How to Talk to Your Child About Salvation

Transcription

1 How to Talk to Your Child About Salvation These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Talking to your child about salvation and their relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important conversation you can have. This should be a natural conversation that flows from your own walk with the Lord. It should not happen just once. Start early and talk about what Jesus has done for us often. YOU are your child s most influential spiritual leader(s). No one will have the impact you have spiritually on your child. You don t have to be a Bible scholar or the perfect Christian to do this. You just have to be a follower of Jesus seeking Him in your life for all things. YOU CAN DO THIS! Remember these easy spiritual parenting tips: 1. Take your own walk with the Lord seriously. Study the Bible and pray on a regular basis. Live your spiritual life out in front of your child. 2. Take serious steps to become free from wounds that affect you and allow you to stay stuck spiritually. 3. Be transparent with your child about your imperfections and need for forgiveness. 4. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you weave spiritual truths and concepts into your conversations with your child. 5. Tell your child your story about when you received Christ as Savior. 6. Talk to your child about things the Lord is teaching you. 7. Let your child see you reading your Bible and praying. 8. Pray with your child and help him/her to pray. 9. Look for God Sightings with your child. These are times when God shows up in your everyday life. (Examples: a beautiful sunset, an answered prayer... ) 10. Infuse your child s life with godly teaching. (Books, Bibles, apps, Christian shows for kids, music... ) As you prepare to discuss salvation with your child, here are a few things to keep in mind. First spend time in prayer asking: That the Holy Spirit would prepare your child That He would help you present the information clearly That He would give your child understanding And that He would show your child the truth of your words Talk to each child alone, and don t rush through it. Use simple words that your child will understand. Try to avoid phrases that might confuse your child, such as invite Jesus into your heart, dying and going to hell, give your life to the Lord, make a decision for Christ, get saved. At the end, ask questions to make sure your child understands. Don t push your child to make a decision. Your child s salvation is a matter between the Holy Spirit and your child. The Holy Spirit must be the one who convinces your child of his or her sin and need for salvation. As a result, you may need to revisit this conversation with your child several times. At the right time, the Holy Spirit will speak to your child. Celebrate Your Child s Decision: 1. Encourage your child to tell others about his/her decision to follow Jesus. This is the most important spiritual milestone in their life, and it should be celebrated. As a family, call friends and relatives to share this good news. 2. Write down the date of your child's decision in the front of their Bible or a family journal. 3. Celebrate with a party, special dinner, or dessert! Consider making this an annual celebration. It s their spiritual birthday! 4. You may choose to give a gift such as a Bible, journal, or other items to commemorate.

2 Gospel Presentation for Younger Children To prepare, you will need to cut four shapes out of paper: a red heart, a black heart with white on the reverse, a cross, and a paper doll figure. Did you know that God knows everything about you? He knows what you ate for breakfast. He knows which toys you love to play with most. And He knows what makes you happy, and what makes you sad. (Note: Try to personalize this introduction as much as possible; for example, by naming what your child had for breakfast, their favorite toy, etc. Or use different ideas that will be meaningful to your child.) And guess what: God loves you very, very much! (Place the red heart before your child to represent God s love.) In fact, God loves you so much, He wants you to be His child! But there s a problem. You see, you and I, and everyone else in the world, are not like God. God is always good, but we choose to do bad things. We are selfish, we hurt others, we disobey, and do lots of other bad things God tells us not to do. (Romans 3:23) In the Bible, all the wrong things we do are called sin. (Place the black heart before your child and explain that it represents their sin.) Our sin does something sad to our friendship with God: it makes God seem far away, so we can t know Him very well. (Remind your child that the red heart represents God. Move it away from the black heart.) But listen to this: God thought of a solution! Because He loves us so much, God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay for all our sins. (Hold up the cross. Explain that it s the same shape as the cross that Jesus died on, taking the punishment for our sins.) Because of Jesus, all the wrong things you ve done can be forgiven. God is just waiting for you to ask. When we tell God that we believe Jesus died for us, and then ask God to forgive our sins, He forgives us right away. God s Word says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins. (1 John 1:9) (Place the cross between the red heart [God] and the black heart. Move the hearts to touch the cross. Turn the black heart over to the white side.) When God forgives you, He makes you His child one of God s special family of people who believe in Jesus. (John 1:12) Once you are part of God s family, you can talk to Him every day and be close to Him. You can also look forward to living with God forever in heaven. (Show your child that the cross makes a bridge to join the white heart with the red heart. Have the paper doll walk across the bridge made by the cross.) Here s how to ask to become God s child: Admit that you need to be forgiven for your sins. Thank God that Jesus died to save you. Ask God to forgive you and help you turn away from sin. Thank God that Jesus will be with you forever. Allow your child to pray on their own in their own words if they can.

3 Gospel Presentation for Older Children To prepare, you will need to cut five shapes out of paper: a red heart, a black heart with white on the reverse, a large blue circle, a cross, and a paper doll figure. When God created the first two people, everything in the world was perfect. The people, who were named Adam and Eve, were very happy. God loved to come down from Heaven and spend time with them, because He loved Adam and Eve very, very much. And do you know what? God loves you today just as much as He loved Adam and Eve! (Show your child a red heart to represent God's love and a blue circle to represent the earth when everything was perfect. Place them down side by side.) But one day, when the world was new, something very sad happened: Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and started to do wrong things. Even Adam and Eve s children started to fight with each other and hurt each other. The world wasn t perfect anymore. And through all the years since then, people have been the same: you and I, and everyone else in the world, choose to do wrong things. We are selfish, we hurt others, and do lots of other bad things God s World tells us not to do. And often, we even forget all about God. In the Bible, all the wrong things we do are called sin. (Show your child a black heart and explain that it represents the sin in their heart. Place the black heart on the blue circle.) Our sin has created a lot of sadness in the world. And it does something sad in our relationship with God too: it makes God seem far away, so we can t know Him like a close friend. Optional statement: Because God is only good, all our bad sins could keep us separated from God forever even after we die. But listen to this! (Remind your child that the red heart represents God. Move it away from the black heart, which is still on the blue circle.) God never stopped loving Adam and Eve, even when they did wrong. And He never stops loving you and me either, no matter what. And because He loves us so much, God thought of a way we can be saved from the sad results of our sin. God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to die for our sins. We should be punished for everything we ve done wrong, but Jesus took our punishment instead. (Hold up the cross. Explain that it s the same shape as the cross that Jesus died on, taking the punishment for our sins.) Because of Jesus, all the wrong things you ve ever done can be forgiven. God is just waiting for you to ask. When we tell God that we believe Jesus died for us, and then ask God to forgive our sins, He forgives us right away. He makes our hearts clean, so He sees no trace of sin there. God s Word says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins. (1 John 1:9) (Place the cross between the red heart [God] and the black heart. Turn the black heart over to show the white side and place it back on the blue circle.) When God forgives you, you begin a very special friendship with Him. In fact, God is so pleased, He makes you His child one of God s family of people who believe in Jesus. God s Word says, Yet to all who receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). (Move the red heart to touch one side of the cross, and move the white heart, plus blue circle, to touch the other side of the cross.)

4 Once we are part of God s family, we can talk to Him every day and be His friend. We can also look forward to living with God forever in heaven. Here s how to ask to become God s child: (Show your child that the cross makes a bridge to join the white heart on the blue circle with the red heart. Have the paper doll walk across the bridge made by the cross.) Here s how to ask to become God s child: Admit that you need to be forgiven for your sins. Thank God that Jesus died to save you. Ask God to forgive you and help you turn away from wrongdoing. Thank God that Jesus will be with you forever. Allow your child to pray on their own in their own words if they can. Gospel Presentations taken from: kidsofintegrity.com Recommended resources: Parents Guide to the Spiritual Growth of Children. Tyndale House ( Introducing Your Child to God: Jesus/introducing-your-child-to-god Videos for Kids to Watch:

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