It is Christmas and I did not plan to be here today. I planned to spend all of this day with family and close friends. Thus I wrote my Christmas message yesterday. As I woke up this morning and dedicate this day to God in prayer and the study of His word, I had this heavy impression in my heart to do this piece. What is funny about the impression is that it did not come with a message. As I get on my system this minute to do this piece, I must tell you that I do not know exactly what the message is. One thing that I know is that I know this impression is from God. It works with my faith to step out and set to write and the One, who placed the impression there, will take over from there. Strong in my mind is the scripture, ‘I am the Lord, thy God, who brought you out of Egypt: open your mouth wide and I will it.’

I am here with you today in faith, believing that the message, which the impression I got intended will pour forth like a fountain.  After few sighs, I think the eye of my heart is picking a ray of light from the realm of the spirit. Oh, it appears I lost it. I could not pin it down. I am back to sighing and staring at my spirit and my system. I greatly hope and believe that I will soon shout Eureka…I will soon rejoice and say I found it!

Yes I found it! Eureka! I found it! It is a familiar message after all. My mandate this morning is draw parallels between the birth of Jesus and the birth of your child. The birth of Jesus was for a purpose. He came to change the history of humanity. He came to restore us back to God and grant us peace in this word and eternity. The foundational thing is that Christ came to change the world. As He came to change the world, he set an order for every other child that is born after Him. He redeemed all men that all men will redeem their world.

Believe me, every child is born to change the world and give all the glory to God. Your child is not ordinary. He came to change the world. Yes your child came to change the world for good. He came to lead events that will change the history of our world for ever. Jesus came to make that an exceeding possibility.

The essence of this message is to drum it home that whether the child fulfils this glorious destiny, which Jesus brought or not is dependent on you, the parents. Permit me to put it this way: children are like arrows in the hands of their custodians. How far, fast, sharp and perfect they hit their targets in life is dependent on the skills of the custodians. The arrow has no say in the matter. Even where the custodians have the skills, they must be available to deploy it. Jesus was an arrow in the hands of His heavenly Father. If we miss this point as parents, we do eternal damage to the spirit and soul of the child, which is irreparable except by divine intervention.

I think we must pray today to God to cause our thoughts to be agreeable to His will concerning our children, that we may give them a hope and a future in accordance to the eternal will of God. I am persuaded when we pray for our children; very soon our testimony shall be ‘here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.’ I am confident of this because the Lord has promised, ‘all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children’s peace.’

On the final note, as parents and custodians we must not allow our personal childhood experiences to determine the destiny of our children. We must reach unto God to heal us of any negative impact of our upbringing. I think this is a possibility. It is our responsibility as custodians to make a conscious commitment to break the hold of wrong upbringing and give our children a future and a hope.  I have come to understand that a new generation does not answer to time and position…It answers to a decision to break an unproductive ancestral habit or stronghold.

I decided 15 years by the grace given to me by my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to begin a new generation of the Akinlami family with my own nuclear family, the Taiwo Akinlami Family. My mission is to hold on to God’s gift of liberty in Christ Jesus and lead a positive value-change. God has been faithful in helping me to chart a new course, which is a sharp departure from that of my forefathers.