Are You a Well or a Cistern? A Call to Parents to Live and Lead from God’s Living Water

There’s a quiet crisis in the hearts of many Christian parents today.

We’re showing up. We’re doing our best. We’re following the “right” parenting methods and quoting the Scriptures. But deep down… we’re tired. Dry. Pouring from an empty place.

Why? Because many of us have unknowingly become cisterns—when God called us to be wells.

The Cistern Parent vs. the Well Parent

In Jeremiah 2:13, the Lord says:

“My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters ,and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

This verse isn’t just for Israel. It’s for you and me, mom and dad. It's a divine mirror, reflecting how we’ve tried to lead our families from stored-up strategies rather than a living relationship with God.

Cistern Parenting Looks Like This:

1. Relying on Past Parenting Wins

   You keep using the same approach that worked when your child was younger, but now it’s not effective. Instead of asking God for a fresh strategy, you repeat what’s familiar.

2. Running on Empty

   You’re pouring out all day with discipline, dinner, devotion, but you haven’t been poured into. Your spiritual cup is bone dry.

3. Copying Others’ Methods

   You try to mimic what another Christian family does yet without asking God what your unique child needs.

4. Checking Spiritual Boxes

   You do family Bible time, bedtime prayers, and go to church. But it feels robotic. You’re “doing” God without encountering Him.

5. Using Old Fire to Warm Today’s Soul

   You’re still talking about how God moved in your life five years ago, but you can’t remember the last time you felt His voice clearly this week.

 That’s a cistern, something we built, once filled, but now leaking and lifeless.

Well Parenting Looks Like This:

1. Daily Dependence on God

   Each morning, you go to the Source. You ask, “Holy Spirit, how do I raise this child today?” You listen and respond.

2. Leading from Overflow

   Because your personal time with God is alive, your parenting flows with grace, peace, and wisdom that isn't forced.

3. Hearing Fresh Revelation

   You read the Word and feel it pierce your heart. You sense God speaking to you about your child’s needs, fears, or future.

4. Spirit-Led Correction and Connection

   Instead of parenting from frustration, you’re led by discernment. God gives you insights into what’s really going on behind the behavior.

5. Living and Teaching from a Place of Joy

   Your children don’t just hear about Jesus, they see you walking with Him. Your spiritual life is contagious.

 That’s a well! Deep, fresh, flowing water that comes from a real relationship with God.

• A well draws from deep, living, underground sources with fresh, flowing, and often hidden beneath the surface. It requires digging, seeking, and spiritual hunger.

• A cistern stores old water. It's dependent on rain, time, and effort but can crack, leak, and stagnate.

  
  

• A well connects you to living water; A cistern makes you store water that may not last.

  
  
  
  

In your life right now, which one are you living from?

Are you digging daily into the Word, prayer, and the presence of God? Or are you sipping from past sermons, old devotions, and worn-out methods that no longer satisfy?

And more importantly… What will your children drink from?