Correct Priorities

Spiritual Concept of Fathers Teaching Children
Today’s Focus: Process of Fathering Part 7: Correct Priorities
Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:13-15; Proverbs 1:7

Greetings Kingdom Citizens
Deuteronomy 6:13-15: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name. Ye shall not go after other gods of the people which are round about you; (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

One of the great tragedies in life is to see people with misplaced priorities. For many of us of the household of faith we were once people who put the things of the earth before God Himself and now after coming into a relationship with Christ we have corrected those priorities and placed Christ first and the things of the earth second.

Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction

Do we see this? In Deuteronomy 6:13 it begins with we should fear the Lord and here in Proverbs 1:7 it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Now the fear of the Lord is the respect and reverence for God and the fear of His wrath towards disobedience.

Now in order to obtain this knowledge one must serve the Lord. Serving the Lord means giving all of yourself to Him. You cannot be in covenant with no other person, organization or thing because you belong to the Lord 100%. The very word lord means owner. We must as fathers show our children how we have respect and reverence for God through our lifestyle and our speech. We must teach them that we are not to play with God and tempt Him but love Him and serve Him with all our heart. We put the soul salvation of our children ahead of their physical needs.

Now the Lord warns us that we should not go after other gods and the gods of the people around us. These gods are not just spirit beings but also material things of the earth. When the Lord brings us into the Promised Land we should not covet the things in the land or the things of the Earth but we are called to manage what the Lord gives us and be good stewards of it. We must teach our children the importance of not treasuring physical and material things and show them how the Lord shows and teaches us the importance of giving. At a moments notice the Lord may require that we give up something and as His children we should give it because it never really to begin with belonged to us because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof so all of it really is His and He has given it to us to steward over it. This requires us to understand the importance of priorities and teaching our children those priorities. God must be first in all we do and say and when we put His Kingdom or His rulership in our lives first and seek His righteousness (obedience) then the Scriptures promised us that all these things will be added to us (Matthew 6:31). This is no way a prosperity message but a message of putting Christ and His Kingdom first and allowing the King to serve His brothers and mediate the inheritance of the sons in the earth on behalf of the Father.

In our next teaching series we will examine the Seven Principles of Fathering which really point to the character of God.

Peace, Love and Grace from the Father,
Calvin Calhoun, Jr.