“Fellowship With the Holy Spirit – Parenting With the Holy Spirit” to go along with the message on 5/14/23.
- Who do you think wants your child to live a God honoring, Christ glorifying life more, you or the Holy Spirit?
- Who do you think has a better understanding of how to raise your child to become a follower of Jesus, you or the Holy Spirit?
- Who do you think has more wisdom in making moment by moment decisions in regards to you child, you or the Holy Spirit?`
- I say the Holy Spirit wants that more, that’s why I believe approaching parenting as fellowship with the Holy Spirit would be the best decision we could make as parents.
- But for this to happen, we must first make a confession.
Parenting begins with a confession.
- Parenting. Good, gospel driven, God honoring, fruit producing parenting doesn’t begin with strategies; it begins with confession.
- And what you need to confess is that that type of parenting is impossible for you to do. You cannot do biblical God honoring parenting by yourself.
- “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:7-9 ESV
- We can apply this principle to parenting.
- If we parent with the flesh, in our own ability, we will reap, and our children will reap corruption.
- If we parent with the Spirit, we will reap, and our children will reap eternal life.
- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:19-23 ESV
- All that fruit is what we desire in our lives and the lives of our children.
- But it is the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the flesh, so I do not believe that our fleshly parenting could ever produce Spiritual fruit.
- What God calls you to as a parent is utterly impossible for you to do in and of yourself.
- I’m concerned or worried that the gospel that has formed our theology somehow isn’t forming our parenting.
- I think if there’s one place in our lives where we tend to ask the law to do what only grace can accomplish, it’s in our parenting.
- “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” Galatians 5:4 ESV
- When we try to parent our children by the law we are neglecting grace and separating ourselves from Christ.
- Too often, Christian parenting, well meaning loving parents have reduced parenting down to a neat set of rules with accompanying set of enforcement’s.
- Why is this? Why is it so easy to resort to law as parents?
- I think it’s because in our moments of parenting we can forget we are still people in need of grace and treat our children in a self-righteous way.
- Nobody gives grace better than a person who understands how desperately they need it themselves.
Four things that may happen if you don’t confess.
- You may turn God given moments of ministry into moments of anger.
- When you see or hear the sin, weakness and failure of your children, it’s never an accident. It’s never an interruption. It’s never a hassle. It’s always grace.
- God loves those children. He’s put them in a family of faith, and He will reveal their need to you so you can be a tool of His rescuing mercy.
- They are God given moments of ministry.
- You may personalize what is not personal.
- You make it all about you when you go in and I say, “Do you know what my days have been like? Do you know what I do for you?, You’re embarrassing me., etc…”
- I’m making this whole thing horizontal. It’s not horizontal, it’s vertical.
- There is something broken vertically between these children and God that’s been played out in a horizontal situation.
- You may be adversarial in your response.
- By the time you get to your children it’s not you for your children it’s you against your children because they are in the way of something that you want.
- And so rather than wisdom, love, and grace coming out of your parenting, anger comes out of you.
- And you don’t see at that moment an object of love you see an adversary to something that you want and you’re striking back.
- You may settle for quick situational solutions that don’t get at the heart of the matter.
- I bark a critique. I announce a punishment and I walk away.
- In that moment, there’s been no insight of heart, there’s been no confession, and there’s not even a seed of desire to live a different way. There’s absolutely no change.
Here are 4 ways we can invite the Holy Spirit into our parenting:
1. Time in Gods Word. Spending time in God’s Word sets our hearts on Him and His truth so that we know and recognize Him in even the ordinary moments.
2. Pray for your children. Pray for their salvation, pray that they would have eyes to see and ears to hear Jesus.
3. Pray for you. Pray that you will be aware of the Holy Spirit’s voice in your heart that says this is the moment, this is the person, this is the question or decision.
4. Teach and show your children that they are loved. By you, but also by the God of the universe. As they trust in the love and goodness of God first, they will learn to trust your Spirit-led parenting decisions, even when they don’t agree with them.
Living Hope Ministries 