Study Shows That A Child’s Spirituality Is The Number One Factor In their Happiness

Dr. Mark Holder, a psychology professor at The University of British Columbia, led a study to determine what factors have the greatest influence on a child’s happiness. He and his team surveyed more than 300 children ages 9 to 12. The researchers also asked the parents and teachers of the children to rate their happiness.

The result? In Dr. Holder’s own words, “The more spiritual the children were, the happier they were.”

Perhaps you’re thinking, “That’s great. We take our children to church and read Bible stories to them”. Yes, that is helpful but it’s not what the survey was focused on. In fact, the Doctor said that religious activities such as going to church didn’t seem to make a difference in a child’s happiness level.

Read more

What role did God intend for the Christian home and family to play in his salvation plan, the Gospel? (Part 3)

So how exactly can God use our Christian families (Christian parents and Christian children) to impact the world and bring God’s blessing to the nations?

I believe he wants us to raise a generation of Christian kids that will do major damage to the gates of hell. Let me explain.

If Israel could become great and powerful by teaching their children to walk with God and keep the Old Covenant how much more can the Body of Christ grow and powerfully impact the nations, according to God’s promise, if we were to teach our children to walk in the power and grace of the New Covenant.

Can you imagine if instead of losing our kids to the world we kept them all in the church. I’m not talking about just having more bodies to warm the pews. I’m talking about a generation that grows up learning God’s Word, walking in relationship with God and growing in his grace. A generation that is excited about being used by God and about taking ground for the Kingdom of God. Like the generation of Israelites that took the Promised Land only each one of these would be under the New Covenant and filled with God’s Spirit.

Right now we try to protect our children from the evil influences of the world and there is a time for that while they are young.

Unfortunately, our children, (for the most part) are not learning about and growing in their Faith during that time. Think about if we taught our children math and science like we teach them their Faith not one of them would ever graduate. So when they get old enough to see what the world has to offer they wander over there to check it out.

Instead we should be training up our children in the Word of God, equipping them with truth, showing them how to grow close to God, walk with him and influence the world for God and change it for his Kingdom. If we did this we would not have to worry about the world affecting our children. The world would have to start to worry about our children changing them.

If we followed God’s plan and raised kids God’s way, we would all leave this world with the Body of Christ stronger and more powerful than it’s ever been.

Do you know why we have youth groups that have to put all their energies into keeping our teens out of the world or retrieving them from it? It is because we have not brought them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. They do not know God, who they are in Christ or what they believe. What they learn from Sunday school and from Bible stories and the occasional Bible reading won’t cut it.

I foresee the day when we won’t need that kind of youth group anymore. If we stuck to God’s program and taught our children well, when they were young, more youth groups would be more like an army headquarters then a long term care hospital.

Think about this, we currently burn out our pastors because a large portion of the congregation is either new to the Faith or they have never really grown in their Faith. While the pastors are getting burned out trying to get a congregation of baby Christians to grow up just a bit, the children of these same people are headed towards the world.

So we burn out the pastor and lose the children. Then when the children who left the church (who never grew up in their Faith) have children of their own, come back and we start the whole process over again.

If we did it God’s way we would focus on the children and grow up a generation of mature Christians who would work with the pastor, reach the world for Christ and train and instruct their children to do the same. The old cycle would be broken and a new cycle of strength and growth would be established.

What God wants to do through families is raise a generation that can have a bigger impact on this world then the one before so that he can bring about his promise to bless all nations.

For more practical and Biblical Christian Parenting ideas we recommend the Christian resource, ‘What Mary and Joseph Knew About Parenting’.

 

 

 

 

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

What role did God intend for the Christian home and family to play in his salvation plan, the Gospel? (Part 2)

In part one we talked about how God wants to have salvation and his blessing come to our families. In part two I would like to talk about God’s calling on Christian families and how God wants to work through them.

Let’s go back and take a closer look at the verses about why God called Abraham.

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:18, 19) Read more

What role did God intend for the Christian home and family to play in his salvation plan, the Gospel? (Part 1)

When my mother gave her life to Christ and started attending church every Sunday she had a husband, (my step dad) six children (ranging from toddler to adult) and a large extended family. She was understandably worried about how her new Faith would be viewed and if everyone would embrace it as well or reject it and her. She even started taking the youngest of my siblings to Sunday School on her own.

One evening not too long after her decision to live her life for Christ, no matter what the cost, she attended a Gospel dinner with a special Christian speaker. That speaker prayed for her and while he was praying, even though he did not know her or her situation, he said, “Don’t worry, today salvation has come to your house.” Read more

What Should I Look For When Buying A Bible Storybook For My Children?

I probably get asked this question and ones like it more often than any other question.

When I first started developing Bibles for children it was in response to the frustration I experienced over the years when trying to find Bibles that I could use with my own children.

At first the publishers I went to with my ideas responded by telling me the market was already glutted with Bible Storybooks.

They were shocked to hear me tell them that unfortunately many of them are useless when it comes to teaching children the Bible.

Let me pass on to you what we should be looking for in a Bible for our kids and why.
I think the first thing we need to ask is what is God’s purpose for the Bible. In a nutshell, the Bible reveals God’s story and plan for humankind, it focuses on God’s salvation plan and brings us to Jesus and it teaches us how to live as Christians.

Should a Bible Storybook for children have the same purpose? Of course, however many are merely a collection of Bible stories that are not linked together to reveal God’s big picture story. They tell stories about Jesus but say nothing about what that means to us and they include very little of the New Testament books that teach us how God wants us to live.

It is probable that the first Bible Storybooks were published in response to the popularity of books that contained collections of stories and/or fables for children. So a clever someone put a bunch of the best stories ever told (the ones in the Bible) together and the cash register has been ringing ever since. Unfortunately we have come to refer to these as Bibles for children instead of what they are, a mere collection of stories from the Bible.

The idea of a Bible Storybook is great and very beneficial but it just needs to be more than just a collection of stories if you truly want your children to learn God’s Word.

So let’s get to it. Here is what to look for.

• Read the ending of several stories and the beginning of the ones that follow. Check to see that the stories are linked together into God’s big story from creation to the second coming.
• Look for the Gospel message. It is great if it has a prayer to pray but it should (like our Bibles do in Romans) explain what Jesus did means to us.
• Look at the table of contents and see where the stories stop. The ones that make an effort to present the Apostles teaching will have stories about the Apostles missionary journeys and the letters they wrote to churches.
• Next it is helpful if the Bible includes a prayer suggestion, a lesson and/or a question or conversation starter after each story that will help you turn story-time into your child’s devotional time.
• Also if you are satisfied with the above move on to check if it is appropriate for your child’s age and attention span. (Less text and more pictures are needed for our younger children and the opposite is needed as our children grow older.)
• Finally, if you are willing to put the least important thing last and you have found a couple of good choices, choose the one with the artwork and packaging that you think will appeal to your child.

 I am happy to report that many others and myself have been working hard to write and create Bible Storybooks that are truly Bibles for children and there are some good choices out there.
Here are a few.

I would highly recommend that you get your children started listening to the Singing Bible. Children love it (ages 1 – 8 ) and it was designed to teach them God’s Big Story, the Gospel and how God wants us to live. It is a great plug and play supplement to your Bible Storybook.

THE SINGING BIBLE (Focus on The Family)

 

 

I should note that some of the above is not as important if you are looking for a Bible for your young toddler so I would also recommend;

For Toddlers (ages 1 – 3)

GOD LOVES ME BIBLE

 

 

 

For Preschoolers (ages 3 – 5)

MEMORY VERSE BIBLE STORYBOOK 

 

 

 

For ages 4 – 8 

BEDTIME BIBLE (Focus on The Family)

 

 

 

 

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

« Previous Page