The Functional System

PART FOUR: INSTALLING THE FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS, AGES 13-17

Chapter 15 (of the book): Four Things You Will Need

The goal in the teen years is a heart of godliness – a time for teens to develop their own faith. This stage takes courage and perseverance!

Courage, To Stand Against the Tide

Perseverance to Keep the Training Going

Determination, to Keep Your Family Close: Four Ways to Keep Your Family Close

Family dinners

Homework!

If you and your family are not regularly sharing a meal together, brainstorm with your spouse on a workable and sustainable plan. Then, do everything you can to stick with it! Make mealtimes nutritional AND relational. That means TV off, cell phones put away, and everyone eats at the same table and at the same time to share the highs and lows of their day.

Vacation together

Be there when your teen comes home

TIP

One way to optimize time with your teenager when they come home, is to leverage your teen’s ravenous appetite! Have a favorite snack ready to go when they get home after school, practice, or work. Then, sit down with them and have a conversation along with the snack. For many parents, it might not be possible to be physically present when their teen comes home. So, be creative – think out of the box.

Make your home a place where their friends want to hang out

Wisdom, to Navigate This Season

Scripture

Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””

2 Chronicles 15:7 “But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.””

2 Chronicles 20:12 “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.””

Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Proverbs 13:20 “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Proverbs 2:6–9 “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;”

Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;”

Proverbs 22:29 “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””

1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.””

Colossians 2:6–7 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

1 Thessalonians 4:1–8 “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;”

Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

2 Peter 3:17–18 “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”