prayer

Are You Really Saved?

This will only take 5 minutes but it’s good to listen to…and assess exactly what we teach our children. Are we teaching good manners, good behaviour? Are we trying to teach good fruit? We can’t! We can’t present the gospel message to our children…ask them to repeat the sinner’s prayer after you and then think they are saved.

When I listen to messages it affects every aspect of my life – my own spiritual life but also how I interact with others, including my children. My husband has often said, “We have nothing to do with our own salvation. We aren’t saved because of any decision we made…if we do, ooohhh, we’re on shaky ground” . This short message by Paul Washer goes into that a little further.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc5lY9YP_bE

Free Devotional Journal download

kerugma

Our Devotional Journal that we used with the girls. I designed this as a simple way that the girls could do their own Bible reading and were prompted to follow the steps in our Kerugma Bible study approach, using the 4 step process with the anagram of IDEA. (Introduce, Digging Deeper, Examine & elaborate, Application to my life)

I show the children how I use this approach in my own day and how it need not take hours each time. It can take 15 min or one and half hours. We need not study one new passage each day…a passage may spread over two days or more! The focus needs to be on process, not outcome. We need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and not be directed by the clock, or the day.

Here is what the various fields mean:

Date: Helpful to record the date
Passage: Record the passage being studied
Key Verse: to be filled in at the end of the study
Pray: asking God to reveal His truths

Introduce
Read the passage– out loud or silently
Re­read the passage, possibly in another translation

Digging Deeper
Dictionary words: Use the vocabulary sheets for words not known
Other resources used: Record other books used for reference. eg: Journey Through the Bible, etc.
5W’s and H: Understand as many of these that apply.

Expand and Elaborate
Paraphrase ..write the passage out in your own words or narrate the passage orally

Application
How does this apply to my life?
Is there a promise to believe?
A truth to be believed?
A duty/an action to perform?
Is there a command to obey?
A prayer to echo?
Is there a positive example in this passage that I can follow?
Is there an action in this passage that I need to avoid?
Is there an attitude in this passage that I need to have?
Is there something I need to be thankful for?
Pray: asking God for help to apply truths learned … To give thanks.

Related pages:

  • IDEA: 4 step lesson format
  • Our [download#10] for you to print out and use

Please, please pray for Robin

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

Please, please pray for Robin Sampson. Robin has had health issues for some time now and recently posted an update. She had to go into hospital again for a blood transfusion. Even amidst all these health matters, she still manages to hear from the Father and post what she is learning. Read her post, A Reminder of the Blood Covenant.

Robin is a homeschooling mum of 20 years. She has 11 children and is the author of The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach and the Biblical Holidays book. She is a fantastic encouragement to many. Recently Robin has had a setback and she and her family need your prayers. Please pray for them. You can visit her blog to receive regular updates. Her good friend, Kathleen, posts updates as she can.

Please pray.

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**UPDATE** 7th May

Robin’s medication has been changed and she is feeling so much better. The medication seemed to play havoc with her emotionally. The Dr’s have also said that her heart is fine and she won’t need another heart operation. Praise God! There are still more tests needed to see where the internal blood loss is coming from so your continued prayers are needed. See all updates here: http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/

Cleaning Up My Internet Habits

Moreover, as they go about from house to house, they learn to be idlers, and not only idlers, but gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not say and talking of things they should not mention.
1 Timothy 5:13

Many years ago, I read an article that convicted me of the sin of ‘needing to know‘. But you know what? Just because God taught me some things about that then, does not mean that I now have all my ducks in a row and that I don’t struggle in this area anymore. I do.

And something happened this week to show me how things get mucked up when I try to operate in my own strength and do things on my own.

I have a confession to make. I have been lurking around places, (read: forums, blogs, etc) simply to know what is going on. I have not been contributing to them, I just want to know. I have again been convicted that this isn’t any better than the woman that Paul describes as wandering about the neighbourhood, dropping in to say hello and finding out the latest goss. [ouch]

Its time for a cleanup- of my heart, mind and websites I am on. If I am not involved in some way with a person or site or blog (by praying for them or commenting them) or if I’m not serving them by responding to queries then maybe I ought not be there. I need to ask myself: Why am I here visiting this site? Is it to serve, to be edified, informed, to pray? If not, then I need not be there.

Lord, I am sorry. Teach me to keep myself busy with my tasks here at home instead of wandering ‘around’ getting into everyone else’s business. Forgive me for straying from your ways and set my feet upon the right path again Lord. Help me to guard my heart and mind, that in all things I give glory to You.

Prayer

The Five Finger Prayer

1. Your thumb is nearest to you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C.S. Lewis once said, a “sweet duty”.

2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.

3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God’s guidance.

4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is fact that this is our weakest finger; as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.

5. And lastly comes our little finger; the smallest finger of all. Which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, “the least shall be the greatest among you.” Your pinky should remind you to pray for yourself.

By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

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ACTS ? Prayer

A is for Adoration.

“Dear Jesus/God, you are so _____”

C is for confession.

Of our sins, wrong thoughts, anger etc

T is for Thanksgiving

For all the things we have- family and needs.

S is for Supplication.

For others – “Help so and so get well,” or Bless Poppy in his bus,”

For yourself – ask for wisdom, good dreams, protection in certain situations.

Day 7 Prayers for our children

Justice

God, help my children to love justice as You do and to “act justly” in all they do.

For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.
Psalm 11:7

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

Day 6 Praying for our children

Day 6

A love for God’s Word

May my children grow to find Your Word “more precious than gold, than much pure gold; [and] sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.”

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
Psalm 19:9 & 10

Day 5 – Praying for our children

Self-Control

Father, help my children not to be like many others around them, but let them be “alert and self-controlled” in all they do.

So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.
1Thessalonians 5:6

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Day Four: Honesty and Integrity

Honesty and Integrity

May integrity and honesty be their virtue and their protection.

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.
Psalm 25:21

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Day Three: Prayers for our children

Day 3 of Praying for our children

Love
Grant, Lord, that my children may learn to live a life of love through the Spirit who dwells in them.

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5:1 & 2

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22 & 23

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Day Two- Prayers for our children

Growth in Grace


I pray that they may “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen
2 Peter 3:18

Day One- 30 days of prayer for our children

A Parent?s Prayer Program, by Bob Hostetler
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/asburyumc/parents_prayer_program.htm

Salvation

Lord, let salvation spring up within my children, that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
2 Timothy 2: 10