"Mealtime Moments" Family Devotionals

Now that everyone is back to school, and we are all adjusting to new schedules I thought these "Mealtime Moments" from Focus on the Family would work great! I encourage you to find one night during each week this month for your family to sit at the table and enjoy a meal together. There are seven categories in the "Mealtime Moments." This month we are going to choose from the "Building Character"category. There are eleven different devotionals for this category. Look through these devotionals in advance and choose the four you would like to do with your family. A few of them require a minimal amount of preparation.  If you find time to do more than one a week, that's awesome. This is how these mealtime devotionals work:

After announcing the title, read the Mealtime Prayer suggestion and have one of your children pray it. Then read the Appetizer. The Appetizer is just that, something to wet your appetite for more.
Follow it with the Main Course. This contains the "meat" of the section. Once you've given your family something to chew on, it's time for Table Talk. These challenging questions will make your kids think about what they've just learned and explain how to apply it to their daily lives. Finally, end with Vitamins and Minerals, a Bible verse that relates to the day's reading and discussion. Be sensitive to how your children respond. Allow enough time for them to answer the questions, but don't force conversation if they don't seem interested.

Follow this link to BE INTENTIONAL with your family during September!
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/spiritual_growth_for_kids/family_mealtime_devotionals/building_character.aspx
Crystal (:

Weekly Challenge

Weekly Challenge:

There was much to be inspired by last night.  I hope something that was spoken (either through Jeff's recitation, Amie's testimony, or anything else that was shared) gripped you and moved you.

The challenge for this week:
1) Memorize and pray through Psalm 119:103, "How sweet are Your words to my taste!  Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

2) Since we strayed a bit from our "normal" lesson, find time to read through Psalm 16 with your family.  Find something in it that you want in your life and pray for it.

3) Travis will be bringing it next week!  Read through Psalm 23 in preparation for class.

In Him,
Aaron

Weekly Challenge

GREAT dialogue last night!  Through looking at Psalm 1:1-6 we determined that the taking pleasure in obeying God's commands, delighting in His Word, and meditating on it day and night leads to:
Blessedness
Stability
Fruit
Prosperity
The Lord's Presence, etc.

The Challenge:
1) Please continue praying through Scripture.
2) In order to facilitate mediation on God's Word we are starting a Scripture memorization campaign.  Each week we will memorize a new verse and hope to see several people willing to recite in class.  This week we will memorize Mark 1:35:
"In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there."
Feel free to memorize whatever version you like; and if there is another passage that is on your heart go for it.  The class will be blessed to hear what God has laid in your heart.

Here is a short clip from John Piper giving his testimony on memorizing Scripture:

And for anyone struggling with how to memorize perhaps this can help:

 
In Him,
Aaron

Middle School Prayer

During the middle school LP Huddle, we had the opportunity to pray over the boys and girls that will be participating at The Shore by praying over every chair.  The leaders prayed over each chair in the Pier 419 auditorium and then taped a verse to the chair.  The scripture was John 14: 13-14 "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Weekly Challenge

                                                                                          
Weekly Challenge:

Simply awesome discussion last night!  We dug into James 5:19-20 and Galatians 6:1-2 in order to determine what responsibility we, as believers, have in reaching out to and restoring our brothers and sisters who have wandered from the truth (what we used to call "backsliders").  We came up with lots of great attributes and put them on the board: be prepared to be rejected, be authentic, consider yourself first, restore gently, be humble, leave the results up to the Spirit, bear their burdens with them without putting yourself in the mire, etc.

Also, as Michael C. so astutely observed, we must own these ideas in such a way so that when it is OURSELVES who become "backsliders" we are prepared to accept another brother or sister who comes after us to confront, restore, and bear our burdens with us.

THE CHALLENGE:
I am going to stray a bit from our actual lesson and ask that you continue last week's challenge of praying through Scripture.  As we move forward as a community of unity I believe our first step is to pray together in one accord.  Please pray through Scriptures for our class this week.  Here are a few categories you can pray through but do not feel limited to these:

For teachers:
James 3:1

For leaders (coordinators):
Romans 12:6-8

For leaders who feel burned out:
Isaiah 40:30-31

For those not currently in positions and for the King/Swanson LG in general:
Ephesians 4:11-16

In Him,
Aaron

Weekly Challenge

Weekly Challenge: James 5:16-18

We took a look at Elijah's life last night and realized he experienced God move in unbelievable ways during his lifetime.  But in spite of all that God did Elijah still experienced depression, burnout, and despair.  Despite all of his greatness Elijah was just another human like us.  And furthermore, his righteousness had nothing to do with his accomplishments, but with a God who reckoned his faith to him as righteousness...just like us.

Elijah prayed in faith that it would not rain and it didn't for around three years, then he prayed that it would rain again and it did.  Sounds pretty amazing, and it is, but all he was doing was praying God's word...praying what God already said He would do.  See Deuteronomy 11:13-17.

The challenge for this week:  As you study, read, listen to sermons, talk with friends, etc. find a verse, promise or commandment to add to your prayers.  Pray God's Word back to Him and own it.  Come to class next week prepared to share what part of God's Word you have been praying through.

In Him,
Aaron

P.S. A great resource for learning to pray through Scripture is the book Faith Set Free by Will Davis Jr.

"Who Am I?" Family Devotional

As summer comes to an end, and a new school year approaches you may, like us, feel the burden of establishing your child(ren) in their worth as a child of God, instead of by the standards of this world.  I think sometimes we take for granted that we've told our child this truth before and they've heard it while at church, so we assume that they will rest in it when circumstances arise. However, being a kid is hard, especially the older they become. So many things are thrown at them. Judgement from others, choices to make on their own and figuring out who they are as an individual, just to name a few. We want the truth of being God's perfect creation and His purpose for our lives to be ingrained in our children's mind. So that no matter what the situation, they know the truth about who they are and what they were created for. We can leave this truth unspoken a lot of times, which can set our child(ren) up for low self-worth and poor choices. Teaching our kids who they are and why they are here equips them for tough circumstances they will face while growing up in a world full of ungodly standards.

Follow the link http://www.thrivingfamily.com/Family/Faith/2010/may/who-am-i.aspx, to find age-appropriate activities and discussion questions that help your child(ren) understand what it means to be a priceless creation of God. Make sure to scroll down to the "Dinner Talk"portion as well. No matter their age or stage, your children can know the One who is love and who created them to love.
Key Points

• Our identity and purpose come from God.
• We are a masterpiece of God’s creativity.
• God made us to love Him and reflect who He is.

I believe we all desire for our child's identity to be found in Christ and God's unconditional love for them. That not only takes continual prayer, but intentionality on our part to share this truth repeatedly with our sons and daughters. I encourage you to let this devotional be a starting point if you are not already ingraining this truth in the life of your child.
Crystal (: