Day 14: May They Know Truth
Lord, may these children walk in truth and be led by the Holy Spirit, who will guide them into all truth. May truth invade every area of their lives and may they recognize the counterfeit plans of the enemy. May they wisely use truth as a means of discovering who they are and what direction they should go. May they boldly speak truth, however may their words be seasoned with love. As they speak truth in love, may they become great leaders of those around them, leading in what is true, good, and right, while at the same time maintain a humble heart, loving others and wholeheartedly following You. John 16:13; 3 John 4, Ephesians 4:15 In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
In our world today, truth is a hard thing to maintain. Our society tends to stress that each person can define their own brand of truth. This is a sad and unstable approach, and it is not truth at all. Let’s invite our children to explore truth found in the Bible. Let’s pray that they will be hungry for truth and will be able to easily discern truth through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And yet, truth should be lived out with love and humility. If truth has made our hearts haughty and mean, we drive people away from the truth we want them to see. And we can do that to our own children as well. Ask the Lord how you can hold out truth to the children around you in a way that is inviting and appealing, while at the same time uncompromising. This is tricky and can only be achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I tend to be one who would love to shield my children from the harshness of this fallen world. But we cannot shield them forever and if we do, we will not equip them properly to handle the world. I wholeheartedly advocate monitoring what our children see and hear and plant in their minds. However, when they are older I have let them learn to discern truth for themselves with my guidance. For example, if they tell me a scenario that happened at school, rather than lecture, I may say, “What is wrong with that situation?” Or when they are older, if there is a show on television which is not necessarily bad, but still has messages that I do not want them to accept at face value, I will allow them to watch it, but require that they look for 5 ways that the subject matter goes against what we know to be true, good, and right. Please don’t take that as an endorsement to let your children watch too much or unhealthy programs, but even the cleanest, best of the lot still may send mixed messages, and we must teach our children to be strong in discernment.
Mostly importantly, you cannot guide your children to truth if you don’t understand truth yourself. Pray for the Lord to open your eyes and understand truth. Seek truth and wisdom and they will richly reward you. Spend time each day in the Word of God and in prayer, and if you do, the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.
- Then you will know the
truth
- , and the
truth
- will
set
- you
free.
- John 8:32
- .
