One thing that seems to be consistently missing in the minds of children, and many adults, is a context for knowing the difference between right and wrong and why that is even important.  What is parenting other than teaching the next generation how to successfully navigate life?  Whether it is teaching a skill or a trade, how to enjoy life, and how to help others, parenting is about planting the right seeds in the right soil as best as we can.

Spirit Fire is parenting in the ways of God.  It provides a context, a view from which to understand the world.  Many people only know the world through the lens of what makes others angry, or what will get them punished.  Spirit Fire gives the foundation for wisdom and understanding, this is different from merely knowing what it takes to defend oneself. 

If you want your children to grow beyond your own limited perspective, if you want to establish a road that elevates their thoughts along the path of God, if you want to give them the tools needed for a godly life, then establishing a time in which your family encounters God together is a great way to begin building that holy foundation. The harvest from which will bless you and your household for generations to come.

“As a parent, I can’t think of anything more important than the privilege and responsibility of training my children in the way of God. The way my wife and I have chosen to do this is by having what we call Spirit Fire.”

Tonight’s Spirit Fire began with a question: What does God laugh at? I felt lead to start with that thought because I recently added a new voice to storytelling that makes all three of my kids laugh from the gut, and that is gold to me. I was also getting the feeling that God wanted us to mess around tonight, so we did. I figure God’s got the best sense of humor if we can relax enough to see it. I mean, a platypus?

After we thought about it, all five in my family answered differently.

Jack: when we tell jokes and laugh

So I asked him what kind of joke makes God laugh. Jack sat there thinking while he ate his night snack of lime chips, and he said, “What if a chip was a mountain?” And he laughed and laughed, no doubt thinking of the best snack time ever. One mountain lime chip please…

Gwen: funny faces

I asked her to demonstrate a face that would make God laugh. She made the face when you put your pointer fingers in your mouth and pull the corners apart. She then smiled and stuck her tongue out, perfect.

Caleb: tickling

We talked for a little about what it would be like to tickle God. I asked Caleb how he would do it, thinking maybe he would go for his favorite, the armpit. However, he reached right for my belly and said, “Like this!”

Betsy: when we do klutzy things

No demonstration necessary for that one.

Me: farts

My kids loved that one. Again, no demonstration necessary.

When we are working to garden the minds of our children, let us not forget fun. It needs to be fun, at least some of the time. Many preachers begin their craft breaking through countless barriers with a good joke. It can open doors and break up the soil so that you can plant some seed. Much of life is hard, and if we’re not careful we can become as hard as stones.

-Brian Carter

“As a parent, I can’t think of anything more important than the privilege and responsibility of training my children in the way of God. The way my wife and I have chosen to do this is by having what we call Spirit Fire.”

(A-Team type music in the background)

For our family time with God we had to incorporate a new book. We made it through the book of Acts to help my family become familiar with the power we’ve been given. No we didn’t consult any commentaries, or read any background books first. We just entered in specifically to hear what we can do through Christ. We traveled with Peter, heard about the spreading of the Gospel to the Gentiles, saw Paul’s transformation and commission and all the signs and wonders that followed.

Because of the new crowd I’m in at church among the Assembly of God, I feel I should add that though I’m now part of a community that sees the miraculous on a regular basis, they emphasize that we shouldn’t seek the power itself, but the Holy Spirit. That being said, it was important to me that my children hear what we, as members of His Kingdom, have been given for the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now that my kids could recognize the difference between God’s power and The Avengers’, it was time to move further in. We are still in the book of Proverbs, moving slowly verse by verse, and we incorporated some details to keep the books separate:

Me: The book of Proverbs was written by…

Kids: King Solomon!

Me: To train…

Kids: Kings and Queens!

Me: Now there is something in the book of Proverbs that’s worth more than all the treasure in the world. Do you know what it is?

Kids: Wisdom!

Me: Now in Wisdom, it talks about two houses. What are they called?

Kids: Wisdom’s and Folly’s!

Me: Who lives at Wisdom’s?

Kids: The righteous!

Me: Who lives at Folly’s?

Kids: The wicked, the dead!

My daughter started adding “the dead” in her cute little 4 year old voice after we’d already gone through a couple chapters. Yes it was creepy and hilarious at the same time. And for the book of Acts we started with an intro as well:

Me: The book of Acts was written by…

Kids: Luke the disciple!

Me: He wrote it to tell us about…

Kids: The Kingdom!

Me: And to tell us that we have…

Kids: Power!

I had bought some toy weapons a while back and at “Power!” we would raise swords, axes, fists, whatever we could if it hadn’t already gotten lost.

And now we just started in on our new book, Revelation. I wanted and felt lead to teach my kids about what will come to pass. I told them that though I have had many classes on this book and have read many thoughts about it, I still had little clue to understanding the details, except one- Jesus is coming and when He does, we will have the final victory. And this became our intro:

Me: The book of Revelation was written by…

Kids: John the Apostle! (There are always disagreements about whatever. We weren’t debating authorship, we were keeping it separate from the other books for my kids.)

Me: To tell us about…

Kids: The Future!

Me: And to tell us that we have…

Kids: Victory!

So far, we’ve just finished chapter 1, and we talked about some awesome things about God- Alpha and Omega stuff, and we got into John’s first vision.

Parents, it has become apparent to me how important it is for us to pass things on to our kids. Not hatred, not evil, but what they will need to equip themselves in their relationship with God for the coming age and their roles in it. We’ve been given a privilege, an honor, that the powers of this world would love to own- to be farmers of our children’s minds and hearts. Don’t fool yourself, it is a war out there.

-Brian Carter

As a parent, I can’t think of anything more important than the privilege and responsibility of training my children in the way of God. The way my wife and I have chosen to do this is by having what we call Spirit Fire.

3x’s a week we gather together before bed time, turn everything off, and seek God. We invite Him to be with us and to surround us with His presence. We pray over our eyes, to see as He sees. We pray over our ears, to eagerly listen to His voice and to lead us to obedience. We pray over our mouths that they would speak His words. And we pray that the Spirit would surround our minds with His fire. All thoughts have to pass through the flame, if they are from Him they grow and bless us. If they are not, they burn up, turn to ash, and the wind blows them away. No trace of them is left behind.

Then we step into His presence with a request of some sort- asking for a word, or a vision. Sometimes we just spend time with Him giving thanks. Other times we give Him praise by celebrating highlights of the day. Whatever we choose to do, we do it to spend time with Him.

All this sounds very formal, and for a lot of people it may be, but I’ve tried to do what I can to engage my kids into desiring His presence. I usually wear a fancy robe that I got in Hong Kong, and I bought us all crowns to wear. And with antique keys that my wife got me years ago, I gave us all necklaces too.

Along with that time with Him, for the last couple years we have been going through the book of Proverbs. It was written to train kings and queens, hence the crowns. And to fill our treasuries with the blessings of wisdom, worth more than all the gold in the world, hence the keys. The robe? Just fun, kingly fun.

Back in February we started to add the book of Acts, the book of power. We switch between the two because I want my kids to know what we have been given in His kingdom. Wisdom and power. I then read a passage from either book, and then we talk about it.

After the talking, and trying to answer what questions I and my wife can, I close in prayer and then we get ready for bed. This is not an exhaustive description of what we do, but its a short quick sample. All together it takes us about 1/2 an hour. Just to add, the other nights we have a night show time which is usually whatever the kids want to see like Gummy Bears, Tom and Jerry, or Donald Duck.

I want to encourage parents to engage their family’s story with His in a fun way. Make it your own, make it awesome. The seeds cast from such a time will bring a harvest not just for your kids, but also for future generations.

-Brian Carter