RAISING GODLY CHILDREN?

Memorise:

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to
wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4
Read: Ephesians 6:1-4
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this
is right.
2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the
first commandment with promise;)
3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest
live long on the earth.
4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to
wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord.
Message
When God gives you children, He expects you to
raise them in a godly manner. For this reason, He
sent you this express command in Proverbs 22:6:
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and
when he is old, he will not depart from it."
This passage of Scripture tells us to "train up a
child". In other words, even when God gives you
several children, each of them requires personal
attention. Every child is different from the other.
Never lump children together without making out
time to teach, instruct, correct, rebuke, discipline
and lead them by example individually. Every
child that God gives to you is hungry to take
something out of you. Let them take the life of
Jesus out of you. Personal attention is very
crucial to the development of your children and
wards.
Also, carry them along with you when you are
going for church programmes. There are parents
who leave their children at home when they are
going to church. When you ask why they do that,
they say their children are already youths and
should be left to decide things for themselves.
That scenario suggests that the parents are
carefree. If you fail to bring up your children in
the way and admonition of the Lord, you will be
courting trouble. Joshua's resolve in Joshua
24:15 is very important to us here. He said both
himself and his household would be devoted to
the service of the Lord. In other words, he must
have made serving God an attractive thing to his
family. There are some pastors' children whose
primary desire is to become pastors; other
careers or professions are secondary options to
them. Their desire shows that their parents have
done a good job on them. But if you are a pastor
and your child says the last profession he will
ever consider is to be a pastor, check it out,
something must have gone wrong in the training
of that child. Do you always paint the ministry in
bad light to your children? How do you present
the Christian faith to your children or wards - as
interesting or as a burden? Do you just dole out
dos and don'ts to your children, or do you take
out time to patiently explain why things should
be done the way you want them done, and why
certain things should not be done? It is your
responsibility to raise your children to fear and
love God.

Key Point:
While some families are raising leaders and
builders of nations, others are raising miscreants
and misfits. Everyone will give account to God
over how they raised their children.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: DEUTERONOMY 2:26-4:14
and GALATIANS 6