How do parents instill the fear of God throughout their home and among their children? Here, Kevin Swanson suggests that being aware of the words we use in the home is one way we can maintain a God-fearing home. He shares a brief story from his childhood, where his father would read over books that he and his siblings read and mark out words that took God’s name in vain with a black marker. What are ways that a parent might proactively take action to ensure that the name of God is honored and reverenced in their home? Matthew 12:36 (NKJV) – “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”

A God-fearing home is a home where there's a respect for God and it's evident in all the ways in which people conduct themselves, especially in the way that we talk. The way we talk about each other, the way we talk about God. God-fearing homes are very cautious about taking God's name in vain. I remember as a child my father would take some of these children's books that would have mnso's like gosh, darn and heck. He'd cross them out with a black magic marker.

So instead of reading gosh darn it to heck or god damn it to hell, we would just see black markings in the books. It was a example of how my father respected the name of God And of course there are hundreds of other ways in which a family might be able to represent something of a fear of God, but that's one example. You