Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Five Steps to Preparing Children for a Life of Faith

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Five Steps to Preparing Children for a Life of Faith · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today I have a special guest, Cheryl Sherman.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: She's an award-winning author, and before she became an author, she had a professional career to literary education, consulting, and staff development training.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Her debut devotional Farmhouse Devotions, God's Glory in the Ordinary, released in May from Bold Vision Books.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was recently named the 2024 Golden Scroll Devotional Book of the Year.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Congrats, Cheryl.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: She's quite qualified to talk on her topic because she has 13 grandchildren.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so she has plenty of build-in inspiration and resources for her many stories.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And she and her husband are currently co-authoring a book series for Christian grandparents.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Today, Cheryl's going to share five steps to preparing children for a life of faith.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Cheryl.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Sandra.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to be here today.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So share with us the tips.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Share with us the tips for raising kids because it's so important.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: I will.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be here and do that.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, my husband and I raised four sons, and we now have 13 grandchildren, ages nine to 21.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a wide range of young people we interact with.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: But families are at the center of God's plan for mankind.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they families are the fundamental building block of strong societies.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: We know that.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yet the culture is shouting to our children continually.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So what are some ways we can set children on a course where they receive the benefits of a believing, obedient life and pass those benefits on to their children and beyond?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Here are five ways parents and grandparents can prepare their children for a life of faith that will continue through the generations.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that is our vision.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, teach about the creator God.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: When we consider the big timbers of theological understanding, origin, meaning, morality, destiny, the fact that origin comes first is no mystery.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: A child's entire worldview begins with knowing they're a created being, created in the image of God.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: This understanding establishes the authority of God.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Children must be convinced they were created before meaning, morality, and destiny can make any sense to them at all.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: We see God's creativity and power in all of creation.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: The only way to foster a love for someone we haven't seen is to marvel at their attributes.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we gaze at the stars with our children on a moonless night and we tell them about the billions upon billions of stars God made, and he named each one.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: We teach our children about the order God created with the animals of the day and the animals of the night.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes with our grandchildren, we sort animal bones that we find in the woods.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we talk about each animal's unique design.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I would encourage you to spend as much time as you can outdoors because you will have endless opportunities to teach about God's creativity, his orderly world, and his power.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, teach about God's grand plan for mankind.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Children have many, many questions, as you know.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: For them, the world can seem like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And a puzzle with all the pieces upside down and the box top nowhere in sight.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Parents are to help children understand and assemble the pieces and see how the following the plan of the master designer works best.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: How those pieces go together matters, and it's our task to be the picture on the box.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Three, model how to run to the rock.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: In Malachi 3.6, the Lord declares, I, the Lord, do not change.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, but my hair changes from eight o'clock in the morning to noon.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Everything around us changes.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Come to me.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: He assures people he will give them rest, he'll show them how to live in this world, and he will be the rock where they can find refuge.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: When our children go to Jesus, they will find what they desire.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: So how do we model this?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: We go with them.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: We show them.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: We show them how we are learning to orient everything in our life to the God who will never change.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Four, teach them how to pray.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: When believing adults pray aloud before their family, the children learn theology.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Whether praying over the children, for them, or for others, parents, grandparents, and ministry leaders model how to pray to a holy and an all-powerful God who listens.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Children learn how to praise a holy God, how to make needs and requests known to him, and how to pray for the welfare of others.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I love what Charles Spurgeon says about intercessory prayer.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: He says, when we pray for the needs of others, it is like we're holding a powerful engine in our hands.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: God listens.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Five, show them Jesus.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Don't just tell, show them Jesus.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: When Christian adults show children the outcome of a faithful and believing life, they model patterns of righteous behavior.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Do your children see the power of God in your life?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Do they sense the working of the Holy Spirit in your interactions with others?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Are you modeling kindness and service to other people before your children?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Create a home where righteousness dwells.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because when your children turn 16, 17, 18, and they walk out that front door, you want unrighteousness and sin to look very odd to them.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: You want them to remember who they are.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: By preparing your children for a life of fifth faith, you are strengthening them for challenges to come and demonstrating how a life devoted to God brings joy and goodness in your life.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be able to rejoice also as they grow and mature in Christ.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So two quick closing thoughts.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: If we give our children religion and don't give them a living vital savior, they can easily walk away.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: To your teaching and modeling, not just for the children standing in front of you, but for your the generations to come.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Cheryl.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Those are just such good tips.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, not only the theological basis of what we're chill trying to teach them, but all the practical things and the practical ways that you encourage parents and grandparents to do that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for being on our five minute parenting podcast today.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I loved being here, Sandra.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Goodbye.