DAY 106 - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE PROMISE
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer....
Genesis 25: 21
Reading: Genesis 25: 19-34; Hebrews 12:15-17
Through the same quality of faith in the promises of God that their father Abraham had, Isaac and Rebekah were able to overcome the sickness of barrenness and have twins named Esau and Jacob. The name Esau means “hairy” and the story clearly reveals that he was indeed a very hairy man. Jacob was born immediately after him and came out of the womb gripping onto his brother’s heel. His name means “someone who grabs the heel of another in order to get ahead”, or simply “someone who cheats to get ahead”. And the story also reveals that Jacob was in fact a cheater or conman.
Esau’s carnality and lack of any awareness of the God of his parents caused him to sell his birthright of blessing to Jacob for a cup of soup.
Jacob was equally dead towards God and his ways, in that he thought nothing of conning someone out of his spiritual legacy. It is a huge tragedy that parents who came from such a great spiritual legacy ended up producing such Godless children.
Our children need their own encounters with God. We must encourage them to have their own faith. Unlike Abraham, neither Jacob nor Rebekah did much to teach their children about God, or His ways. This is why Esau had no clue as to the value of the Promise that had been passed down from generation to generation. And Jacob was so obsessed with financial wealth that he also did not understand the significance of the blessing passed down from his grandfather to his father Isaac.
Teach your children the true value of personal faith, or else they can easily miss out on the generational blessings given to you.
Prayer
Lord help me to influence the next generation to have a personal walk of faith with You. Show me ways to make my testimony relevant to those younger than me.
FOR THE FAMILY
Teach your children that God wants to bless your family and pass that blessing down to them and to the children they have will have one day. Tell them how important it is that they develop their own faith life and relationship with God. Discuss and brainstorm ways that you can help them to do this.
Here are some of our ideas:
- Wake up 10 minutes earlier for a special time alone with God.
- Have regular family times of prayer and worship and give your children opportunities to hear from God and share with everyone.
- Share your Quiet Time with each child individually to both model to, and learn from, your child.
- Make the half-hour before dinnertime a special time for each member of the family to go aside and meet with God. Younger kids can do it with you.
- Make resources available for your children according to their ‘spiritual temperament’. To understand this concept further, parents, please read…
all about how to recognize the individual, sacred pathways that children have for connecting with God.