7 Ways to give your child a big view of God

1) Pray and plead with God to open their eyes to see his glory.

2) Live sacrificially. When your child sees Daddy or Mommy making costly sacrifices to the Lord, it makes Him look very valuable.

3) Delight yourself in God and talk about Him with your kids. That which delights and amazes you will likely delight and amaze them too.

4) Teach the Word to them. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. Your children will never see Jesus (with the eyes of their hearts) without the Word.

5) Submit to and honor God’s Word yourself. Your children understand that people honor those who are most worthy of honor.

6) Discipline them. Disciplining children reminds them that there is a higher authority you must make sure they honor and obey. “Daddy has to discipline you because you dishonored God who is worthy of your obedience.”

7) Love them with all your might. Sometimes the greatest picture of God's love for us comes in the form of a father's love for his child. It will be much easier for your child to comprehend the height, depth and breadth of the Father's love for them if you love them as you ought.

The Spiritual Danger of Unchurched Spirituality

Here is a link to a wonderful article by Russell Moore on the dangers of unchurched spirituality.

Pleading with God

The following is an excerpt from a wonderful book called Meet the Puritans by Joel Beeke. The book gives a concise overview of the Puritans followed by short biographical sketches. One of the Puritans covered in the book is Christopher Love. Here is an section of his biography:

Christopher Love was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1618. At the age of fourteen, he went to hear William Erbury [preach]...His wife later wrote how Love reacted to that sermon: “God met with him and gave him such a sight of his sins and his undone condition that he returned home with a hell in his conscience.” His father noticed his son’s depression and locked him in a room on the second floor of the house to prevent him from attending church the next Sabbath. Love tied a cord to the window, slid down it, and went to church. His earlier convictions deepened and he was soon converted.

The primary purpose for the writing of this post is not to introduce you to Christopher Love. He was a great, godly pastor and I would love for you to read some of his work, but his testimony is what I want you to hear. Oh how I long for God to bring this kind of repentance to our church and community! This kind of repentance only comes, however, to those who pray for it.

Would you join us on Thursday nights at Reaching the Valley as we plead with God to work in the hearts of our people and those in the community?

"We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work (John 9:4)."