It is not very often that you know of people who take the time to diligently teach their children the Torah of Almighty Yahweh. People fly to countries across the globe and travel to cities far, far away from their homes in their own country. The entire time their children sit without the daily influence of their parents teaching them through the Scriptures. The best mission field a husband and wife has is their children. They should make sure that their children are receiving the proper teaching, training, attention, nurture, and discipline that they need.

When you spend both quantity and quality time with your children they will be a blessing to you. So many people "can't wait" for summer to be over so their "kids" can go back to school. They pour over the web looking for a daycare for even their littlest ones. It is a shame that Mothers work and then the Fathers allow their children to be thrown into the government school system where their little minds will be filled with humanistic, atheistic garbage for 8 hours every day. Then these same parents wonder why their children misbehave, are disrespectful to adults, and could care less what their parents tell them. Some parents pass it off by saying something like, "Well it's just the 'terrible twos'," or "Their just going through a 'phase'." What's really happening is that they are not being the missionary they out to be to their very own children. They have sold their children for television, sports, hobbies, "me time," etc.

Take time to spend with your children and teach them Scriptures diligently. You will not be wasting your life doing so.

Matthew Janzen

What are you living for? I mean really - what do you live for each and every day? If you are a genuine Bible believer then you should recognize that this current life, when compared to the backdrop of eternity, is nothing more than a drop of water in a bucket. Yet how few professors of the faith actually live for the kingdom rather than live for the world. People spend so much energy on fancy cars and houses, on just the right color paint for this project and that. They make extra sure that they have exactly what they want and they are sure to do everything they can to obtain it. Look at how many fathers today work and work and work and spend absolutely zero time in communion with God and as little time as possible in communion with their wife and children. Wives are neglected for what, a sporting event? Children are neglected by being placed into an unholy government school system where they learn for 8 hours a day from people who do not live for God in the least extent of the word. So there they learn a worldview that is totally secular and humanistic. Then at times parents wonder what happened when there children grow up and do not live for God. How silly; they are just mimicking there parents, but the parents are to naïve to even realize that their living for their selves rather than for the heavenly Father.

This life is so short. The Biblical book of James tells us that this life is but a vapor; here today and gone tomorrow. We really do not know what this very day has in store for us. Will we make it through the day? Only God knows. Will we see tomorrow? There is only one who knows the answer to that question. Where are you laying up your treasures? What goals have you set for your spiritual life? Are you more worried about your next pay check than you are about serving God? Are you more interested in what’s coming on television than taking time out daily to read and also study God’s word? Have you even told the Father that you love Him lately? And if you have, do you really love Him? Do you keep His commandments?

Matthew Janzen

I was once at a family gathering (kind of a reunion) in my childhood that took place in Alabama. I remember hearing some members of my family sing as song with a line it that said, "An old brimstone preacher lived long ago. His message was clear it said you reap what you sow." I always liked that line, and of course it comes from a passage in the book of Galatians. The Bible does teach that you reap what you sow. Of course we know this is true in the natural. If you go outside and plant a field of corn you should not get upset when spring harvest comes and you've got corn to pick. To go outside and expect a field of watermelon or a field of snap peas would be utterly ridiculous. As crazy as this may sound, most parents today are surprised, upset, bewildered, and distraught when they see there children get involved with the wrong crowd or in sinful activities the older they get. But the message of the brimstone preacher was right. They are reaping what they've sown.

You cannot expect to never spend quality or quantity time with a child and then have him love and adore you the same way as if you did spend such time with him or her. I cannot expect my daughters to respect my understanding and wisdom one day when it comes time for them to get married if I do not nourish and take care of them now when they are young. My sons will not want to listen to me, much less obey me when I council them not to go to a certain place or area, or not to hang out with a certain person, if I've not been diligently teaching them the commandments of the Most High all throughout their elementary years. But the opposite is just as true. The more time I take care to talk to my children, play games with them, teach them the Scriptures, sing with them, and just spend good, plain ol' family time with them, my harvest will be plentiful.

To not raise your children up properly and then expect them to do what is right in their teenage years is like looking for snap peas after you've planted corn. Parents, you are accountable for your children. If you've brought a child (or children) into this world they are your responsibility. I don't just mean that you have the job of feeding and clothing them, I mean that you have the job of training them up in the way that they should go, in the way of the law of Yahweh. It is your job to teach them diligently out of the Scriptures, it is your job to make sure that they understand the commandments and what they mean and entail. It is up to you to take time to discipline them when they err at a young age. You must "water," "pull out the weeds," "till," etc. you children, just as a farmer takes great care to make sure what he planted will produce abundantly.

I'm looking for the best harvest myself. Yahweh has given me the tools to make sure the best harvest is what I get. The tools are the books of the Bible. I am using them; I hope you will too.

Matthew Janzen

When is the last time you sat down with your family and worshiped the Creator? I'm not talking about in a church building or at a church function. Those should be done, but to limit our times of study, praise, learning, etc. to once or twice a week is not beneficial to our families. The Bible teaches us that men's hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (go look it up) and that we need to be encouraging one another daily so that we are not hardened by sins deceitfulness. Our children need to be hearing the good news of the gospel along with a host of other Biblical studies each and every day of their lives. They need to be hearing it from their Father and Mother, not just their church Pastor or Elder.

My family has been going through Proverbs for a while now and I've noticed particularly that a common saying in the book is that a wise child makes his Parents glad, but a foolish child brings discomfort on Parents. But why are so many children foolish? Is it because they have to be that way? Is it because there is nothing a Parent can do to drive away such foolishness? Are Parents just to throw up their hands and wait until their children "grow out" of such a stage? None of the above, I say. Foolishness is driven away by applying the Bible to your childs life and by disciplining your child with the rod of correction; it (the rod) will drive foolishness far away from your child, but it must be administered in love, not in hate.

Getting back to Biblical training, I believe that us Father's should be taking time out everyday to study with our children. Sing songs of praise with them to Yahweh, teach them Bible verses encouraging them to commit them to memory. Take time to go through the life of a Biblical person, or an entire book in the Bible. Talk to them seriously, give them practical applications that they can follow through with even now in their childhood. Teach them to pray to the heavenly Father. All of this is assuredly a wonderful and proper use of our time here in this life. People waste their time with so many other things, when they could be glorifying their Maker with family worship.

I want to suggest for you to have family worship in the morning before everybody goes about their day. It's so great to begin each day with Yahweh. Don't waste your life; don't wait until tommorrow, start today. You'll be glad you did.

Matthew Janzen