February 13

" Satan was unwearied in his efforts to overcome the Child of Nazareth. From His earliest years Jesus was guarded by heavenly angels, yet His life was one long struggle against the powers of darkness. That there should be upon the earth one life free from the defilement of evil was an offense and a perplexity to the prince of darkness. He left no means untried to ensnare Jesus. No child of humanity will ever be called to live a holy life amid so fierce a conflict with temptation as was our Saviour."

Desire of Ages, page 71 from the chapter, 'As a child'

We saw that Jesus was sent to Nazareth to keep Him safe from the harmful influence of the Rabbi’s but within the potential temptations found in a town like Nazareth. Within that temptation lay the potential to grow in strength through testing.

I noted yesterday that I didn’t know what there was about Nazareth that would make it such a perilous place to venture into. I should have said that I didn’t know the specific temptations. I knew what would provide the temptation – and now so do you. Satan provided temptation enough.

How on earth did Jesus withstand all of the temptations that assailed Him? There is a clue in this paragraph. One source of strength was that Jesus was guarded by heavenly angels. The second source of strength was in Jesus’ personal resilience.

Before you step in and say, “but I’m not strong enough” remind yourself that this chapter and my emphasis is on how we are to protect our children. Assume you have the strength for the moment. Assume that you are confident in the presence of angels to protect you. Think now that we are working on preparing our children for their time in Nazareth.

It is true that Jesus had great personal resilience. He gained that from his experience with His parents, from His familiarity with the Word of God and the stories that gave Him confidence. Jesus knew His Father because He was familiar with the works of God in nature around Him. Jesus prayed.

There is then a key for us to strengthen our children. One – be strong in the Lord yourself. Make sure that your relationship with God is seen as the most important thing in your life by your children. They learn by example. If they see that God is number one for you He will be number one for them. Make sure that your children see that you take strength from God’s word. Make sure that your children see the works of God. Take your children to see natural, grand and beautiful things. Then make sure that your children’s Sabbath school is the best place to be, and make sure that you are there supporting your children. If you have to, make sure that your church board knows your need for your children. Let’s face it, when your children were dedicated it is likely that the church also dedicated themselves to helping you to bring your child up strong in the Lord.

Your children are number one!

Housekeeping details for you

The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here