CHAPTER FOUR | FEELING LOVED AND ACCEPTED
One of the difficult things children must deal with are the lies that can come into their minds masquerading as truth.
These lies escalate as children move into their teenage years and often are carried into adulthood. That’s why I’m convinced it’s never too soon to start praying for a child to feel loved and accepted—first by God, then by family, then by peers and others.
Rejection is at the root of so much of the evil we read about in the newspapers every day.
Rejection brings out the worst in people. Love and acceptance bring out the best.
A person who already feels rejected interprets everything as rejection. A person may not actually be rejected, but if he (she) believes he (she) is, the effect is just as damaging as if it were true.
Knowing that God loves and accepts us changes our lives. He says, “I have chosen you and have not cast you away” (Isaiah 41:9). “I have loved you with an everlasting love” ( Jeremiah 31:3). And He proves His love because “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The Bible assures us that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
We must pray that our children understand these truths; they are the solid ground upon which love and acceptance are established in their character.
Parental love is the first love a child experiences and the firs love he (she) understands. In fact, parental love is often the means by which children actually open themselves to God’s love and come to understand it early in life.
From the time our children are born, we should pray, “God, help me to really love my child the way You want me to and teach me how to show it in a way he (she) can understand.”
Along with prayer, children need to see love manifested toward them with eye contact, physical touch (a pat, a hug, a kiss), and with loving acts, deeds, and words.
When I made a deliberate effort to look my children directly in the eye with my hands gently touching them and with a smile say, “I love you and I think you’re great,” I could always see an immediate and noticeable change in their face and demeanor.
If you feel you don’t have the love you need to give your child, ask the Holy Spirit for it. The Bible says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).
One of God’s main purposes for your life is to fill you with so much of His love that it overflows onto others.
WEAPONS OF WARFARE
1 John 4:9-11
Deuteronomy 7:6
1 John 4:16
2 Thessalonians 2:13
Ephesians 1:3-6
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