TU HIJO PUEDE HEREDAR TU RELIGIÓN, PERO NO TU DIOS | Sixto Porras y Donald Franz

The study guide for "Praying Parents" is free and can be used to study the book individually or in small groups, which is what Silvia recommends on the program. Find it here: https://www.enfoquealafamilia.com/30d... In "Praying Parents," Donald and Silvia Franz guide you through 30 days of intercession for the lives of your children. Each chapter is based on a biblical promise and teaches you to pray the Word instead of repeating formulas. It was born from what sustained this couple through their own family crises. Get it here: https://amzn.to/4wkd6ey Donald also mentions the 140 reflections to do with your children. It's a free devotional and is available here: https://linktr.ee/donaldfranz If you have young children at home, we invite you to explore Focus Kids' resources for them here: @enfoquekids Listen to answers to frequently asked questions about family on the I Need Advice with Sixto channel: @necesitoconsejo Are you a pastor or ministry leader? https://www.enfoquealafamilia.com/cursos PODCAST SUMMARY Many Christian parents do everything they're supposed to: they take their children to church, surround them with a faith-filled environment, and teach them the Bible. And yet, one day they discover that their child follows family traditions but has never had a personal encounter with God. Sixto Porras talks with Donald and Silvia Franz, authors of "Parents Who Pray," about the difference between inheriting a religion and knowing God, the mistakes parents make that distance their children from the faith, and how to pray for a child without falling into anxiety or control. Why do my children go to church but don't have a relationship with God? → The difference lies in the personal encounter. Donald illustrates this with Isaiah, Paul, and the disciples: they all made radical decisions, but those decisions were a consequence of having encountered God, not of habit. → The problem he describes is that many children serve their father's God, but not their own God. Borrowed faith doesn't sustain anyone when pressure arises. → Being in church is not evidence of a relationship. A child playing the guitar or sitting in the front row every Sunday doesn't mean they know Christ. → The goal they propose is concrete: to ensure that the child has experienced God personally before leaving home, before university, or before marriage. What mistakes parents make that distance their children from the faith? → Hypocrisy: living one way at home and feigning religiosity in church. Young people detect this inconsistency before anyone else. → Bringing church conflicts into the family dinner table and speaking ill of pastors and other families. → Parents ceasing to attend church but expecting their children to remain. Donald summarizes this by saying that the parent is a mirror in which the child sees themselves. → Imposing religion instead of a relationship: strict rituals and endless devotions that exhaust the child and lead them to believe that this is God. → Delegating spiritual formation to the pastor, who has one hour a week, when the parent has all the other hours. How should I pray for a child who has strayed from God? → No one prays for a child with the intensity of a mother or father, so intercession is not delegated or outsourced to the pastor or youth group. → Prayer is also about letting go. Silvia compares it to Hannah giving up Samuel at age three: while the father tries to maintain control, the prayer never truly becomes prayer. → We must pray from faith, not from pain. When all prayer becomes lament, it doesn't move anything, and over time, the child may occupy the place in the father's heart that belongs to God. → The practical tool they propose is to pray specific biblical promises and write them down, then return to the notebook and see if they have been fulfilled. → And we must expose the child to opportunities: camps, mission trips, service to those in need, spiritual mentors. God often uses someone else, not always the father. What a parent can do is sow seeds, pray, wait, and believe, and stop measuring the outcome by what they see today. The seed planted in childhood is not lost, the responsibility of intercession is not delegated, and control never belonged to the parent. A child does not inherit their parents' experience with God; they need their own, and that is what we pray for.