The Bible doesn't say they will be immune from such experiences. It does say, however, that they can go through the water and it won't overtake them, and through the fire and they won't be burned (Isa.43:2). They can come out on the other side and be overcomers.
They will be faced with certain situations that try to lead them off in some other direction, away from God. But with God's Word hidden in their heart, God can begin dealing with them about it.
When they hear a nudge from Him, His Spirit will be speaking to their heart. But at the same time, the devil will be tempting them through their thoughts or their flesh. (Every day our children are faced with decisions to do both good and bad.) Each time your child needs to make a decision, there is a three-member board meeting going on inside him.
Spirit, Soul, Body
To understand the makeup of every human being, picture a target drawn on a piece of paper with three circles, one inside the other. Each circle represents a portion of man's nature: spirit, soul and body.
The smallest circle in the center is like a bull's-eye, and it represents our human spirit. It's surrounded by a larger circle, which represents our soul (the mind, will and emotions).
Then that circle is surrounded by an even larger circle, which represents our physical body.
In every situation a child's spirit will be saying yes to God while his flesh is saying no to Him. Every time - without exception! The devil will be tempting him by having somebody or something trying to entice him and lead him away to do wrong.
His flesh will respond by saying, "Go ahead and do it!" But his spirit will be saying, "No way! I'm not doing that! Just forget it!" In every situation like this, there will be a tie vote between his flesh and his spirit. That's when his soul will have to break the tie by choosing sides.
As an example, let's say we have a seven-year-old boy named Johnny, who has just been saved by receiving Jesus as the Lord of his life. He has become a new creature in Christ.
He knows his name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and he is looking forward to heaven. He has just started reading his Bible and finding our how he is to be growing up in the grace and knowledge of his Lord Jesus Christ.
According to Scripture, Johnny should be busy every day renewing his mind (or his soul) with the Word of God.
The physical body Johnny lives in here on earth has no good thing in it. At death, it will go back to the dust. So Johnny's flesh will fight against his spirit. It allowed, he would be eating candy until he made himself sick and watching TV until his eyeballs fell out on the carpet. His flesh wants constantly to be sitting on the throne over his inner man - his spirit.
Johnny's spirit will always go with God, but his flesh never will; his spirit will never go with the devil, but his flesh always will. So, whether God is leading him or the devil is tempting him, there will always be a tie vote.
Who is left to cast the deciding vote? The soul, that's who (Gal. 5:17.) That's why God says in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
Our Soul Casts the Deciding Vote
Now the part of our person that will influence what goes on with every situation we face is not our spirit or our flesh but our soul.
The degree to which our children have the Word of God in them is the degree to which they will make wise decisions in their lives when needed. If they don't know the Word of God, they will be incapable of making wise decisions and their flesh will win out every time (Col. 3:16).
The Spirit of God will bring to our remembrance all of the words Jesus spoke. How do we get the words Jesus spoke into our child's heart?
As Isiah 28:10 says, it will be "...precept upon precept; line upon line...here a little, there a little." It's giving our child one bite at a time, with lots of repetition.
In Deuteronomy, God said:
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:This means we are to be teaching our children the truths of God's Word when we wake up in the morning, when we walk throughout the day, when we sit down and when we lie down. We are to be a constant reminder to them of God's ways and purposes in this life.
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
(Deut. 6:6-7)
In America, parents seem to be trying to train up their children by always giving them "things." They want their children to have a certain kind of education and to wear a certain kind of clothing. Then after providing their children with all those "things," the parents wonder why their children don't turn out right.
But their children have never been given God's Word. With no Word, they will have no wisdom. They need wisdom to have a long life and honor and riches here on earth.
The most important thing we can ever do as a parent is to see to it that we plant the Word of God in our child's heart.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers.