Giving Kids What They Need

Giving Kids What They Need, I have a constant daily struggle to give my kids what they need, and you can just forget about what they want! As a mom of six children, the truth of the matter is that some children will get the short end of the stick on a daily basis.

I am currently dealing with this very issue and am wracked with guilt that I am going to have to choose between what one child needs and what another equally esteemed child needs. Each child is precious to me, much loved and valued but one is not going to get what they need and the other one will! Deep breath…God is the provider of all our needs. I was never intended to meet every one of my children’s needs. Only God can do that!

This leads me to the question…What does the Bible say that kids need?

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

¹²“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Colossians 3:21 ESV

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Proverbs 29:17 ESV

Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.

James 4:6 ESV

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Psalm 127:3 ESV

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Proverbs 22:15 ESV

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Deuteronomy 6:1-3 ESV

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 11:18-19 ESV

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Psalm 78:5-7 ESV

He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;

Don’t you just love that God covers

all areas of a person’s needs!

Physical, emotional, spiritual and mental

are all covered in and through

God’s Word!

Searching God’s Word for truth always calms my heart and I find myself wondering why this is not my first line of defense? Parenting is tough work and is most effective when done on our knees petitioning the Lord on our kid’s behalf.

When I look at scripture I see clearly that I will never be able to provide all my children’s needs. That is God’s job. It is my job to commit my children to the Lord through prayer. It is my job to listen and search scripture to find out what our Father in heaven has to say about a subject. It is my job to obey His Word.

I happened to notice that most of the things that western culture believes children need are not found in scripture. It may be that this is one of the reasons we have a sixty to ninety percent (depending on the research study) failure rate of parents not passing on the Christian faith to our children?

On a personal note, just by studying scripture and praying about which of my children needed me most, the issue became clear. One of my children had a real need and one had a perceived need. I decided to go with what scripture considered a need and not what my mother’s heartfelt was a need.

I challenge you today to take a look at what scripture has to say about an issue you are struggling with, it will set you free!

YOUR TURN…

What are your most pressing issues as a parent?

Blessings,

2 Comments

Liza
September 28, 2019 at 3:23 pm

Superb post. I expect to integrate this with my kids.

1. Janelle Esker
  February 19, 2020 at 4:05 pm
  
  Yay! So happy you found this helpful.

Giving Kids What They Need