#pastorbiodunsoretire
3. Let God, the ultimate owner of your child, be the alpha and omega of all your training strategies and schemes. I remembered when our son was in pregnancy, I went on a three-day marathon fasting and prayer retreat to have some time with God over the coming child. He revealed some things to me and I too told him some things about the boy. Now, that the boy has come, at every point of his development, we thank God for things that make us happy and tell him about the changes we want about things that make us unhappy about him..
We often project into his future to get it covered in prayer. The power of a praying parent. Every parent needs this because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood over the destiny of these children. Powers and principalities are involved. So, I can boldly say, The fervent effectual prayer of a righteous mother or father avails much.
4. Make love, and not fear, the driver of your discipline. The child must not see it that if he breaks the rule he will be incurring your wrath. Rather, he should see it that he is breaking your heart and hurting God's feelings. That is the true fear of God. It is not the fear that God will punish him if he does it but that he will be hurting God's feelings. If it is all about not incurring your wrath or rebuke, the child will see himself free once he is no longer under your roof. Look at Joseph! His parents were not there, yet he kept the godly virtue they have implanted in him. Listen to him: How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God. Let your child keep the law because he loves you and God and not because he fears your beating or God's hell fire.
5. Finally, teach your children the word of God 'diligently'. Every effort must be made or engaged to see to it that we successfully and effectively pass the baton of spirituality, not religiosity, to our children. And at the centre of spiritual training of a child is reading, studying, memorising and meditating on the word of God - Deuteronomy 6: 6 and 7 is our guide at this point. I make sure that personal private reading and meditation on God's word features daily in our roughly 1-hour family devotion. How do I ensure that? There is a feedback mechanism - everybody shares with us after the meditative moment of 10 - 20 minutes. Apart from vibrant family devotion, every medium must be engaged to get the word into them - talk of them [the word] when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest - [electronic, technological, dramatic and musical media and means must definitely be included to help the child internalise the word in this our time and age]. The best medium of Biblical instruction of course is still impacting it through our conduct and comportment.
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