Kingdom Parenting – Always Learning
Being a Kingdom Parent is a life-long, intentional journey of learning. Growing from your mistakes, being humble to recognize errors, and finding God in every situation. Here are a few things that I have learned about parenting:
1. Open Palm:
“Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand.”
1 Chronicles 29:14.
Everything we have is the Lord’s – our job, our health, our wealth and even our family. It all comes from Him and all belongs to Him. But even good gifts can become idols. It starts out with good intentions to love, protect and safeguard these gifts, but once we start to take control and close our fists around the gifts that God gives us, we effectively prevent the Lord’s involvement. We must remember to hold everything with an open palm to allow the Lord to move, and trust in His love and His promise that no matter the outcome, He will “never leave us or forsake us”.
2. Listening Prayer:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5
When we seek the Lord in listening prayer, it is essentially asking God for wisdom. Wisdom on how to solve a problem, for strategies on how to move forward, or for insights into a situation, and the Lord is generous in providing it to those who ask – IF we ask and are willing to let HIM speak and have the faith to OBEY. Our first response to most challenges it to figure it out ourselves, but next time, try seeking the Lord for wisdom in listening prayer and see what happens.
3. It Takes a Village:
Children will fall in love with the people of God before they fall in love with God.
We are meant to live in community, and there are many examples of this in the Bible – God is a Trinity, Jesus had his disciples, and Moses had Aaron and his elders. We are all made in the image of God, but reflect different facets and qualities of Him. When we live and grow in community, we get exposed to all parts of God’s image and gifts through the people we interact with. Community also lifts the burden of having to go through this life alone. If you need support or if you are going through a valley, reach out to your Lifegroup Leader or the Pastoral Team – we are here for you, and we have tools that can help. Life was not meant to be experienced alone, let’s journey through it together.
4. It’s not What you Say as much as What you Do:
Jesus was the ultimate example of not just talking about love, but walking it out. He preached about love, but demonstrated it in His obedience to God, and His death on the cross. Inspired by the life He lived and having experienced the love of God for themselves, His disciples continued to bring the truth of the Kingdom of God to all who would listen. In the same way, we also learn through what we see and experience. Our lives will tell the story of who we are, more than our words. We need to live and model the life we want our children to have. If we love the Lord, our children have a greater chance of knowing and loving Him too.