SINGLE PARENTING REVELATIONS

Isaiah 54:13 states, “ And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”

Great peace for your children. Isn’t that bliss. Knowing that no other state of mind exists inside their precious little minds and hearts. It has to make you feel like you did your job.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and even when he is old, he shall not depart from it”

A trained up child. Isn’t that perfect. You know that you know that in no way shape or form has anything been left to chance with them. They know what to do because they are wisely taught about their unique callings, gifts, and skills. They will succeed in life because they were taught.

I wrote this as a guide for single-parents, mothers and fathers, today who may or may not spend the same amount of time with their children that they are used to because of divorce or death. I also had in mind those mothers and fathers who are raising up children by themselves and who don’t have a second parent to help because of absenteeism, death or they are just not sure who the second parent is.

I have done this without being the custodial parent. What I’m telling you worked and I got to see my daughter less than 12 hours a week living in the same city. What I’m telling you I have lived.

“Knowledge puffeth up but love edifies.” I Cor 8:1 To edify means to build up. Look at the difference between puffed up kind of like a balloon that can be popped versus built up like solid construction. Daniel 12:4 says, “…many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” It’s talking about the time we live in now and I specifically think it’s talking about the Internet, that is the knowledge part. What I’m saying is that we have plenty of information but how much revelation do we really have.

 You might have memorized the dos and don’ts of parenting but do you have inspired insight into God’s way of raising up children in such a way that you never have doubt whether they will thrive in life or not. Can you lay your head on your pillow at night and be as cool as the other side with how your babies are doing in their life’s journey?

You can. And you should be able to do it without them having to be in the next room. Let’s dig into the Word and see what’s there for you concerning your children. Romans 10:8,9, and 10 illustrates a basic faith foundation principle that is the backbone of all that I’m about to tell you in this guide.

It states, “ But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Looking into verse 10 is says that number 1 with your heart your right standing with God is made clear. Number 2 with your mouth you set that right standing into motion in your life. In your case it would be the health of your children, spirit, soul, and body.

Whenever I share a scripture with you from the Word I’m assuming that if you haven’t already that you will eventually meditate on it until it gets down in your heart. And, then, as a result of that, your mouth will speak it out in true biblical faith over your children and their situations. This means you may stand in front of a mirror day after day, night after night until the Word takes root in your life and results come. It may mean that you will endure contradictory reports concerning the Word that you are standing on. You may hear of wars and rumors of wars before you decide to let that covenant you have with God take precedence over those reports and circumstances. But, remember, the Word says to let not your heart be troubled. It is up to you to do this, not God!

With that said let’s go!! The first place I like to start with faith for excellent children is Isaiah 8:18 and Zec 8:5. They are I think my two most favorite verses concerning for young people. “Here am I and the children whom the Lord hath given me they are for signs and wonders in Israel…And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.”

Imagine that. No really imagine as you meditate on these two verses your children instead of starving for attention and affection so full of the affirmation of God and His Spirit that they are blessings to their classmates, to even you. How low has our faith for our children gotten that we could not see them this way? Listen to words that we speak to others and see if they line up with claiming them to be signs and wonders. Or better yet that they are safely playing in our city streets instead of off somewhere doing drugs or who knows what. Study to show your self approved says the Lord. Study and let the Word build an inner image of you and them successfully navigating life together. I know I do.

Words, words, words. They are the keys. Proverbs 18:21 says, “ Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Think of the power of life that you give to those children if you on purpose at the drop of a hat release those scriptures into the air for them. Its called blessing them. It’s a lost art. Abraham was in part chosen to be the Father of our faith because God knew he would teach his children the ways of the Lord. He also consistently spoke over his Isaac the promises of God. His words came to pass because they were God’s words.

I want you to look for me at another example from the scripture about the anointing of God and it’s power to draw unto you those things you need to accomplish God’s will for your children. One week before the flood came God commanded Noah to board animals onto the ark. He gave instructions to him about which ones and how many, but notice how it happened. It was toil and struggle it was the magnetic anointing on Noah from the hand of God that it was accomplished. In the NIV it reads Genesis 7:8, “ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.”

Think about that these animals were drawn to the boat by some unseen force. It wasn’t eight people going on safari one week before the rains came. How silly. Have you ever tried to catch a cat that didn’t want to be caught? I bet you never tried it again. I’m not even talking about a lion or a cheetah, which runs 70 miles per hour. Here the Lord is showing us if we will build the ark He will send the animals and the rain. Noah could put nails in boards. He had forty years to get it done. We can pray and confess the Word over their precious little lives. We can discipline them with the rod of correction. We can live before them honestly and prudently.

When we do He is going to cause success to happen.

Now let’s laser beam in on a point about their education. It is my opinion that the bible is the single greatest educator that ever has or ever will exist. But, that is another matter altogether. Let’s move over to where you are and talk about their grades in the school that they attend. To illustrate a point about confessing specific scriptures over a challenged area to see change let me tell you about three students I have worked with. The first lived below me in an apartment at a pastor’s house. He was a senior and was failing earth science. His father was about to go ballistic. I suggested that he should read outloud in front of the mirror for 5 minutes nightly 3 verses from the book of Daniel. Before I tell you those three verses let me explain Daniel to you. The most dominant early king we read about in the Old Testament is Nebuchadnezzar. His was by far the most far reaching empire. In fact in Daniel’s experience with him he had to interpret one of his dreams or face certain death. In the interpretation the kings empire was seen as a head of gold with lesser kingdoms coming after him until the final empire which was the toes of the giant statue and the revived European union that we see today.

Daniel was bound in captivity to a foreign power forced to learn their languages and customs. He was only a boy when this happened to him. But, in spite of his youth he and some friends were determined that they would not sway from their faith in God. Because they wouldn’t God honored them above all the youth in the kingdom, even those native born.

So in the first chapter there are 3 verses that I think unlock the power of learning inside any and all youth anywhere on this planet. They are the verses I suggested the pastor’s son should read. Verse 4 says,” Children (insert your child’s name here) in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldean’s”. This is a positive faith confession. You can rest assured that if you deliberately speak this over your son or daughter over time it will change. At this point you may not have all the answers as to why they aren’t up to the level you would like but, the Holy Spirit does. He upon permission from you will go and dwell in the classroom with them like never before. He will inspire them to sit in the right seat avoiding all distraction. He will remove distractions from their presence. He will have the teacher to call on them and to notice them to get them more involved. He will bring little victories their way. Answers will spring to life inside their hearts and minds. Their notetaking will be more exact. Their recall ability will increase as well as their I.Q.s. You are the master once again instead of a carnal education system. They do the best they can but without God nothing is possible. And God, for the most part, has been told to butt out of the classroom in America. This is your shot to get Him back in at least as far as your house is concerned. You can speak these verses over them in their presence or not, but do it over and over each day until you see the desired results.

The other two verses reinforce this power to confess success over them. Verse 17 says, “As for these four children (insert name here), God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” Verse 20 says,” And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them ( child’s name), he found them (child’s name) ten times better than all  the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” You might say it differently for your child in more modern terms but the gist of it is that they can learn anything, anywhere, any place, any time, and in any circumstance.

So in obedience to my suggestion the pastor’s son did it. He spent the next several days leading up to a major exam confessing these scriptures over himself in the bathroom mirror before retiring for the night. On the following Friday he came knocking at my door with a test score of 93 out of 100. An A in a class he had a 42 average in. Praise God the Word works, instantly! As for the other two students I told them that I would tutor them after they did this process for two weeks. In each instance they never called me back. It was nearly a year later before I ran into them and they both said things improved so dramatically, suddenly that they didn’t need the help. Well, you can see from each of these examples that something supernatural triggered inside them when the Word of God specific to their need was applied that got them the results that they desired.

Now, let’s move on. Since time is such a major ingredient when raising your children I think it’s important to comment on it here.  Isaiah 30:26 says, “ Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.” To interpret this correctly think of it like this. You, under the anointing, can accomplish in one night what it would normally take an entire day to do. Then during a day you will be able to accomplish what it would normally take an entire week to do. That’s pretty straightforward. I know with my daughter I have done this and seen the Lord bring it to pass. We are closer than most if not all the married fathers that I know of. We are tight and it shows even to others. This is able to happen because of the truth of God’s Word. I began along time ago standing on this scripture and see the results daily. Since she was three years old I have had her for visitation about once a week. Most of the time it’s after school til 8:30 on school nights and 12pm til 9:30 during the summer. It is not something I wanted it is something that happened because of a naïve arrangement I made with her mother when I was much younger and anxious to win her back. I thought I could give her what ever she wanted and she would come back. It didn’t take long before I was told how limited visitation would be.

So I got creative and found this verse. It has made the one day over the long haul become as if we had spent a week together each time I had her. I don’t know how He did it but He did. I have trusted and it has paid off tremendously.

Think about Joshua too when you think of constraining God to a time frame of your choosing. He needed more time to get the battle won and prayed to God to keep the sun from going down about an entire day. Joshua 10:13. God did it. Also, Hezekiah asked God for a sign that he would be healed of his affliction and God caused the shadow to go backward 10 degrees. 2 Kings 20:8-11. God stands outside the realm of time and so should our expectations of Him.