Put God’s name on your sons

To aid us in praying for our sons today is one of the most powerful prayers​ in the Bible. It is found in Numbers 6:22-27

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’ “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Numbers 6:22‭-‬27 NKJV

Aaron and his sons were priests of the most high God in their times. They were to bless the children of Israel with God’s name. You, if you have given your heart to God, are a priest 1Peter2:9. You have the mandate to bless your sons and put God’s name on them.

This period as children begin to return to school is a good time to set our sons apart for God in the place of prayer. It is a good time to put God’s name on them.

Pray from the Message Version with me.

God bless my sons and keep them, God smile on them and gift them, God look my sons full in the face and make them prosper in Jesus name amen.

http://bible.com/97/num.6.24-27.MSG

May God confirm his word by blessing your sons in Jesus name amen.

Have a blessed week!

When you are raising sons in a toxic environment

It’s sharing Tuesday in the Facebook group I currently run for moms and guardians of boys.

Today, I will like to encourage women who are striving to raise sons in a less than an ideal situation/environment. You want to raise the perfect gentlemen who is also in love with Jesus but the main character in your story, the one who should be a good example to your sons is badly behaved. What do you do?

Depending on the seriousness of the misbehavior, you may need to do the following;

1. Pray. Ask for wisdom to handle the situation you have found yourself. Ask God for divine intervention. Pray without ceasing. Each time I read or hear this Scripture……if the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? My answer is always the righteous can pray. Don’t watch while the foundation of your sons is being destroyed. Pray and change the situation.

2. Be wise. Know when to speak and when to keep quiet to avoid unnecessary tension at home. Sometimes, silence does more than all the noise put together. In quietness shall be your strength Isaiah 30:15. Moreover, there’s time for everything.

3. Talk about the situation with your sons not to castigate their father but to let them know that some behaviors are not acceptable. You could say something like, ‘Dad is angry and it’s okay to be angry about issues but it’s not good to…….’ Then, you can proceed to teach him how to manage his anger when he’s upset.

4. If the atmosphere is too toxic for your sons, consider leaving temporarily or permanently for their sake. Don’t say you are staying because of them and you end up damaging them in the process.

I will love to read your thoughts about what I’ve shared.

To spank, beat, flog or not

I am not writing this as an expert. I am only going to share what I have learnt and what I am learning on this journey. I know in part…1Cor 13:9.

Some swear by spanking as the best form of discipline while some on the other hand totally condemn it. Those who are for it quote Prov 23:13-14…….if you beat him with the rod, he will not die, Prov 29:15 and the commonest one Prov 13:24 spare the rod……These verses are part of the justifications for those who believe in spanking. Interestingly, some people believe that the rod in Proverbs is referring to the Word of God. Their explanation is that we are supposed to train our children with God’s word and not the physical rod. For them, the rod connotes the Word of God

God told us to train up our children in the way of the Lord. Training involves teaching and giving instructions. I believe training should be deliberate and also something we do as the need arises. In fact, we should seize every opportunity to train, instruct and teach. It should involve planning and preparation for it to be effective. To train is to discipline. Discipline is also punishment to correct bad behaviour but we tend to focus more on punishment and that is where I have problem with spanking.

Beating or spanking is a lazy way of parenting. It is very easy to beat and more difficult to train because training takes effort and time. One thing we need to realise is that you do not have a right to punish your son for a behaviour until you have instructed him previously about the behaviour and you have also extended grace to him. It is difficult but I believe at the long run and especially in this generation, having the time to parent our sons will yield a positive result more than bringing out the rod, cane or belt to beat or flog each time they misbehave.

My position about beating is summarised below;

1. It should be done out of love if you must and if you have to.
2. It should be minimal and controlled.
3. It shouldn’t be done out of anger.
4. It should be used as the last resort when all else has failed.
5. If you live in a country where beating is not allowed, don’t be a law breaker.

It is important that we put effort in parenting our sons. To train them up in the way they should go so they can become who God has created them to be.