If we are children of God, we should love Him with all of our hearts. If we love God, we should imitate God. If we imitate God, people should see God in us.

We are called not only to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us, but also to make disciples.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Many of us are hesitant to share the gospel with others or disciple others because we don’t think we know enough and/or we don’t think we have the right skills or gifts. It is true that a new believer shouldn’t be teaching a congregation, but that doesn’t mean the new believer doesn’t have a mission field.

Why Is Teaching Our Children So Important?

There is one group of people with whom we can ALL share the gospel and whom we can ALL disciple in following Jesus. These are our children.

I was recently reading the book of Judges. When I read this verse, it broke my heart.

All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. (Judges 2:10) {emphasis mine}

After the generations of Moses, of Joshua, and of those who knew Joshua, who had seen God’s miraculous works for Israel, “there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” God had sent plagues on Egypt, parted the Red Sea, fed the Israelites with Manna from heaven, spoken to them audibly from Mt. Sinai, brought water out of a rock, parted the Jordan River, destroyed the walls of Jericho, and given them victory over much more powerful nations, but the people who had witnessed these great works of God did not tell their children of God’s great love, mercy, and work. The following generations did not know God or His great works.

As parents, we are called to teach our children to know God and His great works throughout history. If we don’t know a lot about God, we are still capable of sitting down with our children and reading the Bible together. We can include our children in our prayers to God. We can praise, thank, and trust God with and in front of children, so they understand what a life wholly devoted to God looks like.

God knew that if we keep our faith silent and internal, then our children will pay the penalty of their sin, not knowing the way of salvation. To prevent this, He commanded parents to:

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)

God should be an everyday part of our lives. Our children should see us (and join us) praying throughout the day, especially when we see a problem(supplication), when things go well (thanksgiving), when we fail (confession), and in praise to God. They should see us studying the Bible to know Him better. They should see us acting in a loving manner. They should be taught all the great things God has done, including both New and Old Testament miracles and His life, death, and resurrection. They should be taught the fulfilled promises of God and the yet to be fulfilled promises of God.

Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

When we fail to teach how to live faithful lives and fail to teach our children to follow God, we condemn them to separation from God and to death.

Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt … (Judges 2:11-12a)

Intentionality

If you are like me, you didn’t grow up in a Christian household. You weren’t trained up to know God. Your family didn’t pray together and study the Bible together. The idea of teaching your child about God may sound good, but you don’t know how to start. I’ll give you some ideas, but everything you do that points to God is a move in the right direction. My method might not be best for you and your family, but make sure you are intentional.

My husband and I are reasonably handy. We know how to fix a bunch of things and how to figure out how to do it if we aren’t sure. As our sons were growing up, when something needed to be fixed, we usually just did it ourselves because that was fastest. As my oldest son reached high school age, we realized we had failed to teach him skills that he would likely need in adulthood. Luckily, we had a friend who had been a plumber but had injured his back. He ran a home maintenance class where he taught kids to install a sink or faucet, change a light fixture or light switch, fix drywall, change oil in a car, do maintenance on a lawnmower or bicycle, and many more skills that we had failed to teach our son. We ended up paying our friend to teach our son what we could have taught him ourselves if we’d chosen to be intentional instead of doing what was easy in the moment.

The same is true with teaching our children about God. It requires intentionality, or we will fail our children.

Practical Application: How to Teach Our Children About God

First, I recommend teaching your kids to pray. We pray together at meals and in the evening before bed. If our kids have been bad, been hurt, or are afraid, we pray with them and for them. When we hear about a hardship that people we know are experiencing, we stop what we are doing to pray together. This teaches our children to be in constant fellowship and teaches that God is the answer to all problems.

Most evenings we also have family devotions. Through the years, it has looked a little different. When they were little, we frequently used a children’s bible study book. I used “My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts” when my sons were little. It had a Bible verse for every letter in the alphabet and a story that illustrated the verse, so the kids would understand the verse. We didn’t just read through it, but reviewed previous verses, so they memorized them. When they misbehaved, I could ask them, “What is your C verse?” and they would answer back, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Ephesians 6:1) No lecture was necessary. They corrected themselves. It wasn’t my desire versus their desire, but was God’s commands. It really made correction easy.

At other times, we’ve just read through the Bible together. We read a chapter in the Bible and discuss it (either as we go along or at the end of reading). It helps to have an easier to read translation. For my personal study, my favorite translation is the NASB, but we use the NLT with my son because it is much easier to read. It uses simpler words and doesn’t include the long, complex sentences that are in the original text and usually carried into the NASB translation. You want to use a real Bible, but using one that is easier to read helps them to understand what they are reading or what is being read to them. Ideally, each family member will have a Bible in front of them during the Bible reading. Keep in mind that this is not just for the kids. This habit keeps parents in the Bible daily, too. If the parents are new believers or believers who have never studied the Bible, this will help them understand the Bible, so they can teach their kids and live a faithful life.

We also did two different Bible devotion books that taught our children to trust the Bible and that science has not disproven the Bible. We read “The New Answers Book 1” (middle school and older) and “Creation Basics and Beyond” (best for high school and older) to teach them the validity of the Bible.

Only my youngest son, who has Down Syndrome, is at home now. He is in an Awana program and has to do Bible readings, Bible verse memorization, and Bible summary memorization (memorizing name, author, date, theme, key verse, and summary of what is taught) for each book in the Bible.) This requires a lot of help for my son, so we are doing his Awana work as our nightly devotion. We also have a book of missionaries our church and our family support. We pray nightly, and we go through this book, praying for one missionary every night in addition to miscellaneous other prayers.

It is great if your kids attend Sunday School, youth group, Awana, and other church-led, Christian activities, but don’t outsource your children’s spiritual training to others. Make sure they are learning from you. Ideally, the father will lead devotions, but if the father is not available or not interested, anyone else can lead devotions and prayer so it becomes part of the family culture and beliefs.

Also keep in mind the saying, “More is caught than taught.” Our lives should reflect Jesus to those around us, especially to our kids. This includes not only praying and studying God’s Word, but also being forgiving, loving others, being generous, speaking lovingly, etc.

Ideally, family devotions will be done nightly, but life happens. If you miss a night or even a week, get back in the habit. For us, we typically get home late one night because of a Bible study we attend, and our son gets home late one night because of youth group. On those nights, we typically just pray together. On the other five nights, we do full devotions with Bible study and prayer. Everyone’s life is different. Some people might want to do devotions at the breakfast table. Some might have different conflicts. Some might want to sing praises to God together. The more you prioritize family devotions, the better, but every time you study God’s word together is a benefit to you and your family.

In addition to your planned time, it is good to live your Christian life in the moment. If you hear about someone in need, stop and pray or go help them. If a problem comes up, seek the Lord in prayer or open your Bible and look for guidance. The more you add these situational services to God, the more your kids will see the reality of God and a life lived for God.

May God guide you as you teach your children and grandchildren about Him. May your life reflect Jesus to your family and all of those around you. May your kids grow in knowledge of, faith in, and following God.

Trust Jesus

All verses are NASB unless otherwise noted.