Imitation of the world’s actions and standards must be shunned if we are to produce children who will work for God’s Kingdom. We must spiritually shelter our children, during their most tender of years, from the world’s influence. Sadly, the word shelter is often thought of in today’s social circles with a negative connotation. However, look at the definition of the word shelter, and decide if this is the atmosphere you want to provide for your child.

A shelter is a refuge, a haven, and a cover of protection. To shelter someone or something is to provide protection from danger, to preserve or protect until that someone or something is ready to weather the storm! Just as we protect a seedling when it is young by covering it from the effects of frost, heavy rain or harsh winds, we should also do the same for our children who are STILL being trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord [Ephesians 6:4].

When we commit to raise them at God’s Altar, we are letting their roots develop in the fertile soil of God’s Word. We are preserving them from the world's influence while also preparing them and training them in the ways of God. They are learning how to think like a Christian and how to walk in God’s ways. By sheltering them, we are allowing those godly roots to take form, and we are making it easier for them to have a firm foundation on which to stand against the storms that the world will bring when they are spiritually mature enough to be transplanted into their own soil.

Even after looking at the actual definition of the word shelter, is this concept of sheltering still sounding over-indulgent to you? If so, consider the antonyms, or opposites, of shelter….to turn away, expose or endanger. Will this produce a spiritually mature young adult? Sometimes, a spiritually mature adult will result despite the premature exposure to storms, but more oftentimes, no! We must move past the associative negativity of this word and consider the actual definition when deciding how we are to raise our children for the Lord.

Standing Alone In Your Beliefs with Confidence

“It is better to be serving God in solitude than serving sin with a multitude.”
Matthew Henry

Do not be fearful or apprehensive to stand alone in your beliefs, but take confidence in knowing that your reward will be great for walking the straight and narrow paths that God intended you to walk! Holding your children close and discipling them in the Word should not be considered strange among God’s people. If your methods are questioned or criticized by Believers, check your beliefs and standards against God’s Word. If your ways are God’s Ways, you can be certain that the world, or even well-meaning believers, will take every advantage to criticize or condemn.

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 1 Timothy 3:12-17

Stand firm knowing that everyone who want to “live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” in one way or another and “continue in what you have learned and become convinced of.”

Do Not Trust in Your Heart

Remember that sometimes even Christians choose to follow the world. We are all susceptible to the Devil’s lies. Do not justify your choices and your actions simply because another "great Christian" chose the more attractive path. Hold every decision before God, asking Him for His guidance, which is given most often through the Bible. Do not trust in the peace of your heart, but be able to show WHY the choice you made was founded in the Word! The true test of faith is to find out if a seemingly unimportant decision aligns with, or against, God's Word.


Read what the Bible says about trusting in your heart....

"The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool."
Jeremiah 17:9-11

Be careful not to let the peace of your heart be the determining factor of whether or not you send your child out into the world before he is spiritually mature and grounded in the Word! As that passage says, "the heart is MORE DECEITFUL than ALL else....[it is] desperately sick....in the end he will be a fool." Be wise and seek God's WORD for the answers to life. No matter how seemingly simple the answers might seem, test all things against the Word of the Lord and be made wise!

Apply God’s Truths

Meditate on the below Scriptures that beautifully depict the way our Heavenly Father shelters His own.

Psalm 61:4 “Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.”

Psalm 91:1 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”

Joel 3:16 “…the LORD will be a shelter for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.”

By studying how the Lord shelters His children, we can learn to accept the Scriptural norm of sheltering the souls put under our care.

Blessings to You in your Calling,

Lisa Metzger is the devoted helpmeet to Mark, keeper of her home and a 2nd generation homeschool mommy to 8 blessings so far (5 biological and 3 adopted). Stop by and visit her at A Second Generation of Homeschooling or come visit their new family blog, God’s Plan for Families!