I have to be honest, this weighs heavier on me than evangelizing my children.

Now that Talitha professes belief in Christ, she is to live out her remaining days in reckless abandon to Him! She is to grow, mature, and flourish in the faith and fruit of the Spirit. She is to deepen in affection for Christ endlessly. These things do not just happen. The Lord uses means to effect these glorious ends. Just as the Lord uses water to grow a tree, He uses secondary, external means to grow us in the faith.

As her father, it is now incumbent upon me to provide her with the tools necessary for her new life in Christ! It is an awesome, delightful responsibility. One for which I surely need direction, wisdom, encouragement, and help. There are a few things though I know that I want to provide for her growth in the Lord.

First, I’m not going to change anything at all I employed in evangelizing her! I believe to evangelize is to disciple and to disciple is to evangelize! Therefore, several things that I need to do are already in place. The only difference now is that I approach my teaching and application time with her from a new angle. I move from “this is what you need in Christ” to “this is how you love Christ; this is how you live in Christ.”

1. Family Worship - There is no better expression of faith in Christ than to worship Christ. As I lead in our family worship, I want to stress that it is an act of adoring and loving and following our Savior!
2. Catechism - This will continue to be my primary tool for teaching and training. When she is finished, she will know 138 biblical truths so clearly as to be able to explain them to others!
3. Bed Time and Family Worship Prayer - Now my daughter will hear me pray aloud for her sanctification as I did for her regeneration! I will pray for her in very specific ways so that she understands Christianity is to be lived out practically, day to day, in all of life. It is not just a component of our lives, Christ IS our life! Repentance and faith are not one time events but rather repentance is to be frequent because we sin frequently and faith is to ongoing and growing.
4. Daily, fervent Prayer - I will pray even more earnestly that she will never grow comfortable but will pursue a radical life of obedience for the glory of God. I pray my children will outlive and outshine me in terms of the faith!
5. Daily, living Example - My daily walk is more important now than ever! Now that she has followed me in the faith, will my walk prove the faith to be real? There is NO WAY I can give up or walk away now. I must live for the Lord with more zeal than ever!

Second, there are a few other means of discipleship I wish to incorporate for my daughter.

1. Targeted Discipleship - By this I mean that I plan to take a few minutes to teach Talitha specifics of the Christian faith. I began by explaining and emphasizing the importance of her new birthday! In the words of Jesus in John 3, she has been born again! Next, we are going to slowly work through the significance of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. I want her to clearly understand both of these before she practices them so that she personally captures the meaning of how these portray what Christ has done for her. Then I plan to write out a special teaching book for her. Each page will explain in simple language the great biblical salvation terminology. I want her to know and treasure all that God has done for her in Christ. In other words, I plan to keep preaching the Gospel to her!
2. Nurturing the Disciplines - My wife and I are helping her establish a personal time of worship with the Lord. She has started reading her Bible each day and excerpts from my devotional as well. She is an avid reader anyway, and that helps tremendously! Part of teaching her the disciplines is showing them to her in my life. She knows what I’m doing when she wakes up early and I am sitting in my chair reading. She knows what I am doing when she wakes up and I am not home but at the lake trail walking.
3. Fostering Worship - I want to help Talitha understand and appreciate the facets of corporate worship. I want to explain how essential it is to gather with other believers. I want to explain the vital role that preaching/teaching the Word plays in a believer’s life. I want her to experience faith in action, in community! I want her to fellowship with others who share her faith! Furthermore, I want to help her realize that worship is not just a Sunday morning activity, but rather it is a way of life!
4. Applying the Faith - I do not want Talitha to fall into the trap of compartmentalizing her faith. I want to train her, help her, example before her, and teach her that faith in Christ is not part of her multifaceted life. Christianity is her life! It is what puts all the other parts into their proper place, priority, and perspective!

Now that she professes the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, the work REALLY begins! So often parents mistakenly conclude, “Now that my child has received Christ, I need to concentrate on my other children.” Not so moms and dads! The truth is that when the momentary work of leading your children to Christ has ended, the lifetime work of discipling them in the faith begins! Now that we helped lead her to the faith, it is the weighty joy of her parents to guide her in the faith!