Raising Godly Children

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him” Psalm 127: 3

It’s just good sense to always treat what others give to you well- take good care of it so the giver can be pleased to give you more gifts. So if children are a gift from God, how can we treat them well and raise them up to be godly upstanding citizens? 

As with everything in life there is a secret to successfully raising godly children. So I asked a couple of well experienced parents who have been parenting since the 70’s what’s the most important thing you must do as a parent to ensure you raise your kids to be godly and here are their responses:

• Teach them to fear God.
  

• Teach them the law of sowing and reaping as reflected in the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes and His final word on Love.

• The Word of God is Truth so let’s take a peek and see just a few things The Word says concerning  training children: Train your child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it. All our children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be their peace.

• Teach them about Christ and teach them to fear Him. So teach the Word and teach them to live the Word.

• Teach them to love the Lord and share the love of Christ. These encompass the two greatest commandments that we are given. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
  

• Spare the rod and spoil the child. Hmmm, a very difficult issue today. Sparing the rod does not mean slapping the child across the face or waving the dreadful horsewhip to correct unacceptable behavior. We may only be teaching violence by such behavior. However it does mean some appropriate discipline for a crime committed. Where there is a lack of discipline there are no boundaries to guide behavior. The Word tells us to correct in love.

• Very crucial is we as adults must set godly examples too. Of what use is it when we teach our children to always say the truth and then someone we don’t want to see comes to our door step and we tell the child, “tell her mummy is not in” when we clearly are. We are unwittingly teaching our children to lie. Jokes! The child gets to the door and tells this unwelcome visitor “mummy says I should tell you she is not in”. When we do our part and obey God concerning His word generally and in particular the training of our children, God will do His part and bless the work of our hands so let us not shy away or put aside the Word as if it is not relevant or applicable today. Yes, a tough job it is and it’s a job for life!

• Get them to pray daily especially for little needs such as tests and exams and at the same time to be thankful for little needs such as food on the table, clothes on their back, etc; Memorize scriptures, read a bible text daily, watch what they watch on TV and censor them. Teach them positivity in every situation, no matter how bleak it may seem. Above all, live by examples. practice daily in your speech and conduct what you teach.

• As a parent, I have exposed my children to the Lord from babyhood. I have tried to be consistent and discipline when necessary but still love them to bits. Not allowed over exposure to the wrong things and given boundaries as I have felt appropriate. I have tried to emulate appropriate behavior so not too often do I have an accusation of not practicing what I preach. These are helping to guide their actions as young adults and the word which they have been taught from very young keeps them in line as their reference point.

• Right from the womb you begin to pray on your child until you put to bed. Then you start to read the bible to your baby. Pray with him in the morning and at night. If he does anything wrong correct him immediately do not say he is small. As he or she is growing let them help in activities at home.

In a nutshell, if we do plan to help our kids have a successful future; we need to train them to fear God. 

“God will bless those who fear him LORD, both the small and the great”. (Psalm 115:13)