How to create a Godly home for your family

Building a Christian home is important for our families and their wellbeing. The world can be a harsh place, so we want to create an atmosphere that provides a safe place for our family to rest and rejuvenate.

As Christian parents, my husband and I work together to keep our household running calmly and smoothly. It not only decreases our stress levels but it also encourages a stronger family life with our children, which is so important.

And, if you’re like I am and no good at interior design, having a Christian home doesn’t have to do with decor. Instead it’s about creating a peaceful atmosphere where your family can relax, regroup and reconnect with each other and in their spiritual journey.

These 8 ways for how to build a Christian home are a great starting point for your family. They’re also part of the “Grace-Filled Stress Relief” free Bible study for moms. Find all the details here: 

1. Take care of your own relationship with God. 

The first thing you need to do in order to build a Christian home is to take care of your own heart. Make sure you are reading God’s Word, spending time in prayer and are seeking spiritual wisdom from other Christians.

When we are connect to Christ Jesus, then we are more at-peace and less stressed. We’re also able to better fulfill God’s plan for our lives.

We cannot teach our children about God without having knowledge of God ourselves. Keeping your own relationship with God strong will help you be a better Christian mom and create a Godly home.

Be sure to check out these resources on how busy moms can find time for God:

• How to connect with God in the midst of raising a family
• How Christian moms can teach their children about God
• 5 Ways moms can find downtime
• Connect with other Christian moms just like you

2. Stay connected to your husband. 

Keeping your marriage strong is an important part of Christian family life. Sometimes church members get caught up in the verses about marriage that focus on the husband as the head of the home. However, God’s purpose for marriage is to be a loving, joint relationship. 

You must love and respect one another to keep  your relationship strong. No home is going to be peaceful with parents who are at odds with one another all the time.

In order to live on Godly parents, you must spend time together and talk about parenting in order to best minister to your kids’ hearts and physical needs.

Be sure to check out these resources on how to have a stronger Christian marriage:

• How to connect with your spouse while raising children
• Couple goals every Christian marriage needs
• How to have a happy married life in the midst of hard times

3. Pray for God’s wisdom and peace in your home. 

If we want a home full of peace and calm, then we need to live as one body. Each member of the family needs to feel included and be part of family life. 

As Christian families, we can help accomplish this through prayer. We pray for our family’s needs, but we must also pray for God’s wisdom and peace to be part of our family lives and part of our homes.

You can pray this together as a family or make a commitment in your own prayer life to ask for guidance and help from the Holy Spirit in your family life and home.

4. Monitor the content your family consumes. 

You don’t have to be constantly reading family devotions or watching Christian content. But, you do need to use the Word of God as a guiding principle in deciding what content to let into your home.

This will change through the years as your children grow. Things they are permitted to watch now aren’t the same as when they were toddlers. 

We want to raise young people in the world but not of the world. Both of my children have groused about not being allowed to watch certain shows or movies their friends can watch.

However, we don’t use foul language in our family, and content rampant with it is not permitted in our home. Part of living a Christian life means that we are to be aware of what goes into our heads — and that certainly extends into Christian parenting and what we are putting into the heads of all our family members.

5. Make quality time with one another a priority. 

Having a strong and calm Christian home also means spending time together just your family and letting the outside world fall away for a bit. You can do this however works best for your family.

For us, time around the dinner table is important. We talk about our days and what’s going on. We also spend time together watching movies and playing games. 

And having two children is an ideal situation for us to divide equally time with them. Each of them has two nights throughout the school week they get to hang out with their dad and me solo. 

Most of the time, we do fun things together during this time. Once a month, we have a check-in night with each child to talk about any concerns they have in any area of their lives.

Find more resources on having quality time with your family:

•  15 Ideas for spending time with your family at home
• 5 Ways to have one-on-one time with your kids
• 16 Volunteer ideas for families to do together
• Family fun night activities at home

6. Cheer for and encourage each other. 

The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to use our words to build one another up. Jesus Christ tells us to treat others how we want to be treated in Matthew 7:12. In fact, Jesus’ words here are often referred to as the golden rule, because they best sum up God’s purposes for us to live in love.

Using kind and encouraging words within your home is important. Our children are always listening and learning from the things we say and do. We cannot tell them to speak nicely to one another, when we are not modeling that behavior in how we speak.

Our family has a principle that what’s good for one of us is good for all of us. Competition is left for games only and in no other way. 

Our children support and cheer for one another just as their dad and I do. 

Find more resources on speaking kindly:

• Become a happy family with one small attitude shift
• 10 Ways to be kind to your family today

7. Pray for one another. 

Prayer is important for spiritual growth to happen in the lives of your family members. We should pray for our families but also encourage them to pray for each other as well.

These can be prayers as simple as “God, be with my child today at school” or “Jesus, help my brother.”

Our children’s prayers will grow and evolve with them, but we want to start them off early with taking others to God in prayer — including their own family members.

Find more resources on family prayers:

• 14 Powerful prayers to pray for your school children
• Prayer envelope project for kids
• 8 Prayers for your husband
• 7 Short prayers for mothers

8. Make time for rest. 

These words of Jesus remind us of the importance of downtime. To build a Godly home full of peace and calm, you have to be there. 

We can get caught up in the busy culture that surrounds us where we think we must be on the go all the time and do all the things. Intentionally set aside downtime for your family.

When our children were in elementary school, our general rule was they could only have one ongoing extracurricular activity at a time. That has grown and evolved with them, but we still guard our family’s downtime.

Downtime is important for physical and spiritual rest. It also allows you more opportunities to connect with one another.

Remember you aren’t alone!

No matter what, remember that you aren’t alone on this journey. God is with you every step of the way. Allow Him and His Holy Spirit to be at work in your life and in your home.

Connecting with other Christian moms can also help. Check out both the private Facebook group, Christian Moms with Grace, and the free “Grace-Filled Stress Relief” Bible study this post is a part of.

Biblical principles to help your children grow in faith

Of all the jobs I’ve held in my life, parenting is by far the most challenging, rewarding and important. More than anything, I want my children to have a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father. That’s the goal for Christian parents.

Figuring out the best ways to live out faith in our modern world takes some intentionality. The best parenting advice we can seek found in God’s Word.

While nobody is a perfect parent on earth, there are some Christian parenting tips that can helps us stay more in line with Biblical parenting as we raise our children and instill in them a Christian faith.

Affiliate links are used in this post, if you make a qualifying purchase via my link, I receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. It helps support my blog, so thank you for your support! Read my full disclosure here.

Why Christian parenting is important

In order to raise Godly children, we have to be purposeful. Ideally this starts before you have children as you talk about your parenting style. However, no matter what phase of parenthood you’re in, you can move forward with making parenting decisions based around your faith.

And, if we’re being completely honest here, Christian parenting is hard work. Not only are you trying to teach your children how to be good people, you’re also trying to combat the influence of the world. That’s all while figuring out how to teach our kids to be in the world but not of the world.

It’s exhausting! Yet, it’s also worth it. Building a Christ-centered home founded on Biblical principles shows our children what being a Christian is from their time they are a very young age.

My experiences with Christian parenting

In our years of raising kids, so far, we have been through a variety of stages. We are now mostly in the teenage years with a child in middle school and one in high school. 

We are still in the thick of parenting. These days, we are working more and more with our children to allow them to make their own decisions and want to be sure we have equipped them to do that God’s way rather than the world’s way.

In building a Christ-centered home, my husband and I have been intentional about raising our kiddos to know God personally.

1. Teach your children who God is.

From young children to old children, they need to know about God. This means teaching them about Him in age-appropriate ways.

For example, we started nightly prayers with our children from before they were old enough to say them themselves. We read to them from children’s Bibles. (Our favorite is “The Jesus Storybook Bible!”) 

We took them to Sunday School. (Now our oldest is a Sunday School teacher herself!)

We talked about God in everyday life. Of course we didn’t only talk about God — that’s not practical. But when we had a natural chance, we talked about Him. 

Now that we have older children, we are teaching them more complex things about God. They know the basics, so now we focus more on what it looks like to really live for God in the modern world. 

We strive to give them a Biblical worldview on current events and challenges they face in school. Simply talking to your children about God and who He is gives them a foundation for their own faith and relationship with Him.

2. Talk with your children about how God is working and has worked in your own life.

This second point is also important. For our children to see the relevance of God in their everyday lives, hearing and seeing Him at work in their own parents’ lives is important.

We do this in different ways. When we had little kids, my husband and I would talk about answered prayers for even the little things. Sometimes it would just be saying “Thank you, Jesus” out loud when we found a close parking spot on a frigid winter day.

This continued to evolve as our kids grew. We talk with them about making good decisions and ways we have relied on God for His guidance.

One of the best ways to share about God’s love with others is telling them our own stories. This applies to our children as well. They can see the testimony of God at work in our lives, but they also need to hear about it.

3. Make family worship a priority.

This Bible verse is certainly a familiar one for most Christian families. We love this promise God proclaims over our children’s lives. 

But we also have to do our part. And that means showing them time with God is priority.

While it may not seem like a big deal, taking your children to church regularly is important for their spiritual growth. There may be phases where that’s harder to do than others. 

The newborn phase is challenging and was with both of my children. When you have small children, getting everyone up, ready and out the door is definitely difficult. Keeping everyone healthy is another challenge.

We had so many viruses and germs go through our household when my oldest started preschool!

Yet we persisted. And now both of our children know that Sunday morning means church. In fact, sometimes we have had to miss church in person for one of us being sick, and my daughter usually pleads to go in person if at all possible. Even just watching the livestream of the service isn’t enough for her.

4. Pray for your children.

One of the hard things about parenting is we can struggle to see our progress. During those early years when we are trying to keep our heads above water and find ways to somehow build Christ-centered homes in the chaos, we can get discouraged.

However, the Bible tell us to have hope in God, be patient during hard times and never stop praying. Praying for our children is so important.

We need to pray for our children’s hearts to be open and receptive to God. We should pray for protection over them in every way: mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically.

The Holy Spirit is ever at work in our lives and the lives of our children. Through prayer, we can tap into that power and strength — both of which are desperately needed.

While most of my prayers for my children are on my own, I do also pray in front of them for them. For example, one of the practical ways we have combatted bedtime fears is with prayer asking God to help.

I share with my children that’s exactly what I do when I’m struggling with being afraid and need to sleep. Especially when they were younger, I’d ask if they wanted me to pray out loud for them, and usually they would say yes.

I also pray over each of my children on their birthdays. It’s become one of our birthday traditions, in fact.

Check out these 14 powerful prayers to pray for your school children.

5. Encourage your children to find the plan God has for their lives.

Part of good parenting is recognizing our children are unique from us. They each have their own purposes and God has a plan for each child’s life. 

From the time I found out I was pregnant, I wondered about the children God was blessing me with. What would they like? What would they want to do?

Now as the mom of an 11-year-old and 15-year-old, I can tell you that I was right about some things and wrong about others. One very obvious way I was wrong was I expected my daughter to have my dark eyes and hair since they are dominant traits. Instead, she has light eyes and red hair.

Yet, the differences in how we look aren’t the only things different about us. She has her own unique gifts and calling from God on her life, just as my son does.

My husband and I have worked to be supportive of their dreams and hopes from the time they were younger children. We don’t know exactly what occupation they’ll each have, but we have encouraged them each step of the way to seek God first and follow His leading.

I know following Christ Jesus will bring them joy and contentment more than anything else in this world. I also know their purpose and His plan for them may surprise me. 

The biggest influence I can have in the matter is encouraging them to seek God, have a good relationship with Him and hold strong to their faith as they make major life decisions.

6. Pray for yourself as a parent.

I am a smart person. Way back in the day, in fact, I earned a full academic scholarship to college. But being smart and being wise are two different things.

Wisdom comes with experience. And, boy, parenting takes a lot of wisdom! I don’t have nearly enough of it on my own. Daily I pray God gives me the wisdom and strength to be the mom my children need.

I cannot do it on my own. If I think about the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control), I know those are all characteristics I want to display and live out. But I also know, as the Apostle Paul tells us in those Bible verses from Galatians 5:22-23, that I cannot do so on my own.

To do the good work of raising a Godly child, we must seek God’s wisdom, strength and general help in parenting. 

Don’t forget in-the-moment prayers as well. Many times we’ve been in the middle of a discussion or challenge with our kids and I simply pray silently, “God, help us” or “God, give us wisdom.” I pray for both my husband and myself that way.

Find inspiration with these prayers:

• 7 Prayers for overwhelmed moms needing peace and strength
• 8 Prayers for joy for moms based on the Bible
• 7 Short prayers for mothers

7. Let your children see you make mistakes.

Past generations of parents held to the opinion they were never wrong and admitting mistakes to their children made them seem weak. I just don’t think that’s a good parenting philosophy.

Just as we need to teach our children how to live, we need to teach them how to make mistakes and fail. One of the best ways we can do that is by letting them see our own mistakes. 

The last thing I want is for my kids to think they need to live perfect lives and not mess up. That’s not reasonable and goes completely against human nature and who God says we are.

Instead, I want them to know they will make mistakes, but not only will they have the unconditional love of their dad and me, they’ll also have the unconditional love of their Heavenly Father.

We’ve also talked about how if we were all perfect, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come and die for our sins. Apologizing to your kids when you mess up is a good thing. It shows them nobody is perfect and how to behave when they do mess up.

One of the principles in our family is the kids will be in bigger trouble for lying to us than for owning up to what they did. Allowing them to see us owning up to mistakes helps them realize it isn’t the end of the world to do so.

8. Encourage open conversations about faith in your family.

Young people of all ages have questions. Little children want to know a lot of things that are kind of random, like how Noah fit all the animals on the ark or what kind of fish was used when Jesus fed the 5,000.

Older children have deeper questions of faith, like how do we know God is real or why does God let bad things happen.

These are all valid questions and something you can explore together. Because here’s the thing I know for sure about God after my decades of serving Him: He can stand up to any and all questions. If He couldn’t, then He wouldn’t be a God worth serving!

Let your children ask questions, and don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know the answer. Look it up together. Talk to your pastor or other spiritual leader.

Or, in the case of answers nobody knows, talk about your different theories and how some information we won’t know until we get to heaven. Bring the focus always back to what matters most in faith of knowing God loves us, wants a personal relationship with us, sent His Son to die for our sins before raising Him from the dead.

9. Connect them with other Christians to pour into them as well.

We don’t want to only keep our children people who are a bad influence, we also want to connect them with people who are a good influence. Often, our kids will listen to someone else more than us as their parents. 

Help your kiddos get connected to other Christian adults who can teach them about God and love on them as well. This includes extended family members, friends and church family. 

Taking them to Sunday School or other such offerings as young children is a great place to start. Then finding a good youth group and ministry to connect them with as they are older is important.

10. Pray and study with your children.

Some of the best Christian parenting advice is to pray and study with your children. When we read this Bible verse from Matthew that where two or three are gathered, God is there also, we don’t always think about it applying in our families, but it does!

Make prayer time and devotional or Bible study time a priority. One of the ways we helped our children learn how to pray for others when they were young was by using prayer envelopes they would draw from each night.

We’d talk about different ways we could pray for people from thanking God for them, asking God to bless them, asking God to protect them and so one when we didn’t know a specific request.

Now they are older and we still have family prayer time. Getting into the Bible together is also important. Even just having a Bible verse each week, doing a devotional together once (or more!) a week or whatever works best for your family.

(Grab the free “Finding Grace at Home: 7 Days of 5-Minute Devotions!”)

Another practical way to make this happen is discussing church sermons or lessons afterward. We have had some amazing time of connection and growth just by doing that.

Bonus tip: Grow in your own spiritual walk with God

In order to be the mama God created you to be and your children need you to be, you also have to take care of your own spiritual walk. Make prayer and Bible study part of your regular routine.

Another component of spiritual growth is connecting with other believers. Consider joining my free, private Facebook group, Christian Moms with Grace, for daily discussions about life and faith.

And take advantage of this free Bible study just for moms, “Grace-filled Stress Relief.”

God never intended for you to be on this journey alone!