When do I do the What?...

When do we do it? We are all busy and stretched, and rarely do we have 15 minutes to sit and just teach and train our kids. So when do we do it? Let’s look at the instructions on when in verses 7-9, “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” We have to get creative and use the regular minutes of our day to not only relate to our children, but model how they relate to God. Now, we all keep a crazy schedule. Many of us have a spouse who is working, or maybe you are a single parent with no choice but to be away at work. So when do we do it? When do we have time to help them with memory verses for bible fellowship and Awana, do a daily devotional, read from scripture and pray with them? Some possible practical suggestions to do are: table setting cards, like a dinner party name card, with the memory verses on them at the place where they sit at the table. They are in front of them at breakfast and dinner and we can talk about them then. We have to schedule and structure our day. We can have devotion time scheduled in the morning so this means bedtime has to be set as well. We can pray at night with them and in the morning getting ready for school or daycare. Have them pray before ball games and on the way to school or daycare in the car. Have them choose a yearly verse, with your help, and print it on nice stock and have it framed in their room so they see it everyday, all year, and talk about it. You have to be deliberate in the minutes of everyday to find the when.

God has called us, the parents, to be the disciple maker of our children. He’s called us to model the relationship with Him for our children. We need to be the spiritual giant in our child’s life, not the pastors, or teachers at church or anyone else. We must understand what to do, and that we are not called to a choice in this, we are commanded. We must have structure and be deliberate in the everyday minutes of life to be successful raising children rightly related to an awesome God. Read and commit Deuteronomy 6:1-9 to your heart and mind and watch your child relate to you and most importantly, God, in the way He intended.

And as it says in verse 2, “so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live.”

Now, the "WHAT" to do...

       Just as in the WHO, Deuteronomy 6:1-9 is our scripture reference. 

        The What of the matter! What does God say we as parents are to do is raising our children to relate to Him? In verse 1 He says, these things I am telling you are COMMANDS, DECREES, and LAWS.

The definition of command is; an authoritative direction or instruction to do something. And, a decree is, a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record. God states that as parents we are to teach our children His commands, and treat it as law. A law is a rule or body of rules of conduct inherent in human nature and essential to human society. Without Law we have anarchy. We as parents are commanded to train up our children to follow God’s decrees as it is law.
         Secondly Verse 5 tells us another, what, that God says. We are to teach our children through Love. …, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” As a parent, are you modeling this Love for the Lord? Does your child see how to Love God by watching and hearing you? We have all had those awkward moments when our child displays a questionable action or word in public, that they would have never learned at home, but they did, and we turn bright red, and we quickly stumble on our words, grab them gently with a forced laugh, and whisk them away giving immediate council on the wrong behavior they just mirrored from us. Yes, I see you have been there. Do you see how they are an extension of us? They are a little you.
         Do we teach our children what a right relationship looks like? Scripture says in verse 7 that we, as parents, are to “IMPRESS it on our children”, “it” being the commands and decrees of the Lord. To impress means to have an emotional or cognitive impact upon; or, to produce or try to produce a vivid impression of. This clearly states we are to give all our effort for the end result of having our children live in a devoted relationship with the One True God! To truly achieve this we must first be committed to live it and model the proper relationship with God in our lives. Impress it on our children when they see us in the word of God, as they see us pray, as they see us relating to our spouse, in how we react or respond to them, and our relationship to those around us. Is the Sabbath Holy? We are called to corporate worship, assembling together, meaning coming to church. We are the example our child sees day in and day out, don’t be the what or how not to, and definitely don’t be the, “don’t do as I do, do as I say” type…it never works out. We will reproduce the relationship we have with God in our children, Impress the right things on them.
           The instruction manual on what to do is clear. It’s authoritative, a binding record, and inherent in all and essential to all. God’s desire for a relationship with us is easy to see. He has given us every tool and ability to connect with Him on such a deep level. The reason so many kids run from their faith is because mom and dad haven’t been or don’t know how to relate spiritually to God themselves. In turn they don’t know how or won’t invest in their child’s spiritual growth until crisis hits. What to do? Live it daily, with fervor and passion. You are accountable and commanded.

Who did you say?...

First: "You're Grounded!", what does it mean? Well, my mom said it a lot and used it as a tool to help show me consequences for actions. It can refer to your faith in God, or your consistency as a parent in raising your child. All these can be a good thing, in the end. My hope is for this to be a tool or help, among many others, to parents. I write this as much for me and my family as anything (sorry for being selfish). I hope you enjoy the writings of not just a children's pastor, but first and foremost, a Dad. Now, for part 1 of 3 of who, what, and when...

Who is supposed to teach my child how to relate to God? This question gets muddied in the craziness of life. As life closes in around us we seek to outsource as much as possible. We outsource meals to McDonalds, teaching to schools, laundry to the cleaners, investments to the financial planners, bill pay to the computer, cleaning to the cleaning person we hired. We could go on for days with the list of what we outsource to “make more time”. The issue is, we as parents, have outsourced the spiritual growth of our children to the church and the church was never designed for this. Fact is, we have outsourced our own relationship with God to the church. By definition a relationship is, connecting or binding participants. Who has God called to connect and bind our children to Him, us, the parents? Look at the words God chose to instruct us on the who from Deuteronomy 6: 1-9. Verse 2: your children, verse, 7: your children, at home, when you lie down, and get up (you lie down and get up at home), verse 9: doorframes of your houses and on your gates. God is very clear, parents are called to step up and be the ones to teach and train our children how to relate to Him. Why do our kids act like they shouldn't, why do we have trouble with behavior, why do our kids not relate exceptionally well to us or God? The who is not who it's supposed to be. Please understand, God said we as parent gotta do this. We have to own it and not outsource the awesome gift God gave us. A parent is a person who brings up and cares for another. Bring up and care for your child the way God designed.

Check out the poll question at the bottom of the page. I'll change it periodically, see ya