Respecting the potential in your children.

‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’ Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

Children are a gift from God. As parents we must recognise that they belong to Him and as Hannah, after our time of nursing and nurturing, our aim should be to dedicate our children fully to God for service.

How will we offer our children to the Master?

Will we be like the wicked servant who buried their talent in the ground and offer back a poorly invested in child, or will our children be rich from our time, dedication and investment?

Think back to the day your child/children were born. A little bundle of joy and happiness, then all of a sudden you had a major responsibility on your hands. You became responsible for a life!

The outcome of your children’s life will depend majorly on what you do with them. Being a teacher puts me in a privileged position of nurturing and shaping the young minds of tomorrow. I get a buzz when I know I have taught my kids in class a new concept.

Children will not pick things up by Osmosis.

Meaning that children learn from real-life experiences and exposure to certain things.

For example, an articulate child will no doubt have been exposed to a language rich environment with lots of books and in depth conversations with parents.  Fancy being the parent of the winner of the Great British Bake Off 2026? Better start baking together in the kitchen!

Putting aside individual personalities, children are a reflection of their parents. To be even more precise, children are a reflection of the input from their parents.

Recently, God began to speak to me about my relationships with my children and told me that I needed to invest in them more (I am by no means a perfect parent!).

So I decided that I’m going to spend each night with eldest son Joshua and teach him how to pray and spend time talking about God with him and declare a blessing over his life.

In a short period of time I noticed a considerable difference in the way he prayed individually and even corporately. This took no more than 10 mins a day. But will carry him through for the rest of his life.

You see, children learn very quickly, but they also grow very quickly. Don’t miss out on opportunities to shape and nuture them. Start now before it’s too late.

In my previous post, respecting the potential in your spouse, I spoke about square pegs not fitting in round holes. We must respect the unique way in which God has created our child and nuture their gifts and talents! You could end up with a resentful child if you push them too hard in a direction that they don’t want to go in. Children do have a voice that needs to be respected.

Find the balance between pushing them too hard (and possibly in the wrong direction) and not pushing them at all. The Holy Spirit is an excellent teacher in this area. Seek God for this balance.

Rebekah saw that Esau had a casual attitude towards important matters. She respected the potential in Jacob and pushed him forwards for the blessing. Now Rebekah favoured Jacob more. Favoured doesn’t mean that she loved her children in unequal measure but rather that for her, there was a special twinkle in her eyes for Jacob. Now each child has their own individual ‘twinkle’. Esau’s twinkle was for hunting and Jacob’s twinkle was for leadership and to be one of the patriarchs. So Rebekah pushed correctly.

More importantly God had also spoken to Rebekah concerning her children, in Gen 25:23 we see that the older will serve the younger. So with this knowledge she was able to act accordingly. God may not give us direct prophesies concerning our children like Rebekah, but that shouldn’t stop us from asking Him to speak to us concerning our children. This can help you to discover and nurture your child’s twinkle.

Respecting the potential in your children has many benefits; your children will become a blessing to you and to others and will grow into all they are meant to be in society, their own homes and in the church.

Being a parent is a Kingdom responsibility. With no investment, there are no returns. Invest what you want to see produced in your children. Respect the potential in your children today as they are the men and women of tomorrow.

 

Respecting the potential in your spouse

‘You’re not the person I married… You’re even better!’

There’s something wonderful about marriage. It’s designed to bring out the best in each of you. The Proverbs 31 woman, only meant her husband good (Prov 31:12) and husbands are instructed to love and nurture their wives (Ephesians 5:25).

In my previous post I spoke of respecting the potential in yourself.  Now I’m going to (attempt) to explore the importance of respecting the potential of your spouse.

Potential in your spouse needs to be respected, as you have a BIG role to play in helping to release and nurture it.

Now, the marriage relationship is unique because you are (or should be) an expert of your partner. You see the best, worst and innermost parts of them and are most likely to be first to spot the hidden potential in them.

When you are finding your feet and settling down into your marriage, sparks of potential may not seem obvious to the ‘spousal eye’ at first, but give things time. You will begin to notice them more.

If you still don’t see much, have some conversations. Where does their passion lie in terms of kingdom business? Most often than not their area of interest is where their kingdom potential lies.

Identifying the level of support needed to offer your spouse will lie in how they approach everyday tasks.

Are they meticulous or lax when it comes to order in the home? Who takes on the lead when it comes to important decisions? Is your partner a go-getter?

There is no compartmentalisation in our spiritual walk. You will find aspects of our character permeate into everything we do. If your husband/wife is a couch potato I doubt he or she is eager to get busy in the vineyard of the Lord.

So how can you help to bring out that potential?

1) Firstly, pray, pray, pray. Ask God to unlock and release the potential that is in your husband/wife.

2) Be a cheerleader. Adults thrive on positive praise just as much as children. When you see bites and sparks of that potential emerging ‘big it up!’

3) Provide a positive challenge without nagging. This works best by talking and not shouting, making suggestions instead of demands. This is especially for us women! (Proverbs 27:15)

4) Set high expectations for him/her. Don’t let your partner settle for second best when you know that they can reach for more (2 cor 3:18). Now this can range from job expectations, personal presentation, and ministerial callings. This is not to be confused with self-gratification, pride, greed and boasting. It’s about making sure the life of your spouse gives God, maximum glory.

5) Be a stepping stone and not an idol. God desires we put him first, before our spouse. It takes swallowing humble pie, but sometimes we need to realise it’s not all about you and your needs and wants but about what God wants. Don’t risk becoming an idol to your spouse so they end up fulfilling your desires ahead of God’s. We know how God feels about idols (Exodus 20:3-6).

6) Be organic. God has given each of us a particular calling and gift, walk in it, and don’t desire what God hasn’t ordained for your partner. Square pegs don’t fit in round holes.

7 ) Ladies, be a help-meet. If you can identify areas of weakness in your husband that will stop him from fulfilling his potential, your job is to fill that gap. This week I taught fractions, ½ + ½ make a whole. Fill in his missing parts, (being his other half) by offering your help and support to him. Remember, help – meet.

8) Men, take on the lead. You are called to be leaders in the home. Lead by example by first respecting and fulfilling your potential in God. Then you will be in the right position to offer servant leadership to your wife in helping her fulfil her potential.

9) Set your house in order. You cannot be an effective worker in God’s vineyard if you don’t first be effective in your first kingdom calling of being a wife/husband. Make that a priority as that will be your foundation and springboard into enlarging your territory and reaching your full potential in God.

The well-known saying goes that behind every strong man is a strong woman and in front of every strong woman is a strong man.

Start respecting, honouring and appreciating your spouse’s God given potential. Strive for their greater today.

Blessings,

Maz x

Respecting your potential.

Paul  speaking to Timothy in 2 Tim 1:6 (NIV) states:  ‘For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.’

As believers of God, we have the potential to do great things but that potential needs to be fanned/stirred. Respecting the potential within us is the beginning of that process.

We all start the same way, two cells joined together in our mother’s fallopian tubes and that, in my opinion, is where the potential begins.

Eyes are formed, eyes that could see great things happen.

Feet kick in the womb, feet that could travel the world.

Hands flutter, hands that could do many a great thing.

Now all of mankind has a measure of potential, but as a child of God that potential outweighs the average Joe Bloggs.

Why?

Because we have resurrection power dwelling within (Romans 8:11). That equals great potential.

Ephesians 3:20 ESV states.

‘Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,’

 Isn’t that great?  God confirms in His word that we do not even have the capacity in our thinking to comprehend what God can do in our lives and through us.

The power at work within us is God at work within us, and HE is the source of all our potential.

The call of Jeremiah (Jer 1 :4-10) is a lesson for us.  Most likely a teenager, God spoke to him about how he would be used in a powerful way to be His mouthpiece for the nation of Isreal.

‘Who me? I’m just a child!’ he said. But the Lord Himself had to touch Jeremiah’s mouth to show him, it’s not about your skill, intelligence or experience. I AM the source of your potential.

Now, respecting your potential requires vision and faith. Vision to see that you can reach the full potential of what God has called you to be and faith to believe that He will equip you with everything you need to get there.

When speaking of the Kingdom of God in Mat 13:32 Jesus spoke of a tiny mustard seed that becomes one of the greatest trees. Something so small, that turns into something so great.

What potential!

Moreover, Luke 17:21 Blows our mind by letting us know that the Kingdom of God is within us. What more potential can you get than that?

To sit on your potential, is to disrespect your potential. To disrespect your potential is to disrespect the Kingdom of God. To disrespect the Kingdom of God is to disrespect the King of the Kingdom.

So stir up your potential by reading God’s word (Matt 4:4), pray continuously (1 Thess, 5:17), fasting and by putting ones faith in action (Heb 11:6). Most importantly, be obedient to God and submit to His will and purpose in your life.

If you have been warming a bench for a while or stuck in a cycle of mediocrity, complacency or fear. God has great plans for you. Start respecting your potential today.

‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’. Phil 4:13

Blessings,

Maz x

Push in Prayer and Praise (Part 2)

My second newborn.

P.U.S.H

 King David is well known as a ‘model’ worshipper in the Bible. In Psalms 42, David poured out his broken heart before God. His tears had been his food day and night, yet he still encouraged himself in verse 5, 11 and 43:5 (NIV) saying, ‘Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God’. David understood that in his trying times he needed to push in praise.

An acronym that has become widely familiar in Christian churches is P.U.S.H – Pray Until Something Happens. That has value, but there is also the P.U.S.H #2! Which is Praise Until Something Happens. As children of God you need to PUSH, PUSH, ouch! PUSH!

Door opening praise

Prayer and praise combined are one of the most powerful and effective tools that we have in our Christian walk. It can literally open prison doors! We read in Acts 16:25-26 how Paul and Silas pushed in prayer and praise to tear open their prison doors. Verse 25 mentions the other prisoners listening in. I can imagine the perplexed faces, the ‘shut ups!’ the smiles.

Sometimes people don’t understand your praise, ‘why is he/she carrying on like that? So extra…’

At times, others admire your praise and empathise in your public, yet intimate encounters with God.

Whatever the reception, PRAISE GOD!

Paul and Silas were powerful ambassadors for God, but I can probably deduce that they may have not known that something that miraculous was about to take place.

What surprises are in store for you in your push?

PUSH in faith

Pushing hurts, pushing is a struggle. But without the pushing comes no baby. Jesus gave us a clue to getting our father’s attention in the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8(NIV). In verse 7-8 it states ‘and will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’

Pushing takes faith. In verse 8 we see Jesus ask the question will the Son of Man find faith on earth? Additionally, Hebrews 11:6 states that without faith it is impossible to please God. So impress and please God with your faith! As you pray in faith and as you praise in faith, your kingdom sounds will reach up to heaven and ‘knock!’ on heaven’s door. As the door is opened through the intercession of Jesus, your prayers and praise will be brought before God alongside heavenly incense (Rev 8:4 NIV). How many times do you want your voice to be heard in heaven? How many times do you want it to be your ‘knock’ at heaven’s door? Remember God will bring justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night!

The final PUSH

Remember there is a final push that will bring the cry of your ‘kingdom’ baby. Your breakthrough will come, your healing will come, your special anointing will come, a new ministerial direction will come and your deliverance will come. Then, in due course you will become pregnant again…

Push in Prayer and Praise. (Part 1)

Introduction: 

During times of trials and tests, heaven can seem silent. In these moments of ‘silence’ God has given us a key to open heaven’s door. He wants us to push in prayer and praise.

Pain with a Purpose:

Those of us who have been blessed with the privilege of having children can relate to the experience of either experiencing or supporting a spouse during the birthing experience.

Labour starts off with a twinge, tingle, show, water breaking or a dull ache, then progresses to an intense build-up and tailing off of pain called contractions that lasts between 10-40 seconds. During that labouring process there are times when a woman may feel like she wants to give up! I remember when I was labouring with Isaac my second son, at one point I strongly considered jumping out of the window of my labour room! However, although I would have been removed from the ‘labour room’ it wouldn’t have removed me from the labour pain.

Have you ever encountered brothers and sisters in Christ who thought that if they only had another friend, husband, job, church or different circumstances life would be a bed of roses? Are you such a person?  It’s important to know that the birth pains are within us and are not wholly based on external factors (although they can sometimes soften or magnify the pain experienced by the individual). The pain of childbirth is a productive pain, and in our Christian walk each pain that we experience holds a distinct and unique purpose. God hand picks your pain to mold and shape you in the way that seems best to Him (Jeremiah 18: 3-4 (NIV).  

How much longer?

All labours are different, some women labour for days, some for hours, some for minutes! With each labour comes a different experience and a different special and unique baby.

Likewise our trials are unique in length, intensity and purpose of molding us. Sometimes, God is smoothing over our cracks and creases and at other times he is giving us a totally new shape. Our Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves, we are not even aware of how many hairs are on our head, but our Heavenly Father is! (Luke 12:7a NIV).

Therefore, we can rest assured in the fact that each trial experienced in our Christian walk is of no coincidence. It was ordained by God to mould you. Our pain is not only personalised for us, but God promises to be the perfect birthing partner whilst we endure our pain. Isaiah 43: 2 (NIV) states that ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.’

God wants us to endure through our labour. We must persevere even when things get tough and focus on the end goal in sight. Hebrews 12:1b (NIV) reminds us to

‘run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Furthermore, James 1:2 reminds us to consider it joy when we go through trials!

A necessary pain

When the first signs of labour appeared for my second son Isaac, I remember first telling my husband and the excitement he felt, I remember him dropping the car keys when we walked out of the house, because he felt so excited and happy.  Little did he know the pain he was about to see his wife experience! It was a shock to his system when he saw the agony that I was going through. But the necessary birth pains that produce a baby, or in spiritual terms a ‘kingdom baby’ are inevitable as a child of God, Just look at the cross of Calvary if you need a reminder, as Christians, persecution and trials is an inevitable part of our journey!

So then, our first reaction to trials should be joy! Joy in the expectancy in the hope of meeting our ‘kingdom babies’.  Babies, of strength in the Lord, maximised faith, a new figure and shape in the Lord, supernatural increases and blessings as well as life changing testimonies that impact the lives of others!

Blessings,

Maz x

Say hello to my kingdom baby!

I was first introduced to the concept of a ‘Kingdom Baby’ at the Southern Woman’s Prayer and Praise Retreat October 2013.

A Kingdom Baby, can range from a new ministerial calling to spiritual or tangible blessings from God.

The creation of this blog, is my ‘Kingdom Baby’.

I pray that you will enjoy sharing in my thoughts and encouragements. Walk with me as I reflect on a life lived with the Father.

Blessings,

Maz x