PREPARING PRINCES
Part 3
"Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord."
2 Chronicles 36:9 NASB
We noticed in Preparing Princes, Part 2 that Josiah sought the Lord while he was still a youth. His son is now made king while a child, but the Bible says that he did that which was evil before the Lord. And yet he was only eight years old! Even at an early age children can follow after evil or follow after the Lord.
I am sure it depends on their training. This is why we must be faithful to fill our children with God's living Word even while they are small. Satan is out to get our children and he will try even when they are young. I remember at nine years of age wanting to ask Jesus Christ into my life. I struggled. I felt the power of the enemy holding me back. It was a spiritual battle.
My daughter, Evangeline experienced the same thing when she gave her life to Jesus as a young child. Evangeline shares her testimony: God saved me at four years of age. Even today, it is still the most vivid and powerful experience of my life. I was lying in bed. I still remember the orange bedspread cover. My mother came into my room and said, "Stephen (my twin) has just asked Jesus to come into his life. Would you like to also?" At that moment the world stopped and the fight between the powers of darkness and heaven began. My whole body was shaking. With all my heart I wanted to ask Jesus into my life, but the pull from Satan was so strong. "No, no, no..." the voice of Satan pulled at my heart. The struggle was powerful.
Eventually I said, "Yes" with all my heart. I followed my mother in prayer asking Jesus to come into my life. At that moment I knew God. I experienced the reality of God. He came into my life and filled me. He opened my mind to Him. I was saved for life - no turning back! I have known His powerful presence in my life ever since. Instantly I felt peace. Instantly I was not afraid of the big owl outside my room - or of anything. I have never been afraid of anything from that day.
Satan wants the minds and hearts of our young children. That is why we must be diligent to train them from a very young age. We want them for God, not for the devil's kingdom. This makes me wonder why God-fearing parents allow their children to go into the public school system to be subtly indoctrinated with humanism, socialism and progressivism. It is there they are trained to think like socialists and become more and more conformed to this spirit of this world.
Psalm 1:1 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night." Many of our children, especially at college, sit under professors who scorn the Bible and the ways of God. God's blessing is on those who do not sit in the seat of the scornful and the counsel of the ungodly. Just imagine if every God-fearing parent took their children out of "the counsel of the ungodly" and brought them home to teach them in the ways of God! We would have a revolution in the country. And we certainly need one!
Back in the days of Israel when they were training princes and mighty men to fight for their country, they didn't train ones and twos; they trained thousands of them. Look at some of the numbers that came to help David to make him king in 1 Chronicles 12.
"The children of Judah... ready armed to the war." ... ... ... 6,800
"The children of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war." 7,100
"The children of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, which could keep rank; they were not of double heart." ... ... ... 50,000
"The children of Dan, expert in war." ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 28,000
The children of Asher, expert in war." ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 40,000
As I read through the Word of God I don't see any commandments to send our children to God-hating colleges where they are brainwashed to think like humanists. Instead, I see God wanting to pour out His Holy Spirit upon them. Acts 2:17-18 says, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters hall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."
Do you want your children and teens to be worldly humanistic thinkers or do you want them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly speaking forth God's truth in this deceived world. This won't happen unless they are in an environment for God to pour His Spirit upon them. That environment is not in a godless education system. Who do you think has the best idea? God? Or man with his own ideas?
Love from NANCY CAMPBELL
Above Rubies, www.aboverubies.org
PRAYER:
"Oh God, please help me to raise my children in an environment where you can fill them with your Holy Spirit and prepare them to be mouthpieces for you in the land. Amen."
AFFIRMATION:
I'm taking God's side rather than man's!
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