Shining Through…Leading Your Child To Christ

As far as I am concerned, my family is a Christian one. We pray together, study the Bible together and go to church together, as a family.

Do I necessarily have to lead my child to salvation? After all I have constantly exposed them to the Church and the Bible. Why does my child need to even go through that salvation experience? After all he’s a good kid.

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God… For the wages of sin is death” -Romans 3:23, 6:23

Even if I decide to consciously lead my child to salvation,  how do I go about it? I know it can be such a sensitive issue and even a bit intimidating to do, but the privilege for your child to know Jesus through you is not to be taken lightly. And helping your child on their journey of faith draws you closer to your child.

Leading your child to salvation is not limited to just giving them instructions on going about it. There are three key elements involved in leading your child to the point of salvation – Prayer, Lifestyle and Speaking with your child to the point of the actual act of surrender to Jesus.

• Prayer – Prayers for the salvation of the soul of your child begins from even before they are born. Sowing seeds of prayers for your child is key, especially in their younger years when the idea of being committed to Jesus may be more difficult to understand. As parents,  we pray and commit our kids to God for a heart fertile to receive Gods word
• The Phase of Your Lifestyle – As your child grows older, your life continues to preach a louder message to him, and he sees how you live out your life of faith. This will inspire your child to hunger for your kind of relationship with God. The lifestyle of a parent is a much more motivating factor than their words. Our kids are more likely to practice what they see us do than what we say.
• Leading your child through showing him what scriptures say about salvation and walking him through the actual process of the salvation experience, as soon as he is old enough to understand,  and ready to surrender his life to Jesus.

The first two elements lay a foundation critical to whether a child will follow through with the actual process. That is why it is important for us as parents to model the lifestyle of a true believer to our kids.

The emphasis may not be on the actual formal process of you leading your child,  because the child already has caught on to your faith.

In leading your child don’t force the process, let your child speak from his heart as prompted by the Holy Spirit to declare her salvation. If it’s truly a conviction done by the Holy Spirit, your child will be more than able to speak from his own conviction.

Then lead your child to thank God for the gift that he has received. Keep helping your child through in their walk of faith, using the Bible as your reference point always.

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature, old things have passed away,  behold all things have become new” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

This is the only way to truly equip your child for the future, so whether you’re present or not, they do the right thing,  prompted by the Holy Spirit.

Oluseye Ashiru