Further Study: “You should take time to talk and pray with your little ones, and you should allow nothing to interrupt that season of communion with God and with your children. You can say to your visitors, ‘God has given me a work to do, and I have no time for gossiping’. You should feel that … Continue reading –>
Read Proverbs 22:6. What is your understanding of this passage? Is this a guarantee, a promise, or a probability? Sometimes as a parent you do everything you should—spend time teaching your children the right things, live according to your knowledge of God, send them to good schools, attend church regularly, become involved in mission work with … Continue reading –>
Read Genesis 18:18-19 and 1 Samuel 3:10-14. Contrast these two fathers. What were the results of their parenting styles? Parents have a responsibility to be the disciplemakers of their children, so they will become disciples of Jesus themselves. There are parents who believe that the way to teach and correct their children is by applying physical punishment—the more, … Continue reading –>
Read Ps. 127:1-5. What is the basic message of this short psalm? What important principles should we take away from it for ourselves and how we live? When you wish to cook your favorite dish, you follow a recipe. If you add all the needed ingredients and follow all the steps, the majority of the … Continue reading –>
One phenomenon the world faces is that of single parents, often but not always a woman as the single parent. Sometimes we think of single parents as those who have conceived a child out of wedlock. However, that is not always the case. Hagar was pressured into having a child with Abraham, and then was … Continue reading –>
Read Genesis 18:11, Genesis 30:1, 1 Samuel 1:1-8, and Luke 1:7. What do these people have in common? How did God answer their longings? Children are a blessing. But for some reason God doesn’t always bless everyone with children. Some hope and pray for a family, and God graciously grants their request, sometimes quite miraculously, as in the case … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 18:11; Jer. 31:25; Matt. 11:28; Psalm 127:1-5; Prov. 22:6; 1 Sam. 3:10-14; Phil. 3:13. Memory Text: “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward” (Psalm 127:3, NKJV). Births are such a common, normal occurrence that often we don’t always fully appreciate the wonder that they are. Imagine what Eve … Continue reading –>
‘The Man’ Shares Sabbath By Andrew McChesney Not many people can say that they have spoken with an angel. Farmer Notley Tidwell could–but he didn’t. Instead, he referred to the mysterious stranger as “the man”. One evening in the 1880s, Notley prayed as he trudged home, his fiddle in hand, from a barn dance in … Continue reading –>
Further Thought: Ellen G. White, “A Sacred Circle”, pages 77-180, in The Adventist Home; Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, pages 236-238. Unity—the first work. “The first work of Christians is to be united in the family. … “The more closely the members of a family are united in their work in the home, the more uplifting and helpful will … Continue reading –>
Ultimately, family cohesion and unity rest on the commitment of family members, beginning with the commitment of the marital partners, to care for one another. Sadly, Bible history is strewn with examples of failed promises, broken trust, and lack of commitment where it should have been present. Scripture also has stirring examples of ordinary people … Continue reading –>
