Children are truly a gift from God as it says in Psalm 127:3, but many people do not appreciate the gifts that were given to them and actually view them as a burden. I actually had a woman tell me one time that she hated her children and that they ruined her life. How selfish can you be? I believe this woman told me the truth about how she felt about her children at that time in her life. I have lost contact with her, but I hope to God that she does not still feel that way about her children, and if she does, it is not the children’s fault, this is her problem, not theirs. I see so many people in our society today, that try and be friends with their children instead of being parents. A lot of it is due to guilt for their own bad decisions in life and so instead of doing things right they continue to compound their issues with their children, by trying to be their buddies. This works great for kids at first, but when the children have to suffer the consequences of their bad decision making, it just compounds more issues into the family unit. In the last 60 years we have really been lied to by todays leaders. Politicians, Psychology, Doctors, Pharmacists, Lawyers, etc. We have bought the lies that have been coming at us and we are paying the price in our society today. The family unit is falling apart at alarming rates. There are so many divorced parents, children that are being born out of wedlock, to people who have been directly affected by divorce themselves. So they are afraid of the commitment. The last few generations have really screwed it up and it is in our power to reverse the damage. But in order to do that, we have to as a nation, repent of our sins and get right with God and ask with sincere hearts that He repair the damage. For in order to have Holy Matrimony, there has to be God involved, for He is what makes it HOLY!!!
Well, I hope that you get a better understanding of what He expects of you to do, with the gifts that He has given to you. Throughout this study you will see, that discipline is not a bad thing in a child’s life. But it has to be done in such a way, that is appropriate to the offense. You do not discipline your child for expressing their selves, but you discipline them for rebellion. There is a difference. If you child does not do something that you told them to do, you do not use physical discipline. If you child continues to run out in front of moving cars, well, this might be time to give them a spanking. Remember do not give them all you have just because you are mad. It is about teaching them lessons in life, so that they will grow up to make good decisions. I believe that this study will show you a lot of different things that the LORD wants you to know about how to raise your children, such as tell your children about the LORD. Discipline your child when needed. Teach your children the right path to take in life, a path that leads to the LORD. You will see that the LORD made your child exactly how he or she was supposed to be, according to Psalm 139 God has been involved with your child since the very conception in the womb. I hope that this study blesses you and your children, that God teaches you how to be a better parent and that our children are blessed by the LORD!!! May God Bless You!
Psalm 127:3-5
Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands. How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Psalm 78
O my people, listen to my teaching. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past- stories we have heard and know, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD. We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did. For he issued his decree to Jacob; he gave his law to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them- even the children not yet born- that they in turn might teach their children. So each generation can set its hope anew on God, remembering his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. Then they will not be like their ancestors- stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.
The warriors of Ephraim, though fully armed, turned their backs and fled when the day of battle came. They did not keep God’s covenant, and they refused to live by his law. They forgot what he had done- the wonderful miracles he had shown them, the miracles he did for their ancestors in Egypt, on the plain of Zoan. For he divided the sea before them and led them through! The water stood up like walls beside them! In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and at night by a pillar of fire. He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them plenty of water, as from a gushing spring. He made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river!
Yet they kept on with their sin, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They willfully tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved. They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food in the desert. Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out but he can’t give his people bread and meat.” When the LORD heard them, he was angry. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel, for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them. But he commanded the skies to open- he opened the doors of heaven- and rained down manna for them to eat. He gave them bread from heaven. They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold. He released the east wind in the heavens and guided the south wind by his mighty power. He rained down meat as thick as dust- birds as plentiful as the sands along the seashore! He caused the birds to fall within their camp and all around their tents. The people ate their fill. He gave them what they wanted. But before they finished eating this food they had craved, while the meat was yet in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them, and he killed their strongest men; he struck down the finest of Israel’s young men. But in spite of this, the people kept on sinning. They refused to believe in his miracles. So he ended their lives in failure and gave them years of terror.
When God killed some of them, the rest finally sought him. They repented and turned to God. Then they remembered that God was their rock, that their redeemer was the Most High. But they followed him only with their words; they lied to him with their tongues. Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant. Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and didn’t destroy them all. Many a time he held back his anger and did not unleash his fury! For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone in a moment like a breath of wind, never to return.
Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved his heart in the wilderness. Again and again they tested God’s patience and frustrated the Holy One of Israel. They forgot about his power and how he rescued them from their enemies. They forgot his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan. For he turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams. He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them. He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts. He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamores with sleet. He abandoned their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. He loosed on them his fierce anger- all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but handed them over to the plague. He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt. But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness. He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea closed in upon their enemies. He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them. He drove out the nations before them; he gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.
Yet though he did all this for them, they continued to test his patience. They rebelled against the Most High and refused to follow his decrees. They turned back and were as faithless as their parents had been. They were as useless as a crooked bow. They made God angry by building altars to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols. When God heard them, he was very angry, and he rejected Israel completely. Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people. He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands. He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people- his special possession. Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs. Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths. Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep, like a mighty man aroused from a drunken stupor. He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame. But he rejected Joseph’s descendants; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. He chose instead the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. There he built his towering sanctuary, as solid and enduring as the earth itself. He chose his servant David, calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants- God’s own people, Israel. He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.
Ephesians 6:1-4
Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first of the Ten Commandments that ends with a promise. And this is the promise: If you honor your father and mother, “you will live a long life, full of blessing.” And now a word to you fathers. Don’t make your children angry by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction approved by the Lord.
Proverbs 20:11
Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure and right.
Proverbs 22:6
Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.
Proverbs 22:15
A youngster’s heart is filled with foolishness, but discipline will drive it away.
Proverbs 23:13-14
Don’t fail to correct your children. They won’t die if you spank them. Physical discipline may well save them from death.
Proverbs 23:24-25
The father of godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure it is to have wise children. So give your parents joy! May she who gave you birth be happy.
Proverbs 29:15
To discipline and reprimand a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.
Proverbs 29:17
Discipline your children, and they will give you happiness and peace of mind.
Proverbs 13:22
Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth passes to the godly.
Proverbs 17:6
Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged; parents are the pride of their children.
Psalm 103:17-18
But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!
Galatians 4:1-7
Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves great wealth for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.
And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you.
Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1
Young man, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do. So banish grief and pain, but remember that youth, with a whole life before it, still faces the threat of meaninglessness.
Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and no longer enjoy living.
Genesis 21:8-21
As time went by and Isaac grew and was weaned, Abraham gave a big party to celebrate the happy occasion. But Sarah saw Ishmael- the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar- making fun of Isaac. So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that servant and her son. He is not going to share the family inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”
This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant wife. Do just as Sarah says, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. But I will make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he also is your son.”
So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food for the journey, and strapped a container of water to Hagar’s shoulders. He sent her away with their son, and she walked out into the wilderness of Beersheba, wandering aimlessly. When the water was gone, she left the boy in the shade of a bush. Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears.
Then God heard the boy’s cries, and the angel of God called to Hagar from the sky, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy’s cries from the place where you laid him. Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.”
Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well. She immediately filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness of Paran. He became an expert archer, and his mother arranged a marriage for him with a young woman from Egypt.
1 Samuel 1:9-20
Once when they were at Shiloh, Hannah went over to the Tabernacle after supper to pray to the LORD. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the LORD. And she made this vow: “O LORD Almighty, if you will look down upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the LORD, his hair will never be cut.
As she was praying to the LORD, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!”
“Oh no, sir!” she replied, “I’m not drunk! But I am very sad, and I was pouring out my heart to the LORD. Please don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”
“In that case,” Eli said, “cheer up!” May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”
“Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.
The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the LORD once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the LORD remembered her request, and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the LORD for him.”
Malachi 2:15
Didn’t the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard yourself; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
Psalm 139:13-16
You made me all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- and how well I know it. You watched me as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
Proverb 27:11
My child, how happy I will be if you turn out to be wise! Then I will be able to answer my critics.
Psalm 37:25-26
Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor seen their children begging for bread. The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing.
Psalm 37:28
For the LORD loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly. He will keep them safe forever, but the children of the wicked will perish.
Matthew 18:1-6
About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Which of us is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
Jesus called a small child over to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.
Mark 9:33-37
After they arrived in Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples settled in the house where they would be staying. Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down and called the twelve disciples over to him. Then he said, “Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”
Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes my Father who sent me.”
Mark 10:13-16
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
Luke 2:22-24
Then it was time for the purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” So they offered a sacrifice according to what was required in the law of the Lord- “either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
Luke 9:46-48
Then there was an argument among them as to which of them would be the greatest. But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he brought a little child to his side. Then he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.”
Luke 18:15-17
One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. Then Jesus called for the children and said to his disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 13:11
It’s like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
Ephesians 4:14
Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.
1 Samuel 1:21-2:36
The next year Elkanah, Peninnah, and their children went on their annual trip to offer a sacrifice to the LORD. But Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “Wait until the baby is weaned. Then I will take him to the Tabernacle and leave him there with the LORD permanently.”
“Whatever you think is best,” Elkanah agreed. “Stay here for now, and may the LORD help you keep your promise.” So she stayed home and nursed the baby.
When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and half a bushel of flour and some wine. After sacrificing the bull, they took the child to Eli. “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the woman who stood here several years ago praying to the LORD. I asked the LORD to give me a child, and he has given me my request. Now I am giving him to the LORD, and he will belong to the LORD his whole life.” And they worshiped the LORD there.
Then Hannah prayed:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD!
Oh, how the LORD has blessed me!
Now I have an answer for my enemies,
as I delight in your deliverance.
No one is holy like the LORD!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
“Stop acting so proud and haughty!
Don’t speak with such arrogance!
The LORD is a God who knows your deeds;
and he will judge you for what you have done.
Those who were mighty are mighty no more;
and those who were weak are now strong.
Those who were well fed are now starving;
and those who were starving are now full.
The barren woman now has seven children;
but the woman with many children will have no more.
The LORD brings both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.
The LORD makes one poor and another rich;
he brings one down and lifts another up.
He lifts the poor from the dust-
yes, from a pile of ashes!
He treats them like princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
“For all the earth is the LORD’s,
and he has set the world in order.
He will protect his godly ones,
but the wicked will perish in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
Those who fight against the LORD will be broken.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the LORD judges throughout the earth.
He gives mighty strength to his king;
he increases the might of his anointed one.”
Then Elkanah and Hannah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy became the LORD’s helper, for he assisted Eli the priest.
Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the LORD or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.
The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must first be burned.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.” So the sin of these young men was very serious in the LORD’s sight, for they treated the LORD’s offerings with contempt.
Now Samuel, though only a boy, was the LORD’s helper. He wore a linen tunic just like that of a priest. Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the LORD give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the LORD. And the LORD gave Hannah three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle. Eli said to them, “I have been hearing reports from the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning? You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the LORD’s people are not good. If someone sins against another person, God can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede?” But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the LORD was already planning to put them to death.
Meanwhile, as young Samuel grew taller, he also continued to gain favor with the LORD and with the people.
One day a prophet came to Eli and gave him this message from the LORD: “Didn’t I reveal myself to your ancestors when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt? I chose your ancestor Aaron from among all his relatives to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly garments as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests. So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you honor your sons more than me – for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people!
“Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The terrible things you are doing cannot continue! I had promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor only those who honor me, and I will despise those who despise me. I will put and end to your family, so it will no longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will live to a ripe old age. You will watch with envy as I pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days. Those who are left alive will live in sadness and grief, and their children will die a violent death. And to prove that what I have said will come true, I will cause your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to die on the same day!
“Then I will raise up a faithful priest who will serve me and do what I tell him to do. I will bless his descendants, and his family will be priests to my anointed kings forever. Then all of your descendants will bow before his descendants, begging for money and food. ‘Please,’ they will say, ‘give us jobs among the priests so we will have enough to eat.”
Side note: Eli’s sons were killed in 1 Samuel 4:11 on the same day.
Proverbs 10:1
A wise child brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother.
Proverbs 10:5
A wise youth works hard all summer; a youth who sleeps away the hour of opportunity brings shame.