PREPARING PRINCES, Pt 1

Psalm 45.16; "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth."

 

What an amazing vision for parents, to prepare children to be princes and princesses in all the earth.

The Hebrew word for prince is sar It is used to describe our Savior, the Messiah. He is called Sar Shalom in Isaiah 9:6, "The Prince of Peace." God wants His children to also walk with princely character. Sar has a number of meanings.

A head.

God wants us to raise our children...

To be the head and not the tail. (Deuteronomy 28:13)

To not be defeated by the temptations of the devil and this world, but to be an overcomer; We must remind our children that they should not be surprised when trouble and difficulties come their way. If we did not have trials, we would have nothing to overcome. And God's rewards are only for the overcomers; therefore, we can rejoice that we have obstacles to overcome! (Numbers 13:30; John 16:33; Romans 12:21; 1 John 4:4-5; Revelation 2:11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7)

To not be subservient to the lusts of this world but to reign in life with Christ. (Galatians 5:16; 2 Timothy 2:12; 1 John 2:15-17; Revelation 5:10)

 

A ruler.

God wants us to teach our children to rule over their own spirit. It is a powerful thing to rule the spirit and this gift belongs to princes. Proverbs 16:32 tells us that the one who rules his spirit is better than one who captures a city! We have to teach this principle to our children. Instead, many children are trained by their parents to have no control over their spirit. From an early age they are gratified with every whim and fancy. When they whine for something, they get it. When they keep pestering their parents for something they get it. This does not train them to rule over the lusts of the flesh that will constantly come to tempt them. This does not prepare them to rule in adult life.

A disciple of Christ learns to deny his own lusts and desires. Titus 2:11-13 says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world..." Did you notice the word, "deny"? Jesus also said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) *

The Message Bible tells us to kill off the tendency of "doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God." (Colossians 3:5-6)

 

A Master.

God wants us to teach our children to master their emotions, to live by the truth of the Word of God rather than their feelings. A wimpy person lives by their feelings. Feelings are deceiving. They change from day to day and come and go, whereas God's eternal truth is absolute. We should teach our children to keep a good spirit and trust in the Lord even when things are going bad. Rather than give into their feelings, we teach them to thank the Lord for His goodness and that He is a faithful God. We teach them to confess their trust in the Lord. We teach them to confess the joy of the Lord even when they feel unhappy. We teach them to put a smile on their face instead of a grumpy face. These daily habits will help them to be masters of their fickle feelings and to be men and women who will trust God and stand strong even when everything is going wrong.

 

A Leader.

A person of princely character is not easily led into devious ways by others. Instead, he is one who knows what he believes, stands true to what he believes and leads others into truth. We must soak our children in the Word of God. We must impart the understanding of God's truth to them so that they are rooted in truth and are confident to lead others in the ways of God. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 2:2

A Prince (a Nobleman).

We must raise our children to know that they are sons and daughters of the King of kings and Lord of lords. They belong to royalty, the greatest kingdom on earth. This does not mean that they are proud, for pride has no part of God's kingdom. He is looking for subjects of his kingdom who are meek, humble and tremble at His Word.

However, we teach them to walk with dignity as true representatives of the King of kings. We should bear the image of royalty because we His children. We should walk, speak, dress and act as subjects of the heavenly kingdom and teach our children to do the same. We should have about us a heavenly aristocracy. Because we belong to the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, we can walk with stateliness even though we may not have a penny to bless ourselves!

A Priest.

God has made us kings and priests to God. (Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6) Not only has He made us kings and priests, but He says that we will reign on the earth. If we are going to reign, we should start practicing now.

We will teach our sons to be priests in their homes, taking their leadership to provide and protect their families and to lead them into the ways of God. They will take up their responsibility to rule in godliness and not give in to wimpiness. As priests, we all have a responsibility to intercede on the behalf of others and to bless others in His name. (Deuteronomy 10:8; 18:5; Numbers 6:23-27; 21:5)

May our sons walk as princes and our daughters as princesses. (Psalm 144.12)

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Above Rubies, www.aboverubies.org

 

PRAYER:

""Father, please teach me to walk like a princess and help me to train my children to walk as subjects of the King of Kings and Lord of lords. Amen."

 

AFFIRMATION:

I am giving extensive training to my royal subjects!

 

* To read more on this subject, go www.aboverubies.org and click on Motherhood and then Self Indulgent or Self Disciplined.

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