Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ Isaiah 58:8-9a

Religion, faith in God or following Christ is not a matter of religious observance as if you can treat God like a slot machine. You cannot make Him to do anything for you. He is no genie in a bottle that you can manipulate with the right magic words and force Him to manifest Himself and say, “Your wish is my command”. It’s exactly the opposite – we have been created for Him, for His glory.

But once you get that right, you will orientate your life towards God seeking Him for Himself. You will learn to love Him and live for Him, just because He is who He is. And you will have an amazing discovery – God’s way works.

At the heart of it all is living right – walking humbly before God, caring for the poor and delighting yourself in the Lord.

The prophetic voice calling us to this lifestyle is being raised today. Just as in Bible times, God is laying His heart bare, exposing His burden for the poor and needy, for the weak and vulnerable in our world. Along with this comes a stern warning from the Lord of His judgement upon a careless people who are content with playing religion while neglecting the real cause of Christ – to make His love known to the world in word and deed.

When religion becomes a sin

Isaiah 58 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible dealing with the pursuit of godless religion at the expense of genuine compassion for the poor. This prophetic word begins with an exposure of the sin and unrighteousness of God’s people in Isaiah’s day. Above all, the prophet exposes the religious pretenders of his generation – those who were extremely religious but whose religion was of absolutely no value to God, themselves or others.

Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Isaiah 58:1

They had a form of religious externalism which loved the performance of religious acts but was a superficial cover for a superstitious and selfish way of life.

The prophet observed the people during one of the fast days – one of the religious “bank holidays’ in which people fasted supposedly to seek the face of God. He saw the utter futility of what they were doing. They were going about it in totally the wrong way. And it was all a fruitless and frustrating exercise.

This cuts to the heart of much of contemporary Christianity and shows us how to bring correction to our lives and find true satisfaction in Christ. This word from Isaiah exposes the same thing today where people who, despite being extremely religious, find no satisfaction in religion, because it’s not working – God is not, it seems responding to them.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ Isaiah 58:3

God doesn’t play audience to our religious performances

At the root of all such religion is the vain attempt to get God to comply with our wishes. But He is not our servant. The Christian faith is more about what we can give to God in loving response to His grace in our lives than trying to get His attention through our religious deeds. God resists all forms of religious ritual which are not a genuine expression of the heart. He never succumbs to religious pressure to perform or to our attempts at spiritual manipulation.

Sunday Christianity or bank holiday religion never works. Mere religious fast days hold no value with God and carry no currency of heaven.

Sunday Christianity or bank holiday religion never works. Mere religious fast days hold no value with God and carry no currency of heaven.

Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD? Isaiah 58:5

The fasting God has chosen

Instead of the hyperactivity of false religion God calls for genuine spirituality and leaves us in no doubt just what that is:

Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Isaiah 58: 6-7

Here, true worship is measured not in any outward acts of religion but the simple expression of genuine compassion on others. This is in line with the word of other prophets:

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

James shows that this is also a New Testament matter:

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27

The test is as simple as it is searching. How you deal with people and how you express your care and love for your neighbour is an expression of what you really think about God.

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 1 John 4:20

The fasting God has chosen is to use every opportunity in your life of faith to reach out to people in need.

This is not mere moralism, or the social gospel or salvation by good works. Rather, it is the expression your love for God as you respond to His love in your heart.

Working to change society

Our faith is to be made practical in the modern world of social injustice and pressure on the weak. God wants us to help change wrong structures, to overturn situations and oppose people who destroy or diminish the liberty and well-being of others.

Reaching out to individual need

There are three simple things we can work together to do which are guaranteed to make a difference to others and bring God’s blessing. God calls us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and clothe the naked.

HEAVEN BREAKS OPEN

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ Isaiah 58:8-9a

What a contrast this is to futile religion and our vain attempts to get God to bless us through spiritual manipulation. Once we stop trying to make God respond to us and instead respond to Him, once we stop trying to get God to serve us and we begin truly to serve Him, we find heaven open and His blessing come pouring down upon us.

What you can never receive by any acts of religion God will pour out upon you just because you fulfil His conditions and express His heart to the poor.

Look at the blessings which come to you this way – that is, as a by-product and not from intentionally looking for these things.

ISAIAH 58 – 12 BLESSINGS OF AN OPEN HEAVEN

1. A NEW BEGINNING IN LIFE

Then your light shall break forth like the morning (verse 8).

God will give you to a new day full of promise and joy.

2. PERSONAL HEALING AND RESTORATION

Your healing shall spring forth speedily (verse 8).

Your healing and restoration will come swiftly like fresh flesh growing over an open wound.

3. SECURITY AND PROTECTION

And your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard (verse 8).

Righteousness will be your protection from behind and the glory of the Lord your protection in front. This means the Lord in all His glory is going before you to bring you security and protection.

4. FREE FLOWING FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD AND ANSWERED PRAYER

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’ (verse 9).

God will respond to you and will always be ready, just as a servant is, to act to fulfil your need.

5. CLEAR GUIDANCE IN LIFE

Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually (verses 10-11).

This is the promise of light in the darkness of the midnight hour when you don’t know where to turn and you don’t know what to do. He will give you light, comfort, guidance and direction.

6. DIVINE PROVISION IN TIME OF NEED

And satisfy your soul in drought (verse 11).

This is not just referring to what the Lord will give, but where and when He will give it – when everything appears most hopeless and most bleak. In the dry and barren times God will come and meet your need.

7. INNER STRENGTH FOR THE BATTLE

And strengthen your bones (verse 11).

This is the inner strength which you need to help you keep going day by day in the heat of the battle, in the midst of the conflict. When you grow weary, the Lord will give you this inner strength. It’s the life of God inside you – love when you are not loved, peace when you are troubled and the joy which is your strength in times of sorrow.

8. CONSTANT REFRESHMENT

You shall be like a well-watered garden. And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail (verse 11).

When all around you is failing and resources are running dry you will enjoy the constant flow of refreshing from the Lord.

9. RESTORATION FROM THE PAST AND PROVISION FOR THE FUTURE

Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to dwell in (verse 12).

God promises you recovery from past disasters in your life and provision for your future well-being.

10. GENUINE SATISFACTION

Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord (verse 14).

Nothing is more frustrating than fruitless, dissatisfying religion. It is sheer drudgery and an absolute bore. Still worse it is deeply disturbing. Because if God appears not to have the answers, or not to be adequate for our lives, then where is the answer to be found? But the real joy is to discover your total sufficiency, and your 100% delight in the Lord. This is the real secret of life and living: God only promises Himself – and that’s enough!

True worship is absolute delight in God and in God alone – without one hint of idolatry in your heart.

11. CONFIDENCE IN LIFE

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth (verse 14).

God promises you success, confidence, a positive outlook, a positive outcome in all things. These things are not to be judged superficially or outwardly in some worldly sense, but God will give you the true, deep joy of real confidence in Himself which no one can take away from you.

12. ENJOYING THE COVENANT BLESSINGS OF GOD

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father (verse14).

This is the promise which lies at the heart of the Bible – God choosing a people, separating them to Himself, and pouring His goodness and blessings into their lives. The covenant conditions of faithfulness, heart relationship with God and true obedience, qualify you to enjoy His covenant blessings.

And at the heart of these is the promise of God: “I will be your God, and you will be My people”. This blessing is His presence and His overwhelming goodness saturating every part your life.

The post When Heaven breaks Open appeared first on Colin Dye.

The Blood of Jesus and its Unlimited Blessing

THE FIRST SACRIFICE

 
Sacrifice began with God not with men and women, for it was God who shed the first blood, God who made the first sacrifice, God who endured the first grief of loss. And He did these things to bless a pair of sinners with lasting hope.
Can you imagine what it must have been like in Eden? The garden was perfect: there was no evil, no wickedness, no deceit, no sickness, no sin. The first humans were completely pure, and they lived in a wonderful, intimate relationship with God.
One day, however, Adam and Eve succumbed to the devil?s temptations and disobeyed God. They sinned ? and tasted sin?s bitter consequences of shame, guilt and fear. In despair, they covered themselves with leaves and tried to hide from God.
In His justice, God cursed humanity and expelled the pair from Eden. But, in His grace, he offered them tunics as a covering for sin and a uniform for a new task ? the fruit of the first blood sacrifice.
For Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21
Some perfect animals must have died to provide this covering of grace. And it must have been God who slew, then skinned, the precious, perfect creatures that He?d only just made and blessed.
This gift of blood-stained clothes is our first sighting of the crimson thread which leads to Calvary, our first insight into men and women being covered by the blood and clothed for service.
Can you see, dear friend, how this blessing establishes the pattern of the blood and the cross?
? those who benefited from the blood were completely undeserving ? so are you!
? those who suffered were perfect and blameless ? so is He!
? the price was high, for both the giver and the gift ? and at Calvary!
? grace, love and mercy motivated the sacrifice ? so too the cross!
? the pair had the freedom to accept or reject the fruit of the blood ? and so have you!
? the gift not only dealt with their sin, it also equipped them to serve God in a new way ? It?s the same for you!

PROMISES OF BLESSING

 
According to the Bible, Cain and Abel both presented gifts to God, but God looked favourably only on Abel?s sacrifice.
Have you ever wondered why God preferred Abel?s gift? It was because Cain gave God only some produce of the soil, whereas Abel sacrificed the valuable first-born of his flock.
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous.
Hebrews 11:4
God didn?t need what Cain and Abel were offering Him in thanksgiving; but He deserved the best, and Abel?s was the more valuable gift.
God was so delighted with Abel?s faith-filled blood sacrifice, that He declared him righteous. Whenever we notice the crimson thread in the Scriptures, we see God rewarding human faith with similar promises of righteousness and blessing.
It was the same for Noah. After the flood had subsided, he offered God a sacrifice in thanks for his safe deliverance. God was so pleased with Noah?s obedient sacrifice that He rewarded him and his sons with the promise of blessing.
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ?Be fruitful and multiply; and fill the earth?.
Genesis 9:1
Can you guess how God will respond to Christ?s sacrifice on the cross? Will it be with a tight-lipped smile? Or with extravagant promises of blessing for all who are joined to Him by faith?

The post The Blood of Jesus and its Unlimited Blessing appeared first on Colin Dye.

 

 
?I bless the Lord, the God who is my hope and salvation. He is the High God of all blessing and honour and praise.
I confess and declare that I am blessed with every blessing in Christ. He withholds no good thing from me. He has called me to inherit His goodness; and His mercy is always upon me.
I have been released from the curse of the Law, and have been given the blessing of Abraham. Jesus Himself became my curse so that I could receive the blessing of His Spirit.
I now set the direction of my life towards the blessing of God. I apply the blood of Jesus to every curse made against me, and I cancel every negative word spoken about me.
I know that the devil cannot curse those whom God has blessed. The peace of God is within me; the joy of the Lord is my strength; and I receive His divine benefits every day.
My life is now a blessing to others. I give to them whatever God gives to me. I am the Lord?s chosen possession, and He is my portion forever.?
 

GOD?S WORDS FOR YOU

 
I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.
Genesis 12:2-3
O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.
Psalm 16:5-6
You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 16:11
Blessed be the God and Father or our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us? that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we, might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:13-14
Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 103:1-2
Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:9
The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.
Proverbs 10:22
A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 28:20
How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
Numbers 23:8
God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
Numbers 23:19-20
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.
Exodus 23:25
May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you!
Deuteronomy 1:11
He will love you and bless you and multiply you?You shall be blessed above all peoples?And the Lord will take away from you all sickness.
Deuteronomy 7:13-15

The post Blessing: Your Faith Declaration appeared first on Colin Dye.

Job (oil on canvas) by Bonnat, Leon Joseph Florentin (1833-1922)

The strength of the Christian gospel is that it speaks right into the depth of these human needs and offers us eternal life, freedom from sickness and deliverance from death itself through the resurrection power of Christ.

“If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).

Jesus came proclaiming the good news of the kingdom – that the long-promised age of freedom and deliverance from the powers of sin and death had arrived.

This means we are in “the presence of the future’ and are heirs of unimaginable levels of healing, prosperity and well-being. The kingdom has come!

However, this doesn’t mean we are free from suffering and trials. On the contrary, Jesus made it clear that the troubles of this world would continue as long as this present world was in existence.

“In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).

Nevertheless, we can live in victory over all these circumstances and enjoy the blessing of God.

“But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

God’s will is for health and prosperity for His people – even if we, like Job, must pass through various trials to serve a higher purpose for the glory of God.

“Skin for skin?” Was Satan right? Will we sell our souls for the sake of our present comforts?

No! We have settled it once and for all. We will serve God with all of our hearts – no matter what our circumstances.

And nothing will shake our confidence in our Heavenly Father’s capacity and willingness to save, heal and deliver us from every sin, every sickness and every bondage.

The post Will we sell our souls for the sake of our present comforts? appeared first on Colin Dye.

Breaking Down Barriers

 
It is based on our relationship with God who has broken down the barriers between Himself and us. Jesus Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross. And this peace extends to our relationships with one another. The cross has also removed every barrier between us and others. The Jew/Gentile divide has been bridged in Christ, and every other racial, cultural or social barrier has also been removed. We are one in Christ
 

Key Thought

 
God?s peace has brought to us both the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of believers. This means we can learn to develop enriching relationships with all those who know and love God. And, as well as that, we can spread the knowledge of that peace to all.
 

Prayer

 
Dear Lord, I thank you that my life is no longer tormented by anxiety and uncontrolled concern. I have peace with you and I can live at peace with others. Let that peace rule in my heart and life today.
 

Discipleship Steps

 
Peace with God involves knowing your security in Him. When this grips your heart, you immediately discover you have ?nothing to prove?. You can be secure in all your relationships. The peace God gives you will begin to govern your relationships with others. You are free to build relationships based on trust and not self-protection or self-promotion. And you will soon discover a greater love for all humanity who are potentially your brothers and sisters in Christ.
 

Read: Ephesians 2:14-18

The post Breaking Down Barriers appeared first on Colin Dye.

Lord thank you for your blessing that makes rich and for the joy that removes all sorrow.

Key Thought

There is a fundamental difference between the righteous and the wicked. It has to do with orientation of life ? either towards God or away from Him. And this difference is also manifest in the blessings that come to those who follow the Lord ? He blesses you and removes all sorrow from you.

Prayer

Lord, I set the course of my life in the direction of righteousness and I choose to live under your favour. Thank you for your blessing that makes rich and for the joy that removes all sorrow.

Discipleship Steps

Quiet confidence in God comes with a godly lifestyle. To walk in righteousness means you live your life as an open book before the Lord. You seek to line up your life according to His standards in thought, word and deed. This is not oppressive because God has placed His righteousness in our hearts and promises the rewards of righteousness ? His blessing in every area of life. Learn to life in this expectation, knowing that it is all of God?s grace and goodness.

Read: Proverbs 10:19-25

The post Blessing for the Righteous appeared first on Colin Dye.

Jesus was made a curse for you so that you might receive the blessing of the Spirit freely into your life.

Key Thought

Jesus was made a curse for you so that you might receive the blessing of the Spirit freely into your life. The curse of the law is gone forever and you can live in all the promises of abundant blessing as you follow the Lord.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord Jesus that you carried every curse of mine on the cross and you have opened up the way for the blessing of God to come into every area of my life.

Discipleship Steps

God has called you to walk in the path of blessing. The curses of disobedience have been removed and in place of them you have received the blessings of obedience ? the obedience of Jesus Christ Himself. Now you must turn away from every action, thought or attitude that clings to the past way of life under the curse. To live in the freedom of God?s blessing takes a life of persistently yielding to the Spirit. Be conscious of this as you go about your daily affaires.

Read: Galatians 3:10-14

The post The Curse is Lifted! appeared first on Colin Dye.

I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.

Key Thought

Blessing is both a by-product and an overflow. It comes through a life of faith and obedience and is the overflow of walking with God. Only then can you begin to fulfil His plan to bless others through you.

Prayer

Lord, I want to hear your call upon my life. I am willing to go where you call me and do what you have for me to do. Bless me so that I can be a blessing.

Discipleship Steps

Sometimes God calls us to go in a direction we don?t fully understand and it seems hard. But, like Abram, we find obedience always leads to blessing. But this blessing is not for our own selfish satisfaction. Rather it is to fulfil our life of service. You cannot possibly know in advance the full consequences of your obedience to God. As you step out in faith to follow God?s call you are setting in motion a line of blessing that could impact thousands.

Read: Genesis 12:1-3

The post Pursuing the Blessing appeared first on Colin Dye.

Joy, overflowing...

Key Thought

God?s victory is complete and your salvation is fully accomplished in Christ. But, at times, you have to make an effort to draw on the reserves of joy and blessing within you. But all this is based on the established reality of God?s salvation.

Prayer

Lord, I choose to focus on my absolute victory in Christ. I proclaim that You are great and greatly to be praised, and I choose the path of joy for my life.

Discipleship Steps

Just as in Zion of old, God is great among His people. He has made known His salvation to the nations. God wants that same confidence to sound from your life. This is the confidence you have that God?s salvation is sure, that He power remains constant, and His love for you is undiminished. Think how this will affect your attitude today. Let this joy be your confidence as you go out into your day.

Read: Isaiah 12

Below an inspiring song by Darrell Evans, “Trading my Sorrows” :

I’m trading my sorrow
I’m trading my shame
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord
I’m trading my sickness
I’m trading my pain
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord
Chorus:
And we say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen
I’m pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I’m blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy’s gonna be my strength
Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning

The post Wells of Joy appeared first on Colin Dye.

The Parental Blessing

Our God is a God of absolute authority. He rules supreme. He’s the Creator, the Most High, the only Lord in heaven and on earth: there’s simply no other besides Him. Because God has made humankind in His image, aspects of His authority run through humanity. We have dominion over every living thing and every aspect of society is characterised by some sort of authority.

All human authority comes from God. It is by Him for a purpose and is to be exercised under His rule and in His way. Human positions of power or influence are not ends in themselves. They have been given so that we can serve and bless each other in the same manner that the Lord serves and blesses us.

Whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:26-28

Family Authority

God’s fatherly authority is meant to be exercised in families through husbands and fathers. It is their holy function to accept full responsibility for the spiritual well-being of the family.

The husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church. Ephesians 5:23

God delegates His divine headship to fathers and husbands. He expects them to care spiritually for their wives and children, and to do this in His serving way. Husbands and fathers should accept their true position as His delegated head of the family. When they neglect this spiritual responsibility, or the wife usurps it, the whole family is robbed of God’s blessing.

This does not mean that men should act in an authoritarian way. Far from it! They are meant to exercise their spiritual responsibilities in Christ’s servant manner. Too many men have tried to use the Scriptures to justify ordering their wives and children around. Yet the Bible never instructs husbands to give orders to their wives. Instead, it keeps on commanding them to love their wives, and to love them in the same sacrificial way that Christ loved the church – that is genuine headship!

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Ephesians 5:25

This can seem rather hard for single mothers, and for men and women whose partners have left them. How can a husband love his wife when she’s living with another man? And how can a family live under God’s headship when the father is missing? Although families are robbed of the physical blessings of companionship and finance when marriages collapse, they don’t need to lose any spiritual blessings. Husbands can go on loving their absent wives by speaking warmly of them, by praying for them, by acting well towards them, and by waiting for their restoration. Isn’t this how Christ loves the church, which so often grows cold and leaves Him? God has given deserted wives and single mothers some special promises for their families:

You are the helper of the fatherless. Psalm 10:14

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. Psalm 68:5

The Lord relieves the fatherless and the widow. Psalm 146:9

God promises single mothers that He, the ultimate Father, will act as the father in those families where the earthly father is absent. This promise, which is repeated many times in the Bible, guarantees that no single mother need miss a single spiritual blessing.

Parental Authority

Within families, God has not only delegated the Father’s spiritual head-ship to human husbands and fathers. He has also delegated His more general Trinitarian authority to both earthly parents. God has instituted parenting for the godly nurture and blessing of children. Parents are meant to care for their children in much the same way that the Godhead cares together for the whole creation. Ideally, parents work together co-dependently in the same way as the Father, the Son and the Spirit work together – with different functions and distinctive commitment.

Parents are God’s representatives to their children. And He wants Christian parents to establish their homes according to His biblical standards of sacrificial love and merciful discipline. Children growing in this sinful world need to be taught God’s boundaries from the beginning. And God has appointed both parents to do this.

God’s holy command to all children is this:

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Colossians 3:20

The parents’ delegated authority couldn’t be clearer. Children are to obey them “in all things’. This means, of course, that parents have a greater responsibility. They must be good examples and representatives of God’s nature and standards.God’s word to fathers takes this even further.

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Colossians 3:21

It’s clear that parental authority can be abused -and this is a serious offence before the Lord. One of the worst things that a parent can do is discourage a child through bad parenting.

Common Mistakes

Parents either under-discipline their children rarely correcting them, or correcting them inconsistently. Or they over-discipline them treating them harshly and repressively. Neither way is right. God wants all His children to be brought up in the loving training and admonition of the Lord.

The best way to bless your children, my friend, is by giving them the parental nurture and discipline they need. Sadly, many parents go wrong. When you discourage and wound your children, you can create resentment and dangerous attitudes. Your only solution is to confess your failure to the Lord and to your children. Ask them for their forgiveness, and then begin again God’s way. Let your children see their need to forgive you for your sin against them. This will release the blessing of God’s healing and freedom into your family.

Harsh Words Damage Lives

Children can be damaged for life when their parents abuse their authority. Harsh words spoken rashly by a father or a mother can function like a curse over the child. Often it is such things as, “You’re useless! You’ll never amount to anything good!’ Or “You’re stupid! Why can’t you do better at school?’ It is impossible to exaggerate the damage that such words cause children. It is not just the words themselves but the power and authority which lie behind them.

If you are guilty of saying harsh and negative words in your parental office, repent now before the Lord. Revoke the words. Verbally cancel them out. Ask God to break their power and seek your children’s forgiveness.

God’s Work Blesses Lives

There is, however, a positive dimension to this. God gives parents their authority in order to bless their children. And God has ordained parental blessing for the prosperity and spiritual well-being of children. It is time to learn how to pass on this blessing.

The Old Testament patriarchs knew the rightness and power of parental blessing. When Isaac’s time on earth drew to a close, he wanted to pass on his blessing to his first-born son, Esau. When he realised that he had been tricked into blessing Jacob, Isaac was distraught. He knew that the blessing had been activated and could not be revoked! That’s the power of parental blessing.

When Jacob blessed his children, he spoke a clear word over each son. He had a special blessing for his youngest and for his grandsons who had been born in Egypt. They were full of prophetic content and God honoured Jacob’s parental blessings – they all came to pass.

As a believer, God has given you the same parental authority. Wait on God for His prophetic word for your children. Ask Him for wisdom. Don’t try to manipulate these things. It is the Word of the Lord that you want – God’s will, not yours.

Special Blessing

Your children are a special trust from the Lord and you are accountable to Him for their welfare in body, mind and spirit. The Bible calls you to raise your children to go the way that the Lord has for them – not the way that you want them to go! That is what this well-known verse means.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

The three-fold priestly blessing from the book of Numbers is the greatest blessing that God has given you to use.

The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

As a believer, you are a priest and as a parent, you are called to function as a priest in your own home. Priests were called to represent the people before God in intercession, to make sacrifices, and to pronounce blessings in the name of Israel’s God. This is your calling as a parent. Pray for your children. Pour your life into them sacrificially. Speak God’s Word over their lives and bless them regularly with the words that God gives.

Israel’s priests also had a governmental and educational role among the people of God. In the same way, Christian priestly parents are called by God to do these things in their homes. A well-ordered household, which prays together and learns the Word of God together, is a household where God’s abundant blessings will be experienced and enjoyed – and will begin to overflow to others.

Pause now to think about your children, and the way that you treat them. Ask God to show you what action you need to take. Then make this prayer declaration to God.

“Heavenly Father, I take my place as the earthly father/mother of my child(ren).

“In the name of Jesus, I revoke any negative words that I’ve spoken, and all the negative attitudes I’ve held against my child(ren).

“I now pronounce the blessing of God over ……….. (name them all).

“I announce Your blessings of goodness, joy and peace to them, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.”

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