Thursday, June 11, 2009 Print Article Print Article Print Article Leave a Comment Teach Your Family to Remember God's Goodness Pastor Paula White
We recently celebrated Memorial Day - a day when our nation remembers those who gave their lives fighting for freedom and defending our nation. A memorial calls for a time of remembering and thinking about any people or events that impact our lives. In offering a memorial, we are honoring the importance of those people or events, and we find inspiration, hope and empowerment in the impact of their memory. Spiritually, memorials have always been an important part of worship. It is a way of remembering God's goodness in the past, and planting seeds of encouragement and hope for the future. We see this in the biblical illustration in Joshua 4. After Joshua led God's people across the Jordan, and brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land, God commanded that they build up memorial stones from the river to remember His miraculous works. Joshua explained the reason for building the stone "lodge" God commanded: That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. (Joshua 4:6 -7) In the Old Testament, God would command His people to build memorials such as this, as well as altars upon which animals might be sacrificed. A memorial altar was a visible sign of one's thanksgiving and praise to God. This passage shows us that memorials are also a way of teaching our children to remember God. As parents, we know that our children are watching us - and that unless we instruct them in word and in deed, they will miss acknowledging the goodness of God, and His mighty power in their lives. We can teach our children to remember God, simply by creating "memorial lists of thanksgiving" - which include a list of all the things God has given them or done for them in the past. A "memorial list" can be easily placed on a cork-board, desk, or refrigerator (where it will definitely be seen on a daily basis!) so that it serves as a continual reminder of God's goodness in their lives. Sponsor Ad Encourage your children to include things on their lists like the people who genuinely love and care for them their personal health, energy and strength a safe home the opportunity to go to school and receive an education friends who are trustworthy, loyal and love God adequate food, clothing and shelter family pets sports activities - winning a game These are the kinds of daily blessings children should be taught to remember to thank God for. Teaching our children to remember to thank God will also keep us on point in our own gratefulness to our awesome Father. Remembering what God has done in our lives in the past will help empower and inspire us in the future - especially when we are going through challenging times. Our children will need the same kind of enduring faith when they face difficulties -- so teaching them to remember God's goodness now will be an important tool in their arsenal for meeting the ups and downs of life they will face. Remembering God's goodness is a generational blessing in and of itself. So pass it along! Pastor Paula White Please join us on skype on Monday and Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. eastern time and friday at 1:00 p.m. eastern time Skype addiction recovery1 and christ meeting O. Addisoin Gethers [email protected] [email protected] Messenger contact window live messenger: oag1rot...@hotmail aim: durangoadd64 skype id: cowboys62 yahoo id: OADDISONGETHERS --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DBILG?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
