There comes a moment where one question makes you step back and rethink everything. I was enjoying a moment to visit with a friend. We were sharing stories about our families and getting caught up with each other’s life. I shared with her how the Lord had specifically answered a prayer for me. This was a significant event as I needed the Lord to make His presence known and He did not fail me. Her next question made me pause.
“Did you tell your children?”
I was caught off guard. It was not the question I expected. “Umm…sure. I told them,” I stammered out of pride. I knew that was the answer she expected to hear, but I also knew that I had not specifically told them in detail how the Lord had answered my prayer.
My children knew of the need. They knew we had made it a matter of prayer. They may have observed that the need had been met, but they did not know that it was God that had done it. I had failed to tell them. They knew something happened. I knew it was God.
After my conversation with the Lord, I became painfully aware that my children will not have an experiential knowledge of the Lord if I do not share what He is doing in my life. Only through me can they experience and identify an event as God’s loving-kindness and intercession rather than attributing it to fate. Only through me will they start to associate blessings as coming from the Lord.
The Lord knew that if the experiential knowledge of Him is not passed down it will be lost. Children of believing and godly parents could leave home with no experience with the Lord because mom and dad failed to involve them in their relationship with the Lord.
Envision that you are blazing a path through life that will help your child navigate life’s troubles. It is paved with your experiences and trials; stories of answered prayer, blessings, comfort, and direction from the Lord Jesus. Each stone is a memorial of God’s goodness that helps build this path through life. The follower can use each memory and story to navigate life. They will know they are following after righteousness.
Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
Through your stories, a child can then follow this path with eyes that have been trained to see the Lord’s hand in their life. The pathway leads them in the way of righteousness; pointing them toward the Lord. They are prepared to walk this path because their eyes and ears are ready to recognize the Lord’s hand in their own life.
Joshua 4:5-6 And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
God had done something miraculous for the children of Israel. Joshua knew that a memorial; a stack of stones, would cause the children to ask questions and remind the parents to tell the story. The parents had experienced something incredible. If those parents never told the children about what God had done, how were the children going to know about God? How were they going to identify His presence when He moved in their life?
At some point in your child’s life, they will cry out, “…my soul is full of troubles…” (Psalm 88:3) What will she trust in? What path will she know to follow? Will she know that there is a God she can trust and have the experience to see His hand?
Tell your children about what God has done in your life. Lay a path that helps them understand God’s intervention and trains them to recognize the Lord’s hand in their life.
Philippians 3:15-16 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Teach your children to know that they have a friend in the Lord and that He truly loves them by showing them how He has loved you. Through this effort, you will be helping your children to “…walk by the same rule…” and to “…mind the same thing.”
Related Bible Passages:
Joshua 4
Psalms 88
Proverbs 12
Philippians 3
Have a face to face conversation with your Lord:
Lord, what experiences can I share with children?
Lord, how am I sharing what you have done for me with children?
Lord, do I have eyes to see your hand in my life so I can share the experience with others?
Lord, I want to recognize your hand in my life and I want to share it with children so they can start to see your amazing works in their lives.
If you are interested in having a collection of these devotional conversations with your Lord, consider purchasing the devotional book, Conversations: Face to Face with Your Lord Book 1 or Conversations: Face to Face with Your Lord Book 2. Book 3 is coming soon! They are available from Amazon by clicking on the titles above.
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