As we near Resurrection Sunday, I encourage you to take 8 minutes to watch this video.
Casting Crow has a song that I love to hear my children sing called,"What this World Needs" One of my favorite lines is when then say. "We can't strap ourselves to the gospel because we are slowing it down." So, as you prepare yourself for Resurrection Sunday I pray that, as Christians, we take more time to reflect on how we all are just like Barabbas. This week I will be praying that my children come to an understanding, at an early age, just as one of the criminals who hung beside Jesus at Calvary did:
Luke 23:
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
For yourself, pray that you are being a shining light directing your children to Christ and not a distraction in what you say but do not do.
I found a great resource that outlines, Christian and non-Christian symbols concerning Easter or as we reverently call it in our home, Ressurrection Sunday!!
I am way behind the curve when it comes to Christian music. I guess that is what happens when you live overseas for six years. So that is why I just discovered Mandisa's song Stronger last week while listening to K-LOVE.
"fall into the arms of Jesus....cause if He started this work in your life He'll be faithful to complete it if only you'll believe it, He knows how much it hurts and I'm sure that He's goin' help you get through this..."
And what I thought was neat was it was exactly the day after the boys and I studied about the life of Job.
Job 1
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Job 2
1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
There is so much in just these several passages that contradict not only what alot of churches are teaching but also what I have been teaching my own children. Yikes. Remember last week when I said I want to grow disciples of Christ and not just children that obey me and what I say!!!
Well Levi quickly picked up on something I had taught him that was in error. And the conversation kinda went like this:
LJ: "Mom, this isn't true!"
L2L: "What do you mean, of course it is true its what the Bible says. What exactly do you think is not true?"
LJ: "Well mom, you said evil can't be in the presence of God and Satan stood before God and talked to him, that just couldn't happen, could it."
L2L: "Oh, I see. Well you know what LJ, today the Bible has proven mom wrong."
LJ: "How did it do that?"
L2L: " First off, the bible tells us that Satan was before God, so that means that evil can be before God doesn't it?"
LJ: "yeah." (not really convinced)
L2L: (I'm starting to get really nervous now and then it hits me!!) "LJ, I think we need to stop and pray, okay!"
LJ: "Sure, mom"
L2L: "Father, please forgive me for guiding your precious blessing away from the truth of Your Word. I desire only to teach him Your Truth and Your Word. Father, give me the words, just as you gave Moses, to reveal your truth to LJ. I do not want him to walk away from this lesson confused but confident that Your Word is true. In Jesus Name, Amen."
(And then God reminded me of this truth)
L2L: "LJ, the Bible tells us one day that everyone will stand before Jesus for judgment, do you remember that verse?"
LJ: "Yeah." (not sure where I'm going with this)
L2L: "And everyone that stands before Jesus will not have accepted His atonement for our sins and they will be found guilty."
LJ: "Right, if you don't accept Jesus as your Savior, then you go to hell."
L2L: "So that means evil will be before God. So mommy should have said that there is no evil in God. And did you notice that even Satan had to listen to God and under is under His control........
We went into a deeper discussion but I don't have the time to elaborate. However if you have a question feel free to email me or leave a comment and I will get back with you one on one.
The whole point of this post is that we need to be willing to confess in prayer, before our our children when we do something that needs forgiveness. This teaches them that it is okay to admit that we are wrong and if we teach our children to do this quickly, we can help shield their hearts from the guilt of sin we have not confessed before God.
This week I wanted to ask you what is one of your favorite events in the Bible that you like to use to instill God's Word in the hearts of your children?
Dis-ci-pline:
noun: training to act in accordance with rules
verb: to train by instruction and exercise, to bring to a state of order and obedience by training and control
Cor-rec-tion:
noun: something that is substituted or proposed for what is wrong or inaccurate; the act of correcting; an improvement
Pun-ish-ment:
noun: a penalty inflicted for an offense
My desire, as a parent is not to bring up a child that obeys my every command, thinks like I thinks or even grows up to practice the same religion that I do. Nope my desire is to raise up a disciple.
Dis-ci-ple
noun: a follower of the doctrines of a teacher or a school of thought
verb: to teach; train
I want my children to learn, obey and practice every word that Jesus spoke and God revealed through His Holy Word. Which is why I am now training myself to pick up the Bible before I pick up a Self Help or Child Rearing Book. After all God is the one who formed my children in my womb, so logic would dictate that He is the "go to" when I have questions, concerns and issues with them right?!?!?!
Some parenting philosophies I have formed while studying the Bible are: address first the heart then the actions, not expecting my children to be perfect (only Jesus was) and making my yeses be my yeses and my nos be my nos.
So the other morning when LJ spoke to me in a manner that was disrespectful, instead of nagging about him being disrespectful I decided that prayer would be more effective. I called him over to me and without explaining what I was doing, placed my hand on his head, closed my eyes and prayed over him something to this effect:
"Dear Father, I am so thankful for my firstborn LJ. I know that often when we are frustrated or in a hurry we forget that you ask us to honor our parents. God I ask that you soften LJs heart so that he is aware of the tone he is taking with me.Open my eyes that I encourage my son and not discourage him. Help his words be sweet like honey this morning and not bitter like vinegar. Guide us through today so that we may bring glory to your kingdom. In Jesus Name, Amen"
I enjoyed an immediate change of heart and was able to use
cor-rec-tion instead of pun-ish-ment to dis-ci-pline him.
Now if only everyday could work out so well. Now the question for this week is what verse or verses you you use in correcting and encouraging your children, leave it in my comments so that we can all learn and grow together!!!
The desire of my heart has been to pray for my children. Angie, over at Bring the Rain has a wonderful 7X7 prayer schedule and that is what watered the seed a pastor's wife had sowed in my heart several years ago. See I believe that prayer can make a difference, not only in the present but in the future. Even Jesus prayed for each believer before He was crucified. My issue hasn't been a desire to pray but a way to make the prayers come forth from my heart. Then as I was folding laundry, specific prayers started popping into my head.
As I turned CJ's little socks inside out my heart cried out: "Father may CJ's feet veer neither left or right but stay firmly planted on the path of righteousness."
Then as I sorted JJ's underwear again my heart cried out: "Father, keep JJ pure and chase."
I came to LJ's socks and my heart sang out: " May LJ be firmly rooted in your word and be bold and confident in the works you have set before him.
As I folded Big Daddy's undershirt, my heart's prayed to God that: "He would be strengthened for this day. That he would define his worth by God's standards and not the standards of this world. I prayed that he would be successful in bringing glory to God and may any obstacle that would hinder him doing so, be removed from his path.
Yes, yes this is how I want to pray, need to pray, CAN pray for my family!!!! So each week I will be sharing with you the prayers I pray over my family. I do this not to be showy but to minster to that one person who grew up like me: church-less and void of the teachings of the Word of God. Now that I am an adult, I stumble so much in doing what many would consider the bare essentials of being a Christian and it is not because I don't want to; rather because I was never taught how to in the first place. It is with you I share my journey of making my prayer life my very own so that you might be encouraged to do the same!!!!
Are there any good prayer resources you use in your life? I would be greatly blessed if you left them in my comments!!! And I look forward to meeting with you again next week as I continue to share with you the prayers of my heart!!!!
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