#126: Training Our Children

On episode 126, Tim discusses Proverbs 22:6 - and explains why we are given a responsibility by the Lord to raise our children to know him.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into episode one hundred and twenty six of Bring
Heaven Down. My name is Tim and I'm the host
of this daily devotional podcast. If you have a comment,
a thought, a question, a topic, you can email the
show Bring Heaven Down number seven at gmail dot com.

(00:21):
That's Bring Heaven Down number seven at gmail dot com.
Plus if there's something that you disagree with with something
that I've said, if there's something I need correction on,
or something I need to think about a little bit longer,
I'm happy to receive those emails as well. I am
as unoffendable, I think as you can get. If you

(00:45):
send a message that disagrees with something that I have
to say, Okay, I'm gonna look into it. I'm gonna
research it, i'm gonna ask other people, and I'll do
my best to respond and talk about it on this podcast.
All of that is welcome. But I want to continue

(01:07):
discussing the role of being a parent because it is
a big responsibility, and episodes one hundred and twenty four
and episodes when one hundred and twenty five begin talking
about that, and we're going to continue discussing it. On
episode one hundred and twenty six, and the verse that

(01:29):
comes to my mind today is Proverbs twenty two to six.
It says, train up a child and the way he
should go, even when he is old, he will not
depart from it. And the reason why I want to
discuss this is because it is really important to bring

(01:56):
Jesus into your children's lives early. And this is something
my wife and I have made sure we're doing. And
I want to speak to the men here for a second. Women,
you also have a role in this, but men, this
starts with you, men praying with their kids, talking about Jesus,

(02:23):
reading Jesus' stories. It starts with you leading your family
in prayer before bedtime. It starts with you leading your
family in prayer before dinner. It starts with you. It
doesn't have to only be you. Your wife can pray,
your children can pray, but it starts with you. This

(02:46):
is how it appears to be a leader of the family.
And what is so cool about training your children young
about the importance of prayer and Jesus is that you
can also learn from them. I remember when our oldest

(03:09):
who's now three, was about one and a half years old.
She was the only child at the time. I think,
and my wife was at work and it was just
her and I, and I made breakfast, the always delicious

(03:30):
peanut butter toast. You put toast in the toaster and
you put some peanut butter on it, and it's a
little milty. Oh it's a beautiful thing. And I put
it down on the table for her and I to
eat breakfast together. And I started diving into it right
away because it's peanut butter toast. It's amazing, one of

(03:55):
the best breakfasts ever. And I look over at our
daughter and she hadn't even touched the toast yet, she
hadn't even moved her hands to grab it. I look

(04:20):
over as she's sitting right next to me, and her
hands are folded, ready to pray for our breakfast before
we eat it. Even I need reminders because I'm a
sinful man, and I will never pretend not to be

(04:43):
a sinful man. But the reason why she folded her
hands to pray before breakfast is because my wife and
I totter and trained her that before we eat, we

(05:08):
are to give thanks and have a heart of gratitude
to the one that provided it for us. So Proverbs
twenty two to six says, train up a child and
the way he should go. Even when he years old,
he will not depart from it. But when you train

(05:29):
a child and the way they should go, there will
be times when they remind you the way that you
train them, because we all need reminders. And in that moment,

(05:52):
I had a lapse and I didn't for some reason
want to start our meal with prayer, but our daughter did,
and I remember being really emotional about that because it
was a reminder to me that we have to be

(06:16):
doing something right. If our one and a half year
old understands that praying before a meal is important. I
think there's some parents that don't want to force their
beliefs onto their children and let them have a thought

(06:37):
for themselves or whatever the case may be. But the
Lord instructs us to train our children to know him,
because if we don't, then we are going to allow
the world to train them. You either train them or

(07:00):
the world trains them. And that's why parenting is such
a crucial responsibility. We are given a gift by the Lord,
amazing children, and you are not to take that lightly.

(07:23):
Of course, you can have fun, you can play games.
We do that every day, But what is most important
above all the fun and games, is training your children
to know and glorify Jesus, because without Jesus, none of

(07:50):
this is possible. So that's where my heart was today.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast, and I hope you've
been in joining this series so far, the parenting series
I Guess, and I hope these episodes and this particular
podcast has encouraged you and revealed to you more and

(08:13):
more about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.