(ThyBlackMan.com) Parenthood provides great Kingdom perspective. In The Top Five Reasons for Being a Top Notch Father, I listed the #1 reason for being a father is that fatherhood provides men with an inside view of the relationship God is developing in us. How we interact with our children as we teach them is very much how God deals with us. He has made us with the potential to do many things in His name but only in accordance with our free will.
In preparing for our next child, my wife and I have begun to instill more power to our three-year old son. Some tasks we once did for him, we are now being more deliberate in showing him how to perform them himself. We used to button his pants, buckle his belt and get him up in the middle of the night to use the potty but his eye-hand coordination, dexterity and self-governance has naturally developed and progressed in such a way that he is now fully capable of doing these things himself. If we don’t begin to teach and empower him in how to walk in his self-autonomy, we will have effectively hampered/slowed his development as he continues to lean on us as a crutch. Can you imagine a five or six year old still in Pampers? I’ve heard and seen it for myself and it is NOT a good look!
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The (Un)Pampered LifeWith diapers behind
Him, my son’s aware enough
For underwear.
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On the other hand, his baby sister will need what we once provided to him in her early life – full dependence on us to do all things for her. One prime 
example is the use of a bottle warmer that we were given as a gift when our son was born. This device has a chiller in the back of it that allows us to hold a bottle of milk overnight next to an ice pack for easy access for feedings in the middle of the night and early morning. Once Josiah had grown beyond the need to warm the milk, we simply used the chiller to hold his milk which, for a condition that he was diagnosed with, also contains medicine that he’s been prescribed to take twice a day.
With his baby sister’s imminent arrival, what we began to do last week was keep his milk cup in the refrigerator downstairs. Out of habit, he’s come to us in the morning and said “Mommy, Daddy – my milk’s not in the white thing!” Our response is to remind him that we’ll need the white thing for his baby sister and that we’ve kept his milk cup in the fridge. We’d already instructed and given him permission to go downstairs and get his morning cocktail out of the refrigerator himself as he is strong enough and smart enough to get it out himself.
This is how God deals with us! My good friend and godfather to my son, Larry Henderson, wrote a book entitled The Revelation of Faith where he outlines a similar parallel with how God’s provision is one that begins with Him doing things for us but should grow for mature Christians into a confidence of drawing on His strength to execute ministerial discipleship in HIS name!
So when Jesus imparted the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, thus providing full access to Its gifts and fruit, He had already showed and taught them how to walk in Its power! He had already showed and taught them how to build themselves up in prayer and faith to perform miracles: to heal the sick, cast out demons and restore order to what sin had warped out of order. Forget grown and sexy – that’s grown and fetching!
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Servant Leadership is Only for the Grown and Fetching!Jesus’ miracles
Are reproduced only by
The grown and fetching!
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So as we should be developing in our fostering of the Holy Spirit within us – feeding It with the Word and making room for Its increase by decreasing our dead flesh – the world should see Its fruit produced by our deeds and actions!
Plainly stated: stop asking God to heal and perform miracles… YOU DO IT! Unlike any other creature, God designed us to house His Spirit. The very essence of our lives was meant to exercise His delegated authority to preserve and restore the order of the King in a world that was distorted by sin. This is a supernatural process that takes supernatural power that can only be performed by mature, adult Christians.
For those that have children, nieces or nephews – allow me to pose the following question: how annoying is it when a fully capable child opts to ask you (repeatedly) to do something for them instead of performing a task themselves that you KNOW s/he is capable of? The mistake that I have made in the past (and present!) is getting worn out sometimes by my lack of patience and time when my son asks me for something or acts as if he can’t do it himself.
I can remember one weekday morning (meaning I had to go to work!), Josiah and I were in the bathroom and he wanted to go into our bedroom with his mommy. The door was completely shut but he had the knowledge and ability to twist the knob and open it himself – I’d seen him do it before! But on this particular day, he began to whine and cry that “I can’t do it!” despite my encouraging words and instruction. I grew weary and frustrated very quickly and eventually did it for him after a few minutes of failed efforts. Hearing the Lord’s precepts that I’ve laid out before you in this blog as they reverberated in my head, I knew that I’d failed my son.
But praise God that He doesn’t fail! His patience truly endureth forever because He won’t cave to the pressures of a fully capable and crown Christian. What that looks like to us though, is that He is choosing to ignore us or not answer our prayers when in reality, I believe He is saying “Go look at your big brother – Jesus! He already showed you how to do that! I have provided you with the means and savvy know-how to execute this on your own. Just call on His name and perform what you’re asking for to advance my Kingdom!”
So get in the Word and accept the practicality and modern-day usefulness of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles as your rightful tools – accessible for use in the name of Jesus! Is your child acting demented? Don’t give him ritalin – discern and cast out the demon active within him.
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Disappearing ActsWe’ve condensed the
events and Spirit of Acts to
disappearing acts.*
Demented
A person that’s been
Deemed ‘demented’ is really
DEMon tormENTED.‘Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.’
– Acts 5:16 NKJV
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Has a relative died prematurely? Get FAITHFUL warriors, go into the room where s/he lies and raise them from the dead! Is a loved one suffering from an ailment or disease? Take the name of the diagnosis and rebuke/cast it out in the name of Jesus! God is ever-present and all-powerful but as regents to His Kingdom on earth, He has designed us to act on His behalf… so take off the
Pampers, pull up your underwear and DO IT YOURSELF!
Staff Writer; Reggie Legend
Can find more about this writer over at; http://www.steelwaterspoetry.com
Also available as a Keynote Speaker – Book him Today; Speakerwiki – Reggie Legend
