FAMILY / CHILDREN

QUESTION:  Which are the best methods of family planning for Christian families?

ANSWER:  Romans 8.14 says that those who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  It is the responsibility of every believer to seek direction from the Lord for their life and to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  God delights in every one of His children's lives (Psalm 37.23 NLT)  and He will lead each one in the right ways when we seek Him.

A husband and wife should first seek the Lord together about any issue, including family planning.  Allow the Lord to reveal His plans to you.  Also, as believers we must each bring our bodies under subjection to our spirit.  The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9.27 "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection..."  And in Romans 5.16 - "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."

As you seek the Lord in family planning, remember that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that you are responsible to keep it healthy and strong for Him, and not to do anything or put anything in it that would cause harm to the Holy body He has given you.

QUESTION:  As Christians, is it good to give our children names like Jabez?

ANSWER:  Jabez became an honourable man of God because he chose to live for the Lord and sought God's blessing.  When he was born, his mother named him "Jabez", which in Hebrew means "pain", because she said that her delivery was in pain.  For Israelites, a person's name was often taken as a wish or prophecy about the child's future.  So a name that meant "pain" didn't bode well for Jabez's future.  But Jabez found a way out of his seeming bad fate by laying hold of the Blessing of God.  So his trust in God actually gave a new definition to his name, one of honour.  So is it good to name children Jabez?  Be encouraged  to seek the Lord and let Him reveal to you.  It is always good to let God help you choose names for your children.

QUESTION:  Why is it that many people in the Old Testament used to desire to give birth to male children as first born?  Actually all that I know, their first born are boys?

ANSWER:  It was common among most ancient tribes, including the Israelites, to desire males as their first born because males were regarded as superior to females.  This mindset is still prevalent today among many modern nations.

However, under the New Covenant, Scripture tells us in Galatians 3.27-29 NLT - "You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female.  For you are all Christians - you are one in Christ Jesus.  And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham.  You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave him belong to you."

Many first born, in the Old Testament and even today, are girls.  God loves all children - boys and girls - and He said in Psalm 127.3-5 "Children are a gift from the Lord;  they are a reward from Him.  Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warriors hands.  How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them!"

QUESTION:  What does the Bible mean exactly in Matthew 24.19 that woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in the last days?

ANSWER:  In Matthew 24, Jesus was speaking about the trouble and horror of the end times - trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again.  One translation of verse 19 reads that "Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard."  During such troubled times, it will not be easy being pregnant and caring for children.