Jackie's Journey: Raising a Loyal Knight

“In medieval times, all knights lived by a code.  Loyalty to this high calling formed the core of every knight’s identity.  It also served to define the progress of his life.” Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis

Raising little knights can be challenging.  Little boys are born with an adventurous spirit!  They have a desire to be empowered.  These little men dream of being courageous conquerors; they are the hunters and providers.  They sense the need to become strong…the champions of good over evil…defenders of the universe! 

As you raise your little knights to be loyal, here are some practical steps that will cause learning in your little man and make loyalty a reality in his life.

My life has been filled with four little boys for the last fourteen years!  I have observed the challenges that come with raising a “modern day knight”, and I call you “blessed” if you finish the course with young knights who are loving, respectful and loyal!

Loyalty is a foundational block of our faith and calls for designated attention.  In a day when it is the least valued and our children are absent of conviction, inundated with political correctness, following their own wills, peers, Hollywood celebrities, our bad examples… the desperate need for understanding the importance of having loyalty to God, His Word, His commands, His Plan and His purpose are imperative! Teaching loyalty through respect for authority (parents, grandparents, pastors, teachers…) should be celebrated.  Blessing and protection are the promises and fruit of exercised loyalty. It should dominate all teaching opportunities with our little ones as we encourage, correct and lovingly discipline.   

A loyal knight will use difficult times to demonstrate his faithfulness to God and those he serves.  He respects those in authority and sees and responds to events in his life with obedience, understanding that protection is the blessing in the end.  Sir Andrew proves his loyalty to King and country and is given the King’s blessing for his loyal dedication and hard work.

In our newest book in the Princess Parables series, A Royal Easter Story, we introduce five valiant young cavaliers and brothers.  Each embodies a different character quality.  Sir Andrew is our example of loyalty.  His story is based on Matthew 25:14-30 and the Parable of the Talents.  We hope we will be able to bring his story to you in the next couple of years.  These chivalrous adventurers are part of the original vision we were given when the Princess Parable Books took form.  We always envisioned a series of books for those of you who have little boys and are looking for books that will challenge them to exercise honorable thoughts and actions.

We hope Sir Andrew will encourage and inspire your little knight at home as you teach him the importance of loyalty.

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey: "Double-Minded?!"

“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways”! James 1:8

Wait!...What??... Double-minded???…

I am a mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, missionary, pastor’s wife,

teacher, author, speaker, etc.… and the last title I want is Double-Minded!

In the Princess Parable Series the story of Princess Hope comes from Matthew 13, The Hidden Treasure. She is called to "count the cost" if she is to find the REAL treasure! In her life lesson she learns to focus on God's promises and not the circumstances surrounding her. Her single-mindedness and loyalty to her grandmother, not to mention her determination with a lot of active creativity, become her constant companions and ultimately bring her reward and blessing.

What are the undeniable marks of a double-minded person? 

There is:

• Fear of examination; fear of being transparent with others; a need to protect reputation
• Resistance to being vulnerable to the pain of exposure
• A Plastic coating of pride, usually masked under the guise of some form of spirituality
• Hiding of sin, self and struggle
• A Protection of personal impurities
• A Secretiveness

Are you double-minded?

We are to be women of principle with loyal convictions, who cannot be bought and will not compromise.   Loyalty is demonstrated in adversity.  It is the first of 4 basic needs of man.  There is a seed of loyalty programmed into each one of us by God. 

Double-mindedness is disloyalty and springs from an independent spirit.  An unbroken will is a cause of disloyalty and double-mindedness.  The fruit is divorce, dissension, division, disharmony, distrust and …

We listen to double-minded philosophies all the time:

•  I want to serve the Lord, but I don’t want to take responsibility for myself or my life
• I want to be a disciple, but I don’t want to be inconvenienced or have any discomfort
• I want to be a servant, but on my own time
• I have temporal values, but I am totally committed to God
• I want to be honest, but I don’t want to tell the truth, at least not the whole truth
• I want to be loved, but I won’t love freely in return or be vulnerable
• I want to be pure, but I don’t want accountability or to be corrected or examined
• I want to live morally pure, but I won’t submit my body to my spirit…it feels too good the other way
• I have a bitter spirit, but I don’t want to hear about it
• I want to be loyal, but I don’t want to be single-minded!

“A loyal woman is pre-eminently a woman of one thing.  It is not enough to say that she is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted and fervent in spirit.  She only sees one thing, she cares for one thing, she lives for one thing, she is swallowed up in one thing…and that one thing is to please God.  Whether she lives or whether she dies; whether she has health or whether she has sickness; whether she is rich, or whether she is poor; whether she pleases man or whether she gives offense; whether she is thought to be wise or whether she is thought to be foolish; whether she gets blame or whether she gets praise; whether she gets honor or whether she gets the shame… for all this a loyal woman cares nothing at all.  She burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory…   This is what is meant when we speak of loyalty to the cross.”  Bishop Ryle, 1959

When my life is over will single-mindedness be my legacy? 

Will I be known as a loyal servant of my God? 

Will you???

~Jackie Johnson

I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey: the Longest Journey

  “Faithful is He who calls you, who will also do it.” I Thessalonians 5: 24

How many years have you been married?

 Does fifty years sound outrageous?

  Marriage is the proving ground for developing our loyalty toward God.

My parents were married 74 years and my husband’s parents were married 47 years, so 50 years does not seem inordinately long to either of us…

I met my Prince at university, and if you were to ask our college friends, they would be astounded that we are celebrating our Golden Wedding Anniversary!

Most did not give us two years!  Ralph and I are polar opposites in almost every way.  However, we had the one element in marriage that will guarantee longevity…we were both individually committed to “burn out” serving God wherever He led us. My husband’s godly zeal and spiritual leadership in our home has been preeminent and a constant for the last 50 years! 

I have been blessed with a man who has loved me unconditionally, and when he said “for better or worse” he meant it.  We have weathered the storms of life with near death experiences more than once, and his loyalty to God and me is noteworthy.  Ralph and I continue to learn and grow together.  “Deference living” - rather than compromise - is a key to our taking our two wills and finding harmony in God’s will.

Ralph’s name means “bold counselor” and that he is! He is a man of motion and direction.  He was once told he is an ”afflicter of the comfortable and a comfort to the afflicted!”  I could write a book with all his wise one-liners, biblical formulas and scriptural definitions.  His capacity to see things in Scripture and interpret them from the inside out to give a total new look to a familiar verse is uncanny! 

Christian missionaries are people whose passion is to make the Lord Jesus known to the whole world.  They are completely under the command of King Jesus (Ralph often rolls out of bed, stands at attention and salutes heavenward, committing his day!), and they will go anywhere, under any circumstances, for no pay, with poor living conditions and food, even though no one ever notices.  They know their Sovereign is watching every minute, and that is the only reward and joy they seek…a true missionary is someone who will risk everything for the sake of the lost of this world…this is my husband!

We have a precious heritage that is a loving reminder of our loyalty to God and our responsibility into the third and forth generations.

God's faithfulness...!

Our lives are based on Proverbs 3:5,6: Trusting the Lord with all our hearts and allowing Him to direct our paths. Matt. 6:33:  “Seeking first the King of heaven” and allowing Him to supply everything we need for life and godliness.

We are convinced that He takes the weak and confounds the mighty.  We are proof of His faithfulness…I Corinthians 2:1-2 speaks my heart, like Paul’s, when he says, “…I did not come to you with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I came to you in weakness and fear and with much trembling. My message was not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom but God’s power”.

If we had these 50 years to do over again, we would like to serve more and better, as we were bought with the price of His blood.  Romans 6: 16-18 says, “We were slaves of sin and now are slaves of righteousness”.   We work daily on being better slaves!

Have you found your marriage to be a proving ground

for your faithfulness to God? 

However impressive or challenging your marriage may be, 

it is the genuine proof of the degree of your loyalty to God.