The Bible has many things to say about parenting that we often don’t catch upon first glance but then I believe the four points listed below sum up the heart of the matter.
I honestly have no idea how many hundreds of times I’ve said a silent prayer in my mind throughout the day asking God for wisdom as to how to handle a certain situation with my beloved children. I’ve searched the Scriptures for guidance and wisdom in this area multiple times but the Bible seems to only have a handful of verses directly related to child training.
1. We Need To Faithfully Share God’s Goodness With Our Children
There is one passage in the Bible that I find myself returning to again and again when I begin to lose my parenting focus.
You see, parenting God’s way is so much more than simply raising well-mannered, happy, moral children. Please don’t get me wrong- these are all wonderful traits and ones that I desire to instill within my own children. But, if we stop there then we’ve missed the whole point of raising children for God’s glory.
We are living in some dark days and not only is it our job to protect our children physically, mentally and emotionally it is also our job to protect their souls and point them directly to the Man who died to be their Savior. We must equip them to defend and stand firm in their faith amidst the world's and enemy's blow.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says
“ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.”
2. Always Pray For And With Your Children
I wish that I could say that prayer is always the first thing that comes to mind when my child is struggling in an area or even when my child is celebrating a victory for that matter.
However, all too often I’m still guilty of resorting to prayer only after all of my doing has failed. The Creator of my child, The One who spoke life into him, knew him before he was born and knows every intricate detail about him.
Friends only if we pray in faith according to God’s will then we can be rest assured that He hears us and He will answer. It may not be in the way that we desire but we need to remember that His ways are so much higher than our own.
Isaiah 55:8-9 says
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways", declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”
3. We Ought To Always Correct And Discipline Our Children
Hate is a strong word, I can honestly say that I hate disciplining my children because It sometimes breaks my heart and at times it’s exhausting.
Handing out loving, but firm consistent discipline is hard work! But, it is what God has called us to do and we already know all of the reasons why. Even if we aren’t seeing much fruit at the time it will be more than worth it in the end.
Stay faithful sweet friend. God sees you and will enable you to love, care and discipline your children in a way that honors Him if you faithfully seek His grace, patience and strength.
4.Always See Your Children As A Blessing
I’m going to step out of my comfort zone a bit here and say something that may be hard to hear.
The mindset that we often see in our current culture is viewing children as a burden and not a blessing. Parenting is hard but attempting to numb away the trials while degrading the little ones God has placed into our care is completely contrary to God’s purpose in granting us the privilege of becoming parents.
Children are such a blessing I cannot even begin to tell you how many times their sweet innocence or child-like faith has taught me far more than my words and actions have taught them.
God, in His goodness often allows the parenting struggles to teach us His truths. My crazy chaotic days of motherhood have a way of revealing that my heart is still harboring more sin than I care to admit. And through God’s grace He can forgive me wipe the slate clean and give me a gracious spirit to be the best mommy I can be in the midst of the hardships.
Psalms 127:3-5 says
“Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior and are the children of one’s youth. For blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them”