How to Raise Godly Children in this Challenging World

As a parent, I understand the critical role we play in raising Godly children. Children are a blessing from God. This world presents many challenges, but we can guide our children with God’s help. Being a parent is the hardest thing to do.

As their guardian, it’s our responsibility to instill integrity, faith, and love in their lives. Guess what? They didn’t come with a manual or guidebook to teach us how to succeed in this role.

However, the values we provide them will shape their lives and guide them through the challenges they face. Here are some easy-to-use tips that would make parenting effective.

1. Understanding the Role of Parents in Raising Godly Children:

As parents, God entrusted us with a critical role to guide our children in a life of faith. In a world full of hatred, raising Godly children is a challenge. It takes a lot to shape their character with good values.

Understanding the importance of our role allows us to approach parenting with patience and intention. We are responsible for inspiring and raising our children with confidence and high self-esteem.

Helping them to be leaders, not followers, and motivating them to stay away from negativity is crucial for self-development and growth.

2. Equipping Children for Spiritual Warfare:

In a world filled with spiritual battles, it is essential to provide our children with tools to help them stand firm. What tools should we give them? We can teach them the Word of God at a young age by reading bedtime stories, praying, and learning Bible verses to strengthen their spiritual faith and relationship with God. 

We need to make bedtime stories a nightly routine. The stories will increase their faith in God. Additionally, set aside time for family prayer where you can pray together and encourage them to express their thoughts and concerns.

Memorize Bible verses is another effective way to strengthen their spiritual foundation. In addition,  we must have family devotional time with our children to help them understand the word of God and His Goodness.

Teaching children to rely on God, prayer, and Scripture equips them spiritually. It provides them with the weapons to combat the challenges they may face. By instilling these practices from a young age, parents can empower their children to stand firm in their faith and navigate the world’s challenges with confidence and resilience.

3. Cultivating a Love for God and His Word:

When we start training our children from infancy, instilling the teachings of the Bible in their daily routines will help them cultivate a deep and lasting relationship with God. It is important to also encourage a love for worship and praise in their lives.

Pray and bless them to be disciples of the most High God. For instance, listening to music together is another way to connect with God. By including all these in their lives, we create an opportunity for them to experience God’s presence in their lives.   

4. Teaching Love, Integrity, and Respect:

Love: Instilling them the values of love and integrity wherever they go is essential. Teaching them to respect themselves and those around them sets them up for success.

Integrity:  As parents, we should set boundaries in teaching our children integrity by being truthful in all we do. Teach them to be honest no matter the situation and respect people’s belongings.

Respect: Most importantly, we should teach them to treat everyone with respect and dignity, regardless of color, race, background, or gender. We are living in a hateful world, but keep in mind that hatred is not innate. We learn to hate, so we can unlearn to hate if we allow God to come into our hearts. Furthermore, parents can reinforce respect by modeling respectful behavior towards others.

As parents, by modeling these virtues, we provide great examples for them to follow. Learn to live a life of faith in practical ways through acts of kindness and compassion.   Furthermore, it’s vital to instruct them to respect authority.

5. Embracing Jesus’ Love and Sacrifice:

Help the children understand the depth of God’s love through the sacrificial act of Jesus. We need to share the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection with our children. Doing so will help them understand God’s unconditional love and grace.

Remember to let them know that Jesus is love. He offers hope, forgiveness, and a new life to all who believe in Him (John 3:16).  

6. Balancing Discipline and Friendship:

In today’s culture, balancing discipline and friendship with your children is hard because they face many worldly temptations. However, cultivating a relationship of trust and communication is essential.

In my experience as a parent, God blessed me with three strong-willed children. Now, the oldest is married with a child, and both of my oldest are in the ministry, helping to advance the kingdom of God. The youngest one is still at home, which I must set a good example for.

I thank God for the men that the oldest ones became. I will lead by example so my youngest can follow her siblings’ journey in the ministry. As a parent, I aim to fulfill God’s purpose in my children’s lives. But it’s challenging because today’s culture is full of distractions that could lead them astray.

However, as their parents, I taught them the best I could with what I had, even though there were times when I felt I was not doing enough as a mother. I had to be both their friend and mother.

The reason is that I had to be able to communicate with them by making them feel comfortable coming and talking to me about anything. If they’re uncomfortable talking to me, they will find someone else to talk to, and I didn’t want that.

It is essential to have a cordial and approachable relationship with your children. Yes, parenting is not easy. To tell you the truth, raising children is incredibly challenging, especially in the world we live in right now. However, by putting God first, we will see His glory in everything we do.

My husband and I fostered an environment where they feel safe sharing their thoughts and struggles. Maintaining an open line of communication presents the way for practical guidance and support.

7. Persevering in Prayer:

The Bible reminds us to train children the way they should go so that even though they stray from God, they will come back because that’s how you raise them (Proverbs 22:6). We need to raise our children with love and dignity, as Jesus wants us to.

We, fellow parents, need to pray over our children constantly, no matter how old they are. This world throws many negative things their way, but if we keep them in prayer, God will put a wall of fire around them to protect them from the evil one. Also, trusting God’s faithfulness will lead them towards His perfect will.

Dear God, I pray that You will draw my children closer to You. May You strengthen their relationship with You daily. May they grow in wisdom and knowledge. Please shield and protect them from all harm and danger. May they walk in Your will forever. Father God, I pray they will be great in Your kingdom and the world. Help them to be a blessing to those around them and enlarge their territory to minister Your Words. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Conclusion:

To summarize, raising faithful children today is tough. But with God’s grace, we parents can overcome the challenges in today’s world. Equip them with spiritual tools and surround them with the values of faith, love, and integrity. Trust in God’s plan for your children’s lives as you navigate parenthood.   Be strong and courageous. We can do it!