Love is Equal and Respectful
“People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant [Annoyed at an unfair treatment of children]. He said to them, let the little children come to me, and not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:13-14).
The above Scripture is quit prominently quoted, but with no action! The Lord was visibly annoyed with His disciples for denying children access to Him. This led Him to make the most powerful statement about children and their role in the kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom is theirs by God’s Sovereign choice. I am referring to children who are under the age of accountability, which according to our Lord Jesus Christ is seven (7) or eight (8) years. This is what He told us through Charis when He rebuked an eight year old girl for deliberate sinful behaviour and He said: “Joan must stop doing wrong things because eight year olds can also go to Hell”. This has been confirmed by many other people whom we believe hear from the Lord as well. This week’s article has been revealed to us in a vision by the Lord. We asked the Lord what this week's message should be. He answered saying: "I will answer your father's question tonight". This was answered through Visions and a message to a mother.
In the first vision, the Lord showed Charis someone we knew standing in her kitchen with three children. One child was her own daughter and the other two children were not her children. These children were all standing there together when this mother suddenly gave sweets to one child while ignoring the others. Just then someone came in from outside saying: “That is unequal treatment of children”. Immediately, after this vision she was shown another vision, a mother with four of her own children, two boys and two girls. These children she estimates them to be about 10 to 12 years. She was made to feel this mother’s strong hatred for her two girls and her love for her two boys. After these two visions the Lord gave her a message for a mother in our ministry saying: “My daughter W must love her children equally”. Brethren, this is the message the Lord has for you this week. He knows every heart and reader on this website and the messages we publish online are for you. He knows His children and the challenges we face. The Lord provides word education for you and your family. Please find below a brief presentation.
The Bible categorically associates the Lord with virtues such as justice, righteousness and faithfulness to mention but a few of God’s attributes (Psalm 7:8-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:6; Isaiah 45:18-21). This should undeniably be His children’s desire to be like Him. I am careful not to deviate from our message, but it won’t hurt to mention the following as an encouragement. The Bible makes a loud appeal to people and leaders everywhere to exercise justice and righteousness (Matthew 7:12; Exodus 23:1-9; Colossians 4:1). When God placed humanity on the earth, He gave them social laws to foster co-existence (Isaiah 1:17; Zechariah 7:9-10; Jeremiah 22: 3; Matthew 7:12; 1 John 3:17-18). These and many other Scriptures echo the same message of fairness. The result of wars and conflict in the world are based on two powerful pillars of evil, namely GREED and Injustice. As it is, peace is denied an entry because man is possessed by these evils and all we have is just harm, hurt and death!
Where Did We First Learn to Be Unequal?
As children, we have all learned to practice selfishness at home. While I do recognize that selfishness is innate and part of the human nature, we as parents must not encourage this kind of behaviour in our children. This is also further encouraged by our social setup and the television. There is no escape from this evil practice. It is everywhere present just like all other sins, but we must overcome it by doing what the Word of God says. As people, and being easily enticed by sin, we only have the Word of God to ‘escape’ to. “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:7). Our refuge and escape from sin is obedience to God. We have been given the tools to master sin and do right. We have the Bible as our rule of living, the spirit of faith, obedience, prayer and the Holy Spirit who guides and convicts us (John 16:8). These are weapons mighty to attack ‘self’ and sin. Remember, Satan likes to inflate our egos to show us our self-importance – let us therefore guard against this evil (Genesis 3:4-5).
Furthermore, as a parent myself I had to learn to respect my children as humans with feelings and not just to demand respect and compliance from them. My wife and I have been repeatedly rebuked by the Lord for infuriating our children. In addition, I strive daily to bring my children up in the ways of the Lord and I teach them to fear God more than us, as their parents (Ephesians 6:4). This is easily achieved especially when we have just one child to bring up. The more the children one has, however, the greater the challenge and responsibility.Children compete against one another for our attention, and as parents we should encourage them to love and support one another, because “a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17: 17b NIV). It is considered a blessing to have more children (Psalm 127:3); we must also therefore guard against loving one child more than the other(s), like Jacob (Genesis 37:3). We are called to treat others as we desire to be treated, this is equality (Matthew 7:12). If we treat or love one child better than the other are we not sinning? Yes we are! Now not only are we sinning but we are preparing children who will transfer this behaviour into society. This unequal treatment of others, adopted by our children, and now well accepted in society found its roots with us as parents.
How to Practice Equal Parenting?
Our success in equal parenting is dependent on our personal sense of fairness or justice. When we lack integrity and honesty we will make poor parenting and this will result in many troubles for us with people and God. I’d rather teach my children how to live with others in society then have society as my enemy because of being biased. I tell you this; prudent and discerning children will blame you later in life for the poor example you set for them. Kindly allow me to state this, you are preparing your children for HELL because you working against God’s model for raising Godly children, (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4). In addition, my beloved brethren, we must remember that it is not about us or how we feel but what is important to God and how it will affect our children’s future and destiny.
Before I turn to testimonies and what the Lord said, I would like to add the following encouragement. It is our Biblical duty as parents to instruct our children in the fear of the Lord as the above Scripture says. It is also our duty as parents to listen to them when they relate their failures and experiences with others. This is invaluable feedback to you to impart or encourage more corrective behaviour.
In the home, children must all feel equally loved. When a child comes to us as parents to complain about someone else’s behaviour towards them, we must act to help rectify the problem. It might be a misunderstanding or a problem that requires just recourse. Whatever that is might be considered minor by us, but this affects our child and this might leads to feelings of rejection. The feeling or spirit of rejection brings a spirit of hatred and rebellion. I will use my own upbringing as an example of this. As a child I grew up with my four sisters and our parents. I was about seven years when my father left home to live with another woman. This badly affected us and especially my mother who resorted to drinking. She became negligent and one of our aunts took care of us. My aunt had children of her own (my cousins) and she practiced gross inequality. We suffered unfair verbal and physical abuse. I am not saying this to be pitied. I have long forgiven and love everybody who made our lives hell. This treatment made me very stubborn, rebellious and hateful. I desired normal childhood like other children who had their parents. I became very shy and withdrawn and I lacked self-confidence. I confess while I did not know that then, I avoided other children because I thought they would mock me for my lack of things, and they did. The spoiled brats (cousins) on the other hand became disrespectful towards their mother, and today they have children of their own who are equally affected by their parent’s nonchalant way of life. By this I was just trying to show that what we are exposed to as children is being transferred into society. This made me a troubled child causing me do untold harm to others. It took the GRACE and the LOVE of Jesus Christ to CHANGE me from this destructive way of life. I am not asserting that all abused or unequally treated children end up like me. Mine has a happy ending in Christ, doesn’t it?
The Lord’s Correction of Parents
Earlier this year, I was commanded by the Lord to share some of the things He taught us on how to raise children in His ways. We have an article titled ‘Christian Parenting: Bringing up Children in the Fear of the Lord’. This is a basic document based on our experiences with the Lord and His direct counsel to us as parents and our children. This is a very, very serious thing to the Lord, not raising and teaching our children in His ways. Beloved, I want to be bold and brave on this subject, children are the most neglected when it comes to their training and instruction in the Word of God. Many parents have shifted this responsibility to the church through the Sunday School program. While this is ministry and is somehow helpful, it is not a God-ordained purpose. The Sunday School setup is formal and it teaches knowledge more than applied obedience, faith and proper behaviour. The Lord has mandated parents to bring their children up in His ways (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4). We hinder the children to serve the Lord because we consider them way too innocent for spiritual things. This is wrong. There are numerous scriptures showing us that children must be brought up in the instruction of the Lord and taught the Word and they will grow up to serve the Lord. Samuel the prophet was promised to God and brought up in Holy law of God (1 Samuel).
As I mentioned in our previous articles, we have mostly God-fearing mothers in our ministry. These mothers are born-again and spirit-filled. I have no doubt on their genuine commitment and faith in the Lord, but their poor parenting abilities has been laid bare by the Lord. Many of us were rebuked for taking sides with children while giving the other children unfair treatment.
The Lord expects us to listen to both sides and issue correction or discipline where necessary. Children are naturally selfish and simply jumping to their defense is kind of giving them license to offend others while they are being denied the opportunity to learn to love and respect others. A truth-loving and honest parent would abandon her feeling of pity for her child and satisfy herself in obeying the truth and correct her child.
Some parents are afraid to correct or discipline their children, some mothers were rebuked for being afraid to rebuke or discipline their children. There was a girl who got away with almost every wrong thing and as parents; we consider it ‘childish’. The girl was only eight then, so the Lord gave her mother a message to give her a spanking at a certain time. My wife and I and this girl’s mother thought, ‘Lord how could she get a spanking without an offence’? The mother was however determined to obey the Lord and my wife and I sat there as witnesses. When the time came for her to receive a spanking, she committed an offence. She refused to do what her mother asked her to do and to top it she gave her mother a dirty look; this gave our sister the opportunity to discipline her. The Lord was vindicated, Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!
I would like to conclude by sharing this, I have three children of my own and the Lord has given us three more children to bring up. They are God’s children whom He took from their parents and entrusted into the care of me and my wife. I resisted this within myself knowing that this was added responsibility. It took me about one week of prayer to make peace with this change of life. Through the grace of our Lord, I fought against this selfish spirit through prayer and obedience. During this time, I learned to allow the Lord to do His will through me. Admittedly, my thoughts disagreed with the Lord, but I was determined to obey and be made submissive (John 3:30). I thought, gone are the days of being just me and my family. We had to learn to love and live with these other precious children. Because of our love and fear for the Lord, we united in love as a family and shared all the good things the Lord provided. Love is proven pure and unselfish when we share our lives and possessions with others. Then the Lord said this is proof of our love for Him (Matthew 25:31-40). Let us practice equal love to our children and other people as followers and children of God!
Blessed grace and peace to you all in Jesus Name,
Brother Glenn.
