Point Your Children
Psalm 127:3-4 (NASB), “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.”
Children are a heritage, a gift, a reward according to Psalm 127:3-4. Children were highly valued by the Israelites as gracious gifts of God. Having a large number of children was considered a divine blessing but, for women who were unable to conceive, it was considered a punishment. In the Bible days, children were educated by their parents, particularly with regard to Israel’s faith and traditions. More and more parents are choosing to homeschool their children, but that isn’t possible for everyone. There are other ways you can point your children in the right direction.
This blog applies not only to those who have birthed their own children, but also to those of you who have spiritual children. By that I mean, you have helped raise children that are not your own, and have had the opportunity to speak into their lives. This includes nieces, nephews, cousins, grandchildren, neighborhood children, and MORE. Maybe you have been a teacher, coach, or held other positions where children were in your care.
Proverbs 22:6 speaks of training children. Training takes time, it takes dedication, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Training comes from consistent “dedication” - self-sacrificing devotion. We train in “faith”, because, you may not see what you just instructed your child to do immediately. You may not see a quick turn from when you just disciplined them in love. But it WILL come, as you stay in faith, stay consistent and speak the Word of God over them. Repetition is the key and the process that kids learn from. Think about it. When they are a toddler and they find out they can climb over a short wall, they will do it over, and over and over again, until they master it! Repeating instructions to them will be key to their learning. You may need to explain in another way, from another angle or with objects to help them remember. All kids have different learning styles. You may have to change it up for each of your children to get the point across. Ask God to help you in training your children, He will give you some amazing ideas if you ask.
Psalm 127:4, speaks of children being the arrows. We are to point our children like an arrow to a target. What target are you shooting for? If we raise them to serve God, they will carry a Godly legacy to their generation! The enemies plan is to divide families, for children to digress instead of progress. Each generation should be stronger than the previous, not weaker. We have to draw a line in the sand and say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” There will be challenges along the way because there are no perfect children, even if you think yours are :-). They are constantly growing, and learning to make decisions. But when they veer off course, we help them make the course corrections until they become adults, and then we do a LOT MORE praying, and less correcting.
I want to share three ways you can POINT YOUR CHILDREN in the right direction:
Connect with God time through morning or evening devotions - it doesn’t take long, 10-15 minutes to read a devotion, a Bible story and to have a worship time with them. Night time is also a great time for them to open up and share their hearts with you, their hearts are the most open before bedtime.
Be consistent in church attendance - start at an early age, their most formative years are between the ages of 5-8 years old. They are the most open to God between the ages of 8-10 years old. They will pick up your opinions of what you think about church, what you SAY about church, and church leaders. Even toddlers are smarter than you think. Keep a positive attitude and you will pass that on to your kids.
Have “Family Night” - one of my early blogs goes into details about planning a family night, (I encourage you to check it out). Life is way too fast these days, especially if your kids are in sports and after school curricular activities. Family time is SO needed. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it has to be intentional. They will begin to anticipate with excitement what the next family night will be like. They will want to help plan some of them too.
Be aware of what they are watching, listening to, and the video games they are playing. This is getting to be a FULL-TIME job with today’s issues on confusing genders, pornography, and social media. It will be worth the attention you give them in these areas!
I truly believe the children that are born here and now, are for such a time as this. When trained in the “Way They Should Go”, they will be stronger, more aware, and have greater impact on their generation in every area: Religion, Family, Education, Government, Media, Arts & Entertainment, and Business. They will go farther and accomplish MORE than we have! Be encouraged, if God be for you, who can be against you, Romans 8:31? NOOO BODY!