MOTHER EUNICE - MAY 13, 2012

Before we proceed to today’s message let me start with a wonderful thought-provoking story.  Once a son of a wonderful mother brought home a Mynah bird and he loved it very much feeding and playing with it.  When time came for him to go to school, he instructed his mother to take care of it diligently.  But when the Mynah started flying inside the home, it broke one of its legs.  The mother was very much afraid to answer her son regarding this.  When son came from school she informed him, but he did not take the matter seriously.  Mother wondered as to what happened to her son.  But when Mynah came next to the son limping, he started shouting at his mother as to what happened to the bird.  When mother explained to him again, he said he mistook mynah for nina (Father) and that was the reason why he did not take it seriously.  This is the kind of relationship children nowadays have with their parents.  I pray that the Lord give His Grace to the children of today to have bondage of love with their parents.  With this, I proceed with today’s message.

Indians observe this week as Mother’s week and so the Lord led me to meditate upon a wonderful mother of the Bible.  2 Timothy 1:5 says, “when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.

1.    A Victorious Mother
2 Timothy 1:5 - when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.  Generally I advise my church members to know the meaning of the Biblical name before they could keep it for their children.  Here the meaning of the name Eunice is Victorious.  As her name suggests, she led a victorious life by keeping genuine faith on God and passed on the same unto her generation.

Father God has given many responsibilities in our lives since we play the role of a child, student, employee, manager, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother etc at various stages of our lives.  But we need to think of one thing at every stage, “Am I faithful to the role I am in?” when we see the above verse, the child and the grandchild of the grandmother was victorious since the grandmother was victorious herself.  This is the way our God expects us to pass on the victory from one generation to another.  But just think whether you are doing your role properly being a father or a mother.  Nowadays, I hear many tearful complaints from children about their parents being partial towards them.

Once I went to a family with four children(3 sons and 1 daughter).  While the parents were speaking with me, they said all the four children were favorable to them.  The older one is their favorite since he was the firstborn, the second one because he was a twin brother and the other twin brother died, the last one since he was the lastborn, and the daughter since she was the only daughter.  This is the way a family should be treating their children impartially.  So dear fathers and mothers, I now put a question before you.  Are you doing your role correctly?  If your children are found in tears because of you, then it is clearly evident that you have not done your role properly.  Divide your property equally to all your children.  There is no favorable or unfavorable child before God.  We need to treat each child equally.  You need to listen and correct your lives when the Word of God comes toward us.
You need also to think whether act opposite to God’s word.  For instance, if you lie at your work spot then you cannot advise your child not to lie because only when you practice what you preach, your child will also follow.

The beauty of a leader is to bring victory.  Pastors should give opportunity for the young leaders to do worship sessions and ask them to conduct sermons.  By doing this, they are raising an army of leaders for God.  A leader should create leaders.  So fathers and mothers just think once, “Are you creating your children in a good way?”  God has given your children as your gifts.  But many parents are not even giving enough food for their children.  If your children is not obedient, correct them with love instead of cursing them.

Prayer:  Dear Lord, please enable me to fulfill the responsibility you have given me.  I have failed to do my responsibilities in the past.  Please forgive me and enable me to create my children as leaders.  Thank you.

2.    A Faithful Mother
2 Timothy 1:5 - when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.  The faith that is required for us today was found in the Mother Eunice.  Mothers need to feed their children with faith.  Generally children think their parents are their only heroes and they tend to watch every activity of their parents very keenly.

Once a brother and sister were fighting and when I enquired them about that, they said they were playing mummy-daddy game.  When I asked them what it was, they said their parents used to fight often and so they are imitating their playing.  This is the plight of today’s families.  The one who is reading this message, please think as to what you have kept before your children.  Many children go astray because of the bad manners of their parents since their normal tendency is to closely watch the activity of their parents.  Parents need to be very careful of their behavior.  There might be a danger of passing on curse to your children if they go astray because of your ill-behavior.

This mother Eunice passed on faith to her generation.  Your children will be watching you as to how you solve a particular problem.  This is a Biblical command also.  When God gave Manna to the wandering Israelites, He asked them to keep some Manna preserved in the Ark of the Covenant for their generations to understand the mightiness of God.  God also testified about Abraham that He will command his generations to fear God and to obey the commandments.  This is what the Lord is expecting from you and me concerning our families too!

Prayer:  Dear Lord, I now come to know the seriousness of my children watching my every activity.  Please enable me to have your grace so that they should learn love and faith from me alone.  I want to be an example for my children like mother Eunice.  Thank You Lord for making me do so.

3.    A Firm Mother
2 Timothy 1:5 - when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.  When newly saved, we would have been booming in faith but as days go by our faith would have been faded away.  But when we see here, Mother Eunice had a firm faith and she passed on that faith to her child.

Once I advised a son to come to church regularly but he back-answered me to first advise his father.  So this son learnt this bad activity from his father.  I also was talking to a mother once and she told me that her son know every story from the Bible since she thought him well.  Also the mother and the son completed the Bible two times together.  This is what the Lord is expecting from every parent.

First the parents should be very firm in their faith and only then their children will do the same.  While I was meditating on this subject the Lord asked me to warn the people that perhaps today might be the last day of our life and we need to repent immediately and grow firm in faith towards the Lord.  We need to let our generations see our good faith and grow in the Lord.

Prayer:  Lord, please enable me to have a firm faith in you.  I want my children to look upon my faith and grow in them.  Kindly forgive all my unfaithfulness’s.  Thank You.

4.    An Impacting Mother
2 Timothy 1:5 - when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.  Mother Eunice passed to her child whatever good character she had.  Not only the mother who had faith but also the child.  Not only the mother who was holy, but also the child was holy.  So it is very important to pass our good deeds to our generations.

I cannot forget my parents who started this ministry of how they passed on their faith to us.  With faith, they named me Visuvasam, which is again Faith.  And I am struggling hard and along with the Grace of God to have a strong faith in Him as my name suggests.  This is the way each one should impact your children to grow in Faith.  So just think now, “Are your life making an impact on your children?  Seeing the deeds of our children, people should give a good testimony about us.  Also people should say that our children have more faith than us.  No other blessing in this world is greater than this blessing!

Prayer:  Lord, please give us Grace to bring up a blessed generation.  Thank You.