a. Introduce our children to the concept of God’s personal will early. One early prayer to teach your kids is “Dear Heavenly Father, please show me your will for my life” Directing your child to seek His will for their lives is to direct accountability to their heavenly father. Do not make decisions for them in difficult times but ask your children to look up and not over God for His will for their lives.
b. Pay attention to their Hearts – In Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flow from it”. Ask them a series of questions to guide them on how to guard their hearts – did anybody hurt your feelings today? Are you mad at anybody, are you worried about anything, did anybody break a promise to you today, is there anything you want to tell me but you’re just not sure how? Is there anybody whose failure you would secretly celebrate? Andy asked that of his daughter and was surprised by her answer. It turns out she had something lodged in her heart that needed unlodging.
c. Pray together in every season – every after they were old enough to put themselves to bed even through their high school days. Encourage the children to pray for each other.
d. Emphasize a personal relationship with God. Be honest with your own faith journey, it is imperative that the children understand how faith intersects with our real world. There will be a real fear, relational conflict, temptation, rejection failure, disappointment, and peer pressure which are not uncommon in 21st-century goliaths. It is important to share how your personal faith informed your actions and reactions to real-world challenges. Share your challenges and how your faith has guided you through these challenges. Stories from our past illustrate outcomes, the outcomes of faithfulness and unfaithfulness in the broad cause-and-effect context of life. Our actions today have consequences tomorrow and life is connected.
e. Keep our children engaged with our local church. Your children should not be made to attend church. They should want to go to church. If they don’t, figure out why. In certain situations, you may have to relocate to a church that is better suited for your children. The church will be another place which will reinforce and reiterate your teachings on the faith of your child at home.
f. Don’t let your faith get in the way of your relationship with your children. Faith must reinforce the ultimate goal of parenting which is to have a satisfying and sustained adult relationship with adult children. The relationship is influenced. Never give up influence unnecessarily. You might have to review your faith if it could come in between your relationship with your child. Christ did not preach a faith that will destroy relationships. On the contrary, He preaches Love. Your children must believe that you loved them more than anything even before they have their own faith.
