Five Principles for Raising a God-centered Family

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” (2 Timothy 1:5)

Timothy didn’t begin learning the Bible from the apostle Paul. He began learning from his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois.

Today, raising children is a great challenge, but also a great privilege. It is a lifelong journey with stages of ups and downs.

Raising godly children is not an overnight success. It needs a lot of patience, love and drawing strength from the Lord.

Often, parents encounter heartache and mental challenges in the home. Yet, we strive to leave a valuable spiritual legacy by trusting God.

Whether or not some day we see the results, believe the Lord is using you when you sow the seeds into their lives.

1. Keep Sowing Seeds
   We have the great opportunity and privilege in every single day to sow seeds into our children’s lives. While we sow, God takes what we plant and adds nutrients and fertilizer to it.
   
   Trusting God will lead them as we sow the seeds into their lives. Trusting God, as He cultivates these seeds in their lives.
   
   Children are exposed to the world and it is inevitable that they get influenced by various things that may color their thoughts.
   
   The seeds that we sow into their hearts will someday produce the fruits of our labor. Commit them to God in prayer. Whether or not some day we see the results, believe the Lord is using you when you sow the seeds into their lives.
   
2. Show Them the Way
   By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau regarding their future. (Hebrews 11:20). We, as parents, ought to remember what we feed our children daily does have a powerful impact on their lives. They learn a lot from hearing us ‘talk’ and watching us ‘act’.
   
   Pray and bless your children with the Word of God. Take every opportunity to feed and encourage them with His Word. One day, those words will be the master blueprint in their lives that will direct their future pathway.
   
   Parents are to continue to pass on the reverent fear of the LORD into their lives. Us Christian parents must do everything we can to pass on the heart and passion for the Lord to our children. In doing so, we believe that our offspring will catch the same love and passion for God to serve Him.
   
   As Psalm 63:3 states: “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Your lips won’t glorify God if your heart doesn’t value the love of God more than your life.

3. Trust God
   We need to surrender our children to God and trust Him to take care of them every day of their lives. This is especially important as we see them grow in this tough world.
   
   Jochebed’s trust in God can be seen as she watched her precious baby Moses float down the river in a basket. Many things could have happened, yet she entrusted her baby Moses to God.
   
   Likewise, our children may be floating down the river of worldly challenges.
   
   All the more, we need to trust God with each day. He has a purpose and plan for every single one of our children. Continue to pray for God’s perfect will to intervene in their lives at His perfect timing.
   
   As parents, we want to keep our children safe, protect them from pain, fix their problems, make their decision and steer their directions.
   
   Someday, we will hear them saying to us, “Mom, Dad, I am old enough to make my own decisions.” Those words may break our hearts. However, there is a time for us to learn to let go and realize we aren’t in control, God is.
   
   Let us commit our children into God’s loving hands. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

4. Believe God
   Remember, children today are very different from the past. Children are like sponges, and they soak up everything at home, school or the workplace.
   
   It is so hard to watch our children go out and face the things of this world. But here’s the reality. We can’t watch them 24/7. We need to believe and accept that our children belong to the Lord. Psalm 127:3 says: “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.”
   
   Remember the story of Hannah, she prayed for a son. She promised God that if He would answer her prayer, she would commit him back to God. Hannah taught us with a beautiful illustration that our children belong to God and not us.
   
   1 Samuel 1:27-28 says: “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.”
   
   Hannah knew what she believed in, and we need to learn from her perspective. Children are like a loan to us from God. We are to love, raise them and prepare them for eternity.
   
   So, pray for them and believe God will lead and show them the way.

5. Live a Life of Example
   As parents, we must live out our faith life. Today we need to ask God to help us live a blameless life before Him and our family. We can’t attend church service once a month and expect them to attend regularly.
   
   It is very important that we set a godly example and sow seeds of wisdom into our children’s lives.
   
   We can’t just talk with them, but we must walk before them. Our children will follow our ways of living instead of instructive order of words. We need God’s strength each day. Pray for God to protect them from Satan’s ploys to attack our beloved children which would bring us despair.
   
   There is no expressway route to see our children grow up into what we want them to become.
   Today, we as parents strive to make our children’s lives better and we put in a lot of sacrifice.

Pray for God to protect them from Satan’s ploys to attack our beloved children which would bring us despair.

Today, we as parents strive to make our children’s lives better and we put in a lot of sacrifice.

Lastly, I believe that no matter what the future holds, we can trust in this promise from a Psalm of David: “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” (Psalm 55:22)

We continue to do our best till God calls us home.

Rev Raymond Seet has 32 years of ministry experience and is currently serving in Emmanuel AG’s Indonesian Service. He graduated from Global University. He is married to Ernawatie and they have three grown-up children with the age of 28, 26 and 24. He enjoys walks during his leisure time.