Fathering Heartsنموونە

Fighting for the Hearts of Your Kids

So, what do your kids need from you in the fight for their hearts? Above all, they need you—the real you, the authentic you.

That all starts by getting back your own heart. As you do, you’ll become increasingly equipped to hear and validate your kids in the questions they’re asking. They’re the same ones you were asking when you were a boy:

Do you see me?

Do you love what you see?

Do you want to be with me?

Whether your son or daughter is still a child or a grown man or woman, I guarantee that, one way or another, they, too, are asking these core questions. Are the answers settled in your heart as yes, yes, and yes? If not, then it’s extremely likely they are not settled that way in your child’s heart either.

Becoming a beloved son as you father is the way to learn how to father beloved sons and daughters. Being loved is the way to learn how to love. Being healed is the way to learn how to partner with God for your children’s healing when you or someone else wounds them. Being fathered by God is the greatest way to learn how to father the hearts he has entrusted to you.

On the timeline of your children’s life experiences, your love comes before God’s. You are their first authority figure. How you handle their hearts shapes their ability to love and trust others. Either your love will help them make an intimate connection with God or your wounding will encumber it.

How do you wish your father had loved you? The key to loving your own kids better may be contained in your answer to that question.

As you ponder all this with God today, consider asking Him:

Father, do you see me? Do you love what you see? Would you show me how you see me?

Jesus, do you want to be with me? Would you show me?

Holy Spirit, would you open my eyes to the next steps you have for me in fighting for the hearts of my kids?