God's Heart on Homeschooling
When you read the Word of God, looking for the Love
of God and all the ways He has shown His Love to the creation called
Man, you see an awesomeness in the lengths that God will go through
for our benefit. You also see how tender He is toward children.
We are told to teach our children, to train them up in
the Words of the Lord as we walk, when we rise up and when we lay down.
Not just as we plop in front of the TV after a hard day at work with
them in day care after school. Been there. God forgave us
and showed us a better way.
Understanding that God's permissiveness in areas of
life is not permission to continue in disobedience to what He is calling
you. Having His best means obedience. Not being obedient
does not mean lightening will strike you from heaven, after all, we
serve the God who is Love. But getting outside that protection
through disobedience will reap it's own rewards. Divorce, children
on drugs, children who deny your faith and walk away from the family,
children choosing alternative lifestyles because they believe the lie
taught to them in school, these things are all under the curse in
Deuteronomy 28.
We have scripture to show you that God cares for the
children, He cares for them knowing Him, and gives His blessings on the
families who do teach their children. We could argue the point all
day, and exchange emails all week. But Paul says not to get into
useless debates that cause strife.
If God has been dealing with you, please take a moment
to read the scriptures below, pray and see what your heart says about
homeschooling. If God is calling you to homeschool, no matter what
your circumstance, once you are in agreement with God, He will make a
way for your family to homeschool. These are some of the
scriptures that God has used to give an ahah! moment to people who then
became homeschoolers. Enjoy the reading.
Genesis 18:19 (Amplified Bible)
For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may
teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to
keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that
the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him.
The difference between Job who did not receive THE Blessing and Abraham
who did receive THE Blessings is that Abraham taught his children.
We see here the first time that teaching our children could affect our
Covenant walk with God.
Genesis 33:5 (Amplified Bible) Esau] looked up and saw the women and the
children and said, Who are these with you? And [Jacob] replied, They are
the children whom God has graciously given your servant.
Genesis 48:8-9 (Amplified Bible) When Israel [almost
blind] saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these? 9And Joseph said to
his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And
he said, Bring them to me, I pray you, that I may bless them.
Children are a gift from God. We are to steward
them in His ways until they are adults.
Deuteronomy 4:9-10 (Amplified Bible) Only take heed, and guard your life
diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and
lest they depart from your [mind and] heart all the days of your life.
Teach them to your children and your children's children--
10Especially how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God in
Horeb, the Lord said to me, Gather the people together to Me and I will
make them hear My words, that they may learn [reverently] to fear Me all
the days they live upon the earth and that they may teach their
children.
Again, and again, we are to teach our children to love the LORD our God
with all our heart, soul and might. We are to talk to them constantly as
we sit, as we walk, as we lie down, as we rise up. Our homes should bear
testimony to the Lord's love for us and our love toward Him. The
Old English word fear would be used today as reverence or respect.
How can the God who welcomes us into His lap ask us to be scared of Him?
We are instructed to answer our children's questions and explain our
faith. This can be difficult when our children are not around when those
moral questions arise, such as when the teachers are telling them there
is no right or wrong.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you
this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served
that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the
LORD.
Matthew 7 (Amplified Bible) 13Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is
the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to
destruction, and many are those who are entering through it.
14But the gate is narrow (contracted [k]by pressure) and the way is
straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who
find it.(A)
We must choose to follow the ways of man or the ways of
the LORD. Jesus told us that the narrow way leads to life, but as the
Amplified Bible illustrates, the narrow gate is contracted as under
pressure. So choosing to homeschool is not the easy way but it
will lead to life.
Psalm 1:1-6 (Amplified Bible)1[a]BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous,
and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the
ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands
[submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down
[to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. 2But
his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the
precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually
meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.(A) 3And he shall be
like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready
to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or
wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].
Seek not the wisdom of man, instead seek the wisdom of
the LORD. Study it, memorize it. And God will bless you. You will bear
much fruit (see John 15).
Psalm 34:11 (Amplified Bible) 11Come, you children, listen to me; I will
teach you to revere and worshipfully fear the Lord.
2Timothy 1:
5That precious memory triggers
another: your honest faith--and what a rich faith it is, handed down
from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you!
6And the special gift of ministry you
received when I laid hands on you and prayed--keep that ablaze!
7God doesn't want us to be shy with his
gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.
Timothy learned about faith from his mother, being with
her and his grandmother through the day, not just checking in at dinner
time.
Isaiah 54:13 (New King James Version) 13 All your
children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of
your children.
Peace in Hebrew means nothing broken, nothing missing.
Nothing broken or missing in your relationship with God, in your
relationships with other, and in your bodies harmony and health.
Psalm 127: 3 Behold, children are a heritage from the
LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s
youth.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be
ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
Children are our heritage from the Lord and to be
celebrated and cherished.
Proverbs 1:7-9 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but
fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of
thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an
ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Proverbs 3:1-8 (New King James Version)
1 My son, do not forget my law,
But let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own
understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct[a] your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your flesh,[b] And strength[c] to your bones.
Teach your children to remember God's laws. As we follow God's ways, He
will provide for our needs.
Proverbs 4:1-4 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and
attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye
not my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the
sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let your heart
retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Proverbs 4:10-11 Hear,
O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be
many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right
paths.
Teach your children God's commandments.
Proverbs
6:20-22 20 My son, keep your father’s
command, And do not forsake the law of your mother.
21 Bind them continually upon your
heart; Tie them around your neck. 22
When you roam, they[b]
will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; And when you
awake, they will speak with you.
Help your children to remember God's laws. God's laws are light and
life.
Proverbs 13:20 He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a
companion of fools will be destroyed.
We are to avoid putting our children where they will
learn to listen more to their foolish peers than to the wisdom of their
parents. Sending your children to school where their companions are
foolish children 8-9 hours a day is not wise.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go
[and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old
he will not depart from it.(Amp)
God has promised that if we are faithful to train our
children, that they will follow what they have learned. It's very hard
for our children to know their gift or bent if they are in a group of 30
children all learning the same thing at the same pace. God had a
plan for individualized teaching called homeschooling that was used for
over 6 Millennium. School as we know it has been around for less
than 150 years.
Ezekiel 16:20-21 Moreover, you have taken your sons
and your daughters whom you have borne to Me, and you have sacrificed
them [to your idols] to be destroyed. Were your harlotries too little,
21That you have slain My children and delivered them up, in setting
them apart and causing them to pass through the fire for [your idols]?
Although this passage discusses the sins of Jerusalem in
their bowing to other gods, you can see how God takes seriously the
training of children *we have borne Him* and how handing them over to
learn and do the rituals of idols will destroy the children. As
Christian parents, think on these things and find out how God will make
a way for you to educate your children in the reverence and admonition
of the Lord.
Joel 1:3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their
children, and their children another generation.
Once again, we are instructed to teach our children
Matthew 18:1-7 (Amplified Bible)
1AT THAT time the disciples came up and asked Jesus, Who then is
[really] the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2And He called a
little child to Himself and put him in the midst of them, 3And said,
Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become
like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can
never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. 4Whoever will humble
himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly,
loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoever
receives and accepts and welcomes one little child like this for My
sake and in My name receives and accepts and welcomes Me.
6But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in and [a]acknowledge
and cleave to Me to stumble and sin [that is, who entices him or
hinders him in right conduct or thought], it would be better ([b]more
expedient and profitable or advantageous) for him to have a great
millstone fastened around his neck and to be sunk in the depth of the
sea.
This is a very serious scripture. Are you
responsible for causing your children to stumble because of what and how
they are being taught while they are young? Are you educational
choices enticing your child in wrong conduct?
Ephesians 6:4 (Amplified Bible) 4Fathers, do not
irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to
resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline
and the counsel and admonition of the Lord.
Again, we are instructed that the father will hold this
responsibility before the Lord. It's encouraging when we get
emails from young Dads who are letting their wives know that their
toddler will not be going to school, and these Moms are writing to learn
to homeschool.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 But continue thou in the things which thou hast
learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned
them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works.
We are to include the scriptures in the teaching of our
children, even from their very young age.
3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in
truth.
This scripture really is a picture of the Lord God as He
sees us progressing in knowledge of Him and teach what we learn to our
children.
I hope this review will give you something to pray
about, to discuss with your spouse, and to begin your homeschool
adventure.
