When Satan came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, he didn't start with 'Do this' or 'Try that.' He started with identity: 'IF you are the Son of God...'
Identity First, Always
Notice the strategy. Satan's first attack was on Jesus' identity—the very thing the Father had just declared at His baptism: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'
Why attack identity? Because if you can destabilize who someone is, you can manipulate what they do. Satan knows this. Do we?
The Parenting Parallel
Our kids face the same battle. The world whispers (and sometimes shouts): 'IF you are smart enough... IF you are pretty enough... IF you are successful enough...'
But what if they'd already heard the Father's voice? What if they'd already internalized: 'You are my beloved child. I'm already pleased with you'?
That's the goal. We parent as the voice of the Father, speaking identity into our children so that when the 'IF' comes, they have an answer: 'I already know who I am.'