Children...A Gift from the Lord

As a mother I have a responsibility to teach my children to love the Lord with all of their heart, mind, body and soul. This love cannot be forced, but must be allowed be accepted willingly.

God does not force himself upon us and has given us the free will to decide whom we will serve.

In order for me to help my children choose wisely, I have to show them a true representation of who God is. There are a few things that we must remember when leading our children to the Lord.

We cannot make them follow God with their hearts. Just because our children follow our family rules whether they be our preferred way of doing things or our Biblical rules, we must endeavor that they learn to be obedient out of love.

They must see that our relationship with God is a priority.
They must see that spending time with God is of the utmost importance to us. Our children should know that we pray for them and their father. They must know where mother gets her strength, hope, peace and joy. Teach them that your relationship with God comes first, then husband, children, home and then the church (friends). Teach them that when the relationship with God is balanced all the rest will balance out as well.

Teach them to overcome the sin in their lives. Are we holy on Sunday and hellish Monday-Saturday? I am not referring to striving daily to grasp the patience to mother calmly and lovingly. What I am referring to is the evil that can fester in our hearts and minds. The thoughts of bitterness and anger towards our children can be seen in the way that we speak to them and interact with them.

In order to overcome the challenges of parenting we must be an open book. This takes humility, prayer and repentance. Do not be afraid to share with your children how much you need their help. Tell them how much it helps you when they, for example...do their chores the first time they are asked.

Let them know that you are working on the Fruit of the Spirit "patience". Tell them how they can help you. Ask them to pray that anger be taken far from you each morning. To hear a child pray for the salvation of mother is such a humbling sound. I have overheard my own children pray for me many times. I have been brought to tears over the sincerity of their desire that I be holy and acceptable in the sight of God.

We cannot be hypocrites. We cannot fool our children no matter how we try. They know who we are when we take off our public face. We cannot be a hypocrites, for if we do we will run the risk of misrepresenting God to our children. We must be the light of the world for our children. We must strive not to put on a show for friends, but should endeavor to be our best for our children. Let us restructure our loyalties. Let us concern ourselves more with the face that we put on for our children first and our face for other believers will follow suit. Let our behavior at home be that of which we profess to believe.

No one of us will ever be perfect, but we can seek the will of God in our daily lives that He may perfect those things in us which are imperfect.