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The Bible is the Voice of God to Families, June 17
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord.
Psalm 127:3
.
Parents need to reform; ministers need to reform; they need God in their
households. If they would see a different state of things, they must bring His Word
into their families and must make it their counselor. They must teach their children
that it is the voice of God addressed to them, and is to be implicitly obeyed. They
should patiently instruct their children, kindly and untiringly teach them how to
live in order to please God. The children of such a household are prepared to meet
the sophistries of infidelity. They have accepted the Bible as the basis of their
faith, and they have a foundation that cannot be swept away by the incoming tide
of skepticism.
In too many households prayer is neglected. Parents feel that they have no time
for morning and evening worship. They cannot spare a few moments to be spent
in thanksgiving to God for His abundant mercies—for the blessed sunshine and
the showers of rain, which cause vegetation to flourish, and for the guardianship
of holy angels. They have no time to offer prayer for divine help and guidance and
for the abiding presence of Jesus in the household. They go forth to labor...without
one thought of God or heaven. They have souls so precious that rather than permit
them to be hopelessly lost, the Son of God gave His life to ransom them....
Like the patriarchs of old, those who profess to love God should erect an altar
to the Lord wherever they pitch their tent. If ever there was a time when every
house should be a house of prayer, it is now. Fathers and mothers should often lift
up their hearts to God in humble supplication for themselves and their children.
Let the father, as priest of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning
and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In
such a household Jesus will love to tarry.
From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love should be
revealed in action. It should flow out in all home intercourse, showing itself in
thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where this
principle is carried out—homes where God is worshiped and truest love reigns.
From these homes morning and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense,
and His mercies and blessings descend upon the suppliants like the morning
dew.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 143, 144
.
That which will make the character lovely in the home is that which will make
it lovely in the heavenly mansions.—
Child Guidance, 481
.
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