The Christian family is a holy place
Why is he so angry at his family? The family is the embryo of the Church; destroying the family, it destroys the Church. Family is a place of maximum unity. Life begins with family. If husband and wife are one flesh, they are invincible. The Christian Family is a Holy Place. God is the Creator of the family.
Family is God's institution, it is God's plan for human life. As the Creator, He has the right to be a part of every marriage. We have dedicated our family to the Lord, and by covenant right, He wants to live in every family. “I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God and they will be My people” 2 Cor.6:16. When God lives in the family, the family becomes a holy place.
At the moment of marriage, the groom becomes not only a husband, but also a priest in his house. Family is the first place of his ministry.
Using the example of the relationship between Christ and the Church, God shows how this ministry takes place. “Husbands, love your wives, “just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her by the washing of water by the word” Eph.5:25-26.
Family is a place where husband and wife serve each other with love. They can only do this in one case when they receive love from God. “God is love.” The more we immerse ourselves in God, the more His love is in us. And then it is not difficult for us to give His love. We cannot give to others what we do not have. If there is no love, you can portray it, but not for long. In the end, what fills us will flow out of us. If it is love - love, malice - malice, greed - greed, discontent... “By their fruits you will know them...”
The husband, like a priest, always present before God, receives God's love in the sanctuary. It is there, in the sanctuary, in the presence of the Lord, in personal relationships with Him, that all revaluations of values take place. The husband himself changes in the presence of God. He is able to look at the state of his heart before God, as happened with the prophet Isaiah when he saw the Lord: “Woe is me! I'm dead! For I am a man of unclean lips...” Is.6 ch. The husband himself receives forgiveness from God and the ability to forgive, he receives love from the Lord and brings this God's love into his home, and with it forgiveness, healing, restoration. Whatever he himself received from God in the sanctuary, he brings it to his family. You cannot bring into the family what you did not receive.
Wives, we need to recognize the authority and priesthood of the husband in our family. This is God's order: “...the head of every man is Christ; The head of a woman is her husband, but the head of Christ is God” 1 Cor.11:3. Even if your eyes and feelings tell you otherwise, just become obedient to God. By faith, accept your husband as a priest in your home Church. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1. Our job is to help our husband enter into God’s determination.
We do not come to our home empty-handed. We always bring with us what we have received. These are either blessings and revelations of God for the family to move forward and grow in God. Or do you eat elsewhere, outside the sanctuary: on the Internet, television (Russian channels), gambling, alcohol, drugs - these are the devil's horns, lentil stew, which destroy the relationship with God, then the family, and kill our present and future. Jesus Christ was jealous about His temple, about His dwelling place. The holy place, intended for a person to meet God, forgive, heal, restore, liberate, did not correspond to its purpose. Instead, there were those buying and selling, money changers... Jesus took a whip and drove everyone out.
Today Jesus is jealous of your family and mine as a holy place. Where sacrifices are made for sin, where there is forgiveness, gratitude, peace. Where His will is carried out, where relationships with God and each other are restored, where there is joy in the Holy Spirit. Think about your family yourself and answer before Him today, how do you want Him to come to your family, to the place where He rightfully belongs? If your family has long resembled a den of robbers, and you are the boss there, then who will your wife and children be? “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” Gal. 6:7. You, as a priest, are given the right to determine the fate of your wife and children. And it is from you that God will ask for your family, just like in the Garden of Eden, when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God asked Adam. “If the first fruit is holy, so is the whole; and if the root is holy, so are the branches” Rom.11:16.
Whenever God communicated with a person, this place became holy. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. He said to take off the shoes from his feet, because this place had become holy from the presence of God.
Family is the place where you need to take the shoes off your feet; this means removing your pride, arrogance, and selfishness. This is what we often wear and what pollutes our family. Why do people take off their shoes when entering a house? Because when we walk through the dirt of this world, we get dirty. The ability of dirt to stick to our shoes. We make a choice whether to bring this dirt into our home or leave it outside the door. For our family to truly become a Holy place, we need to give to God everything negative that is still in us and receive purity, holiness, and love from Him. If we are filled with His content, it will not be at all difficult to give it to others, and especially to our loved ones. Then, giving love and serving each other, we do not strain, we do not force ourselves, this is the state of our heart, because from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
The purest, most sincere, holy relationship should be between husband and wife. They are workers in God's field. They must clearly know that their family is a holy place, this is God’s garden, in which God allowed you, husband and wife, to work for His Kingdom.
The family evaluates your service to God. If you succeed in a family, this is a guarantee that you will succeed in serving God, which He intended for you and your family. Jesus said: I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Let your family become a holy place, the Temple of God, so that He will constantly dwell in it.
RC HVE based on materials from www.myhome-sweethome.com
Punishing children
An ill-mannered and undisciplined child grows up to be selfish and rebellious. Children should be punished whenever they boldly violate the sound rules set by their parents. But children should not be punished for mistakes or childish irresponsibility. At the same time, it is necessary that they taste the consequences of their mistakes and irresponsibility. This will prepare them for adulthood.
Young children should be spanked, as the Word of God says. Naturally, this does not apply to babies. But this does not mean that babies should be indulged in everything. Almost from the day they are born, it should be clear to them that power in the house belongs to the father and mother. From a very young age, they must learn that the word “no” is intended to stop them from doing or planning to do. Once they've learned what "no" means, a gentle smack on the bottom will help them take the word more seriously if they miss it. If parents are consistent in raising their children, they will learn to be obedient from an early age.
You cannot immediately give children everything they want, even if they cry. Otherwise, children understand that in order to achieve something from their parents, they need to shed tears. If parents instantly satisfy children's desires, accompanied by whims and hysterics, then children understand that this is exactly how they need to behave in order to get what they want.
The punishment should not be cruel or traumatic, but it should still be painful enough to make the naughty child cry for a while. Thus, the child learns to identify disobedience with pain. Here's what the Bible says:
“Whoever spares his rod hates his son; and whoever loves punishes him from childhood... Stupidity has become attached to the heart of a young man, but the rod of correction will remove it from him... Do not leave a young man without punishment: if you punish him with a rod, he will not die; you will punish him with the rod and save his soul from hell...The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left neglected brings shame to his mother” (Prov. 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).
When establishing rules of conduct, there is no need to try to achieve obedience through threats. If a child openly disobeys, he should be spanked. When parents only threaten
and do nothing, the child learns impunity. As a result, he gets used to the fact that parents need to be obeyed only when the threat is made at a certain level of volume.
After punishing the child, you need to hug and talk to him so that he understands that his parents still love him.
How to love your children
1) Do not provoke your children (see Eph. 6:4).
You can't expect children to act like adults. If you demand too much from them, they will stop trying to please you, knowing that this is impossible.
2) Don't compare your children to other children.
Let them know how much you appreciate their unique qualities and God's gifts.
3) Give them instructions,
concerning housework. This way they will know that they are an important part of the family. The feeling of completing a task builds self-esteem in children.
4) Spend time with your children.
This is how you show them that they are important to you. You cannot replace personal communication with the purchase of material things. Children are most influenced by those who spend time with them.
5) Try to say negative things with a positive attitude.
When my children were disobedient, I never told them they were “bad.” Instead, I told my son: “You’re a good boy, and good kids don’t do that!” (After that I punished him).
6) Understand that the word “no” means “I care about your welfare.”
When children are allowed everything, they subconsciously believe that you don’t care because you don’t limit them in anything.
7) Children imitate you.
Children learn from the example of their parents. A wise parent will never tell his child: “Do as I told you, and not as I do.”
You cannot save your children from all problematic situations.
Your job is to remove what makes them fall, but don't widen the narrow path.
9) Serve the Lord with all your heart.
I noticed that children of “lukewarm” parents very rarely serve the Lord when they grow up. Believing children of atheists and children of dedicated Christians usually serve God faithfully.
10) Teach your children the word of God.
Parents often give priority to the secular education of their children, but forget about the most important education - the Bible.
Parental Responsibility for Instruction
Ephesians 6:4 says fathers are to teach and instruct
your children in the Lord. Instruction in biblical morals, Christian character, and theology is the responsibility of the fathers, not the church. Parents who place the responsibility for instruction in the Lord on the shoulders of Sunday school are making a very serious mistake. God commanded Israel through Moses:
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. And instill them in your children
and talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:6-7).
Christian parents should teach their children from a very young age about who God is and how much He loves them. Children should know the story of Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection. Many children are able to understand the gospel message at the age of five or six and make their own decision to serve the Lord. Then (at the age of six or seven years, and sometimes earlier) they can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the sign of speaking in other tongues. Of course, there are no strict limits, because each child is individual. A Christian parent should make the spiritual instruction of his children his highest priority.
Instruction
Christian parents should recognize their responsibility for disciplining their children. In the book of Proverbs. 22:6 says: “Train up a young man when he begins his way; he will not turn away from it when he is old.”
Discipline includes not only punishment for disobedience, but also reward for good behavior. Parents should consistently praise their children to encourage them to behave well and develop desirable character traits. Children need to be reminded often that their parents love and appreciate them. Parents convey love to their children through praise, hugs, kisses and time spent with them.
“Instruct” means “teach obedience.” Therefore, Christian parents should not leave their children a choice whether to go to church or not, whether to pray every day or not, etc. Children are not yet responsible enough to understand what is good and what is bad for them, so God gave them parents. God promises parents who put effort and energy into rightly training their children that their sons and daughters will not stray from the right path even when they are old (see Proverbs 22:6).
As children grow older, they need to be given more responsibility. The goal of a parent is to gradually prepare the child for a responsible adult life. Also, as they grow older, the child should be given more freedom in making decisions. But the teenager must understand that responsibility for the decisions he makes will rest with him, and his parents will not always save him from problematic situations in which he finds himself.
