TEACHING IS WHO HE IS

TEACHING IS WHO HE IS

  • Godhead Parenting, Holy Spirit

TEACHING IS WHO HE IS

I was raised in the Lutheran church but did not become a believer until I was 24. I loved God, Jesus, and His Word, but I wasn’t so sure about Holy Spirit. I disliked anything that reeked of being ‘charismatic’ and often made sharp remarks about it. It was not that I did not want the Spirit of God, but rather, I was afraid and unsure. I feared it might have been demonic in disguise. I had a mentor who embraced Holy Spirit, which made me uncomfortable. We would have conversations about it, but it usually ended with me telling her I was done. My mom went to a faith healer when she was diagnosed with reoccurring breast cancer and had an ‘encounter,’ as she said, but died two months later. That only increased my dislike and distaste for anything ‘charismatic.’

I am so thankful that God knows our hearts and understands our journey. I am even more grateful that He doesn’t keep us there. On occasion, I will get a message from a parent confessing their unbelief about things regarding Holy Spirit. They share their sincere heart and concerns with me. I listen, but I have learned over the years that they do not need, or really want, for ME to try and convince them one way or another. They need not another opinion but to hear directly from Him. My loving response to them is simply this – it is Holy Spirit’s job to lead you into all truth (not mine or any other pastor/leader/teacher). Mental knowledge is one thing, but the conviction of His truth is another. I encourage you to take what you are cautious and concerned about and bring it to Him directly. Ask Him to teach you and lead you to His truth. Teaching is not what He does; it is who He is (John 16:13).

JESUS LOVES GAMES

My son came for some snuggles while I was having my time with Jesus. I had him ask Jesus if He wanted to spend time with him too, which He confirmed. Then I asked, “Ask Him what He wants to do with you,” and my son said, “Play on my tablet.” Of course, I didn’t NOT think that was Jesus, but guarding against being the middleman, I let it go. An hour later, as I was spiking his hair, he said he didn’t do very well playing his video game. I jokingly said, “How is that possible? I thought Jesus was playing with you,” and he said, “No, I was doing all of the driving,” and it organically turned into the sweetest conversation about letting Jesus be in the driver’s seat of our lives. Where I thought my son was more interested in his computer games than spending time with Jesus, He orchestrated the entire moment THROUGH the very thing that mattered to my son. He is so good!

DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND

I get numerous messages each week from parents around the globe being bullied, attacked, and held hostage by the enemy. They are overwhelmed, scared, and feel powerless to help their children. Issues such as sexual violation, attacks on their gender, divorce, online predators, death, sickness, anger, drugs, tormenting spirit of fear, walls, runaways, disrespect, orphan mindsets, lies, hurts, offenses, bitterness, and trauma are attacking many homes. I am passionate that Jesus died for ALL of the keys, and there is nothing we endure on earth that Jesus does not have a solution and answer for, but this year feels like a tipping point for me and Let the Children Fly.

IT’S TIME! It is time to awaken parents to their God-given authority in the family. It is time to stop being bullied in the spiritual realm. It is time to give children the weapons of heaven. It is time to walk in the power Jesus died for. It is time to empower this generation with the power and authority of Christ. It is time to link arms with other parents and destroy the isolation. It is time to rise up and protect our children from the war on their identity. It is time to deal with our own childhood issues so that we do not parent from that place. It is time to stay NO MORE to the sexualization of our children. It is time to raise our voices in our children’s schools regarding sexual education. It is time to align parents as Sons and Daughters. It is time to encounter the Father as a household and build stories together. Who is coming with me? This is the year we are going to defeat the works of the devil in our family room and align our families with His power, love, and purpose.

LOOKING THROUGH GOD’S EYES

“You can’t. You are a single mom.” I will honor those involved by not sharing details, but I have been told this on more than one occasion over the years. The first time was when God called me to go on a mission trip. I had no desire to go, yet He began to speak to me so clearly that I gave Him my ‘yes,’ and within a week, all the funds came in. I was told, “There is no way God would call a single mom to go.” Those words stung! I beg to differ. Jesus always went after the weak, the sick, the broken, the least of these, and those overlooked. It isn’t the ‘less than’ part that qualifies a person. It is what Jesus does IN the weakness. Our weakness simply becomes the ground in which we are aware of our need for Him. No one needs to convince a solo parent (or their children) that God’s best is a family with both a mother and father, but it is incorrect to disqualify someone based on weakness alone. Judge them based on what God does through the weakness. Man may need a perfectly polished resume to qualify you, but God does not.

YOUR JOURNEY BECOMES THEIR JOURNEY

Parents can’t help but parent out of their own journey, which often includes their own hurts, lies, and offenses. Parents who don’t know who they are can’t empower their children with who God called them to be, and this creates things that are out of alignment with His Kingdom. We don’t want to shut down in our children what needs to be awakened in us. Often, God allows our children to carry something that rubs us the wrong way. It isn’t that they are doing something wrong. It is that something needs to be healed, aligned, or brought to life in us, and God is parenting us through them. God often takes that adult child on a journey of healing, not just for their own heart, but for the family KEYS that their parents needed. It is never too late to bring healing to your family line, and sometimes it flows up the generations. Let the healing in your heart not only impact your children but your parents and grandparents too.

LEERY OF HOLY SPIRIT

If Holy Spirit is our God-given Helper to be fruitful and full of wisdom and comfort, why then are so many people leery of Him? There are three main reasons.

#1. We live in a fallen world where there is a spiritual battle. We have an enemy whose purpose is stealing, killing, and destroying anything that resembles the Kingdom of God on earth. Primarily, he is after your connection with God. In a natural war, it makes logical sense to attack the power source leaving the troops to fend for themselves. The same is true in the spiritual realm. This is the epitome of orphan living. God sent His Son so we could deeply connect with Him. What is the point of mentally knowing God but not being able to experience His love, power, and help in your time of need? The enemy wants us to be mental believers. God wants us to be interactive children who trust Him, know Him and experience Him. The sad part is that the enemy cannot take Holy Spirit from us, so he strives to blind us from seeing Him and plants lies to distort the truth about him, so YOU choose not to partner with Him. Friends, it is time to stop allowing the enemy to dictate your battle plan. God has given you all that you need to be full of joy, fruit, and peace. Do not deny the gift of Holy Spirit.

#2. One of the biggest reasons why people have a distaste for the things of Holy Spirit is not that they do not want the Spirit of God. They most likely had mothers who did not manage their emotions well and were afraid Holy Spirit would make them feel out of control and unsafe as they did with their mom growing up. Holy Spirit is not female, but God designed the family unit to model after God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, who all have unique roles in the godhead.

God/Father – is where we get our provision, protection, and identity.

Jesus/Siblings – is where we get our companionship/friendship/sense of belonging.

Holy Spirit/Mother – is where we get our comfort, nurturing, and teaching.

Moms, it is okay to be on a journey of becoming who you are as a Daughter. One of the greatest things you can say to your child when you make an emotional mess is, “I am sorry that Mom reacted/yelled/got impatient/didn’t listen to your heart. Do you know Holy Spirit would never ______?” Restore them to the TRUTH about who Holy Spirit is, despite your weakness, so they do not transfer their earthly experiences onto the godhead. The goal is not to become perfect parents but to bridge our children to the One who always will be perfect.

#3. I once did ministry with a mom who was hungry for deeper encounters with God yet seemed to have a wall up. Like she wanted more but didn’t. As we processed with Holy Spirit, she got really snippy and said, “Well, I don’t want to be like THAT,” and recalled a story of watching someone at church do weird stuff in the name of having an ‘encounter with Holy Spirit.’ We asked Jesus to show us about that encounter, and clear as a bell, she heard Jesus say, “That was not Me.” My friend had the discernment that what she was witnessing was not really the move of God, but all these years, she denied her discernment and then blamed herself for not being more hungry for Him. God wanted her to see that HE is safe, and not only can she trust encounters with Him, but she can trust Him to give her discernment when something is not pure.

Holy Spirit is your friend! Which example above describes your journey with Holy Spirit?

CONTROL-BASED PARENTING

I received this message from a mom taking our class. I want you to see how each of these parts are interwoven and connected. God is so good to show her what was the root of her control-based parenting. 

“Wow, I had my late night turn out so different than planned. I have followed the LTCF Facebook page and have been trying to emulate the connection parenting versus my normal controlling/disciplining parenting. I have realized how much I operate under a religious spirit and definitely want freedom from that! That revelation in itself has been so eye-opening and humbling. After I went through some forgiveness with my parents for not emulating connection (something my father still doesn’t grasp), I asked Jesus what He wanted to give me in return. As I gave my jar to Jesus, I waited in expectation for a sweet, tangible picture to come about. And the waiting got a little long for my comfort zone, so I asked again what He was showing me! Immediately I heard COMPANIONSHIP as I looked at Jesus standing close, smiling at me. I heard, ‘You are not alone, Tiffany. Let’s play.’ Immediately my stomach filled with this gaping grief, and I began to wail as a deep pain I had not known was there surfaced. The more I allowed myself to cry, the more I got clarity of a deep sense of loneliness that I believe had been there all my life and I was totally unaware of! I sat in this place for a while and felt some revelation come. I have been struggling with a wall that comes up between my oldest son (6 years old) and me these last two years. I have not been able to pinpoint it, and it has grieved my heart so much. Its presence had gotten stronger over the past year with the birth of our second son, a definite ‘world changer’ personality. I have never known how to address ‘loneliness,’ and I am so encouraged that the Lord surfaced it in my heart because I believe He revealed to me that it is something that has burdened my oldest son’s heart and has driven a wedge between his and I’s attempts at connection. I am not fully certain what’s next, but I am hungry to seek that out.”

COUNT IT PURE JOY

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy” (James 1:2). 

If this speaks to your current situation, read on. Why in the world would you count it joy when your world is crashing down around you? If there is something IN you, such as an unresolved hurt, lie, or offense present, trials will touch on those places already inside of you, making the problem feel bigger than it really is. God allows the trial to purify those places that He wants to bring greater healing and freedom to. This is an invitation for us to encounter a loving Father in that place and get the healing our heart desires. If the issue is truly someone else’s that is affecting you greatly, the trial allows us to grow up and mature into better mothers and fathers to those around us. To become more like Jesus in our responses, beliefs, and tools of heaven. Count it pure joy, brothers and sisters, when your world feels like it is crashing down because God wants to meet you there and walk with you through the trial, perfecting you in every way. 

If you look at my childhood and you look at my anointing, it would make sense that there would be an intense training ground in the process. I have yet to see a SINGLE trial over the past 25 years of walking with Him not turn into a touchpoint where He met me in that broken, hurting, or confused place and did not do a good work. Let God walk with you through it to the other side, and regardless of the circumstances, you will never be the same.

YOUR JOURNEY MATTERS

If you are single and had a childhood that left you with more heart splinters than joy, JOURNEY is for you. If you are newly married without children yet and want to learn how to model your family after His, JOURNEY is for you. If you were raised with rules and performance expectations and want to break the cycle, JOURNEY is for you. If you are knee-deep in the toddler season and want to prevent having to undo some parenting down the road, JOURNEY is for you. If you are struggling in your parenting with children of any age, JOURNEY is for you. If you feel distance and space between you and one of your children, JOURNEY is for you. If you are a grandparent and want to sow into your adult children and grandchildren, JOURNEY is for you. If you came from a great family and are simply hungry for more, JOURNEY is for you. JOURNEY is a month-long adventure of going deeper with God as you align your heart and family after His. This is not a parenting method or 1, 2, 3 steps, but rather introducing you to a lifestyle of partnering with Him. NOW is a great time to sow into your family no matter what season you are in. 

Journey – ONLINE CLASS – Let the Children Fly

HE IS FOR YOU

I was reading a book and felt an invitation to ask Father God, “Are You mad at me?” My mind knows He is not, but my heart needed to hear it. I then asked Jesus and the Holy Spirit the same question. I was undone by their responses of love, grace, and tenderness to me. Oh, do we ever have a fortress around us in our time of need. It’s okay to need to ask Him to show you His truth.