DaleTedder.com
  • Home
  • About
    • Natalie Tedder
    • The Fellowship of Ailbe
    • Reflections Ministries
  • Here I Stand
    • Heidelberg Catechism
    • Apologetics
    • C.S. Lewis
  • A Far Green Country
    • Spiritual Direction
  • Podcast
  • Bible Studies
    • Old Testament Essentials
    • New Testament Essentials >
      • Ephesians: Growing Up in Christ
      • Philippians
    • Lord of All
    • Costly Discipleship
    • Ten Commandments
    • Spiritual Power
    • Master Plan of Evangelism >
      • How to Interpret Scripture
      • A Different Gospel
  • Sermons
    • Pastoral Ministry
    • Richard Baxter
  • Prayer Journal
    • Spiritual Life Checkup
  • My Books & Study Guides
  • Southside Men
    • Men's Discipleship Basics
    • Links for Godly Manhood
    • Southside Men History

Devotions

​

Disciple Your Children

5/12/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Ephesians 6:4 - Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
 
Every Father's Calling
 
I love my kids. I love being with them, reading, wrestling, talking to and listening to them. I like beating them at Boggle. I love being beat by them at Boggle. One thing I really love is discipling my kids – teaching them every day, all day (Deut. 6:4ff) the things of God. This is every father's greatest calling, joy, and responsibility.
 
Faithfulness in this can bring about a legacy that could last many generations. If you are a father, you should know, whether or not you are evangelizing and discipling anyone else, (and, of course, you should be), you surely ought to be evangelizing and discipling your children. To be sure, God commands it, but it is also one of life’s great joys.
 
By the very nature of things, this will be a 24/7/365 task. There are at least two reasons why this is the case.
 
Humble Consistency
 
First, you can’t pass along a platitude occasionally and expect it to take root. The lessons of our faith must be repeated over and over again in a variety of ways – when you sit down for breakfast or dinner, tuck them in at night, drive them around town, have family worship, do chores together, and so on. No one gets it right all the time, but even in our parental blunders, our mistakes and shortcomings are opportunities to teach lessons such as forgiveness, repentance, humility, and perseverance. But, we are indeed called to “practice what we preach,” for our own sakes as well as to model godly behavior before the wee “watching eyes” in our homes.
 
Going Against the Cultural Grain
 
The second reason we must devote so much prayerful time and effort to discipling our children is because we live in a culture that does not cultivate Christian character. Our world’s default key is stuck on sin, rebellion, and evil. If I want to change the font on my computer, I have to consciously make the effort to find and select the one I want. So too, if we want to nurture our children in the things of God, we have to make an intentional and considerable effort, for such effort will go against the grain of the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is simply the way it is.
 
Let’s Be Faithful Stewards
 
Let’s join together in raising kids who know and love the Lord. Let’s produce and reproduce faithful disciples in our homes who will one day serve Christ and take his gospel of the Kingdom and extend it into every sphere of life. Such children will not arise accidentally. But, by God’s grace, they will become such as they are educated, equipped, and encouraged by loving parents who honor God by being faithful stewards of the most precious treasure entrusted to their care.
 
Walking Points

  • What are two or three of the hardest areas of being a father for you? Why do you think that is?
  • What’s your favorite part about being a dad?
  • Find two other Christian fathers and share with them your struggles as a dad, as well as your hopes and dreams for your children.
  • Begin meeting regularly with these Christian dads to talk together and pray for your children, as well as for yourselves as Christian fathers living in today’s world.
 
Prayer
 
God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, you are my Father too. You have entrusted precious children to my care. Remind me that as much as I love them, you love them even more. I do not own my children but am your steward of them. As such, please help me lead and guide them in a way that draws them close to you. By my lessons and behavior, enable me to faithfully shepherd them into the life of a faithful disciple of Christ. In his name I pray. Amen.

0 Comments

Your Legacy to Your Children

4/23/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
You Will Leave A Legacy

What legacy are we leaving to our children and to our children’s children? 2 Kings 17:40-41 gives us a frightening glimpse of what it could be if we are not faithful and vigilant. Take in these sobering words,

2 Kings 17:40-41 – They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. [41] Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

We have the ability to commit idolatry, even while professing the Lord. How shocking is that? Our legacy can be for good or evil, righteousness or wickedness. But make no mistake, we will leave a legacy. What will the nature of your legacy be? How are you influencing your children?

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Our children tend to believe what we believe, behave the way we behave, and have the same attitudes we have. We will either draw them closer to God or drive them farther away by the way we live our lives.

Israel believed what they did and behaved how they did because the world was too much a part of them. They were called to be a set-apart (holy) people. They were to think, speak, act, and worship differently than the surrounding culture.

And yet, 2 Kings 17 is a horrific tale of the worst forms of human depravity. God’s very own people practiced everything from idolatry to child-sacrifice to everything in-between. The depths to which the children of Israel fell and became like their ambient culture is staggering.

Perhaps, however, the last two verses of Chapter 17 are the most somber of all. Even after the Lord called his children to repentance and emphasized that his love was still available to them, we read these words in verse 40,

They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices.

The Consequences of a Legacy

Then, in verse 41, we learn of the consequences that can destroy a family, a church, or a nation.
Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and
grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

The example of the parents and grandparents had been firmly set in place. Their legacy was playing out. It’s no wonder James reminds us that befriending the world is to become an enemy of God (James 4:4).

To be a holy, set apart people means we have an allegiance first and foremost to God. It means we must declare our loyalty to him even while dwelling in a foreign land. When we do, we pass along a godly heritage – a godly legacy – that can last for many generations yet to come. Yet, when infidelity to our King is our memorial, the consequences can be perilous.
 
The Question

How do we let the world into our hearts and allow its fallen, sinful patterns to influence us? There seems to be no end to the number of books written to answer that very question. Yet, for my part, I want each Christian parent to ask at least this question: What is your goal in raising your children? Success? Happiness? Wealth? Status? Education? The right social connections?

If “godliness” is not your automatic, reflexive answer to that question, then perhaps the world is too much with you. Perhaps it is the world, and not our Lord, who is setting your agenda. So too, and more importantly, it’s not merely what we’re trying to pass on to our children, but who we, as parents and grandparents, essentially are. For if we talk like the world, walk like the world, and look like the world, then it may not be much of a stretch for our children and grandchildren to assume that such worldliness is how “good Christian children” should talk, walk, and look.

Is that the legacy you want to leave to those you care most about in this world? May God turn (and keep) our hearts toward him.

Walking Points
​

  • What are some of your favorite traditions from your childhood? How many of those traditions have you kept alive in your own family? Why?
  • What were some of the negative tendencies you picked up from your parents and find yourself practicing as an adult? How do you think they crept in and stayed with you?
  • How do we, as fathers, leave a godly legacy for our children… one that will stick with them?
  • What are some ways we can alert our children to our sinful tendencies so they can be aware of them and hopefully not repeat them when they become adults?
  • Discuss these questions and brainstorm ideas with a couple of Christian men. Commit to regularly pray for one another as well as for your children.
0 Comments

Pass It On

4/15/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Psalm 22:4-5, 30-31 - In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. …Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn – for he has done it.

Spiritual Reproduction

It has been said the problem with living is that it’s so daily. The same could be said of parenting. Whether it’s getting your children to eat their vegetables, clean their rooms, do their schoolwork, or have good manners, parenting is daily. Consistency and intentionality are absolutely required. And in no area of parenting is this truer than in the passing on of our faith – our beliefs, worldview, values, character, conduct, etc., to our children.

What we’re talking about is spiritual reproduction.

A primary truism about spiritual reproduction is this: We can’t reproduce what we aren’t ourselves. Cats aren’t going to reproduce dogs, no matter what. We reproduce what we are. Therefore, it’s absolutely imperative that moms and dads are daily, consistently, intentionally, and faithfully practicing the faith they profess, the faith they are seeking to instill in the hearts, minds, and souls of their children.

More Than Your Good Example, Though Not Less

In a real sense, this is more than mere example. Faith really needs to be in the “DNA” of the parents. Having said that, example is vital because children will copy what is being modeled for them at home. It wasn’t dumb luck that my kids all turned out to be Georgia Bulldog fans.

But passing on our faith requires more than example. We are called to actively lead them, instruct them, tell them, pray with them, pray for them, admonish them, counsel them, and nurture them. In a word, love them. The call to pass on our faith to our children in this manner runs throughout Scripture. For example…

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 – Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [5] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. [6] These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. [7] Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. [8] Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. [9] Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Psalm 78:1-7

 O my people, hear my teaching;
 listen to the words of my mouth.
[2] I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old–
[3] what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
[4] We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
[5] He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,
[6] so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
[7] Then they would put their trust in God
 and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands
.

Ephesians 6:4 – Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

A Multigenerational Vision

These are just three clear examples of Scripture’s overwhelming multigenerational vision for the extension of God’s kingdom. Many more could be cited. In truth, we’re talking about more than quoting a few texts. This multigenerational vision is a key thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation.

Early in Psalm 22, the psalmist declared that those who came before his generation put their trust in the Lord and were not disappointed. Later in the same Psalm he stated that future generations would also serve the Lord because they would be told about the Lord. If you think about it, how else will Christianity be passed on? If the love, holiness, grace, works, and words of God are going to be known two hundred years from now, then we must pass them on here and now.

But to whom? Many Christians talk about the need to evangelize and disciple the lost but seem to forget about God’s covenant children under their very own roofs. If we think in terms of concentric circles, our next priority (or circle) after our own relationship with God (because, again, we can’t reproduce what we’re not ourselves) should be our own family. Our goal, of course, is for our children to come to know, love and follow God and then pass on that faith to their children and their children’s children for a thousand generations (Deut. 5:10, 7:9).

In a real sense, our children are not our own. They are God’s. We are stewards of God’s children. That means we have been given the vital and joyful responsibility and blessing of raising these children to know, love and follow their heavenly Father. And while such an upbringing is so daily, we need to realize we only get one chance. It’s my prayer that God will honor the prayers, blood, sweat, tears, effort, and love we pour into our children (his children). To see them come to know him and become the godly adults we’ve been striving for will make it all worth it in the end.

Walking Points

  • It goes without saying that we are indeed commissioned by our Lord to make disciples of all nations, but since this devotional is about passing our faith on to our children, and grandchildren, that’s what these questions will focus upon.
  • Did you have a parent or grandparent who discipled you when you were young? Describe what that was like. If you didn’t have a parent or grandparent who discipled you, who did?
  • If you are a father, describe how you disciple your children. What do you really enjoy about it? What is difficult about it.
  • If you are a grandfather, what are some ways you can intentionally pour your faith into the life of your grandchildren?
  • Maybe you are neither a father nor a grandfather. Who are some young people in your life you can begin discipling? How might you approach them? What might that discipling process look like?
  • Whoever the next generation is in your life, begin praying now. Ask the Lord to give you a desire to pass on your faith to them. Pray for him to give you the grace, love and wisdom needed to invest your life into their lives. And pray for the Lord of the harvest to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for what you have to share with them.
0 Comments
    Picture
    Picture
    Click the images above to learn more about my books for men.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017

    Categories

    All
    Accountability
    Advent
    Ambassador
    Being
    Bible
    Bible Reading
    Bible Study
    Calling
    Change
    Children
    Choices
    Christianity
    Christian Living
    Christmas
    Church
    Comfort
    Commitment
    Confession
    Courage
    Covenant
    Cross
    Culture
    Desire
    Devotional
    Discernment
    Discipleship
    Discipline
    Doing
    Easter
    Encouragement
    Epistemology
    Eternal Perspective
    Evangelism
    Every Sphere
    Evil
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Family
    Fatherhood
    Fellowship
    Freedom
    Gifts For Ministry
    God
    God-Centered
    Godliness
    Godly Men
    God's Attributes
    God's Character
    God's Glory
    God's Love
    God's Will
    Good
    Gospel
    Grace
    Healing
    Heart
    Heaven
    Holiness
    Holy Communion
    Holy Spirit
    Hope
    Hypocrisy
    Idolatry
    Integrity
    Jesus
    Jesus Christ
    Kingdom Discipleship
    Kingdom Of God
    Knowing God
    Knowledge
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Longing
    Longing For God
    Lordship
    Love
    Loyalty
    Manhood
    Means Of Grace
    Men
    Men's Ministry
    Mentoring
    Ministry
    Mission
    Missions
    Obedience
    Parenting
    Passion
    Perseverance
    Prayer
    Preparation
    Priorities
    Purpose
    Pursuit Of God
    Redeem Your Time
    Reformation
    Relationship
    Resurrection
    Revival
    Righteousness
    Sacrifice
    Salt And Light
    Salvation
    Sanctification
    Scriptural Holiness
    Scripture
    Secularism
    Sermon On The Mount
    Shepherd
    Shepherding
    Sin
    Small Group
    Sovereignty
    Spiritual Growth
    Stewardship
    Study
    Teaching
    Temptation
    Tests And Trials
    Theology
    Thinking
    Trust
    Truth
    Vision
    Wisdom
    Witness
    Worldview
    Worship

    RSS Feed

Contact Us

The Right Path

Thanks for visiting my site! Here you will find Bible studies, books, blog posts, devotions, and more. I pray these resources will be a blessing to you. Please click here to learn more about the website, my ministry, and me.

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
  • Home
  • About
    • Natalie Tedder
    • The Fellowship of Ailbe
    • Reflections Ministries
  • Here I Stand
    • Heidelberg Catechism
    • Apologetics
    • C.S. Lewis
  • A Far Green Country
    • Spiritual Direction
  • Podcast
  • Bible Studies
    • Old Testament Essentials
    • New Testament Essentials >
      • Ephesians: Growing Up in Christ
      • Philippians
    • Lord of All
    • Costly Discipleship
    • Ten Commandments
    • Spiritual Power
    • Master Plan of Evangelism >
      • How to Interpret Scripture
      • A Different Gospel
  • Sermons
    • Pastoral Ministry
    • Richard Baxter
  • Prayer Journal
    • Spiritual Life Checkup
  • My Books & Study Guides
  • Southside Men
    • Men's Discipleship Basics
    • Links for Godly Manhood
    • Southside Men History