Teaching our children the wholeness of Christ

My family watched Passion of the Christ the other night. I have to admit I did not make it through the movie, I cannot bear to watch it and my children’s eyes were wide as can be through the whole thing. I don’t know if showing them that movie was the right thing to do. Although it portrays the human path of Christ, I think the true lesson gets lost. It’s difficult to get adults to understand the spiritual and symbolic representation of Christ’s crucifixion and even more so for children. Or maybe it’s not the child/adult division that makes it difficult, but the level of spiritual maturity. I believe children come into this world with a strong spiritual understand which we slowly squeeze out of them and then as adult work to re-acquire.

Where am I going with this ramble, I’m not sure. I guess what I want to discuss is what we are feeding our children spiritually. I grew up with a religious background which emphasized the loving aspect of God. I was not raised fearing God, nor Hell. I always knew my Father/Mother to be a loving God, a healer and a supporter. I am bothered somewhat by the teaching my children are receiving, they lack spiritual depth and my children are, I believe, missing the mark of Christ’s teachings. I have this overwhelming desire to attempt to explain what I believe to my children, but my fear is its too abstract for their young minds. My son was telling me about something he had heard in class at Church. I can’t remember exactly what it was about, but he was very confused because he had been given a story from the bible which to him didn’t make sense because he was looking at it purely from a human presepctive. I had to explain symbolism to how Christ spoke in parables at times. I tried to help him understand to look for the lesson and not focus so much on the seemingly concrete story line.

I really don’t know why, but this whole subject lays heavy on my heart.  I want my children to grow SPIRTUALLY and not get stuck in that age old box of doing good deeds to earn a tick mark in the “good” column. Our God gave us so much when he put Jesus into human form, but Jesus was so much more than a MAN. I pray that my children’s spiritual eyes and hearts be open to Christ and that I am given the wisdom and means to give them even a spark of the wholeness of Christ.

Fortify their minds!!

As an adult I have battled negative talk my whole life and continue to. I am blessed to report though that God has revealed to me through his means the untruth and sinful nature of those thoughts. They are not of God, but of the flesh/ego. As parents we have a responsibility to speak God-ness into our children everyday so that they learn to hear of the goodness and love that they come from. We have to fortify our children’s minds against attacks of the ego. Children especially have a hard time with this because they are constantly impacted by outside influences. If the good coming in isn’t more than the bad and falseness- what will they believe? I have a son who has battled with depression for several years. I cannot fix him, but my part is to speak truth and wisdom into him.

When was the last time you spoke God’s word into your child? Looked deep into their eyes and told them they are not who the world defines them as, but ARE who God says they are?

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ

New years prayers.......

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

One of my new year resolutions/prayers was to become a better parent and to approach issues with a more biblical and/or spiritual approach.  Much to my delighted (grimace) I have had the opportunity… and I did say “opportunity”… to work on this aspect of my parenting.  One of my children has been having an issue with speaking ill words and another is dealing with speaking politely child 3 is working on treating others as you would like to be treated, another is dealing with overcoming desires of the flesh, and well let’s just say they all are human and have human issues.

 

The interesting and blessed part of all of this is that God has given me the words and direction in each instance to address it from a godly perspective. Oh how wonderful it is! I have been going to a bible study at church and got a bit behind so I have been trying to play catch up. The amazing thing is that I am behind and just started a section on the power of the mouth. Ahhh, God at work. All the words I need to help guide my children and help them to understand the power of words and the destruction words can cause, be that through impolite or ill words.

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

 We recently started ridding our house of the not so healthy things we had, such as inappropriate video games, music, movies. One of my kiddos was caught playing call of duty on his DS (a.k.a. the fleshly desire). I did not even know he owned that game, I am assuming his biological father let him own it. When I caught him I asked him if he knew why I didn’t want him playing that game and he just shrugged like kids do. We then discussed the how it desensitizes you to your true nature.  This idea is not new to me, but is fresh in my mind from another class I am attending at church. It was such a good conversation and I felt so aligned with God as I was able to bring home the truth that we are not to pollute that which God has charged us to care of. Not our bodies and not our minds. Ahhh, God at work. Right time and right place.

Psalms 11:5

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

A Mother's Prayer

A prayer, inspired by Lysa TerKeurst. It reflects my heart as well, so I personalized it and hung it on my fridge.


Father God,

Being a mom is the toughest privilege I've ever loved. I don't want to mess this up! So, I simply offer my willingness to be a great mom today. That's all I have to give, Lord.

I trust You to fill the gaps and give me the wisdom, patience, and discernment that will be required of me. I love these children I call my own, but in reality, they are Yours first and You know them best!

Thank You, Father for the honor to join You on this journey of walking these precious kids toward physical, emotional, and spiritual maturity.

I pray these things in the name of Jesus.
Amen

Just a thought...

A friend of mine posted a question on FB that got me thinking. He asked,

"If the Creator had a specific purpose in mind when He made the created, how does that intended purpose clarify success? Could it be that success for all believers is summed up in Ephesians 5:31-33?"

Now, I've read those verses before, and have taken from them principles to apply to my life. But, I suppose just like any scripture from the Bible, we can receive many "layers" (if u will) from reading the same individual scriptures, over and over; according to the season we are in with the Lord.

I read those verses and as I prayed for God to speak to me through them, Verse 33, stood out to me.

Vs 33 says: "Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Every year, I pray about and focus intently on a few specific areas of spiritual growth for the year to come.

One of those areas for this past year was to not focus so much on controlling or changing my kids' attitudes, but to focus on MY responses to their behaviors. (This was a tough one for me!--- an area that realllllly needed to be addressed.)

At our house, there can be lots of chaos! We have a teenager. We have small children. We have quarreling siblings! We have moments of defiance!!

Well, last year is over, and I surely haven't mastered those sought after fruits of the Spirit, but God certainly taught me a lot about myself! :)

Sad to say, it comes easier for me to have grace, mercy, respect, and love for nearly everyone...but my kids (not in general, but certainly when they are being disobedient or disrespectful). Disrespect is a peeve of mine-- it can get under my skin so quickly! :-/

And yet, if I were to be honest with myself, I know that my kids could be displaying "said" behavior when it's just us at home and I could lose my cool...but, if we had company or we were in "public", I know I could maintain almost complete control. THAT'S PATHETIC! =(

The Lord has been reminding me (convicting me) that it is my CHOICE how I choose to respond. Just like it is my choice to follow Him. (Yes, yes...thank you, Father!)

He also revealed me that, as I sought to obey His word to respect my husband, I commonly would zip my lips and say nothing in times that I felt unloved by him. I suppose I was afraid to blurt out something disrespectful or over react.

In turn, I was only stuffing my feelings and not saying things that NEEDED to be said. This was creating sub conscience frustrations that I would release on the kids in moments of being disrespected by them. How unfair!

Ughhhh! I hate to see this "on paper", but it's the truth! I am so thankful to God for correcting me in this area!

I talk to my friends and we all seem to struggle with the same things-- it's so easy to have love, compassion, and patience with people (to operate in the Spirit), but sometimes- when it comes to our family, it can be so easy to be unloving, impatient, and totally lack compassion (to operate in the flesh).

The bible is full of instructions to live a God-pleasing life. They are not forced on us... if we TRULY want to be obedient to His Word, we will have to make the daily choice to obey them! His instructions go against the grain of everything the FLESH wants to instinctively do.

So, I read Eph 5:33 and I am convicted! He tells husbands and wives to love each other and respect each other. It's seemingly easy to do that for others when the Holy Spirit dwells in you, and at the same time, it can be so easy to lash out at the ones we love. (Why, why, why?!?)

If we, as husbands and wives, can achieve this command to love and respect each other, I believe it will require intent. We will certainly have to demonstrate it on purpose!

In turn, we will be living out the example for our children. If we can demonstrate this love and respect at home--where it is the hardest place (for me) to be consistent in, then SURELY we can demonstrate Love to the world, which is certainly a purpose God created us to fulfill!

"Could it be that success for all believers is summed up in Ephesians 5:31-33?"

My opinion? I don't know that this verse "sums up" our created purpose to be successful, but I do believe it's certainly a piece of the foundation of success in Christ's purpose for our lives.

I thank you for taking the tome to read my thoughts on all this! I pray all this rambling made sense to you on some level, and blesses you in one way or another!!

I'd love to hear YOUR thoughts and comments!!

~Rue <3