Our Friday Devotion comes to us from, Pastor Rick Ballester:
"Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain on it." Proverbs 22:6 NLT
One of the greatest joys in life is being a parent. As your child grows you get to experience life through their eyes. We get to re-live the wonderment and awe of the world around us as our children experience everything that God’s creation has to offer. Along with getting to enjoy the wonderment of the world with our children comes the responsibility of teaching and training our children what is right and what is wrong, and most importantly we have the responsibility of teaching and training our children in the way of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a parent, I did the best I could to make sure my children understood what it meant to be a Christian, and what it meant to walk and live by faith and trust our Lord Jesus Christ to do everything that was promised to us in His Word-the Bible. I made sure my children went to Sunday School, Sunday morning Church Service, Youth Group and all the church camps that were available, plus any and all mission projects that were offered. As my children grew up through elementary school, junior high and then high school, my children made sure they were at each and every event that was available to them that our church had to offer. And then it happened! They graduated High School and they began to question and challenge all that they were taught about being a Christian, the Bible, the need for Church, and essentially what it meant to be a man or woman of God. Being a Pastor, I knew this was a normal phase where they wanted to make their faith their own. But as a parent, I was worried what would happen if my children didn’t find their way back- all I could do was pray hard and diligently remind God of His promise from Proverbs 22:6. Why, well because my wife and I made every effort to train and teach our children how to live a life completely dependent upon God’, and believing and trusting that God’s Word was completely true, and that He would fulfill each and every promise that He state in the Bible. Because of this, I was praying and believing that my son would come home from his prodigal journey.
And then it happened, I received a phone call that I truly dreaded. What was it? My daughter called to inform me that my son and his friend were victims of a gang related shooting. My daughter proceeded to tell me my son would be alright because he was only shot in the hip but his friend had been shot in the head. That morning when my son came by to visit me, and talk with me about the previous night’s activity, I told him that he needed to get his walk with the Lord back on track, and that e needed to being making his way back to church. My son told me to stop talking and to just listen to him for a few minutes before jumping to my conclusions. He then began to tell me that he loves the Lord with all his heart and that he prays and reads his Bible on a regular basis, and that as he held his friend in his arms to try and stop the bleeding from his wound, he asked his friend if he was a Christian d if he would like to ask Jesus into his heart. My son then told me that his friend’s last words were, “Yes I’m a Christian.” As I held my son, I was praying and thanking God that even though he had been on his prodigal journey, when the time came, he recalled all the teaching and trainings that were given to him throughout his childhood. At the most horrendous moment he recalled what was eternally important to his friend and made sure that his friend would be with him in heaven someday.
So, my brothers and sisters, be encouraged and know that as you teach and train your children in the ways of our Lord, they’ll draw upon those teachings when the time comes. Trust the power of God’s promises and His Word that they will each step back onto the path of Jesus Christ if they stray during their youth. One last thing: my son has decided he would like to become a Youth Pastor. I sincerely praise God for His faithfulness to all of His children, including and especially my own.
In Him,
Brother Rick
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