Discouraged

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest in me."

 

A little background on this passage: Paul had a thorn in his flesh. His thorn was a messenger from Satan sent to torment him. Paul pleaded with the Lord to remove the thorn. Although God did not remove Paul's physical affliction, He promised to demonstrate His power in Paul.

 

I want to point out a few things here:

 

1. "My grace is sufficient for you."

Grace is unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.

Sufficient means enough to meet the needs of a situation.

 

This means that God's "divine assistance" is enough to meet the needs of my situation.

 

2. "For my power is made perfect in weakness."

God's power is perfect or without defect when I am weak.

 

3. "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest in me."

Boast means to "the act or an instance of boasting:brag." How many times do we hear people "brag" about their weakness? Not so much! Maybe it's time we start so that Christ can do His perfect work through us!

 

So many times, we get discouraged because we cannot make something happen the way we want it to happen, but Paul is saying it is a good thing to be weak. When we are weak, God's power is made perfect. We are better to be weak and relying on God and His PERFECT power than ourselves.

 

As a parent we have SO many decisions to make from what to eat for dinner to discipline that it is easy to get discouraged when we do not see immediate change. We have to rely on God and His perfect power to step in and do it's work. We cannot do this alone. If we want to see lasting change, we have to rely on God to transform our hearts and our children's hearts' from the inside-out.

 

 

 

 

 

Anger and Proverbs 25:28

"Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control." Proverbs 25:28

The purpose of a wall is:
1. protection
2. when the wall falls or has cracks, it can leave one in fear, uncertain, doubting their safety, exposed to the forces of nature
3. the wall could fall and crumble

As parents we are to provide protection for our children. We need to seek God on how to handle all situations. We need to do what is best for our child, not what is best for us at the moment. When we seek God and do what is best for our child, sometimes we have to reaarange our plans. Discipline and training our children takes time...lots of time!

But, when we "lack self-control," we can hurt our children and begin to "break down their walls." They may begin to doubt who they are in Christ, our love for them, etc. They may begin to have fear and not feel safe. Their foundation is oftentimes questioned. At this point in their life, the younger they are, the more they rely on us for that solid foundation. They cannot do it on their own. They are in training. When we "say" things in anger, we tear down our children. We allow the enemy entrance to come in and mess with their minds. Our children value highly what we think and when we say things in frustration or anger we really hurt them. AND the enemy can magnify this because he wants to tear apart and divide. BUT our God is greater, He is stonger, He is higher than any other! When we rely on Him to work through us, we can do nothing but WIN!

Reflection:

• Are my words leading my children to hurt and pain OR to the Father and full of God-confidence?
• Am I tearing down or building up my children with my words, my actions, my attitudes?
• Are my children doing things I dislike, such as showing anger, attitudes, etc? Have I looked at myself to see if I am doing that before I point the finger?
• Am I relying on the Father for self-control or trying within myself to have self-control?

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