My heart as a mom is to raise my children to know their identity in Christ. My number one focus is that they know that Jesus loves them and no matter what they go through his love remains forever. Our encounters with Jesus make all the difference in being close to God. Finding ways to help children encounter God to give them a hunger for His presence.
I truly believe that children follow what they see their parents do. It starts with us. 🧡
Hearing the Voice of God
Helping our kids recognize and discern the voice of God starts with spending time in the Bible. God’s voice will never go against what is written in the Bible. In the Bible we see even at a young age God speaks to us like Samuel heard the voice of God in (1 Samuel 3) . I have noticed during worship time my daughter has encountered God and heard his voice when she is deep in His presence. We love worshiping and soaking in our home. It shifts the atmosphere in our home. Last year I did an activity to help Lily hear the voice of God. She asked God to show her a picture for her to paint. Immediately she saw a vision of a bird with a leaf in its beak. She pressed in for more and asked God what does this mean. She was reminded of the story of Noah, when the dove came back to Noah after the flood to show there was dry land ahead. Lily felt that God was saying, “There is a new beginning for the family.”
Genesis 8:11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.
Here is a free printable “You Can Hear God”
Stirring up their unique gifts and talents
As my children get older I’ve start noticing their different passions, strengths and gifting’s . They are attracted to certain activities and some they have a natural talent for. My son loves to act like a superhero. I use this interest of his and read verses on biblical heroes who served God. His desire is to be able to help and rescue people too. My daughter was just 3 years old when we noticed she had a passion to sing and worship God. We decided to buy her a microphone to let her express herself even more. We also got her a journal. I helped her write songs that the lord put in her heart to sing. Now she is 7 and she writes songs all by herself. I find her singing early in the morning and she continues through out the day until it is time for bed.
Teaching Your kids how to pray
Prayer is so important. We grow in intimacy with God when we pray and talk to him. In my family we take turns praying over each other. If someone needs healing we pray and press in for healing. God can use you no matter what your age is. If someone needs to be encouraged, we encourage one another through prayer. One of the ways I help my children learn to pray is by going over Bible verses that speak about prayer. I use certain tools to help each of my children pray. It wasn’t easy for my son but after we talked through his first real prayer he now prays without any help.
- What are you thankful for?
- Pray for your day
- Pray for yourself
- Confess your sins
- Pray for others
- Forgive others
Replacing lies with Gods truth
My daughter was sad one day because she felt she was too small to do certain things and she felt like she lacked courage. We sat down and grabbed a hold of scriptures that spoke truth over her, we spoke:
1Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
This is why as a family we do affirmations and declarations. Lies break off! Declaring scriptures over our children is so important. When they’re on their own they will be able to detect the lies of the deceiver. One of my favorite activities involves going around the dinner table taking turns pointing out the GOLD in one another. For my daughter we spoke truth over her and we declared what God says about her. She has a heart that cares and feels for others. She is very sensitive to the way others feel and cares when she sees someone else hurt. She is always ready to pray and encourage that person! We love to speak into her gifts and encourage her that we love her heart and compassion for those who are hurting. We let her know she is needed in the kingdom of God.
[Here] is a free printable to print out of Affirmations For Kids.
Reading the Word
I love to find new creative ways to make it fun when we read the word of God. It helps them know about God. His character and what He has done for each one of us. Every child has their own Bible translated according to their age. Making it fun for them makes it easier for them to engage and soak into every word we are reading together. I make sure they have sticky notes, bookmarks, and highlighters. Sometimes we act out the stories in the Bible or draw something we learned. Kids love when we come together as a family to read the Bible. They usually always have a lot of questions that we get to answer for them.
[Here] is a free resource I created to print out and help your children memorize The Armor Of God.
Norma Cruz 