Posts Tagged ‘Christian Living’

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Prayer Parables with Skits

Thursday, May 1st, 2014

prayer-parables

Jesus used many prayer parables to explain the spiritual reality of prayer:

  • The Vine and the Branches (John 15:1-7)
  • Asking, Seeking, and Knocking (Matthew 7:7-8)
  • A Father Not Giving a Stone or a Snake (Matthew 7:9-11)
  • The Pharisee and the Sinner (Luke 18:9-14)
  • Prayer to be Seen by Men vs. Private Prayer (Matthew 6:5-6)
  • The Widow and the Judge (Luke 18:1-8)
  • The Man who Didn’t Want to Get up from Bed (Luke 11:5-8)

I spent a whole summer staring at a vine in my backyard while reading Andrew Murray’s Abiding in the Vine. I saw the juices of the vine representing the Holy Spirit, and if we are not connected to God in prayer, we are useless. I wrote a whole article about it here: Abiding in the Vine.

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We are also to ask, seek God’s will, and knock for doors to be opened. You can illustrate this to children by having them ask for something, then give it to them. They can search for something and find it. They can knock on a door, and it should open. In the same way, God wants us to go to Him in prayer so that He can grant our requests.

God knows good gifts to give us, and He will not give a stone or a snake. Neither will an earthly father. You can dramatize this with children by handing them a stone or a rubber snake. God’s best gift is His Holy Spirit, which enables us to walk by His Spirit.

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We are told to ask persistently without growing weary, as in the story of the widow who asked for justice from a judge. She was so persistent in asking that she received what she wanted.

In the same way, a man was sleeping in the middle of the night, and his friend knocked on the door to borrow some bread for his guests. The man would not get up at first, but after persistent knocking, the man finally relented and opened the door.

There have been some requests (like my husband’s insomnia) that I have prayed for years with seemingly no answer, but God doesn’t want me to give up, especially if it’s a true need. The timing might be perfect in the future, or God might be doing something greater than what we’re asking.

prayer-parables-2A Pharisee stands on a street corner and wants to be seen by men, while a sinner cries out to God, truly repentant of sin. The sinner is forgiven rather than the arrogant Pharisee. In the same way, don’t pray just to be seen by men. Cultivate a private prayer life where you connect to the Lord in desperation, and you will see God meet you where you are.

My children dramatized the parables, to bring them to life. Teach your own children how to pray, and feel free to use these ideas to teach prayer to children in Sunday Schools at your church:

To keep up with my prayer articles, free prayer audios, and a prayer e-book, like my Prayer Page.

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Posted in Prayer | 2 Comments »

Sowing Seeds of Prayer for Your Kids

Friday, April 25th, 2014

seeds-of-prayer

I was given a package of seeds in a beautiful blue paper bag with ribbon. The package said, “Sow seeds of prayer for your kids.” I pondered the implications of this metaphor. What are seeds of prayer?

As I was driving down the road, it hit me: prayer is small like a seed. You put it under the ground and water it over the years. When you children grow, you see those prayers slowly producing fruit in their lives.

I remember praying for self-control for one of my children. Over time, he has grown so much in the area of self-control. When I see how much progress he has made, I get choked up and grateful to God for changing my son to become more mature in his faith.

Another son was lazy years ago. I begged God for wisdom to know how to nip this in the bud before I produced a man who would never properly support his wife and children in the future. God gave me wisdom in how to address my son by telling him about a specific man we know who ruined his family because he refused to work, even though he was healthy. He just didn’t feel like working. Eventually his wife and two small children began to starve and were miserable, forced to leave their home and try to find shelter with her parents. This lazy man brought pain and destruction into the lives of the people he loved most because in reality he loved no one but himself. Lazy people are selfish. They live for themselves and not for God. The result is misery to everyone around them.

Years later this son of mine is the most diligent of all my children.

All I did was pray. I prayed with desperation as only a mother can. Because I could see the consequences of the sin in my children’s lives, that if left unresolved, would end up in bitterness and empty lives.

So I sow seeds of prayer for my children every day, interceding for their character weaknesses and being pro-active in working with God. And I expectantly wait for the fruit of those seeds to grow.

I found a 1-minute song about this very idea, and it’s beautiful! Click on the “Listen” button to hear the song:

To keep up with my prayer posts and get a free prayer e-book, like my Prayer Page.

 

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The Easter Dress Story

Friday, April 18th, 2014

easter-dress-story

You will love my Easter dress story because you will realize that God is closer to us than we can imagine. He cares about each detail of our lives and is able to provide abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think.

My story begins a few weeks ago when I saw a beautiful Easter dress at Costco. It was perfect for my daughter. I sighed and put it back on the rack. I never buy new clothes for myself or for my children because resale shops are so much more affordable.

Even if I had the money, I would not buy it because money is limited. I either want to use extra money for something of eternal value, or for a refreshment for my marriage (like a getaway), or as an investment in my homeschool speaking ministry (my family business includes product creation, which costs thousands of dollars a year to produce). There is never enough money to do everything. I see money like a giant chess game, where I want to maximize each move to bring the most real joy into our lives.

So I left the Easter dress on the rack.

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Fast forward a week. A friend of mine was meeting me at the river to go for a walk because of the nice weather. When we arrived, she asked me what size Rachel was, because she had a dress that was too small for her daughter, and she thought it might fit Rachel. It was brand new.

I said sure, that we could look at it after our walk. So off we went for a walk, where I enjoyed sweet fellowship in the Spirit. When we got back to the parking lot, my friend opened her car and showed me the dress.

I had a shocked expression.

That was the exact dress that I wanted at Costco the week before, that I had carefully put back on the rack. And here God was giving it to me through this woman who was obviously prompted by God to offer me the dress.

I was speechless.

This just goes to show how great God is. He is so near. He paid attention to a small detail in my life. I’ve shared with you about how God provided for my needs back when we had no money and a ton of debt. Well, this was different. I didn’t pray about it, but God gave it to me anyway because He knew the desires of my heart.

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 ESV)

 

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Why Husbands and Wives Should Pray Together

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

why-husbands-and-wives-should-pray-togetherHave you ever wondered why husbands and wives should pray together? It will deepen your marriage; that’s why!

1. The most important reason to pray together is to be one with your spouse. If husbands and wives do not pray together, they are not one spiritually. God desires the husband to lead the wife spiritually in Ephesians 5:22-27, where the husband is supposed to wash his wife with the Word, to present her holy and blameless to God. How can he do that without communicating to God in her presence?

2. We reflect Christ and the church when we pray with our spouse. The husband is the personification of Christ, and the wife is the personification of the church. The physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy experienced between a husband and wife is supposed to reflect the church’s relationship to Jesus, where we are one, and we allow Him to enter us and rule us, and He lays down His life for us because of His incredibly deep love for us.

3. Jesus wants us to have unity. Jesus wants us to be one with our spouse the same way that God the Father and God the Son are one. In John 17:11b, He says: “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” (ESV) Do you understand how incredible that oneness is? Both of you must be saved, and you need to love God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then God will purify and transform you to be more like Jesus. That’s how you are more and more one—because you are both more and more like Christ. Plus, selfishness is the root of all sin, and the more God purges you from sin, the more selfless you are, and the more capable you are of loving your spouse.

4. We are commanded within the body of Christ to pray for one another, and this includes your spouse. To not pray with your spouse is to declare that you are not comfortable with your spouse spiritually. But God can change that. If the reason you don’t pray with your spouse is that you don’t like other people to listen to your prayers, get over your fear of other people’s opinions. God commands you to pray out loud (James 5:16). Christ whipped people out of the Temple and said that His church would be a house of prayer. So prayer was the number one thing that Jesus said the church should be doing! If you are a brother and sister in Christ, you are the church. What He commands the church to do is what He commands every believer to do.

5. Praying will draw you closer to your spouse. I’m attracted to my husband’s soul when he is praying, and that transfers to better physical intimacy. Prayer cracks you open to the spiritual life of your spouse. It gives you a glimpse into his soul.

Why are godly men and women not praying together as husband and wife? Many times the reason is that their prayer lives are stagnant, and they don’t enjoy prayer. In this case, they don’t want their spouse to see through them, that they have stopped growing spiritually, and they just want to be comfortable instead of deepening their walk with God. Oh, the horror of stagnation! Force yourself to pray with your spouse if only to get yourself out of this stagnant cesspool of a lack of growth in Christ. Do not rest on your past laurels.

Stay tuned for “How to Get Your Husband to Pray with You,” practical ways to transition into praying together to experience spiritual oneness, plus a free prayer audio to show exactly how to do this, and why you should do this!

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Posted in Marriage, Prayer | 12 Comments »

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