I have had several conversations with people recently concerning children being saved. This is one topic that is a real burden on my heart. Perhaps it’s because I was saved when I was seven and I know what happened to me that day; it changed my life! So, out of that burden, I want to address some good questions that I’ve been asked.

They are:

• How early should you start telling a child about the cross and what Jesus did for them?
• Should you ask them if they think about asking Jesus into their hearts?
• By asking them questions are we being pushy and forcing a decision on them that they will forget or realize later in life was made only to please an adult?
• Are they old enough to really understand what salvation is all about?

I asked my daughter, Whitney to share her personal testimony with you. By reading this, you can hear from a young woman, who was saved as a little child, just what was in her heart in that early decision to accept Christ.

I was saved before I was four years old. Having grown up with a foundation of the gospel firmly set in my heart, I was aware of God’s love for me and of my need to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. I don’t remember the situation where I knelt and prayed with a child’s faith, but I know I became His child at a young age. I never doubted my salvation (I might have prayed a sinner’s prayer during Tom Farrell’s sermon on hell…during a thunderstorm….when the power went out…but who wouldn’t have?). =)

When I was in high school, I began to feel the Lord drawing me to Himself. As I studied the Scriptures, I could see that He wanted an intimate, personal relationship with me. The greatest joy of my life has been to learn what my salvation, the gift I accepted so many years ago, really means to me. The assurance of my salvation can be expressed in the song I’ve loved since I was a little girl, “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!”

Now, using her testimony, let me answer the previous questions.

• How early should you start telling a child about the cross and what Jesus did for them? In the hospital nursery would not be too soon! Really, from the time my children were in the womb, I was singing songs about the cross, reading Scripture, and praying out loud. These are all great ways to prepare their heart for the message of salvation. It starts then and it should never stop. A child raised in a Christian home shouldn’t remember when it began. It should begin before they can even understand.
• Should you ask them if they’re thinking about asking Jesus in their hearts? Asking them a question is not forcing a decision – it’s asking a question. Do you ever say, “Would you like a snack?” Sure, but that’s not forcing them to eat between meals – it’s giving an offer. Satan lies to us and tries to scare us about sharing the most important Truth with our children. Give the Truth and give it in love. I talked to my girls about Jesus’ great love for them. I taught them about their sinful nature when they disobeyed. I told them my own salvation testimony. Understanding that Mommy had to be saved will make them understand that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” These things all open doors for you to lead them (not drive them) to Christ.
  

  The night Whitney got saved we weren’t doing anything spiritual – we were in our daily routine when she told me she wanted to ask Jesus to come into her heart. I questioned her to make sure she understood what that meant, and she did in her simple child-like way. Again, we’d gone over this many times in casual settings. After she prayed, I never reminded her of that day – I wanted to make sure it was true in her own heart. Though it never happened, if she had ever come and told me she needed to be saved later on, I would have simply said, “Okay, let’s take care of that.”

• Are they old enough to really understand what salvation is all about? A nearly four year-old surely doesn’t understand reconciliation or sanctification, but they can understand all that’s necessary to be saved – I’m a sinner and Jesus died to take the punishment for my sin. If I accept what He did for me, I will go to heaven some day. Just as Whitney said that it wasn’t until later on she realized that God wanted to have an intimate relationship with her and she grew to appreciate all that her salvation meant, the same will be true for any child that accepts Christ early on. They grow up spiritually after they’re saved and learn all that happened on that day.

So much more could be said, but for now let me just encourage you not to be afraid of a child making a decision too early. Tell them now. Invite them now. Their heart is soft and tender and so reachable. So what if they do have to make an assurance decision later. It is better to have them make a decision when it might seem too early rather than waiting until it’s too late.

With love and a desire to see little ones come to Christ,

P.S. Were you saved as a child? If so, how old were you when you received Christ? Do you have other questions concerning children being saved?

The photographer for a national magazine was assigned to get photos of a great forest fire. Smoke at the scene hampered him and he asked his home office to hire a plane. Arrangements were made and he was told to go at once to a nearby airport, where the plane would be waiting. When he arrived at the airport, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, “Let’s go! Let’s go!” The pilot swung the plane into the wind and they soon were in the air.

“Fly over the north side of the fire,” yelled the photographer, “and make three or four low level passes.”

“Why?” asked the pilot.

“Because I’m going to take pictures,” cried the photographer. “I’m a photographer and photographers take pictures!”

After a pause the pilot said, “You mean you’re not the instructor?”

Ever feel like someone was out to get you, or that absolutely nothing was going the way you thought it would? I don’t know who to feel sorrier for in the story above, the photographer or the student pilot! We all have times like that in our life. Wrong things ordered, wrong things sent, missed flights, overbooked flights, mistreatment at the license branch, incorrect medications given…the list of frustrations can go on and on. We look at the situation and say, “I can’t believe this is happening to me!”

When we meet Joseph in Genesis 37 we almost immediately see this poor teenager in trouble. It isn’t very long in the story until he’s sold by his brothers because of their intense hatred for him. I wonder if, while in prison, he thought about his dreams where his family bowed down to him. Did he ever wonder, “Lord, what about that? How is that going to be fulfilled? Did I read into that one?”

As I studied that passage this morning I read this comment written in the margin of my Bible: Even when people are at their worst, God is working out His plan. Whatever seeming blunders are going on in our lives right now, God is still working out His will for you and me. We can’t let ourselves wonder if He missed this one. He is sovereign. He is at work and He is even using the situation that you’re in right now (even if it’s due to another person’s mistake) to accomplish His purposes in your life.

Where was God when Joseph was imprisoned? The same place He is right now…He’s right here. Let that encourage your heart to keep flying!

With love,

I’ve learned a new skill. I’ve found out this week that I can walk on the treadmill at 3.1 speed with a steep incline and read a book! Wow! Does this make the time fly by! I’m praying I won’t be acting out any of the hilarious stunts on Funniest Home Videos while doing this, but I am really enjoying the reading time.

1. The children shouldn’t dictate what is going to happen in your home. “I don’t want to go to Pizza Hut for supper! I want to eat at McDonald’s” It’s not that they can’t make the choice sometimes, but when Mom and Dad have made a decision, it should stick.
2. Mom and Dad need their own time. Children sleeping with their parents should be a rare occasion. Bedtimes give Mom and Dad an opportunity to talk, spend time together playing a game, or share a snack.
3. Parents need a date night. Don’t let the children’s cries keep you from leaving them occasionally. Let them know you’re going away to make a better home for them.
4. As the mom, recognize your husband’s needs and make sure you’re meeting those before doing extra things with/for your children. Are you always jumping up to do something for them, and don’t spend time just being with him?
5. Be sure you’re spending your recreational times together as a couple and not one parent running here with one child, and the other taking another child there. Be a family.

We all know that children have many needs – especially when they’re little, but the tendency is to keep allowing them to be needy and being the very center of the family’s circle where the parents ought to be. Take a good look at the circle of your family; who’s in the middle and who’s on the peripheral? Does there need to be a change?

I’d love to have a weekly small group study using this book. Anyone from BCBC interested? Let me know, either here in the comment section, contact me by phone or let me know at church. If you’re not nearby and are interested let me know – maybe we could use Friday’s to “discuss” each chapter!

See you in church!

With love,

I have recently found myself having moods. It usually begins to swing in by mid-afternoon. It makes me unpredictable, grumpy, and no fun to be with. Ugh! I hate it! I can almost feel it coming up from inside and consuming me. Is it hormones? Maybe. Does that mean I have a right to it? I wish I could say yes, but we all know that’s not true. **sigh** It is something that needed to be dealt with and my sweet Lord knew just how to do it.

If you were in our services last Sunday you heard Will Galkin preach from Philippians 2:13 – It is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. This passage is special to me because I’ve meditated on this verse over and over. God is at work in me doing His sanctifying work in my life. What a blessing! The blessing turned quickly to conviction when the preacher then made serious application of it.

“Christ is powerful enough to save your soul from hell. What about the sin you’re struggling with right now. Is He powerful enough to save you from that as well?” Of course the answer was “yes!” There was no list of sins given, but I immediately knew that the Lord was putting His finger on my moodiness. “I Can save you from that, too, Denise.” Wow. It was easy to excuse it, to give my sin a nice name – hormones – and be done with it. Everyone else would just have to understand. But now, with this Truth in front of me, I was forced to recognize it for what it really was – selfishness and pride.

I took the preacher’s counsel and wrote down this sin in my journal and then how the Lord was showing me to deal with it. This week as I’ve been tempted to give in and be moody, my mind has gone to my Savior and His power to save me – not only from Hell, but also from this ugly sin. I’ve been saturating my heart more with my memorization passages and trying to think more His thoughts than my own. Am I perfect now? Ask my poor husband – the one who gets the blow of my emotions. No, I never will be until I get to heaven (what a day that will be), but I am seeing the Lord give me strength to overcome!

What sin are you dealing with that you excuse? The Lord has power to save you from hell, and from that sin, Friend. He’s at work in you right now and desires to free you from your bondage.

We sang this song on Sunday night –

If he saved you He can change you.

With love,