Labeling Others

Don't label people... The direction YOU think their life should go could be farther from what God has planned than anything else in their life.
This is often true with Pastor / Preacher kids.
There was a pastor (he went home about 10 years ago) who took over a church, he (with God's leading) built it up to the point of moving to another location. He never got to hold service in the building that now stands (like Moses not getting to enter the Promised Land), but his wife was voted in as pastor (I believe, to carry on the vision). Their son was the Music Minister and did so VERY well. The son started a group, going around to different churches to minister and several years later felt led to another church. While there he continued his group for a while. The pastor that he was under resigned, and the leaders of the church (youth, kids, etc.) all stepped down also, as was their ordinances for that denomination. They appointed him "temporary" youth leader. He the felt the Lord call him to quit the singing group, and he was officially the Youth Leader.

Several years later I was speaking with another pastor who said: "It was a slap in the face to his father."
I wasn't really as wise (still not very wise) about such things at the time, but over the years (since that conversation about the son) have thought of what the proper response was for this accusation.

This pastor thought the son should have carried on. That son listened to the voice of God, as he had MANY times since he was called to minister in music (his early to mid teen years). The son was labeled "Future Pastor" of the church that his dad and mom built up. I was watching "A Snoodles Tale" with the kids the other day and this is what came to my mind. Granted the movie was talking in general about everyone labeling others, but it also points to this. If a person steps into a ministry he or she does not belong in they will DESTROY it instead of building it up. Do not label the pastor's son or daughter to carry on in the line that mom and dad are going down. Preacher don't always "begat" preachers.
We should be watchful and ready to help others when they fall or head down the wrong road, not there to criticize what we THINK they should be doing. God has a plan for each person. Sometimes children are given the same vision as their parents, other times God will lead them down a whole other path.

Listen to what GOD is saying to you, NOT what everyone else is telling you. That doesn't mean that He won't use another person to tell you something. That just means If it doesn't line up with what God is telling you, then you need to steer clear of the path they are trying to drag you on.

Train Up A Child?

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

What does this really mean?

I always thought it meant to teach the right from wrong, how to make decisions through life, and to have good morals. Yes, it does mean all of this, BUT THERE'S MORE!!!!

I have just recently started realizing a lot of what I'm missing in my training. I am starting to realize that I (not just the church, but ME) am suppose to also be SPIRITUALLY training them. I am suppose to be reading the word to them and allowing them to question me.
About ten or eleven years ago (before I even started THINKING about moving towards being a preacher. I knew that's what I was suppose to do, but didn't think in terms of doing it yet) I had a girl in our youth group come to me (ME. A person who was in the same age group, no leadership abilities, nothing) and asked me to help her pray that she would receive the Holy Ghost. I blew it. I went to one of our youth leaders and told her. She of course went and prayed with her (I had NO IDEA how to do it) and we walked away. That young lady was not filled that night (haven't heard from her since we quit going there, so I am unsure if she ever did) and I wasn't really content with the outcome myself.

Now that I have yielded to the calling and have been filled with the spirit myself, I still think back on what I should have done differently. I NOW know that she didn't mean right then and there, and that she was confiding in me to pray for her as she was seeking.

Now I realize that I MUST TRAIN UP MY CHILDREN with the knowledge of God. They MUST KNOW that Jesus loves them and came to earth to die so that we could be free from sin and make heaven our home. The MUST KNOW of the gift of the Holy Spirit and how it empowers us to make it through life, to be witnesses, and I MUST TRAIN THEM TO SEEK GOD AND TO BE AVAILABLE TO PRAY WITH OTHERS WHEN THEY ARE TRULY OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THE FULLNESS OF THEIR CALLING.

What are you doing to train up your child? Do they know of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit? SURELY THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO TRAIN UP A CHILD!!!!