It is important that we do all that we can to encourage the faith walk of our children. We cannot walk that walk for them, but we can certainly cheer them along and help to remove stumbling blocks. There are many ways in which we can do this, but I would like to mention just five ways parents, guardians, relatives and adults in general can help children relate to their heavenly father.
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Watch What You Sow Into Your Children
Whatever you sow, you will reap, as will your children and their children as well. The parent that reflects the Father’s faithfulness, love, and strength will go a long way towards helping their children to see the Father rightly. The parent that models bitterness, envy, strives, fear, disillusionment, anger, and frustration can warp their children’s understanding of God’s Fatherhood. Also, parents, be careful how you speak to and about one another in front of your children. Always be careful to sow honour, lest fear, anger, bitterness, and confusion spring up in your children towards you and the Lord. Carefully guard what comes into your home through peers, television, videos, computers, radio, and music. Sow into your children righteousness, peace, and joy (which you yourself must receive from the Father), and teach them the source of these great blessings.
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Make Family Altar A Priority
Encourage your children to pray and read the Bible on its own. Be patient and ever ready to talk with them about questions that they may have about God or His Word. Also encourage them to worship the Lord and commune with Him during their times of devotion. What you feed a child in their earliest years will shape their appetite for the rest of their lives. That is not only true of food but also in attitudes, ideas, values, and habits. Even if you didn’t start having family Altar times when your children were infants, it’s not too late to make a start of it now.
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Encourage Your Children In Church Life
Going to church is not synonymous with relating to the Father, but it is a healthy part of that relationship because it’s a dear part of the Father’s plan. In Church life, whether in Sunday morning worship services, youth gatherings, house prayer meetings, or mission trips, young people find encouragement and examples in walking with the Father. They also find further fellowship with the Father, because He is there in the presence of those who have gathered in His name. Let your children see in you a love for the church, which is a proper reflection of the Father’s Own love for the Church. Honour the authority in the church, and you will find your children much more receptive to the idea of honouring the Father and honouring you. Let them see you worship joyfully “in Spirit and in truth” and they will be more likely to do so themselves.
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Teach Your Children, by Example, to be Givers
Sowing into Kingdom efforts through tithes and offerings will cause your heart to be more firmly knitted with those endeavors. If that’s true for you, it’s true for your children also when they give. Selfishness and pride are the original sins, and are very much alive in this present generation. Teaching our children to give will reveal a very key part of the Father’s heart to them… He so loved that He gave.
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Pray Without Ceasing
Pray that your children would come to know God as Father personally. And no matter how quickly or slowly you see this come to pass, do not stop praying for your children in this way. Never despair, for your Father desires that this should happen for your children even more than you do.
Let me conclude by giving us the Father’s delight
There are many other ways in which we as parents can take “action steps” on this most important matter. We really want to see our children enjoying a strong personal walk with their heavenly father. And the Father, in His wisdom, has given our children to us… not to all the “experts”… to train in His ways and to Know His presence. The same God who has called you to be a parent has also equipped and empowered you to do the job. His Own heart is delighted in that moment when your child speaks to Him and says, “Father…” We live in an hour when the Spirit of God is baptizing thousands of people into the Father’s love. May this revival touch us all… especially our children.
Recommended Reading
Raising Godly Children In An Ungodly World
Ken Ham is dedicated to upholding the authority of the Bible from the very first verse. In great demand as a speaker across the country and over seas, Ken Ham, director of Answers In Genesis, is one of today’s most popular speakers and talk-show hosts. His in-depth knowledge of creation science, charming articulated in an Australian accent and keen sense of humor bring viewers relevant “Answers” for today’s society.
Starting with the premise that the Bible is the basic foundation for raising a family, Ken systematically explains the scriptural principals for raising Godly children. Who should train our children? What does the Bible say about disciplining children? How can I strengthen my marriage? These questions and many more are answered in a clear and entertaining manner.
Shepherding a child’s heart
Many parenting books are based on hit-or-miss theories steeped in secular thinking. This one draws from Pastor Tripp’s seasoned experience as a father-and from God’s Holy Word.
Grounded in the Bible’s divine plan for parenting, this guide defines your goals as a parent and provides the Scriptural methods for accomplishing them.
