ways and receive their inheritance in covenant with You. I thank You that You have chosen me to represent Your heart of love to my family. I do not set aside my covenant with You or with them. And I thank You that by Your Holy Spirit I am raised up as a mighty man of valor before my family. Amen.”
Chapter 8
Gloria Copeland
A Word About Your Children
“But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.”
—Isaiah 49:25
The world has much to say about your children these days—and most of it is bad. We’re being told their economic futures are bleak, their ethics are waning and, for the most part, they’re on a downward slide.
But if you’ve made Jesus Lord of your life, God has something very different to say about your children. He says they’re headed for heaven, not hell, for a blessing, not a curse. So ignore the world and trust the Word. It has the power to turn your children’s lives around!
“Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they [your children] shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border” (Jeremiah 31:16-17).
“And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13).
“The seed of the righteous shall be delivered” (Proverbs 11:21).
“Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed” (Psalm 112:1-2).
“I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children” (Isaiah 49:25).
“The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:9).
“...I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring” (Isaiah 44:3).
“As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever” (Isaiah 59:21).
Chapter 9
Creflo A. Dollar
Giving Your Children an Inheritance of Faith
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
—Deuteronomy 6:6-7
As a pastor and a parent, it concerns me when teenagers who have grown up in Christian homes turn their backs on God and start living like the devil. It concerns me that there are godly parents, Christian parents, who pray, tithe and serve as leaders in the church—yet their children grow up only to rebel against the faith.
According to the Bible, such a situation shouldn’t even be possible because there is a scriptural law, or principle, which states, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
That scripture is definite. It is spiritual fact. But it’s not reality in a great many households.
Therefore, we must conclude one of two things—either God is a liar (and we know better than that!), or we are not training our children correctly.
“But Pastor Dollar,” you may say, “heaven knows I’m trying! I’ve been trying for years to bring my children in line, but I just can’t seem to figure out how to do it!”
I understand. I’ve had that same struggle and so have millions of other Christian parents. But it’s time we stopped struggling and trying to figure things out on our own. It’s time we just opened our
Learning to Kill: Stories