Text: Gal. 6:7-9
MEMORY:
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Go (Gal.6:7)

The sowing mindset in parenting makes you to teach your children the necessity of sowing into the life of others. One great tragedy in the world today is that many individuals are striving to reap when they have not sown and it is leading to so many vices that the human society is battling with. Some of such vices are laziness, stealing and all forms of corruption. These vices are prevalent because we have many who do not seem to know that there is no free meal anywhere; whenever it appears as if you are getting something free, there is someone somewhere who had earlier sowed. There are three vital areas of sowing which your child must learn.
• You must sow spiritually to God and to the life of others. Sowing spiritually unto God means spending time to fellowship with God towards the development of an intimate relationship. Sowing spiritually into the lives of others means that the spiritual welfare through praying for them is important to you.
• You must sow materially to God and into the life of others. Sowing materially unto God is all about being ready to commit your resources to the advancement of the gospel. The starting point of being ready to sow materially into kingdom matters is the faithful payment of your tithe, your bountiful offerings and commitment to kingdom projects. (2Cor.9:6)

There is also the need to sow materially into the life of others especially widows, orphans and generally the needy around us.(Jam.1:27)


• You must sow time in service to God and others. The sowing mindset will make you to let your children know that their time is not only for them. They must be taught that they should invest a considerable percentage of their time in service to God and others.
• You must sow your talent to God and others.
You must let them know through your own demonstration that they need to often sow their talent by using it without expecting to be remunerated.

The possession of the sowing mindset is therefore important for you in raising children that will be useful to God, the society and himself.

DISCUSSION POINTS WITH YOUR SPOUSE
• In what ways are we demonstrating the sowing mindset to our children?



PRAYER
LORD, help me to model the sowing mindset to my children so that they may be useful to you in Jesus’ name.

QUOTABLE QUOTE
LEARN TO SOW INTO THE LIFE OF THOSE IN THEIR REAPING SEASON, YOUR OWN SEASON OF REAPING WILL ATTRACT THE SOWING OF OTHERS TOO. -Dr. Mike Oluniyi

MAIN TEXT: Ps. 127:3-5
MEMORY:
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward…(Ps.127:3)

This mindset makes you to see God as the owner of your child and that you are just a steward who will ultimately render account of how you raised the child to God.
Please note the following as caretaker of the children that God has given you:

You are not the property owner but a privileged representative.
Look around, you will discover those of your age, who never had the privilege of having their own children. Some of them never had the privilege of getting married in the first place while there are those who got married but never experienced the joy of parenthood through no fault of theirs. That you got married and have your children should be a source of appreciation to God by you because the story is not the same for everyone.

You are to care for the property according to the instructions of the owner.
If your children belong to Him, it follows that you must take care of the property the way the owner asked you to do it. One of the most important assignments of the owner of the children is that of teaching and training.
Train up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Prov.22.6)

You must neither abuse nor allow the abuse of the property.
As a parent, you have a responsibility of ensuring that your children are always paid attention to, so that they don’t get into wrong hands.

Your wages will depend on how satisfactory your stewardship of the property is.
God has not asked you to labour in vain over these children. When you bring them up in the ways of the Lord, fulfillment is one of the most significant wages that you will receive for your stewardship over them. (Ps.127:4-5)

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (Psa.127:4-5)

However long it takes, a time of accountability will come.
Prophet Eli was a great man of God. However, in the area of the training of his children, he was a failure. Though he succeeded as a prophet of the LORD, he failed in the area of the training of his children.(1Sam.3:11-14)

The Way You Handle Your Children May Determine How Joyful Your End Will Be.
There are people who spend their later years in sorrow and even die early as a result of the effects of lack of training in the life of their children.

As a caretaker, you must take your assignment seriously and ensure that you do not disappoint God that gave you the assignment. May you not fail God in Jesus’ name.

DISCUSSION POINTS WITH YOUR SPOUSE
• In what ways have we been raising our children in the ways of the LORD?

PRAYER
I receive the grace to bring up my children in the will of God in Jesus’ name.



QUOTABLE QUOTE
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR JOY DURING OLD AGE MAY DEPEND HEAVILY ON HOW SUCCESSFULLY YOU TRAIN THEM. – Dr. Mike Oluniyi

Proverbs 22:7
The rich ruleth over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender.

One of the major matters that arise concerning family finance is the issue of debt. There are a lot of families that are neck deep in avoidable debt. They don’t like the situation but instead of getting out of it, they are rather getting deeper and deeper into more debts due to ignorance. We are going to look at the matter of debt from two angles:

Avoidance
Never go into debt without ensuring that it is unavoidable and that you are using the money for a productive purpose which you should be able to pay back. Have aversion for debt; Remember that no loan is free, there is payback and usually with interest; Be convinced that whatever you may use loan for may be achieved with your resources, though it may be slow. Be convinced that pressure for loan repayment can shorten your life. If you must take loan, please note the following;
• There is no free loan, you have to pay back with interest.
• Ask yourself whether you really need the loan before the offer comes because once the offer comes, most people are not able to say no.
• Honestly look at your finances, will you be able to pay back? Will what you are obtaining the loan for increase your capacity to generate more income?
• Imagine the worst case scenario; in case you can’t pay back, what are the implications? Will your family be able to accommodate the consequences of not paying back? If your residence was used as collateral, what will happen to your family if you can’t afford to pay back?
The answer to the above questions may help you to decide whether to go ahead and accept the loan or not.

Elimination
Let there be the desire and determination to be free from debt. Nobody really enjoys being a debtor, but the elimination of debt requires the determination to take some steps which one may not be able to take otherwise. Some of the steps which may be taken to be debt-free are as follows:
1. Prayerfully determine that you want to get out of debt.
2. Determine your financial situation by frankly listing all the debts that you owe. You may look at the possibility of selling off some of your possessions in order to reduce the debt.
3. Open up to your spouse about the details of the debt.
4. Stop adding to your debt by refusing to add fresh debts however attractive the terms are.
5. Cut down on expenses so that you may be able to save some money which may be identified as usable for repayment.
6. You may also consider an activity that may bring in extra income that may be used for repayments.
7. Have a repayment plan for each of the debts you are owing and communicate with your creditors.
8. Avoid any temptation to suspend repayments because once your default, the interest is compounded and borne by you.
9. Never allow the fear of your creditors to demobilize or cripple your health because it will complicate matters. Instead of fear, plan and face reality!

DISCUSSION POINTS WITH YOUR SPOUSE
• How can we eliminate the debts that we are currently owing?

Prayer Points.
Father, we receive divine wisdom to eliminate and avoid debts in this family in Jesus’ name.

QUOTABLE QUOTE
DEBT CAN SHORTEN YOUR LIFE, RUN AWAY FROM IT. -Dr. Mike Oluniyi

Text: Gen. 41:34-36
MEMORY:
Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. (Gen.41:34)

Although we have to put our hope in God, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be planning ahead for the future. The scripture under our consideration today makes us to realize that it is wise to save and invest. In the above scripture, Joseph counseled Pharaoh to save during the period of plenty in preparation for the period of scarcity, and that saved a whole nation from destruction.
Savings in the form of keeping money in an account just in case of any need in the future is very good but appears challenging to most people, myself inclusive. However, you may expand the issue of savings to include everything that you set aside now to delay its consumption until a future date. Some of such savings and investments include the following:
• Purchasing properties such as real estate.
• Purchasing equipment which can make you to increase your future earnings.
• Acquiring further education.
• Writing book in your area of interest.
• Taking insurance policies
• Learning a trade.
• Buying stocks.
• Joining and participating in a cooperative society.
• Educating your children.
• Renovating your property and equipment.

Any of the above is like little drops of water which may appear to be little when you are doing it, but which may become life-saving in the future. Every couple must cultivate the habit of putting something aside for the future. There are emergencies that may come up and embarrass you as a family if you don’t cultivate the habit of saving. In such situation, you may be left with no option other than to take loan from unconventional sources. There are loans you will take and be required to pay back with one hundred percent interest because you have no other choice. However, note that there are obstacles that prevent people from saving and investing. Some of such obstacles are:
• Ignorance.
• Inability to delay gratification.
• Love for shortcuts.
• Distractions.
• Love for luxury goods.
• Lack of self discipline.
• Inability to carry your spouse along.
• The feeling that it will always be easy.
You will be doing your family a lot of good if you cultivate the habit of not consuming all that come in for your family.
There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it.(Prov.21:20)
If your spouse is the type who does not believe in the practice, you may need to encourage him or her and if he failed to be encouraged, you may with wisdom go ahead to do it to secure the future of the family. There are husbands who said that building a house was not their priority but their wives went ahead to build and at the end of the day he lost his job and the position in which he was, only for the house to serve as the saving grace for the family. It is an error for you to believe that resources will continually be abundant and therefore fail to keep something for the future. Don’t squander the resources available for you now; the future may demand for it.

DISCUSSION POINTS WITH YOUR SPOUSE
• Do we have savings and investment culture in this home?
• Wherr do we need to start or improve from where we are?

PRAYER
Father, I receive divine wisdom and enablement to cultivate the habit of savings and investment in Jesus’ name.


QUOTABLE QUOTE
DON’T SQUANDER THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR YOU NOW; YOUR FUTURE MAY DEMAND FOR IT. – Dr. Mike Oluniyi

Text. Jn.3:26-29.
MEMORY:
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
(Jn.3:27)
In most homes, there is a line of demarcation between husband and wife as to the financial responsibilities of both. It is conventional for the husband to be responsible for school fees, house rent and other visible items of expenditure in the home. Such arrangements make a man to appear to be in charge. However, we should be careful about such exclusions in marriage because it may cause problems in the home in future. In a family, the way you dispense your resources should demonstrate that you are one. You should not have an exclusive list of responsibilities.
As you decide together in what area to spend the funds that come in through your individual efforts, makes it imperative for you to depend on each other for financial decision-making in the home. This ultimately leads to greater bonding and unity in the home.
Another advantage of such a practice is that it makes you to see yourself as not being independent but as being part of a whole as stated in Matthew 19:6-
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Countless marriages have broken down because of the feeling of independence i.e., when
either the husband or wife has the feeling that he or she can conveniently do without the other just because you have the feeling that you are earning enough. Such feeling makes it difficult for the wife to be submissive to the husband and it makes the husband not to be committed to his spouse. The intention of God was that we should be interdependent.
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Gen.2:18)
Yet another advantage is that when there is loss of job or loss of income, there is likely to be
less complaints as the partner knows that responsibilities in the home does not reside permanently with any member. There are homes that once there is loss of job of the husband, even when the wife can afford it, she refuses to do it. The home suffers ultimately for funds which though are available are not made available as a result of relationship flaws.
One other advantage of this approach is that it teaches your children vital lessons on unity of purpose in the family.
To achieve this in a family, however, requires high level of trust. Where trust is not total, the arrangement is not likely to work. For instance, when a woman has reason to doubt the integrity of her husband, probably as a result of having caught him in extra-marital relationship. Many women may also not subscribe to the idea if there are records of dishonesty in spending in their husbands.

DISCUSSION POINTS WITH YOUR SPOUSE
• How far do we believe and practice the principle of dual responsibilities in this family?
• Do we trust each other enough to jointly commit our resources to agreed goals?

PRAYER
Father, help us in this family to see our resources as being jointly owned in Jesus’ name.

QUOTABLE QUOTE
IF THERE IS ANY LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE, IT MUST BE ERASED; IF CIRCUMSTANCES MAKE YOU TO BE IN POSITION TO TAKE THE TWO RESPONSIBILITIES, SINCERELY, IT IS A PRIVILEGE. – Dr. Mike Oluniyi