Showing posts with label A Year of Prayer. Show all posts

21 Days of Prayer-Day 3

Integrity

Someone who stands up for what is right no matter who they are with.

Thought: We can’t give our sons something we don’t have. Look back over the last week or month of your life. One of the BEST things we can do for our sons is admit when we’ve sinned and ask them to forgive us for it. Show your sons the power of humility and use every opportunity, even your failures, to teach them to walk in the truth. What a wonderful God we serve, Who allows even our sin to draw our sons closer to Him!

“He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life…” Proverbs 11:19

Today's Integrity Prayers:
For more of the Obedience Prayers please purchase the Warrior Prayers ebook here.

*My my child walk before You, as David his father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that God has commanded him, and keeping His statues and His rules (1 Kings 9:4).

* Till he dies, may my child never put away his integrity (Job 27:5).

* May my child ponder the way that is blameless and walk with integrity of heart within God's house (Psalm 101:2).

* May my child show himself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in his teaching show integrity, dignity (Titus 2:7).

Integrity Defined

1. Firm adherance to a code of especially moral or artistic values. (incorruptability)

2. Unimpaired Condition. (soundness)

3. The quality or state of being of being complete or undivided.

The man of integrity is one who makes it his constant rule to follow the road of duty, according as truth and the voice of his conscience point it out to him. He is not guided merely by affections which may some time give the color of virtue to a loose and unstable character.
The upright man is guided by a fixed principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy, hence we find him ever the same, - at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen.
He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no mask to cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he is indeed what he appears to be, - full of truth, candor, and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no path but the fair, open, and direct one, and would much rather fail of success than attain if by reproachable means. He never shows us a smiling countenance while he meditates evil against us in his heart. We shall never find one part of his character at variance with another. ~David Dennnger

Prayer: “Lord God, maker of men of integrity, let me find men of integrity that I may walk with, grow with, and extend the Kingdom of Your Son with in my work place.”

21 Days of Prayer-Day Two

Submission to Authority

Thought: When was the last time you told your son you were proud of a choice he made to submit to authority. Even when they’re little, our boys need to know that mama sees and rejoices over their wise choices and cries out to God over their foolish ones. Today, make a point to lavish love and praise on your son when he chooses wisely..even in the small things.

“But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” ~Acts 5:29

Today's Submission Prayers:
For more of the Obedience Prayers please purchase the Warrior Prayers ebook here.

* May my child obey his leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over his soul, as those who will have to give an account. Let him do this with joy and not with groaning (Hebrews 13:17).

*May my child submit himself therefore to God. May he resist the devil, so he will flee from him (James 4:7).

*My my child submit to laborers of the Gospel and to everyone who joins in the work (I Corinthians 16:16).

* May my child submit to others out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21).

Working it Out:
taken from MiddleTree.net

Just for fun, play a game, perhaps checkers, with a child and try skirting around the rules. Usually, he or she will argue with you about how “you’re not supposed to do that.” Kids go through a stage, beginning around 2 or 3, where the rules are everything. For several years after that, they have a sense of order in the world, and an understanding that their place in it is one of submission to authority.

Wait a minute, you say. Everyone who has been a parent of a 12-year-old will want to argue about this. You may point out that kids this age tend to begin to believe they are above this parental authority thing. But that is precisely my point. At an age where kids are becoming adults, one of the first things to go is that respect for authority. This is a crystal-clear example of why Jesus said to put aside our pride and return to these childlike qualities.

Authority in the Home

1. Authority in the home is ordained by God.

Husbands have authority over wives.

Ephesians 5:22-24 The wife should obey her husband

1 Corinthians 11:3 The head of the woman is the man

1 Peter 3:1,5-6 Women should be subject to their husbands as Sarah was to Abraham.

Parents have authority over children.

Proverbs 1:8 A son should hear his father's instruction and not forsake his mother's law.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 A son, who would not obey his parents, was to be stoned.

Luke 2:51 Jesus set the example for children by being subject to His earthly parents.

Colossians 3:20 Children should obey their parents.

2. Authority produces cooperation and organization in the Home.

Romans 13:1-6; 1 Peter 2:13,14

Ephesians 6:5-8; 1 Peter 2:18

3. Authority allows children to benefit from parents wisdom and experience.

By reason of experience, parents generally have more wisdom than children.

Proverbs 29:15 A child left to himself (unsupervised) will cause shame.

Proverbs 4:10-12 - Because of his parents' instructions, the child is wiser.

Giving children a sense of security.

4. Authority molds children's character and habits.

Training children develops character they will maintain even when older.

Proverbs 22:6 Properly trained children will not depart from their training

5. Parental authority teaches children proper attitudes towards all authority.

The Gospel Way

21 Days of Prayer-Day One

Obedience

As we pray for our sons to have obedient hearts today, let’s examine our own, and ask our Savior to help us live out His great love for us so that our sons will see how truly valuable it is.

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” ~John 14:21

Lord, please soften my son's heart and place the desire within him to obey his parents in the Lord, for this is right. Help him to honor his father and mother, that it may go well with him and that he might live long in the land. And help me to embrace a lifestyle of obedience, so that my life might be an example to him. Give me a new vision for teaching and training my son in obedience. Amen

Today's Obedience Prayers:
For more of the Obedience Prayers please purchase the Warrior Prayers ebook here.

*Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, may my child (by name) obey the Lord our God...so that it will go well with him (Jeremiah 42:6).

*May my child obey his parents in the Lord, for this is right (Ephesians 6:1).

*May my child obey his leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over his soul, as those who will have to give an account. Let my child do this with joy and not with groaning (Hebrews 13:17).

*My my child return to the Lord His God, and obey with all his heart and all his soul and all the commands God has given (Deuteronomy 30:2).

The teaching of obedience provides one of the most glorious opportunities to prove the Gospel message to our sons. If our boys never learn the importance of obeying and the inability to obey by themselves, how will they ever recognize their need for a Savior?

Ephesians 6 provides great encouragement as to the necessity of Obedience.

Brooke provides a great quote:
"If your man cannot submit to Jesus, he cannot lead you. A man must be willing to be led before he can truly lead." (Tommy Nelson, Love and Romance Conference)

I'm excited, although the path is sometimes rough and Satan seeks to destroy, to hold fast to prayer over my boys and teach them obedience God's way.

Here are some neat questions to ponder while thinking about Obedience God's way.

Bible Study Questions

See the article on Ephesians 6:1-4 for answers.

Who are children told to obey?
What does obey mean?
How should a child respond to his parents command if he doesn’t feel like obeying his parents?
What makes a child’s obedience so important - “this is right?”
How does ‘honor’ different from ‘obey’?
How old should a person obey and honor his parents? What principles apply here?
What is the promise that is associated with the command here (Ephesians 6:2-3)?
How does obedience relate to having a good life and living long?
What are the three things fathers are told to do in Ephesians 6:4?
What does it mean not to ‘provoke your children to anger?’ How does it happen. Share an incident from your life if possible you provoked or were provoked.
Why might he address the fathers here in Ephesians 6:4 and not the mothers?
What does the word ‘discipline’ mean in Ephesians 6:4? Why does the world reject this aspect of discipline when training?
What kind of instruction is mentioned here? How can parents implement this? Again, share from your experiences.

Go here for discussion concerning these questions!

21 Days of Prayer

Join Brooke author of Prayer Warrior ebook for 21 days of prayer for our sons.

Are you a mother of boys who often finds herself wanting to waive the white flag in defeat? Do they drain you, overwhelm you, steal your heart, break your heart and cause you more anxiety than you ever dreamed possible?

Maybe you only have one boy amongst a sea of estrogen and you just can’t figure out how to respond to your boy in a way that affirms all that is good about his masculinity.

There are so many books out there today on the topic of parenting boys that I can’t count them. Nor do I have time to read them all. But even if I did, reading these books and putting the solid tools in them to work still doesn’t come with guarantees.

Knowing this, it becomes quite clear that there is only one thing we can do…

Plead with God.

Pray.

“The fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:17.

It’s our hope.

*******************

21 Days of Prayer for Sons is a prayer challenge for mothers of boys based on the eBook Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most.

Beginning April 1, 2011 and ending April 29, 2011, 21 Days of Prayer for Sons will be held on weekdays here at www.brookemcglothlin.com in a new Warrior Prayers home (coming soon)! Every day, for 21 days straight we will blog about specific pieces of your son’s life, taken from the 21 areas where boys need prayer the most in the Warrior Prayers eBook. For example:

The first day we will talk about the importance of teaching our sons obedience and pray the prayers for obedience over them all day long. Each topic of prayer lists ten specific prayers, crafted from scripture, that help you address your son’s heart. So you’ll be committing to pray for your sons TEN times a day for the next 21 days, in 21 different areas.

Simple!

Each Friday I will provide bloggers with an opportunity to link-up posts about how God is moving through the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons experience. But anyone, bloggers and non-bloggers alike can participate and share how God is working in their family by leaving comments throughout the challenge.

Here’s how to participate:

1. Purchase your own copy of Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most (just $5.97)
2. I recommend getting your copy of the eBook bound or placing it in a 3-ring binder so that you can easily flip from page to page and leave your book open all day to the topics you’re currently praying.
3. Commit to praying for your sons ten times a day for 21 days straight. (Note: this IS a commitment. If you feel led to participate, pray and ask the Lord to give you the strength, courage and endurance needed for the length of the challenge).
4. Show up at the new Warrior Prayers home (announcing specific location soon!) every day between April 1 and April 29 for encouragement and commit to leaving encouragement for the other boy moms participating.

THAT’S IT! Soooooo easy! What are you waiting for? Grab your copy of the Warrior Prayers eBook now and get ready to spend some time on your knees! Let’s pray in expectation that our God, Who loves our sons so much more than we do, wants to do good things for us, and for them, during this time.

Staying Attached to the Vine

I feel the pull, the long, slowly strengthening stretch of the devil pulling me from the Vine. Days are long, nights sometimes longer, and there is much demand and bustle through the days. The sun seems to stay long in the sky sometimes and others it sets too quickly and I know another day has slipped away...

He grows in strength as I ignore the pulling. It gives him satisfaction that I've avoided the struggle. It is only God's grace that keeps me attached to the Vine. He supernaturally holds me tight to His strengths supported by the roots of being God and having divine power over him, the smaller, weaker one. I often even avoid saying his name (the devil). It is His strength that keeps me strong for my own strength quivers under pressure and often lets go.

I forget to pray today for my children and my husband, one of my goals to forming a new habit this year and the seed of failure sets in. he (the devil) tells me I am not worthy, I'm too busy, and if I'm not perfect I must not deserve it, I can't do it.

He's been whispering that to me my whole life. Perfection deserves and failure, inconsistency, does not. I feel him pulling me from the Vine. He had Victory for a moment in regards to Colossians in a Year. I failed to memorize God's word. I tried and tried and I couldn't tuck it into my brain. What has come easily before slipped right out from under me. I would read and read and yet not retain. Slipping, slipping...

Imperfection...

It is easier to let it go and pretend I never tried then to try and fail. But, I realize the moment that matters in now.

Read
Read
Read
Learn
Meditate
Pray
Pray
Pray

Does it matter that I can't memorize or matter that I breath His word into my life? That He becomes the breaths I take...
I want to breath...breath YHWH
Hear Him breath words of Life into me
Feel Him near

Life doesn't seem to go nearly as well without Him near

So, I begin again. Praying for my children, praying for my husband, taking the time, breathing the breaths of life, speaking the words that build others up.
Prayer
And I read....read Colossians from the beginning. Start Anew
The moment is now...
new habits draw nearer...

http://www.handofgod.com.au/attachments/Image/life-in-the-vine-2.jpg

And I want to be attached to the Vine. To be fed, nourished, held close, and protected by the Life that comes from the Vine.

[In] the whole of world history there is always only one really significant hour — the present…
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Writing a Prayer

I've been inspired and challenged by Brooke to pray a prayer each day for my children and my husband.   I've always had a verse chosen that represented my prayer for them as they grow. But, I've never considered writing a prayer I would pray for them, each day, that would include a biblical direction, washing them over in the word, and sending them along life's path covered by God's grace. To pray a prayer for their hearts would be my greatest pleasure. For this year I've chosen to borrow Brooke's prayers and cover my home with God's perfect word.

For my Children:

“Lord, You alone change hearts of stone, to hearts of flesh. Place Your Spirit within my children and cause them to walk in Your statutes and to be careful to obey Your rules. For You know the plans You have for them; plans to prosper them and not to harm them, to give them a future and a hope. Let them fear You Lord, and thus have a foundation for wisdom and a heart for instruction. Let them receive wisdom and incline their hearts to understanding. Help them not to lean on their own limited understanding, but in all their ways to acknowledge You so that their paths will be straight. Protect them from walking in the counsel of the wicked and standing in the way of sinners, but lead them to delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. May they abide in the shadow of the Almighty and not fear the terror by night. May they walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh. Instead, may they be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. May their minds and thoughts be fixed on whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, anything worthy of praise. May they not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of their minds.   May they discern the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. May their love be genuine. May they abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. May they love one another with brotherly affection, outdoing one another in honor. May they do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than themselves. May they lie down and sleep in peace; for You alone, O Lord, make them to dwell in safety. Bless them Lord, and keep them, and make Your face shine upon them…and be gracious to them.”

(Scripture references: Ezekiel 36:26-27, Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 2,   Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 1:3, Psalm 91, Galatians 5:16&22, Philippians   4:8, Romans 12:2, Romans 12:9-10, Psalm 4:8, Numbers 6:24).

For my Husband:

“Lord, create in my husband a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. Help him to abide in You and You in him. Turn his heart toward his children and the hearts of his children to him. Thank you for Him Lord. For allowing me to rest in Your provision of him as my husband. May he desire to be like You; merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. As he believes in You, may he be established. Continue to empower him to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with his God. I give thanks for him lord, and pray that You would give him a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, that he may always know what is the hope to which he has been called, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of Your power toward your believers. Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily to follow You. May Christ dwell richly in his heart through faith. May he, being rooted and grounded in love, have strength with all the saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. May Your grace be sufficient for him and Your power made perfect in his weakness. May he walk not in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners, but rather delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. Answer him when he calls, O God, be gracious and hear his prayers. Let him take refuge in You and give thanks to You with his whole heart. May he recount all of Your wonderful deeds, be glad and exult in You…sing praise to Your Name. May he fear You Lord, and thus find wisdom. Let him walk in the way of insight. May he love the Lord his God with all of his heart and all his soul and all his might. May You bless him and keep him and make Your face shine upon him, and be gracious to him, O Lord my God.”

(Scripture references: Psalm 51:10, John 15:4, Malachi 4:5-6, Psalm 86:15, 2 Chronicles 20:20, Micah 6:8, Ephesians 1:17-19, Luke 9:23, Ephesians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 1:1, Psalm 4:1, Psalm 7:1, Psalm 9:1-2, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:6, Deuteronomy 6:5, Numbers 6:24)