Author: Administrador

“Mommy, can I get this?” the young child pleads, holding a toy pulled off the store’s shelf. “No, you can’t have it. Put it down,” scolds the mother. Immediately a big struggle erupts in the middle of the store, as the child throws a temper tantrum. His behavior dares the mother to discipline him in … Continue reading “37 TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO DISCERN BETWEEN
NEEDS AND WANTS BY MEETING THEIR NEEDS, NOT THEIR WANTS.”

“You act just like your dad,” my father’s friend said to me. I’m not sure to this day if that was a good thing or not. Some of my father’s traits were commendable, but others (like chewing tobacco) weren’t so great. The most transparent father in the Bible is probably Joseph, Jesus’ earthly dad. Joseph … Continue reading “38 ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFTS A PARENT GIVES
A CHILD IS CHARACTER.”

Can you recall all the Scriptures that your parent taught you as you were growing up? In only a few instances have I met adults whose lives are filled with God’s Word based on the Word spoken into and over their lives by parents. On the other hand, I rarely meet an adult who can’t … Continue reading “39 QUOTE GOD, NOT CLICHéS ABOUT HIM TO YOUR
CHILDREN.”

“I could just kill that dog,” exclaimed our grandson as the bothersome dog across the street from his home kept barking. Our daughter was shocked by her three-year old’s statement. Where could he have gotten such a violent idea? Then she remembered muttering just the same words only a few days before when the howling … Continue reading “35 INTEGRITY IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE
UNAWARE THAT YOU’RE CHILDREN ARE LOOKING AND LISTENING.”

This is a good place for a self-test. What kind of picture is your child seeing? John writes that God is love. So the portrait of God a child sees in and through you must be anchored in love. So let’s go to 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter defines the unconditional love of the father … Continue reading “36 A PARENT IS THE FIRST PICTURE OF GOD
THEIR CHILDREN SEE.”

“When I get my kids raised, I will take life easy,” the misguided parent shared with me. Raising kids produces immature people in grown-up bodies. I have met 50-year-old kids running around, still treating others and God in childish ways. God is calling you, as a parent, to raise adults. By the time children reach … Continue reading “32 YOU’RE RAISING ADULTS, NOT KIDS.”

“My parents really act differently at church than at home,” confided the teenager. After twenty years of counseling families, youth ministry, and talking with teenagers, I learned much about façades. The faces that parents and children put on at church can be quite different from what goes on at home behind closed doors. Parents or … Continue reading “33 TRANSPARENCY WILL EITHER MAKE YOU A
HYPOCRITE OR A HERO DEPENDING ON WHO A CHILD SEES BEHIND YOUR FAçADE.”

“My kids hate going to church,” confessed a mother. “I just don’t know what to do with them.” That’s always my first clue that the spiritual climate of a home is terrible. Church is not a place; it’s a community. Being the family of God starts at home. If children do not experience God’s presence … Continue reading “34 WITHOUT CHURCH AT HOME, YOUR CHILDREN
WILL BE UNWILLING TO GO OUT TO CHURCH.”

“Are you Jesus?” the child asked me. I was teaching a Sunday school class when a four-year-old asked me this revealing question. Authority figures are all in the same concrete, mental category for a child. All are good or all are bad. Since I was in authority, then I must be good just like Jesus. … Continue reading “29 YOU BECOME AN EXAMPLE WHEN YOUR WORD AND
WAY LINE UP WITH GOD’S WORD AND WAY.”

“As long as you live under my roof, you will do I what tell you to do. I brought you into this world and I can take you out of this world,” the irate mother yelled. Authority is vested in relationship, not role. I exercise authority as a parent because God set me in place … Continue reading “30 PARENTAL AUTHORITY IS ROOTED IN GODLY
CHARACTER NOT ROLE OR RESPONSIBILITY.”