Thursday, January 15, 2009

Security Alert: No download allowed

YOUR CURRENT SECURITY SETTINGS DONT ALLOW FOR THIS FILE TO BE DOWNLOADED!!!!!!

I was on my computer trying to download an attachment and this is the message that I got. I was a bit frustrated, still frustrated because I can't seem do anything that will change that reaction.

This made me think about our children. Their world is so filled with distractions and influences. This world of technologhy has them connected with so much more than we were connected to at their age. Cell phones, texting, internet, mp3, ipods, smart phones and a host of other technologies that our children are exposed to. Even if you avoided buying these items for your children, unless they are homeschooled they will be exposed to them at school.

I am very vigilant on the things that my children are exposed to, even if that means I have to sit through hours of agonizing Disney Channel shows. I am there at every turn to monitor what they are absorbing. Regretably I know that I will not always be their to be a filter. So what do I do? Guard their hearts and teach them to do the same. Saturate their lives with the Word so that even when they are away from me they will recall that Word.

Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
.


God paid extra attention to one particular part of our being....our hearts. God has given us our children to "train up in the way that they should go, so when they are old they will not depart from it (training). We are here to guide them along with God's help. So what kind of security settings have we wired into their hearts and minds that will give the same message when the world around them tries to download a corrupt file. Those totally contrary to your own beliefs. While we would like to be everywhere our children are, we can't be. We have firewalls for our computers, antivirus software, shop through secure websites. How much more important are our children?

A teacher decides that your child is unteachable and will not amount to much. Unfortunately, they have through their actions let your child know this. What security setting will counteract this.

Your daughter does not feel pretty enough, skinny enough, hair is not long enough. The internet has sites that teach children how to harm themselves and not to love their lives. How to become anorexic or bulemic, dealing with their feelings through drugs, alcohol, body image distortion.

Security Settings:

Psalm 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Your child has been working hard in high school and is still strugglig , they are worried about college.

Security Setting:

Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This world sometimes glorify selfishness and our children are absorbing it especially as they enter their teens.

Security Settings:

Galatians 5:16-18

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? .

Your middleschooler and teenager are surrounded by talk of sex and other lude acts.

Security Setting:

Galatians 5:19-23 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Don't worry about system overload, the world doesn't. We need to work very hard to fight against the things that could potentially download corrupted files into our children.

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