Raising Our Children For God

By Peter Wyns

Raising Our Children for God: a Generational Study is a practical, informative, and entertaining guide for parents. Dr. Peter Wyns, and some family members have laid down powerful guidelines that will help you raise your children for God. We are facing enormous cultural and spiritual battles, and need effective tools to keep our children safe, c

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christians For Messiah Ministries
• Release date: Aug 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736115923

Peter Wyns

Dr. Peter Wyns is the President and Director of Ministry for Christians for Messiah Ministries as well as the Lead Pastor at Antioch International Church. Antioch International Church is the flagship church of Christians for Messiah Ministries. He has been teaching and ministering God's word for more than 50 years and has ministered in more than 40 nations around the world. Dr. Wyns is a Father in the faith and continues to bring healing, deliverance, and inspiration to all generations across the globe.

Book preview

Introduction

With great enthusiasm, I tackle the task of writing this book on parenting. Our modern, high-tech, secular, pluralistic world is pushing and shoving us in every direction and our children are facing a head-on cultural and spiritual battle that is monumental.

Parents have always been charged with the awesome responsibility of guarding the souls and minds of their kids, but the stakes have risen to a new level and we need God’s help. Despite the strong desires of Christian parents, many children of this generation have turned away from the Lord. Parents, both young and old, are asking for help.

As I write, I take stock of the well-being of our family, and I am very grateful. We are far from perfect, but we are abundantly blessed. At the same time, I see other parents who love the Bible and its truths who struggle to raise their children for God.

Recently, a good friend who loves our family and has often asked for counsel to help raise her young ones, suggested that I write this book. Immediately, her request struck a chord in my soul. After a brief prayer I was assured in my heart that this was a God idea.

As I began to write, I realized that a chapter from my wife on training a newborn would be appropriate. I opened the opportunity to the rest of the family, and some of our children and their spouses offered to write a chapter as well.

I enjoyed their chapters so much that I thought I would like to hear from the grandchildren. I asked each of our thirteen grandchildren to write a paragraph on what parents should do in order to raise their children for God. Their submissions were fantastic, and I think the chapter written by the grandchildren will be the bell-ringer of the book. This has turned into a generational study and I could not be happier.

My approach is anecdotal. I desire this to be an easy-read book, so that more people can benefit. While highlighting successful aspects and techniques on parenting, we have filled the book with stories and examples that come from real-life situations. I loved the process of remembering the highpoints of childhood days. I remembered, laughed, thought hard, talked with God, gave thanks, and wrote.

I trust you will find this book enjoyably funny at times, and most importantly, practical and informative.

Raising Our Children For God is presented as a manual to help parents fulfill their God-given responsibility. All of us need God’s help, because every child is different. He alone created them and knows their identity and destiny. Every home situation is different as well, but God knows how we can be successful, regardless of the environment in which we find ourselves.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, pray for His blessings, do your due diligence, obey His directives, and never give up on your children.

My prayer for you, is what God instructed Moses and Aaron to speak over the people. The LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. Nu. 6:24-26

Part One

Strong Beginning

Chapter One

Fun and Other Important Matters

By Peter Wyns

The Time of Their Lives

I love to see the commotion that happens in front of my house when the kids get together. Three of my grandchildren live directly across the street, and as I look out the window, I see that four of their cousins are with them. A few friends and neighbors join them to increase their number to fifteen. The kids are playing on the street. The oldest is fourteen and the youngest is five, but they are hanging out together.

I love to see them having fun. Some are playing touch football, others a game of tag, and two are shooting basketball hoops on the driveway. The oldest is Ethan; he is practicing his soccer moves, catapulting the ball off the back of his foot up over his head. He is amazing. Each one has found their activity. The running, yelling and laughing is great. While their sports are varied, all of them want the energy of being together.

Sometimes, when their numbers are less, they organize a game of pick-up soccer in the side yard. The younger ones like to go into the woods directly behind my house to fight pretend enemies from the tree fort castle I built for them.

These kids are having the best time of their lives, and I am happiest when I see them living life to the fullest. I am blessed because I know that the fun is accompanied by strong foundations. I enjoy my grandchildren because they are kind, caring, compassionate, creative and God-focused. Without these traits, little else would matter.

Not an Accident

It is no accident that the grandchildren make me proud. Their parents were taught to clothe themselves with grace, and they in turn have trained their children to live for others and for God. As the little ditty goes, With Jesus in the family, happy, happy home.

Most Christians want this in their homes, yet many do not see these results. For many families, strife and dysfunction are the order of the day, even though that is the very thing that parents want to avoid. Perhaps it is because some parents did not have a good example to follow when they were growing up. Now they are raising their own children, and they do not know what steps to take.

That is the reason for this book. From generations of godly instruction and practice we will do our best to help families raise their children for God. A godly family is the key to a blessed future, a rich heritage, and even a righteous nation.

It has been said that the time to start training children for God is twenty-five years before they are born. In other words, if we want to instill godly disciplines in our children, we must first have them in ourselves. We cannot give what we do not have. If we lack godly disciplines, because we were not trained, then we must allow the Holy Spirit to put us on a fast-track learning program so we can change.

We Do it for Them

Loving our children is great motivation for personal change. I have seen many young parents go back to church when they have children, because they want their kids to grow up in a godly environment.

Parents love their children and work hard to provide a good home environment for them. They sign them up for sports teams, piano lessons, and ballet, and try not to miss one of their games or performances. They want them to have fun and acquire skills to help them through life. These parents are wonderful, but children can have all those blessings and still have insufficient training.

There is no such thing as perfect parents or perfect children, but God’s word says, Train up a child in the way he should go, And when they are old he will not depart from it. Pro. 22:6

It does not say teach a child but train a child. The promise is guaranteed; if you do this, they will embrace the training when they are old. Our goal is to see the children grow up and never forsake the way they should go.

Teaching is Not Training

Teaching and training are not the same thing. Teaching is giving instruction, but training is taking someone by the hand to make sure they do what they have been taught.

William (not his real name) was just four years old when his mother Debbie (not her real name) told him that he could play in the front yard. They had no backyard, but a large, grassy front lawn that faced a quiet street. Debbie wanted her son to play safely so she took him outside to show him the boundaries.

Together they walked around the yard and Mom showed William where he could go and where he could not go. She took him to the edge of the street. There was no sidewalk, just a curb between the grass and the road. Debbie held William’s hand and explained to him the dangers of the road. They looked down from the front edge of the lawn and she told him that under no circumstances was he to step off the grass onto the road. He was not even to touch the curb. They turned and went back to the house where William had a few toys to play with. Mom went inside and stood behind the curtain and watched.

After a while, William seemed to get bored playing with his toys and reached out for a greater adventure. He made his way to the edge of the grass just in front of the road. Then he stopped and looked back at the house. He did not see his mom who was peeking at him from behind the curtain. William looked down at the curb but turned once more toward the house to see if Mom was watching. Certain that the coast was clear, he reached out his foot and touched the curb with the edge of his shoe. Then he quickly pulled it back and turned and looked back toward the house.

Suddenly, it was as if a three alarm siren went off. Mom came barreling out the front door and ran toward her son at break-neck speed. The fear of God came over little William as mom took hold of his arm and marched him back into the house to give him the appropriate discipline. Debbie learned that teaching was not enough; training was required; there had to be an immediate follow up. She enforced her instruction because she knew it was vital. She loved William and knew that love was an action and not just a feeling. She was not just teaching, she was training. From that time forward he did not go on the road when he played in the front yard.

Effective Love

Unless our love is given, understood and received, it will not fulfill its purpose. In his book, author Gary Chapman explains that the five love languages are touch, words of encouragement, giving gifts, spending quality time together, and serving someone. His book is called, The Five Love Languages - The Secret to Love That Lasts.

I think these are all great expressions of love, but with children another expression of love must be added. It is to give the blessing of training. Loving children involves instruction, follow through, correction, and discipline when needed.

Everyone can be better equipped to raise their children for God.

Chapter Two

The Thousand Generation Blessing

By Peter Wyns

What You Want

I guarantee that the thousand year generation blessing is what you want. In the Bible passage about the Ten Commandments, we discover that curses can trouble a family for four generations, but blessings can extend for a thousand generations. Read the following:

I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Ex. 20:5-6

According to the Bible, the human race has only been around for three hundred generations.

Calculate with me; let us say that a new generation comes every twenty years, then in one hundred years, there are only five generations.

At that rate, there are fifty generations in every one thousand years. If mankind has existed for six thousand years since Adam, then the human race contains only three hundred generations since Adam.

If you receive God’s thousand generation blessing, it means that you and your descendents are blessed for all of this life, and for eternity as well (provided all of you stay in the blessing).

I Have a Generational Blessing

Please do not receive this as a boast, but I am going to use my family as an example. I am really blessed. My grandfather on my mother’s side is Derek Prince, a great man of God. He is known as a spiritual father to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

His first wife, my grandmother, Lydia, was a powerful missionary to Israel and an extraordinary warrior of prayer for the nations. She adopted my Jewish mother when she was just five days old.

On my dad’s side, my grandparents were missionaries to Inner Mongolia, in Northern China. My father was born there, and he grew up to be a very powerful minister of the gospel. Five of his sons became outstanding preachers and pastors. I am blessed to have grandparents on both sides of my family who were godly ministers and missionaries.

Another blessing comes from the fact that my mother is a Jewess, born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Her birth name is Miriam Katz, and she is from the tribe of Levi. The Bible says that the firstborn of every Israelite family belongs to the Lord. I am her firstborn. The Jewish people are blessed by God, so I have a blessing on my life because of my mother.

Both blessings and curses can pile up in a family. Do you understand how blessed I am? I come from missionary grandparents, my parents were extraordinary ministers of the gospel as well, and to add another blessing, I am Jewish. Whether I deserve it or not, I realize that I am blessed by God. It is a generational blessing.

A Spiritual Adoption

You might be thinking, This is not fair; my ancestors were pirates, thieves, criminals or ungodly people involved in the occult. It may be true, but you can turn the disposition of generations around and still find the thousand generation blessing. You can remove the curses and receive the blessings for your family.

It starts by looking to the Lord and giving your life to Him. Then, search for a spiritual father and mother and connect with them. Receive a spiritual adoption, become a disciple, and gain the generational blessing from their legacy and bloodline.

Multiplying the Blessings

There is more to this blessing than just long life. Besides the length of time given by a thousand generation blessing, the spiritual intensity is even better. It is powerful, accumulative and progressive. If two consecutive generations walk with God, the power of that blessing is multiplied. If three or four generations in a family walk close to God, the blessings over the future of that family will be absolutely amazing. There is a build-up of spiritual strength and an anointing that every godly grandparent wants to see for their children and grandchildren but there is a battle for the glory of God. While the world looks for generational wealth, we look for generational glory. Great families reach for this blessing, and in the reaching, they touch the heart of God.

Curse-Causing Sin

The challenge is that curse-causing sins bring judgments which can undo God’s blessings.