Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Teaching Children To Pray While Teaching Love And Patience
Ran across this great short article...
Teaching children to pray is very important. The purpose of prayer is to help your child develop a relationship with the Lord. Teaching your child how to develop love and patience helps them better understand the nature of God. Here are some tips to help you.
Praying should be out loud. Your child may not readily understand what praying is. To help try replacing the word "pray" with the word "talk." Encourage them to talk with God. It is said of men of old that they walked and talked with God.
Teaching your children love and patience is important when they are learning to pray. These two virtues when practiced keep our hearts soft and teachable. The prophet Samuel was able hear the still small voice of the Lord because his heart was teachable.
Part of praying is asking the Lord for the things we want and need. When we teach children what love is we help them feel positive and hopeful about their future. Their prayers will be more uplifting and from the heart.
Love is the most powerful force in the universe. When children are little they may not understand the word "love" but they certainly understand the emotion. You have been there for them from the beginning and you can share with them how God has been there for both of you from the beginning.
We all have learned patience when we pray because as we have grown older we have accepted that God does not immediately answer our prayers. A child, however, has not yet learned this. Therefore, we need to teach them patience.
Our children can learn to be patient when we set them a good example. When I look at the times I become impatient I see an opportunity to teach my children. When I am driving for example, I do not have to be the first guy there. You can share with your children that this is patient. You are willing to wait a little longer to arrive at your destination just like you are willing to wait on the Lord.
When we teach our children to pray we also need to teach them about love and patience. God is love and will always answer our prayers. We must be patient though and be willing to wait for him to answer us.
Teaching children to pray is very important. The purpose of prayer is to help your child develop a relationship with the Lord. Teaching your child how to develop love and patience helps them better understand the nature of God. Here are some tips to help you.
Praying should be out loud. Your child may not readily understand what praying is. To help try replacing the word "pray" with the word "talk." Encourage them to talk with God. It is said of men of old that they walked and talked with God.
Teaching your children love and patience is important when they are learning to pray. These two virtues when practiced keep our hearts soft and teachable. The prophet Samuel was able hear the still small voice of the Lord because his heart was teachable.
Part of praying is asking the Lord for the things we want and need. When we teach children what love is we help them feel positive and hopeful about their future. Their prayers will be more uplifting and from the heart.
Love is the most powerful force in the universe. When children are little they may not understand the word "love" but they certainly understand the emotion. You have been there for them from the beginning and you can share with them how God has been there for both of you from the beginning.
We all have learned patience when we pray because as we have grown older we have accepted that God does not immediately answer our prayers. A child, however, has not yet learned this. Therefore, we need to teach them patience.
Our children can learn to be patient when we set them a good example. When I look at the times I become impatient I see an opportunity to teach my children. When I am driving for example, I do not have to be the first guy there. You can share with your children that this is patient. You are willing to wait a little longer to arrive at your destination just like you are willing to wait on the Lord.
When we teach our children to pray we also need to teach them about love and patience. God is love and will always answer our prayers. We must be patient though and be willing to wait for him to answer us.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Broken Before Him
Lost a lot of sleep last night. Replaying Bil's Message on Sunday in my mind.
Broken sounds so final. So negative. God wants us to be happy, doesn't he? I guess being broken before God means exactly what it sounds like; being injured, or damaged, before the Lord. And I think that it means, pretty much, laying out everything that you have before God. Being broken, you give everything up to God. You set it before Him and say, "I don’t know what to do, please help me.”
Simply put, brokenness before God is just a complete surrendering of everything to God. The key word being everything, which is a tough pill to swallow (Thanks again God for that "free will" thing…LOL). A broken man comes before God resigned to the fact that all they have is God but also with the knowledge that all that they need is God. A broken man has nothing and hopes only in the Lord for glorious victory!
All we need is Him! Sorry prime time TV, cool electronics, social events, that hot new ride.
Side note: Please don't forget to bring your gift to Jesus Christ this season.
God is Great!!!
Broken sounds so final. So negative. God wants us to be happy, doesn't he? I guess being broken before God means exactly what it sounds like; being injured, or damaged, before the Lord. And I think that it means, pretty much, laying out everything that you have before God. Being broken, you give everything up to God. You set it before Him and say, "I don’t know what to do, please help me.”
Simply put, brokenness before God is just a complete surrendering of everything to God. The key word being everything, which is a tough pill to swallow (Thanks again God for that "free will" thing…LOL). A broken man comes before God resigned to the fact that all they have is God but also with the knowledge that all that they need is God. A broken man has nothing and hopes only in the Lord for glorious victory!
All we need is Him! Sorry prime time TV, cool electronics, social events, that hot new ride.
Side note: Please don't forget to bring your gift to Jesus Christ this season.
God is Great!!!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Jesus is Our Leader
”Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When their breathing stops, they return to the earth, and in a moment all their plans come to an end. But happy are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God. He is the one who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He is the one who keeps every promise forever." (Psalm 146:3-6).
Monday, October 13, 2008
Obama Mocking the Bible
We need to get the word out to everyone who is of age to vote on November 4. Also, please don't forget to early vote!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Someone Needs to Strangle Chicken Little
I've had a number of phone calls over the past several months asking what to do about the stock market. I repeatedly tell them "Maintain a disciplined investment approach." Translation: don’t get spooked by market volatility.
Unfortunately, individual investors rarely heed that advice. What's up with that? Walmart has a 30% off sale and everyone flocks to the store. The stock market has the same sale and everyone avoids it like the plague.
Indeed, many studies show that investors often panic in the face of market uncertainty and sell at exactly the point when they should be buying. The news media certainly does its part to stir up anxiety about the markets. After all, "Market Crash of 2008!!!" sells more headlines than "Stay the course." This barrage of panic-inducing messages makes it that much harder for investors to remain calm and focused on their investment plan and their time horizon.
People need to be reminded again and again that during times of volatility, the best course of action is to stick to a well-designed game plan.
Unfortunately, individual investors rarely heed that advice. What's up with that? Walmart has a 30% off sale and everyone flocks to the store. The stock market has the same sale and everyone avoids it like the plague.
Indeed, many studies show that investors often panic in the face of market uncertainty and sell at exactly the point when they should be buying. The news media certainly does its part to stir up anxiety about the markets. After all, "Market Crash of 2008!!!" sells more headlines than "Stay the course." This barrage of panic-inducing messages makes it that much harder for investors to remain calm and focused on their investment plan and their time horizon.
People need to be reminded again and again that during times of volatility, the best course of action is to stick to a well-designed game plan.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Instant Replay
"Our lives are a mere dot on the long line of eternity."
Driving in my truck this past weekend, my two backseat drivers (Emily, age 8 and Katelyn, age 7) noticed that I went through an intersection and when doing so, the light turned from amber to red. We had a short discussion as to whether or not I ran the red light. Jokingly, I told Emily that we could look at the “instant replay”. She innocently asked me if we really could. I told her that there was indeed instant replay, but we would not be able to see it until we get to heaven. Katelyn jumped in “like they have in NASCAR?” Emily quickly responded “yeah, but probably with a lot more cameras.”
What a great, but simple lesson that fell right into my lap that I was immediately able to teach my girls. Every action we take, whether or not there is someone there to see it, is recorded. God sees everything we do and hears everything we say. Before we take action, or react negatively to a situation, we need to ask ourselves…what is this going to look like on instant replay?
Simply take a count of five before reacting to a situation (if that doesn’t work, take a count of fifty!). As you will agree, most of us find it is hard enough to change ourselves. It is even more difficult to change others. So if you're getting stressed over other people's actions, change how you react, rather than expecting others to change. As you change, watch the people change around you! I promise you this will look exceptional on Heaven’s instant replay!
Driving in my truck this past weekend, my two backseat drivers (Emily, age 8 and Katelyn, age 7) noticed that I went through an intersection and when doing so, the light turned from amber to red. We had a short discussion as to whether or not I ran the red light. Jokingly, I told Emily that we could look at the “instant replay”. She innocently asked me if we really could. I told her that there was indeed instant replay, but we would not be able to see it until we get to heaven. Katelyn jumped in “like they have in NASCAR?” Emily quickly responded “yeah, but probably with a lot more cameras.”
What a great, but simple lesson that fell right into my lap that I was immediately able to teach my girls. Every action we take, whether or not there is someone there to see it, is recorded. God sees everything we do and hears everything we say. Before we take action, or react negatively to a situation, we need to ask ourselves…what is this going to look like on instant replay?
Simply take a count of five before reacting to a situation (if that doesn’t work, take a count of fifty!). As you will agree, most of us find it is hard enough to change ourselves. It is even more difficult to change others. So if you're getting stressed over other people's actions, change how you react, rather than expecting others to change. As you change, watch the people change around you! I promise you this will look exceptional on Heaven’s instant replay!
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