Family Devotional

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Fifty nine years ago today we were married. God has been especially good to us blessing us with six wonderful children, their spouses, twenty grandchildren (three married) and one beautiful great grandchild.

In addition God has allowed us to be involved in Christian ministries all these years. This has allowed us to work hand in hand with more than fifty Christian ministries both here in America and in third world countries.

We want to share with you today two factors that we feel have affected our lives the most.

The most important factor has been our relationship with our Lord. We both accepted Jesus as our Savior at a very young age and were raised in a Christian home. This heritage was the single most important relationship that has affected our lives. We have governed our lives with what we call TWELVE RULES TO LIVE BY!  Very simply stated these twelve are the Ten Commandments listed in Exodus chapter twenty and the Two New Testament commandments that our Lord outlined for us in Matthew 22:37-40.

The second important key we have called TWELVE STEPS TO RAISING A HAPPY FAMILY! When parents and children make the commitment to honor these steps, God will bless them abundantly. Here is a listing of these twelve steps, a scripture verse and a short comment on each one:

• COMMITTMENT: Be committed to God and family. Proverbs 16:3.

• TRAINING: Teach children Biblical principles and what is right and wrong. Lead by example. Proverbs 22:6

• PRAYER: Spend time daily praying alone and with your family. Colossians 4:2

• RESPECT: Parents and children should always respect others. I Peter 2:17

• TIME: Spend quality time with God and family. Ephesians 5:15-16

• GRATITUDE: Be grateful in all you do and give thanksgiving to God daily for all His blessings. Express gratitude by your words and actions. Psalm 100:4  

• COMMUNICATION: Talk together as a family daily and learn to listen. James 1:19

• RELATIONSHIPS: Have a personal relationship with God. Choose God fearing relationship in your daily life. I Samuel chapters 18-20

• LOVE: Love God, your family, your neighbors and the poor and hurting in our world. Matthew 22:37-39

• STANDARDS: Set family standards based on Biblical principles. Require obedience and use discipline as necessary. Ephesians 6:1

• CHOICES: Make wise choices based on God’s commandments and the words of Jesus choosing friends and activities. Joshua 24:15

• ENCOURAGEMENT: Be an encourager to your spouse, children and parents. Acknowledge accomplishments. Be a friend an encourager to those in need. I Thessalonians 5:11, 16-18

If you have not read our book “NO PROBLEMS ONLY SITUATIONS” we encourage you to get a copy now. This 202 page book takes you on our life journey from our early family beginnings, raising our family, developing our ministries and now our senior year activities. The book is available to you at a special price: $5.00 plus $3.00 for shipping and handling. You can order through our web site or by mail.