TRAIN UP A CHILD: The 7 Prophetic Templates for Parents-Would be Parents, Guardians and Custodians. PT3

“In The Way”: reveals the Prophetic Prototype and Direction for every child in your care; Proverbs 22: 6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

From part 2, we continue the series: TRAIN UP A CHILD; The 7 Prophetic Templates for Parents-Would be Parents, Guardians and Custodians. So in prophetic order, “Train Up A Child” begins with the first knowledge that; (1) Children are Heritages/Legacies from the Lord. (2). They are Rewards/Gifts to Humanity (3) “Train Up A Child” You have a prophetic responsibility. Here we continue from number 4…

 4.     “In The Way”: Every Child has a Prototype and Direction;

“Every child is another Jesus in your care and custody” –Pastor Buchi Thomas. In the Way he should go reveals the prophetic pattern, structure and standard fitting the desires and designs of the Almighty Jehovah. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. The key word according simply reveals God’s ordained path and pattern for the child far beyond humane desires and parental emotions. Seeking the blueprint of God and direction of the child in your care either as a father, mother or guardian gives the Divine direction to navigate the child through life. For example, one of the directions for baby Jesus was for the parent to take Him to Egypt temporarily (a divine instruction and wisdom for safety and security of the child). 

Human and religious rationale will be, “Egypt is not a God like region or location” to actually escape the evil judgement of Herod as revealed to us in Scriptures. Just imagine if the parent had no idea or not sensitive and responsive to the ways of God especially for the child? Imagine what would have happened to the child Jesus if they had given the excuses of career, no time, lack of job, economy etc? Some religious and selfish opinions will say that was Jesus and that was then, also that was not the Nigerian economy or political era. Please no matter what the sentiments are, Jesus is the Way for every child to be trained up and not down in the direction of your career excuses, arguments and weak perspectives. There is a divine instruction for every child, go for it. Please make no mistake about this reality, else you misapply or misappropriate the template of the Lord for the child with that of yours and even that of the world.

The “in the way” reveals the divine instructional manual for every child that must be respected by everyone. So, to avoid creating cracks in the agenda of God for the Child, I have something very instructive beneath you must read through carefully. There is a Way that seemth right in the eyes of a man, so be careful the decisions and choices certain pressures around you is pushing your emotion against divine paths.

WORK WITH THE WILL: Every child must be trained in Christ. In Christ because, before Christ was born, the wise king Solomon wrote, “Train Up a child in the way he should go, so when he is old, he will not depart from it”. That royal prophecy complemented eternal plan of God providing the way for us in Christ where He confirmed to us that; “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man fulfils destiny except through Him. Again here, I ask “when” the child is old, the pathway he engaged growing up will eventually determine who he becomes and this is what informed this masterpiece.

Before Jesus was born, His name, purpose, the will of God for His life was prophetically desired and designed. His birth process, pre and post birth was already constructed as instructed by the word of God and since then, I strongly believe that the same template applies to every child especially as believers.

Instructive Note: in the agenda of God, it is not right for parents to name a child base on the experience or circumstance of the child’s birth. It is erroneous because it is not the will of God. This kind of belief is nothing but emotion driven ideologies backed by human traditions, weak cultures and religion. The wisdom here is; “your experience” or birth circumstances are yours and not the child’s. It is not the child’s and shouldn’t be a foundation or benchmark for designing the child’s destiny. At such, such emotion should not be the motivation to name a child like that of Jabez and his mother birth pains, whether or not it’s a good name. The revelation here is, do not use your weak and misguided emotion fueled by your unchecked spirit attached to the supposed “good intentions” for naming a child because of birth pains/experience. This is not prophetic enough to spur the child’s destiny towards the fulfillment of the will of God. By the same misguided mind-set, many parents name their child after their parents, grandparent, and most by their religious and traditional influences. 

This is understandable under the former ordinance, religion and culture, not in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost and like I said, that error was corrected after the birth of Christ. This kind of ideology and beliefs cannot be traced to the will of God. After all, no child begged you to bring them to earth so as to name them after your birth pains, your grandfather or father or whatever circumstances of birth that brought them here. Joseph and Mary could as well have named baby Jesus “Manger baby” or “Virgin baby” even their parent. But he was named prophetically after the order of His divine life and destiny, stop the myopic justifications of roping a better destiny into your weak feelings and emotions, thereby undermining God’s will. Please understand here that name or naming a child is not the topic, but the misguided intentions towards the ways and the will of God for every child. Parental emotions and affiliations well understood and respected, but sincerely that shouldn’t be the guide or yardstick for designing a child’s glorious destiny. 

5.     “He should GO”:

It’s freedom life here. The direction the child is exposed to in the first seven years forms the personality and identity he or she will evolve into. This season gives us the insight to freedom, one of the beautiful seasons of every child, the desired transformation to adulthood. The period he will be left to make decisions and choices which will mostly be on the fundamentals of the investment made over his life from childhood. The truth is, from childhood or babyhood is an open, clean and plain sheet, at the time of babyhood-childhood, the parent and whoever is in custody is the designer and writer on those. Whoever and whatever is exposed to the child is who and what will have more space in his life. The psychological deformation or transformation of every child reflects clearly at the stage where the child is test run to make decisions and choice on his own. You cannot continue to make decisions for your child especially when he is old. Do not neglect your child early age only to come at his freedom age to tell him/her what to do. Reasons why many parents are at disunity with their children is what I am getting across to us here. Give the child the direction he is desired and designed to go in life engaging the first four prophetic templates shared here. In this order; be responsible, be part of their first seven years not base on religion, tradition, weak cultures, parental emotions etc, but implore exactly what was shown to you from heaven for the child and the way to go. Jesus Christ’s childhood template was used here because the order was clear to us and at twelve, the direction defined even to everyone.

6.     “When he is old” Every Child Will Grow:

When he is old reveals his time and growth process. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. I will tell you here that your first seven years investment will play out (results) when the child is twelve like Jesus just before he steps-in to teenage. Failure to understand child psychology in prophetic realities, will mess up the child’ divine design and destiny tolerating social vices of peer pressure against teenage seasons of proper growth by personal encounters. Someone said, her Pastor thought her how to be aware she is raising an adult and not a child and that single encounter changed her perspective. From a boy child to a grown man, from a girl to a grown woman, every child goes through the process of time and seasons of life. The question here is, what do you want to see when he is old? A peer pressured (society and wrong association infected) teenage wrongly influenced life or a responsible and transformation agent from your loins? From the very day you conceived them as a desire through the space of childhood; it is garbage in and garbage out. The when he is old reveals the time and season of every child (what is your prophetic responsibility and contribution inside the child). Every child will grow old, every child from birth has their seasons, time and growth process, which ofcourse reveals not only parental or guardian responsibility, but the compulsory demand to go for templates, guides and prophetic plan for every child. Take note here that because a child is growing in stature (physical body growth) does not mean the child is growing up, that’s not the growth I am talking about here. The Bible reveals how the child Jesus grew in wisdom first (spiritual & mental) before His growth in stature (physical body growth) was noticed. Many parents and custodians myopically and owlishly assume that physical body growth is growth; thereby exposing a glorious destiny to a weak growth process. 

That Scripture reveals how the boy Jesus grew in wisdom (spirit) before in stature (physical and otherwise). That child today is going to grow to become a teen, he is going to grow to become a College graduate, he is going to grow to become a skilled mind and hands, he is going to grow to be either employed or an employer of labour. He will grow to be in leadership position(s), he will grow to expected position and authority to inform and influence others. Do not forget, whatever you and however you have led him, when he is old, he will not depart from all the values inculcated and rooted in him.

7.  Every Child is a trust to Parent and Custodian:

Kindly accept the responsibility to desire and design the child’s divine pathway. Proverbs 22:6 was a charge not to the child, but to parents and custodians alike. Someone must accept the prophetic responsibility to take custody and provide parental covering beyond human desire and designs. Again take note, no child is yours but the heritage of the Lord, the reward of the Lord makes you a parent, that the child is called yours is because they are in your custody. Too many custodians either as biological parents or guardians are regret and discouragements to parenthood. I have often said, it’s not about I want to carry a child or bear my own kids; the question is for what? Let’s have your desire and design evaluated prophetically. You are prophetically entrusted as either a parent or a custodian by adoption, however; a divine responsibility is expected of you. Put the sum together; what are your input and impact in the life of your child, what is the input and impact of his/her teachers, uncle, aunt, friends, and so on. Influences at all levels must be guided to ensure that contacts with your child respects and complies with prophetic templates. Secondly, parents must also ensure that their input and impact takes the larger percentage of about 80-85% engaging the divine instructions for the child, else aunties and uncles, sisters, and teachers, cousins etc surpass divine templates and even undermines the child’s ordained growth process. Several unfit and irresponsible parents and guardians entrusted to “train up a child in the way” to a glorious and great destiny. You cannot give what you don’t have. Infact, I have personally traced large percentage of abuses on children or child abuse to the lapses created by this group of irresponsible and unfit parents. I chose to be hard here because of the kind of pains and regrets such careless handling brings to our homes and society at large. Please take note; I am not making reference to material values here. I am not connecting fitness or responsibilities to money, though money is expedient. Fundamentally, I am linking parental fitness and responsibility to prophetic knowledge of the values (fear of God), not religious claims, but required virtue and values to birth divine experiences and encounters in the lives of the child. 

The question again here is, are you responsible enough to Train Up A Child in the way so when he is old, he will not depart from the ways of the Lord. It takes great mercies and graces of God to intervene in the lives of most children whose parent are unfit and irresponsible. It takes Godly men and women to come the ways of many of us to bring us in the ways of the Lord (to retrain and restore undermined glorious destinies in Christ). It takes this prophetic men and women of God; mostly Pastors and Shepherd’s sent by God to intervene, else, the manner and ways most parents have led their children are regrettable, really and seriously regrettable. At least if Mary is not Godly (close to God enough), Joseph should and if Joseph is not, Mary should. Believe me, it will be great regret if both Mary and Joseph are unfit and irresponsible yet entrusted to raise or train up Jesus. Such scenario will require abundance of heaven’s mercies and intervention to retrain and restore such child; this is the condition of many glorious destinies in custody of unfit and irresponsible parents.

Parents and Custodians must be responsible and accountable: Again here, let me plead here with parents, custodians and guardians, “do all you can to be part of your child’s first seven years”. It is proven to be the best moment of their growth process and that is because it is their foundational stage. It is written, if the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Infact, the concept here is this; ensure your impact as (parents or custodians) is at least nothing less than 80%-85% investment in their first seven years. A lot of people come the way of these innocent children as uncles, aunts, teachers, relations and so on. Sincerely speaking, this group of people have their beliefs and opinions about life which are largely contrary to the prophetic desire and design of God for them. Take responsibility today, if the ideas are contrary for understandable reasons, you have to guide them away from such influences no matter your sentiments and affiliations with such people or persons. 

BE EQUIPPED: This is preparedness and readiness for the future.

Educate yourself, get proper knowledge and get materials to winning for your child. Go for Bible base books on how to train up your child. I can recommend keeping your kids on God’s Side by Natasha Crain. It will be very challenging and difficult if not impossible for parents to train up a child (children) prophetically and effectively if they are not being informed and equipped to train themselves first. This is why i said parents will struggle to give what they you do not have. For the sake of that glorious destiny, “pulling it off”, don’t try assumption theories, these kids will discover your pretence at some point in their lives and you will sure end up worse off than when you started. To go up in life is real work and if we must get our children, there are certain realities that must dawn on us as either Parent or Guardians.

Children are true reflection of joy, love, innocence, and laughter and beauty, if we handle them exactly base on the revelations of who God says they are, then, they will be filled with hope, faith, and love in Christ.

The paths of scripture concerning children also provide us with a guideline on how to raise them. God recommends that they need discipline and to honor their parents, but it’s only because He wants them to succeed in all that they do. Just as Jesus obeyed his heavenly father, our children on Earth should follow in his footsteps. 

Nurture their faith and not their fear: If you use worldly approach or physical rods and iron first before talking with them, you will plant fear in your child. But when you use prophetic contents of the word of God, faith building references, praises and worship avenues, fellowship with prophetic brethren and not religious brethren, you will succeed in increasing their faith.

Nurture their faith through prayers, early hours, bed time fellowship, study the word with them always and always use Bible as reference and standard to instructing them, that is what you don’t spare the rod ( Biblical instructions), else you spoil the child. Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

My friends, I do not want to assume everyone who comes here to read through my blog is born again. Kindly own up your will and your ways if you would love to give your life to Christ. The topic treated here is a function and fruit of the Holy Spirit beginning with the LOVE OF GOD. God loves you and this is true. This is the reason He gave His Jesus Christ to redeem your soul eternally.  

Say this prayer after me here: LORD JESUS, I (your name and surname) AM SORRY FOR MY OLD WILLS AND WAYS OF LIFE. FORGIVE ME OF MY PAST LIFE, BE MY LORD AND SAVIOUR, WASH ME IN YOUR BLOOD AND SAVE MY SOUL. I BELONG TO YOU FROM TODAY AND I WILL SERVE YOU ONLY. WRITE MY NAME IN THE BOOK OF LIFE. THANK YOU JESUS FOR SAVING ME. AMEN. Mail me here for follow up or locate a Spirit filled Church around your location, and Bible base assembly believers to enjoy your prophetic journey with Christ. I love you richly. 

GOD BLESS YOU RICHLY.

Pastor Buchi Thomas