A Parent's Secret Weapon

As a teacher, I see so many wonderful things happening with our children in their academics and athletics and just pure creativity. However, I also notice that there is a rise in the not-so-wonderful things. Therefore, I’m writing this post to ask the question:  When are we going to invest in our children?

By invest, I mean teach them the skill they need as a foundation to achieve well in school AND the proper social skills to successfully get through life’s situations AND teach them God’s word that will guide them through it ALL! They are our secret weapon. They carry on the legacy that we set. Are we doing a good job of polishing that weapon???

Nowadays, it seems it’s all about “gettin’ mine” and we neglect to take our abilities and wisdom and invest them in our children. Some of us are so worried about what our children can do for us that we don’t even teach them how to properly function first! Ask yourself this, how often do you just sit with your children (no TV, computers, no electronics at all) and talk to your children about serious topics, funny topics, encourage them, and about how they are gifts from God and how their good works and faith in Him pleases Him? How often? For those of you that do this very often, think about the other families you know. How often do they? Do you feel like the time you spend and invest in your children is more and more on the rare side in today’s society?

More and more children, CHILDREN, are committing suicide for reasons that could be overcome by knowing and understanding the goodness of God and that the race is given to those that ENDURE. We don’t teach our children to ENDURE! None of us would make it if we didn’t depend on God in some sort of way. Even those that are not saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost get to a point where they begin to turn to Jesus. They may turn back to their sinful ways, but they know who to turn to when things get tough. That’s because Jesus carries us through those tough times. THAT’s how we endure!  We can’t do it without Jesus!  We have to lead our children to Jesus.

That means we have to take the time to read and learn God’s word for ourselves.  Jesus IS God’s word. Once you read enough of it, you will notice a pattern: it’s ALL about Jesus! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the life of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1) Jesus is the Word. And darkness has not and cannot overcome him.

We have to teach our children that through Jesus, we are more than conquerors and we have the victory. Ask your children: If you had to play a really hard game against someone and wasn’t for sure if you were good enough to win the really cool prize at the end, but if you lose your opponent will badly beat you up, would you play? If it got really hard in the game and you were losing really badly, would you quit in the middle of the game?

Then ask them: What if you had to play that same hard game, but you already knew you were going to win no matter what because you had a secret weapon for the game, would you play? If you start losing in the game, but you still know you will win that really cool prize anyway because of your secret weapon, would you give up in the middle of the game then?

We have to teach our children that Jesus is our secret weapon against the enemy, and the thing is, He’s not even a secret!! We have to teach our children that even when we look like we’re losing, if we keep going, we WILL win the victory! We have to give our children this foundation. Once they have this foundation and learn to depend on Jesus through their every move in life, they will be blessed academically, in athletics, musically, creatively, in whatever else they put their minds to and in being well-mannered, well behaved, respectful children because you will have set that foundation and they understand WHY they should do well in ALL that they do. We all know the verse about sparing the rod you spoil the child, but the ESV reads in an interesting way, “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” (Proverbs 13:24) Part of that foundation is discipline. It’s not the easiest or the most pleasant thing, but if you love your child enough and want enough for them to do well, it is a must.  We have to train our children how to live right! And TEACH them WHY certain things are wrong and why certain things are right.

You have now invested your time, energy, and knowledge in your children and have begun righteous generations to come! Psalms 127:3-4 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.” Your children are your arrows, your weapons! You point them in the right direction and let them go!

Here are some verses to refer to:

Discipline-

Proverbs 22:6

3 John 1:4

Ephesians 6:4

Hebrew 12:11

Proverbs 23: 13-15

Proverbs 29:15

Proverbs 12:1

 

 Education-

Ecclesiastes 7:12

Proverbs 16:16

Romans 12:2

Proverbs 4:13

Proverbs 16:3

Deuteronomy 11:19

Proverbs 18:15

Proverbs 10:14

Proverbs 9:9-10

Daniel 1:17 (this whole story is powerful!)

Colossians 3:23-25

 

 Children are Blessings-

John 16:21-22

Matthew 18:1-6

Proverbs 17:6

Leviticus 18:21 (don’t abort)

Jeremiah 1:5 (God knows us before we are formed in the womb)