ON- PURPOSE PARENTING

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 KJV

[5] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. [6] And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: [7] And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Parenting is a divine mandate by God for the purpose of raising up a godly generation. It is a ministry that goes beyond teaching, to being role models that the children can emulate. There are no perfect parents. We excel in some and we fall short in some. Parenting is a calling that can only be done with the involvement of the Caller. It is only the initiator or manufacturer of a thing that explains how it can be used through the manual. We can’t know the way a child should go without constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit, who is the Teacher. Children are a gift and blessing from the Lord to parents. They can’t be more important than the giver. Parents are stewards and the Bible says it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. We will give account of stewardship. From the above scripture, we can see that we are to spend quality time communicating with our children when we sit we them at home, when we walk with them by the way, when we lie down and when we rise up. It is obvious we are to engage our children and keep the communication line open. That way, we are able to know their views about life, the people they meet outside and also answer their questions. These words we speak to them are seeds. If we don’t sow these good seeds at home, the enemy will sow bad seeds. It is important that we communicate the word of God and good values so that they can know what is right and what is wrong. Set boundaries for them. Teach them contentment, integrity, service, the principle of delayed gratification and that every decision they take has consequence. A minder can’t do this for us. However most parents don’t have that luxury of time in bringing up their children, due to pressure of work. We have to deliberately create time. I had my four children while I was in the bank. I still made out time to check their assignments and leave corrections and do a lot of catching up over the weekend. Where our treasures are, there our hearts will be. Some parents work during the week and they still don’t have time during the weekends. Instead children are engaged with television, social media and things that the enemy use to creep into them. No time to listen to them. We have to be up and doing as parents and be discerning. Parenting is a life time assignment and grace has been made available. We must be intentional in discharging our responsibility as parents. May we not be reactive parents. We will not disappoint God and may we not fail our generation in Jesus name. A child left to himself, the Bible says will bring the mother shame. Our children will not bring us shame in Jesus name. Things don’t just happen, we program things to happen. Be a parent that is on-purpose and not off-purpose.

Shalom

Folake Olukoyede