Teaching Children God’s Word

Deuteronomy 6:5-9, 11:18-21
 ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

In Chapter 11:21 It concludes with a promise; so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

The Jews refer to this verse as “Shema” which was placed in the “Mezuzah” and hanged on the doorpost. Jim Burns explains in his book; Confident Parenting, how the Jews went on about it. He says that they were careful to teach their children the love of God. They would memorize and recite God’s commandments daily.

God calls upon us as Christian parents to impress our faith in our children. Impressing our faith in our children can be one great legacy that we can impart upon our generations to come. We can make it to become a family tradition, just like the Jews do.

Why should we teach our children the Word of God?

Parenting with scriptures I believe is the right way to parent, especially in our world today. Our children are overexposed to all kinds of vices through the media, social media channels, friends and much more. This can create a variety of problems for them. It can often make us to parent from a fearful point of view, thus reacting to situations as they arise instead of being objective from the onset. If we do so, we will tend to focus on what we don’t want, as opposed to the character traits we need our children to develop.

The solution to tackle this is to teach them proper decision making. We can teach our children to think through the scriptures for guidance on their behaviours.

We can also teach them how to seek solutions from ‘The Word’ should a situation arise. Thus give them guidebook for life as the habit to turn to scriptures would have been instilled by God’s grace. God tells us to be careful to do everything written in His book. As we teach them, we also pray and allow the Holy Spirit to reign and take control of our children’s lives.

This way we can teach our children virtues concerning critical areas such as character development, sex education, drug and alcohol abuse, responsible media usage, financial stewardship, spiritual growth, and on relationships based on the Word of God.

Some of the reasons why we need to teach them God’s Word include;

• It is the will of God to train our children on His instructions. In Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” How will we let them go to Christ if we do not tell them the Truth and show them the way?
• To be thoroughly equipped for every good work. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• We all want our children to be successful and prosperous. Why not start them off when they are still young? Joshua 1:8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
• To leave a rich legacy to our children and to our generations to come. When our children grow in the word of God, they will likely value it and impart it on their children too. A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous. Proverbs 13:22
• Our children belong to God. The Bible says that children are the heritage of the Lord. (Psalm 127:3) The word heritage means a person unique inherited family identity, values, traditions, culture. Therefore our children need to possess and display Godly character to be identified with God.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12. The word of God is quick and sharp. It will for sure penetrate deep into our children to bring out the results we desire on our children.

Where can we teach them?

We can teach our children the word of God everywhere when spending time together, be it in the playfield or at home, or in the car. While at home, create a conducive environment for learning the word of God. Approach it with all the seriousness, just like you would approach any subject like mathematics. Besides, ensure your child attends Sunday school, this will also instil the habit of fellowship with other children who are also developing similar values. 

When can you teach them the Word of God?

Anytime is a teachable moment. Always be observant, you will be able to notice something that you might want to guide or correct your child on. Sometimes you can do a quick throwback on what you had taught him/her in case an occasion to do so arises. For example, let’s say you were watching the television together, then a need for parental guidance comes upon a particular scene. Let’s say, a kid being unkind to his sibling. You can ask the child what’s he thinks is right to do and why? Then follow up later on with a bible story or verses on ‘kindness.’ Or a recap of the lesson on kindness if you had taught it earlier.

You can schedule a specific time for learning. This can be at the breakfast table or dinner table or just before bedtime. I prefer bedtime as the children get to wind down. It is always suitable for us since no one is in a hurry to go anywhere plus we get to retire to bed peacefully too. Saturday mornings are ideal after breakfast also.

How can we teach our children the Word of God? 

There are so many ways on how we can go about it. To achieve maximum impact, we need to do this consciously and objectively. Not to worry, we got your back on this. We shall be posting topic by topic with guidelines on how to go about it.

However, you should note that learning largely depends on the child’s learning style, familiarity with the topic, age, intellectual level, the environment around him, ability to learn at that specific time, for example, if it’s bedtime, don’t wait till he is too exhausted. Therefore there is no exact formula on how to go about it. 

For instance, The lesson objective is to teach cause and effect relationship of Obedience/Disobedience using the story of Jonah in the Bible. Go through the causes of obedience /disobedience with the child. Then relate it with the happenings in the child’s life, such as disobedience to parents, teachers, or the harmful effects of telling lies, being unkind etc. Ask him the benefits of obedience. Ask him how disobedience to God caused detrimental/negative impacts on Jonah and to his fellow travellers. Then discuss what happened when Jonah obeyed God eventually. Make sure to highlight the benefits of obedience. Read other bible verses related to obedience as well.

Always tune the lesson to the child’s ability to understand. But irrespective of the age always remember to

Keep It Simple and Short. (K.I.S.S.)

You can choose to go through a topic in a week, two weeks or even a month, depending on the assessment of your child’s capability.

Please follow and share to encourage other parents to do the same. How do you teach your children the Word of God? Your feedback is highly appreciated.