This “I” was made in the image of God for fellowship with God. Without God it is miserable, empty, confused, and frustrated. Without God life has no meaning; but with God at its center there is life, an inner strength and peace, a deep satisfaction, an unfading joy known only to those who know Jesus Christ.
~ Billy Graham
No matter what the climate is, what the troubles are, what the difficulties are, there is joy for the child of God, because joy is produced supernaturally by the Holy Spirit in us.
Without Him our daily routine would become tiresome and tedious, a drudgery rather than a joy.
Only the forward-looking Christian remains sincerely optimistic and joyful, knowing that Christ will win in the end.
Without dark clouds in our lives we would never know the joy of sunshine. We can become callous and unteachable if we do not learn from pain.
The ability to rejoice in any situation is a sign of spiritual maturity.
Pleasures are the things that appeal to our flesh and to our lust. But joy is something else. Joy runs deep.
We have to be tuned to God. We will never be free from discouragement and despondency until we know and walk with the very fountainhead of joy.
[As a young man] I sought thrills! I found them in Christ. I looked for something that would bring perfect joy! I found it in Christ. I looked for something that would bring pleasure and that would satisfy the deepest longing of my heart! I found it in Christ. And my life has never been the same.
The Bible warns [parents] against extremes in dealing with our adult children. It tells us to avoid trying to control [them] once they become adults. When children become independent, a major transition takes place: They are no longer under our authority.
By the 1960s the United States had a new ruling class—the teenager!
To injure, ignore, disrespect, and violate the innocence of a child are among the greatest evils known to man.
Truth is easier for a child to handle than evasiveness.
Before the seventeenth century, a child passed directly into the adult world between the ages of five and seven . . . then came the industrial revolution . . .so the child-centered home was born.
The television, iPod, and Internet have trespassed upon the innocence of America’s children, while preoccupied mothers and dispassionate fathers stare aghast wondering what went wrong. They don’t stop to think of their own contributions to the persuasions influencing their children. After all, where do kids as young as elementary age get money to rent rock videos and the latest rap DVDs?
Someday your children will leave; you can’t hold on to them or control them forever, nor should you.
Children must be taught obedience just as much as they need to be taught to read and write.
Parents need much wisdom in relating to their grown children—and much prayer. Children likewise have much to learn about relating to their parents as the years pass.
Children, pray for the salvation of your parents.
It may shock some parents to learn that we don’t own our children. God has given them to us in trust . . . however, God may transfer our children to His home at any time.
I missed the joy of seeing our children grow and change. I thank God for watching over them during those years.
Our lives speak loudly to those around us, especially the children in our home.
One of life’s mysteries is why two children growing up in the same home sometimes take radically different paths—one following Christ, the other rebellious and scornful. Yet it happens.
God gave us our children so we could prepare them to become adults.
Ruth once wrote, “Dear Journal, Never let a single day pass without saying an encouraging word to each child . . .‘More people fail for lack of encouragement,’ someone wrote, ‘than for any other reason.
Children will learn far more by watching than by just listening.
One of the worst things we can do is allow our children to grow up thinking they don’t need to keep any rules. A spoiled child becomes a spoiled adult.
Love your children—and let them know you love them. Children who experience love find it far easier to believe God loves them.
If a child is to survive, he or she must know the rules of safety. If he is to be healthy, he must know the rules of health. If he is to drive a car, he must know the rules of the road. If he is to become a ball player, he must learn the rules of the game. And, contrary to popular thinking, children appreciate rules.
There is always the exceptional child, but the average tells us that the child is largely what the home has made him.
Children respect discipline. They want to be guided. It gives them a sense of belonging, a sense of security.
If our children grow up with no understanding of right and wrong . . .no desire to live with integrity . . . no faith in God . . .their souls will be impoverished and they will miss life’s highest good.
Children do need the guidance of their parents, and we guide them more by the example we set than by any other way. We need to be firm and sane and fair and consistent—and, above all, we need to discipline in a spirit of love.
Many children today are growing up without discipline. As they become adults and the discipline of job or family demands are placed upon them, they do not know how to cope . . .children need discipline to be useful members of society. Likewise, God’s children need discipline to be useful members of His family.
In a decadent society the will to believe, to resist, to contend, to fight, to struggle is gone. In place of this will to resist, there is the desire to conform, to drift, to follow, to yield, and not give up.
Sometimes I think the truly committed Christian is in conflict with society around him more than any other person. Society is going one direction, and the Christian is going in the opposite direction. This brings about friction and conflict. But God has promised, in the midst of trouble and conflict, a genuine peace, a sense of assurance and security, that the worldly person never knows.
The world does need changing, society needs changing, the nation needs changing, but we never will change it until we ourselves are changed.
The same conditions that prevailed in Rome prevail in our society. Before Rome fell, her standards were abandoned, the family disintegrated, divorce prevailed, immorality was rampant, and faith was at a low ebb.
Jesus indicated that there will be a permissive society just before He comes back . . . the world today is on an immoral binge such as has not been known since the days of Rome. We are in a hedonistic society, and what we are seeing is human nature expressing itself without God.
Sickness is deep within the soul of our society—and that has always been God’s exclusive territory.
