Our children will be more apt to love the Lord if we do.
Raising my children to live for the Lord can only be
accomplished by my husband and me leading by example. How can we ask our
children to open their hearts to the Lord, and put Him before all things if we
do not do so ourselves? We must first live for the Lord in every way possible.
The first step to living for the Lord, and putting Him before all things is to
welcome Him into our hearts and embrace His amazing love for us. Being in a
relationship with Christ to me is much like being in a marriage it takes work. God wants us to be in his word and learn about him. Look at
it this way, you cannot be married to a man that you know nothing about... how
well would that work out? God wants us to surround ourselves with people that
encourage our relationship with him. Your husband would not want you hanging
around a bunch of women that did not want you to be married to him would he?
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in
order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his
glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power
for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength”. Ephesians
1: 18-19
I conducted an interview with a good friend of mine,
Bethany Robinson, whom has helped me though this journey. I asked her about the steps
one takes to preparing their self to open their heart to the Lord. How do I
fully open my heart and allow Jesus Christ in? Her response was simply amazing.
Bethany’s response to my question was, “I can't say that I know how to prepare
your heart to make the decision to follow him, but I do know that in order for
Him to really work in your life and blow you away with His amazing love and
grace, you have to totally surrender to him. Not just the part of your life you
are willing to give him control over, but the whole thing.”
"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can
laugh with days to come".
Proverbs 31:25
Surrender to Him, what does this mean? Webster dictionary
defines surrender as: to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in
favor of another. However, when I hear the word surrender I think of it as
negative. As one that has to “surrender to the Law”, or surrender in war. To
surrender to God, one is simply acknowledging that everything we own (our cars,
houses, and so on) truly belongs to Him. God is the giver of all things. When
one surrenders to God, you are freed from the things or thoughts that had
stopped you from wanting to put God first in your life. To surrender one’s life
to Him does not mean that you have to stop things that you are doing that you
grew up hearing was not a "Christian" thing to do. If God does not
want you doing something you will know it.
This can be kind of scary… to surrender one’s life to the Lord.
All I can say is do not let any “fear” stop you from the decision to be made
new again, to be given a second chance with wide open arms from the one who
unconditionally loves you the most. God will free you of your fears, and make
your life better then you have ever imagined. Surrender yourself to the Lord,
and He will give you your heart’s desire.
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires
of your heart”. Psalm 37:4
Works Cited
"Bible Gateway." BibleGateway.com: A Searchable
Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. Biblica Inc., 2011. Web. 27
Mar. 2013.
E-mail interview. 25 Mar. 2013.
Proverbs. BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in
over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. Biblica Inc., 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.
Stone, Dave. Raising Your Kids to Love the Lord. Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012. Print.
