Truth and Lies

This morning's Psalms had a verse that stood out to me concerning this book "Lies women believe".

Psalms 40:4
Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Am I turning aside to these lies every day? There are some that I struggle with daily I know but Praise the Lord, I've been able to overcome some as well. I think reading the Psalms while reading this book was a good combination because I'm encouraged to keep pressing on in the Psalms while also being smitten about the lies I've been believing and uplifted by the verses that defeat and conquer those lies.

Lie: Children need to get exposed to the real world so that they can learn to function in it.
Truth: Our task is not to raise up children who can fit into this world or merely survive it but to bring up children who will be used by God to change our world. (Romans 12:2) Like young, tender plants, children need to be protected from worldly influences until they are spiritually mature enough to withstand them. (Psalm 101;Romans 16:19) The fear of the Lord and a vital, personal relationship with God are the best means of preparing children to withstand secular culture and to make a difference in our world. (Psalm 92:13-15; Proverbs 9:10-11)

Thoughts from the book:
The challenge of every Christian parent is to being up children who love God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength; who have a vibrant, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus; and whose lives will be bright and shining lights, penetrating the darkness around them. Children who enthusiastically embrace the Truth, children who love righteousness and HATE evil, children who will be used by God to change this world. Children who have had cultivated in them a deep love for holiness and a strong aversion to sin, not so much out of fear of what the culture might do to us, as out of reverence and love for the Lord.

The best preparation for life is to be trained in the Truth of God's Word as it relates to every academic discipline.

(I can relate to the author here) I don't recall ever hearing a single word of profanity before graduating from high school.

(I don't want my kids knowing more about the popular cartoon characters, movies, or televisions programs than they know about God and the Bible. I want them quoting Bible not movies. I want them singing Jesus loves me, not songs from movies.)

(I want to raise a young person who knows the difference between right and wrong, has a good overview of the Scripture-in addition to family devotions and sound doctrinal preaching in the church. I want to school them with journeys through the Bible, scripture memorization, basic understandings of the major doctrines of the Christian faith, and the ability to sing from memory many of the theological rich hymns. I want them to learn about and look up to heros such as, Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, William Carey, Gladys Aylward, and Dennis Wells. More important than "knowing" these things, I want them to have a vital, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus-a relationship that will sustain them when they are out on their own and will motivate them to make right choices once they are outside the protective walls of our home. I want the "Faith of our Fathers" to become their own.)

These are gifts from the Lord and from parents who took seriously their responsiblity to raise godly daughters and sons.

Children will cultivate an appetite for whatever they are fed in their earliest, formative years. I want to shape their "want-to". I want them to love the Lord and want to please Him, that their decisions may be driven by a strong sense of the presence, holiness, and love of God rather than by fear of what their parents will think. I don't want them to have an appetite for any thing that isn't consistent with the Word of God. I want them to have a heart for those people who practice wrong lifestyles and believe the wrong things desiring to see those people come to Christ.

As the author, I have witnessed firsthand in my home as a young girl, the blessings of fervent love for God and glad-hearted surrender to His ways; that upbringing had cultivated in me a heart to please the Lord and to walk in the Truth.

Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould. We are not to be molded by the culture, as so many believers are today but, rather, are to be so filled with the Spirit and the Word of God that our lives will penetrate and convict the culture around us.

Lord willing, and by God's help, may I raise my kids to be transformers, not conformers.