Every week there’s more that we could fear in the world and while fear and anxiety are real human emotions we all feel at times; the bible repeatedly tells us not to fear. Therefore most decisions made in fear are inferior decisions to what’s best. You will be encouraged by this raw episode on a difficult subject for so many. If you love it, please share it! 

Main Points From This Episode:

• While the world becomes more tumultuous for believers, it doesn’t mean we are supposed to fear it.
• There was a demographic bomb happening before Covid and now with the covid vaccinations causing fertility issues it’s likely to get far worse. Meaning the population will decline at an increasing rate.
• This is all the more reason why believers should keep having children.
• Don’t make decisions in fear
• Who creates a baby? Would God want us to stop His creation because of our fear of the world?
• The world needs more hope and babies inspire hope!
• More babies from Christian homes likely means more people who glorify the father and share the gospel with more people.
• Don’t let fear of provision stop you, God is the provider.
• God has a unique plan for your family, just make sure God’s best plan isn’t altered by your fear of the world.

Scriptures From This Episode:

Philippians 4:6-7 – “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Psalm 127:3 – “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”

Matthew 6:25-34 – “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.””

Psalm 139: 13-18 – “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

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Welcome to Courageous Parenting Podcast, a weekly show to equip parents with biblical truth on raising confident Christian kids in an uncertain world.

Hi, I’m Angie from Courageous Mom and I’m.

Isaac from Resolute Man.

We’ve been married for 21 years and have seen the fruit from raising our eight kids Biblically. Based on the raw truth found in the Bible.

We can no longer let the culture win the hearts of children. Too many children from Christian families are walking away from their faith by age 18. And it doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way. Join us as we start an important conversation about effective parenting in the following. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, guys. We’re so glad to have you here. We so appreciate people that tune in week in, week out, and we hear those stories. I’ve listened since the first episode all these four years. It’s really humbling and so humbling and encouraging. God is really doing something and we’re so glad you’re part of the 10 Million Legacies movement listening, sharing, giving five star reviews. All that stuff really helps. Praying for us really, really helps. We do appreciate that. So today we’re talking about is fear of the world a good reason to stop having babies?

It’s kind of a big topic, but we’re going to narrow it down. You know, having babies is a big topic, I guess, is what I mean. But but we’re going to narrow it down and talk about the fear of the world. Maybe we’ll make it a little series. We’ll see how what you guys think. You guys, here’s a challenge, a courageous parenting podcast listener challenge. Let us know this week what you thought of today’s podcast and if you think that we should continue talking about other things that pertain to this topic because we want to we want to be ministering to you guys where your hearts are at, what you’re dealing with, all the things. But there is a real attack on the value of life happening today, specifically from there’s an agenda. The enemy is a schemer, right? We all know that he is out to steal, kill and destroy. He is against life. He’s really against Christian parents having babies and raising them for Jesus. Amen. We know that. So we thought, you know, with everything that’s happening in the world, we get a lot of messages from people sharing the overwhelm, the anxiety, the worry about the world and having more kids. So we thought we’d talk about that today.

Yeah, your voice is a little different today.

Oh, sorry, guys. I’m getting over a cold. I got hit hard last week.

Kind of went through the whole family, minus me and drew.

Praise God you didn’t get it. I’m really thankful. Yeah. And, yeah, we’re. We’re. We’re making it through. We? Another one. Another one bites. The dust hit today another of the kids.

Well anyways but yeah we’re we’re excited to talk about this you know as we speak you know in America because I know people live listen all over the world. But in America there’s some banks failing. The second largest bank in the United States failed. Another one just failed. And stocks for all banks just about are way down. I think Schwab is down 40% and these different things. So it’s interesting. I was noticing Bank of America trending top on Twitter the other day, not for good reasons. So there’s just a lot of current issues happening. You see, like you said, people not valuing life.

Makes it hard to want to have kids. When people are negative about.

Babies, increase in a lack of morality in the world to, you know, World War three seems to be trending on Twitter on a weekly basis over the last month or two. Obviously, the Ukraine issues, all these things. We’re not going to get into these issues, but it’s just there’s a lot of heaviness. There’s a lot of weight that could be on Christians shoulders as you think about these things. And our goal is to maybe lift some of that off, give some clarity. And obviously this is having to do with having babies. But, you know, really, you know, we know we already know that these things are going to happen. We already know things are going to get worse. And it’s kind of interesting to have a shift in perspective and realize, wow, we were born for a time such as this, and so were your children. Like this is the time we were made for God is sovereign. He’s in control. He decided when you would be in this world and what a beautiful thing that in a way that we get to glorify God during uncertain times. We get to glorify God. When the darkness gets darker, we can shine our light and it looks brighter. How cool is that? Like perspective is everything. And I just want to encourage everybody listening to have some biblical perspective to when we start to have that anxiety, to think about those things because there’s a lot of current issues and I do keep myself updated daily actually on current issues. I also keep myself updated on what the Bible says. And and we have to hold our thoughts captive. And maybe if you’re having a hard time holding your thoughts captive, maybe you shouldn’t be updating yourself on a daily basis like me, I can handle it because it doesn’t shift my perspective because I’m entrenching myself in biblical truth. And that’s super important.

It’s interesting, as you were talking about like being born for this generation, there’s a verse that we didn’t plan on sharing in today’s podcast, but one that I’ve been meditating on and evaluating from the perspective of what are the good works that God has called me to. It’s Ephesians 210, which says, For we are his workmanship. Whose workmanship? His gods. He. Created us. He created your child. You are his workmanship. So that no one. Okay. So that no 1st May boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. And it’s interesting because I think that verse comes up whenever we’re talking about like, Oh, don’t grow weary in doing good. And, and you know, you think of good works, you think of actions of like things that you’re doing that maybe are causing you to become tired or oh, maybe you’re running a side ministry, maybe you’re in an organization that’s pro-life and you’re doing some good work there. Or maybe you’re homeschooling. You’re like, okay, I got to keep going. Don’t grow weary. I’m doing a good work. Maybe for you. You’re thinking of the things that God’s called you to that are actual works. Well, sometimes this concept of having babies is not viewed as an actual like work that we do that we walk in. But I think it falls in that category because it says that we were his workmanship. He created us. He he’s a craftsman. Like when I hear workmanship, I think of craftsman. I think of a woodworker that is crafting his masterpiece. And I think of God as that master woodworker, master people maker. And he made us with this awesome gift, this ability to bring forth life, to partner with him and bringing forth life. And we’re created to do this thing so called procreation.

So when you look in the mirror, embrace it, right? God made you the way you are. And and of course, we want to grow in his word and, you know, respond to the Spirit, hear from the Holy Spirit, because we’re not blocking it with unrepentant sin and, you know, all these things. So this is a time where I think fear grows when we’re distant from God. And the closer we are to God, fear is less. We become more fearless. So it’s really important to think about that. Before we get into it, we do want to just briefly talk about the birth rate around the world prior to COVID. A little interesting slant here. I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but the birth rate in many countries is not at a level of reproducing current population, meaning for sustainability, for sustainability and economic sustainability, these kinds of things. So populations are declining all over the world because people are not having enough kids to make up for the parents right when they’re gone. And so as they call that a demographic bomb, if you will, when the the population rapidly decreases because of, you know, a time where people weren’t having kids. So now you take that. So take that as a truth. Most parts of the world. And then you take another truth, which appears to be coming out from scientific evidence, which is that there’s fertility issues from the COVID vaccinations at a pretty massive scale from what they’ve noticed with women’s menstrual cycles and the challenges and all kinds of other challenges.

Right. We don’t want to go deep into that right now, but that seems to be, sadly, a real deal. And so reality a reality. So fertility issues are likely pervasive from those who have taken the vaccination. Now, you take some some stats show 60%, some show 50, some show 71% of the world is vaccinated with COVID vaccinations. I don’t know where it lands, but it’s large. It’s a very large number. And so you think about what’s going to happen in the future with populations. And I think that is just a good setup into this topic of what we’re talking about. But hey, we’re going to go into four points here in Scripture to back it up. And I just want to encourage you go to be courageous ministry.org. Everything’s there. That’s it. Everything’s there. The free stuff, the stuff you can purchase that is way more valuable than it costs, but also helps the ministry, the coffee subscription as well. And plus you can find out information about the app, which was a major investment and continues to be an investment but is so worth it and so does have a monthly charge. But it is so much more valuable than that. And it supports the ministry too, for sure.

So let’s dive in and talk about this, you guys, because I get that there is some fear based upon what’s happening in the world. If you are like us and even if even if you aren’t like us, as far as like the level of being aware of what’s going on in the world, I’m sure that you would agree that things your eyes have been opened a lot in the last three and a half years to where maybe you have some strong convictions that you didn’t have before. I know that our conviction in certain lifestyle choices that we used to be more like, oh, that’s open handed, you know, based upon where people are at and what their circumstances are. Now, we’re kind of like, whoa, like you can’t put your kids in public school, right? Like, there’s just been some realizations that we’ve all seen about agendas, about without repercussions. Without without repercussions. Yes. And. Like. And so for a Christian like, you have to be super aware of what your kids are learning. For example, you have to be in tune. You have to know who is teaching them, what those people believe, what their worldview is, and understand that for a lot of them, they’re a lot. I said a lot of them. There is an agenda that’s being taught, right? And so you become aware. I’m just using that as an example. We’ve all become aware. Well, now we are aware of this.

There is a temptation and I think that women tend to struggle with this in a different way than men do. I think they both struggle right? Like men might think more about the provision side of things regarding what’s happening with the recession or what’s happening in the world, what people high up are planning to do in the world in the next ten years. You know, they think about that kind of stuff, right? Whereas the women are like, what are they trying to teach our kids about gender? What are they trying to do? You know? And when we think about the world that our kids are going to be raised in, but then we think about the generation that they’re going to be in 2040 when they launch from the home, What in the world is the world going to be like? We know from Scripture things are going to get worse. Isaac said that. And what I mean by that is that sin is going to become more prevalent and people will not be hiding it like they’re not hiding it now. And I think that there’s the tolerance of sin is going to be a continuing bigger issue over the years. That’s true. So now when you look at that and you face that reality, it’s easy to get scared and to go, I don’t know if I want to have more kids.

And I think that’s our our personal feeling and from what we read in the Bible is that’s tragic. It would be tragic if that were a reason Christians stopped having children. And you’ll kind of understand why as we go through this, there could be other reasons that you make a choice like that. But we’re talking about is fear of the world a good reason to stop having babies? So this episode is purely just on fear of the world. And so we in our first point for you is to don’t make decisions of fear. Almost all decisions of fear are bad decisions. You will look back and regret those decisions, or even if you don’t regret them, maybe they weren’t the best decision and God had a different plan. So it’s really important that we don’t make decisions in fear. And so if we’re in fear and anxiety, that’s not a time to make serious decisions. And we have to really be thinking about where are decisions coming from, They can come from a different place, a different motivation. But if they’re coming from fear that is grounded in failure, it’s grounded in inferior choices to what’s best. It’s really, really important when we think about that. Philippians four, I’m sure you’re familiar with it. This is something to potentially study read often Philippians four, six through seven.

So good and do not be anxious about anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So through prayer, when we’re anxious, there’s a little equation here. When we’re anxious, we’re to prayer and have Thanksgiving. So we’re supposed to be thankful also and let your request be made known to God. You might be thinking, Well, wait a minute. Doesn’t God already know? He knows everything. He knows what I think about. He knows all these things. Yes. But as is evident from this scripture praying and I believe I actually believe that when we pray out loud, there’s some power in that. I’m not saying there’s not power in not praying out loud, but I’m just saying, wow. It’s really it’s proclaiming something with the voice. And I just think it’s so good to be praying and let your let your requests be known by God. And what are your requests? And if they’re in his will, then he’s going to take action. Right. There’s promises in the Bible when it’s in his will, he listens and does. So. We want to have a heart for God. And the more we have a heart for God and we’re in alignment with the Bible says, the more our prayers will be in his will and actually happen.

So and but but if we’re being in fear or anxiety, that’s something to pray for God to help you with. Right. And I think that’s why we have it here is like, let’s get into prayer. Let’s draw close to God. If we have any anxiety, any fear, don’t make decisions. Go to God. That is the first thing we should do. And some people need to do that every day because the world’s coming at us. It feels like sometimes and these things are changing and all the change happening. We need to be in the word. We need to be praying daily so we can have the joy so our light does shine. So our kids are raised in a home where they see joyful God honoring parents who trust the Lord with their little decisions and their medium decisions. Is in their big decisions. And that is so important because, you know, fear and anxiety are normal emotions. I want you to think that you’re a bad person or something for having fear and anxiety sometimes, because we all do. And she does. I do. And we help each other. We point each other back to the Lord for biblical truth and these things. It’s a.

Human emotion. It is. And it’s one that you have to train yourself in and use the muscle of being able to give that worry or that anxiety. To the Lord and like fully handed over and not hang on to it. Not take it back. Right. And so when I’m when you were reading this scripture and you were talking about letting your requests be made known to God, I want to challenge people in this for a second. This concept of prayer regarding the things that we fear, and specifically if we are fearing having babies, I think that the world would be a different place if if more Christians actually prayed to God about if they should have another baby. I’m just going to make it real simple. Imagine how different the world would be if Christians actually humbled themselves and prayed and said, Lord, let your will be done, not mine. If more Christians were trying to walk like how Jesus did on the cross, you guys, he literally said, Lord, will you take this cup from me but not my will? But your will be done. And he was in the midst of like crazy, immense pain and agony and stress and all the things. And he still submits his will to the father. Now I get that we’re not God, but Jesus came as a human to give us an example of what it looks like to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. And I think that there’s this element that as Christians, when we are not knowing if we should have more kids or if we are, maybe we do know. Maybe. Maybe there is like a heart tug that, oh, I don’t know if we’re done and maybe I want another baby, but everyone around you is saying, Why would you have another child? You already have five.

Why would you have another child? You have a boy and a girl. You have the perfect setup. Why would you want to have another child? But look at the world that we’re in or or you guys don’t make enough money or all the things that people don’t withhold that should they should actually have a filter. And it’s none of their business because they’re not God and they’re not your husband and they’re not you. Because really this decision is between you, your husband and God, and that’s it. And so if you were truly tempted to be influenced by what other people think and what other people’s will for your life is, you got to go to God and go, Lord, not Susie’s will for my life be done, Your will for my life be done. And if you continue to seek him in prayer, what does James say? That God gives wisdom to those without reproach. He is going to give you the answer that you need, and he’s going to give you the peace and he’s going to give you the right words. When you get the naysayers coming at you with all of those things, he’s going to give you a testimony. He’s going to give you the wisdom and how to respond to people when they say things or when they tempt you to not be walking in his will. And I just want to say like, let’s go back to prayer. Yeah. And let’s be thankful for the children that we have and not scare them about the world they’re going to inherit. Right?

Absolutely. And a question for everybody is who creates a baby? I know that’s a simple question. I think all Christians would say God creates the baby. I mean, that’s the right answer.

39 is real clear about who creates. Right us in our mother’s womb.

I knew you before you were knitted in your mother’s womb. Yes. So it’s, you know, God creates the baby, right? So if God is the creator. Let me ask you another question. Would God want us to stop his creation because of our fear of the world? And I just don’t think so.

I mean, nowhere in Scripture does it say that.

I don’t see that. I don’t think that’s a biblical reason. That’s not a that’s not a biblical stance.

On a same note, I even think we’ve said this before, but if we believe what the Bible says about children being an eternal inheritance, that they are a good reward, that they’re a gift. Does that ever change based upon our life circumstances, that children are a blessing? Does that truth that we know from Scripture that children are a blessing change because of our circumstances? It does not just because our life circumstances change does not mean that our children are not a blessing or that future children are a blessing. I want to ask you another question. Here’s a big one. Do you want to have grandkids? Do you want your kids to experience the joy of what it is like and the sanctification that comes in their life, in their spiritual life, by being able to experience being a father or a mother? I want that for all nine of my kids. I don’t know about you, but I want I want to have grandkids, not selfishly, because I want to have grandkids. But I do. But I also want my children to experience the joy and the growth and the experience of raising children.

I want them to be blessed. And children are a blessing. So therefore, I want my children to have babies. But if they see us walking in fear or making decisions out of fear, what do you think they’re going to do? And so this whole concept we talk about all the time in Courageous Parenting podcast on every single topic is the thing that your kids are going to catch more than anything is not what you say, but it’s what they see you doing. It’s what they see you living out. It’s your faith lived out in action. And so if you’re talking about how great a blessing children are, but you’re not open to God giving you any more babies out of really out of fear, you really need to reflect on that, that concept of like, am I passing down a generational sin or a generational curse, if you will, of not having babies in the future? Because I’m expressing my fear of what’s happening in the world and I’m telling my kids, no, we’re not going to have any more.

And you could even have four children and then start fearing the world and make a decision not to vocalize that. And your children see that and maybe they don’t have any because, oh, well, they had children when it was easier. And then they decided not to because they had fear the world. So I’m just not going to have any children. And hey, God has a different calling on every family. We’re not saying everybody needs to look like someone else’s family, but we are saying fear is not a good reason. Right here in Psalm one 3913, I quoted it just a little inaccurate. So I want to make sure we do it right for you. Formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful. Are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance in your book were written every one of them. The days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them. And so just so, so amazing.

It goes along with the Ephesians 210 verse, right? That we were made in God’s Workmanship, created for good works that he prepared for us beforehand. And so understanding that God has prepared beforehand, this is beforehand what Isaac was just reading, that he knew you beforehand, he knew your children beforehand, he knows your grandkids beforehand. And so walking with the confidence of what Scripture says is a completely different life than walking in the fear and making decisions based upon fear versus making decisions based upon the confidence that you find in the truth.

So here, let’s talk about something really positive is the world needs more hope. I think we would all agree to that. The world needs more hope. The world needs more joy. The world needs more of God. And Jesus references children as being part of the kingdom of God. Like he says, Let the little children come to me. And so children are a blessing. The Bible talks about children being a blessing. And these things, well, babies bring hope. I’m going to tell you something. There was a time where Solomon came about and it was such a such a rich time. In fact, I think you had a story about maybe even before that and then that season.

Yeah, Should I share that now? Yeah.

So I want to take a moment and give you something for free if you haven’t got it already. Is the date night one sheet. It is a beautiful document you can download that will have some key questions on it for your date night. Just get in alignment about what’s most important for your family. No matter what time of year, it’s always important to recalibrate. You can get that by going to courageous Parenting.com and subscribing to our mailing list. Also, you can get all of our show notes and everything at Courageous Parenting.com. And I also just want to share real quick about the Parenting Mentor program. So many families are being transformed by going through this. It’s the six week self-paced program with live engagement from us and even direct interaction. So if you want to join us, here’s a little bit more about it. You can find out more at Courageous Parenting.com. Stephen, I.

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Yeah, I mean, for the first like 14, 15 years of our marriage, we were just very blessed financially. If we were to talk about provision for a second, we were very blessed financially. People used to make the comment, I can say this because I’m not Isaac, but he would go, Well, why did you say that? But people used to say about Isaac that anything that he touched would turn into gold in the sense that he just he had this wisdom and this ability to make good investments. And so there was a lot of financial blessing for the first 14, 15 years of our marriage. And I remember at the time I was on bed rest with our sixth baby, and we had a housekeeper that would come and she would help clean house once a week. We had five kids under seven at the time and or under eight, and I was pregnant with our sixth. And I remember her sitting on the end of my bed and we were just having this really candid conversation. And she was talking to one of her girlfriends earlier that week who was very judgmental of big families. And she was like, I just think that it’s financially irresponsible for people to have so many kids because she was telling them that she cleans house for this family that is about to have their sixth. And she was talking about how I was on bed rest and how hard it was and blah, blah, blah, blah. And she said, but you know what? She was able to turn around and go, oh, but that’s not the case with this family.

They can provide for their family. I think that they’re doing a fantastic job and raising their kids. There’s the sweetest. And she she was telling me this testimony of this story she was sharing with a friend and how it kind of flipped her friend’s thinking regarding big families. And it was just interesting because in that moment I went, but there’s no guarantee of tomorrow. Like we may be financially blessed now. We may have been financially blessed the last, you know. And now I remember when we were pregnant with Solomon, that was 15 years into it, right? And we were about to go through this massive financial loss. But like, there’s no guarantee you may be doing great today. And if you’re making your decisions based upon the financial provisions that you and your own strength or maybe even with God’s God’s provision, you’re acknowledging God has been blessing you. Because for us, we were acknowledging that God had been blessing us. And but that was never part of the reason why we had more kids or not. And other people would go, Oh, you don’t understand when we would talk about having babies because you guys are blessed. And I remember thinking to myself, But that doesn’t mean we are always going to naturally be blessed. Like life circumstances change and like, so years go on. And then we get to this place where we become pregnant with our seventh child. And while I’m pregnant.

Well, I had a startup company and we had over 40 employees. And some of you may have heard the story if you listen to past episodes, but the short of it is complete financial devastation. Which company Negative Finances also followed us personally when it went under, Obviously letting all those employees go very devastating financially. And we and then Solomon devastating a lot of ways. Solomon came into the point of even selling personal belongings to make payroll and, you know, some lack of wisdom. I think I have been wise in past, but I’ve also made mistakes, and this is one of the mistakes that I got caught up in, actually, is this company. And but what was amazing was how God provided and trusting the Lord. And I remember that Matthew verse actually. Matthew 625 if you want to pull it up, Sure was a signature verse during that season for us about God’s provision. Am I really going to trust God? And the answer was a resounding yes, Absolutely. We trust him when we had plenty and we trust him when we have nothing and we literally had nothing. And it says, let’s see. Matthew 625 says, Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you’ll drink, nor about your body. What you will put on is not your life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly, heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you being anxious can add a single hour of his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. So it’s making this example of King Solomon, who could afford the best clothes, probably the wealthiest king that’s ever existed. And the lilies of the field are dressed better than Solomon could ever dress himself. And that’s God taking credit for what he’s able to do more than any riches in the world. And so I just think it’s so beautiful to trust that and remember that and remember seeing God’s miracles showing up. And yes, it was a hard season, but it was a fruitful season in terms of the spiritual walk of our family, our family coming together and watching how the Lord obviously was taking massive action, as I should, and being there for the family at the same time, because that’s an emotional time and spiritually leading stronger than I ever had. My spiritual leadership took off in a whole new direction, and I think God maybe knew I needed that. And so, you know, obviously we had more children after that, too. And I just think that it’s so important, that provision, you know, worried about the world in fear of the world from a provision side also isn’t relevant. We do need to be wise. We do need to take good actions. We need to be proactive in our decision making because we’re listening to Holy Spirit, we’re paying attention.

But are called to provide for their families.

We are called to provide, Absolutely. But how about flipping that for a second and going, wow, what is what is how is God going to make me uncomfortable so that I grow more so that he provides through me? And how also might God just show up and provide outside of my efforts too? And I just think it’s amazing to see with such a testimony of that over and over again. And I just think I’m so thankful that I didn’t succumb to fear of the world and provision and these kinds of things. Instead, I trusted the Lord. We trusted the Lord to be the provider as God promises. And it is a promise as long as we do trust him. So the world needs more hope. Children, godly children. Just think about when the world is having less children. What should Christians actually be doing? I believe it’s positive for more believers, more children to be raised up in equipped in godly homes and launched that glorify God so that the harvest can be bigger, so that so that the God’s people are sharing the gospel. So God is glorified through his people, even more people, because we were willing to have children and not fear the world. I think that’s good.

So I just want to share with you guys the last four verses of that scripture that Isaac was just reading from Matthew chapter six, verse 31, says, Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles, seek after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows what you what, That you need them all. Verse 33. Here we go. Listen up. This is the infamous verse. But seek first the kingdom of God and all and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Verse 34. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. For tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And I think that there is a real temptation. Can I just say this is a temptation to sin, that we would borrow troubles and make decisions on what ifs that are grounded in fear. The what ifs are always grounded in fear. What if quantum consequences? I very rarely hear someone say, what if? And then there’s like a positive, exciting outcome on the other end of that. Usually when people use the what ifs, it’s always a dread, fear, bad circumstance, bad consequence kind of situation. And as Christians, we need to have hope, like Isaac was saying. And so do we know that in end days we’re talking about that, that things are going to get worse? Yes. But do we know when Jesus is coming back? No, No, we do not know. So actually, if you make a decision to not have a baby today because you’re worried that in 20 years or in ten years or in two years and things change because God can do that and then the world isn’t like you actually were predicting it would get. Wouldn’t that just be interesting? So here I am laying before you. And what if that is a positive in the sense of like, hey, what if you have nothing to fear about two years from now? What if what if things in the world change? Because God can do that in a heartbeat if he wants to.

In regardless, we are not to operate in fear. And so it’s really important. Now, God has a unique plan for your family. We’re not trying to have any influence on your family other than just don’t make decisions in fear around this is that’s a biblical concept.

So we would we live by ourselves, but also that we would counsel anybody in for any decision that they’re making.

And God, you know, God has a plan. But I would say just make sure it is God’s plan, whatever you decide. And if decisions are made in fear, I just doubt that it is God’s plan. And so I think it’s important instead to as Christians, to be joyful, full of hope and, you know, witnesses to God’s goodness and to God’s provision, even when our strength is weak and these kinds of things, or we’re having challenging times and to be able to share a testimony because we went there. Right. And so to have a vision, what is your vision for your family? What is your vision of the future? Not worrying about the situations in the world, but what is the godly legacy vision of your family? That’s what matters and understanding.

I mean, we’ve said this so many times that what we’re doing, all of us moms in the home every single day and dads every day with your kids, it’s a great commission, starts in your home, is discipling your children, making disciples of all nations, starts in your home and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them God’s commandments like this is where the rubber meets the road. If you can’t do it in your home, you can’t do it in the world, because that would be hypocritical. And so like, you know, recognizing the powerful influence that we have in raising a godly fruit for the next generation so that when they go out in the world, they’re making ripple effect, impact over here, over there, over wherever God places them in, whatever they’re doing and recognizing that God chose beforehand. And if he has a baby for you, if you’re struggling with infertility right now, I just want to tell you that if if it is God’s will, nothing can stand in the way of that baby being born. Amen. If it is God’s will. Amen. And so we just always need to be praying. Lord, let your will be done, not mine. Because if it were up to any of us humans in our minds, our wills are going to be influenced potentially by fear. That’s why we actually have to surrender our will to him.

And sometimes we have fear of the world and we’re making decisions in that because we also don’t trust in our own ability to equip our kids or we don’t trust in the strength of our marriage to steward the kids up in a certain way. And I would just say, well, if that’s the case, then what is the thing to work on? Then work on that marriage, work on your skills and experience and understanding of equipping up the next generation for God. If you’re having challenges in your home, that’s not necessarily a reason to fear the world and your abilities. Surrender your abilities. Surrender what is going on to the Lord and God will help you. God will bring the resources. God will help you do it. And that’s so important.

Yeah. You know, I just want to one thought that came to mind because we’re talking about fear of the world here in regards to having babies. And and I get that, like when you’re looking at the world and you’re going, whoa, look at the price of eggs that’s happening in the world right now. You know what I mean? And you’re looking at all these different things. A couple of years ago it was the price of gasoline and diesel, whatever it is, what economic things, what what realities are happening in the world, it’s easy to look at the world and be fearful and make decisions based upon those things. And for you, you may be in a place where you’re like, Well, now I need to get chickens because of eggs, or now I need to have a garden because food’s too expensive and I’m not sure I’ll be able to provide this. All those fears are actually fears of the world. They are rooted in what’s happening in the world right now. And so, yeah, I’m calling them out the white elephant in the room because then Satan can’t have any power in your life to call out those things that you feel like are causing you fear and potentially influencing your decision on if you’re going to have another baby or not. Here’s another one is if you if you feel like you have to do those things and you’ve never done them before, like if you feel like you need a garden and you’ve never done it before, the thought of having a baby when you’re like, I already need to learn how to garden just so I can feed the kids I currently have.

Because of the world. That is a very real.

Reality of some people right now is they’re overwhelmed going, I need to learn all these new things because of Incapabilities based and they feel like I have to learn these things to continue the life that I want for my kids. Those are good. Things, but don’t allow your fear of it’s going to be hard or your fear of I don’t know how to do these things, or I have too much on my plate because of the way the world is now. I have these things on my plate that I have to do, so there’s just too much. I can’t have another baby. Don’t allow the fear of the world influencing all those things to influence your decision. Instead, understand that God is the one who supplies our strength to do anything that is good and lean hard into him and ask him for wisdom on where you should be putting energy. Delegate Teach your kids how to do things, even things that you’re learning for the first time. Be humble about it. Say, I don’t know what I’m doing. You want a garden with me? Let’s do it together. And it will become this beautiful new legacy that you’re able to do something together. And I just think that too many people think they have to have it all together and they have to, like their whole life has to be planned. They need their 401. K, They need this. They need whatever your thing is that you need to have to be able to bring another baby into the world. Can I just ask you right now to lay it down at the feet across and give it to Jesus and ask him what his will is for your family?

Amen. Hard hitting episode, but we felt the spirit prompting us separately on this topic. And when we were talking about what we should talk about, it was interesting how this last week and other things we’re doing. We had been speaking about this exact topic and didn’t know it, that each other were doing that. And so I really think that this is from the Lord. I hope it is encouraging and we just so appreciate you being part of the ministry.

And if you guys have somebody that you think this would be encouraging or edifying, exhorting to please share it and let’s let’s get the word out to encourage one another to walk in the good works that God prepared for us beforehand. Amen.

Thanks for joining us. See you next time.

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