Giving Children to God

September 18, 2015November 29, 2022 EllyFilho1 Comment

It’s common to most every religious tradition – some ceremony or service where you dedicate or commit a new child to God. In some Christian traditions, it takes the form of baptism. Others have a brief baby dedication. The last baby we dedicated was our youngest child, and that was more than a few years ago. I held the little guy in my hands, but times have changed. I don’t pick him up anymore; I’d hurt myself. He picks me up – literally. He’ll greet me at the airport and pick me up off the ground and spin me around. That’s my baby. Yes, a lot of things have changed, but one thing never has.
All three of our children grew up, but the transaction that took place that day we dedicated each of them to God is one thing that is still being repeated today. We cannot physically hold them in our hands anymore, but we can, and we must, keep giving them over to the One who gave them to us. The problem is that all too often, we actually try to keep them in our hands, don’t we?

There is no more beautiful “release your child” model in the entire Bible than Hannah; the woman who prayed fervently for years that God would bless her infertility with a child. God answered that prayer by giving her a boy named Samuel, who was destined to become one of the great leaders of Israel. In obedience to God, Hannah brought her young son to the temple to be trained for spiritual leadership. In part of her prayer in 1 Samuel 1:27-28, she says of this child for whom she had waited so long, “So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord.”

Do you know how often we moms and dads need to tell God that? Every day for the rest of your life, no matter how old or young our children are. No matter how close to God or far from God they are. But be careful, we’re talking here about releasing our son or daughter to God, which means helping them become the person God created them to be, not trying to shape them into the person we want them to be. It means talking to God far more about your child than talking to your child about God, as important as that is.

For some of us who tend to be controllers, we have to make sure we’re not trying to “play God” ourselves in our child’s life. Parents who truly place their son or daughter in God’s hands can lay off the nagging, the manipulating, the meddling, and the criticizing. What we try to control we often end up crushing. Our job is to say to God each new day, “You gave me this child, Lord. Again, for this new day, I’m giving her; I’m giving him, back to You. I’m available for anything You want me to do to join You in what You’re doing in their life – whether You ask me to speak up, or remain silent, to apologize, to forgive, to sacrifice, or even change.”

A surrendered parent is a parent at peace – a parent who knows that this treasure God has entrusted to them has this day been placed again in God’s all-powerful hands. A God who knows the plans He has for that boy, for that girl – plans for good and not for evil, to give them a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). No matter how big your little ones get, remember whose they really are.

Further study

“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭1:27-28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Psalm‬ ‭127:3-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Going Deeper:

It’s been difficult to let go of my child/children in the area of…

In order for me to give my child/children completely to God, I need to…

Photography by Me (Eliane) Info taken out of the Bible credits to Ron Hutchcraft

Causes · Family Share · kids · teens

Why Mom was Right about Bullies?

May 30, 2015 EllyFilho2 Comments

At the park with my kid today and his dad. They were playing baseball. I was sitting at the bench, just watching my kid hit the balls with dad. These other little kids come to the field to play, and as I sit there listening to them ( remind you these kids are like 8-10 years old ) One of them becomes really angry and starts to scream at the others and say ” why do I have to be the one always called a retard, demented, no good, and horrible at everything.” He walks out of the field goes up on the bleaches and starts saying; ” I should of killed my self yesterday when I had the chance.” I quickly look over and at this point I was mouth dropped at the conversation and couldn’t believe the others didn’t say anything. So I gave the other kids the Mom Look. Like ” Hello say something this is your friend. ”

The other kids started to try to calm him down and started talking to him and saying; ” Dude your dad got you a $300 bat do you think if you were no good he would do that? He replied:” what does that have to do with anything. You guys hate me and always call me bad names. ” I hate you. ” leave me alone and he runs away. I felt so bad I wanted to hug him, and go call this poor kids mother. My son was like ” Mom poor kid, did you see that? Those other kids are true bullies. I said yes and I told him about what he said killing himself.

My son was prettified. ( whatever the word is).

I don’t know but my kids grew up in a bad world already with all this bulling crap, and I always told them. Don’t do to others what you don’t want for your self. And if anyone do it to you there’s two option.
1. Ignore

2. Tell someone that will make a difference

Never seek revenge, because that will only cause more problems. I always told them try to be friends and nice to everyone. That way you will have less problems. Don’t judge anyone.

Sometimes the Bullies might be being Bullied themselves and that’s all they know how to do because they don’t know any different.

They don’t know what true friends are. Or love. So try to show them that it might work.

I think all of it depends on PARENTING.

Teach your kids to LOVE their neighbors like they love themselves. 🙂

End of the story with that kid was, when we were about to leave we saw a parent talking to the bullies and the adult actually yelled at the kid that was being bullied because he said he wanted to kill himself. I would of taken a different approach.

Now I ask you. Do you think as a parent. Did his parent or the adult present do the right thing?

Was yelling at the poor kid the right approach?

What would you do if it was you in that situation?

Devotion · Family Share · reeding · teens

Why can’t I do whatever I want??

May 1, 2015 EllyFilhoLeave a comment

The Bible is very clear that no one can keep God’s law perfectly. Ever since Adam and Even sinned in the Garden of Eden, people have been unable to obey God and keep all of his commandments. That is why keeping the Law is not the way to salvation. Instead, God sent his Son to earth to be a sacrifice for sins. Jesus paid the price for our sins, and we are saved by grace not by our good works.

Paul explained that when we are baptized, we are united with Christ and share in his death and resurrection. For us to share in Christ’s death means that our old sinful natures die away. To share in his resurrection means that our new identity comes to life. This new identity is one that tries, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to live a life that pleases God. And we don’t want to take this gift of forgiveness lightly or for granted. We need to continue to strive to rid our lives of sin in thankfulness and service to God.

—“—“—“—

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭1-23‬ NIV)