Week Seventeen

    The scripture teaches that once we eliminate a 'bad habit', bad practice, or a sin from our lives, that we must immediately replace it with something what will build our character and our Christ-likeness.
 
   In place of provoking out children to wrath, fathers are charged to "bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4b). The words 'bring them up' means to nourish, to provide for with tender care, Paul's instructions in Ephesians are:
 
  I. INTENTIONAL-bring them up'. In western Oklahoma a lot of wheat is grown. The vast majority is carefully cultivated to produce the greatest harvest. The ground is properly prepared, the seed is sown and often fertilized, and with the right amount of rain at the right time, a great harvest is realized.
 
   The other kind of wheat is called 'Volunteer Wheat'. It grows in abandoned fields and along the sides of the roads where seed is scattered when it is being taken to storage. Volunteer wheat grows in uncultivated ground, without the nurture of fertilizer, and even though it receives the same rain, it is rarely harvested because it is seldom worth the effort.
 
  Sadly today, too many children are growing up like volunteer wheat, carelessly tossed along the paths of life uncultivated, under nourished, and left rarely harvested. Don't let this happen to your children-or grandchildren.
 
  Get involved, cultivate the 'ground' they are growing up in. Add the fertilizer at the proper time. Pray for God to send His rain in their lives—and enjoy a bountiful harvest, check out Proverbs 17:6! !
Tomorrow, the rest of the lesson*

  
                                      Blessings Prayers and Love,
                                             Bro Tom and Sister Sue