“That entire generation passed away; a new generation grew up that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel.” Judges 2:10 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/jdg.2.10.NET

Passing on the faith from one generation to the next is very difficult. It is not recorded as being done well in the Scriptures and is hard to see in the church. So many children ignore God or completely turn from His ways despite being raised in Christian homes, attending Christian schools and church youth groups. Why? Perhaps because they have not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or what He has done for them. How can we, as Christian parents, change this? First, we must get our children into a personal relationship with Jesus. This is not finished by praying a prayer of salvation at age six and then moving on with their lives. A personal relationship with anyone and Jesus is to be the One we love most, requires time, consistently, and abundantly. Time determines the depth of any relationship. Thus our children must be encouraged to spend daily time in God’s word learning God’s ways so they can do God’s will. The more time our children have in the Scripture and with Christian authors, speakers, teachers, and encouragers, the more their relationship with God will develop. Second, we have to get them working for God. We must tell our stories of faith in God when we needed Him to supply our material, spiritual, or emotional needs. We must then place them in situations where we need to see God provide for us spiritually, physically, and emotionally today. This is not testing the Lord but obeying the Lord by faith through going places where our resources are inadequate, causing us to depend upon, cry out for, and then experience God’s resources. Experiencing God occurs through serving God while depending upon God. If our children grow up with these things happening when they become adults, their bond to Him will be strong to carry them onto a lifetime of loving God and serving Him always.