We are ending a week into this 10-day devotional with 3 more days to go. It’s been a powerful devotional helping us to grasp discernment. Getting to consider how to acquire discernment, how to have discernment about sin, how to discern time and timing, how to use the right words, how to manage our finances, and today, we get to learn how to parent. Let’s get ready to hear from Tim Ferrara in day 7 of this devotional on everyday discernment!
Life demands we make critical choices, but how can you do so effectively? Your ability to discern can make all the difference in what your future looks like. As you read, you will discover how to measure what you are taught against the truth of God’s Word, how to develop a life-giving connection with God, and the path to finding clear direction from the Holy Spirit.
Everyday Discernment: The Importance of Spirit-led Decision Making | Devotional Reading Plan | YouVersion Bible
Scripture from Today’s Devotional:
‘And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. ‘
Titus 2:7
‘Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. ‘
Proverbs 22:6
‘To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. ’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began. “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”’
Luke 15:11-32
It is so important to start our day praying before we get up. It is so important to start our day in God’s Word before allowing the noise of this world to try and overwhelm us or rob us of the joy of the Lord! God’s Word is active and alive! God’s Word never returns void! So let’s get our day and this devotional started by reflecting on what God’s Word has to say and how it applies to us!
Let’s be the dads who choose to live as examples to our wives, kids, and world by doing good works of every kind! Let’s be the dads who choose to let everything we do reflect the integrity and seriousness of our teaching from God’s Word! Let’s be the dads who direct our kids onto the right path, pursuing God, God’s will, and God’s plan for their lives! Let’s be the dads who help our kids to know the right way to go and train them in how to know (discern) in order that when they get older they will not leave it! Let’s be the dads who realizes that our kids are each different and so require that we treat and raise them in a way that will help them be on track, get on track, and even stay on track! Let’s be the dads with the love and grace to love our kids when they do what we expect them to and even when they don’t! Let’s be the dads who when they go off track are like the dad of the prodigal son who waits and prays that one day he will come back! Let’s be the dads who help our kids realize that doing the right thing is worth it! Let’s be the dads who can help the kids that walked in alignment and obediently that when the kids that went off track come back that it is a time worth celebrating! Let’s be the dads who love our kids unconditionally! Let’s be the dads who never stop praying for our kids, hoping for our kids, and loving our kids!
Today’s devotional has been provided to us by Helping you make better decisions that honor God (discerning-dad.com)
Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me: (check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)
For more information, please visit: https://discerning-dad.com
Takeaways from Today’s Devotional:
“Discernment in Parenting“
- Let’s be the dads who don’t just respond or react in the moment but take it to God and ask the Holy Spirit to help us know how to respond with discernment rather than reacting out of emotions!
- Let’s be the dads ask the Holy Spirit in the heat of the moment to help know if we are to pray for our kids or pray with our wives!
- Let’s be the dads ask the Holy Spirit in the heat of the moment to help know if we are to pray for our kids or pray with our kids!
- Today’s devotional puts it this way: “Knowing when to pray for or with your children when all you want to do is yell at them for something they did wrong is a God-given ability that supersedes our natural emotions.”
- Let’s be the dads who lead by example!
- Let’s be the dads who lead by example rather than using the excuse “Do what I say, not what I do” because we know that how that excuse “diminishes our authority and leaves children thinking that the rules don’t apply when they get older“!
- Today’s devotional adds to this when it says: “In Titus 2:7, Paul instructs “in everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity…” It’s hard for someone of any age to follow a leader that is hypocritical or expects things that he would not want to do.”
- Let’s be the dads who are about building healthy relationships!
- Let’s be the dads who are about building healthy relationships with our wives!
- Let’s be the dads who are about building healthy relationships with our kids!
- Let’s be the dads who are about building healthy relationships with others!
- Today’s devotional calls out the importance of relationship over rules when it says: “Parenting is not just about the rules; it’s about relationship. You cannot have a relationship with someone that you command around and do not spend time with in order to know that person’s heart, motivations, fears, joys, failures, and loves. Building a relationship takes time; it takes being present in your children’s lives. Parents who do not take advantage of times they have to build their relationships with their children but who let distractions continually hinder relational growth will usually result in children who do not feel valued.“
- Let’s be the dads who take God’s Word seriously and so pick up the mantle of teaching and training our kids as commanded in Proverbs 22:6!
- Let’s be the dads who make time to be with and talk with our kids so that not only are we training them based on our experience but also can help train them based on their experiences too!
- Let’s be the dads who help build a biblical truth foundation in our families!
- Let’s be the dads who trust God even when it is hard or our kids seem to be going off course!
- Let’s be the dads who trust God do what He has to do to help them get back on course and do our part of praying, waiting, and watching to see their return as we read in the story of the lost or prodigal son!
- Let’s be the dads who don’t give up on our wives, our kids, or others!
- Today’s devotional closes with this thought and challenge:
- “The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 is an example to all parents to never give up on their children. If your children disappoint you and make bad decisions, trust that God loves them even more than you do. Kneel in the gap between their sins and forgiveness, praying fervently for the day when they will return to the foundation that was laid before them during their childhood.“
- “What aspect of your parenting can you pray and ask God to give you more discernment in today?“
One thought on “Everyday Discernment: The Importance of Spirit-led Decision Making – Day 7”