Creating conditions for kids in our ministries to love God, follow God and trust God!
How did David get to be David? How in the world was he able to, at a young age, take on such responsibility, have the favor of the Lord, trust in God to fight the battles, make wise decisions, and be willing to follow God?
Based on David’s younger years, how might we apply some of the principles to our own ministry to children and the next generation?
1) Help the children, when they are young, in skills, talents, abilities.
a. David was gifted in areas, but had the privilege of being able to spend time learning it. His schedule may have been full, but it wasn’t so full that the important things didn’t suffer.
b. Never underestimate who God might be calling and working with – God looks at the heart.
c. Help them to try lots of things so they can discover what they might become, what they are good at. Awaken in them their God given gifts.
d. Most of this comes from the home, but the church can also help by inviting kids to do things they may have never done before.
2) Give them opportunities to experience, serve, grow – both big and small.
a. Jesse sent his son, David, on a seemingly mundane task: taking food to his brothers.
b. But when he arrived with the food for his brothers, he had the opportunity to fight the giant – the king sent him off to do just that.
c. The story would have been different had David just gone home and told the story about the giant. Kids need to live it.
3) Don’t dress them in your armor and your style of fighting.
a. Your way of doing things is good in the way God has fitted and designed you.
b. The next generation will have another way of “wearing” God’s faithfulness.
c. This applies to styles of learning, styles of worship, styles of teaching, styles of experiencing, styles of communicating, and styles of dealing with issues.
4) Talk it, Live it, Pass it Down
a. David’s grandmother was Ruth, the lady that bravely left her own country and gods to follow her mother in law, even though she didn’t have to.
b. Because of this Ruth began to follow the one true God.
c. David came from a long line of people who lived it with stories of God’s faithfulness
d. God, God’s power, God’s grace, God’s victory, God’s faithfulness is always on our lips.
e. Continue the heritage or begin it.
OTHER BLOGS
How To Get Rid Of Negative Attitudes.
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