Satan, You Can't Have My Children: The Spiritual Warfare Guide for Every Parent (6 page)

We all have a particular personality molded by our caregivers and life experiences.

It is of utmost importance that a parent pays attention to and is aware of the spiritual needs of the child. We accomplish this by creating and planning activities and narrating Bible stories that will develop a desire for spiritual things.

Here are some suggestions and examples that I practice with my grandchildren, which are producing good results.

Narrating Bible stories in a fun and creative way, such as the Bible story of David and Goliath.
Have your child act out as David, swinging a slingshot (a sock with something soft in it) and aiming it at Goliath. You or a sibling can act out as Goliath who falls down when he gets hit by David. Explain how David’s dependence on God, and his obedience to his parents, enabled him to be used by God and save his family and a whole nation.

Have your child memorize scriptures such as Psalm 23, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and other important portions of Scripture.
I suggest using the reward method. Whether it’s money, a toy, or throwing a party, we must be creative. A parent, grandparent, caretaker, or another sibling can make some quality time for your child and practice repeating over and over until your child has memorized the scripture(s). This endeavor is so important that it will have an everlasting spiritual effect on your child.

When my grandson was age nine, I helped him memorize Psalm 23 by rewarding him with twenty dollars toward a pair of tennis shoes he wanted. We practiced repeatedly until he got it. Now, four years later, I ask him to recite Psalm 23, and he still knows it by heart. I also explained to him the importance of reciting this psalm if he ever felt afraid or discouraged, or as a prayer before going to bed.

Every little bit of spiritual guidance you give your children will be as nuggets of gold in the spiritual banks of their hearts. I still remember the songs, psalms, proverbs, poems, stories, and Scripture verses my mom
made
me memorize as a child. What a treasure!

Teach your children how to make faith declarations,
such as:

• I am a child of God.

• I can do difficult things with God’s help.

• I will not fear because God is with me all the time.

• I am intelligent, and I will do well in school.

• Nothing is impossible with God on my side.

• The Holy Spirit is my Friend and my Helper—I can do this!

• I have the mind of Christ to make wise decisions.

• Christ Jesus lives in my heart.

Remember what I said in the beginning: Your child is not only a body. He is a spirit living in a physical body. We must nourish and feed the spirit just as we feed the physical body.

I once heard a story about two big and fierce-looking dogs. The owner would feed one dog a ration of dried dog food every day. The other dog got fed steak and a big bone. A thief came to burglarize the house, and the dog that was fed dried dog food cowered and whimpered in a corner. But the dog that was fed steak and bones pounced on the burglar, pinning him down until the owner came home. The moral of this story is that if you do not feed your child’s spirit the triumphant Word of God and how to declare God’s Word, he will not know how to act in the spirit realm when the enemy comes to attack. Instead of being fearless, he will be fearful.

Teach your child how to pray
fervent prayers
, not just little bedtime and mealtime prayers. Here is an example of a fervent prayer your child can learn to say when he is ill:

Abba is
Daddy
. Teach your child to relate to Father God as his Daddy in heaven. It makes prayer an intimate relationship, one that he can practice in his prayer time.

Teach your child big and full-of-meaning words from the Bible.
Not too long ago I was watching one of the cartoon channels with my five-year-old grandson. I was amazed as I listened to some of the big mysterious and unfamiliar words and names I heard. I attempted to pronounce one of the names, and my grandson was quick to correct me and pronounce it slowly so that I could mimic him. As I thought about this later, I realized how intelligent and teachable our children are. I thought about some of the more meaningful and comprehensive words in the Bible, such as
sanctification
, and I told myself, “I wonder if my five-year-old grandson Gabe can pronounce this word?” And sure enough, I challenged Gabe to pronounce the word
sanctification,
and he did it beautifully. I then explained the meaning: when a person becomes good and obedient every day by loving God, obeying his parents, and studying the Bible stories. Now that may not be the exact interpretation as an adult may know it, but it’s close enough for the child to understand in basic words. Ever since we have been practicing big words. It’s been months since we started, and he remembers every one of them.

Once I popped that first word,
sanctification,
it became a cinch to think of other complicated and valuable words to teach my grandsons. You will be amazed at how quick to learn this young generation is. Don’t miss this great opportunity for injecting their minds with spiritual and moral values from God’s Word.

Many children are learning to say big words such as
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, even
though they may not know the meaning. The roots of this word have been defined as follows: “super—‘above,’ cali—‘beauty,’ fragilistic—‘delicate,’ expiali—‘to atone,’ and docious—‘educable.’ According to the 1964 Walt Disney Film
Mary Poppins,
it is defined as “something to say when you have nothing to say.”
¹

If our children can learn these big words, they can also learn the meaning and pronunciation of more complicated words from the Bible, such as:

•
Justification
—“God forgives me of all my sins, which Jesus paid for on the cross. I am holy (good) in God’s eyes.”

•
Praise and worship
—“When I tell the Lord Jesus that I love Him and I sing songs and psalms to glorify Him.” Give examples.

•
Commandments
—“God’s instructions to behave and succeed.” Explain and help them memorize the Ten Commandments with illustrations and brief words.

•
Forgiveness
—“When we forgive someone for hurting us.”

•
Resurrection
—“When Jesus died on the cross and became alive again.”

•
Transformation
—“When we change our bad habits and obey God’s Word.”

•
Salvation
—“When we give our hearts to Jesus and turn away from evil.”

Use the concordance in the back of the Bible for a new word adventure to train your child in the wisdom of God. The rewards will be eternal.

N
IGHTMARES AND
B
AD
D
REAMS

Your child needs to know what to do when he has nightmares or bad dreams. I taught my daughters and grandsons that whenever they had a bad dream or fear came into their heart, they should sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so . . . ”

You can teach them to say, “In the name of Jesus, I will not be afraid!” and “Jesus is my Lord.”

But more importantly, we must become aware of the television programming, video games, and all other forms of entertainment available to children today. An enormous amount of children’s TV programs and electronic games are either overtly or subtly inundated with witchcraft, magic, and spells. Today there seems to be an obsession among our young people for everything that has to do with vampires, wizards, zombies, and the occult.

Many parents become numb and passive, telling themselves that as long as they go to church on Sunday, their children will know the difference and will be all right. We rationalize that the child is wise enough or old enough to know that what he is watching is
not real
but fantasy.

This belief system is very erroneous. Young children become conditioned at a very young age. They are gullible and believe everything they see and hear. Even if you tell them, “Don’t be afraid; that spider is not real—it’s a robot and will never harm you,” when the spirit of fear makes entry into the child’s heart, nothing you say will make a difference. The child will always feel fear grip his heart and cause it to palpitate within every time he sees a spider, whether real or in a movie.

If a child has constant nightmares, I suggest you leave a tape recorder on all night in his room with praise and worship music at a very low volume. Praise music has a tremendous effect on the atmosphere. Evil spirits dislike praise and worship music.

Find out if there is anything evil your child plays with, such as toys or games, videos, movies, or music. Anything with demonic content has the ability to attract the influence of demons.

M
ENTAL
D
ISORDERS

I recently read an article titled “In US, 1 in 5 Teens Have Serious Mental Disorder.”
²
This article relates that, according to a startling new study, about one in five teens in the United States suffer from a mental disorder severe enough to impact their daily activities, either currently or at some point in their lives. The research also concludes that a higher percentage have or have had some sort of mental disorder, though less serious in nature.

According to the researchers, this study, involving a nationally representative sample of 10,123 adolescents ages thirteen to eighteen in the continental United States, is the first to report the prevalence of a broad range of mental disorders. The mental disorders were assessed during interviews.

Our children are at risk. We must take action by getting serious about our walk with God and training our children to love and serve Him with all their hearts.

E
STABLISH AND
D
EVELOP A
S
OLID
F
OUNDATION FOR
Y
OUR
C
HILD

This must be a hands-on experience. It has to be like putting together a puzzle that you refuse to give up on until the entire puzzle is knit together. A solid foundation consists of transparent love, discipline, and spiritual training. Unlike a fragile foundation constructed upon the sand, a solid, sturdy, reliable, and Word of God–based foundation will withstand and bear up to the storms and peer pressures of life.

Your child may stray, abandon the ship, and seem to be beyond hope, but you must know that if a foundation was solid and fixed from the beginning, it will withstand and endure sin, iniquity, drug addiction, peer pressure, witchcraft, false religions, and so many other things that this young generation is swayed and tempted with.

A solid and strong foundation is built upon the rock who is Jesus Christ. If you train your children from an early age, and you help them understand and believe that without Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their lives they are vulnerable to the attacks and destruction of the enemy, they will remain faithful. It is just a matter of time.