The only way we can walk in God’s love on a daily basis is to be empowered by God’s spirit. You could use this translation of I Corinthians 13 (and add the word “mom”) to describe a Spirit-empowered mother’s love:
Mom never gives up.
Mom cares more for her children than for herself.
Mom doesn’t want what she doesn’t have.
Mom doesn’t strut,
Mom doesn’t have a swelled head,
Mom doesn’t force herself on others,
Mom doesn’t say “me first,”
Mom doesn’t fly off the handle,
Mom doesn’t keep score of the sins of her children,
Mom doesn’t revel when her children grovel,
Mom takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Mom puts up with anything,
Mom trusts God always,
Mom always looks for the best,
Mom never looks back,
Mom keeps going to the end.
Love is the most excellent pathway for a mother to walk. A mother who walks in love remembers with great gratitude that God Himself has been patient with her imperfections. It is His love flowing through you that empowers you to be patient with the imperfections of your children. Love believes the best about your children. Love fuels your Spirit-empowered ability to train them up in the way of the Lord. His way is love.
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Do you have a personal knowledge of the love of God, the Father?
God is love. Even when He is correcting you, He does not shout and scream. Everything He does in your life is for your good, and is not based on His convenience. Knowing, experiencing, and receiving God’s love makes an impact on how you parent. If you have been abused, abandoned or neglected by those you love, it is so important to go through steps to your own personal freedom so that you are able to give God’s love to your children.
The walk of love is beautifully described in I Corinthians 13:4-7. The Message Bible reads:
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Let the words from 1 Corinthians 13 wash over you, not as an impossible list to live up to. Rather, let it be a mark of the powerful transformation God is able to work in each one of us, as we surrender our lives to Him.
How do you foster your relationship with God on a daily basis?
Your love relationship with God is more than just having a “quiet time” where we check off the boxes when you read the right scriptures. It is a walk that requires focusing all of our faculties—mind, will and emotions—on Him. Then it begins to spill over. Not only is this a love relationship that you have with God, but a love relationship that you walk out with our children.
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 says:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up.
You are charged by God to talk about Him with your children when you sit in your home, when you drive to soccer practice, when you’re getting ready for bed, and when you are rushing to school the next day. Your children learn to relate to God by how they first learn to relate to you as their parent. You represent the very character of God by how you relate to them on a daily basis.
Don’t try to accomplish by performance, it will just wear you out. Rather, walk with God as you walk with your children. Don’t compartmentalize your life. Be the same every day, consistently and lovingly allowing God to touch your children through you.
If you are honest, how is your relationship with God?
Do you sometimes try to earn God’s love by following a checklist of things you should do? As a Christian, you are called not to just have outward actions that appear to obey Him, but you are to have a heart that loves Him. And out of your heart of love, obedience follows.
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 says:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up.
When my kids where little, I had them memorize these verses. This passage challenged me as a mom to think about how teaching them the ways of God needed to take place all through the day, not just when we were in church or a family devotions. The challenge to me as a mom is not to just teach them to obey, by controlling their behavior… I was called to teach them to love God and to trust Him from the heart.
If you are experiencing a block in your relationship with God, here is the good news. He is available to become as close of a friend as you would like. He loves spending time with you and walking with you on the path of life. As you spend time with Him, walk with Him, talk with Him, you will fall in love with him. Your love relationship with God will overflow to your kids.
Do you “do life” with God? Or do you compartmentalize your relationship with Him?
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Are there areas in your life that you want to overcome?
In areas of great struggle, it is not usually a hop-skip-and-a-jump, and then we arrive someplace. We don’t click the heels of our red ruby slippers, and like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, magically arrive in the place we want to be. There is a reason that our relationship with God is described as a walk. It is not so much about “getting there”, as much as it is about enjoying the journey and being transformed as we go.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” Ephesians 2:10 NKJV.
Your life will begin to flow when you come into agreement with how He has created you. He is the One who has prepared beforehand for you to be who you are. If you are a mom, He has prepared a way for you to walk that you can be the best mom for your kids. You just need to walk into His destiny that He has planned for you. His destiny is not limited and small. It is amazing and rich, but it requires you to walk in faith and obedience. The simple obedience of walking into His call in His way will impact not only your children, but many others in your sphere of influence. As you do this, your struggles will be overcome one step at a time by His grace and your joy will be full.
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You may find that you have a common way that your mind will think. There is a route that your thoughts take and sometimes it is a rut filled with potholes of negative thought patterns. This is how the world thinks. They get stuck in their minds.
Romans 12:2 says:
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” NLT.
In order for us to walk in a new way, we need to turn away from our old way of thinking and focus our minds on the word of God. Meditating on the Word of God will penetrate through the lies that make you feel like you aren’t able to do what God is calling you to do. Freshly focus on what you think and how you think. Do your thoughts match what God says in His word? It is only in thinking about and believing God’s word that you will be able to know His perfect will for you life. Trust Him to change you from the inside out as you think His thoughts.
Are people really able to change? If you are saved, did you ever wish there was a button at the back of your brain that you could push to erase every bad thought and memory that you ever had?
The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to you as a mom. In His power you can let go of familiar patterns of failure and embrace the fruitfulness of being transformed. However, this doesn’t happen automatically. When you get saved there is no reprograming button to push in your brain that washes away all the bad habits you walked in the past. The transformation of Jesus Christ happens both in the moment of salvation and the life-long moment-by-moment process of walking with Him.
If you feel like you are in bootcamp as a mom – you are. If you notice that you tend to do the same things that your parents did (whether good or bad) – you do. God is using your role as a mom to transform your character into His character. It is at home that your imperfections are magnified. You could throw up your hands and give up, or you can lift up your face to God, repent of your short-comings and expect Him to change you… to transform you
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” Romans 12:2 NLT.
Today, Believe God to transform you and make you more like Him.
When you are holding an innocent baby in your arms who is sleeping peacefully, joy fills your heart. There is nothing you would do to hurt your child. Your natural-born instinct is to protect your child. But when this same little baby is crying inconsolably it is a different story.
As I shared before, my firstborn Rachel and I were caught in a house fire and escaped through the protective hand of God. After the fire, we didn’t have anything from Rachel’s nursery, no crib, no swing, no toys. We were staying in the house of a neighbor who had gone on vacation. The loss of a house in a fire is devastating and disorientating. Read more
Have you ever felt like you are powerless to change?
Often you feel powerless to change because you are believing a lie. A lie keeps you stuck. A lie keeps you isolated. A lie comes from the enemy who is the father of lies. He will attack your character. He will attack your potential. And if you let him, he will steal your destiny.
“I just want to be left alone” you may think as you scoop a big bowl of ice cream and grab a romance novel or magazine and lock the door to your room. But really, you are just escaping when you do that, you are not embracing life. Time is being stolen from you. And you can’t get time back. It’s not about eating ice cream or reading a romance novel, it is about having purpose in your life and living life to the fullest. Read more
I know every one of us have had bad days and you may have felt like a failure as a mom. When my first two children were young, I felt a lack of order in my house . I felt isolated. Having children was much harder than I thought. I was tired all the time, and I never had a day off. Everyone needed me. My flesh screamed “Just leave me alone!” Of course, when I felt like this, my toddler and baby sensed it and would cling to me. Life was hard. I was vulnerable to the attack of the enemy.
I would hear accusations in my mind “you are a terrible mother.” Then I would do something that confirmed that accusation. I felt depressed, isolated, and unable to change my behavior.
But God. God broke into this time in my life and delivered me out of a self-made pit. Psalm 40:2 says “He lifted me up out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
If you are in a pit, call out to God and trust Him to deliver you out of the lowest place and to give you a life that is new and filled with hope. When you cry out to God, He will ofter send you others in the body of Christ to help you get out of the pit. Rather than resisting their help, humble yourself, be honest, and receive help from God and from the community of faith.
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