Christian parents, I would urge you to seriously considered the message of my book, Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice, especially where it concerns your adolescent/s. As parents, we need to prepare our adolescent/s to live in a world that will do everything within its power to turn them away from the things of God. Negative thinking, or fiery darts, will seek to control their minds, and as adolescents they are most vulnerable.
Considering that our sin nature will always be struggling with our Christ-like nature, we need to equip our adolescent/s with the Truths thoughts they will need to overcome those temptations. You are going to discover those Truths, as you prayerfully considered the Truths of Scripture.
How we parent our adolescents in large measure determines the outcome of how our adolescents will fare as they face such temptations. As parents we should be encouraged for God, our Heavenly Father, has given us a pattern for parenting in the way He loves (parents) us, (His children)!
So, Consider this:
God (our Father) does not condemn us or punish us out of anger (His children) when we go wrong. No, He brings us under His loving hand of conviction which is designed to bring about healing in our lives. Why? Because He delights in us and wants what is best for us. He corrects in love; not in anger.
For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:12
God loves us because we are His. Therefore, we don’t have to work to earn His love and acceptance. We have faith in that. We trust in God’s love because we know He sacrificed His only Son for our sakes. His is a sacrificial love. We feel loved and accepted just the way we are for that’s how God loves us. When we grasp that sacrificial, faithful, everlasting love we feel whole and complete.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Because we are complete in God, we have no need to seek another human being’s love to complete us. We know true love because we learned it from our Heavenly Father, therefore when we encounter someone who expresses a love for us that falls short of the love that we have been taught to value, then we will not be persuaded to settle for something less.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9
We have no need to look at others and compare ourselves to them. We feel good about ourselves because we are secure in God’s love for us. We trust God and will follow wherever He leads because we trust the wonderful plans He has for us. No one or no thing in this life has more to offer, therefore we are less vulnerable to Satan’s victimization via fiery darts.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a futures. Jeremiah 29:11
Fiery Darts: Satan's Weapon of Choice 