Keys to Finding God's Plan for Your Children
By: Elizabeth

Children are a gift from God. Psalm 127:3 (NKJ Version) says, “Behold, Children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the Womb is a reward.” Children have a God-given purpose and destiny planted inside of them which God desires to see released and brought to fulfillment for His purposes on the Earth. God has made parents stewards over their children’s lives. Parents are responsible to help their children discover and develop their God-given potential so that they will fulfill God’s will for their lives. In Proverbs 22:6 (Amplified Version) it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and in keeping with his individual gift or bent, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

With God’s help, parents need to recognize and cultivate the abilities, talents, and giftings deposited by God in each child. Parents need to receive children the way God created them and not impose their own unfulfilled dreams and expectations on them. Furthermore, in order for children to live fulfilling and successful lives, parents must train their children according to God’s Word and God’s ways. In Psalms 127:4, children are compared to “arrows in the hand of a warrior”. Like arrows, children’s character must be shaped, straightened and sharpened to hit God’s target for their lives.

As children grow, they often manifest clues of their destiny by the things they say and do. For instance, when Jesus (Yeshua) was age 12, He told his parents, “Know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business.” Another example is my nephew whose favorite game was policeman when he was a young boy. He grew up to become a policeman. I also know a Bible School Teacher who loved to play school and be the teacher when she was growing up. She is now teaching at a Bible School. Children’s role-playing can be a prophetic acting out of things in their future.

In searching for God’s will for your children, parents can ask themselves these kinds of questions. What things do they enjoy doing? What are their interests? In what areas of life do they naturally experience success? What things do they dream of doing when they grow up?

Since each child is unique, parents need to respect individual differences in their children and not compare them to one another. Avoid criticizing your children. Yes, we need to love, train, and correct our children. However, we don’t need to tear them down with our words. Instead, we need to speak words of life to them. Proverbs 18:21 says that “life and death are in the power of the tongue.” We should speak blessings over our children instead of curses. It has been the custom of Jewish parents over the years to speak blessings over their children at the Shabbat dinner table. The words you speak in faith over your children are powerful to establish a pathway of success or failure for them.

In the bible, God often revealed the purpose and plan of one’s life before they were born and gave them a name to signify that specific purpose. Before Jesus (Yeshua) was born, the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph and said, “Thou shall call His name Jesus (Yeshua), for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21, NKJ Version) Other children in God’s Word were named according to their purpose and destiny as well. For example, an angel appeared to Zechariah telling him to name his son John (Luke 1:13, NIV Version). God also changed the name of Abram to Abraham in Genesis 17:5 (NIV Version) saying, “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations.”

Based on the biblical pattern, I believe that parents should ask the Lord for the names of their children. A name is one of the most impacting gifts that a parent can give a child; it can mark them for God’ purposes. Parents need to seek God for wisdom and guidance through prayer as they bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. God’s Word provides parents with keys to help unlock their child’s potential to live a happy and successful life.