photo by Swami Stream
We all want our children to choose good people for friends. We encourage them to meet someone we think reflects the values we want our children to have. We prompt them to “go over and talk to him”, knowing that if they take the first step and speak to the person, it’ll give them the opportunity to get to know him and perhaps start a bond that connects.
So it is with anyone’s relationship with God. Our daughter gave her life to Christ when she was nine years old. She spent time in personal devotion, both reading from the Bible and praying. Several times she asked me how she would know if God was “speaking” to her, because so far she wasn’t hearing anything from Him. In a way that probably didn’t make much sense to her at the time, I explained that as she got older and learned how to make Christ the center of her life, she would begin hearing Him.
Four years later, while lying in bed late one night, our daughter made a more serious commitment to Christ and dedicated her life to Him. She understood more and made a more informed decision, a decision that allowed the Holy Spirit of God to begin a true transformation in her and opened up the door to a more personal relationship with God through his Son Jesus.
It has been wonderful watching our daughter mature in her faith and walk in her convictions. More wonderful yet is her joy in hearing God speak to her. Her parents’ prompting to “go over and talk to God” gave her the opportunity to get to know Him and start a bond that eventually connected in a deep, personal way.
This is what we must do with each of our children - introduce them to talking with God so that as they become more familiar with who He is they will be more apt to give Him first place in their lives. And as they learn about their need for salvation they will rely on their closeness and familiarity of God to draw them into making a committed decision to follow Him.
So it is with anyone’s relationship with God. Our daughter gave her life to Christ when she was nine years old. She spent time in personal devotion, both reading from the Bible and praying. Several times she asked me how she would know if God was “speaking” to her, because so far she wasn’t hearing anything from Him. In a way that probably didn’t make much sense to her at the time, I explained that as she got older and learned how to make Christ the center of her life, she would begin hearing Him.
Four years later, while lying in bed late one night, our daughter made a more serious commitment to Christ and dedicated her life to Him. She understood more and made a more informed decision, a decision that allowed the Holy Spirit of God to begin a true transformation in her and opened up the door to a more personal relationship with God through his Son Jesus.
It has been wonderful watching our daughter mature in her faith and walk in her convictions. More wonderful yet is her joy in hearing God speak to her. Her parents’ prompting to “go over and talk to God” gave her the opportunity to get to know Him and start a bond that eventually connected in a deep, personal way.
This is what we must do with each of our children - introduce them to talking with God so that as they become more familiar with who He is they will be more apt to give Him first place in their lives. And as they learn about their need for salvation they will rely on their closeness and familiarity of God to draw them into making a committed decision to follow Him.
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