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Are you looking for ways to equip young daughters
-Delphine Kirkland
to live honorable before the Lord?
Hello, God’s People!
In today’s post, I am writing not as a mother, but from the lessons my mother, grandmother, and other Godly mothers taught me during my teenage years. Although I am a baby boomer, I’m fully aware this generation was raised totally differently from my own. As you read this blog, the wisdom and Godly advice I will share with you is not outdated, but needful.
I was raised in a semi-strict home with love and respect for each other and for the Lord. Although as a young teenager, I disagreed with some of the parenting skills my parents executed, I now appreciate every sound wisdom and advice they applied to my life.
Generations Y, Z, and Alpha grew up in an era of reform. They believe they can change the world. As one of the baby boomers, we were confident, independent, and self-reliant. Baby boomers had their challenges, but Generation Z faces social media, chronic stress from school shootings, student debt, politics, alcohol, drugs, bullying, and cyberbullying. As Christian parents, grandparents, and guardians, we must stay constantly in prayer for our children.
Are you looking for ways to equip young daughters to live honorable before the Lord?
Most of our daughters face these challenges as they try to fit in with their peers. I remember my mother telling me that she gave me and my siblings to the Lord. I remember her telling me she was going to raise me to be a lady. Working in the Women’s Jail Ministry for over 25 years, I ministered to young mothers, teens, and teenage women.
I tried showing them how to live a life honorable to the Lord. They needed multiple ways to equip themselves to live honorable before the Lord.
Here are a few things I shared with them:
How to live honorable? DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
I didn’t learn about Christ by attending church. My parents introduced me to Christ.
Mothers, let your daughters know no matter if their peers call them weird or a square, developing a relationship with God is one of the most essential things to do in this life.
Having a relationship with Christ helps you feel supported throughout any and all, worldly relationships.
To have a relationship with God, you must get to know who God is. No relationship will thrive without intentional communication. That is why you must spend time with God in prayer.
How to live honorable? TALK TO GOD EVERYWHERE.
If you want to mature in Christ, spending time and talking to Him is important.
I have a special place in my home to spend time with God, but not everyone has a place in their home that they use selectively for Bible reading and prayer time.
No worries: there are other ways.
You can talk to God in a nice spacious walk-in closet, the bathroom, an office, or your car. Allow your daughter to choose her special place with God.
Quiet times with God allow you to take all your cares to Him. It also gives you time to reflect, rest, and renew your mind and heart.
In Mark 1:35, you will read how Jesus got up early in the morning while it was dark and went off to a solitary place to pray.
In Luke 5:16, it tells how Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
How to live honorable?READ GOD’S WORD DILIGENTLY.
The Bible helps us to see who God is and how much He loves us.
By reading the Bible, it helps you to understand why Jesus died for us and to know God’s truth.
In this generation, we find false teachings trying to shift their views from the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you are a new mother, invest in a Children’s Bible and other Christian literature for your daughter. The earlier they start reading the Bible, the better it will help them recognize sin in their lives and help them know who God is.
The devil knows the word of God, but he can’t live the word of God.
If we don’t know it for ourselves, we will fall victim to the devil’s devices at all times. Invest in a good Bible and do not rely on television and social media to teach you.
How to live honorable? PRACTICE OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD.
God is looking for doers of His word.
James 1:22-25 says,
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”
Remind your daughter that God’s word is livable if she’s willing to be obedient to His word.
Unfortunately, the world has a stronghold on this young generation. I read a quote that said, “We are called to be world changers not world chasers.”
Obedience to God is a way to get closer to Him, to show that we love Him, and to trust Him. If her friends are unsaved, encourage her to pray for them and don’t allow them to participate in their sins. Inspire her to be the light. Let them see her light shine for Jesus.
How to live honorable? TRUST AND LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART.
Have you ever been in love?
When you are in love, you can be yourself.
You’re willing to put in the effort to maintain the relationship.
You also find your feelings for other people’s affections dim as your feelings grow stronger for the one. You’re grateful for that person and you’re thinking of introducing them to your family. Inform your daughter loving God is somewhat like that, but only deeper.
When you trust God and love Him with all your heart, you hate anything which would separate you from Him. You will not find contentment in anything without Him and will gladly submit to His will and commands. Trusting God is when you know He is reliable, dependable, trustworthy, and He cannot lie.
Nothing and no one can separate you from the love of God when you truly love God. (Romans 8:35-39)
How to live honorable? CHOOSE GOD OVER SEX IF YOU ARE NOT MARRIED.
Postponing sex until marriage is right in the eyes of God.
Show your daughter in the Bible where sex before marriage is a sin and encourage her to choose God over sex.
If she’s feeling pressure to have sex just because everyone else seems to be doing it or feeling pressure to have sex because someone she loves is trying to coerce her, talk and pray over her.
Encourage her to read these scriptures and know that fornication is consensual sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married to each other.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 says,
“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.”
Other sexual sins include adultery and lust for someone’s body. Avoid putting yourself in a position to cause that sin.
Don’t give place to the devil. The Bible instructs Christians to run from every kind of sexual sin, which the Bible names fornication.
“Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.”
(Ephesians 5:3, NLT, 1 Corinthians 7:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:3).
How to live honorable? HAVE AN EFFECTIVE PRAYER LIFE.
I was raised in a home where prayer was mandatory.
- Prayer is our spiritual weapon to fight the enemy.
- Prayer helps you develop a relationship with God.
- Prayer also provides answers, gains understanding of God’s love, provides strength to avoid temptation, gives you peace, invites the Holy Ghost into your life, and helps you become more like Jesus.
- Prayer is important, beneficial, and necessary in the world in which we live.
Help your daughter to understand the meaning of prayer.
Prayer is divine communication to God from man and it is also how we can develop a personal relationship with Christ and how He can do miracles in our lives.
-Delphine Kirkland
Daily prayers are beneficial because it increases your faith in God.
How to live honorable? ACKNOWLEDGE GOD.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” God is the only One who can work in our lives in power, love, justice, goodness, and wisdom. When you acknowledge God, be willing to obey His instructions. Your daughter needs to know that her decisions determine her destiny. The decisions she makes have consequences, some good and some bad. God’s ways are not our ways and we need to know His will and purpose for our lives. God wants to help us make wise decisions naturally and spiritually.
How to live honorable? JOIN A CHRISTIAN YOUTH COMMUNITY.
Did you know there are Christian websites for Christian teens to come and post in Christian blogs, chats, and forums?
Check out Christian Teen Forums where Christians between 12 to 21 can fellowship with other Christian teens, youth workers, and Christian parents of teens. With all the bad influences of social media, Christian youth groups can give your daughter the opportunity to share her experiences. They are also there to inspire, learn and help her be herself. Christian summer camps, retreats, and conferences will help her grow her faith.
Parenting is not easy, especially Christian parenting even when you are looking for ways to equip young daughters to live honorable before the Lord.
The devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy our children and we have to watch and pray consistently.
If you are searching for other sources to help raise your daughter in the Lord, I recommend you read “Being Daughters Rooted in Grace” by Terra Mattson; “Talking To Your Kids About Jesus” by Natasha Crain; and “Raising A Daughter After God’s Own Heart” by Elizabeth George.
If you are struggling to parent your daughter, can I pray for you?
Send your prayer request to info@delphinekirkland.com.
If you found this blog helpful, please leave a comment.
