Set the Pace of Spiritual Leadership in Your Home

Set the Pace of Spiritual Leadership in Your Home

Usually, your children’s faith is very dependent on the examples they see at home. In other words, you set the pace of spiritual leadership in your home. If you desire your children to have vibrant spiritual lives, then they need to see an authentic faith lived out in their family. No one expects you to be perfect, but you shouldn’t expect them to follow a hypocrite either. Consider the following questions. They will help you evaluate your own spiritual disciplines.

How Is Your Time with God?

How long has it been since you gave God a portion of undisturbed, uninterrupted time and listened to His voice? We have a photograph of our daughter Heidi sitting on the living room sofa holding the Bible upside down, pretending she was reading it. She could barely walk and definitely couldn’t read. When Cathy and I asked her what she was reading, she said, “I’m doing my ’votions.” This is the same chair Cathy used when she did her devotions. Children see; children do.

Apparently, Jesus made time with the Father an absolute priority. He spent regular time praying and listening. Mark reveals, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35). Luke tells us, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). Let me ask the obvious: If Jesus, the Son of God, thought it worthwhile to clear His calendar to pray, wouldn’t we be wise to do the same?

I asked one of the busiest women I know how she manages to get so much done in the day. She smiled and showed me her schedule. It read, “6:00 a.m.-6:45 a.m. Quiet Time.” She had let me in on a secret. Her strength and her stamina came from her time alone with God each morning.

One of my hobbies is reading biographies of great women and men of the Christian faith. They come in all shapes, sizes, denominations and styles; but the one thing they all have in common is a regular, daily time with God.