Raising Godly Kids

Raising children is important. “Of course,” you say, “Everyone knows that.” The sad reality  is that not everyone know this. Some believe that children are born completely blank slates and that they will be able to find their way from this life to God’s kingdom with little help from believing parents. In fact, kids are born with some clear indications of their future path. They have the genetic components that might lead them in a direction toward addictions or alcoholism, they have biological directors that point them toward health issues. There are cultural pressures to move in a direction (usually away from the God of the Bible). Everyone of us has a very real enemy that strives to lead us down paths that embarrass, damage, and trap us. The spiritual ramifications of evil are implications that most in our society does not want to deal with.

Influences
Our kids are under the influence of many forces. Neglecting direct involvement in their lives all along their developmental path is necessary for us to allow them the good choices that they need to make. Instead, too many are leaving it to forces under the control of ungodly influences. Our kids watch, on average, 24 hours of TV each week. The public school system has them for nearly 40 hours a week, too. After school they might run with a few of their local friends for an average of 8 hours a week (including Saturday's). So 72 hours a week our kids are getting a steady diet of the world’s values and ungodly world views. How do we counter act that powerful influence that is built right into the system of their lives? With a 1 hour Sunday School lesson? Come on friends, it takes more than that.

Home influence has to be strong. 
So here is a check list of the things that we must be absolutely sure to do to raise kids who love God in our world. I am sure that it is not a complete list, but it is a good start

1. Live a godly and genuine life. Are our church I talk about being the real deal. How do we live out our faith? If we have a Sunday morning only faith we will lose our kids to the influence of the world as sure as the sun shines every morning. We have to be examples of God influenced people. We must be people who have a profound love for God (Luke 10.27) and others.

2. Seek to lead them to Jesus early. It is important that parents guide children to Jesus and disciple them in the ways of Jesus. It is okay to ask them if” Jesus lives in their heart?”

3. Disciple and teach them. We used the dinner table to have faith-relevant discussions on topics of the daily news or events in our children's lives. Your teaching at home will be reinforced by Children’s Church pastors and Youth pastors. We need to prioritize impact in our kid’s lives.

4. Pray for your children. Kids need to be involved in prayer times, and prayed over everyday. Bed time prayers, prayer for protection in the morning, family prayer times when facing difficult times as a family, etc. These show the living faith and give God opportunity to demonstrate his power in the life of your child.


5. Attend church. We need the help of others in raising our kids. Many times a person from the church has earned a hearing in the life of your child because of their position or simply a listening ear and a caring heart. You need to be thankful for the added influence.  Relationships cannot be developed unless you attend church faithfully. Prioritizing your  children means making sure they are at midweek services and Sunday mornings. Quality relationships is spelled T-I-M-E.