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- How is your child's relationship with Jesus?
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| How is your child's relationship with Jesus? | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 20 2008, 02:36 PM (601 Views) | |
| carinyosa99 | Jul 20 2008, 02:36 PM Post #1 |
Angel of The Lord
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Does your child love Jesus with all his/her heart? Has he/she come to a point where they can actually make that decision? Do you think your child doesn't have a relationship with Christ? My son has accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior but today our pastor was mentioning living "in the Lord" and I don't think he does. I don't think he truly understands what it's like to have that intimate relationship with Christ. He received Christ when he was 11 years old when he lived in Nicaragua. But he strayed away - very far away. When he came to live with us last year, he knew he would be going back to church and he wanted that. He's interested in going to church, but doesn't really look forward to it either. My husband works in the youth ministry with the teens. There are so many there that received Christ as kids and then when they got to their teens, they felt like they had not *really* committed themselves back then and so they recommit (or in some cases they feel like this is the real commitment). I wonder if any of your kids would feel the same way. Not that it's bad - it means they're growing. But then I've also seen parents whose kids have strayed like ours did. It's so sad. I'm kind of babbling, but it's an interesting topic. |
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| Jemila | Jul 20 2008, 03:01 PM Post #2 |
Resident Violin Playing Plumber
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2 of ours have asked Jesus into their hearts, and I definitely see the fruit of Salvation in their lives. My daughter loves to go to churcfh, she is such an encourager, she reads her Bible, she writes notes or makes cards for her friends to share the Gospel with them, or to tell them that God loves them. All on her own, I don't coach her in making them. She is 9. My son, he is a pray-er.  He has asked God to stop the rain a couple times, and God has stopped the rain.   :peachy:  
 He will bow his head when we pray at meals, and he is the last one to raise his head up again. He is 7. My 3 year old, this year we will start to really talk to him about Jesus being His Lord and Savior too.
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| Snowowl | Jul 20 2008, 03:07 PM Post #3 |
Bearer of the Water Balloons
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Deborah loves going to church. She has said that she has Jesus in her heart. She love reading her little pink NIV bible and memorizing scripture. She has more memorized then I do. Elizadeth is just getting into it and next week she gets to go to childrens church for the first time. |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 20 2008, 06:45 PM Post #4 |
Who's yours?
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Our oldest two have...twice a piece at this point. My son first asked Jesus into his heart when he was young, first or second grade. We all thought he knew what it meant, but when he was 11, he told me after church one day that he did not feel like he was saved, and he wanted to commit his life to Christ then, so I had him talk with the pastor, and he got baptized again. My step-daughter first claimed to understand salvation when she was in kindergarten, but frankly, I knew that she did not understand and was totally opposed to her getting baptized. However, my in-laws had been pushing her to make this decision for over a year and she wanted to do it to please them. Hubby didn't have enough guts to stand up to them, so she got baptized. I never had any peace about it, and it is probably one of the reasons I don't care for my in-laws that much. However, she has since truly committed her life to Christ, during the last school year, and I have no doubt in my mind this time that she understood what she was doing. Now, they're both kids and they mess up pretty regularly, but I believe they understand salvation and as they grow, they will learn more and do just fine. Please, please, please...do not try to force your kids into making an early decision just for your own peace of mind. It has the potential to confuse them into thinking they are saved when they are not, which is the last thing you want. And in case you can't tell, it's one of my pet peeves! 
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| Jemila | Jul 20 2008, 07:02 PM Post #5 |
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Resident Violin Playing Plumber
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Yeah, we have never forced our kids.We were watching some show on TBN, and I felt The Holy Spirit tug at my heart to talk with our girl when she was 3 1/2. She knew the Gospel message, and we talked about Jesus ( Oh yeah, Cherub's Wings was the show), and she said she wanted to ask Jesus to be her Lord and Savior, to be in her heart. My husband talked with our son when he felt led by The Holy Spirit. We enjoy sharing communion as a family, but my youngest has to be distracted, until he asks Jesus into his heart too. We talk about what communion means when we take it with the kids. |
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| Amalthea | Jul 21 2008, 01:58 AM Post #6 |
The Singing Silver Unicorn
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Deborah really does have a good grasp on it. She's always been fascinated by anything "churchy". When she was a baby she was fascinated by Michael Youssef - she would stop crying when he was on TV! Her leader in AWANA once told me that Deborah was doing so well in AWANA that she could TEACH it! Both of the girls love doing the nightly Devotional. For instance, last night, since I was just giving them a quick dinner before we left for "Family Fun Fest", I wasn't going to do it - but both of them called me to do it. Last night was the first night of "Family Fun Fest". In lieu of an actual VBC this year, our church managed to get the Lord Family Ministries to come. The Lord Family is a couple with their 6 kids, ranging in age from 20 to 6 (well, she's actually turning 7 tomorrow). They're a family band - they all sing & play instruments and actually WRITE worship songs - who also do puppet shows and "live videos" and such. Both Deborah AND Elizabeth had a ball! Deborah was the 2nd kid to get the Nightly Memory Verse (John 14:6) down pat; there were kids who didn't have it down even after a bunch of other kids spoke up first! At another point, two "teams" - boys against girls - went up front to answer questions about the show, game-show style. Deborah was chosen to be the spokesperson for her group. Elizabeth just had fun, but was very quiet and well-behaved during the parts where Mr. Lord was talking, listening intently. |
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| carinyosa99 | Jul 21 2008, 01:48 PM Post #7 |
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Angel of The Lord
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See, that's exactly what I think happened with Luis. He felt pressured into making a decision at age 11. Even though he was older, I don't think that really matters. He was going to a Baptist school at the time and his grandmother was also Baptist. (His mother thinks she's saved, but I'm not so sure about that - she hasn't even answered my husband's question about receiving Christ.) Anyway....I think he felt pressured. And he made a commitment last year but I'm hoping that he really feels the Holy Spirit inside him. |
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| GodsGal | Jul 21 2008, 02:02 PM Post #8 |
Becoming Family
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she has the 18 yr old attitude- but she goes to church, helps with VBS and Sunday school.... I think the college she will be making her stronger in her faith.. |
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| Amalthea | Jul 22 2008, 12:15 PM Post #9 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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I just found out something interesting about Elizabeth today... I was talking to her teacher, and I told her about Family Fun Fest. I told her how Elizabeth "prayed" with me last night. Miss Stephanie told me that, whenever Elizabeth is upset, she will go off to a corner, fold her hands together, and talk quietly.  Bringing her problems to God? |
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| Jemila | Jul 23 2008, 09:39 AM Post #10 |
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Resident Violin Playing Plumber
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Maybe, or mimicking what she see's you do without really understanding what you are doing. I get caught off-guard when my kids do that. I used to pray out loud a lot, but I stopped when the kids are around, because my son started talking to himself a lot. He didn't understand I was praying... he was just 2 or 3 at the time. God has really had me take some steps back to have me look at what what I do looks like to the unSaved, or even the Saved that don't know me or that I am a Christian. I am much more careful in choosing my words now, or being mindful of what I look like. I know I am not of the world, I know that I am peculiar, a royal priesthood... but there are enough real wacko's professing to be Christians. I don't want to be someone that pushes people away from Christianity. |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 23 2008, 02:48 PM Post #11 |
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Who's yours?
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 Oh, Jemila...we know you're wacko, but we love you because of it! 
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| carinyosa99 | Jul 23 2008, 02:53 PM Post #12 |
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Angel of The Lord
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Well I'm happy because Luis went off to youth group tonight. That sometimes takes a small miracle - or at least some pushing by his "not so sure if she is a saved Christian" mother. |
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| Jemila | Jul 23 2008, 06:49 PM Post #13 |
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Resident Violin Playing Plumber
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Awesome, VICKY!!! That is victory. :) yngmom4:   You called me...snivel sniff sniff..... wacko.  |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 23 2008, 10:26 PM Post #14 |
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Did I call you wacko? I thought you said you were wacko, and I was just agreeing with you! Really, I said we love you because of your wackiness, there's no reason to cry. 
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| carinyosa99 | Jul 24 2008, 11:45 AM Post #15 |
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Angel of The Lord
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Now we're just pushing for baptism!!!! He said he has never been baptized. Although I don't believe that baptism is an absolute MUST to be saved (think about people on their death bed who accept Christ), it is something we should do. He's talked about it, but he also knows he doesn't want to do it just to do it. He knows it's a serious decision and realizes that he hasn't gotten to that point yet in his relationship with Christ. He has grown a lot, but as a parent, you always want them to grow more. |
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| Amalthea | Jul 24 2008, 12:03 PM Post #16 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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We're definitely not even thinking of even Deborah getting baptized yet. She's way too young. Even so, our current pastor accidentally made Deborah afraid of baptisms! We were watching a baptism at our church; the baptizee was taller than the pastor, which made it awkward enough. However, when the pastor adjusted his balance after "dunking" the baptizee, it looked rather violent - like he was trying to DROWN him! Deborah was horrified, so we're going to let a LOT of time go by before she even watches another one. |
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| carinyosa99 | Jul 24 2008, 04:37 PM Post #17 |
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Angel of The Lord
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Last night was baptism night at our church in the main sanctuary and one of the people was having a really hard time getting dunked. The pastor had to kind of force him down. But it wasn't violent looking or anything Next weekend is baptism night for the youth so I'm hoping he at least goes to the service to see it. He hasn't seen a baptism at our church except a video of his dad when he was baptized over 7 years ago. |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 24 2008, 10:12 PM Post #18 |
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Who's yours?
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My oldest two have been baptized twice each, and they did really well with it. As long as you have a caring, considerate pastor who is not out to frighten innocent children, it shouldn't be a problem. I certainly wouldn't force a child who was scared, though. There is really no reason to do that. |
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| Amalthea | Jul 25 2008, 12:57 AM Post #19 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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I love seeing the young ones choosing to be baptized. One of my favorite times was this one young boy who was PAINFULLY shy. He was so shy, he had asked his father to read his testimony for him (at our church, each baptizee says a short testimonial before getting dunked). He literally came up a "new man"! He hasn't had a problem with public speaking since - he even plays bass for the Worship Team! The last time we had baptisms there was one entire family who was bapitzed: Dad, Mom, and 13-year-old son. It was a beautiful sight. It just upsets me that Deborah doesn't even want to SEE them now, because of that incident. One night during devotionals, baptisms were being discussed. She started to look anxious. Snowy and I had to explain to her that she was NOT getting baptized until SHE was ready...and that wasn't for quite a few years yet. (I told her that she had to at least be old enough to write out her testimonial - oddly enough, that seemed to help.) |
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| carinyosa99 | Jul 25 2008, 06:20 AM Post #20 |
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Angel of The Lord
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You know....we get a lot of families or couples that get baptized together. In fact, we just had a mother and her two children do it on Wednesday. It was the only multi-baptism that occurred that night (usually there are at least two where there is more than one person going in with the pastor). We also have a testimony but it's not absolutely required. The young ones usually are scared - and that makes sense because we have a pretty large church and it can be quite intimidating for them. One girl was so nervous though - she was maybe around 20-22. She said a few things, but not much - saying she didn't know what to say. But in the end, she said all joyfully "Jesus Rocks!" and everyone laughed. It was cute. Our pastor then said he thinks that's the first time anyone has said "Jesus Rocks" while getting baptized and he loved it! |
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| Amalthea | Jul 25 2008, 07:04 AM Post #21 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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We have a very small church, so the intimidation factor is greatly lessened. The way we do it is: first, the person gets in the baptismal with the pastor, they read (or just say) their testimonial (it's actually optional, but no one has opted out), the person gets dunked, then a short song (of the person's choice) is played. It was mildly annoying, but rather funny, when 5 different people all picked the same song! As for multiples, we usually just go in one-by-one. As a matter of fact, Snowy and I are the ONLY ones who went in at the same time. Snowy & Amalthea's Baptism (Note: the gentleman behind me is our beloved Pastor Roger; the gentleman behind Snowy is the man who installed the baptismal, and the first person baptized in it; we were 2nd.) |
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| carinyosa99 | Jul 25 2008, 01:57 PM Post #22 |
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Angel of The Lord
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Well that makes sense with your baptismal because that's much smaller than what we have. Ours is maybe 1.5 times that size. |
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| Amber | Jul 25 2008, 04:52 PM Post #23 |
Praying for our Nation
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My older son says he has Jesus in his heart but I think he's a little too young to grasp it soon. He's 4. The two year old doesn't really know anything
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| Amalthea | Jul 25 2008, 05:30 PM Post #24 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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He may not understand fully, but he may have more than you think. Deborah, at 5, has an amazing grasp of Jesus, who He is and what He did, and I, myself, "witnessed" for the first time when I was 6 (although I never found out the result until just a few years ago). |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 25 2008, 07:15 PM Post #25 |
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Who's yours?
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My four year old is just starting to ask questions about why Jesus died, so I need to sit down with him and explain things. My two year old doesn't have a clue, though! 
Edited by yngmom4, Jul 25 2008, 07:15 PM.
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| Jemila | Jul 25 2008, 09:31 PM Post #26 |
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Resident Violin Playing Plumber
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Suggestion: My daughter nearly drowned a couple years ago at the Marina here. She went to the rope, the rope had drifted back, and she hit a sudden drop off. Scared us both so bad. I was able to keep eye conbtact (LOL, Leo must be around here sobwhere....) with her, made my way through the water, grabbed her by the shirt, and got her back on solid ground.... well, after I stopped hugging her, crying. I made her go back into the water, away from the rope, within 10 minutes, so we both could conquer our fear of her being in the water again. I think the more normal Baptisms she sees as soon as possible, the less room the devil will have to play on her fears. Just a suggestion. Find some on God tube, and also make sure she sees your Pastor giving baptisms that don't look scary, LOL! Again... just suggestions, but I really think they will help smooth the way for her. |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 25 2008, 10:04 PM Post #27 |
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Who's yours?
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Jemila, those are great suggestions, and I wish I'd thought about those sooner. It's like the old saying about "getting back on the horse". It really is true. The sooner you face your fears, the sooner you will overcome them. Another suggestion would be the verse on God not giving us a spirit of fear; sometimes it helps kids to understand that fears are normal but God has the power to overcome our worst fears. |
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| Amalthea | Jul 26 2008, 02:16 AM Post #28 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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Thank you! Wonderful suggestions! We don't have baptisms all that often, so we'll have to wait 'til the next one. I'll have to look up that verse for her, yngmom4; she LOVES learning new Bible verses. Funny thing is; she isn't afraid of water. She LOVES to swim. |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 26 2008, 03:49 PM Post #29 |
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Who's yours?
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Ain't that the way of it, though? See, so you tell her God hasn't given her a spirit of fear, let her watch a few dunkings, and voila! She will be anxious to get baptized!
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| Amalthea | Jul 27 2008, 11:14 AM Post #30 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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Today was such a special day! Elizabeth stayed out with us in the Sanctuary instead of going to the Nursery for the first time! She was proud to be able to hold her own Bible (with a purple cover and a butterfly clasp) and sat and flipped through the pages "reading" (no, she can't) before service. One thing that made the day special was the special music; My song was postponed for a week, but instead, Elizabeth got to hear "Amazing Grace" being played on BAGPIPES! It's something we look forward to every year (Snowy is part Scottish), and it just made it so special. Deborah took Elizabeth's hand and led her up front when it was time to hear the Children's Story. They both sat quietly and listened. Then, it was down to Children's Church. I was told later that she did very well, sat quietly, answered a couple of questions, and was really focused when they talked about how and why we pray. To add to all the special-ness of the day, little Lillian Sartorelli (whom y'all have been praying for) was dedicated, then we had just testimonies of answered prayers for the actual service. Elizabeth is already looking forward to next Sunday, and Deborah is so proud of her...as are we. |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 27 2008, 01:13 PM Post #31 |
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Who's yours?
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That's awesome, Amalthea! You really must be proud. As for us, we finally have one of our kiddos back, so we are up to three out of four, plus we took my neighbor/friend's two boys with us also. The three older kids went up front for children's story time, then went back to children's church, and they all had a blast! The two younger ones stayed back in the nursery, and they had a blast also! All in all, a good Sunday morning...looking forward to tonight! |
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| Amalthea | Jul 27 2008, 03:12 PM Post #32 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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It's just a little strange for us; this is the first time since November of 2002 that we haven't had anyone in the nursery! |
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| carinyosa99 | Jul 27 2008, 04:40 PM Post #33 |
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Angel of The Lord
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Awesome! I love hearing about kids excited about church! I had a talk with Luis yesterday about people and their relationship with God. We had been talking with someone who less than a year ago was a true atheist. It was only within the past 4-5 months that he became a believer. So Luis and I were talking about how so many people know God in their mind, but not in their heart. And then I asked him about how he feels about Christ and he told me he has him in his heart. And he was sincere about it. But he's not always excited about church. That's probably because he can't understand the entire message. He won't do the translation though because, quite honestly, it's hard to follow when you can understand some of what the pastor is saying in English. It's actually distracting. So he chooses to forego the translation. But he does ask me what certain words mean. So he's interested. |
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| yngmom4 | Jul 27 2008, 07:28 PM Post #34 |
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Who's yours?
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That's progress, isn't it? Knowing that he is interested. Lately, when we say prayers at night, both my two year old and my four year old are actually saying the prayer with me. You wanna hear something cute, it's a two year old saying now I lay me down to sleep...
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| Amalthea | Jul 28 2008, 01:35 AM Post #35 |
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The Singing Silver Unicorn
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Our girls say it every night. Didja know there are a BUNCH of different versions? When I was growing up, I said it: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. When Deborah was a baby, my SIL give her a little lamb that, when you squeezed it, said: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep Let angels watch me through the night so I will wake in morning light. When Deborah was old enough to actually recite it, she changed it a little...and we've kept HER version since! Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep Watch angels watch me through the night; I will wake in morning light. (It give NO question as to Who is in charge) We've also added, at the end: And thank you, God, for....[fill in blank] Yesterday, however, the girls learned a NEW prayer, and we really like it. It's called the "5 Finger Prayer": Look at your hands when you put them together in prayer. Thumb: finger closest to you, meaning pray for those people closest to you (family, friends, etc.) Pointer: pray for those people who guide you (teachers, bosses, etc.) Middle finger: tallest, meaning pray for Leaders (government - President, Mayor, etc.) Ring: Weakest, meaning pray for those who are sick or weak Pinky: smallest, meaning pray for yourself. |
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