Parenting God's Way

By Rene Llusco

"Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time." 1 Peter 5:6

The most recent lesson I learned about parenting was that is never too late to learn to parent God’s way.  As I wished I had learned these principles years ago, when I started parenting, I was corrected that God is never too late and that He can use our “detours” to glorify Himself and at the same time to prepare us to help others.

In the past couple of months my wife and I started an intensive study about parenting.  This included a 6-lesson recorded seminar and two parenting books.  We want to honor God in the way we raise our children and to help them grow stronger in the Lord so that no “wind of doctrine” can tossed them away from the path of the Gospel. 

Before we became parents we thought ourselves to know pretty much what was needed to raise a child in the ways of the Lord, however, it is a different story once you have them.  We had to humbly admit we did not know as much as we thought and that we needed help.  That was our first step.  After talking to Pastor Josh he handed us the book entitled Gospel-Powered Parenting, How the Gospel Shapes and Transform Parenting by William P. Farley.  Pastor Josh wanted us to study it and talk to him about it.  My wife started the book but realized that it was directed to fathers and pass it on to me.  The Lord used this book to open my eyes to the proper way to “disciple” and instruct my children.  God used this reading to bring me back to the basic:  His Word!  This book is full of principles that have been taken from the Word of God.  It is such a blessing to be able to rediscover that all our answers can be found in the Word of God and that it is full of instructions for every situation we may encounter.  

The first principle I was tested on was:  Whatever we, as parents, give priorities to in our lives, our children will do also.  The same day I read this chapter about priorities my wife and I received two tickets valued $150 to attend a Hockey Game… on the night of a prayer Conference.  I happen to love Hockey, however, that same date the Lord had brought the principle to me, and although it was a tough decision, I was able to lay my priorities down at the Lord’s feet. 

Below I will list down a few of the most important points I was able to withdraw as I studied Gospel-Powered Parenting (taken directly from the book):

Understanding New Birth
“Most Christian parents assume their child’s new birth:  this could be your biggest parenting mistake.  Conversion is outside of our control.  God is sovereign over the process, “The Son gives life to whom HE will” (John 5:21)
The first sign of new birth is the growing hunger for God, hunger for holiness, growing in obedience to parents and the desire for secret prayer and Bible reading time.

Are we Child-centered or God- centered families?In a God-centered family, everyone serves God by submitting to the authority over them.  This depends a lot on where the family’s head centers himself:   Is he seeking to please God or his children?
Wikipedia defines:   Parenting is the process of raising and educating a child from birth to adulthood.
For Christians, however, this definition is inadequate since it ignores the Ultimate Goal of parenting: ETERNITY.

To close this review of the book, I will highlight other important ideas I was able to withdraw from it:

“We as parents have one Job:  Faithfulness!  It is God job to bring the results; we are absolutely dependent on God’s Spirit to complete the parenting process.

“Parenting is not easy… It will be difficult, but the end result will be: -the delightful Christ-centered young adults who are married to someone you actually like, and this will make it all worth the effort.

…Effective parenting equips their children to overcome the world, not by changing and controlling their environment, but by going after their children’s hearts.

…”The best way, is not with morality or self-discipline, Christians overcome the world by Seeing the Beauty and Excellence of Christ.” (Thomas Chalmers)

“In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3)

I praise the Lord for He is good and His mercies are new every morning.  He continues to help our families to grow in the love and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him is the honor and glory forever!

Rene Llusco

Recommended readings:

Gospel-Powered Parenting, by William P. Farley

Shepherding a Child’s Heart, by Ted Tripp