Tag: parent

3 Ways to Protect Your Child’s Innocence with Electronics

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3 ways to check how your innocent kids may be affected by unintentional trash on their electronics. Parents, if you have minor children in your house who have access to a iPhone, iPod, iPad or other brand devices, You need to read this!  Have you done a check recently on what they have been engaging with? I would severely encourage you to set boundaries with your kids and have them realize their electronics are a privilege not a right and you have access anytime to do a check. And do it weekly if needed. With our kids they are required to tell us what the password is and give us access it anytime. When they try to swipe things up before they hand it over it puts me on edge. For those of you who need help in a technological way of how to look at their history here are two ways to do it

Go to:

Settings -General- Usage – Battery Usage (this will show you which apps or things they have had open in the last 24 hours or more)

The most important one is to check what they have been watching on the Internet. This can be done two ways: first go to Safari.

On Safari – click on the book in the toolbar below- then look at history

The next most important and most revealing is to go on to that YouTube app – clicked on the dashed lines in the top left-hand corner and select history. Many apps from games nowadays will ask kids if they want free coin by viewing a video. But the sinful crap that comes before their eyes and ears is something you will never be able to take away. I recommend removing any game that requires young kids to watch videos for free coins. The temptation is so great because any kid wants free coins. But what comes through the speakers would absolutely make you throw up like it did with me tonight. Even though my son said he never watches the videos he turns them over when they begin to play and does not listen to your phones, the level of filth I saw was beyond sick. I need to pray a cleansing prayer over myself from just what I saw (Pig in a Strip Club) need I say more!

Parents this is not legalistic and it is not taking away your kids choices, it is been a good parent. A parent that loves your kids. Parent who’s teaching them to make good choices. But sometimes kids need a revelation on what those choices are. God tells us to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart. (Proverbs 22:6)

Training doesn’t mean tell them one time and expect they will do it right every time. It is up to us to show them what a godly standard is.Its when you see secretive behavior when you begin questioning kids that you know there is something there that is pricking their conscience.  We cant give up asking questions and asking the Holy Spirit to bring to light what is hidden. If not there is a path of destruction drawing them in. We need to pray that God gives parents and guardians wisdom. On how to train our kids hearts. The temptation of this world is absolutely horrible and going to get worse. God have mercy on the parents of the last generation.

Here are some of the top apps that block porn

http://appcrawlr.com/ios-apps/best-apps-block-porn

There are two other amazing computer protection and accountability websites:

Covenant Eyes: http://www.covenanteyes.com

Net Nanny: http://www.netnanny.com

This Monicip program for handheld devices is amazing. I just paid for the premium subscription and it is worth every penny. I just installed it on my kids devices. You can customize everything specifically and what is restricted as well as customize each of the 5 devices and their security level. Tim and I are getting set up on it now. This is the first program I have found that uses its own browser to help block restricted sites. I am so thankful God led me to this.

http://www.mobicip.com/

Here is an article from TIME Magazine on Christians and pornography (Thank you to my friend Shara for sending it to me)

How to teach our kids to make wise godly decisions 

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HOW TO TEACH OUR KIDS TO MAKE WISE GODLY DECISIONS. This verse arrested me this morning. I have been seeking God about something for one of my kids and God told me to turn to Hosea 10. Nothing hit me until I got to Verse 12 then it was like the Fourth of July went off in my spirit- there is more to the story that I will continue very soon.
What I can say now, is that I am so thankful we have taught our kids how to hear the voice of God. It is in times like this where God is directing my 12 year old’s path and even talked to my son before he talked to us his parents. Our conversation about this totally took us by surprise. We are teaching our son that having the feeling or a sense is not the only way we go about making decisions. When we feel like God is talking to us there are many confirmations we need to get before we make major decisions in our life. Even though he had a couple vivid dreams about this situation and really wanted to do it, we told him we need to dig in a little deeper to God’s heart and get confirmation in other ways. 🚦

1. We asked him if he had prayed about it. Yes, sincerely🙏🏻

2. Did he ask for advise from parents and pastors? 👍🏻Yes from us and he went on his own to talk to his pastor yesterday, which was easy because it is his (Papa) Grandpa Hjertstedt. The cool part was that we didn’t even tell him to do this, he did it on his own 😍

3. What confirmation has he seen in the Bible? 🔦 he hasn’t come to this part himself but the verse below did it for me. Reading it and studying its meaning gave me confidence and peace. Now I will ask him to see what God says to him from the Bible.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home in your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all its richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with His grace in your hearts. – Amplified

4. Is there an open door for the desired decision to happen? 🚪Need to knock and find out.

5. Provision? Is the financial part working out?💸 “If it is God’s WILL it is God’s BILL .” says my dad, Joel Hjertstedt

6. Do you have peace? Do your parents and pastors have peace? ✌Yes

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace (soul harmony) which comes from Christ rule (act as umpire) continually in your hearts deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state to which as members of Christ’s one body you were also called to live. And be thankful appreciative, giving praise to God always.   -Amplified

Unfortunately, I know many adults who have never learned this process of making a wise godly decision. It breaks my heart and I hope this blesses you to see how we can go about making a decision and know we have followed God’s heart and lead down his path.

Here is a link to Joyce Meyers article about making good decisions. Definitely a confirmation.

https://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/ea.aspx?article=following_peace_to_make_the_right_decisions

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness uprightness and right standing with God; reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you. (Amplified version)


PARENTS: YOU are a Worship Leader

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worship with your kids

There is nothing like the sweet presence of Jesus filling our home as we worship! I just sat down at the piano which I dont do very often, and began playing from my heart a few songs that flowed right into each other. This morning I have been singing I Surrender All. So I started with that, then a song God gave me in High School. Next I exalt Thee and I love you Lord. When I was done I looked and David was curled in a ball crying saying that was the most amazing thing I have felt and heard. I told his it was the presence of Jesus. That when our worship goes up to him, He comes down and spends time with us. We dont even have to sing any words, he knows our hearts.

Elicia was crying on the couch in the other room because she was sad about her missing kitty. She said when she heard the music she felt peace and stopped crying. 

 Oh, Jesus we love You and Your presence. Take over our lives, let our children experience the outpouring of your presence and the filling of your Spirit. Take control and consume us with only you. ‼️

 

The Battle: Christian Kids in Public School with a Biblical or Secular Worldview

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Christian-Worldview-00892-300x225     vs  Non-Christian-Worldview-00901-300x225

Parents of Public School Kids: have you discovered that your kids teachers do not use text books for you to be able to review? We had a very interesting first 6th grade parent teacher conference last night. When the Social Studies teacher pulled out a paper from my son of a drawing of a Homosapian who lived 150,000 years ago my “creationist” ears popped up. I wanted to know what my son is being taught so I know how to further supplement his education with a “Biblical World view” teaching. He knows that God created the world in six days about 6000-10,000 years ago. But what he needs is information of the intellect that God created those first people with, Adam & Eve. They were more than “double wise” as his paper said of the homosapian’s. We had a talk about the Tower of Babel as we were waiting in line to talk to his next teacher.

Now I am thankful he does not come home with much homework, because I am going to be ordering some curriculum from Answers in Genesis so he can understand the truth about social studies and science. That is why at Destiny Christian Fellowship we are so adamant about teaching our kids the truth about the authority of the Word of God along with a biblical worldview. Like tomorrow night we will be having a dinosaur night for the kids teaching them what really happened to the dinosaurs, The flood, and many other creation issues.

We have kept my oldest son in public school so he can be a light, it is his choice along with ours. But, we will not sit by and allow him to be filled with a secular world view and not have him know the truth from the word of God. He may be bold and have confidence to speak in front of a group, but he needs to know the truth and have it in him so deep that it comes out of his mouth as easy as breathing. He needs to be able to debate or challenge an issue with more confidence than the other kid. Not with just surface head knowledge, but cold hard scientific facts that creation shows.

It is the parents responsibility to guard their children from the lies of the enemy and most importantly for our children to be aware of them when they hear it. I know he is strong and smart, however it is my responsibility to make sure he has the proper tools and resources to know right from wrong, truth from speculation. If us as parents do not hold fast to the fact that the Bible is Absolute Truth, then we will allow a secular worldview to slowly creep in our mind and our children.

Please make sure you have your own library at your home of material and curriculum for your public school children to draw a Biblical World View from. I will post links below of the places I am going to purchase our own! Our children have the opportunity to transform the educational system from the inside out, they need more than checking in at church and youth group! Kingdom Families function daily inside the home teaching and walking out the truth of God’s word. Time for me to do some research and pray!

 

Comments Copied from Facebook Post this morning:

  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell https://answersingenesis.org/store/newest/…

    Newest
    Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and…
    ANSWERSINGENESIS.ORG
    2 hrs · Like · 2 · Remove Preview
  • Aimee  Has he listened to the Jonathan Park series? It may be a little below his age level, but I bet if you put it on for your other kids, he’d like it, too. They teach creation apologetics in a fun, memorable way!
    2 hrs · Unlike · 2
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell He hasnt yet. I know my mom has them somewhere, I need to download them. Thank you so much for the reminder. My kids listen a lot to adventures in odyssey by Focus on the Family. But I definitely need to switch it up again
    2 hrs · Like
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell I have pinned a lot of resources here:  http://www.pinterest.com/rachellelayzell
    2 hrs · Edited · Like · 2 · 
  • Peggy Very important to discuss it, breathe it, learn it deep. It is taught in Science class yes, but also in Reading class, math class, anywhere and everywhere. I taught it everywhere as they still do.
    2 hrs · Unlike · 2
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell Yep, in Reading class it brought up the other side of things that makes me so thankful for Becky Fischer’s ministry
    http://www.kidsinministryinternational.org ,
    we use her curriculum in our children’s ministry. Tomorrow night while the kids learn about the dinosaurs, the parents will be watching a video that shows how the kingdom of darkness is invading our kids culture. I have her material pinned on my Pinterest site. Kids need to know what to do when they are forced to read books that are opening doors into their spirit. They need to know what to look for and what to guard them self from. If we do not teach them how to be discerning in their spirit they will open up a huge door for the lies of the enemy and his influence to come in. We have been teaching her children for the last year how to hear the voice of God from Becky’s curriculum. It has been phenomenal. From our preschool to the elementary these kids know how to hear God’s voice.
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell And by the way, I do not think it is just coincidence that they no longer use books. It is much harder for teachers to be held accountable for what they teach.
    2 hrs · Like · 2
  • Peggy Just for the sake of information teachers have the books and get new ones every 7 years, two problems exist one a lot of students can not read (comprehend) at the level of the textbooks and two teachers don’t have time to familiarize themselves to new text books with the constant flow of new curriculum as well as get their students to pass the state test.
    57 mins · Like
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell Some teachers do, probably more in the elementary. But what I found yesterday at parent-teacher conferences is that in six grade in the Oregon city school district they do not have books because they say the district did not want to buy them. The teacher uses online resources from many different places.
    55 mins · Like
  • Peggy  Oh they went that route, the online sources are probably from a curriculum company.
    53 mins · Like
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell Unfortunately, because of going online route there are no materials for parents to look through to know and understand what their children are being taught. I’m going to be going through as many links as the teachers give me but that’s not their curriculum in entirety
    51 mins · Like
  • Peggy  Unfortunately most sources support evolution, homosexuality, even anti-America (in the new common core) and other things we need to train our kids against.
    51 mins · Unlike · 1
  • Peggy  You are completely right Rachelle parents are cut out and teachers don’t have the time to list all their resources.
    50 mins · Unlike · 1 The common core at its roots is anti-parent.
    48 mins · Unlike · 1
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell On the way to taking David and Elicia to their private school, with tears in my eyes, I was sharing with them how thankful I am that I don’t have to question what they are being taught. Elicia began to have a discussion about what she would ask the teachers. She said she would ask them, “Who made you?” David went into the explanation that we didnt come here by a big explosion and then happen to come together by ourselves. He went through to describe how evolution says man came to be. And he said, “that is so extremely stupid! How in the world could they believe that!” At the same time when they get into Public high school they will have the tools They need to be bright lights who stand for truth. It made me all the more thankful for Christian resources that are available to help our children in public & private schools understand what truth is and how to discern when they are being fed secular lies. I know Isaac a strong and I will not pull him out of public school, because if he is not there who is going to share the truth with these other kids and the teachers? It is a very hard decision but one God told Isaac & us very clearly.

How to Receive Freedom by Giving Up

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Sometimes we hold on to a stronghold or sin in our life and justify it by saying that it is for someone else’s good. For example, if we hold envy/hatred/jealousy towards someone because, in our mind, they are hurting someone we love. That stronghold then takes root in our life and opens wide the door of our spirit to the enemy and we come into agreement and can then release Anger/Hatred/Strife ect. into other areas of our life or our family.

Parents you have a direct influence over your kids and the atmosphere of your home. If we are not walking in purity and freedom it opens our homes up to strife/anger ect. You are the head of your household. The buck stops here!! We can easily get on our kids case for their attitudes, but sometimes we need to check ours out FIRST. (preaching to myself!!!)

Time to seriously take ourselves before God and repent and renounce the strongholds/sins and receive his forgiveness, righteousness, peace and love. Freedom is possible only after we are willing to humble ourselves before Him, admit our sin, Believe He has the power and authority to forgive us because of the cross and Receive His forgiveness and freedom!

The steps to your freedom require two important things. First of all, you need to repent and ask God’s forgiveness for the strongholds you have allowed to come into your life and the sins that you have committed. Along with that comes the need to renounce, or break off all ties to those strongholds . That is simply stating each of them and declaring that you renounce and break off ties and attachments to those things.
This is just the first step, getting things right between you and God.

However, it does not end there.

If those sins have been towards someone else, even if it is only in your mind or by actions or words then you need to go to them and ask forgiveness for it. This might be a no-brainer, but it is far too easy to skip this step because of the vulnerability you feel towards that person. You may fear they will not receive you, or that they will throw it in your face. But, what is taking place in your spirit is far more important than the resistance you may feel. Bitterness, envy, jealousy, hatred, are all easy strongholds we allow into our life. They sneak up on us especially when we do not realize we are willingly coming into agreement with the sin we are carrying. When we justify our sin, or make excuses for it because we think there is a good reason, we are at the same time holding the power of its influence around us.

Today I can testify that I have just completed the second step above in regards to a situation that I have been going through.
Last night I repented and renounced what I was going through to God, but it does not end there. I had been holding resentment, envy, jealousy and anger towards someone and had to find them today and ask forgiveness face-to-face.

I can’t tell you the joy and especially peace that I have felt all afternoon. My humility, obedience and open heart paved the way for complete restoration between me and the other party and took away the strife and contention in my heart. Now I am waiting to see this peace continue even after my kids get home from school. This is a house where the Prince of Peace reigns!

Bring on the freedom and joy!
Time to Give Up and give it to God!

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