Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Be an Example by Your Words

Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children.  I Thessalonians 2:11

Men today need to finish the job with their children.  They need to be back in place where they can make a difference.  This week we are going to look at being a father by example by looking at the life of Paul – a great biblical father by example.

A father needs to speak to his children in a way that will motivate them to do what is right.  Paul spoke words of encouragement to the Thessalonians. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4
A father's words should "exhort, encourage and implore."  Colossians 4:6 says Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.   It is important to remember that you never build up by tearing down. Emotional speech should express compassion, care, love and encouragement more than anger, frustration and control. Words can hurt or heal.  They can build up or tear down.  They can set a child on the right path or cause them to go down the wrong way in life as well as into eternity. Your words are vitally important!

Words of respect and love about your spouse establish the basis of your children’s honor of their mother and women in general.  There is a reciprocal law working in our lives as well as our children's lives. "Children learn what we live!"  The behavior we model and the words we say greatly impact the little (or big) eyes and ears watching and listening.  They learn how to handle things in life and how to treat people.  Fathers, be sure you never treat your wife in a way that you wouldn’t want your daughter treated someday.  Model what true respect and love looks like.  Model the Godly way a man should treat her and make sure she knows she deserves the same. 

Words are so powerful and can be so destructive.  Once they are out of your mouth they can only be forgiven, not forgotten.  As fathers we have to be aware of the power of our words.  Children will become what you say they are.  If you call them a failure, they will believe that and never try to succeed because they believe they can’t. 

  • Every boy wants to be a hero. Every boy wants to be powerful, he wants to be dangerous, and he wants to know: Do I have what it takes?  And all through those years, when he's riding his bike with no hands or trying to look cool and doing all those other things that boys do, he is looking to impress you. Because every boy shares the same basic question: "Do I have what it takes?"  And every boy looks to his dad to answer it.
  • Little girls want to know, “Am I lovely?” Nearly all a woman does in her adult life is fueled by her longing to be delighted in, her longing to be beautiful, to be irreplaceable, to have her Question answered, "Yes!" The problem is, when little girls don't receive the assurance from their fathers that they are beautiful and special, they struggle with their sense of self-worth and seek that assurance from men later in life. Fathers, you don’t want this to happen. 
Words spoken to young children can impact their whole life. Dads, be deliberate and intentional with the words you speak to your children as well as the words you speak about others in their presence.  

Scripture to Claim:
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

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