Raising Your Child to Take The Land

The Book of Judges begins when Israel’s conquering generation is preparing to leadership to the next generation.

•       As children, that conquering generation has seen God miraculously feed the whole nations in the wilderness.

•       The, as adults, they watched in awe as God split the Jordan River.

•       They watched God tear down the walls of Jericho.

•       They watched God give many fortified cities into their hands.

THIS GENERATION EXPERIENCED THE POWER OF GOD FIRSTHAND AND IN A SPECIAL WAY.

Unfortunately the children though had a different story,

Judges 2:10–11 ESV

10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

Instead of conquering, these children become complacent:

Judges 3:1–4 ESV

1 Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before….4 They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

Judges 2:22 ESV

22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.”

God had left enemies in the land so that this new generation could come to know Him just as their fathers had. If this generation had pursued those enemies, they would have to come know the Lord and experienced His power.

STRANGELY, AS A RESULT OF FIGHTING, THEY WOULD HAVE KNOWN PEACE.

›        DISCIPLE-MAKING PARENTS RAISE THEIR CHILDREN TO “TAKE THE LAND”.

Take the Land

LESSON>>>

Every generation must have it’s land to take. Every generation must have it’s own experience of God, and often that firsthand faith comes from “taking the land”. The struggle that comes with that. The suffering that is so often partnered.

C.S. Lewis stated,

“Christianity is a fighting religion… [It] thinks that a great many things have gone wrong in the world that God made and God insist, and insist very loudly, in our putting them right again.”

God has left every generation with work to be done.

Understand the Kingdoms in Conflict

What our children need, is to be able to view the world the way that the way the bible sees it: A battle ground of two Kingdoms.

A battle ground of darkness and light,

of evil and good.

 You have God’s Son who has come to put his enemies under His feet and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) trhough His death and resurrection, and who has now called upon us to join Him in this sabotage .

He commands each of His followers to go and extend the Kingdom. To extend His rule.

The Great commission is a theology of cosmic warfare - a theology centering on the unveiling of the long-hidden mystery of Christ and His church. It means the overthrow of the ancient powers that have long held the creation captive through sin and death… It means war.

Russel Moore.

And so… our goal…

>>> “If we disciple our children to be self denying, kingdom building, God exulting, others-oriented warriors, they will come to know and experience God intimately. By fighting, they will experience peace.

Arrows to Let Fly

This invites the question… “What are we raising our children for?”

We must answer this questions for ourselves.

Do we have a bland vision for our children? Or a biblical one.

Understand the Assigned Fields

As we talk about this… something that is good to remind ourselves of is that yes… we do want to go and take other fields for the reign of King Jesus.

We should be seeking to bring His rule in all parts of the world.

But, we should also balance this thought with the realization that God has given us a certain territory to be our first focus… and that is, my heart, my home, my ministry, and my workplace.

2 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.

So these, should be the first and foremost lands that we show our children to go and take, daily.

How Do We DO This?

›        How do we pass on this life purpose in practical terms?

•       Live a life of passion , purpose, and mission yourself.

REMINDER: More is always caught than taught.

Our children will pick up on what we are most passionate about.

Are you activities as a family reflective of a passion about this cosmic battle that is taking place?

Thought this, our children can know that they are helpers within a much larger vision that God has for your family.

TELL THEM WHAT YOU ARE EXCITED ABOUT.

•       Train them toward a life of self-denying service.

At the root of every sin are the two ugly twins in PRIDE & SELFISHNESS.

So often we allow our children to be in all of these extra curricula activities without making sure that they are apart of any SELF DENYING activities, that we inadvertently create children who think that they need only to fight when it’s exciting for them.

Much of life is not a valor of war but a valor of faithfulness.

Hearts of service weaken self-absorption.

Suffering crucifies selfishness.

•       Choose quarterly mission activities to do as a family

•       serve your neighbors, bring your children in on the mission God has for you in your neighborhood.

•       make sure that you are somehow serving together as a family in your church family.

•       Serve together to build the local church

Matthew 16:18 ESV

18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

John 2:17 ESV

17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST IS WORTHY OF OUR LABOR AND TEARS.

The local church exists to glorify God through worshipping him

The local church exists to glorify God by edifying his people

The local church exists to glorify God by edifying his people

›        TO KNOW CHRIST AND MAKE CHRIST KNOWN.

•       Connect the drudgery of life with the bigger vision.

A story is told of three stonecutters. When a passerby asked what they were doing, one responded, “Cutting some stone.” The second replied, “Making a living”. But when asked what he was doing, the third replied, “Building a cathedral to the glory of God.” The three men were cutting the same stone, but the vision made all the difference.

•       Get them around other passionate and purposeful Christians

We all need others who will call out complacency within our lives and to expose ourselves to other like minded people who also love Jesus.

Our children are no different.

The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather for the devil.

This is the time our children will watch us closely,

let us be around people who will influence us toward Christ and also show them their need for this as well.

•       Praise Purposeful Christians

•       Some have gone into foster care or adoption,

•       some have moved to foreign places to share the gospel

•       some have forgone career advancements

•       Some are very faithful men or women in Christ that are just hitting it out of the park in their walk with the Lord.

•       Present the needs of the world to them

Revelation 3:17 ESV

17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Wealth can suffocate vital spiritual life.

Our wealthy children need to see the needs of the world.

•       3.2 Million people have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

•       In 2023: 828 million people went to bed hungry each night… 10 % of the world population.

•       3,400 people in SA were homeless in 2024.

•       5,621 Christians were killed for their faith in 2023.

•       Understand and cast a vision for the greatness of the cosmic battle

Making sure our children hear the vision we have for them in their lives through God’s Will is important.

For God to use them in mighty ways through their own gifts and personalties.

Last week I shared the article, “A Father’s Guide to Blessing His children.”

This could help a lot in that!

•       Ask about their vision

As we are guiding them along in God’s Word and in bring them to Him… be listening for HOLY AMBITIONS that God may be giving to them.

•       WHAT LAND IS GOD PLACING ON THEIR HEART TO GO AND TAKE.

At least have them start thinking about this.

You telling them your story will help in this. 

•       Serve together in ministries as close to the Great Commission as possible.

•       Street Evangelism - Food Giveaways.

•       Going out with Love of Truth Ministries, Dr. Daryl Rodriguez

•       Be great doers and great don’ters

John Piper provides some help:

A Christian is a great doer not a great don’ter.

We Pipers were fundamentalists without the attitude. We had our lists of things not to do. But that wasn’t the main thing, Here’s what my father preached in a sermon called The Greatest Menace to Modern Youth.

“Millions insist upon thinking that Christianity is a negative religion. You don’t do this and you can’t do that. You don’t go here and you can’t go there. To the contrary, the Bible constantly sounds the triumphant and positive note. ‘Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only?’

‘Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do with all your might.’ God wants us to be doers, not don’ters. A Christian who is only a don’ter is a sour saint who spreads gloom wherever he goes. A don’ter is usually a hypocritical Pharisee. Years ago, I heard the late Dr. Bob Jones say, “Do so fast you don’t have time to don’t.” That sums it up.”

That left an indelible mark on my life. We had strict standards, but I never chaffed under them. They were not the point. Enjoying Christ, doing good and loving people was the point. The rest was just fencing to protect the good field of faith and purity?

Don’t allow ourselves to fall into idleness which is only an opportunity for sin to spring up by being a DOER.

Let’s make sure we are being about the work of the Lord more than anything.

Conclusion

Our children more than likely are not going to go through the same type of challenges as their 1st generation Christian parents went through.

So, we must be intentional about showing them the CHALLENGES THAT ARE STILL IN FRONT OF THEM IN THIS COSMIC BATTLE WE ARE IN.

THERE IS STILL LAND THAT NEEDS TO BE TAKEN.

Spiritual growth comes from service.

From adopting the mission of God in our lives and taking it seriously to be ambassadors everywhere we are.

John 4:34 ESV

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

›        DISCIPLE MAKING PARENTS RAISE THEIR CHILDREN TO “TAKE THE LAND”.

For Thought, Discussion, & Action

“If we disciple our children to be self-denying, kingdom-building, God-exalting, others oriented warriors, they will experience peace. However, if we train our children in self-serving, entertainment-oriented, me-focused walk, they will experience the harassment of sin.”

•       Do you agree with this quotation? How does the child-centerdness of our culture and our children’s sinful nature push us toward the latter?

•       Which of the eleven suggestions stuck out to you?