How to instill lasting faith in kids

Imparting a lasting testimony and faith into our kids feels complicated and daunting to say the least.

Leaving them with a lasting faith to withstand what the world throws at them will help strengthen them. But how do you do it right? You’ve been given the beautiful task of raising these children God has given you but how do you raise them in way that will keep them safe spiritually?

Being able to raise my kids with faith in the Lord strong enough not to be shaken by the world and to know that they are a child of God and He is here. Let’s talk about what is important to raising the strong children the Lord has saved for this day and age.

Show by example:

How can we expect our children to have strong faith and habits that bring them closer to heaven if we do not? Kids learn from example.

Showing them that you trust the Lord, that you are living your life the way that God needs to you to. Allow them to see you helping others, reading your Bible, and praying.

Talk talk talk:

Talk to your children about the Lord, about His blessing, show them where His hand is in your life. When they have questions do not be afraid to answer them. If they ask a question that you do NOT know the answer too, do not worry. Tell them the truth. I do not know let’s find that out together.

Pretending to know it all will not help. Or if you get an answer wrong do not be afraid to come to them and explain I had this wrong, but we got the opportunity to learn together!

Your children will benefit from healthy talks about the Bible and the Lord. This is not shoving it down there throat but giving them a solid base of trust that they can talk and ask questions to you. This will only benefit your relationship.

If they come to you with questions and you react with love and gentleness they will come back as teens with questions and feel safe.

Pray

Pray with them, pray for them, pray over them. You can never pray enough. Praying before eating can teach them to be grateful for the food on the table and the blessing that it is. Pray before you put them to bed.

We personally have scripture and prayer every night with the children before they brush their teeth and go to bed. They know this routine and look forward to it. They learn to pray and to be thankful by doing it.

Pray over your children that they will be guided on the path God has for them as well as pray for you to be able to instill faith into their hearts.

Intentional

This is the most important thing to remember when raising kids. Being intentional is how to you want to approach anything you do when it comes to parenting but especially when it comes instilling a testimony into your kids.

Having your intentions set and know how you want to respond. If you can do one thing to keep your children on the right path to the Lord, be intentional about how you parent. Find out what your core beliefs are, what you want to pass down to this next generation.

Pray about how to be intentional is what you say and teach to your kids. Take to your spouse about what you guys want this to look like. Create small shifts in your life until you are living how you intend.

Books

Reading different devotionals can give you ideas and inspiration for your parenting and how to raise Godly children. You can read different children’s Christian books with them as well.

There are kids devotional books that could bring you closer and also the Lord. Sitting down once a day and reading with them some will change both of your lives.

Read the Bible with them

You want your kids to live a biblical life you will want to read the Bible with them so they know the Bible.

It is not a bad idea when they are littler to read a simplified Bible to help them create a base and slowly build to the Bible when they can comprehend it. But truly kids will grow and know the Bible even if it uses big words for them .

Kids grasp more then we give them credit for, if they don’t understand give them the space to ask questions that you can find the answers to together.

Set values:

Sit down with your spouse and decide what are your values and what you need to instill in your children. Some ideas are:

Compassion, gratitude, honesty, patience, loyalty, integrity, considerate, faithfulness are just a couple examples. Sit down as a family and discuss what values you want to have and how they think they can achieve them.

It is important to discuss and what values you want. When you intentionally have values in the home this will help you keep them and manage them.

Explain

Truly one of the best things you can do period is to talk and explain to your children the path the Lord has for us that is laid out in the Bible. Taking the time to sit down and explain your intention to them, to explain your values and why will help them.

Kids needs to understand why it is important to you. They care and communication is key in most things in life. Even with the Lord (which is why He gave us the Bible). Explaining can be hard, don’t get me wrong especially if your children are young.

But try to explain to them where you are coming from and why.

Learn together

Leaving your kids with a strong testimony starts with learning the word. If you do not know an answer to a question, then learn about it together. Study with each other.

Do your devotionals at the same time, or read them together. Studying the Bible together and learning the Bible can only help. Do not be afraid to learn things about the gospel along side your children.

Help each other to grow in the light of the Lord.

Learning activities

Visual aids are super helpful, have an activity that can correlate with value or Bible story you are trying to teach. You can add sensory bins into your lessons, books, coloring pages, and even crafts.

Having a tactile activity to engage them even further is a fantastic way to engage children and that can be a huge tool in your toolbox for leaving them with a strong testimony.

Quality time

Kids thrive on time; they need time with their parents. It is the dynamic that the Lord intended. The family dynamic needs time. Find the quality time to spend with your children and teach them.

Spending quality time with your children will give you a strong relationship, with such trust and a strong bond what you teach them will only stay with them longer.

Children that spend quality time with their parents are shown to have more confidence in life and will only benefit them.

Do not use the Bible as a punishment

Using the Bible and the gospel as a punishment will only push your children from it. Forcing them to sit and write scripture verses over and over will not teach them a lesson on the value it is teaching but that this is a bad thing and only as disciple.

They will want to avoid it, no child wants to be disciplined and using the Bible and faith as a tool to punish them for a wrong doing will not help. If they have made a mistake offer forgiveness and talk about why it was wrong and what the Bible says about it, instead of using it as a form of punishment.

Conclusion

Raising your family with a lasting faith that will keep them strong in the word even when your gone is the goal. These tips can help you get there and enjoy the journey there. Do not let the advesary fool you into thinking it is pointless, that the world will get to them no matter what.

Those are lies, God put these children with you and you are capable of raising these sweet souls the way the Lord needs you too.

Which tip will you be adding into your life?