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Spiritual Development - April 2019

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                            “Steps to Strengthen Prayer” by Bonnie McKernan

1. Set prayer apart. The more we pray, the more we want to pray. To do this, you need to build it into the rhythm of your day any way you can: set alarms, leave notes, put it in your day planner. Prayer is a practice that requires discipline and perseverance, and we should own the cost. Prayer is the greatest act of our day, and we must fight for it. And not just in times of need. It matters how we train and prepare for the battle.

2. Learn to withdraw. Pull away from distractions — the phone, the computer, the TV, the constant noise of modern life — and find a way to separate yourself so you can be and feel “shut in with God.” Your car on lunch break, a quiet corner in the office, a closet in between meals or feedings or naptimes, or simply the quiet of your heart if that’s all you can muster.

3. Have a posture of prayer. Do what you need to help you focus on what it is that you’re doing. Kneel, stand, close your eyes, look to the heavens — when your body is focused, it’s often easier for your soul to follow. If able, pray out loud. I’ve found that just softly whispering during my private prayer time is quiet enough that it doesn’t inhibit the flow of my praying, but loud enough that it keeps my mind from wandering.

4. Pray fervently. Praying should be active. We cannot truly come into contact with God and not be a different person, at least in some small degree, by the time we say, “Amen.” Struggle in prayer, wrestle with it, and let the Spirit move. Answers to prayer are a blessing, but prayer in and of itself is meant to be a blessing.

5. Pray specifically. Vagueness can be the death of prayer. Not that we can never be general, just not at the expense of praising God’s specific attributes, confessing specific sins, or thanking him and asking him for specific things. We must learn to pray specifically and boldly due to the status we have through Christ, while simultaneously being completely submissive to God’s will. Bold and expectant faith coupled with humble submission is a powerful thing.

6. Pray for and with others. Prayer is meant to knit together the children of God, oftentimes, people we have never even met. We share a Father, we are family, and we should bear each  other’s burdens in prayer. We become invested in each other’s struggles and triumphs. We start to care more about the people we pray for and less about ourselves. What a beautiful thing to come before our Father of one accord with the same appeals out of love and care for each other. Prayer binds the church together.

 Recommended ResourceThe Disciple-Making Parent by Chap Bettis
Parenting in today’s culture can be exhausting, scary, difficult, challenging and… well, pick your own adjective. Moreover, your desire to raise children as a Christian parent in accordance with the Bible’s truths amplifies those adjectives to an entirely different level. You bring home that beautiful little  baby made in the image of God from the hospital, and you look at your spouse and say, “Now what do we do?” That question never goes away for the Christian parent. Your baby grows to become a toddler, a child, a pre-teen and a teenager, and as your baby grows in each of those stages of life, you look at your husband or your wife again to say, “Now what do we do?”

The Disciple-Making Parent: A Comprehensive Guidebook for Raising Your Children to Love and Follow  Jesus Christ seeks to help us answer that kind of question. This book ranks as a top contender for a book that every parent should read as they seek to honor Christ by parenting their children faithfully.  You will read this book and be convicted that you need to do better at making a disciple of your child. That’s a good thing. We all need to be convicted that we should take our God-given task more seriously and faithfully. With The Disciple-Making Parent, you will be better equipped to answer the question, “Now what do we do?”

 

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Spiritual Development - March 2019

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Hello church family!

This month I’m asking that you pray for me in a   special way. On March 23rd, I will be leaving the USA and heading for the South American country of  Ecuador until April 2nd. Late last year I was asked to consider going on this trip for the purpose of offering training seminars for the indigenous pastors of Ecuador. After much prayer, I knew that God was calling me to participate with this trip. I will be traveling and teaching with Pastor Bobby Pell from Northwoods Church.  We will be teaching on the doctrines of God, the Bible, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Angels and Demons. We will likely have around 60 pastors participate in these trainings from all across the country.

This is a humbling opportunity to be a part of, and that is why I ask that you would pray for us as we travel and teach. I wanted to list some of the specific ways that you could partner with me in   prayer as we wait to leave and as we are there.  

  • Pray that God would help us prepare well for these seminars, that we would know what to teach and how to express it in a way that will be most beneficial.
  • Pray for our travel to, within, and from Ecuador. There are a lot of logistics that have to go right in order for our travel to be ideal, especially within the country.
  • Pray for the pastors who will be attending the training, that nothing would prevent them from attending, that they would be able to comprehend and understand what we are saying, and that we would be able to bond through our shared faith in Christ.
  • Pray that we would be able to communicate effectively through our translators who will be aiding us at these seminars.
  • Pray that we would not become ill as we travel.
  • Pray that God would save people as a result of us traveling and investing in these pastors. Ask for God to work in these Ecuadorian churches and cause the believers to have greater faith in Christ and increased desire to reach those without Christ.

Thank you in advance for lifting this trip up in prayer to God. I am excited to see how He will use this trip for His Glory and the expansion of His Kingdom.

 Recommended ResourceThe Storm Tossed Family by Russell Moore

Why do our families have so much power over us? In The       Storm-Tossed Family, bestselling author Russell Moore teaches readers whether you are married or single, whether you long for a child or are shepherding a full house, you are part of a family. Family is difficult because family—every family—is an echo of the gospel.

Family can be the source of some of the most transcendent human joy, and family can leave us crumpled up on the side of the road. Family can make us who we are, and family can break our hearts. Why would this social arrangement have that much power, for good or for ill, over us?

 

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