We have all heard that God said “Fathers should not provoke their children to anger.” However, we seldom think much about the second part of that verses in Ephesians.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 NLT
We focus only on the “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.” I’m sure all of us could easily quote that part. Even our children know that part of the verse.
The second part is not so well known or focused on, but it is equally important, if not more so. “Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord”.
God is telling us that we need to discipline our children, and give them Biblical instruction.
Well, what does that really mean, and how can we as parents and grandparents do that? Where do we even start?
When Karen and I were raising our son, we were youth group leaders at our church for many years. However, we never once stopped to think about looking at God’s word to determine how He wanted us to raise our son. I know it is silly, that we were so active in the Church, truly loved the Lord and wanted to follow Him, and yet still did not seek His advice for the parenting side of our life.
It turns out that God gives us a lot of guidance, commands and advice for parents and grandparents about how to raise our children. In fact, Young Adults of Worth Ministries has identified over 110 verses. They cover all types of topics; like love, discipline, obedience, relationships, teaching, forgiveness, prayer, wisdom, and many more.
Essentially, all the instructions for us to be the parents and grandparents God wants us to be, are all in the Bible. We just have to look for them.
That is why YAOW created a seminar for parents and grandparents called Love & Discipline. This 2 hour seminar, covers all of the Bible verses where God gives us direction on how to love and discipline our children. We read and discuss each verse, so we can start to apply them within our families.
Prior to Covid-19, we would hold this free seminar at churches and other venues; however, we are now planning to do them online.
If you are interested in attending one of our parenting seminars, just email info@yaow.org to let us know.
In the meantime, I encourage you to intentionally look for passages as you read scripture, where God gives us parenting advice. Then implement them within your family.
