(Proverbs 22:6) “Train a child in the way appropriate for him, and when he becomes older, he will not turn from it.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19) “I call heaven and earth to testify against you today! I’ve set life and death before you today: both blessings and curses. Choose life, that it may be well with you—you and your children.”
(Exodus 20:5) “You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them; because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,”
Should you stay or should you go to church on Sunday, to that prayer meeting in a brother’s house, on that church retreat for the weekend? If you ask God, then probably you should always choose to be with the brothers and sisters of the faith and grab any opportunity to receive His Word.
God clearly puts these options before us daily. He has put in front of us a path that will give us spiritual life and another that will give us spiritual death. He desires that we choose life and get closer to Him. It’s completely up to you which path you choose, however, you have to consider that your choices will affect the next generation.
Have you wondered why someone from a broken home ends up also having a broken home? Why a girl who grew up with an alcoholic angry father she could never please, ends up choosing a husband just like him and spend the rest of her life trying to please him? Why some of the addictions of the parents are passed on from generation to generation? There is a simple answer to that.
Children will always produce what you sow in them. If they see you drunk, with a short temper, lying and stealing, lazy and apathetic, promiscuous in your relationships, treating women without respect, calling the father useless…. guess what? They will turn out exactly the same.
However, if you choose to take them regularly to church, where they learn about God and His love, they will turn out to be instruments God will use. Even if you are rotten inside, made lots of mistakes, and are a horrible example to follow for your family, by encouraging them to surrender to Christ, they will have a fighting chance.
God hates idol worship, but in our modern society, an idol can also be an addiction, the pursuit of wealth, a famous person you want to imitate, a wrong relationship, a craze for sports, or anything that takes priority over God. So, I will ask you again. Should you stay home and watch the match, finish those series on the internet, go to that party or should you go to the night vigil?
For the sake of your children and the next generation that is desperate for a good role model, I say you go to church.
Prayers
• Jesus, You are High Priest of the good things to come, He who has an unchangeable priesthood, You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
• Thank You, Lord, for giving us the choice to follow Your ways or our own.
• Thank You, that we can choose life if we desire to do so and You don’t interfere with our decision.
• Forgive us for being a bad example for our children and for following the idols offered to us by the world.
• We declare that from this day forth we choose life, we choose to go to church, we choose to put You first in our lives and we choose to be a good example for the next generation.
• Today the curse upon our lives because of the mistakes of our forefathers, stops forever.
• We declare that we will not allow the next generation to make the same mistakes we made and that they will be those that You will use to change our nation.
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• We ask in Jesus’ Mighty Name. Amen