The Set Apart Family:
Confronting Today’s Culture
Michael K. Race
©2015 by Michael Race
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise
– except for brief quotations for the purpose of
review or comment, without the prior permission of the author.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Scriptures
"Scripture taken from The Scriptures, Copyright by
Institute for Scripture Research. Used by permission"."(ISR)
©1998
Cover Design by Michael Race ©2016.
Michael can be contacted through e-mail at
mykrace@yahoo.com
You can also visit his blog at
http://www.myksheartsathome.blogspot.com
Dedicated with love, to my wife Laurie and the many
generations to follow. This work would not have been
attempted had it not been for you. Laurie your great
devotion to Elohim and your family is an inspiration
to us all. For those who follow in our footsteps our
prayer would be that you all will desire to follow Abba El
with your whole hearts. May the foundations that have been
established in this generation endure throughout the following
generations until Messiah
return to set up His kingdom.
Isa 58:12 “And those from among you shall build the old
waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many
generations. And you would be called the Repairer of the
Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Set -Apart Family:
Confronting Today’s Culture
“So, where are all your girls?” “You didn’t bring anyone
with you today?” “Your girls are so sweet.” “My, you girls look
beautiful today.” “Are you Amish or Mennonite?” “Your family is
what families used to be like.” “You can just see the love in your
family”. “You always bring your girls with you and they are so well
behaved. They are better than 90 % of the kids that come through here".
These are just some of the comments we hear as we journey from place
to place.
People can not only see a difference but they also feel or sense
a difference in our family. Most people like what they see and wonder
what makes the difference. There are those, who on a rare occasion
recommend we send the girls to school and allow them to wear jeans
or slacks. They want to change how we do things, but then we would
end up being just like everyone else. When they hear how we have
achieved those results they don’t like the hard work it takes to be
set apart. Sometimes as a family counselor people have come and asked
what they can do to make a difference in their own family and when they
come they want easy solutions.
We don’t have an easy fix. To achieve the results you want in your
family takes having a changed mind about the world you live in. It takes
believing the Word of Elohim (God) and a willingness to apply it to the
life of your family in all you do. The end result is a set-apart
lifestyle. “In today’s high-tech, fast paced, morally mixed-up society,
nowadays, mothers and fathers need a strategy, a plan, especially if
they’re the kind of parents interested in raising children who can be
described as true kids of the kingdom….Kingdom parenting, involves
intentionally overseeing the generational transfer of the faith in such
a way that children learn to consistently live all of life under God’s
divine authority.”1
There are seven areas in which we have undertaken to become set apart.
These seven areas of life revolve around Elohim and His Word. We don’t
always do it well but these are the areas we strive to be set apart:
1. Discipleship
2. Education
3. Health
4. Associations
5. Media
6. Special Days
7. Modesty and Respect
In our quest for becoming a set-apart family it doesn’t boil down
to the luck of the draw or that some children are just better than others.
It boils down to parenting on purpose. After Laurie and I were married I
began praying for the children Yahweh Elohim (Lord, God) would bless us
with. The prayer was they would desire to serve Him with their whole
hearts. The million dollar question is “How do we get there?” and
“what is this supposed to look like?” As the leader of my family
the quest naturally should begin with me. I should not expect my
family to be something I am not willing to be. Too many parents
desire their children to be something they themselves are not.
They just talk the talk but do not walk the walk. Not only do
I desire my children to be set apart, I too need to have that
deep burning desire within my own heart.
I need to say, it seems my wife and children at times were
more willing to make the hard choices for change than I was. It
was difficult to weed out those things I was so accustomed to doing.
So, change or obedience isn’t always easy. It takes sacrifice and the
desire to live a life that is in obedience to the Father’s instructions
for His set apart people. There were times I was lagging behind my wife
and children. As I watch my children I see they are becoming even more
conservative and obedient to Scripture than I am. As parents we ought
to be leading our children by our own example. Children are quick to
detect duplicity. Also both parents need to be on the same page.
My older children would tell you they received the vision of serving
Elohim with their whole hearts because dad had a vision of serving Elohim
wholeheartedly. They knew the vision early on in their life as it was the
driving force for the life of the family. I was recently reminded in a
most dramatic way concerning the atmosphere of our home matching what
is taking place on the outside. As I began to write this book the
children's behavior took a sudden turn for the worst. They began to
treat each other in ways which were unacceptable. I almost reconsidered
writing. However, my wife and son reminded me of what took place in our
home when I was a pastor. While preparing a sermon for the next week
Satan would often attack my household using the very thing I was going
to teach about. It should not have surprised me when the children began
to act out. One other thing changed slightly, and that was diet related.
This too could have had an effect on the behavior. Yes, we want people to
notice how nice and sweet our children are but if they are not treating
each other with the same respect they show to others then something isn’t
quite right and it should be dealt with. It is the same thing Yahshua
(Jesus) said about the Pharisees.
“Mat 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you
clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are filled with
plunder and unrighteousness.
Mat 23:26 “Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish,
so that the outside of them becomes clean too.
Mat 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you
are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly indeed look well, but inside
are filled with dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Mat 23:28 “So you
too outwardly indeed appear righteous to men, but inside you are filled
with hypocrisy and lawlessness.1 Footnote:1See 5:20.
Another question to ask would be “do we want our children to be
regulated by rules or do we want them to be regulated by what they
read in the Scriptures?” For our family it boils down to internalizing
the Scriptures and then being obedient to them. That being said, some
rules are necessary for safety and the running of a well-organized
household.
I would like to explain our view on the Scriptures.
I am sure you have already noticed a couple of differences.
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