From the time they are young, many children experience the delight of the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Santa, and other tales which have been passed down through the centuries. They not only hear of these legends, but they experience them! I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who put milk and cookies out for Santa to find them gone in the morning. You probably experienced the excitement of money under your pillow and the Peeps left by the Easter Bunny.
As a child, you really believed. (Isn’t childlike faith a wonderful thing?) I bet you would have even defended your faith in these characters. “Of course I believe in Santa! He brings me presents.” Then you grew up and grew out of your faith in those childish stories.
As Christian parents, we read to our children the great events from the Bible teaching them of our Father’s incredible power: parting the Red Sea, Jonah swallowed by a whale, David and Goliath, the empty tomb, etc. All these are examples of our Heavenly Father at work, answering prayers, doing mighty things, but if we want our children to grow into teens and adults who believe that God is more than a fairy tale, we must lead them to experience God at work TODAY, not just reminisce on events of the past. If we don’t lead them to experience God’s answered prayers, they will conclude He isn’t anything more than a childish fairy tale that they should grow out of.
How do you direct your kids to see that our Father is involved in our daily lives, answering prayer and doing miracles, today? That He does love us and care about us…today? That He is involved…today?
Here are a couple simple ideas.
- Pray with your kids and keep a journal of prayer requests and mark them off as God answers. OR Write prayer requests on popsicle sticks or rocks. When God answers, exhibit them as a visual reminder of God’s answered prayers. (Joshua 4:4-7, Exodus 16:33)
- Share God’s answered prayers of others.
- Share how you are experiencing God through nature, scripture, prayer.
- Share what God is teaching you.
I want my kids to see God answer prayers so many times, they can’t help but believe in Him, trust Him and even defend Him. Our Heavenly Father is way more than a fairy tale.
Encourage others by forwarding this on and sharing it on social media. It’s the best way of helping us impact more people.
Other blog posts:
The Most Important Reason to Pray Together As a Family
5 Reasons to Pray Together As a Family
Written by Jonathan
Rev. Jonathan Cronkhite has been serving youth and families in full time
ministry for the last 23 years. With the heart of a pastor, he encourages and equips families to have Homes Devoted, through conferences, workshops, coaching and writing. Married to Carrie for 22 years, they have 5 children, run a home school co-op, drama club and invite 50 people over once a month for airsoft battles.
