My Heartfelt Message to Parents, Intending Parents, And Intending Couples

Nobody has a master’s degree in parenting but are you really ready to be a parent?

You are about to get married? Congratulations, but have you sat down with your spouse to sincerely pray and prepare for your marriage and children? Have you counted the cost of birthing another soul (s) onto the earth?

You are waiting on God for the fruit of the womb. Have you asked God what your children’s destiny will look like? Have you asked Him for grace to steward their destiny in the right direction, even before they come?

Or you’ve already secured a visa to deliver in a foreign country so your child can be a foreign citizen when you are not even sure about their citizenship in heaven?

It’s not just about eating the right foods and taking enough folic acid during pregnancy to ensure your baby is healthy. Taking baby shower photos and uploading every moment of your child’s growth is not even a part of what we are talking about.

Parenting is a lot of work. But it is work to be done with utmost joy and gratitude.

How much work have you been putting in, and how much are you willing to put in?

It is good to pray that your child is preserved from evil and that they make it in life. But of what use will it be if that child is preserved from evil only to be the perpetrator of evil in their time?

For believers, don’t just stop at preaching religion to your child(ren). Go beyond dragging them to church. Introduce them to Jesus. Lead them to God and guide them as they solidify that relationship. Teach them to experience God firsthand. Teach them about their self-identity, and prep their hearts to resist peer pressure that may shake what they know and believe about themselves and God in the future. Pray their hearts into serving God and being for God.

Also, pray that mercy finds them because you may not know and teach them everything. So pray they come across voices and influences that move them in the right direction. Teach them morals and decency.

Because the decadence is unbearable. Sometimes, I just want to break down and wail on the streets. The young men are too focused on internet fraud to acknowledge God. And the ladies are all about showing off their bodies and sleeping around for the latest hair, gadget, clothes, shoes, and bags to really think about living a life of excellence.

But you know what shatters my heart the most?

These same people will, in no time, get married and start having their own children. What on earth will they teach their children?

How will the next generation turn out?

How?

Don’t say, ‘but I will not always be with them.’

Mark your children’s hearts! Teach them the Way, establish them in the Way by prayers. And when you’re not there, they will be the ones showing the light to their peers.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Prov 22:6

Let us not stop at the shallow prayers we pray over children: you will live, get a good job, marry and have your children. That is not all that life is about! Life is more profound than those, especially if life will be well-lived!

This is a clarion call for you if you are a parent, an intending parent, a newlywed, or a soon-to-be-wed. Solidify your own convictions. Grow your relationship with God. Learn how to be a godly parent beyond providing food and shelter for your children. Develop godly virtues. Work on your money appetite. Redefine critical concepts in your life. Learn to be deliberate about dealing with bad habits that sponsor negative personalities.

You know why?

Your personality, weaknesses, and strengths will rub off on your children because you are their first figure of influence, a significant voice in their lives. And whatever they pick from you may continue with them all their lives.

The fate of generations to come will rest primarily on your shoulder. Remember, it is what you pass on to your children that they will pass on to their children for generations to come unless God intervenes.

Selah.