he news of Detroit’s financial woes troubled him, but the report of “a city in crisis” didn’t make my then 9-year-old son think there was nothing he could do. He constantly asked what could be done to make a change. I knew the problem was huge, a budget deficit of more than $100 million, so the only thing I knew to suggest was pray. And he did and got an answer. He told me he wanted to have a lemonade stand to make money to donate to the city. He quickly exceeded his $1,000 goal and set a new goal because he knew "it's God helping me."
This is what he’ll tell people when he speaks on “You Can Do Big Things Even Though You’re Small” at this year’s TEDxDetroit Conference. But he's not always this confident in God. When the boys on the basketball team hog the ball or when a math problem is troubling him, his first instinct is to fret, think he’s not good enough and that he won’t be able to succeed. I recognize his fretting; I have had enough of my own.
Being a “recovering strong black woman” struggling to walk in God’s strength and not my own has left me fretting many days. I would chart my course, plan my stops, and figure out just what it would take to get me to my destinations. For many years, God was an afterthought, the one I wanted to bless the plans I made or rescue me from the plans I made that failed. It has taken me a long time, most of my adult life, to look to God first and totally trust Him for the big and day to day challenges.
But I don’t want my children to have to reposition themselves like I did. I don’t want them to be confident in their flesh and then have to learn to be confident in God. I am seeing evidence that they are learning differently, like when I seem stressed and they remind me to pray. But I want them to consistently have confidence in God. I want them to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God is with them and will work through them to handle whatever issue they face. This was how King David was, even from a little boy, and I want my sons to be like David.
I want them to see each enemy they face as an 'uncircumcised Philistine' and shout how they are going to conquer what they come up against (1 Samuel 17:32-36). And I want them to even view those in God’s Kingdom who oppose them by Satan’s hand as people that God will deal with like an uncircumcised Philistine. See, David recognized what separated him from his enemy. He was a child of God. He was a part of God's kingdom. He knew that his enemy was no match for God. We know through David’s Psalms what type of confidence he had in God because he knew what type of God he served. Our children have to always know who their enemy is and know that enemy is no match for God. They will know what type of God they serve when they understand the various aspects of God and see us acknowledge those aspects operating in our lives. When they face their trials, they’re less likely to put confidence in themselves but only in Almighty God.
Try the following to help your children be confident in God:
Teach them the names and characteristics of God. Knowing, for instance, that God is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is present, they can be assured that God is with them wherever they are; they don’t have to be afraid or feel alone.
Share the daily graces. We can tell them how God helped us through a challenge, detailing how only with God could we have done what we did.
Point out the miracles. Some events go beyond daily graces and into the super supernatural category, like when my 2 year old was falling off the bed ready to hit his head on the nightstand but his body became vertical and he landed on his feet. Yes, I praise Jehovah Shammah. God was truly present.
Walk in the confidence of God. Rejoice when things are going well and when they aren’t. We want our children to know that we are confident that God will “supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). When they see us walk in confidence they will likely follow our lead.
Looking at David's encounter with Goliath also gives us good points to teach our children to have confidence in God. Here are a few:
- Remember how God has helped in the past and He will do the same in the present.
- They can conquer the seemingly unconquerable.
- The giant is the enemy and God is our defense.
- The giant is no match for God’s resources.
When they understand that “no one does good. No, not one,” but Jesus is our sufficiency, they can be confident in God in whatever they face, effectively putting the Kingdom first (Psalm 14:3).