For Instruction in Righteousness, Pam Forster

From the Publishers:
For Instruction in Righteousness is a valuable tool that will help you, in specific ways, to fulfill each of these duties God has given us. Most chapters include each of the following sections:

• • What the Bible says will, or should, happen to a person who sins in this way, with ideas for discipline that parallel these Biblical consequences.
  • Instructions the Bible gives for repenting of this sin (newly added in this edition!)
  • What the Bible likens a person to when he indulges in this sin, and ideas for practical object lessons using these examples.
  • How God blesses the person who resists temptations to this sort of sin, with parallel ideas for “rewards” and encouragement when children show progress in overcoming this sin.
  • Stories and people in the Bible that illustrate obedience and disobedience in this area.
  • Fully quoted memory verses.

How we use it in our home/what we like about this curriculum:

It was in obedience to my mentor, and not confidence in the results, that first day I opened the shiny spiral bound inch-thick Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child Training. My boys were ages two and five. So far, I had focused on disciplining their outward behavior, demanding obedience, “Because Mom Said”.  I didn’t realize it at the time but I was raising children to look good to others in public. However, I spent little time training them to think of what God wanted them to be like. They were tiny, they didn’t know, boys would be boys, they were young, they were. . . well, I was filled with a zillion excuses.

The day I opened For Instruction in Righteousness, our parenting was changed forever. I can’t remember that first topic we looked into but I can imagine it might have been Complaining/Ingratitude. What I do remember was the response.

• • • As we read Hosea 13:6 and wondered if we were forgetting about God when we complain, or 2 Timothy 3:2 when we talked of being lovers of ourselves which leads to not being thankful.
    • When we read the instruction of Philippians 2:14 and learned that we should do all without murmuring or disputing.
    • I could physically see the eyes shift from rebellion, to receiving instruction, to a change in awareness. The surprising thing, was that the transformation was almost instant – in my two-year-old son.
    • We talked through the “What happens or should happen to the complainer” and came up with a few consequences that would be established in the home to help them remember. We also read through “What Should the Complainer Do?” to give the children ways to overcome. Simple examples, like singing and giving thanks.
    • Throughout the week we read stories of those in the Bible that had dealt with complaining and ingratitude, and we emphasized the “Blessings of Gratefulness”.

I was astounded. I didn’t point fingers, raise my voice, threaten discipline, belittle, or heap on guilt and shame. It was just a wonderfully quiet time in the Word. The two-year-old got it – and I was hooked.

For Instructions in Righteousness is available at Doorposts – Bible-based parenting and character training material.

• A Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child-Training
• Author: Pam Forster
• Age: All ages
• Spiral bound, 3rd edition
• ISBN: 9781891206290
• Pages: 376
• Price: $36.00

You may

• View a PDF Sample Chapter: Arguing / Contention and
• View a  PDF Sample: Table Of Contents and Introduction

In summary: We have used this product for eight years, and continue to find it helpful on a regular basis. Join me, Angie Wright, at Petra School as we discuss how we looked at Laziness in the home using this resource.