Only as we learn to walk with Him, obey His word, listen to His voice, and trust Him for the difficult things He tells us to do from time to time can we effectively and successfully parent the children He gives us. Helping them to achieve their God determined destiny just cannot be accomplished without this.

Relationship with God always comes first. Fathering is to flow out of that. And that relationship is always founded on God’s initiative and God’s sustaining of it.

For Abraham (or any of us) to truly come to know God, to become like Him, and to be used by Him - especially to father children that will in turn be useable in God’s hands for His purposes – anything in our family culture that is not pleasing to God and in keeping with His kingdom culture will have to eventually be exposed and repented of.

His (Noah's) sons got to observe their father day in and day out living a holy and devout life in the midst of a perverted and debauched generation. They surely knew other fathers in their community and the contrast was obvious. Their father was a principled man, which meant he did not live to please man and was not reactive to contemporary culture.

Jesus Christ is returning for a pure and spotless bride (see Ephesians 5:27 & Titus 2:14). A significant piece of that restoring purifying process is fathers righteously fathering their children, and children learning to find in their Savior what they did not receive from their earthly fathers.

God’s desire and intent for every mother is that you too might have the privilege of dying to every right the American Association of Mothers says you have, so that the fruit of your death might be life not only for your children, but also for all those they will touch.

There are many who want to be a part of Christ’s church but who do not want to readily admit that He is God and He alone is Savior and that we desperately need a Savior. If we have been born again by the Spirit of God we will readily admit and confess these things.

Knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that my name is recorded in the Lamb’s book of life, that I am an adopted son or daughter of God, and that no one can change this eternal status of mine is meant to be and should be an ongoing spring of joy and rejoicing for every true believer.

Both John and Jesus were always going for root and foundational issues. They weren’t going to waste time on “Ten ways to raise a happy child” when the parents they were ministering to had no spiritual capacity (yet) to carry out such well meaning parenting practices.

Traditions that help us obey God’s commands and divine order are fine and good. But traditions that men develop that skirt around God’s commands, and that help support our self centered efforts and agendas are evil.

Marriage in Jesus’s eyes is a total leaving of one’s parents (physically, emotionally, etc); and a total cleaving to or commitment to oneness with our spouse (sexually, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, etc.). This was always God’s intention from the very beginning.

The effectiveness of Israel & the Church in fulfilling their God given purpose on the earth will depend in large part on how healthy and vibrant the marriages and families are within them.

" ...there is something special God chooses to do when we as a congregation of all ages and varied giftings, ethnicities and gender come together to both celebrate Him and celebrate the sovereign joining He has brought about in our corporate life together."

The fact that Jesus and Paul were able to stay so focused on their mission of making disciples when the rulers over them were far more evil (do you know much about Nero?) in some ways than the ones over us here in the U.S. is something that needs to be pondered in this discussion.

One of the reasons I am doing this study is so we sons and daughters of Christ can not have any confusion or uncertainty about what God deems as evil. Once we know this clearly, then we must go to Him to find the strength and courage to stand alone (as far as humans are concerned) if it comes to that, which in some cases it probably will.

If Er was evil in the sight of the Lord, he was unmistakably evil. God's acts of judgment are never rash or knee jerk. He knew/ordained that the Messiah would come from the line of Judah. They (God's judgments) are always in view of what is to come or what is to be.

Thankfully our great Savior Jesus came to restore what the enemy has sought to destroy. And to wash us clean by His blood from all evil, defilement and corruption that has resulted from our pride and arrogance. May we all learn to run to and cling to Him in these days and to be regularly sprinkled by His cleansing blood.

For a government leader to rule rightly and justly he will need boat loads of prudence, knowledge, discretion, counsel, understanding and power. Only as wisdom from God is obtained will these other qualities be obtained. They flow from wisdom.

I’ve found it very interesting in scripture that sibling relationships get so much coverage. And what I’ve concluded is God originally intended for sibling relationships to bear much fruit for His kingdom.

So when Luke says in 2:52 of Jesus, “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” He wants us to know that one of the practices that enabled Jesus to attain to this kind of walk with God was His prayer life. One cannot have favor with God and not regularly commune with Him in prayer.