Chief Executive Mom

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For my children to reach the goal of knowing and treasuring Christ above all, I have outlined four essential principles for my children to grasp: LAW/SIN, SALVATION/FAITH, JOY/GLORY, RIGHTEOUSNESS/LOVE.

1 – LAW/SIN - Posses a godly humility and an understanding both of the inapproachable holy standard of God (Law) and our total inability to ever come close to the standard at all. Therefore the prerequisite of faith is repentance in response to the standard of the law.

Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”

Matthew 22:37-40 And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' ³⁸ "This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' ⁴⁰ "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 – SALVATION/FAITH – Understand the freedom we have from sin and the demands of the law through faith in Jesus Christ. Set her hope fully on the promises of Christ, even when she doesn’t feel it or understand it.

Ephesians 2:4-9 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Romans 8:24-25 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

3 – JOY/GLORY - For my child to have joyful satisfaction and delight in God as the passion of her life, thereby glorifying God greatly. This is worship. Joy in God is a command, not optional icing on the cake!! (example of flowers to wife.)

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalm 100:1-2 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. ² Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.

4 – RIGHTEOUSNESS/LOVE - Ability walk in the Spirit by faith so that she may be able to love her neighbor as herself.

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Galatians 5:14,16 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Wheel of faith keeps you rollin’! – Illustration of spiritual life.

I designed these 4 principles for my family, to help me have focus in training my children. They are based off the Word of God, much counsel taken from teachers of the Word, and my own strengths and weaknesses. For example, I emphasize joy in the Lord as much as faith because that is a great weakness of mine. I tend to think of faith with solemn duty instead of God-glorifying delight. You might use these as they are, but I find that things ‘stick’ when we have creative ownership in them. You may, for example, consolidate the first two together and then divide out what it means to love others into greater detail. Perhaps joy might be more natural to you and you want to describe worship in a different way, based off different verses. Or you might, through your own study, form a completely different type of list, maybe one that uses symbols or an acronym to order it. It is not that we teach different truths, but some of us might paint a picture of Christ for our children with watercolors, so to speak, while others use charcoals, pastels or clay. Consider the following 3 resources as you design your own spiritual goals for your children.

1. The Truth of the Word and Gospel of God – this of course is the most important!
2. Teaching and tradition of the church – cannot understand the Bible as isolated individual. To ignore the teaching of the church throughout the history of the church is to despise the gift of teaching given by the Holy Spirit.
3. Your own family’s heritage and personalities and talents

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