We must always keep praying, keep looking to the Lord, always ready to obey His slightest summons. It is easy to serve the Lord when we are marching in the grand parade of revival. The true Christian saint is at his best during the long periods of time when it seems nothing is happening.

The adamic nature insists on excitement and thrills. The new nature being created in us finds contentment in the little blessings given each day. The faithful servant puts one foot in front of the other until the Lord calls him home. If he is used in some obvious, spectacular manner he holds steady before the Lord. During the seasons when nothing eventful takes place he holds steady before the Lord. He is consistent, dependable, and possesses integrity of character. He stands as a rock in his place round about the camp.

There are many pastors who "keep the people coming" by always having some exciting new program. The faithful pastor is more concerned for the spiritual growth of his flock than he is with keeping them coming to church. He makes certain in prayer that each event he brings to the assembly results in the building up of Christ in the believers.

To lust for excitement and thrills is to eat food offered to demons.

The worship of one's children. The most marvelous inheritance one can have is children. In some instances people, serving the demons of self-interest, are murdering their own children while still in the womb. In a few countries of the world the children are starving to death. In other countries children are shot in the street because they are orphans and therefore excess baggage. Sometimes children are sold into prostitution.

Truly, ours is a demon-filled world!

In the Western, "Christian," democratic, "free" nations, there sometimes occurs the worship of children. The children govern the household. Mothers are in an unhealthy relationship with their children, doting on them, giving them their every desire, refusing to correct them with vigor. Sometimes the mother views her little boy as a miniature husband and attempts to share her concerns with him. She would be pleased if her actual husband left and lived someplace else.

There is a proper role for the father, for the mother, and for the children in a wholesome family environment. The father should be the head. The mother should guide the home and rear the children with the father's loving interest and assistance. The children are to be raised in the Presence of the Lord with much emphasis on God's kindness, His love, and His Word.

At the proper time of development the child should be taught to respect legitimate authority and to fear to disobey the instructions given to him or her, with God being the highest authority. Each of these roles and relationships must be wrought in Christ. They all must be conducted in Christ.

When the relationship is linked from person to person, husband to wife, wife to husband, mother to child, and is not founded in Christ, it will not endure. The relationship becomes idolatrous.

Every relationship must be "on the altar." This means that God can end that relationship at any time without our losing one speck of our love for God or our trust in God. We are to hold all things and people lightly, for the world is passing away.

To be continued.