Open Heaven 12 November 2020 Thursday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye
Topic: Actions Overshadow Words
Memorise: For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. – John 13:15
Read: John 13:12-15 (KJV)
12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Bible In One Year: Luke 23, John 18-19
MESSAGE:
Many parents complain that their children do not obey them. Most times however, the parents are to blame. Children can see and hear more than you know; they absorb information from their homes both consciously and subconsciously. When there is a difference between the words and actions of a parent, the children become confused and will most likely follow the actions of their parents since ‘Actions speak louder than words.’
The best way to teach children is by example. Lead the way and they will follow. I recall an instance when my children were small. We had a visitor who came with his child. One of my sons went into my room, and wore my tie and came out to meet the little boy. He laid his hands on the boy’s head and said “fall down.” We all laughed, but I never forgot the lesson. The boy had observed that when I laid hands on people they would fall, but even beyond that, he noted that I always had my tie on when doing so. What attention to detail! That is how detailed children are in their observations. Hence, you must deliberately set examples. Paul, in Philippians 4:9 said:
“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”
A father who cannot get his eyes off ladies will raise a promiscuous boy. A mother who constantly gossips will raise a gossip.
Start being the right examples to your children from now. You want them to read their Bibles and pray daily? Do the same. If you want your children to be kind to others, be kind too. When little children always see their parents punching away at their phones and hardly ever see them with books, it will take God’s grace for the children to enjoy reading.
Be deliberate about your actions, bearing in mind that your children can see everything you are doing, and they will also follow the same path. Set a worthy example; do the right things always.
Key Point:
Showing an example is a thousand times more effective than verbal teaching.
Hymn 20: Nearer, My God To Thee:
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Refrain:
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.
There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv’n;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.
Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.
Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
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