How to Keep Your Kids on God’s Team
All Christian parents surely desires that their children will walk with God all their lives. Too often, however, parents are disappointed in the lack of spiritual depth in their children when they leave home and make their own decisions. One main reason for this is that, to the children, God is their parents’ God; He was never personal to them.
When the children of Israel finished the main conquest of Canaan, Joshua told them, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) The leaders responded, “The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.” (24:24) Did they mean it? We are told “And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel.” (31) This last verse is repeated in Judges 2:7. But in v. 10 we are told, “and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” These children did not see the crossing of the Red Sea or the Jordan, the walls of Jericho fall, or Sun stand still. Increasingly, this was just exciting history that didn’t apply to them. As a result they “knew not the Lord.”
The problem was not that the miracles had ceased. The problem was that the parents only had history to show their children the reality of God’s personal care and power. There was no longer a need for the sun to stand still. But there was a need to see God provide their daily needs of life. When they failed to point their children to God in these, the parents’ faith became irrelevant.
How timely this message is! Many of you have experienced the mighty work of God in your salvation. Now your children are the next generation. They need to see God’s care and power in your lives and to learn to seek Him in their own lives. This can be done through regular prayer projects.
For what are you trusting God to provide right now in your family? Let’s say you need a new vehicle. You could just buy what you want, go into debt, and rob your children of seeing God’s provision. Instead, do this: tell the family of this need, write it down with the date, and next to it write a promise from the Bible that applies. Then pray about it at every meal and during your Bible times together. Remind your children that you are waiting on God for this provision and will not act until He directs. When God does provide, write next to it the date and specifically the means by which God kept this promise, and give Him thanks. Keep it fresh, and let your children see He is a living God who cares about them too.