Surround Your Kids With Faith
Recently I was asked to be a guest on the local PTL program on TBN here in Tulsa, and I shared a little bit about how God has given me opportunity to teach on parenting all over the world.
It reminded me that we can all use a "parenitng refresher" when it comes to keeping our kids surrounded with faith! We may not all be parents, or have kids at home, but we all know some children. And thankfully, kids DO come with an instruction manual....the Word of God.
SALT AND LIGHT
With everything going on in today's world, it's easy to surround our children with fear and doubt. Anyone can look at the condition of society, or at the behavior of their children, and be fearful.
But God calls us to something greater than that. He calls us and our children to be salt and light in the earth!
So how do we keep them surrounded with faith when things don't look so good? By speaking God's Word over them. Romans 10:17 says, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If we go by what we see, it's easy to be afraid. But faith believes something it can't see yet -- it goes by the promises of God.
In Romans 4:17 the Bible says that God creates things by calling those things which be not as though they were.
What "be's not" in your child's life today? Do they "be not" obedient? Do they "be not" a good student or a good worker or happy or tidy? If so, let's start calling those things as though they are, releasing our faith words over them, instead of cementing our fears and doubts over them. by saying what we have.
SPEAK THE WORD
To give you some help, I am including some of the scriptures and confessions from my 31-day devotional "Parenting With A Purpose Every Day." (You can order it on my website).
This is how I raised my kids, and it's the only way I know to keep them surrounded with faith. I still speak these confessions over them and they're in their 20's (we never stop being the parent!).
JEREMIAH 29:11 - For I know the thoughts and plans I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
CONFESSION: God has a wonderful, divinely ordered plan for my children's whole life. They have a divine destiny, and I proclaim that they are walking in it today. I declare that they are fulfilling God's plan for their life, and they have a bright future!
1 JOHN 4:4 - You are of God little children, and have overcome them: for greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world.
CONFESSION: The Greater One lives in my children today. He helps them, guides them, encourages them, protects them, and empowers them. He is greater than any plan or force of the enemy, and causes my children to overcome in every situation of life.
2 TIMOTHY 1:7 - God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
CONFESSION: I refuse to fear over my children. I surround them with faith and the love of God. I imagine them successful, happy, protected, and healthy. Whenever I think of my children and their future, I have a sound mind. I picture them surrounded with God's power and love. I will not teach them to be afraid, but to believe the Lord.
I encourage you to keep saying what God says about your children, and surround them with your faith!
