waitresses & maybe the manager would come over & gather around & listen.
111. YOU KNOW, SMALL KIDS CAN GET AWAY WITH ALMOST ANYTHING! "Oh, isn't that nice!" It wouldn't matter if they sang about Jesus & it was a Jewish restaurant, why they'd still think they were great because they were little kids doing it! Then Eve would say, "Well, not only that, but Faith can even quote the Bible!" So Faithy'd quote the long Jewish history in the 11th Chapter of Hebrews, just as a tiny tot, & everybody would be thrilled! Then the kids would go & scatter throughout the restaurant & pass out tracts to all the tables, & everybody would take them & smile, "What lovely little children!"--They received it because they were just little kids!
112. PEOPLE LOVE KIDS & THEY ARE A GREAT ATTRACTION! I remember in Miami Beach I'd go out & try to hand a tract to a Jew & he'd spit in my face! But I've watched it time & again: My kids walked down the street & passed out tracts right & left to those same Jews: "Oh, da cute little ... !" They'd just flip out over the kids!--And take them. I would hide behind a coconut palm or hibiscus bush & send the kids out with the tracts: "Ahhhhhhh, thank you, sweet little boy. Oh, you dear little child!"--And they would take them, they wouldn't think of refusing them! Ha!
113. IT'S A FACT: KIDS CAN GET INTO PLACES & OPEN DOORS THAT YOU NEVER COULD! And when nobody will listen to you anymore, they will still listen to your kids! They can pass tracts & Letters to people who wouldn't even think of taking them from you! The ministry of the children can be your biggest & greatest ministry! So don't tell me that kids aren't an asset! For a little while maybe they're not much good for anything except a lot of hard work & washing & changing diapers & so on.--You've got to go through that period, but it's not long. It's only a couple of years & you can stay right in the Lord's full-time work, take them out with you, & they're fantastic!
114. SO NEVER BELITTLE THE LITTLE THINGS OR LITTLE ONES!--I hope you can see the importance of your children & their rearing & training & teaching to serve the Lord! They will very likely do a bigger job for God than you have done or ever will do, if you will only train them right, teach them right, lead them right, set the right example & launch them into service for the Lord! Hallelujah!
115. EVEN NOW, OUR CHILDREN ARE ALREADY ONE OF OUR BIGGEST WITNESSES! Even our little kids are every one like a bomb exploding, & I think they're going to really blow things together when they really hit their stride. TYL! A lot of them already are, our precious children who are serving the Lord well already & are really on-fire witnesses for Jesus!
116. I THINK THEY ARE REALLY GOING TO BE TREMENDOUS WITNESSES FOR THE LORD IN THE LAST DAYS.--They already are, & these are the Last Days! In fact, the Lord has prophesied time & again that these children are going to be witnesses unto Him & stand before Him as the Prophets of old in the very End!--That He's going to mightily use our children in the Last Days as some of His mightiest men!--So let's not disappoint Him or short-change Him!--Amen?
117. In the "Prophecy for Davidito" (ML No.619), which is a good message for all you mothers & all you fathers & all you teachers & children's workers, the Lord stressed over & over again, "WILT THOU BE FAITHFUL WITH THE WORDS OF HIS FATHER UNTO HIM? Wilt thou faithfully give him the Words of My bosom? Shalt thou faithfully feed him with the milk which comes from My bosom?--You have no idea how great is this task, to teach this little one the Words of the King."--This is so true for all our children, because they're all going to be great leaders, all of them!
118. SO "WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND?"--Do you know the Word & how to wield this rod of His authority?--Then use it to save your flock from the wolves & to lead your little lambs into the safety of His fold forever!--Are you leading, guarding & guiding them with the rod of His Word in your hand today?--Preparing them to go out into the World & stand with conviction, ready to give an answer to everyone who asks them?--Tomorrow will be too late!--With His Word & lambs in our hearts & hands we can win the World for Jesus!--Hallelujah!
"THE PROMISE IS UNTO YOU, & TO YOUR CHILDREN" (ACTS 2:39).
119. WHEN I LOOK BACK TO THE DAYS WHEN MY CHILDREN WERE YOUNG, I THINK HOW THANKFUL WE OUGHT TO BE. Children are such a blessing from the Lord!--And they're so soon gone. How happy Eve & I were with those little ones! I think those were the hardest days of my life, but I look back & they all look like sunshine & joy & happiness, the children were so sweet.--I'm so thankful there will be children in Heaven! TYL! TYJ!
120. "LO, CHILDREN ARE AN HERITAGE OF THE LORD: AND THE FRUIT OF THE WOMB IS HIS REWARD. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." (Ps.127:3-5)
121. THANK YOU, LORD, FOR ALL OUR MANY LITTLE ONES AROUND THE WORLD, LORD, thousands of them, little children, TYJ! PYL! And thank You for all their faithful mothers & fathers, Lord, who diligently & prayerfully, gently & lovingly care for them & train them up in the way they should go so that when they are old they will not depart therefrom, as You promised. We thank Thee that this has proven true & that we have these little ones that are now serving You, Lord, around the World as they grow older--singing & acting out skits & preaching the Gospel & passing out literature, litnessing & witnessing everywhere, Lord, around the World, & are such testimony, such a blessing, Lord, such an inspiration & such a help, Lord. Hallelujah!
122. "I WILL POUR MY SPIRIT UPON THY SEED, & MY BLESSING UPON THINE OFFSPRING: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses." (Is.44:3,4)-- "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children!" (Isa.54:13) PTL! TYJ!
123. AND JUST THINK, THAT'S ONE WAY YOU CAN LIVE ON EVEN AFTER YOU'RE GONE!--You can live on in your children. If you've reared them right & done a good job of God's work with God's gift, you're going to be so thankful when you get to Heaven! "Thou shalt rest, being gathered unto Me in due season, & this which I have given unto thee shall follow after thee, as a glory unto thee & a star in thy crown!"
124. "LITTLE CHILDREN, LITTLE CHILDREN,
HIS BRIGHT CROWN ADORNING,
Like the stars of the morning,
His loved & His Own.
They shall shine in His beauty
Like the gems for His crown.
Little children, little children
Who love their Redeemer,
Are the pure ones, are the bright ones,
His loved & His Own."
--Hallelujah!
125. GOD BLESS ALL YOU DEAR MOTHERS & FATHERS for doing your share to keep the World going & bringing forth those precious babies to love & train & nourish & rear up in the nurture & admonition of the Lord for His glory & His service as new-bottle witnesses for Jesus! PTL!--WLYA!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
