Happy New Month! Wow! The beginning of the second quarter of the year already.
I wanted to write this blog for the month of March but didn’t get around to do so. But hey, it is here so be blessed.
It’s a BOY! Or It’s a GIRL!
That excitement you feel when that baby finally arrives. Depending on the duration of your pregnancy. Whether pre mature; full term (9 months or a little beyond).Whether it was natural birth, C-Section or whatever the procedure was! Thank God the baby is here, alive, healthy and you the mummy is healthy. What a joyous time for all the family. Now the journey begins.
HOW DO YOU RAISE THIS CHILD FOR GOD?
Many will be telling you and suggesting how to go about things – especially if you are first time mum. The job of training up your child begins. “Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it. your children in the way they should go begins”.
We need God’s wisdom to train up this wonderful gift God has given you. It is not going to be by your might or power but by God’s wisdom and grace. (Proverbs 22:6)
How then do we raise godly children?
One of the reasons God brings two people together in marriage is for the purpose of raising godly children, children who look like him. Malachi 2:15 says Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. How can we accomplish this? Obviously, the only perfect model of parenting is God the Father, and therefore, as we look at him and his Word, we can discern principles about raising godly children
In order to raise Godly children, we the parents must model godliness.
Children often model the character of us parents. Paul challenges us in Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; 2 and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance. Paul is calling us to be imitators of God, our Father. God is loving, righteous, holy and has so many characters that we need to follow. Therefore, as His children we need to reflect his character.
In Order to Raise Godly Children, parents must train our children in God’s Word
In order for us to raise godly children, we must not only demonstrate godly character but also teach our children scriptures. This is how God the Father develops godliness in us. Get them to memorise scriptures as you do the same. Make it fun! Make rhymes or songs from those scriptures. It will surprise you when they need these scriptures and it will come from them. This is exactly what Moses commanded Israel’s parents in Deuteronomy 6:6-9. He said: 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be [written] on your heart and mind. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your [a]children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. 8 And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand (forearm), and they shall be used as [b]bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the [c]doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Parents were called to impress the Word of God upon the hearts of their children by talking about it at home, when they went walking, when they went to bed, and when they got up. They were to tie Scriptures on their hands and their heads and to write it on the doorframes of their homes and the gates. We as parents need to apply these principles which can help in the raising up of our children. Have times of morning and nightly devotions. Read the word of God, discuss it and pray with your children.
We should let our children know what sin is. As our children mature and want to go out with friends or by themselves, they should be encouraged to pray to God and seek his wisdom. Start by praying for them, covering them with the blood of Jesus before they go out. Trying to raise godly children also means, we must saturate our home with the word of God, as well as practice the truths in it.
In Order to Raise Godly Children, Parents Must Discipline Their Children
In order to raise godly children, we must discipline them.
Since God is the ultimate Father, we must consider how God disciplines us in order to discern how we should discipline our children. Hebrews 12:5-11 says this about God’s discipline: And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.
In Order to Raise Godly Children, Parents Must Know Their Children
Finally, in order to raise godly children, we must know them. As with all the points, this is a reflection of how God develops godliness in us as his children. He knows us. God said to Jeremiah when he called him to be a prophet to the nations: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). God knew Jeremiah intimately. Similarly, David spoke of how God knew him in Psalm 139:1: “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.” To search means to “examine thoroughly.”3 God had examined David thoroughly, he knew him. Similarly, parents must know their children if we are going to raise them in godliness and lead them into God’s plan for their lives.
Remember Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents],Even when he is old he will not depart from it..”
As parents you are blessed with such a task! The task of being entrusted to be the caretaker of this precious gift of God. Let us depend on God in the raising up of these gifts. Let us be in their business. In all our decision making concerning them: the school they should go to, developing their gifting’s even begin to pray into their marriage.
I pray we continue to depend on The Lord for wisdom and direction daily as He has the instruction manual.
Until next month……
