Hugh's News & Commentary

Children are a Gift from God—Blessing Them is Parents Responsibility.

By Chaplain, Lieutenant Colonel, Hugh H. Morgan, USAF Retired
Director/Endorser of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC

Scripture Text:“And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, Whom God hath given me in this place. And he (Israel) said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them” (Genesis 48:9, KJV ).

We, a Pentecostal Holiness people, have our children dedicated to the Lord after they are born. Many parents pray together and give their unborn children to the Lord at the time of conception.

In preparing to preach about the encounter of Jesus with the Woman at the Well in Samaria, I noticed that Jesus came to a city in Samaria called Sychar, near a plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph (v. 5). I gave this title to my message, "Living Water and Harvest." In the prologue of John, Eugene H. Peterson gives this rendering of John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." He certainly moved into the neighborhood of the Samaritans. There is a harvest in our neighborhoods, and people are thirsting for the Living Water that Jesus can give them.

That statement in John 4:5 created my interest about that gift of land by a father to his son. So, I read again the account in the Book of Genesis, chapter 48. At this particular time, Jacob apparently was rather sick and nearing the end of his earthly pilgrimage.

Joseph came to visit him. When Jacob was told that his son Joseph was coming to see him, the Scripture tells us that “Israel (Jacob's spiritual name) strengthened himself and set up in bed.” It is amazing what the visit of a son or daughter can mean to a parent or parents in their old age. A surge of energy is released, and elderly people can do some amazing things even when they are sick and bed fast.

Now, I want to deal with our text for today:

“And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, Whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them” (Genesis 48:9, KJV ).

First, notice that Joseph never forgot God through all of his sufferings and trials. This evaluation is revealed here in the words of Joseph when he introduced his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to his father Jacob (Israel). “They are my sons, Whom God has given me in this place (Egypt).” He declared that God had given him his sons.

Earlier in this Scripture passage after we learned that Jacob sat up in bed this story about the visitation of God in Jacob's life. He told Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me, and said ro me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession' (Genesis 48:3-5, NIV )."

Jacob responded by saying, “Bring them (your sons) to me, and I will bless them.” Having a godly grandparent to bless your children is a powerful thing and we should never take that blessing lightly. Almighty God is interested in the welfare and success of your children and grandchildren.

Since God has given us our children, it is important that we bless them, have them blessed by godly people, and dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ in a public worship service in the presence of the congregation of God’s people.

I often get e-mails and letters from my readers whose children and grandchildren are separated from them. In some cases, the parents and grandparents do not know where they are.

Let me encourage you today. Don’t ever give up on your children or grandchildren. Claim them in the Name of Jesus and through the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think it is time for me to publish again Dr. Leroy Baker’s sermon, “Don’t Give Up on Your Children.” It is a masterpiece, but more importantly, it is anointed and filled with encouragement and optimism that is based on a faith in God and His Word to fulfill His promises to us who are parents/grandparents.

Turn your children and grandchildren over to God. He can do for them what we could never do. He can change and transform lives, redeem and restore, and bring healing and restoration in your relationships with them.

May I encourage you to read again Philippians 1:6, “. . . being confident of this, that He Who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  You can include your children and grandchildren in this promise God has given to us through the writing of the Apostle Paul. It was to the Philippian jailer that Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and your house.” That includes your children and grandchildren.

Let us stand together this day in agreement that God will bless, redeem and restore your children and grandchildren.

May everything good from God our heavenly Father be yours.