Cece Winans Quotes

What we make optional, the next generation will deem unnecessary.

Gathering with the fellowship of believers continued to be a practice in the New Testament. Jesus founded the church on His disciple Peter “the Rock.” This is how Peter describes the church: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9–10).

Consider the words of 1 John 2:16: “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” God’s way and the world’s way are in direct opposition to one another. Many young people growing up today are being schooled in the ways of the world rather than the ways of God. The lust of the flesh and the eyes is accepted and even celebrated as we tell young people they deserve everything they want in life. Pride is rampant and seen in the arrogance, self-reliance, and spirit of offense that marks the world around us.

God works through generations.

Who is someone in the older generation who has had an influence on you?

What is one way you can participate in passing down faith to the next generation?

For me, the beauty of the Winans story is that one act—my parents committing themselves, their marriage, and their family to God. It changed everything.

Psalm 78:4 proclaims, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

Dr. Bridget Hilliard has said, “In God’s kingdom there’s not retiring, only restructuring.

In those earlier days, pastoring looked more like parenting, but it bore much fruit.

The time is now! The apostle Peter said, “The end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray” (1 Peter 4:7).

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord. (Psalm 102:18)

One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4, NKJV) His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. (Luke 1:50) Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come. (Psalm 71:18)

spiritual gifts is that they have nothing to do with our talent or lack of it.

And over time, I realized that God had given me something worth sharing—Himself. He had equipped me with everything I needed to proclaim His name to the next generation. All I had to do was be faithful to pour the oil into the containers He provided.

God has given us the exact gifts He knows we need for the calling.

One of the biggest lies of the enemy is that we are not qualified to do God’s work.

As the numbers of young people leaving the faith and leaving the church grow, we can begin to focus on the problem and forget about our powerful God.

Like Peter, who believed he could walk on water, saw the waves, and began to sink, our sense of purpose and calling can be muted as we see the waves of depression, anxiety, anger, addiction, violence, sexual brokenness, and so much more washing over our young people. We can feel helpless to stop the onslaught of false ideology that engulfs them and push back the darkness.

Psalm 100:5 says, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” When we’re tempted to give up on the next generation and declare the task of reaching them too difficult, we ignore the fact that God is faithful to every generation.

I still found ways to test the boundaries. One time, I engaged in a water fight with my brothers just after I’d received a hard press style at the beauty shop. That style, popular for little black girls at the time, was supposed to keep my locks smooth and straight for two weeks. But the water caused my hair to frizz, and my brothers and I received quite the whipping when my mom returned home.

While we have different opinions on “spare the rod, spoil the child,” I think we all can appreciate the second part of that verse: “The one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” This was very much my parents’ perspective. They carefully disciplined us because they loved us—even if my siblings and I sometimes wished they would be less careful.

Proverbs 3:12 tells us, “The Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” Correction is an act of love. The parent who disciplines this way has his or her child’s best at heart. I was fortunate to feel this love in my parents’ discipline. They would tell me the truth about my sin and make sure I felt the weight of its consequences, but later there would be an embrace and reassurance that everything was OK. They didn’t hold grudges, and I never doubted they loved me.

If we want to instill faith and godliness into our children and grandchildren, we must plant those seeds through our daily actions. We must read the Scripture and have conversations about it. We must talk about what God is doing in our lives. We must pray with our children and over them. We must model for them how we trust the Lord through trials. We must teach them to love their enemies. This is sowing to the Spirit, and it bears good fruit.

Teach them the Word of God.

Second Corinthians 2:15 says, “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” Our Christian walk shouldn’t resemble drudgery. It should be attractive and inviting to outsiders. People have asked if I felt restricted by my parents’ strict rules, and my answer is not really. That’s because my life was full of fun and laughter and good food and joy.

In the same conversation, Jesus reveals another function of the Spirit: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV). The Holy Spirit helps us understand Scripture, the gospel message, and Jesus’s teachings. We cannot hope to pass on faith to the next generation without the Holy Spirit’s help.