This month I have been working on our message series for October. It’s going to be a kick exploring the Life of Abraham. It will be very powerful for us to learn God’s Story and our place in it. However, one of the major revelations I keep finding in this series is just how messed up Abraham and his family really were. It looks to me that they were a better example of a dysfunctional family than a healthy one. But, even though his family was a mess, Abraham did at least two things right that made a significant difference.
Abraham worshipped and trusted God.
Genesis 15:6 (NLT) And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
Abraham’s story is filled with altars, sacrifices, battles, mistakes, and even doubts, but when he was finally pressed upon the matter of his relationship with God, Abraham went to God with his doubts. When he expressed his doubts, God answered. God also reaffirmed all of his promises to Abraham. Genesis 15 records this prayer/conversation and is easily one of the most significant chapters in all of scripture.
If you want to “parent like a boss” learn to pray about your problems. Please understand, prayer is so much more than just asking God to fix your problems. Even people who don’t believe in God ask him to fix their problems. Pray to actually connect with God. Pray to move your mindset from your earthly difficulties to Heaven’s Mission Control. (Revelation 4) Real prayer that is honest with God will build your faith and give you hope for the future. You will learn to worship and trust – which will place you and God on the same team. You plus God constitutes the majority! You plus God means victory!
Abraham invited his children into Worship
He did so many things wrong, but he invited his children into worship. He did that by two specific actions. First, Abraham worshipped God as an example for his family. Abraham’s entire faith was often on display for his family to see. He built four altars to God in the first two chapters of his story. (Gen 12-13) He shared an ancient version of communion with, and tithed to, King Melchizadek in front of everyone immediately after a major battle and victory in his life (Gen 14). Abraham was not ashamed to worship publicly and that includes in the presence of his family.
And, Secondly, he invited his son (Isaac) into worship and up to the mountain with these words, “God will provide…” (Gen 22:8)
It is such an amazing thing to worship as a family. It’s true, that your children, like Isaac, may not understand it. But, it remains critical that you as a parent display it. Why? Most of the lessons and examples we give our children during their time in our care will not become apparent to them until much later. Often we are simply giving them memories as lessons for God to use later to awaken their hearts to His presence. It is certain that they will not understand, or that they will take issue, or even reject the value of our example today. But trust God anyway. Be faithful as a parent to worship God regularly. Be faithful to worship God everywhere. Make every place you live, work and play a church in the sense that you are a worshipper at all times. Then, invite your children into worship. Bring them to church with you, sit together as a family as long as you can. Demonstrate your worship to them. When you blow it, be honest with them. Mistakes give us amazing opportunities to teach our children about both God’s Holiness and His incredible Mercy.
Of all the people on this planet, the person best equipped to teach your children how to worship God is you. Live these simple ideas, and it won’t be long until you are “parenting like a boss”!!!