THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITUAL PARENTING

One of the greatest blessings afforded to mankind is the reproduction of self. Many people fail to comprehend this great privilege.  Perhaps we will appreciate it more readily and enthusiastically when we consider the creation of man:  “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our LoL image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth (Genesis 1:26).”

Man is created in the very image and likeness of God.  Man is a replica of God.  Some may say that this farfetched, however on doing word studies on the words image and likeness this is not the case.  In the original Old Testament language the Hebrew words for image and likeness are:

tselem

d@muwth

The Strong’s Hebrew Concordance (06754) explains tselem as follows:

to shade; a phantom, i.e. (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence, a representative figure, especially an idol: –image, vain shew

The Strong’s Hebrew Concordance (01823) explains d@muwth as folows:

Resemblance; concretely, model shape; adverbially, like: –fashion (-ness, as), manner, similitude

With the above explanation of the two Hebrew words in mind perhaps we can say it was as if God was looking into a mirror when His wondrous creation laid before Him.  God saw Himself in Adam.  This wonder of wonders is also afforded to man in the reproduction of man:  “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Ge 1:28).”

When I consider this wonderful blessing of God I am of the personal persuasion that one of my greatest blessings ever was to reproduce after my own kind and that is not just in the natural but in the spirit as well. When I look at my three beautiful and respectful gamer daughters (now Yolanda Penelope Choromanski, Evelyn Maud Covington and Michelle Anne Flinn) I am amazed how that there is such a remarkable resemblance of my dear beautiful wife (Dolores) and myself in each of them.  At times it is like looking into a mirror; even their actions are so similar to my wife’s and mine.

Over the years our Good Lord taught my wife and I the three P.s of successful parenting, not that we were the perfect parents. By God’s phenomenal grace we employed these Three Principles  of Parenting.

PRINCIPLE 1 OF SUCCESSFUL PARENTING: PROTECTION
PRINCIPLE 2 OF SUCCESSFUL PARENTING: PROVISION
PRINCIPLE 3 OF SUCCESSFUL PARENTING: PROMOTION

PROTECTION: How did we protect our children and from what did we protect them from. One of the greatest influences ever is THE LAW OF ASSOCIATION. We helped our children choose their FRIENDS. We kept them away from BAD COMPANY. We CHOSE WHAT TV PROGRAMMES THEY COULD WATCH. WE NEVER SENT THEM TO CHURCH, WE TOOK THEM TO CHURCH.

PROVISION: We did not just provide food, clothing and education. WE through our lifestyle provided to the best of our ability a Godly lifestyle. As best as possible we lived out before them a life dedicated unto God. And whenever we failed we taught them the power of confession and the power of forgiveness. Whenever the wife or I failed each other by showing disrespect or talking unkindly to each other we would make certain that we would apologise in the presence of our children and without reservation forgive each other. This principle no doubt was carried over into their personal walk with God; they knew that God forgave their sins the way Mommy and Daddy forgave each other.

PROMOTION: How do we know that as parents we have succeeded in raising our children? My dear wife always reminded me that we were not just raising our children for ourselves, for our personal benefit and joy, but for God, His Church and even the world as well. No wonder she believed in discipline and correction with the rod. Though she and I were strict in online gaming discipline there came a time in their respective life’s that we had to stop using the rod, sit them rather down and reason with them, we had to start treating them as young adults, which we did but by the grace of God. We found that by doing this there was a greater response to our correcting them. As we continued in this vein, we began to note that our relationship with our children began to grow for no more were they treating us as just parents but as their confidants and friends. They began to share most things with us. This was a sign to us that we as parents we were effective. As the years have gone by we further noticed that we were successful in our parenting for they had surpassed us in many a way. They all are successful in their respective jobs, their homes are far better, their children like them are very respectful and above all they are all serving the Lord. They are well respected in their churches and their communities.
Concerning all my spiritual sons and daughters they have outgrown me for I like Elijah had a single anointing; they have outgrown me for they like Elisha have a double anointing. They in many ways have surpassed me.., Praise God for this.

As young parents let me encourage you to live out the THREE PRINCIPLES OF PARENTING. GOD GAVE THEM TO ME AND I NOW I GIVE IT TO YOU.

GOD BLESS