Raising up Godly Children. – by Irene Chew, 15^th May, 2015

Isaiah 54:13 says “All your children shall be taught by The Lord and great shall be the peace of your children” . This is a great promise from God and you should claim it.   My two older children Sarah and Japheth were just 10 and 6 years old when they were among the 40 young intercessors from 8 nations invited as full- pledged delegates to the Global Conference on World  Evangelism in Seoul, Korea in 1995 in which about 5000 world  leaders attended. We were connected to Esther Illnisky at that time also and became their representative to raise children intercessors in Malaysia. Since then my children’s lives have been changed tremendously. They have been used by God as prayer leaders in their University, sharing and teaching at various Children In Prayer conferences both locally and abroad.  Now twenty years later, I praise God that they are still active in prayer ministry.

Parents, especially  Mothers, have the greatest influence on their children when it comes to prayer. Prayer is more caught than taught. Parents have to be the role model , that is, set the example. If you want your child to pray, they will have to see you pray consistently. Children are the greatest resource of prayer power. I started praying for my children even from the womb. When my children were babies,

I would  often take them to prayer meetings, even overnight  prayer meetings.  We ( both adults and children) are spirit beings. Children can catch the spirit of prayer in their spirit. When my young children were at a crawling stage, I made  sure the room is ‘baby safe’, that is, all plugs points on the walls  are closed and no dangerous items are within their reach, I would then pray.

In Psalm 127:3-5 it says “Behold, children are a heritage from The Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of the warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”
Children are an inheritance and a reward from God. They are not a nuisance. Parents are stewards of these inheritance. Parents have a responsibility to take care of these children and train them up for The Lord (Proverbs 22:6). We should not train our children to fulfil our own dreams and ambitions but for God. We need to ask God to help us be the kind of mum or dad God wants us to be . Many of us struggle because  we don’t have  good spiritual  mentors on parenting. Our parents themselves struggle with their own rejection, lack of love, strife, abortions etc. Very often these rejections, lack of love and failures are passed down to us. So there is a need for parents individually to be healed, delivered and cleansed from past hurts and rejection and other kinds of spiritual, emotional and physical bondages so that they can love and accept their children and be able to have a good relationship with their children. Then your children will be more open to praying with you. Our first disciples in prayer should be our own children.

Train our children from young to worship and pray to our God. There are so many false gods but our God is the one and only true God. John 14:6. Train them to minister to God like Samuel (1Sam2:11, 18, 1Sam3:1). Help your children to get connected with God and experience His reality in His presence and answered prayers. Prayer and worship builds God’s consciousness in children. Teach the children to wait on The Lord and to hear His voice. Teach them to recognise the voice of God, our own voice and the voice of the devil.
Teach them the reality of spiritual warfare ( Ephesians 6:10-18), recognizing the attacks of the enemy over the mind, body and soul area and to take authority over the spiritual enemies through prayer and the Word of God.
Teach them the  importance of love and forgiveness, faith, repentance of sin and living a holy life and obedience to God.

Speak and teach God’s word to your children.  Parents must have eternal values in mind so that the whole family can have right priorities. God’s word is eternal (Matt24:35)
Deut 6:6, 7.”.and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up.”

Teach your children to do their daily devotions, pray and read the bible. Emphasize on acquiring the knowledge of God.  Encourage your children to memorize scripture verses, chapters and books of the bible. Help plan a program for your children to finish reading the whole bible yearly and give them an incentive to accomplish it.

Every Christian household must have a family alter at least once or twice  a week, preferably daily to pray and meditate on God’s Word.
Remember:- Parents and  their children make up the foundational church ( first church). That’s why the devil works so hard to destroy families and homes. It is so important that families  pray daily.  JESUS is a man of prayer. It is written in 3 of the gospels in Matt 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46 that ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’
Even in Isaiah 56:7 My House is a House of prayer for all nations.
You and I are a House  of prayer. We are the temple of God in 1Cor 3:16, 1Cor 6:19.
Jesus is the greatest Intercessor on earth and in heaven . Hebrews 7:25 says “therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Jesus has finished His work of salvation for us at the cross of Calvary more than 2000 years ago. However, one thing He is still doing in heaven right now  is that He is still praying and interceding for us. We need to follow the lifestyle of our master Jesus and be a man or a woman of prayer.
Share your  experience and  testimonies with God to your  children .
When your  children see the reality of God in you, they will want to follow.
Prayer is a journey and a lifestyle.