How do you talk about your parents? How do you express your love for them now? How do your children feel about their parents, especially single mothers? You have to be very careful how you talk about that man that fathered your child to that child. Because your child's life is linked to how they honor their father. You can't talk about him in front of those kids.

You shouldn't be talking about him to anybody but God. But when you put that man down to his children, you're putting the children down, because that man is part of them. So you have to only speak positive things, and your feelings will follow.

Sometimes it will follow quickly, sometimes it will take a long time. When we chose to bring children into this world, they did not choose to be here. We brought them in. And we have to be responsible for what we put in them and how we deal with them.

God clearly says respect your father and mother - what we have in our heart, that's what pollutes us. That's what causes us the different problems that we experience in our lives, because of our heart. What do you have in your heart? You have to make sure you have God's Word in your heart - God's Word is what drives out all these other pollutants.

That's why he told us to make sure that we are transformed and renew our minds by the Word of God. Because the world has given us so many false things to look for or to do, or to rule our lives by, and it's totally against God's way.

We cannot do what the world has told us to do, and then expect to have it God's way. So we have to renew our mind to what God's way is and what God said - not on our own interpretation of things.

When I was growing up, I didn't understand why my folks did what they did. It took me awhile. But, I did come to the place where I had to go to my mom and I had to tell her, "Mom, I understand what you were doing. I appreciate you and I'm really glad that you did what you did." It not only helped me to honor and respect her, but it helped me to be a mother to my family.

The older you get, the more you understand why they treated you the way they treated you. Now, of course, you learn from some of their mistakes, and if you have good parents, they'll tell you, "I shouldn't have done that."

Sometimes children grow up and they cannot face life because of something their parents may have said or done to them. Their parent needs to be able to go back to them and set it straight. And to say, "You know what? I should have never said that to you. I should have never told you that you couldn't do that."

In Proverbs 1:8, it says, "My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law or thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and the chains about your neck." The Bible is saying, pay attention to what your mother says as well as your father. But, pay attention to your mother's teachings, because it's those teachings that allow you to be a victor in life.

A victor is someone who defeats an adversary; a victor is a winner. We all want to be winner. We have the ability to do that, through Jesus. If you hold on to those teachings and those instructions, they'll help you to deal with anything that comes across your path.

In Proverbs 31 is a mother's instruction to her son. It's about a virtuous woman, but Proverbs 31:1 starts out as a king expressing what his mother taught him. His mother taught him what kind of woman he wanted in his life.

Now, you know, sometimes it is an excellent compliment to see your son go out and find somebody just like you. I had eight brothers, you know, and if every one of them had married someone like my mama we would have died and went to heaven. That is a high compliment to make.

Honor your mother. Today, if your mother is in the state, if your mother is in the city, do something that you've never done before for her: honor her. She knows what mistakes she made.

She knew what she shouldn't have done, and "yet this child is loving after all the things I put him through?" It's the love of God. You don't remember any of the negative things. All you remember is the positive things. Because it's the love of God.

Copyright © Keith Butler Ministries
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