Be Spirit-led, not passionate
A child clapped hands off-beat towards the end of the song, prompting the pastor to keep his songbook aside and show how to clap on-beat. But the child went off on it, later claiming it was a Spirit-filled clapping.
Disrupting a song with loud off-beat clapping isn't a work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of order and decorum.
When corrected, the child immediately got angry refusing to acknowledge the wrong.
Despite approaching the child with the matter delicately, the child reacted arrogantly. The child began defending the foolishness and began to speak sarcastically to the elder. To worsen the situation, one of the parents began defending the child. The elder stepped away realizing a molehill was unnecessarily becoming a mountain. In the following church meetings, the child refused to even greet or speak to the elder.
Spirit-baptized children, who have learned doctrinal truths and been schooled in good traditional practices often fail to connect teachings to life practices.
Here are FIVE OBSERVATIONS COMMON IN CHILDREN GROWING UP IN CONSERVATIVE PENTECOSTAL ENVIRONMENTS.
Inability to accept correction
Lots of noise, no love
Argumentative, lacking understanding
Fear of losing image
Living on false fleshly support
All noise and no love is the sound of a cymbal off-tune. Some children make a lot of noise when filling in the Holy Spirit, but host vengeful spirits. An unforgiving heart is a recipe for spiritual disaster.
Often conservative children argue without understanding the big picture. The arrogant always talk out of context, limiting their ability to reason objectively. While immaturity is the main factor, some youth lack the humility to hear the matter out.
There are many children and older saints who give in to their flesh rather than keep the faith. More concerned about how they look in front of people. Some children are made teachers and they end up living a fake life because of the image they need to portray as teachers. This cripples their ability to grow in the character God wants. They end up enslaved rather than empowered. Fear torments them for years and they grow into fearful believers or controlling servants of God.
Many parents today are supporting their children when they need to be corrected. A supportive parent keeps the word of God first. They will never compromise their faith to please the child. Sadly, we are seeing more of these everywhere.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Those who live in the flesh cannot please God. Examine your heart and commit your life to the word of God and the true leading of the Holy Spirit to overcome every kind of falsehood.
Jesus is coming soon. Praise God, and Amen.
