Here are some thoughts and questions from the first week - feel free to reply to all and add to this. It might be useful to know who put which comment, so if you don't mind adding your name in brackets after your comment, that would be helpful.
- Spiritual parenting is not perfect parenting. It is parenting from a spiritual perspective. It says I want to parent in such a way that firstly, I honour God, and secondly, I create the best environment to put my children in the path of the Divine.
- We don't create spiritual lives for our children by controlling their behaviour.
- Our goal as parents is to pass on a vibrant and transforming faith, the kind of faith with which:
- our children know and hear God's voice.
- they desire to obey Him when they hear His voice.
- they obey Him not in their own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Ephesians 5:15-17 "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of (redeem) every opportunity (kairos), because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."
When you think about raising your children in the midst of an evil world, to be light in the world, what comes to mind?
- What if we raised a generation who defined themselves not by what they didn't do (sex, drinking, swearing, etc) but by what they did do (love, generosity, waiting on on God's Spirit, etc)?
How would you like your children to define themselves?
What are some qualities you'd like to see in them by the time they are grown?
- Faith is always the goal of spiritual parenting. Faith is:
- a firm conviction
- a personal surrender
- a corresponding conduct inspired by that conviction and surrender
Why is personal surrender an essential part of real faith?How is corresponding conduct different to controlling our children's behaviour?
- Spiritual parenting says it's not my job to force my children into a particular outcome, but it is my job to come alongside what God is doing and partner with Him. (The sailboat)
- You can't give something away that you don't have. Do you need permission to come out of hiding? Do you need to show your transformed life to your child instead of being so wrapped up in the world? Maybe you've never taken the step from believing to surrendering.
- Dream of:
- a generation who knows God's voice, desires to obey Him and obeys Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- A generation of children worshipping from the inside out, not living by mandated behaviour, but compelled from within to live lives pleasing to God.
- Children who possess a kingdom-community mindset and choose to live with justice, mercy, goodness and forgiveness in everyday situations.
- children who have a global awareness and feel responsible or their brothers and sisters around the world and who see it as their mission to make Christ known in every part of the globe.
- children who not only know God's Word but are transformed by it. Children who believe it's the only truth this world has to offer.
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