Living on Mission {Supernatural Parenting}

Lesson 11- Living on Mission

All of us naturally want to live a life of purpose, beauty, and adventure.  Our children are born with a love for stories. They want to be the superhero or princess. It is how God made them to be. Created in His image, they have a longing built within them to be part of the Divine story that God is unfolding.

God’s story that He is writing is filled with all the things our kids long for. Inside of His story, they have the opportunity to be heroes and princesses as they step into their unique purpose within His plan. There is adventure, heroism, and a purpose that stretches into eternity.

When I was still young in ministry, I worried that my passion for the Kingdom of God might somehow rob my children from what I thought they should have inside of a mother who was entirely focused and doting on them. But through a few key conversations in my life, I realized that what my children really needed was for me to live out my incredible part in God’s story. They needed to see me burn with passion, committed to a purpose, and pressing past obstacles to become everything that God has called me to be.

My children need to see me and my husband living out our part in God’s story because it tells them that they also have an incredible part in this story. It is an invitation for them to join us inside of this adventure that we live out through friendship with God.

If children never see us passionate about the things of God, how are they supposed to become passionate themselves?

Photo Credit- adamentmeat of Creative Commons

Imagine you and your spouse holding a lit candle with the intention of using that flame to ignite the waiting candle in your child’s hand. A flame that is barely lit and flickering in and out is hard to pass on. But a steady flame easily lends itself to ignite something else.

Your children have been created with specific gifts and talents to be invested inside of the Divine story that God is writing. And your children will discover fulfillment when they learn to give and serve others in the uniqueness of how God has created them. They have been commissioned along with the rest of the Kingdom of God-

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20 (NASV)

How are you living out the plans of God for your life? Are you investing time and focus into partaking in the adventure of serving and ministering to others? Is your passion for the purposes of God growing inside of your spirit?

Then the LORD answered me and said,
“Record the vision
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.  Habakkuk 2:2 (NASV)

In our family, my husband and I take the first part of the year to write out a few of the things that we feel like God is calling us to do that year. Then we write those things out somewhere where we can pray and talk about the vision often. As we eat dinner, we talk about ideas and plans churning in our spirits. When we get ready for the weekend, we talk about how to take steps towards what God has called us to. Our children are constantly overhearing about the part that we are playing in God’s story.

As our children grow older, they will play a bigger and bigger role in those conversations. My husband and I are watching their young lives to see what gifts are beginning to sprout so that we can help cultivate them. We are praying along the lines of what we notice as the early stages of passion in them so that we can fan the flame on what God is doing inside of them.

We are taking our cue from Jesus who said, “Let the children come” and paving a way for our children to take their part in God’s divine story and live on mission. That looks like my husband and I playing our part in the Kingdom of God. And it looks like us involving our children wherever we can inside of ministering to people.

If this is a new thought for you, then I encourage you to look for an area to start serving inside of your local church. Bring your gifts and talents to the table in whatever way you can. And make sure you are fanning the flames of passion in your heart for serving and loving people.

Related posts:

1. Supernatural Parenting Series
2. Teaching that Changes Lives {Supernatural Parenting}
3. Sowing and Reaping {Supernatural Parenting}
4. Fruit of the Spirit {Supernatural Parenting}
5. Introducing Grace {Supernatural Parenting}