Standing Upon or Next To?

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."-(Proverbs 22:6)
This verse of wisdom is widely known and quoted with regard to parenting one's children with the love and admonition of the Lord. But I would pose a question to those who sit in the office of parent, mentor or leader to the seeds of our future: Are you standing upon that verse, or next to it? Allow me to clarify myself. If we are "standing upon" this or any other verse from the Word, we DO it, committedly and consistently. If we are merely "standing next to it", we are selective about our execution of it. But if I plant a seed of any sort, whether that is a natural seed in the soil of a garden, a financial seed in the soil of the kingdom, or the seed of the Word into the soul of a person, it has specific needs. In order for the seed to become more than a capsule of possibilities buried in the ground, certain steps must be taken. It must be attended to. I must water the seed, and allow the sun to penetrate the soil. I must be sure to attend also to the soil itself, seeing that no hinderances block the inevitable sprouting of the seed into the birth of direct sunlight. It must be done consistently and diligently. In some instances, I must guard the seed from predators that would cut it down before its time. I must tend to the removal of weeds that would choke it, and pests that would eat it. As the seed becomes a sproutling and then a young creation, I must guide the direction that it will grow with encouragement and support. Without this care, our seeds will not flourish. In truth, without this watering, tending and support, our seeds will suffer stunted growth, or worse still, perish entirely.

It unsettles me to hear from a parent who rings claim to salvation and discipleship of Christ that they will "let the child decide". While I agree whole-heartedly that the decision for salvation must be personal, I also know indubitably that it is our responsibility as believing parents to "raise them up in the way they should go". Their decisions will be based on a core-belief system that is 80% established by the time they reach the age of 5, and 95% established by age 18. It is imperative that our witness by way of our walk, our talk and our genuine spirit life are that of example. For it is by example that Jesus demonstrated how we should live. It is by example also that we need to establish what is good, just, holy and righteous to our seed. Our confession is so very powerful to the little ones that we cover; so much so that Jesus said "And whosoever shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it were better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea."-(Mark 9:42)

Training them up is an inherent responsibility of parenting and most directly done through our actions, confession and watering of our progeny. But it is also the soil or environment that we place them or allow them to be placed in to grow, that is an incredible influence. The children they play with, the media that they are exposed to; every single social situation will in some way, inevitably sculpt our seed. For instance, the public school systems are not necessarily the ideal place to raise a spiritually healthy child anymore. Don't think I am entirely critical of the public schools. I am a graduate of the public school system. My mother taught elementary education for 37 years in my original home town in the public system, and the lives that she and other great educators touched are and were indeed changed for the better. I also am aware that statistically, public schools in comparison to private christian schools (not private preparatory) typically outrank in the level of education and the scoring curve on national tests. In truth, my children will both be attending public school this fall. But the spiritual risk is HIGH. The total lack or allowance of God's presence in the lives of American children within the school walls is disarming. I realize that there is a separation of Church and State, and neither uniform prayer, worship nor assembling during school hours are allowed, however, the choice to worship, pray or assemble after to praise Jesus should never be questioned. It is part of our liberty as Americans. The fact that we have atheists seeking to gut God out of the American equation is a completely different writing subject that upon the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I shall tackle.

But the reason I bring this up is that Christianity is not an American faith, and the Lord is persecuted by an international span of offended unbelievers who would see God gutted out of ALL public life. For instance, in European courts, right now, there is a case demanding that the school systems of Italy remove all crucifixes from their classroom walls as they "restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions, and the right of children to believe or not to believe." Now, I am not Catholic, nor do I promote the use of the crucifix, but I see here in spite of denominational difference, a direct opposition to the soil of education in a predominantly catholic nation training up children to believe in Christ. What's ironic here, is that the reasoning and purpose is the same on both sides of the battlefield. We need to "educate our children in conformity with our convictions". We need to educate our children in line with the Word of God, thereby raising them up in the way they should go. As convoluted as that example is, it is an example of the turbulence involved in the exterior soil that we plant our seeds in to be watered by others. Some soil is inherently rich and fruitful, easy to maintain and glean from. Other soil is rocky, parched and without vitamins, minerals and it must be attended to with vigilence.

When we are blind to the Godlessness of certain environments that they are exposed to, we aid the enemy in driving them out of the way that they should be raised to go. I am certainly not condemning either private or public educational institutions, but rather raising the important banner of awareness that shows us to be vigilent on their behalf in all situations. We cannot sit idly by our seed and say "Well, whatever will be, will be..." NO! We must be the reminder that God is real, God is Love and God is sovereign with or without the world agreeing. That is "standing upon" Proverbs 22:6. That is standing upon the Word. My bride and I do our utmost everyday to bring God to the forefront of every situation, every challenge, every celebration and in all things we show and train them to follow Jesus. I have seen in the prophetic that my sons will serve God in magnificent and incredible ways. I have also seen in the prophetic that we as parents MUST be accountable for their main training. We must water them daily, we must expose them to the SON, ever pruning back the enemy, fencing off his attacks, removing the weeds that would choke the Word and supporting and encouraging their growth every day. We must water diligently and leave the increase to God. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6 "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." So, I commend you who sow seeds unto this earth, His Kingdom and thereby eternity- STAND UPON THE WORD.