Parenting Tool:
Spiritual Training
Hey there, Momma!
It sounds like SPIRITUAL TRAINING might be the best heart-based parenting tool to use with your son right now.
You want to connect with your son’s heart, but you’re not sure how. Spiritual Training will help connect you and your son to God’s power at work in his heart.
Below you will find some practical tips on how to use Spiritual Training to connect with your son’s heart.
This is just one of the 7 heart-based parenting tools. Check your inbox over the next few days and weeks for more practical tools you can use to connect with your son’s heart.
Your first email should be in your inbox now! (Be sure to check your updates folder). This email will explain what it means to parent from a heart-based approach.
Heart-Based Parenting Tool: Spiritual Training
Spiritual training will help you connect your son to God’s power for change.
Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to accomplish more than we can ask or think, according to his power at work within us.
Psalm 78 talks about the importance of passing on God’s truth to our children and not hiding the truth from the next generation.
As parents, we have a responsibility to teach our sons about the Lord. But ultimately, God is the one who will work in your son’s heart to bring about change in his life. We are tools in God’s hands!
This thought may be frustrating and comforting at the same time. It is frustrating that we don’t have ultimate control over our son’s heart. But it is comforting to know that we serve a powerful God who specializes in changing hearts. We can trust that he is always working for his glory and our good. We can trust our boys into his hands.
Spiritual training in your home should be both academic as well as experiential. I like to call it “on the couch” and “on the road” training. I have a lot of free resources on my website that will help you in the area of spiritual training. You can check them out at www.LaurieChristine.com/books
“On the couch” training is the teaching we do in a more structured setting. You might read directly from the Bible or from a children’s devotional or Bible storybook.
If you’re looking for a resource to help you get started with family devotions or Bible time in your house, or if you just need some fresh ideas, download my free ebook: How to Engage Your Kids in Family Devotions.
“On the road” training is the training we do as we go about our everyday life. It’s bringing God into the mundane aspects of our lives and making him a natural part of our conversation with our kids.
Another part of spiritual training is prayer. We can pray for our kids, but we can also pray with our kids. We can teach them how to talk to God themselves. I have several free resources to help you develop a habit of prayer in your family:
Confident Prayers – Using Scripture to Pray for Your Children
God I’m Feeling Scared – 14 Printable Prayers to Help Kids Talk to God
As you’re using spiritual training to connect with your son’s heart, be careful not to give the impression that God is only a harsh judge. Rather than threatening your kids with phrases like: “God will be upset with you if you don’t obey,” or, “God doesn’t like that so you better change,” you want to remind them of God’s grace.
Remind your kids: Yes, we all sin. None of us can live up to God’s standard of perfection. But Jesus died so that we can relate to God as our father — full of compassion, love and grace.
God’s grace is sufficient for both you and your children.
As we talk to our kids about God and his word, help your child answer these questions:
1). Is God real?
2). Is Jesus who he said he is?
3). Is the Bible the Word of God?
4). If all these answers are “yes,” how will it change my life? What will I do about it?
Practical Tips for Spiritual Training
Here are some practical ways to implement spiritual training in your family:
- Pray with your kids.
- Pray for your kids.
- Memorize Bible verses together.
- Read the Bible together.
- Read a Bible storybook or children’s devotional book.
- Teach your kids to have their own personal quiet times with God.
- Encourage your kids to talk to God about how they are feeling.
- Get your kids involved in a children’s ministry or youth group at your church.
- Talk with your kids about the role of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
- Explain to your kids that God is the one who can change their hearts and he will produce his fruit in their lives.
Here are some of my FREE Resources for Spiritual Training:
How to Engage Your Kids in Family Devotions
Back to School Bible Memory Cards
Come and See! – 30 Family Bible Stories for Easter
Go check your inbox right now for your first email from me. Be sure to check your “updates” folder. Then, right-click on the email from Laurie Christine, select “Move to Inbox,” then select “Do this for future emails from this sender.” That way you won’t miss out on any of the parenting tools I’ll be sending your way!
Laurie Christine is a Certified Biblical Parenting Coach, trained by the National Center for Biblical Parenting (NCBP). All information covered in this series of emails is courtesy of the NCBP. For more information, check out the resources on their website, www.biblicalparenting.org
MEET LAURIE CHRISTINE
Laurie Christine is a certified Biblical Parenting Coach, author, podcast host, wife, and mom of four wild, loud, adventurous boys.
Her podcast, Redeeming the Chaos, invites moms of boys to join her in the wild, wonderful adventure of raising courageous boys and connecting them with Christ.
In addition to hosting a podcast, Laurie writes devotional Bible stories for families. As a mom of four young boys, she understands how important it is for parents to connect with their children, while communicating the truth of God’s Word to them in a way they can understand.
MORE RESOURCES
Check out these resources from the National Center for Biblical Parenting
Parenting is Heart Work
(Affiliate Link)
In this book you will learn:
* How to connect to your child’s heart to bring about change.
* Ways to correct that are more powerful and last longer.
* To help your child reign in emotions.
* How to use common, everyday activity to build life-skills.
* Biblical, practical tools that work.
PHW Training Manual
(Affiliate Link)
In this book, you will learn:
* How to develop strategic, biblical, practical routines of family life.
* How to give day-to-day instructions in a way that builds cooperation and responsibility.
* Practical ideas for connecting with your kids emotionally so that their hearts will be soft and teachable.
* How to integrate key success principles into your family.
Motivate Your Child
(Affiliate Link)
In this book you will learn:
* How to parent in ways that build internal motivation so that kids don’t have to rely on you to get things done.
* The four promptings of the conscience and how to coordinate your parenting to takeadvantage of them.
* Ways to energize your spiritual training with fun and creativity.
* How to help children respond to mistakes instead of blaming, defending, or justifying.
MYC Action Plan
(Affliate Link)
In this book, you will learn:
* A step-by-step guide to identify a specific problem and then define a character-based solution.
* How to craft a parenting plan tailored to your child’s unique gifts and needs.
When parents have defined plans, they move forward with more confidence, see changes more quickly, and experience hope as they grow in their relationship with their child.
COACHING
Are you interested in working with Laurie Christine in our eight week, one-on-one parent coaching program?