Do you teach your children to really know and love God?

I hope this doesn't get too controversal and actually I wrote about tthis on my blog today :) - When I was a kid the greatest gift my parents gave me...and i really mean the greatest gift was to teach me to really really love God. I accepted Jesus as my personal savior when I was 5, my parents would read us Bible stories take us to church...didn't give us a choice...like taking a bath...it kept me clean inside! Taught me how to forgive, love others, be a decent human being. Bottomline they made it a joy to be a christian...God wasn't mad at me...He loved me...Kind of like the Hippie thing...If your kid was a hippie...you loved them that's your kid. I learned to study the Bible so when I go to heaven I won't be ignorant -- I love studying the Bible and praying...I love God...He's my friend, I can cry with Him, get angry, laugh, dance, tell a joke...may sound funny...but I know Him...I try to go to church because I want to now...but if I missed for a year because I'm really sick etc...God's not mad He's my friend..Sometimes I say...when people hurt me... what is that between us...we love each other the same with God He knows my heart...I said all that so you can hear my heart...Do you teach your children to know and love God?
Ruthie :)

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Permalink Reply by Jens4him on December 5, 2008 at 11:08am: I feel like that is my greatest job as a parent, to introduce my kids to God. My oldest is 12 and she has been baptized. Sometimes she will call me out on something I've said or done, so I know she gets it. My middle is 10 and I'm struggling with him. I'm ready for him to make the decision, but he's not ready to! I'm thinking about changing churches because they're not helping him. I know most of that falls on my shoulders, but would like some encouragement and teaching with his peers too.
I just try to live it in front of them. I read the bible in 90 days and my kids saw me in the Word daily. That was a good motivator for lots of conversations, and prayer is an awesome way of learning what's on their heart.
Thanks for starting this discussion!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mary on December 5, 2008 at 2:54pm: I teach my children to love God and respect Him always. BUT I don't teach them Mass or any form of religion although I'm Catholic and they are baptized. But I truly think God is everywhere and there's no need to go to a Church to "visit" him. My children are very spiritual and they talk to God the way they talk to me...for example, there's a bird that always goes to our car when we get the mail and plays with the car mirrors then leaves..my children say, God sends the bird to make them laugh, to play with them. They see God in every little thing they do and that's what I think our relationship with Him should be like. Today, their great grandmother died, she was more like a grandmother to them, when I told them they both said, there's a party in Heaven b/c she finally made it Home!!.I also teach them the Bible, Gnostic Books and pre-Bible.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthie Appleby on December 5, 2008 at 10:08pm: I remember as a kid I would love to hear all the Christian testimonies of various people and the exciting things that would happen to them. One movie I liked was A Thief in the Night. My son who is now 18 and I watched it and loved it...it's about gangs in NY- I think the greatest thing my parents did was to be real...so many people feel like God is unapproachable. Yes He is holy, but He is always ready to listen...I want to share this story. My son and I got hit while stopped by a truck and we were in a cavaliar at about 60 miles an hour...when I WALKED out of the car I saw an Angel walking with me (I was walking on incoming traffic!) my car was totalled didn't have a backseat! I got a whiplash...and now after 2 years am 100% no pain!
I should have been killed!
God is good...He sent his angel to protect me from the traffic and from not letting the truck go any further into our car!
As a kid I think it was wonderful to hear all the stories from missionaries we knew and people in our church.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthie Appleby on December 7, 2008 at 12:17am: I am hoping we get some more discussion about this :)
Ruthie; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tamara on December 7, 2008 at 12:34am: Yes I do, Its part of our daily lives, We have a morning prayer before the boys go to school all together, We read scriptures together daily as well as they have their own and read them privately. Like Mentioned before it is the greatest gift I can give them. I know that I have a hard day If we miss our morning prayer or If i miss a reading time. so do the kids they remind me when its time.

Something I think you will appreciate. My youngest son was praying one afternoon I was standing out the door with his laundry to put it away when I heard him starting to pray i stopped let him have his moment. He said 'Hey Heavenly Father Dude, Thank you for my family......' I thought for a few minutes as to Why he would start a prayer like that. Should I mention it? Ignore it what should I do? So I asked him Why he was starting his prayer like that. He said 'Mommy, you said that Heavenly Father is Great, He is always there like a good friend, Well When I just need to chat and ask for a little help from a friend I talk to him like a friend' I said Ok kissed him and put the laundry away and carried on. I thought Now THIS is a moment I will treasure because if he can just talk to God with an open heart Just because he wanted to chat because he thinks of him as a friend and someone who will help and guide him then I am doing something right.

Since this day the only time he says it this way is when he is just chatting with Him. During prayer time bed time prayer time and things he does not, He prays like he was taught so its not like this is an all the time thing ;); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthie Appleby on December 7, 2008 at 9:36pm: I loved that Tamara :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by kdc521 on December 8, 2008 at 6:49am: I have pre-school aged kids, so we're focusing on building the foundation of their faith in God. With our older (4 years old) son, we do (edited) Bible stories focusing on God's love and how much He wants to have a relationship with us (His creation). I must say that my son has a faith of his own. For instance, one of his "prayers" was to have a house full of video games. One week, we received NINE video games in the mail (due to my work). He exclaimed, "See, God blessed me. He answered my prayers!"; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthie Appleby on December 10, 2008 at 11:40pm: I am so glad that I worked with my son about God when he was small..as a teen he has tons of questions!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthie Appleby on December 13, 2008 at 12:40am: Moody Bible institute has wonderful videos for kids.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthie Appleby on February 13, 2009 at 3:16am: Just wanted to revive this conversation because of all the newbies; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ly Syin on February 14, 2009 at 6:41pm: My grandparents were the ones who encouraged me in my faith. I have tried to encourage my daughters. My youngest daughter was baptistized last year. I am still waiting for the oldest one. I have tired to take them to church and encourage them to have a relationship with God. We watch veggies tales together too. A times I have read the bible to them. I just feel like if they know God is really when they get ready they will develop a personal relationship with Him.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthie Appleby on March 3, 2009 at 10:56pm: I feel it is so important to teach our families to love God; ▶ Reply to This

Do you teach your children to really know and love God?

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