We are about to celebrate the 4th of July-the day that we gained Independence from England and the day we celebrate freedom! I know for many of you this may not feel like the year to celebrate-actually it has probably felt that way for several years now! True freedom is questioned and the news headlines scream things that can get our spirits down pretty quickly! I think this is true especially to Christians, I don’t think I ever recall the hostility toward believers in America that I see in today’s time! Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised by this, Jesus said it will be so.
John 15:18-19 says:
18“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
No matter how you are feeling today there are 5 things you can teach your children about the 4th of July this year!
1. Teach your children to get involved in the political process – I know voting sometimes doesn’t seem to pay off but if we quit we have no chance. Teach your children about the candidates, what they stand for, and how the election process works.
2. Teach Patriotism and History – Teach your children to stand during the Pledge and the National Anthem. Teach them to respect veterans and teach them the true cost of having a nation that is free. This is getting lost in this culture. Our children need to understand our history. Don’t depend on the school to teach it, they may or may not! Share stories of our past (my kids love this) read great books, teach them the good and bad of our nation. We have made huge mistakes such as slavery, teach it to them. Teach them the things we have gotten right! They need to hear it all so they can learn from it! Don’t change it or sugarcoat it, our kids don’t need that!
3. Teach them to be grateful for the freedom we still have – We can still walk down the road carrying our Bibles, we still get to go to church freely and we still get to worship God without hiding. I realize that there may come a day where we can not! Let’s be grateful we still can and make sure we practice these things now! Teach them to memorize scripture in case the Word is ever taken from them! There are still so many countries without Bibles in their own language or citizens who have to hide their Bibles or go underground to worship! At this point we can do these things openly, teach your children the importance of it!
4. Teach them that God is still on the throne and HE is the real leader of the nations – NO MATTER WHAT, when you are a child of God, you are HIS! No politician, country, or court can ever change that. We can’t depend on humans to make things great for us or to look out for our best interests. God never promised an easy road but HE did promise HE would walk it with us. This gives me great peace, that no matter what happens I belong to the King of King and Lord of Lords, NO ONE can take that away from me this is a great reminder to our children.
5. Most of all, teach them to PRAY! Prayer is the only hope our nation has! Our culture is heartsick! If we spent as much time praying for our nation as we did arguing and complaining (and yes, this even speaks to me) our nation would be stronger than ever but for the most part, we haven’t and we are now seeing the fruit of that! Prayer can move mountains, change nations, and change hearts! Teach your children to be prayer warriors. Encourage them to start prayer journals, have regular quiet time, and pray for anything in their heart. Encourage them to pray regularly for their nation and for other nations! There are so many hurting people in the world. People being tortured, raped, and starved. There are many believers being killed for Christ today, teach your children to pray for all!
