Morning Moments

Luke 1:80 (KJV)
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

The Destiny “grew…strong”
Here was a God trained man. He learned about spiritual warfare and worship in the wilderness. We are in public what we practice in private. Prayer and pride are mutually exclusive. We grow strong in solitude, not in society. It is no wonder he was not intimidated by man…he was intimate with God.

We know very little about the childhood of John or Jesus, but the one verse above speaks volumes. The child grew.

We have six grandsons ranging in age from two to seven. I love watching them grow. I love babies, but when a child reaches the stage of expressing himself or herself, that thrills me. We have two of the boys with us this week and have been so blessed to have them with us. I watched as the parents loved them AND corrected them AND directed them.

That is what John received, not merely from his parents, but from God Himself. The child grew. In America we have relegated the teaching process to someone else. We put them with a "sitter" or "kinderschool" or whatever they call the care of another's child prior to school age. Children rarely get to bond with father and mother because we are so materialist we cannot survive on one income anymore.

It is not enough for a child merely to grow physically. They are not mere bodies, but have a soul and spirit also. Children must be taught to THINK, and FEEL and to effectively and appropriately express those thoughts and feelings. They must be taught, not shouted at, about what is good and bad, right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable. They must LEARN proper manners. All this takes more time that most parents have today. That is SAD!

But the text says that John grew strong in spirit. That is perhaps the most neglected part of child rearing today. The spirit is designed by God to be the God conscious part of any human being. The formative years are for preparing the spirit of a child for God until God enters the spirit of that child. If the spirit of a child, is not prepared by the Word of God, it will not as likely be open to the Spirit of God. A child's spirit must be prepared for God's Holy Spirit to draw that child to God.

But what does it mean to grow strong in spirit? It means that there is a sensitity to the things of God. It means that a child grows spiritually even before that child is born of the Spirit. It means the life of the child is fashioned to become fixed toward God. There is so much more I would like to share about this...maybe later.

Finally, "he was in the "deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel." To be sure John was not learned in the area of social graces by the "baby books" of instruction. He received his training from God, and was NOT conformed to this world's diet, dress, dialogue, disposition, or delivery. He was TAUGHT to be a MAN, even as a boy, and that man was a MAN SENT FROM GOD, whose name was John.

BLESSINGS!