Category: Healthy Mind & Heart

Three Ways To Remove Your Child From The Battlefield

“Until you and I receive the Son God has offered – we’ll be offering our sons and daughters on the battlefields of this world for possession, power, prestige and land.” – Ravi Zacharias

 

The above was a statement given by Ravi in his last teaching before leaving to his eternal home. His last message is a powerful one, with his humor and on point wisdom – he passes the baton of faith on to us. Does anyone else feel its weight? Feel it slipping through our palms as we focus on schooling, vaccines, science, health, jobs … and so much more?  Maybe fear has you playing every worst-case scenario in your mind? With so many battles taking place right now, our children are being forced onto battlefields to fight in adult wars over possession, power, prestige and land.

 

  • In 2019 libraries began transgender story hour, gender identity (masculine and feminine alike) was being taught from a drag queen. The battlefield of identity, possession for our youth, was well underway. 

 

  • We’ve seen the Black Lives Matter movement strike fear and protest into their own communities – the battlefield of power on violent display. The casualties included the most innocent, children with bullet wounds, a young mother beaten to death – innocent victims who never lived to see the battle end.

 

  • The political battlefield is subtlety gruesome – it thrives in division and spreads hatred, fear and lies. With an appetite for land, power and prestige … this battlefield has invaded homes and friendships. Its method of advancement is fear.

 

 

Though we may no be able to stop these battles – we can remove our children, while equipping and empowering them into adulthood.  And here’s how: 

 

 

Engage the heart.

Do you know what grieves your child? What makes them fearful or courageous? When we gain access to our child’s most inner sanctions, we can nurture the good, speak clarity to the confusing and strengthen the insecure places.  Our children have the same feelings we have (fear, doubt, insecurity, anger), when we relate to their situation, we create an atmosphere of trust that leads to mature guidance. Equip their heart to separate feelings from truth. Battlefields will tell them to follow their heart and their feelings – we can equip them to know feelings are indicators not dictators. As they move in obedience to the word, their heart will follow. 

 

 

Know their influences.

Influences come in all sizes and forms – friendships, music, television shows, social media … the battlefields are not hidden here, they are obvious to the trained eye. Lisa Whittle writes in her book, Jesus Over Everything,

“You will never have authority over what you are entertained by.”

How many kids are placed in front of screens to later become addicted to pornography, video games and cultural standards of beauty? We must know their influences and engage in conversation about the reality, consequences and truth within these battlefields.

 

 

Be a safe parent.

We will love what makes us feel safe and our children are no different. The safety I am writing about is a love with no agenda, no strings attached and no standard to be met. This is what our children need – love that knows no rejection. This type of love equips our kids to know God’s love … a love that repeatedly forgives, empowers and brings healing. In a world of condemnation or total acceptance – God’s love convicts and corrects, not from condemnation but from understanding and wisdom. As we give correction in the form of discipline, we’re equipping our children to know God’s safe love; a love that warns, protects and saves. We are called to be a safe parent for our children, a person to help them flourish with discipleship and direction.

 

 

We must remove our children from battlefields that are weakening their ability to understand the consequences of their choices. Let’s be parents who nurture relationship to their heart while keeping out harmful influences. Where battlefields erupt in dangerous activity, we can be the safe person our child trusts to lead him or her. As parents, we must be willing to do the hard things – things that mess with our comfort, mess with our schedule, mess with social and cultural norms.

 

We must stop sacrificing our children on the battlefields of this world for possession, power, prestige and land – pull them away and lead them to Jesus – ours, and their, only source of victory.

 

 

With His love,

name

 

 

 

How To Experience Contentment In Uncontrolled Circumstances

Anyone else feel like they’re on a roller-coaster of emotions? This ride we’re on has us locked in and yet we still feel unprotected. And like my (then twelve-year-old) daughter who screamed with red face and dripping tears until the roller-coaster she was on was shut down – I too feel like screaming, “STOP! GET ME OFF! I WANT OFF, NOW!”

 

We’re happy – we’re sad – we’re lonely – we’re hungry – we’re joyful – we’re in despair … get me off this ride! If this quarantine has taught me anything, it’s this: we cannot allow our circumstances to govern our contentment.

 

 

If I make more money – If my kids obey – If my spouse changes – If my health gets better – If we can get back to normal . . . then, I will be at peace – content and happy. Friend, are you resting your contentment on the spinning plate of circumstance?

 

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4

Our key to contentment is found in those last words – through him.

 

Contentment is a person who is not governed by circumstance.The good news is that, through Jesus, there is no circumstantial contentment.  Paul experienced both abundance and lack, he experienced both welcoming and rejecting – and yet, Contentment was his guide. God’s love is not contingent on our circumstances, we can be confident that we can never disappoint Him. When I am disappointed (in myself, others or circumstance) it’s because I had an expectation that went unmet.

 

Jesus holds no expectations only invitations.  

 

Because He lives in us – we can live through Him with the same love that has no expectations and no circumstantial contentment.

 

Contentment is experienced through Jesus by letting go of our expectations. Friend, letting go of expectations is hard. We hold a solid grip on what we expect. We expect our kids to live and behave a certain way – We expect a paycheck for our labor – We expect justice – We expect people to uphold our beliefs – We expect people to love us, forgive us, and value us … what we expect can gain complete control over our contentment.

 

What if, like Jesus, we lived without expectations? Folks, I’m trying to sink my roots deeply into this. I want to harbor NO HARD FEELINGS toward others, toward our government and toward this season. And that means, I must let go of expectations and love the way Jesus loves me – without expectations that lead to disappointments. It’s in the disappointments we are seated on the roller-coaster. 

 

We cannot disappoint God – knowing this brings Him closer to us. As we become more aware of His love, we’re more able to extend that love to another. We’re more able to LIVE that love in the season at hand – the same love that knows no expectation, simply meets us where we are but changes and softens our heart. This is “through him” … through Him we experience contentment – because He is Contentment. 

 

With love,

name