Graham Cooke is probably one of my favorite speakers to listen to.  His wisdom that he shares is always encouraging to me in my walk with God.  He has this saying “Speak to the treasure and people will get rid of their own garbage.”  I believe all children have their moments when its more difficult to “speak to the treasure” in them.  But I know that God wants me to speak to who my kids are and not just how they are behaving.  When my kids choose to do things like lying, there are consequences for their actions, but I also have learned to use that opportunity to speak to who they are.    Each child is unique and different in how God made them.  You know your child best and can ask God to reveal to you the different talents and gifts that your children have.  We have had conversations with some of our children who are struggling with lying and talk about how God has made them to be truth tellers.

Another conversation that we have had with one of our sons was about how God has am amazing destiny for his life and wants to use him in adventurous ways.  This causes the enemy to want to mess with him.  We talked about the armor of God and how we don’t fight against flesh and blood but against Satan.  We can make the enemy grow weary with trying to take our peace.  God has made our son a warrior and given him the Holy Spirit to fight the enemy and not let him have any foothold in his life.  We are definitely not perfect at always speaking to the treasure in our children but when we remember to speak to who God says they are, we have seen a difference in their decisions and behavior.