Help i am frustrated!

[teen]

Hi, I am new to this forum but pentecostalguy once asked prayer for me on this forum. The prayer was for my parents to allow me to be baptized. I have been going to a UPCI church for 5 years. I was filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of Speaking in tongues 4 years ago. During this entire 5 years I have desired to be baptized but my parents have refused to allow me to be baptized. I have been praying for the past 5 years for them to change their minds about baptism. My parents hate the fact that attend church and I try my best to serve the Lord. My mother was raised in the UPCI but is very much against its teaching and denounces the practice of baptism altogether. I have began to feel discouraged by both my situation with my parents and my church. Many of the members have began to tell me that if I really loved the Lord I would find a away to get baptized no matter what. Some have even began to make feel so unworthy and unwelcome in the church that I have faithfully gone to for so long. I don't know if I should leave this church and go to another Apostolic church because they have really made me feel like God doesn't love me because i have yet to be baptized. I tell them its not by choice but they refuse to try to understand. I am so frustrated with the situation. I have come to doubt the call of God in my life. I don't understand why God would reveal something to me that is not possible right now because of my parents refusal. Any advice would be helpful.

[Hoovie]

Teen, can you tell us how old you are?

If the decision is not in your hands then God understands - even when people do not.

[StillStanding]

Quite a pickle you're in!

You said that you're going against your parent's wishes by even attending church. Why don't you go against their wishes to be baptized?

Just curious as to why you draw the line at baptism! You're already disobeying your parents by even attending the church. Are you afraid of what your parents will do if they find out?

I don't know you, but I will guess that your "feelings" about what other church members are thinking is probably off the mark!

[teen]

Well I am 16, let me clarify my parents allow me to go to church. They don't like they I go but they allow me to go. My Mom allows me to go mostly because of the respect she has for my Grandmother. My Grandmother however is very elderly with Alzheimer's so she is now pretty much absent from the situation. I do obey my parents wishes to not allow me to get baptized because I am afraid of the repercussions that I will face if I do get baptized.

[Sam]

you are caught between being obedient to your parents and doing something you believe you should do. You're 16 years old so I assume that where you live you are not a legal age adult yet. I would suggest that you let your parents know that you are delaying your baptism out of respect to them but when you turn 18 you plan on being baptized. Do you plan on staying in your parents' home after your 18th birthday? Will they allow you to stay there if you get baptized?

[StillStanding]

Well, it's apparent that your mother is a casualty of the church culture. Somewhere in the past she was probably hurt very bad. Your mother probably doesn't want you to be hurt like she was!

It's honorable that you have obeyed your parent's demand that you not be baptized.

God still works miracles, and maybe, just maybe, your parents will have a change of heart if they understand you are sincere in your quest. As parents, we always question the motivation or possible pressure from peers to do certain things!

[Hoovie]

Teen,

I myself left home at 16 and was baptized with opposition from my parents. Not saying that you should do the same. Give yourself to prayer in this matter and let God work with all involved. In many states 17 qualifies as an adult.

Something that is often difficult to understand as a teenager is that God can use the element of time to His own purpose. Time can often heal wounds, soften hearts and bring clearer thinking.

[Falla39]

[QUOTE=Mr. Steinway;741579]Well, it's apparent that your mother is a casualty of the church culture. Somewhere in the past she was probably hurt very bad. Your mother probably doesn't want you to be hurt like she was!
QUOTE]

This could be only one side of the story. OH, the stories I could tell from
being raised in an Apostolic Pentecostal home, and being in a Jesus Name
Pentecostal church, all my life. When I was 18 yrs. old, I received the Holy
Ghost. I had been baptized at 14. At 19 yrs. my father started a "mission"
in our city. Although it was hard, Dad working a full time job to provide for
his family of a wife and eleven children, and carrying on a new work for God.

My late father and mother founded the church we, my husband of almost 50
yrs, and I, five of our six children, their spouses and 16 of our 20 grand-children,
still attend.

I will say that the best years of my life have been the ones since my late father
and mother began to build an "ark" to the saving of their own house. I so apprec-
iate the sacrifices they made. Our late father said that whether he was successful
or not, depended on we children. "I've invested everything I have in you children".
HOW I appreciate that today. We have also invested in the work of God they begun
a half century ago, this past November 2008.

http://www.apostolicfriendsforum.com...ad.php?t=20312

It wasn't easy on them or us, but it was worth the sacrifice, and the
work has been profitable. Every man shall bear his OWN burden.

IF some parents of young children today could look farther down the road that
I have already traveled, and see the "skeletal remains" of those who had gone be-
fore ahead. Many got weary of and on the journey set before them, But IF they
could go back, they would never have strayed from the path that God had set be-
fore them.

Parents are our first leaders (teachers)and if they follow the path of life that
God has set before them, their children should be behind them, trusting in the
God of their fathers. Then when they have their own families they are able to
lead them to God. When they have be come mature enough, they will now know
how to lead their own.

There was a reason Paul said that unless a MAN knew first HOW to take
care of this own house, how could he take care of the house of GOD. There-
in lies a whole lot of the problem. The "children" have been allowed to try to
take care of God's house when they couldn't take care of their own. Paul
said "each in his own order". I believe that could apply to generational birth
order. We were taught to greatly honor our great-grandparents. our grand-
parents, our parents, on and on. The children back then didn't tell their
parents what to do. The parents trained up their children in the way they
SHOULD go. I am older now, and OH how I LOVE, HONOR and APPRECIATE
them for that. I appreciate their GOD as MY GOD today.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. One generation following the one ahead. Let
one generation "drop" out, and it seems that you lose three generations.

On Israel's Wilderness journeying, there was an order. Moses represented
the Voice of God. God filled his mouth. Aaron, represented the priesthood,
which would be to listen to Moses (God's mouthpiece)and the be the mouth-
piece between Moses and the children of Israel. There were always those
who wanted to turn back to Egypt or go into idoltry/worship the gods of
silver and gold. Those who turned back in th heat of the battle or decided
it wasn't worth the wait, on the Lord, were swallowed up by the earth.

Didn't know I was going to say all this but I would like to encourage those
who feel that it wasn't worth following those godly parents or those who GOD
put in their path, to help them make the journey, to remember those precious
little ones coming behind. Sometimes some of them keep going for awhile but
grow weary and drop out.

Then there are those who are the only ones in their family,. like my late Grandma Lizzie
who had enough of the Word in her,to search out each step, believe, and then obey it.
From that one little barely five foot grandmother, have come forth five, and ready to go
into the sixth generation. The blessings of the Lord which maketh rich, came from the
obedience of that one. It didn't start with me but I still had to do my part to see that
my children received the "Blessing" promised to all the families of the earth, to those who
recognized/realized it, for what it is/was and would receive it by FAITH!! That's how Abra-
ham received it. By FAITH! And that's how any of us will receive anything from GOD!

Just some serious thoughts this Saturday morning.

Falla39

[jaxfam6]

WELL teen you have waited 5 years you can probably hold on till you are 18 and then you can make the decision for yourself without parental permission. Secondly I feel sorry for a group of people who would pressure a teen into doing something against their parents 'rules' even if it is baptism. If the church wants to treat you badly because you are following your parents wishes till you can do it without their permission that is their problem. God is not doing you wrong, some people are. You should talk to the pastor about it, explain how you are being made to feel. In the mean time you keep serving God and keep honouring your parents. The Bible tells us that the first commandment with promise is the one about honouring our mother and father.

[scotty]

Get baptized. Period.

If its what you feel God wants you to do then do it. No offense here to parents but we are not talking about a decision to go to a concert or slumber party or to get a tattoo. You bet, we all wish these answers could be perfect, that is the point behind them. We want something to work out so all can live happily ever after. Well, guess what, dont always work that way. Jesus himself spoke of the fact that his mother and brothers were no longer His family. You are the same, you belong to Jesus Christ if that is who you have chosen to submit to. Yes, honor thy father and mother , but honor them over God ?

Get baptized, explain to your parents the reason you have done so, I believe despite your mothers stance somewhere down deep she will understand. I'm sure any reprecussions you face will not exceed anything Paul experienced.

I dont have a perfect answer either that will make the road your on any smoother. But we were never promised a smooth road, only a reward for our sacrifice and commitment.