As parents, we not only need to remember that God has a plan and purpose for our children, but we also need to remind THEM of that often! We must intentionally be giving our kids purpose, as we point them to God and His plans for them. We need to partner with God in guiding them, and helping them to seek His purpose for them.
Recently I heard a song that talked about Mary being the mother of Jesus. The phrase “she understood the purpose of her son,” just stood out to me!
Do we understand the purpose of our son(s), and daughters? Do we remember that they belong to God, and not us? Do we intentionally seek to give our kids purpose, as we encourage them to follow God and His will?
It’s so easy to start making plans for what we want our kids to do or become, and forget to seek God’s thoughts on it.
As parents, we greatly influence the paths our children will one day take when they leave home. What an awesome and sobering responsibility we have as we train our kids, and seek to give them purpose.
1. Live with eternity’s values in view.
The way we live our daily lives as parents, shows our kids what we value! We need to live with eternity’s values in view, and remember what really matters.
Just being faithful in our daily duties and doing them for the glory of God, is a great reminder that what we are doing counts for eternity.
Remind your kids often that they need to do their best for the Lord, in EVERYTHING. Be sure they know that God has a special plan and purpose for their lives, and they need to do all they can to prepare for that purpose.
We told our kids that God put them in the family He did, and with the siblings He did, to shape their character and prepare them for His purpose.
When the older ones would talk about wanting to do more for God, we often reminded that they had their own little mission field in the home. Their younger siblings looked up to them, and they had an opportunity to encourage them in their walk with God by their example, and influence.
2. Prepare them to love and serve God.
It’s important that we give our kids a good academic education so that they are prepared for life when they graduate. However, it is MUCH more important to prepare them for life spiritually! We need to build their faith as we teach them God’s Word, and show them by our example that we love God. That in turn will give them more of a thirst for the things of God.
Involve them in service from the time they are YOUNG. We took our kids to the nursing homes where they were able to minister and be a blessing. We were encouraging them to serve God by showing His love to others.
We also visited widows, and the kids colored Bible verse pictures for them, and prepared a song to sing for them. Our purpose for this was to get them excited about serving God, and help them realize they didn’t have to wait till they were adults to serve Him and fulfill His purpose.
3. Teach them that God doesn’t show them the next step until they obey the one He has shown them.
For example, we taught our kids the importance of being obedient to us as their parents, and reminded them that was the only command given to children in the Bible. So their main responsibility to prepare for God’s purpose was to learn to obey us, so they would then obey His loving voice and call on their life. Till they learned to be obedient, God wasn’t going to show them the next step they should take.
4. Let go when they feel God is leading.
When our son was a senior in high school, we kind of encouraged him to stay home and take Bible school classes online. He made a respectful appeal to us stating that he felt God leading him to go away to Bible college, and we gave him our blessing.
While he was at Bible college, he called to tell us he felt God speaking to his heart, and that he had surrendered to be a missionary. My husband and I gave him our full support and blessing, and rejoiced as we realized that this was the ultimate fulfillment of our purpose in raising and training him – to prepare him to serve God.
I was SO very glad that he had a soft heart that was in tune with God, and that he was willing to go wherever God led him. There was some sadness about him being so far away (The Philippines), and even a little fear for his safety.
I chose to focus on the fact that he would be safe in the place where God wanted him to be, and rejoiced that he was moving on to fulfill the purpose that God had for him.
5. Give counsel, but teach them how to make right decisions.
As the kids started growing and maturing, we gave them counsel and started teaching them how to make decisions. We encouraged them to take into consideration the talents God had blessed them with, as well their interests, and ask God how they could best serve Him using those gifts.
Their decisions shouldn’t be based on what WE want as their parents, or what THEY want, but on what GOD wants. He created them with a plan, and we need to guide them in making decisions to help fulfill His plan for them.
6. Remember they are safer in God’s will than any where else!
It’s hard to let go of our kids, and see them move far away. However, if God is leading them somewhere to serve Him, as hard as it is, we need to give them our blessing!
Don’t ever discourage them by showing your fears, or an extreme sadness about them leaving. Rather encourage them, and let them know how excited you are to see how God is going to use them.
To calm your fears, realize that the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.
7. Remind them that it’s okay if God’s purpose for them involves working a secular job.
Let your kids know that even if they don’t feel God leading them to full-time Christian service, they are still full-time Christians!
God has a purpose for them to fill no matter where they work. He can use them to be a testimony and show His love in the secular workforce, and they need to realize it’s an opportunity to let their light shine.
What are you doing to give your children purpose? Be sure to remind them often to seek God’s purpose, and follow His leading!
2 Responses
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