Making your Children Glorious
A Message by Pastor Olawole Dahunsi
 

Text:
Psalm 127:3-5

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”

 Isaiah 8:18

“Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.”

In this part of the world (Africa), research has shown that children seldom succeed their parents unlike the develop world- why? Because we do not train them. The Bible says “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Instead of training them, we rather neglect our children. Some even curse them and by the time the curses begins to work, it becomes something else. An untrained child will always disgrace his/her parents and no matter what you do for them, they will always disgrace you. An untrained child, no matter what you leave for that child as an inheritance, he or she will not see value in it because he was not inducted into it. We must endeavor to induct our children to see an example in our lives. It is a wrong thing if you name a child Solomon and he is a fool or Samson and he is a lazy child. It is not late to pray our children to align to what God want them to be.

So how do we make our children glorious?

1.      Invest and impact their lives. If you are doing a business that your child does not know anything about, he will fail if you hand that business to him. So show them how to prosper in this competitive society. The society now is different and more complex than what we use to have. Your children will make you glorious in the future if you invest and impact their lives positively.

2.      Another thing we must do is to pray for and protect them. Do not expose your children to danger. Don’t use bad language on your children. Rather than curse them, pray for them. A child that has never been cursed and a child that sleeps and wakes with curses can never be the same.

3.      Support them always. In whatever they are doing, ensure you support them. A child that is not supported will be stunted forever in life. Someone once said “we serve three generations; our parents, ourselves and our children”. Parent must support their children to grow

4.      Mentor them by your character because they are watching you. How do you do this?

-        By having a good character worthy of imitation by your children

-        Be an example. If you tell lie, your children will do same. If you steal, they too will steal. Don’t think they do not know what you are doing, they know. Live by example. What you don’t want your children to do, don’t do it because they will do same greater than what you did.

-        Live a discipline life

-        Teach them how to build good relationships with others. Some parents came from polygamous home and that is why their character is not good. Therefore they lack good relationship. It is your place to teach your children how to build quality relationship.

-        Teach them character - godly character. It is a wrong thing for someone to ask; where are you from? Inculcate discipline into you children.

Two examples of well-trained children in the Bible

1.      The Rechabites -Jeremiah 35:5-8 “And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. 6 But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:”

Jeremiah 35:8 “Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;”

2.      Timothy - 2 Timothy 1:5  “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also”

Brothers and sisters, if your child is not well trained, he/she will disgrace you. Look at Proverbs 17:21, 25 “He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy” verse 25 “A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.” But look at a good or well-trained child; Proverbs 23:24 “The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.”

I am praying for you that your children will do well.

Prayer

1.      Any power that wants to amputate the destiny of my children, be roasted by fire in the name of Jesus

2.      O Lord my father, drive foolishness far from my life and my children in the name of Jesus.

3.      Any power that want to waste the life of my children, be wasted by fire in the name of Jesus

4.      Where others fail, I shall succeed, my children shall succeed in the name of Jesus

5.      Powers that want to use my children to disgrace me, die in the name of Jesus.