6 Cycles of Family Training the Heart

6 Cycles of Family

Training the Heart 

Most important role of training a child is

Training the heart

To properly train a child you

must recognize what is in the heart.

Every child is born with a foolish heart.

As a small child the foolish things

a child does can be very funny.

There seems to be a line between

two years of age and three years.

Where a two year old begins

to realize he is an entertainer…

When the foolish things they did unaware

become things they do to get attention.

Foolishness goes beyond being cute. 

It is sometimes hard not to laugh

at the faces of a pouting child.

   But as they grow up it can be very frustration.

In the heart of every child is unrestrained desire.

Anything unrestrained is dangerous.

Last night lightning lite up our backyard,

 we knew it was out of control when the sound

of thunder and loud crack shook the house.

All of us enjoy electricity, when turn on a switch.

Why? Because it is controlled; it is disciplined.

Desire in the heart undisciplined

will never achieve the dream.

But discipline will enable you to reach your goals.

The most important part of anyone of us is the heart.

Naturally, if the heart stops you die.

It is also true that everything we do comes from the heart.

A parent may stop a child from doing something

foolish but if the parent does not work on changing

the heart of the child foolishness will continue.

Because you can’t always reason with a child

the rod associates pain with foolishness and

loving affirmation helps the child make right choices.

We must realize the heart is the most

important part of the triune person.

 God says it is with the heart you are saved.

A lack of discipline in any area of life will lead to failure.

But discipline in the heart will lead to success.

It is from the heart we form our thoughts and actions.

The heart doesn’t understand the

logic but it knows the purpose.

The wants of the body are controlled

by the purpose of the heart.

Self-control starts in the heart.

Without disciple foolishness will dominate the life.

It is so much easier to develop disciplines

from birth than to developed them later in life.

The grandparents and parents who are always

giving their children cake and ice cream may find

later a young adult with weight and health issues.

It may be hard to image that a heart full

of discipline is sweeter than ice cream.

Training up a child is developing a heart

with a strong will for the fruit of the Spirit.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

    

This disciplined heart will shape the mind and the body.

There is just one more thing train your child to:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and

lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.”

 Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV 

As parents training up a child is a focus on the “heart”.

There are 6 cycles for a family to navigate 

“Cycles of family life”

The marriage

Bearing children

Raising children

The empty nest / launching new family

The declining years

Death in the marriage

Family cycles should be a great experience for the whole family

Scripture Reading NIV

Proverbs 22:6

6 Train a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:15

15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,

but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

Proverbs 5:23

He will die for lack of discipline,

led astray by his own great folly.

Proverbs 23:13-14

13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;

if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

14 Punish him with the rod

and save his soul from death.