THE EARLY TEENS!                  DO 2062                  8/84
--The Crucial Years!
--The Age of Decision!

         1. THE EARLY TEENS, 12, 13 & 14, ARE REALLY THE CRISIS AGE FOR TEENAGERS. It seems like if they can make it over that hump, then they'll be okay. They're even recognised by the educational System as the most difficult disciplinary age in school. They can be the wildest, most boisterous & most difficult to control. They become about as big as adults, but in a way they still have child's minds, so they've got that big body with that little mind pulling it around doing silly foolish things!
         2. AND YET MY FATHER & SOME PREACHERS USED TO CALL IT THE AGE OF DECISION, because it was by that time most children had made their decision to receive the Lord & follow the Lord. It's an age of decision. After that, by actual surveys, the proportion of young people receiving the Lord declines.
         3. DR. FAKIMA, THE FAMOUS CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR I OFTEN QUOTE, SAID THAT THAT'S THE CRUCIAL AGE, THE AGE OF DECISION, but if they can make the right decisions at that age, the right direction, from then on it gets easier. At that age they're extremely restless & want to go places & do things & are dissatisfied with home & parents, that's why I've often contended that that's the age the Lord intended for them to marry. He made it possible for them to marry & even have children at that age, & that helps to really settle them down.
         4. AT THAT AGE THEY'RE REALLY TRYING TO FIND THEIR PLACE IN LIFE & WHERE THEY FIT. It's an age of great uncertainty--they wonder who they are, what they are, what they're going to be, what can they do? They really need a lot of understanding & encouragement, because sometimes they get pretty difficult to live with at that age. They even find it difficult to live with themselves because they are really sort of in a quandary, in a state of flux. They don't really know sometimes what they're going to do or be or who they're supposed to be & it sort of worries them.
         5. THEY CAN SOMETIMES BE VERY IDEALISTIC & AT THE SAME TIME VERY CRITICAL OF PARENTS & ADULTS WHO AREN'T PERFECT. It's a very idealistic time of life when they're looking for the perfect World & the perfect people & the perfect person in their adults & parents. So it also becomes sort of an age of disillusionment, because of course they don't find anybody perfect unless they find the Lord. That's where the Lord comes in, of course, to help them bridge that gap.
         6. THERE'S NOTHING BETTER THAN THE LORD TO HELP BRIDGE THOSE YEARS TO BRING THEM FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADULTHOOD, as they begin to understand that life isn't always perfect & people aren't always perfect, the World isn't perfect & a lot of their dreams are broken & they're going to have disappointments & disillusionments. That's where the Lord comes in, where He really can help them understand & comfort them & give them answers & reasons & purposes & get them over the hump. So having the Lord & good Christian parents, of course, helps tremendously because then they know that their parents are doing the best they can & are right & doing the right things & they're apt to be more cooperative, more obedient & have more incentive to obey & do right, because they know it's the Lord & it's His way & His Law of Love.
         7. THAT'S WHY I'VE OFTEN SAID IF OUR KIDS CAN MAKE IT OVER THOSE EARLY TEEN YEARS, THEY'LL USUALLY SETTLE DOWN & STICK TO IT & MAKE IT! That's the age when lots of teens go wild & get in trouble & they form their opinions & ideals & ways of doing things. That's an age when there's a great deal of juvenile delinquency in the World, & of course if they become juvenile delinquents, they often then get into real bad behaviour & crime. They get into a lot of vandalism & doing crazy things like turning on false fire alarms & damaging property & of course fights & all sorts of petty crime. Nowadays it includes drugs & all that sort of thing.
         8. SO WE CAN CERTAINLY BE THANKFUL AS CHRISTIANS THAT WE HAVE GOOD CHRISTIAN TEENAGERS, & PARTICULARLY IN THEIR EARLY TEENS THAT THEY DON'T GET INTO THOSE THINGS. That's why I was so furious at those responsible adult Family Members who allowed their children to get into all that crazy vandalism & stuff in that one country. (See No.1512) I really laid it on the line that either they straighten their teens out or get out of the Family.
         9. ANYHOW, PRAISE THE LORD, THANK GOD FOR THE LORD, HE HELPS THEM THROUGH ALL THESE PROBLEMS & helps the young teens find answers to their problems & pulls them through & gets them over that hump of that early teen age when they're often so misbehaving & rebellious & independent. In a way, it's partly a result of naturally coming to adulthood where they want to be their own bosses & live their own lives. And of course by that time the parents should have trained them well enough to make their own right decisions!
         10. I FOUND THEM REALLY A WONDERFUL AGE, A CHALLENGING AGE! They want leadership, they want direction, they want you to tell them what to do & they want you to catch them if they're bad or wrong, they really want help. They know they need it & they want it. But you've got to really win their confidence & they've got to really know you love them, that you really care & you're really trying to help them. You can't be sort of off-handed & "Well, you go your own way" blah blah, like some parents do. They know they need help at that age. They don't always want to receive it, but they want you to try to give it to them, at least, & often they'll make the right decision after they have made the wrong one. They'll turn around & make the right one with a little love & patience & counsel.
         11. BUT AS DR. FAKIMA USED TO SAY, IF YOU HAVEN'T TRAINED THEM RIGHT BY THE TIME THEY'RE YOUNG TEENAGERS, IT'S TOO LATE!--Because by that time they will be making their own decisions. They should already know what is right & wrong & be choosing the right & eschewing the evil. (Isa.7:15) So in a sense it's the fruit of your labours of the earlier years of child-training. Now they're becoming an adult & they're wanting to be more independent & make their own choices & their own decisions & choose their own way, & if you have brought the child up in the way that he should go, when he is older then he will not depart therefrom. (Pro.22:6) That is so true!
         12. WHEN MY FIRST FOUR BEGAN TO BE TEENAGERS I REALLY COUNSELLED WITH THEM, REASONED WITH THEM, PRAYED WITH THEM & TRIED TO GET THEM TO MAKE THE DECISION. I'd say, "Well, you know what's right & wrong, what do you think you ought to do?" They'd try to finagle us parents into making decisions for them so they wouldn't have to take the blame. They'd try to persuade us to let them do something, over-persuade us, wheedle us & pressure us into letting them do something they knew they shouldn't do, to try to get us to say yes so we'd be guilty & not them!
         13. BUT I JUST USED TO TELL THEM, "DON'T ASK ME, YOU KNOW WHAT'S RIGHT & WRONG! WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? WHAT DOES THE LORD SAY? WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?"--And lots of times they knew they should make the decision but they really didn't want to. They'd rather have somebody else make it for them or sort of force them into it so they could blame somebody else for it & they wouldn't have to take the blame. Actually, I really believe afterward they were glad that we gave them a choice, because they knew it was the right thing to do. They knew what was right & they made the right choices most of the time.
         14. SO IF THEY'VE GOT A REAL GOOD STRONG FOUNDATION & they know the Word, know the Lord & know what's right & wrong & they know what they're supposed to do, the Lord will really lead them & guide them & help them, if they really know how to pray & ask the Lord for His help. And if you give them something to do, a really worthwhile cause to work for & fight for, it's an age when they'll really want to do something important & worthwhile & feel like they're really doing something that's worthy!
         15. IF YOU CAN MOLD THEM AT THAT AGE WITH LOVE, SYMPATHY, UNDERSTANDING, DIRECTION, THE LORD, THE SPIRIT, PRAYER, THE WORD, TEACHING & put them in the right mold in the right direction, then they will grow into the kind of adult they should be & really become good citizens of the Lord's Kingdom--responsible, good soldiers, good witnesses, serious-minded & willing to live & die for the Lord & souls.
         16. I DON'T THINK THAT WE IN THE FAMILY HAVE NEAR AS MUCH TROUBLE WITH OUR TEENAGERS AS THE CHURCH PEOPLE DO WITH THEIR KIDS, much less the Worldly people with their kids without any kind of real moral or religious or spiritual training. So thank the Lord for the Lord & the Family that are going to help get us over all these problems & through these tight spots, especially in the rearing of young teenagers. PTL! TYL!
         17. AMEN, LORD, HELP OUR PARENTS WITH THEIR TEENAGERS, ALL THEIR CHILDREN, LORD, BUT ESPECIALLY AT THE TURNING-POINT AGE OF DECISION when they're beginning to see the fruits of their labours & the harvest of their crop, when they begin to reap what they've sown in the little ones & the children & they begin to see it profit in their teenagers. If they raised them right, Lord, we know their teenagers will turn out right too.
         18. THANK THE LORD FOR OUR TEENAGERS, THEY'RE REALLY THE HOPE OF THE FUTURE! If we handle their childhood right, then their teen years will come out right & their adulthood will be what the Lord wants it to be for the days ahead. Having reared them in the Lord & the Word & the right way of life, I'm not concerned or worried too much about how they're going to behave in the rough times ahead. I know they're going to come through with flying colours, real soldiers for the Lord, faithful witnesses, sacrificing to serve the Lord & others till the End!--Live or die, sink or swim! Thank the Lord!
         19. GBAKY, TEENS!--ILY!--We're a REVOLUTION!--For JESUS!--Amen! TYJ!

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