Wednesday, 20^th December 2023

Bible Reading: Psalm 144: 11-15

Memory Verse: Let no one make any more trouble for me, because I carry the scars of Jesus on my own body. Galatians 6:17 (ISV)

Wikipedia reports, “Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation.

Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behaviour. The effects of cyberbullying also include mental health issues, increased stress and anxiety, depression, acting out violently, and low self-esteem. Cyberbullying can also result in long-lasting emotional effects, even if the bullying has stopped. Children and young people may experience several types of abuse online ranging from bullying/cyberbullying to emotional abuse.

This includes emotional blackmail, for example pressuring children and young people to comply with sexual requests via technology), sexting (pressure or coercion to create sexual images. According to National Center for Education Statistics, 37% of kids associate depression with online bullying. 19% of students who have been cyberbullied say that the experience negatively affected their feelings about themselves.

The incidences of both cyberbullying and adolescent suicide are rising in the United States, with recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showing that 14.9 percent of adolescents have been cyberbullied and 13.6 percent of adolescents have made a serious suicide attempt.”

Advice to Parents

1. Until your children are spiritually and emotionally matured, please do not give them an Internet enabled phone. If possible, no phone during bedtime. Please check: https://www.parents.com/parentsirl/best-parental-monitoring-apps/ for parental control and monitoring apps for your children.

• Don’t be surprised that the recent change in the mood and behavioural pattern of your children may be linked to cyberbullying. Be sensitive.

3. No matter how busy, please ensure you develop a relationship with your children such that they can confide in you. It only takes one click on the internet to ruin a child’s life.

Quote: Online predators look for vulnerable kids, pretend to be someone they are not and try to gain their trust. It is important NOT to accept a friend request or communicate with someone whom you don’t know.

Prophetic Decree: The internet shall make and not mar your destiny, in Jesus 

Prayer Focus 

1. I receive the wisdom of a serpent and gentility of a dove, in Jesus name.

2. I refuse to be a victim of cyberbullying, in Jesus name.

3. O Lord, deliver my children from online predators and cyberbullies, in Jesus name.

4. I receive wisdom to walk circumspectly in this dark world, in Jesus name.

5. O Lord, please sharpen my spiritual sensitivity, in Jesus name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  1 Peter 1-5