Loving The Way God Made You

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Loving The Way God Made You

020901AM Prayer-10 GDGW-28

Growing Dads God’s Way-28

The Most Powerful Tools in

Godly Parenting: Prayer – 10

PRAYING THAT THEY

LOVE THE WAY GOD MADE THEM AS BOYS AND GIRLS

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Each of us were built to a perfect and intricate set of plans, engineered by God Himself. Within every cell of our body is a set of those Divine Fingerprints called our DNA. The Human Genome is a wonder of precise engineering that laid down everything about your physical body.

So each one of us was perfectly designed by God for His glory: who we are, where we were born, how we look, all of our imperfections and weaknesses, and countless other details are all part of God’s marvelous design.

Each of us are the handiwork of God, like spiritual snowflakes, no two exactly alike.

Each of us are like rare and precious jewels, no one is worthless or unimportant in God’s plan.

This morning, every child in this place was especially designed by God for Divine Purposes. Your intellect, your giftedness, your abilities, and most of all who you are as a young man or a young woman are the strategic resources God has given you to serve and please Him.

Now comes the challenge. Parents, do you know what God wants from your sons as men and from your daughters as women? In some areas the Lord wants similar character for boys and girls, but in most areas, His plan for a young lady GREATLY DIFFERS from His plans for young men.

The Lord Almighty, God of the Universe has made men and women differently, with different qualities, different roles, and different purposes within His great plan. So, again I ask from God’s Word — Parents, do you know what God wants from your sons as men and from your daughters as women? As we walk through many passages in the Scriptures this morning we will see a portion of God’s wondrous plan. And we will see anew and afresh that praying, teaching, and modeling the Word of God is the key to raising, nurturing, and launching children that please the Lord. We need to be learning how to pray for our children from the Scriptures.

Please stand and listen to the Lord speak from Psalm 139.13-18.

WE MUST PRAY FOR REALITY IN THEIR SPIRITUAL LIFE:

SEEING THEM GENUINELY SAVED.
SEEING THEM LOVING GOD’S WORD.
SEEING THEM LIVING IN VICTORY.
SEEING THEM THINKING OF HEAVEN.
SEEING THEM FINDING SIN REPULSIVE.
SEEING THEM STAY TENDER TOWARD GOD.

WE MUST PRAY FOR INTEGRITY IN THEIR PERSONAL LIFE:

SEEING THEM MAINTAINING A CLEAR CONSCIENCE.
SEEING THEM LEARNING TO STAND ALONE.
SEEING THEM SEEKING TO STAY PURE.
SEEING THEM CULTIVATING A SERVANT’S HEART.
PERSONAL INTEGRITY MEANS SEEING THEM NEVER BECOMING BITTER IN TRIALS.

WE MUST PRAY FOR STABILTY IN THEIR RELATIONAL LIFE

RELATIONAL STABILITY MEANS SEEING THEM CULTIVATING A LOVE FOR THEIR BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
RELATIONAL STABILITY MEANS SEEING THEM LEARNING TO TRUST GOD WITH HARD SITUATIONS AND NOT TO REBEL.
RELATIONAL STABILITY MEANS SEEING THEM EACH LOVING THE WAY GOD MADE THEM AS MEN AND WOMEN.

Psalm 139:13-18 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. (NKJV)

Each of us are the handiwork of God, like spiritual snowflakes, no two exactly alike.

Each of us are like rare and precious jewels, no one is worthless or unimportant in God’s plan.

So how should we direct, train, and guide our young men and women as specifically designed by God? Of course, using the Scriptures. Turn with me now and note how specifically the Lord has directed our young men and young women to be – so they can please God by their lives, their choices and their conduct. The key is that more is caught (discipleship) than taught (lecture). Fathers and mothers, what YOU ARE is very much what THEY WILL BECOME!

1 Timothy 2:8

I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere,

lifting up holy hands,

without wrath and doubting;

“pray everywhere” YOUNG MEN SHOULD SEE THEIR FATHERS as MEN OF PRAYER at the table, at bed time, before school, before travel, on the road, alone, in public. Godly fathers just pray EVERYWHERE!
“lifting up holy hands” YOUNG MEN SHOULD SEE THEIR FATHERS as MEN OF PURITY. When their hands, and lives, and secrets are exposed all that shows are holy hands, cleansed and kept pure by a Spirit filled walk!
“without wrath” YOUNG MEN SHOULD SEE THEIR FATHERS as MEN OF PATIENCE. The fruit of the Spirit is long suffering patience that grows and takes over my responses!
“without doubting” YOUNG MEN SHOULD SEE THEIR FATHERS as MEN OF FAITH. Believing God’s Word enough to live it!

1 Timothy 2:9-10

in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel,

with propriety and moderation,

not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,

but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.

GOD’S DESIRE FOR WOMEN IS A GODLY ATTITUDE (I Timothy 2:9-10): Two attitudes ought to characterize your approach to worship: “modestly and discreetly” (v. 9). The Greek word translated “modestly” in verse 9 refers to modesty mixed with humility. At its core it connotes a sense[1] of shame—not shame in being a woman, but shame for in any way inciting lust or distracting others from a proper worship of God. A godly woman will do all she can to avoid being a source of temptation. The word also has the connotation of rejecting anything dishonorable to God. Some would even suggest it means “grief over a sense of sin.” A godly woman hates sin so much that she will avoid anything that can produce sin in others. Consider the following dictionary definitions:

YOUNG LADIES SHOULD SEE THEIR MOTHERS as “modest”: What is that? Moms that means they see you as having a regard for decencies of behavior or dress; quiet and humble in appearance, style, etc.; not displaying one’s body; not boastful or vain; unassuming; virtuous; shy or reserved; chaste.
YOUNG LADIES SHOULD SEE THEIR MOTHERS as “proper”: Moms that means they see you as having a specially adapted or suitable manner; appropriate; conforming to an accepted standard; correct; fitting; right; decent.
YOUNG LADIES SHOULD SEE THEIR MOTHERS as “discreet”: Moms that means they see you as having a lack of ostentation or pretension; showing good judgment; prudent; cautious; careful about what one says or does.

Titus 2:4-5

that they admonish the young women to love their husbands,

to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good,

obedient to their own husbands,

that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

GOD WANTS YOUNGER WOMEN TO STAND OUT IN OUR CULTURE (Titus 2:4-5) The older women are to train the younger women “to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands” (Titus 2:4–5). In our culture, that is the exact[2] opposite of what they are being taught. Women today are encouraged to love whomever they want, to farm out their children to someone else’s care and influence, and not to worry about being sensible or pure, but to do whatever pleases them in fulfilling their desires. “Younger women” refers to those women who are able to bear children or are still rearing children. Since women can bear children well into their forties and the main duties of raising a child last for about twenty years, a woman under sixty could be considered young in the biblical sense (1 Tim. 5:9). What qualities ought to characterize her life?

YOUNG LADIES SHOULD SEE THEIR MOTHERS “love their husbands”: This word in the Greek text, philandros , is translated “love their husbands.” Paul used the same terms to describe godly widows (1 Tim. 5:9). It means to be a one-man woman, totally devoted to her husband, and in tune with his needs, plans, and desires. Mothers, do your girls see this type of love in you?

[1] John MacArthur, Different By Design, (Wheaton,: Victor Books) Chosen by God.

[2] John MacArthur, Different By Design, (Wheaton,: Victor Books) Chosen by God.

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