Deception is such a subtle thing, isn’t it? It is so subtle that we usually don’t know we are deceived. We can not only be deceived by the encroachment of our humanistic society, but we can be self-deceived. William Barclay’s translation of James 1:22 says: “You must not only listen to the word, you must act on it. Otherwise, you indulge in self-deception.” This is very challenging to me. To daily read God’s Word and yet not put it into action is self-deception. The more I do this, the more I deceive myself. I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit working within me will keep me from this deception.
But mothers, we face another challenge. This challenge is not only for ourselves but for our children. God has given us the responsibility to train our children to obey when we speak to them. This trains our children into the habit of obeying God when He speaks to them through His Word. If we are lazy about training our children to obey, we set them up for the habit of continually disobeying God’s Word.
One of the secrets of teaching your children to obey is to firstly teach them to listen. If we do not teach our children how to listen, they will not learn to obey. Make sure your children hear what you tell them to do. Make eye contact with them. You may need to get them to repeat it back to you. Then expect them to do it! True hearing results in actions.
When your children learn to listen, they will learn to obey.
When they learn to obey you, they will learn to obey God.
Get them into the “obeying habit” now so that when they hear God speak through His Living Word, they will automatically respond and obey.
What kind of ears are you training your children to have? Lazy ears? Dull ears? Defiant ears? Resistant ears? Gullible ears? Or are you training them to have diligent ears that are quick to hear and obey you, and ultimately God’s words?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell