I mentioned in this post, about the warning we read of in Judges, about a generation who fell away from following after the Lord.
So, how can we raise a godly generation, you ask? What should we be doing to lead them away from following after the world, and all it's allurements, and to follow after God instead? I should also point out here, that we CANNOT save our children. We can only guide them and train them in the ways of the Lord.
Also, before I begin, I KNOW my children are still relatively young, so this is very much written from the "going through" point of view, not the "finished the journey" perspective! I am just trying to live out a life that will raise my children to follow God's ways, and not man's ways.
I am going to cover this in a few posts, as I realised quickly that there was a lot to share about!
So, here are the first areas which I believe are important in raising a godly generation.
1.MAKE SURE YOU ARE OBEYING GOD FIRST
We cannot possibly teach our children how to walk in the right ways, if we are not doing so first.
Are we reading God's Word....seeking how to follow Him daily, and honour Him in our lives? - do you have a daily quiet time - immersing yourself in scripture - in learning how we are to live our life in a way that is pleasing to Him? Are we following God's ways in our life? - are we living in obedience, or do we just have an empty profession? Do we seek continually to make sure that our lives are being lived in accordance to God's Word? - do we seek to weed out the sin in our life, and daily come in repentance for our failings before God? Do we know about God - who He is - what He expects of us - what He does for us? Do we know what the scriptures teach us about how to do be the wives and mothers that we should be? - do we seek to put it into practice? If we don't do all of these things, then we simply can NOT teach them to our children!
There are many ways to study the scriptures. As I mentioned here, I am methodically reading through the Bible in a year. It's amazing how many truths you see afresh, as you read through lesser read parts of the Bible.
Do make sure you note down thoughts on the way through. I currently have a page in my Prayer Journal titled "God....." and then I take a note of things I learn about who He is, and what He does for me. There are many things you could pick out - promises, rebukes, prayers, instructions. Don't overwhelm yourself with too many at once. Keep your thoughts focussed, and you will remember them better.
You can also do a more detailed study, only studying a couple of verses each day. In our Good Morning Girls group, we studied the book of James like this, earlier this year. We used the SOAP method, which I had never before heard of!
S - Write out the scripture for that day
O - take a note of a couple of observations you make from the verses
A - how does this apply to your life?
P - pray, and ask the Lord to plant these observations and applications in your life, and cause them to take root and grow.
We are thinking of studying through the book of Ephesians until the end of the year, using this method. We were so blessed and challenged by the truths that we learnt, through studying God's Word this way.
There are also many Bible Study books, that study through a theme, or character in the Bible. Elizabeth George has many good studies like that.
You could also use a programme such as e-sword, which is a free, downloadable Bible Study software, to search for instances of certain words or themes in the Bible, and just study through them one by one, to gain a better understanding on a topic.
Whatever you do, DO study God's Word. Your heart will be blessed, and your life drawn into sweeter communion with the Lord.
"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;"
2. DON'T BE A HYPOCRITE!
I know this is something that I need to work on more, and is VERY important. You can NOT start telling your children about the way they should live, and not apply it to your own life. Children can spot a hypocrite a mile off, and they will not respect your instruction if they can see your are not living it first. I knew of someone who always said "Do as I say, not as I do". I don't like that much. Yes, children need to obey us, but if our own actions do not match up with our instruction, that is a terrible example to our children.
"don't read your book until you have tidied you room, Johnny"
(whilst Mum sits with her book, dishes stacked up in the kitchen, not cleaned.....)
"don't get so angry with your brothers and sisters, Jane"
(spoken by the mother who just lost the rag with her children 10 minutes before)
"think before you speak"
(says the Mum, who just spoke to Dad in a less-than-patient tone)
"don't leave that job unfinished"
(with Mum's unfinished projects in the corner)
There are many more examples I could give, but better that you think of ones that apply to your own heart and life! And, trust me, this is an area that I need to put a lot of work into...
"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."
3. THE POWER OF A GOOD EXAMPLE
As a flip side to not being a hypocrite, we NEED to be a GOOD example. You want your children to learn Bible verses? - YOU learn Bible verses. You want your children to read their Bible? - YOU read your Bible. You want your children to be generous? - YOU be generous. You want your children to be kind? - YOU be kind. You get the idea.....
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
So, how can we raise a godly generation, you ask? What should we be doing to lead them away from following after the world, and all it's allurements, and to follow after God instead? I should also point out here, that we CANNOT save our children. We can only guide them and train them in the ways of the Lord.
Also, before I begin, I KNOW my children are still relatively young, so this is very much written from the "going through" point of view, not the "finished the journey" perspective! I am just trying to live out a life that will raise my children to follow God's ways, and not man's ways.
I am going to cover this in a few posts, as I realised quickly that there was a lot to share about!
So, here are the first areas which I believe are important in raising a godly generation.
1.MAKE SURE YOU ARE OBEYING GOD FIRST
We cannot possibly teach our children how to walk in the right ways, if we are not doing so first.
Are we reading God's Word....seeking how to follow Him daily, and honour Him in our lives? - do you have a daily quiet time - immersing yourself in scripture - in learning how we are to live our life in a way that is pleasing to Him? Are we following God's ways in our life? - are we living in obedience, or do we just have an empty profession? Do we seek continually to make sure that our lives are being lived in accordance to God's Word? - do we seek to weed out the sin in our life, and daily come in repentance for our failings before God? Do we know about God - who He is - what He expects of us - what He does for us? Do we know what the scriptures teach us about how to do be the wives and mothers that we should be? - do we seek to put it into practice? If we don't do all of these things, then we simply can NOT teach them to our children!
There are many ways to study the scriptures. As I mentioned here, I am methodically reading through the Bible in a year. It's amazing how many truths you see afresh, as you read through lesser read parts of the Bible.
Do make sure you note down thoughts on the way through. I currently have a page in my Prayer Journal titled "God....." and then I take a note of things I learn about who He is, and what He does for me. There are many things you could pick out - promises, rebukes, prayers, instructions. Don't overwhelm yourself with too many at once. Keep your thoughts focussed, and you will remember them better.
You can also do a more detailed study, only studying a couple of verses each day. In our Good Morning Girls group, we studied the book of James like this, earlier this year. We used the SOAP method, which I had never before heard of!
S - Write out the scripture for that day
O - take a note of a couple of observations you make from the verses
A - how does this apply to your life?
P - pray, and ask the Lord to plant these observations and applications in your life, and cause them to take root and grow.
We are thinking of studying through the book of Ephesians until the end of the year, using this method. We were so blessed and challenged by the truths that we learnt, through studying God's Word this way.
There are also many Bible Study books, that study through a theme, or character in the Bible. Elizabeth George has many good studies like that.
You could also use a programme such as e-sword, which is a free, downloadable Bible Study software, to search for instances of certain words or themes in the Bible, and just study through them one by one, to gain a better understanding on a topic.
Whatever you do, DO study God's Word. Your heart will be blessed, and your life drawn into sweeter communion with the Lord.
"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;"
Colossians 1:10
I know this is something that I need to work on more, and is VERY important. You can NOT start telling your children about the way they should live, and not apply it to your own life. Children can spot a hypocrite a mile off, and they will not respect your instruction if they can see your are not living it first. I knew of someone who always said "Do as I say, not as I do". I don't like that much. Yes, children need to obey us, but if our own actions do not match up with our instruction, that is a terrible example to our children.
"don't read your book until you have tidied you room, Johnny"
(whilst Mum sits with her book, dishes stacked up in the kitchen, not cleaned.....)
"don't get so angry with your brothers and sisters, Jane"
(spoken by the mother who just lost the rag with her children 10 minutes before)
"think before you speak"
(says the Mum, who just spoke to Dad in a less-than-patient tone)
"don't leave that job unfinished"
(with Mum's unfinished projects in the corner)
There are many more examples I could give, but better that you think of ones that apply to your own heart and life! And, trust me, this is an area that I need to put a lot of work into...
"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."
James 3:17
3. THE POWER OF A GOOD EXAMPLE
As a flip side to not being a hypocrite, we NEED to be a GOOD example. You want your children to learn Bible verses? - YOU learn Bible verses. You want your children to read their Bible? - YOU read your Bible. You want your children to be generous? - YOU be generous. You want your children to be kind? - YOU be kind. You get the idea.....
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 5:16
Please, PLEASE share about your experiences in these areas! Some small thing that you do, or an experience you can share about, may be an unimaginable blessing and encouragement to someone else!
Link up below, or share in the comments section below.
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