Satan wants this new and modern generation to accept that "God is square. He is as outdated as virginity. Have your fun today. Don't plan for the future. This world won't last that much longer, anyway."

And so, the kids today are confused. They hurt deeply inside. They are searching.

Drugs, sex, alcohol—the answers the satanic society provides, are not working. The home no longer is the haven and the sanctuary it used to be.

The parents are both working, or too busy to talk. The home is no longer the place to find answers, or even find the parents.

There is a cute, yet tragic saying, youth workers often quote: "The dad works the day shift. The mom works the night shift. The kids learn to shift for themselves!"

Parents, hear me on this. It is not enough—to put clothes on your children's backs. It is not enough—to preach at your children. It is not enough—to live one life in church, and another in the world.

Parents, Satan is trying to keep you diverted from the real issues. He wants you busy with your career, the television, or any other attractive distraction. He fully understands that if he can keep you from knowing where your children are—in mind, in spirit, and in the heart—he will emerge victorious.

This is the time for all Christian parents to rededicate our lives to a lifetime proposition—of knowing where our children are.

This is the time not to tell our children what to do, but a time to know them, and then...become an example that refects Jesus!

There can be no such thing as a generation gap in a home that is ruled by the love of Jesus. There has been more than one time I have had to go to my children, sit down and look at them with tears in my eyes and admit, "I was wrong."

You may ask: "You mean, Brother Thompson, you actually told your kids you were wrong?" You bet I have. More than once. When I share with them in the love of Jesus, and put my arms around them, and we cry together, the lines of communication are opened, and Satan sits outside in the cold!

Parents do not look to the church for your responsibility. You must be the spiritual priest of your home. Take the first step today.

Know where your children are, not just physically, but in their hearts, in their minds, and in their spirits. As you share with your children, and when they confide they have made a mistake, forgive them.

When I think about the kids today, and realize the pressures they are under, my heart cries out to God.

Our kids are caught in the very grip and vice of hell. They are trying to find a way out. You and I can show it to them—through the love of Jesus. We can't turn back the clock, but we can forgive their wrongs, and ask forgiveness for our own. God forgives you.

He puts your sin out of His mind. He blots it out, and as you grow to know where your children are, remember these sacred words of counsel from Ephesians: "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you" (Eph. 4:31-32).

Mark Your Loved Ones by Dwight Thompson
All rights reserved. Used by permission.