The following article is
posted in its entirety to
http://www.earnestlycontendingforthefaith.com/ with the
express written consent of Pastor Terry L. Coomer. For the Adobe©
PDF version click
here.
For the Love of the Family Ministries™
Missionaries to America's Forgotten Mission Field, the
Family
For the Love of the Family Series
Pastor Terry L. Coomer
Ministry of Elwood Bible Baptist Church
P.O. Box 535
504 North 12th Street Elwood, Indiana 46036
(765) 552-1973
TLCOOMER@juno.com
This series of messages
have been published in booklet form. These messages may be
copied in their entirety to help Christians in the task of
rearing their children for God. They are not to be changed
in any manner or to be sold. This header must be on any
copy. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact
the author.
Twenty-Two Helpful Thoughts on
Rearing Children for God
1. Make sure to encourage your
children to read biographies and autobiographies of Christians
of the past. As a young Christian I immersed myself in these
books and they were a blessing to my life. We encouraged our
children to read these books and it helped them to see how God
had worked in other Christian's lives.
2. Make sure your children hear
you pray, and in your prayer let them hear you calling their
name to God. Teach your children how to pray.
3. Make sure you show your
children how to do personal devotions and that they see you read
the Bible and do personal devotions. Make sure you read and
explain the Bible to your children. Your personal, intimate, and
real spiritual relationship with God will be the most important
influence in rearing your children for God. The second will be
conveying to your children the way to have that relationship and
for them to have an intimate, personal, passionate relationship
with the Lord.
4. The most important thing
about rearing spiritual children is for the spiritual parent to
get the child's heart, Proverbs 23:26. You must pray for this
daily and work at it. Part of getting their heart is to ask
questions.
You must make time to
communicate. You must draw out what is in the heart. Remember
that if you lose your child's heart, find out where you lost it
and make every effort to get it back as soon as possible. Your
child's heart can be lost, hardened, and stolen. These are the
three steps every child takes to rebellion. These steps are
taken because the parents lose the heart of the child.
5. Make sure you put God first
in your life and giving. Make sure that you explain that all
money is God's money, not just 10 percent. Make sure that you
explain giving to the Lord to your children and that your
children see you give to the Lord. As your children are given
money or work for money, make sure they understand that giving
begins at an early age.
6. Make sure your children see
you submit yourself to the Holy Spirit. Encourage them to submit
themselves to the Holy Spirit. As the Lord works in your life,
it does not hurt the children to see you come forward in a
service and submit yourself more fully to God.
7. Make sure you share your
personal testimony of salvation with your children. Tell them
how you got saved. Pray earnestly for your children to be saved
and make sure they understand the gospel. Seek to see your
children come to know Christ at an early age.
8. Make sure your children see
you give out gospel tracts to others. Take them on visitation
with you.
9. Make sure your children hear
you give a clear presentation of the gospel to an unsaved
person. Teach your children how to give that presentation.
10. Make sure your children hear
you tell others how much your local church means to you. Make
sure they understand the importance of faithful church
attendance.
11. Make sure your children hear
you and your wife tell each other that you love each other.
12. Make sure your children hear
you express gratitude to God for His blessing in your life and
family.
13. Make sure you tell your
children you love them often and consistently.
14. Make sure you explain Bible
truth to your children and make practical application of that
truth in the daily activities of life.
15. Make sure you explain the
great doctrinal truths of the Bible to your children. It is very
important to explain how the Holy Spirit works in your life.
Explain what it means to be filled (controlled by the Holy
Spirit).
16. Make sure you are attending
a good, sound Bible preaching and teaching church. Make sure the
emphasis of the church is upon growing spiritually, winning the
lost, and not activity orientation. Do not look for a church
because of the activities it has for children. Look for a church
that has emphasis on teaching spiritual truth to you and your
family. Look for a church that has the ministry of the Word of
God as their primary emphasis. Look for a church that encourages
godliness and holy living. Look for a church that does not have
emphasis on ungodly music (music that appeals to the flesh
rather than the spirit) such as contemporary Christian music,
southern gospel music and an overall emphasis on music instead
of God's Word. Many churches worship youth groups and music
rather than God. (By the way, that is idolatry). Look for a
church that has an emphasis on hymn music.
17. Make sure to guard your
children from the worldly television influences, worldly music,
and worldly peer and ungodly friendship influences. Make sure to
not allow your children to start concentrating on the opposite
sex at an early age. Make sure you are the most important
influence in your children's life.
18. Make sure you live a holy
life separate from worldliness, evil, and ungodliness. Make sure
your life is a testimony of holiness not only at church but home
as well.
19. Make sure your children are
educated in a Biblical, Godly, Christian, wholesome atmosphere.
Do not be deceived that educating your children in the world's
system (which is the devil's system) will not affect your
children.
20. Make sure you are seeking to
develop godly Christian character in your children's lives by
proper discipline. A child must learn to obey the first time. A
child must learn to never have to be told more than once to
obey. Make sure to discipline correctly and consistently. Make
sure you, as a parent, pay attention and work at proper
discipline. It is your responsibility to teach your child how to
concentrate. Make sure you always discipline improper attitude
and reaction.
21. Make sure that you are not
living your life daily in ungodly anger, or the spirit of anger.
Ephesians 4:31-32. Most parents lose the heart of their children
by using ungodly anger on them. Understand that the Bible says
this will fail, "He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and
the rod of his anger shall fail". Proverbs 22:8". Understand
that the Bible says ungodly anger comes from pride, Proverbs
21:24. Many Christians are operating in their life daily under
the impression they are in fellowship with God and in reality
they are running their life in sinful anger out of fellowship
with God, I John 1:6-10. Ungodly anger is deceptive and many
Christians are deceived by it, Galatians 6:7-8. By doing this,
we open up our life to the devil and his destruction, I Peter
5:8. This destruction takes place in our lives, in the lives of
our family, and of our children. The essence of the Christian
life is to be controlled by the Spirit of God, Ephesians 5:18.
We are not controlled by the Spirit of God if we live our life
daily in ungodly anger. Satan is very deceptive and ungodly
anger is designed by Satan to destroy your family and your life.
Make sure you understand that "love is kind", I Corinthians
13:4.
22. Make sure you understand
that you have to develop Godly character in the lives of your
children. Their character is their destiny. The Bible gives at
least 49 different character traits. The devil will get
interested in their character and your character. He does not
care about you or your children.
He has three desires to "steal,
kill, and to destroy", John 10:9-10. Realize you are fighting
the devil for your children, I Peter 5:8. Make sure to have
character discussions in your home. Learn to praise proper
character in your children. (This may be the most important
point). Proverbs 27:21. Generally, we do not praise our children
or we praise the wrong things like beauty, achievement, which
develops pride. Praising character in your children develops
their accomplishments further without building pride.
Psalm 127:3 "Lo, children are a
heritage of the Lord: (means given to us by God for safe keeping
for Him) and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
Terry L. Coomer is the Pastor of
Elwood Bible Baptist Church, and the Director of For the Love of
the Family Ministries. He has also served as the Publisher of
the nation's fastest growing daily newspaper. Pastor Coomer
holds Family Conferences in the local church. To have a meeting
at your church or other needs he may be contacted at (765)
552-1973,
|