In my previous blog, I mentioned that I would provide a 5-step approach to a Kingdom Training Template. If we believe the following truths, how can we help our children create actions in their lives that lead to positive consequences?
- Truth establishes Conviction
- Conviction drives Purpose
- Purpose creates Vision
- Vision leads to Action
I firmly believe we live in a society where lives and institutions are fractured. This image may help illustrate what I am talking about. Before the fall, our homes, churches, and schools were whole and complete. After the fall, sin fractured each of them in such a way that we are in a constant battle for the hearts and minds of our future generations. This battle has been raging since the fall, but it became especially clear during the struggle between Cain and Abel. We quickly saw how sin fractured the home when one brother killed the other over a sacrifice offered to God. It was all driven by selfishness and pride.
This battle continues today with an intensity that many of us could never have imagined. But God… gave us a template to follow to correct this evil, right in the middle of the greatest story ever told: The Christmas Story.
Step 1: Faithful Parents
In Luke 1, we find two vastly different reactions to a message from an angel about the birth of a son. The first comes from Zechariah, who cannot believe the message. The second comes from Mary, who “hid all these things in her heart.” These two responses led to different outcomes for the parents, but in both cases, God ultimately received all the glory.
During our recent AB24 conference at Word of God Ministries, Pastor James emphasized that our children can only ‘cleave’ to what they’ve ‘left’ with. The idea was that the “leaving” represents a graduation from the training they’ve received in our homes. Over the 24 years I’ve spent in education, I’ve seen many parents with a great understanding of training their children. However, they often get sidetracked by culture, peer pressure, misconceptions about how they should love their children, or even relationships that change their approach to parenting.
We are all changing, but we are either changing for the better or for the worse. Over the years, I’ve watched parents begin doing the right thing, only to change their approach when it became too difficult. It’s not that we aren’t doing the right things, but rather that we fail to do the right thing long enough.
Being a faithful parent means being a consistent parent. It means staying faithful to the training, no matter how intense the pressure may be. A faithful parent does not waver, compromise, or move away from their convictions or the truth of God’s Word. Is this easy? No, but it is step 1 in the Kingdom Training Template.
Step 2: An Anointing
As we continue reading in the Christmas story, we reach Luke 2:25-35. In these verses, we see the anointing placed on Jesus, setting the stage for His ultimate mission and purpose in life. Do you realize that the same Holy Spirit that visited Jesus at His baptism is available to you, me, and our children today? It is our role, and the role of the church, to help our children find and experience that anointing.
That anointing, or purpose, is not defined by us as parents, but by the Creator. Remember, as parents, we do not own our children. They are on loan to us for a season. If we owned them, would they be able to “leave and cleave”? No. This season is a training ground to help them become the next Jeremiah, David, Ruth, Esther, Samuel, or Daniel. The anointing on our children’s lives comes directly from heaven, not from our home. Our home can either hasten or hinder the opening of heaven over them, depending on whether we nurture a biblical worldview.
The anointing, while coming directly from the Holy Spirit, can be either enhanced or hindered by the decisions we make for our children. What a humbling thought.
In this blog, we've examined 2 of the 5 steps of the Kingdom Training Template. The remaining 3 steps will be covered in future blogs.
Mr. Euler has 24 years’ experience working in Christian Schools, 16 as a Head of School and is currently the Head of School at Word of God Academy, Shreveport, LA., a ministry of Word of God Ministries.
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