Relationship 101

I wrote a little bit about it but a few weeks ago my pastor challenged us to make Jesus the centre of everything we do. I thought long and hard about that and how to implement that in my Sunday School class. How do I make Jesus the centre of our class time and how do I encourage the children to have personal relationships with Christ?
As it happened, it was Easter Sunday and God led me to talk about Gethsemane and Jesus' heavy prayer before enduring the cross. I thought about prayer and it occurred to me that one of the biggest difference in my relationship with Jesus came when I made prayer a continual part of my day.

Here is how that happened:
I was born to saved, church going parents and grew up in church. Both my parents love the bible and it's something they instilled in their children. Knowing the bible, however, is not indicative of a relationship with God.
Before I really got to know God I had a very ridged relationship with Him. I literally looked at Him like He was some sort of Santa Claus figure doling out good to believers who obeyed and actively chastising believers who rebelled. I would pray but I had created some rules in my mind so that God would 'hear me'. I confessed my sins by saying 'please forgive me for all my sins', then I'd say what needed to be said, rattled off 'in Jesus name, amen', not knowing what on earth anything was about.
One day a church friend lent me a novel by a christian writer. It was about a saved girl and some things she went through. I think it was part of a series. Clearly I don't remember much about the book but the novel was written in the first person and every so often she would just pray in her mind. She would address God, make a request or give thanks or whatever she wanted to say, and that was all. See, I always thought I had to say 'amen' or the prayer wasn't complete and God wouldn't take it seriously. I was 10 (all this occurred when I was 10).
She basically had a continual conversation with the Lord throughout the day.
I remember being very fascinated by it, wanting that, and starting on that right away. Needless to say, my relationship with God grew after that.
If you have open communication with God all day every day, you are much more aware that He is watching what you do and that He knows what you are thinking. My pastor always says to keep short accounts with God and it's a lot easier to do when you're constantly going to Him and recognizing you need to be right with Him to communicate properly.
I hope this is making sense. It's hard for me to explain. When you talk to God a lot and you keep that line open there's a lot He shows you. It's really neat.

So something I'm trying to impart to the young ones I teach every Sunday is to continually talk to God. Instead of always asking for prayer requests I mix it up and ask if any one has answered prayers. They're all little prayers that have been answered but those little, every day proofs that God cares about the smallest details of their lives are the building blocks they need to grow their relationship with God.
The other thing these discussions have done is given me a little insight into the children's view of God. In other words- do they really believe in Him or is He just something they learn about at church?

One preacher said, 'the closer you get to God the more your faith is as a little child's'. He went on to explain that like little children know they need their parents to provide everything, those that are close to God realize that absolutely everything they need-including strength for every day- comes from Him. That is what your prayer life reveals- it reveals what sort of faith you have in Him. If he really is 'Lord of all' in your life, that is how you will communicate with Him and you will conduct your life accordingly.
It is amazing the difference a little Holy Spirit discernment will do in your life. Not only do you make right, wise, and good decisions but you're able to be a bigger blessing. If you're constantly questioning if something is right to do in God's eyes rather than your own, you'll avoid a lot of messes.

A few months ago we covered prayer in a discipleship series we're going through on Wednesdays. Listed below are a few things my pastor said that I found really thought provoking.

-There is no problem that isn't a prayer problem

-God will either answer the prayer or change the request
-Nothing reveals a person's spiritual life like their passion for prayer
-Prayer reveals who the believer really is
-Prayer is a backstage part of life that makes a huge difference on stage
-Praying and having a prayer life are two different things
-Your prayer life either magnifies problems or magnifies God
-Your prayer life reveals who you think God is

I hope this was an encouragement, a help, or just a blessing to you!

Work of the Word

The two Sunday School classes I've taught are as different from each other as night is from day.

The first class I ever taught were children from a poorer neighborhood, their parents did not come to church, and none of them had fathers that were actively involved in their lives.

All the students in my current class were born into christian homes, they all have two parents that bring them to church, and they are all home schooled.

The differences are very apparent and it makes me laugh sometimes but I can say this for all of them: they're all sweet and inquisitive. 

To be honest, I never know if the children I teach are learning anything. I can ask them questions about what they learned in previous weeks but head knowledge isn't what I'm going for. I want them to learn about God in a way that applies to their daily lives.

I don't believe that Sunday School and church is there to entertain us. We can fellowship at a hockey game or have a gym night- those things are meant to be fun and entertaining. The main reason we come together on Sundays is to be fed from the Word by teaching and preaching.

God teaches me a lot through the children He's given me to teach and He put it in my heart to share one of the more recent lessons here on the blog.

I came across a sermon by one of my favourite preachers online and as I listened to it I realized I had heard it before.

The funny thing was that when I first heard this sermon a few years ago it was particularly earth shattering to me; this second time, while the force and heaviness of the message was in no wise diminished, I heard it as one who knew those things by experience.

In other words, I had learned the principles he was teaching in my own life and come to the same conclusions.

This made me very happy because I realized all the sermons I listen to are not in vain. My human self may not retain all the information but the Spirit uses those messages to bring about Spiritual growth.

I listened to a few of the other sermons that followed the initial sermon I listened to, I had listened to them before as well, and I realized that they were the ones that had turned me on to my problem with covetousness.

Frankly I didn't remember those sermons at all but since I'd first listened to them I have been sensitive to covetousness and careful not to commit it. The way I deal with people, how I look at myself, and what I do has all be affected by those sermons and I didn't even remember them.

God pointed these things out to me and a wave of relief washed over me.

I realized then and there that it is not my job to create memorable, exciting, dynamic lessons for my students. While I'm not going to bore them to death and make my classes tedious, I don't need to feel any pressure to 'entertain' the children just to keep them engaged.

God has made it very clear many times that it is given to me to diligently teach the Word. (Yes, this is where that post on the diligence of David came from last week)

I ask the children questions, they get the chance to give personal examples of what we're talking about, we play a review game at the end of class and I make the lessons applicable to their daily lives.

I don't read the lesson out of a man written book, I read the account from the Bible and use lots of scripture to emphasize the point.

We recently finished Solomon and the point of Solomon was the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In every lesson I emphasized that and gave different examples each week depending on what part of his life we were talking about. 

I love these children and I pray for them, I pray over each lesson, I pray for their parents, and their other teachers. I have to remember, though, that what they take away from the lesson is up to them.

I can't control wether they listen or not, I can't make them learn anything, and I cannot turn their hearts toward the Lord. All I have to do is give them what God gave me and let His Spirit do a work in their lives.

Growing up in a christian home I was exposed to movies, TV shows, books, and things outside of church that taught me biblical principles.

I was always very conscious about lying, stealing, violence and things like that because I had been exposed to a multitude of sources that taught me those things are wrong.

Funnily enough, I did not realize the influence christian cartoons, story books, and movies had on me until recently. While I don't remember everything I saw or heard, they still had an effect on me.

Train up a child in the way he should

go: and when he is old, he will not depart

from it.

Proverbs 22:6

We've taught our son to pray by praying before every meal, before we go out, and before bed. One of the first words he ever could say was 'Bible' because every morning I'd get my Bible out (not on my ipad or phone!) and read Proverbs to him.

He's been trained to know those things by consistency and repetition. 

He sees his parents praying, he sees pastor praying, he sees his teachers praying, he sees his grandparents praying, he sees his aunties and uncles praying, this helps teach him to pray.

If you are wondering why someone's morals are wacky, they probably weren't consistently exposed to good morals and they don't know better. Don't be angry at them for that, just be a blessing by being a good testimony and witnessing.

If a saved person's morals are wacky, let God work on them.

If they are newly saved, they don't know better, help when you can and pray for them.

So in conclusion, just put the Word in. If you're a parent or a teacher, just give them the Word, give them good doctrine, expose them to good influences, and pray unceasingly for them.

Be diligent to do these things and God will bless it.

My Burden to Teach

I take my position as a Bible teacher very seriously. It is something I love and am very passionate about. I want the children I am privileged to teach to be armed with love for the Bible, a desire to learn it better, and knowledge to help them through life.
Growing up I attended all sorts of children's ministries- sunday school, AWANA (briefly), wednesday night classes, youth group, camps, vacation bible school, and so on. In all those years no one ever bothered to tell me about what people's names meant, that numbers mean something, and that the wise men were mocking Herod when they asked about he who was born king of the Jews.
I love things like that- bits of knowledge that enhance your bible reading and cause you to hunger for more knowledge.
When I was a child I thought that the Bible was God's word and it was just full of stories about people whose names I could not pronounce and lists of things I could not do.
Having spent my whole life in church I could answer all the questions about all the major people in the bible, and I could give you some doctrine too.
It was not until I read the bible for myself that I realized a lot had been left out of my education.
I certainly can't blame anyone for my lack of biblical knowledge- it is always up to the person in question to study for themselves- but I was rather astonished that no one had ever told me that God hardened Pharaoh's heart as Pharaoh refused to obey Him.
That's a very necessary part of the event, people, I wonder how on earth I learned anything meaningful from those Sunday School lessons except for the event details (minus a few things).
I keenly remember my ignorance and I do not want to do that to the children God has entrusted me with.

For instance:
Since I've taken over the Bible class I've taught the children a song called 'Did You Ever Talk to God Above'. It's a very sweet and simple song about prayer and our ability to pray to God whenever and where ever.
We sing it every Sunday so they can learn it and a few Sundays ago I elaborated on the song a bit. I told them that God 'neither slumbers nor sleeps' (Psalm 103) and that He will always listen.
We continued through the class and our lesson for that day was 1 Samuel 8.
Reading along, we came to verse 18:

And ye shall cry out in that day because

of our king which ye shall have chosen

you; and the Lord will not hear you in that

day.

One of my very astute students pointed out: didn't you say that the Lord will always hear us?

I explained to them about how God has given them a full warning, they know exactly what they are getting into and they are choosing to do wickedly. They are purposefully bringing God's judgement upon them.

I explained that God is love and God is a consuming fire. (I think we, as part of God's beloved Son's body, forget that God is a consuming fire. We don't experience that side of Him very often.) I also explained that God is perfect in His anger and jealousy- things we equate with sin.

To me this is a vital part of a child's biblical education: to know who God really is.

Frankly, I thought He was like Santa Claus- a kindly old man with a long white beard that cried when we sinned.

Yeah... no. God is not like that. I'm not sure where I got that idea but it was not done away with by any of the teaching I got from anyone. 

I was more interested in studying the Bible when I learned who God really was: A holy God who will take vengeance on His enemies and bring every soul to his or her knees in worship.

One of my favourite verses is:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a

white horse; and he that sat upon him was

called Faithful and True, and in

righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Revelation 19:11

That one verse alone should tell you everything you need to know about who God really is. 

Last thing:

A false balance is abomination to the

Lord: but a just weight is his delight.

Proverbs 11:1

Any teaching about the Bible must be balanced. You can't only preach out of the four gospels and expect to have balanced preaching, you can't only preach on the 'good things' and have balanced preaching, you can't preach against sin all the time and have balanced preaching. 

Balance comes from preaching 'all the counsel of God' (Acts 20:27). If you leave anything out, your preaching and teaching is not balanced and what's worse: not honest.

Do not shy away from difficult topics when you teach. Teach the Word and let the Lord take care of it.

(Obviously have discretion when it comes to things like Judah's situation with Tamar, David and Bathsheba and so on- don't go into deep details on that, you don't want to teach them how to sin or put any ideas into their heads.) 

When it comes to teaching I do three things: pray, study, and let the Lord lead.
Prayer
I've written it here a few times: I do not know what my students home lives are like. Right now they are all from Christian homes, I know their parents and have met some of their grandparents- all saved people. There may come a day when I'll have unsaved students with unsaved parents. I don't know. I do know that God knows what each one of them need to hear.
In prayer I ask that God will give me the wisdom, discernment, and knowledge to teach them. I ask Him to guide me in my thoughts, studies, and teaching. The class is His, I have no right to usurp His authority by doing what *I* think is best.
Here are some of the things I pray for:
-Each one of my students by name
-All their families
-Class time
-that each child will learn something
-for peace during class
-for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit
-for ways to teach them, activities to help learn, and songs to sing
-for utterance
Those are just a very few things but it puts God in control and gives me peace concerning my classes.

Study
At the moment I am working through a lesson book my pastor has given me. I'm following it through until it is finished.
I find it is incredibly important to study ahead of my current lesson so I have an idea of where I'm going. I also make sure to have my lesson plan done by Monday or Tuesday. The sooner I have it done, the more I can pray over it and prepare for it.
I only use scripture when I teach. I will certainly use examples from my personal life and things that I know, but I let the Bible tell its record itself. For example: this week we're studying David and Goliath. I'll go to the passage and select verses to for myself and my students to read out loud. As we go verse by verse I explain things to them, answer questions, and point out details and lessons we can learn. I'll always have a main thought to point out to students but I want God's Word to speak for itself and no important details left out.
On Sunday mornings instead of my usual devotions I will read a chapter of Proverbs and re-read the passage I will be teaching in my bible class.

Let the Lord Lead
Something I keep myself from doing is thinking about what I am going to say during my lesson.
I plan the verses we will read and I'll think about how to relate it to the children personally but I will not rehearse exactly what I will say.
Here's why:
I was once a warehouse manager for a Vancouver jewellery store company. There was a girl named Jordan who started giving me trouble- she was leaving early, not locking the jewels away when she was done, not completing her tasks properly, and so on.
Finally I had to do something about it but I was seething mad. I wrote out a list of the things I needed to speak to her about and while I waited for her to get back from her lunch break I rehearsed what I was going to say to her.
I did pray to God about it but I kept repeating my own angry words in my mind.
She came back from her break and I spoke to her. I said everything that I had rehearsed in my mind.
She stormed out angrily and never came back.
After the dust had settled and I thought about what I had said that made her storm out, I came to this conclusion:
My prayer for God to guide my words did not take because I did not let Him.
I planned out everything I wanted to say and said them in anger.
God did not help me at all because I did not let Him.
For this reason, I do not rehearse anything I am going to say. I let God guide me the whole time and He does. Many times the lesson does not turn out at all how I think it will simply because God leads in a different direction from what I had planned.
Like I said, I do not know what the children need to hear but God does. I just need to trust and obey Him.

I hope this was in some way a blessing to you!

From Junior Church to Bible Class

Earlier this summer my pastor asked me about my role as a Junior Church teacher and it came out that I have a special place in my heart for pre teens (ages 8-12 roughly).
As our church has grown we've needed changes in our children's program and so my pastor has moved me from Junior Church to teaching a bible class to 8-12 year olds on Sunday mornings before the main service.
I am very VERY excited to take this on but, of course, I feel a deep pang of sadness as I leave my beloved class of 0-4 year olds.

I had never had my own class before this one. At my last church I shared a class and only taught on a substitutionary basis. I did do a fair amount of teaching, but the class was not my own. This class was ages 7-12.
It was not long after we made Park City our church (or rather God made it our church) that the Lord gave me a great desire to teach. I've always loved teaching and the Bible is my favourite subject so I made it known and was given a class.

In my new class I had four consistent students: my son age 2, the pastor's children- twins aged 4 and their youngest age 3. More often then not we'd have twin boys who just turned 2.
With such a diverse group of ages it was hard to keep things under complete control but we had a lot of fun. There were hard days and easy days. The biggest blessing to me was being able to let the Lord lead me in leading the class. The lessons were so short it would not take long to prepare them. The difference was whether I sought the Lord that week or not. God's hand was always more evident when I leaned on Him to teach.
Our classes were something like this: we would have a little snack, then we would sing- some of our favourites are: The Lord's Army, Jesus Loves Me, My God Is So Big, Inright Outright, and the Wise Man- I would then teach the lesson.
The lessons were short- like their attention spans- but the Lord gave me the tools to keep them focused. I would bring objects, do some role play, and I used a felt board to illustrate what was going on. It's easier for them to listen to the story when it is played out in front of them. We would always have fun crafts to reenforce the lesson.
In the time I was given with them we only covered the main events in Moses' life.
The last weeks leading up to my leaving them as their teacher were very sweet. I took time to go over each of the ten commandments, a few each Sunday with a different colouring page for each commandment. At the end each child had a 'Ten Commandments Book'.
I was unsure how to proceed from there, the lesson plan I was loosely following had the Ark of the Covenant next but I wasn't sure that was the best way to proceed. One morning during my devotions it came to me: teach about salvation. I had given them a bunch of rules that God commanded but what were they supposed to do with them? One thing they had learned was that everyone lies- how were they supposed to proceed from there? Salvation was the perfect ending to the four weeks we had taken learning the ten commandments.
I had the perfect craft to go with it- a 'stain glass' cross- and I got out all the felt pictures I needed- the empty tomb, Jesus alive, heaven's pearly gates and golden streets.
That last Sunday I had with them I gave them a clear presentation of the gospel and finished the lesson with:

For whosoever shall call upon the name

of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:13

At that time I did not know it was our last Sunday together, but God did and He made it perfect. The children paid extra good attention that day and had a lot of fun with the craft.

From this short and sweet experience I've gained a special love for four year olds. Its such a sweet, short time- they can communicate but they cannot read or write, they have uninhibited affection, and they say the funniest, cutest things.
One of the things I desired most was to make sure each child knew I loved them no matter what. I think I accomplished that.
They're little sponges. They pick up everything and they can learn a lot if you take the time to teach them.
My students may not remember the time I taught them but I will never forget.
Here are some of the things my little students taught me:
-They will sit anyway but the proper way
-Everyone will pray for the food if you let them
-If you let someone get away with something the others will follow
-The older ones remember what you say and how you said it
-There is no such thing as too much glue
-When one wants a glass of water they all want a glass of water
-Make sure they're all 'zooming o'er the enemy' in the same direction
-They want to believe the very best of you- my pastor's daughter almost cried when she found out that I am guilty of lying
-Never let boys sit together
-The girls do not want to sit with the boys
-They enjoy structured activities more than free play
-Singing action songs help bring the focus on the teacher and engages everyone
-Singing helps calm fussy little ones
-Letting them speak and listening to what they say helps them know you care and are approachable
-Allowing them to give examples from their lives helps them grow
-Singing a song then teaching them what the song is about is just as fun as the lesson
-They are learning something whether you realize it or not

I may do a post on some of my favourite toddler friendly crafts.
I hope this was in some way a blessing to you.

Salvation and Submission- My Personal Testimony

My posts have been fewer and further in between nowadays. I wish it wasn't the case but it's been busy around my home. Maybe not so much busy as much as my husband has been working a lot so I've had more to do around home.
It's been almost a year since my husband started the job he currently has. We've been going and going for a whole year and now we're tired and really need a vacation.
I find myself listless and disinterested. Everything I love to do I don't have the energy and mind power to do it. It may also be the heat, but I really think I'm just tired and would really like a break.

I am a Junior Church teacher. It's like nursery time only more structured. I have children 2-4 years old and the 4 year olds will be moving into the main service when they are five.
Every Sunday, before the evening service, my pastor meets with all the teachers in the church. He's asked us to share our personal testimony, specifically when we submitted to serving the Lord, in the upcoming meetings. The purpose of this, is so that we can see the Lord's work in each other's lives and so that the children we are teaching can learn, grow, and realize that God is real to their teachers.

I've been thinking about it and I thought I'd share it on here:

I was saved as a very young child. I was probably 5 or 6 years old. I don't remember my age but I have clear and certain memories of the night of my salvation.
The months prior to my salvation I remember being scared of the night. I was scared to sleep. I knew that there was a possibility that I could wake up dead. I was terrified of that.
It was a constant battle in my mind every night.
One evening my parent's had a bible study in our house. A man came and in the course of the bible study he either promoted a false doctrine or said something blasphemous.
My father does not tolerate that.
Well, an argument ensued and I remember my father demanding the man leave our house.
The situation left myself and my sister rather shaken. When dad tucked us into bed that night we asked him about the man and his errors. Our dad explained the things the man had said and told us the error of his beliefs, he then started talking about salvation.
I knew I wasn't saved and that terrified me.
I accepted the Lord as my Saviour that night.
The months of being terrified of death ended that night for good.
Praise the Lord!
So I went on, preserved by God, just living my life- going to church, doing family devotions.
For the most part I was a luke-warm Christian with strong beliefs but no action.
I knew I needed to read my bible and pray but I didn't. I knew how to live right but I just did what I wanted.
My family flitted from church to church and, for a while, we were very spiritually dead.
I grew up very independent, very proud, and very headstrong. I did whatever I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted.
My family eventually got involved with a man named Scott Line.
He preached like we had not heard before. It was actual bible preaching. We had never been fed like that in our lives. He preached hard on sin, he preached passages we'd never really heard preached on before, he preached about the God that is a consuming fire.
We had not heard stuff like that before.
Our spirit revived.
One Sunday he preached heavily against pride.
I felt the Lord's hand heavy on me that day. I remember a burning sensation in my chest. I knew I was full of pride. It was not necessarily the pride that causes you to think that you're better than everyone. It was the pride that caused me to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to. It was the pride that caused me to think I was in control of my life and that I could decide things for myself.
After the sermon I went outside and sat on the grass.
I thought about my pride. If I wanted something, I got it, if I wanted to do something I did it. I wanted what I wanted. I was self possessed.
I gave that up to God that Sunday. I apologized for my pride and I let it go.

That was when I submitted to serving the Lord. When I stopped serving myself.
I have no been perfect at it. There have been long periods since then where I've just stopped reading my bible and praying. God is faithful, though, He keeps working on me. I don't want to leave God's side. I'm never happier than when I am close to God and doing right. I don't understand how I can easily forget it sometimes and leave off serving Him.
Slowly God has stripped me of my pride. A lot of it left as I got into the Word and it worked in my life, correcting my opinion of myself, and putting me in my place. Other things, things I grew up doing, thinking, and so on had to be purged slowly, repeatedly sometimes, and systematically.
I realize now that God didn't just throw the whole book at me at once. He had to purge one thing before the next thing could go. There are things I can let go now that I couldn't even a year ago. I wasn't ready, I didn't know better, and God knew that.
If I could only express the gentleness of God.

I hope this is in some way a blessing to you.
God bless!

Let Us Reason with Four Year Olds

The other day while at the playground I was pushing my son on the swing.
On the swing next to us was a little boy, probably four years old, being pushed by his grandmother. I guess they had been using the swing for a while because the grandmother started to say, 'it's time to get off the swing' every few moments.
Each time, her grandson would decisively shake his head and say 'no!'
Well, this went on for a while and eventually the grandmother started to say things like, 'we've been on here a long time. Other kids want to swing. We need to share,'
Still, the child would not yield.
Then she started to say, 'sharing is caring,'
Yeah, that didn't work either.
She kept saying, 'sharing is caring' but finally she stopped pushing him and knelt down in front of him.
I did not catch everything she said. I did catch a lot of it, though, and what she was doing was negotiating with the boy.
The boy couldn't care less that he was being selfish and disobedient. He had no desire to 'share'- it wouldn't do him any good to see another child on the swing.
His grandmother knelt there talking to him about the need to share for a good five minutes. Finally she resorted to bribery-
'We can play here all day if you want to. If you get off now, you can play on it later on,' and so on.
I'm not sure what she said to make him get off but he finally did, and happily.

Frankly, that was a terrible display of authority.

First off, the boy clearly has no fear in him.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:

Psalm 111:10a, Proverbs 9:10a

There is such thing as healthy fear. The fear of God is the best fear anyone can have.
No, it's not God's fear, it is knowing exactly who God is, what He is capable of, and realizing that He will render to every man according to his work.
In other words- you transgress, you will be punished.
I expect my two year old to obey me. I know he won't always obey right away and with the right heart. I know he will do stupid things that are difficult for me to change because he isn't speaking much yet. However, my expectation that he must obey me is not unreasonable and not impossible.
From a young age we have taught our son that disobedience brings discipline.
One of the biggest things, to my husband and I, is that our son comes to us when we call him.
For a long time we would call his name and tell him to come but he would just stand there or continue with what he was doing.
One day, after the first time I called him, he did not listen so I immediately stood up and went to get him myself.
I disciplined him in love and, even though he's not perfect at it, more often then not he comes when we call him.
Think it's ridiculous for me to discipline a two year old for not obeying?
What if, one day, he's running straight toward a busy street, or a wall he can fall off of and I'm too far away to physically stop him? Being able to call his name and tell him to stop knowing he'll obey is a huge relief and blessing in that situation.
Training him early, during ordinary days, when it's not a matter of life and death will make a huge difference when it is.
The earlier you teach them that sin has repercussions, the easier, safer, happier it is later on.

Happy is the man that feareth alway;

Proverbs 28:14a

We do not think of fear bringing happiness, but the fear of the Lord can and will.

I am so happy when my son obeys me, and my happiness effects him and he becomes happy.

 A happy child knows what to do and that they are doing right. Training a child to fear authority gives them security and confidence.

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged:

and by the fear of the Lord men depart

from evil.

Proverbs 16:6

Secondly, that grandmother had no sense of authority.

Children, obey your parents

in the Lord: for this is right.

Ephesians 6:1

That grandmother was reasoning with a four year old.
Reasoning.
With a four year old.
They are very cute and sweet but logic and reason are not developed yet.
On Sunday I asked one of my students, a four year old, to join the others on the couch.
He just sat there angrily with his arms crossed.
I knelt in front of him and said, 'Am I your teacher?'
He said yes.
I asked, 'Are you supposed to obey your teacher?'
He said yes.
I said, 'will you please sit on the couch?'
And he complied.
I've watched his mother kneel in front of him to tell him that I am his teacher and he must obey me.
She gave me the right to instruct her children.
This student's parents teach their children about authority. The children know that they must be in subjection to their parents. The parents recognize their God given task of training their children and the authority that comes with that.
Both the parents and the children know their places- parents are the authority under God, the children are to obey.
I did not have to reason with him or bribe him into obeying, I simply had to remind him of the authority I have over him during Sunday School.
God put parents in charge. Parents have the freedom to hand over that authority to grandparents, baby sitters, Sunday school teachers and so forth.
That grandmother had no authority behind her because she did not recognize that her authority is God given and right. She approached the child like he was almost her equal.
Instead of suggesting it was time to get off the swing, she should have told him it was time. Instead of continuing to push him, she should have stopped the swing. Those small thing prove authority and shows the child who is in control.

Thirdly, the child had no sense of obedience
Clearly, the child is given the right to make most of the decisions.
'Which do you want, what would you like to eat, where would you like to sit, what do you want to do,'
Learning to be decisive and make choices are good things. We let our son pick out things when we can. However, we do not let him dictate what we are going to do- especially if he is trying to get his way by throwing a fit.
As parents it's our job to lead our children in the right things to do. For example, setting an example of family devotions. I realize that it can be very tedious to a child but family devotions could be the difference in your child's decision to serve God and reject the world. It made that difference in my life.
Sometimes Bo points to the TV and wants to watch, I often say no. It probably wouldn't be a bad thing for him to watch and it may give me a few minutes to get something finished, but I do not want him thinking he can choose to watch TV and I will comply. It gives him the idea that he is in charge. He needs to recognize, even at two, that he will not control what happens. He certainly effects what happens, but what we do will be decided by mom and dad because we know best (or at least better).
Not only that, TV isn't good for you. I'd rather he play with his toys to let his imagination and creativity flourish.
Yes, he is only two and does not understand that, but I tell you, it's easy at the mall when we walk by a toy store to say 'no, we're not going inside'. Though he may not like it, he listens (a lot of the time, not every time) because he's used to being told 'no'.
I am certainly not advocating saying 'no' for 'no's sake'. I am saying, use discretion and train your children to recognize that you are in authority, you know best, and they must learn to take no as an answer even when they do not understand.
The child must also learn that there are things we must do, even when they are not fun. Those things help us grow.
For example: I love volleyball. I played it throughout high school on teams and briefly on a club. The thing is, there are a lot of things I did not enjoy about playing for organized teams:
conditioning, tedious drills, getting benched.
Conditioning is hard work, doing the same drill for an hour is boring, and getting benched is frustrating and maddening.
But you know what? those things made me grow as a player.
Had I just gotten friends together and played I would not have grown as a player as I did with a professional coach making me do the boring stuff.
Getting benched makes real athletes mad. It forces us, though, to analyze ourselves honestly and improve the weak areas of our game.
Sharing the swing would not have been fun for the boy but it would have helped him grow as a person. He may have learned to take joy in making others happy or developed the strength to be considerate. Instead, he extracted a bribe from his grandmother to ensure his happiness continued.
Did he learn anything?
Yes he did- that if you hold out long enough you can have your cake and eat it too.

Train up a child in the way

he should go: and when he is

old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

That is a wonderful promise. Put in the work now while it is time. Look well to the ways of your household (Proverbs 31), and chasten thy son while there is yet hope (Proverbs 19:18). This will give you joy in your later years and your child will rise up and call you blessed (Proverbs 31). Remember, a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame (Proverbs 29:15).

Guard your children from the world. Take care to correct their ways, with mercy, truth, and grace. God will bless your efforts and you will have an eternal reward.

Training Them Up- Church Nursery Time

I've been blessed with a Sunday School class!
Actually, I suppose it's more of a nursery class since it is during the main service and only involves children too young to sit for the preaching.
I have four regular students and two more that come occasionally. There are two 2 year olds and two 4 year olds.
Since they are young children, the main purpose of this time is to get them ready to sit through a sermon. We do fifteen minutes of free time, fifteen minutes of songs and a story, then a craft.
Currently, I am going through major events in bible history with them.
My first lesson was about Moses' mother placing him in the basket.
Last Sunday, I taught them about the burning bush. Since they are young, I decided I'd make a felt board to emphasize the story:

The children loved it and it got their full attention. My goal is for them to use these visuals to remember valuable bible lessons.
The felt was very easy to work with. It is very inexpensive and you can buy it at Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Michael's. Michael's has the most variety of colours and even some different textures.
I made a stencil for Moses and I'll be using it to create more people figures. The only sewing I did was Moses' and the sheep's eyes. I want to be able to use the Moses' body for other people so I did not glue the clothes onto him.

We also did a burning bush craft that involved lots of glue, tissue paper, and shredded paper:

It was a lot of fun but more than that: it was a blessing.

This Sunday, Lord willing, I'll be teaching about Moses and Aaron approaching Pharaoh and doing a mother's day craft.

If you have a group of children during the main service at your church, please consider adding some structure to it. Even if you have really really young ones, make a point of singing a song and having them sit through a short story.
Children thrive on structure and it will be a good start in preparing them to sit with the adults.