Church Family is Worth Our Commitment

Five Minute Friday - The prompt for last Friday was Join and I am joining later that usual.

Every Wednesday, A Holy Experience hosts a community link up and last week's post topic was The Practice of Relationship.

I am sad to admit that though I thought of myself as an active member of my church, teaching or attending Sunday school, helping out where I could on Sunday morning, even hosting our church’s home group, I had not really joined the family.  Oh, I was a member of the larger family of God, but I had not become a part of my church family.

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Recently a sister in Christ from my church and I were talking about the differences between our generation and that of our parents.  What she said has stayed on my mind.  

“We are different from our parents generation because for them, church was more than just another activity in their lives; church was their family.  It was a priority.  It was the center of their social life.”

Physical Fitness in Home School

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“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”  (1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV)

No matter when we start our school year, most of us tend to have a sense of beginning or or transitioning to something new in September.  Children usually move to a new grade, classes gear up, new programs begin.  Even as home schoolers we have many patterns ingrained in us that adhere to the common cultural norms like this and there is nothing wrong with that.  Having standardization works in a number of ways.  However one area that I hope we can break out of standardized thinking is in ‘the check in the box’ mentality to learning in general and physical fitness in particular.  

There are some subjects we want our children to learn simply to have a familiarity with the information, to help them be well-rounded, or to give them a taste of it to see if it might be something that would help them find their bent.  Exposing them to that subject matter and moving on works fine.  Other things we know we have to build upon like reading, writing, and arithmetic.  In the early years these are foundational for what will come later, and most of us understand that these are not learn and dump studies.  Spiritual development is a category all to its own.  As Christians we should train our children to have their faith inform all of their studies and not fall into the trap of  just exposing them and laying it aside. Bible study is more than a separate compartmentalized subject which may be foundational for more Bible study, but rather it is applicable to all of life, throughout the day, across all subject areas.  

Stretching for Health

This week's Five minute Friday prompt is 'Stretch.'  

Click here for additional stretching help.

Alright, stretch a little higher.  Expand those abs.  Nice deep breath and relax.

My twelve year old daughter and I began a daily strength and stretch exercise program.  Well it isn’t really a program because we are using a variety of dvds, but we do have a regular time and we are trying to be committed.  My favorite of the ones we are using is called “Classical Stretch” with Miranda Esmonde-White which my friend Mindy told me about.  Within three days of regular stretch and ab work, I noticed a significant improvement in my mobility.  It was great to be able to move more fluidly again and my racquetball game improved as well.

The Lifter of my Head

It was a beautiful day, among the best of the summer;  so I was especially enjoying my afternoon walk.  As the sun was shining, there was a spring in my step.  Taking a deep breath of the outdoor air, I noticed in the rear view window of a car:

Be 

   Joyful!

“Amen!” I say! “Thank you, Lord.”

Then I think.  “Lord, when did it turn around for me or rather how?  How did I leave that state of loneliness, feelings of isolation and depression?”

Five Minute Friday - Good Morning, Lord.

This weeks Prompt at Five-minute Friday is Connect.

Good morning, Lord.  Thank you for this day.  Thank you for granting me another day to walk in this world with You and to be a conduit of Your love here to my family and the world around me.

Confessions of a Chronic Multi-Tasker

I am a multi-tasker.  Even when I am relaxing I have to be doing at least one other thing to make the best use of my time.  So taking time just to be be alone with the Lord can be a challenge for me.  Because I so need that rest with Him, I do notice if I have missed my quality, devoted, quiet time each day alone with God.  I don’t have a problem praying while driving or listening to sermons in the car, but taking that time in the morning to do nothing else but commune with God, that singleness of purpose both stretches me and relieves me simultaneously.

Give ear to my words, O Lord; 

Consider my groaning.

Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,

For to You I pray.

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Psalm 5:1-3

Living the busy American lifestyle that we do, especially in the greater metropolitan Washington area, I find myself feeling overwhelmed by the torrent of what must be done more often than I like to admit.  So, I like the efficiency of doing phone business while walking, eating meals while cleaning up, folding clothes or working on the computer while watching tv.  I think I can more successfully reach the shore of ‘isle complete’ if I bail out my boat while simultaneously rowing in the midst of the deluge of so much to do.  

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have  relieved me in my distress;
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1

Nothing wrong with multi-tasking.  However, like so many things in life, it is a strength and a weakness.  It can help one be more efficient and more effective, but it can also can cause one to miss some very important facets of life.  If I don’t stop work on my computer while talking with my daughter, if I am taking phone calls or responding to every text message while meeting with a friend, if I am working through my sudoku puzzle while having breakfast with my husband, am I giving any of them the attention they or I need?  Sometimes multi-tasking does not stem the tide of flood overwhelm at all, but rather adds to it.  In fact the rain and reign of ‘to do’s’ can fill the boat faster than I can empty on a regular basis. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.  Psalm 139:23-24

I don’t need a special label like ADD to experience the distractibility of a thousand things to think about or to do.  With so much going on about us and within us seemingly non-stop, is it any wonder that there is difficulty shutting down, getting sleep, having peace.  Restlessness rather than restfulness is the product of multi-tasking overload. 

 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

Praying without ceasing, also a Biblical principle (1 Thessalonians 5:17), is so important as we go through the day and is multi-tasking at its best.  I do want to thank the Lord for the parking spot I just got close to the door or far from it;  I want to pray for the unfriendly cashier who needs some Holy Spirit intervention.  I want to seek the Lord throughout the day to stay connected to the power and peace that only comes from Him.

Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face continually. Psalm 105:4                                              

The only way for that power and peace to be there for me to draw from, however, is if I am being completely immersed in prayer and the Word with Him regularly.  And I am learning also how perhaps my church worship has been marred by not truly preparing my heart before hand or being fully engaged as I think of those within church with whom I have business.  By the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I began joining in the prayer group before church.  How I have seen a significant difference in my whole-hearted attention to the Lord and the richness of my worship with this little change.

Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders.  Psalm 119: 28

As a chronic multi-tasker, the singleness of focus, especially with God is essential to my well-being on a number of levels.  For a number of years, the Lord has been teaching me the importance of stopping and centering on Him, investing myself in my devotional time, my worship, my prayers without accomplishing anything else.  There is nothing else that sets me free, nothing else that empowers, nothing else that provides the peace that passes understanding.  It is in the exclusivity of devoted time with my God that I find all of this and the delight of my heart.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;

Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.  Psalm 32:6

Here is Where I Want to Be

Link up at  Five Minute Friday.  Today's prompt:  Here

"Where is the best place you have ever lived?”  

“Well we have always decided to make where ever we are living, right here, the best place we have ever lived.  In fact, my husband goes one better, he makes right here, where ever he is the best place to be.”

That is a delight attitude.  Where ever God has placed me, that is the place I need to be, right here right now, making the most of every opportunity.  I would like to say that is the way I live.  Unfortunately, I fall prey too often to the bitterness and pettiness that rises up in my selfish self when something doesn’t go my way.  But getting back on track each morning with the Lord and as frequently as I possibly can by being attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit helps to keep my attitude mostly in check.

Here is where we are with the people we are with in the present, not waiting for a better offer to come along, not dwelling on past failures or losses, but living now rather than wallowing or wishing.  That’s not to say the past and future aren’t important and shouldn’t be considered.  However, when you can be here, you are also preparing for what’s to come and appreciating what has come before, building on lessons learned to take you on a better course forward.  

I want to know how to stop, to be, to breathe in the beauty about me.  I want to love, to enjoy, to bless those I am with.  I want to be here, right here, rather than anywhere else this moment.   

Focused Beyond What's Here

Five Minute Friday 

Beyond

We had the joy of attending a Bible study this week on 1Peter1.  In this chapter, Peter is encouraging Christians who are suffering to keep their focus on the big picture beyond what they are going through.  This can be a difficult task when one is in the midst of troubled circumstances that seem to be pressing in.  As a Christian though, keeping our eyes fixed upon our hope and our God can get us through the most trying of events.  

I have to remind myself that my response to trials is part of my mission as I am called to die to self and live to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in me.  When I am struggling, I yearn for the peace of God, so I spend more time with Him, and His Spirit stirs me to keep my focus beyond my present condition.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow, who is our hope and our provision, within and beyond, omni-present.

He is my delight!

Goals and Reality

For my blog, my goal is to write twice a week, one regular entry and one for Five minute Friday, both with the intent of helping others to find some delight in a trying world.  However, I am the newsletter editor for our local Christian homeschool group here in Prince William County, VA.  During my crunch time it may be difficult for me to get to my weekly blog article as I realized this week.  


Since I have found so many wonderful inspirational, uplifting blogs on the web, no doubt my meager attempt at encouragement will not be missed.  However, I would like to recommend ICR’s Days of Praise as an excellent source of godly devotional readings.

Be blessed,  Maria

Enough yet Never Enough

We have just finished a week on a short term mission project with our church.  It was a wonderfully enriching experience for us all as we worked to build a deck and paint a house for a family in need.  Unfortunately we did not quite completely finish the building project.  We did get to the point where all the important parts to avoid leakage and have access and for safety were complete, but the finishing work had to be left for someone else.

As our carload was returning to our campsite from the worksite, I commented that many of the projects reach this point and never go much farther around my house.  My husband chuckled, “That’s right; Maria has had to get used to being married to a good-enough kind of guy when it comes to projects like that.”

In reality, I wasn’t talking about my husband but about my own tendency to reach the ‘good enough’ point and then to get involved with other things so that I never quite get back to finishing up.  It works and it seems like good enough is often what I am left with, though I’d like to get to the completion point.

Our God is not a good enough God; He is rather enough to make us complete and yet someone we can never get enough of.  Enough is a funny word when it comes to God because He is enough for us, and we can not ever get enough of Him.  He is always a complete provision, and yet we will always need more.  He is our all in all.  

Stop.

Persevering in Our Calling

Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when thou sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

I am a bit eccentric.  I like being left-handed, thought my most attractive feature growing up was my feet - alas, no longer the case, - and am glad that I am part of the 5% of the population who doesn’t have wisdom teeth, not because I don’t have wisdom teeth, although that is great, but because I am part of the 5%.  So it may not be a stretch to say I was initially drawn to home-schooling simply to be different.  It also shows I am a bit dull to just now be realizing this.  Eccentricity and denseness is not what got me to actually begin home-schooling or what kept me going, however.  It was clearly a gift from God.

Before we even had children, we attended a small church in Tennessee which had one home-schooling family.  I had never heard of home-schooling, but I was intrigued and wanted to know more.  This kind, godly family invited me into their home to spend the day watching how they home-schooled.  It was delightful chaos as this mom nurtured the growing minds and hearts of her children.  I was in awe.  Now attracted to this concept, I attended a home-schooling conference with my new friend, bought books on the topic, and examined different views on education, all before my first child was even conceived.

Vertigo, Natural Remedies, and Prayer

No Five Minute Friday Prompt this week since Lisa-Jo is on vacation.  So I thought I would just take my five minutes to write about anything and figure out the prompt in reverse.  Here goes:

This morning when I woke up, I wasn’t quite right.  I thought perhaps I needed a bit more sleep, but when I got back into bed I just wasn’t tired.  I got up and still something wasn’t right.  I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just wasn’t right.  As I moved around, I kept bumping into walls.  I was a little dizzy.  An hour or so later I realized I had mild vertigo.

 

I have had vertigo a few times before more severe than this occurrence which is why I did not initially recognize it.  But after leaning to the left and leaning to the right several times as I rose from a chair or headed down the hall, it dawned on me.  Vertigo is a bit disconcerting and makes one almost feel a little tipsy.

What vertigo helps me realize is the important of balance in my life.  Without balance, I can swerve into things unexpectantly; I can go adrift; I can fall.  

Five Minute Stop            ---------------------------------------------

Charcoal to Diamonds

Our church has been going through a number of trials.  As we do, the Lord is growing our family and teaching us so much about grace, forgiveness, commitment, and relationship.  How amazing is the way our God takes the challenging charcoal of life to refine us into the polished diamonds He desires us to be.  Why then be anything but thankful for the charcoal?

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“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  James 1:2-4

The Power of Story

Five Minute Friday 

1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt of the day with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

OK, are you ready? Please give me your best five minutes on:::

What a great story!”  

I am blessed to be married to a man who loves the story and understands its power.  As a professional communicator, he uses stories all the time in his work and aims to teach and train others how to more effectively get their message across using story.  Together, we share a wealth of story which binds us together providing glue and joy for today and tomorrow as well as lots of laughter.

God shares His love for us by way of a story, the Bible and keeps reaching out to us in His-story.  Jesus used the power of story by speaking in parables to get His message across to those who could not hear His message or see their state by simply telling it straight out.  When we listen to a person’s personal story, they feel loved.  When we are vulnerable and share our own personal stories, we gain trust.  And an appropriate story for a particular person or people can change a life.

So what’s your story?  What’s my story?  I am a homeschool mom of 5, married for 26 years, and that’s all I have time to tell.  Delight yourself in sharing and listening to stories.

Touch-Talk-Walk

“Would you like to join me on my walk this morning?” I asked him as I put my shoes on.

I sure would.  Let me grab the dog and we’ll go.”  My husband, Colin,  jumped up from his seat and grabbed the leash and the pooper-scooper bag.

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It is my goal to walk at least one to two miles a day for health.  For our relationship, it is my husband’s goal to touch-talk-walk daily as often as we can.

The Master's Lead

Five Minute Friday at http://lisajobaker.com/2012/06/five-minute-friday-dance/

I don’t know how to dance.  I can’t dance with you.  I stop and pray.  I will dance with my Lord.  I submit to His lead.  It is jerky at first, but His gentle pressure guides me.  I submit to His lead.  I am awkward and I don’t do well.  Oh, I step on His toe.  Will I learn to dance?

. My Lord, my Father, my Master, He is patient.  He guides me, then twirls me.  I am learning to relax under His leadership.  I submit to His lead.  I smile and glide.  He is a master, the Master. 
He knows how to dance and He teaches me.  I submit to His lead.  I am learning to dance.  It is becoming more natural and comfortable as I rest in His lead.  

I can dance with you; I have been taught.  I go to the Master for lessons.  He is gentle; He is passionate; He knows what He is doing.  He is making a dancer of me as I submit to His lead.  I delight in His lead.  I delight in the dance.

It's About Relationships

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Life is about relationships.  How does evolution explain that?  The relationship between male and female to propagate the species, ok, that would be necessary, but relationships with emotions, encouragement, laughter,   connectedness with      friends, frustration, challenges, hurt, emoting of any kind, well, that makes no sense at all in the evolutionary model.  We were made for relationship by a loving God who created us first and foremost to have relationship with Him.  God knows about relationships since He was in relationship in the context of the Trinity before the creation of the world.  Relationship, then, is part of the innate character of who God is.  When thought of in this context, relationship makes perfect sense; it is an expression of the character of God.

The kind of relationship that reflects the character of God is relationship of commitment.  God is committed within the Trinity, and He is committed to us, His fallen creatures who He has created in His image, to reflect His character and dwell in His pleasure.  It is the fallen part that makes relating and commitment so hard.  We find it hard to love, hard to forgive, hard to just get along.  However, if we will work through the challenges, delight in the God who made us, submit to the Holy Spirit given to us to help us as we struggle through relating, we will find richness, growth, and joy by standing firm in our committed relationships.  “It is of Jehovah's lovingkindness that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.  Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.”  (Lamentations 3:22-24)  God is loving and faithful to put up with us and see us through to the end.  Will we reflect that loving faithfulness in our approach to those whom God has given us in relationship, whether they deserve it or not?

Risk - Five Minute Friday

I'm still figuring out this blogging thing, and one thing I just figured out is that the five minute Friday gal actually posts the prompt for the day.  So since that is a new insight for me, I thought I would do a second five minute Friday for today.  I still haven't figured out how to link to the actual site and become part of the five minute friday gang, but each day brings new lessons.  Today's prompt is risk so here goes...

Five Minute Friday at http://thegypsymama.com/category/five-minute-friday/ 

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There’s an elephant in the room and no one, including me will address it.  Is it because I think it belongs here?  Or maybe I think it will stomp all over me if I try to take it on.  Perhaps I am just afraid that I won’t handle the elephant correctly and then who knows what it might do.  I have been with this elephant before and it is difficult to take risks around it.  I have been with similar elephants before.  They always make me uncomfortable but I just don’st seem to know what to do with them.  Why won’t I take the risk to deal with these animals?  They cause so much stress having them around, but they are there prancing around like nobody’s business.  And perhaps that is the reason I won’t risk it.  Is it really my business.  Who is this nobody anyway?  If it is nobody’s business, this elephant, then why can’t this nobody come and take him away?  Why does this elephant so often show up to make relationships uncomfortable when the elephant belongs to nobody.  Somebody should take a risk and come deal with this nobody character.

Kindness revisted - Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Friday at http://thegypsymama.com/category/five-minute-friday/ 

I can’t seem to get the definition of kindness out of my mind.  The definition I found said kindness was being friendly, generous, and considerate.  It seems to me that that is backward.  One might not be especially friendly and yet not be unkind.  One can be not necessarily generous and still not be unkind.  However, it is difficult not to be considerate without simultaneously being unkind.  One might have to go out of one’s way to be friendly and generous, but being considerate ought to be just a product of our regular dealings with one another.  When you are done eating, put your own dish in the dishwasher instead of leaving it on the table.  As you get back from the pool or taking a shower, hang up your towel instead of leaving it on the floor for someone else to pick up.  Use words like please and thank you.  These are just basics of being considerate and to be otherwise is inconsiderate and unkind.  

Simple Acts of Kindness

A friend gave me a copy of the Good Housekeeping, July 2012 issue when he was done with it.  Right away an article listed on the cover caught my eye, “Little Acts of Kindness, that will change your life.”  Since our typical diet of news is replete with the negative happenings around us, I always appreciate articles like this that add more nourishing energy to our psyche.  Beginning with a quote by Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give,”  author Katy McColl discusses some of the fruitful benefits of giving for the giver, as she offers plenty of ideas on simple acts that any of us can implement to give a boost to our lives. 

My children seem to come up with similar simple wisdom to Churchill.   My son, Kipp, observed recently, “Do you know that there are billions of people in the world, Mom?  Why is it with billions of people in the world and so much time in our lives, that we let little things in little moments by just a few people cause us so much grief?” 

Healing Crisis - Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Friday at http://thegypsymama.com/category/five-minute-friday/ 

What is a healing crisis?  Within my limited knowledge,the best way I can describe it is a healing crisis is the way the body deals with the unloading of toxins, whether they be pollutants or microbes.  As your body goes through the process of cleansing when you oil pull, change your diet to one of healthier choices, or choose some cleansing process, you can experience events which are very much like sickness or like other ailments you have had in the past.  I have read that these can often be a reliving of what you have experienced in reverse order even back to childhood.  So that if you most recently had a cold and last year you had a swollen ankle, for instance, you might have cold symptoms again and after that at some point you may re-experience the swollen ankle.

I haven’t quite figured out how that might work if say you have had a heart attack, but I hope my research will provide further insight.  That’s brief, but we are out of time.  The point is, if cleansing, don’t run to the medicine closet if you feel sick; rejoice that you are getting healthier with each cough.

Storms Come. Be Ready.

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“Mom, I heard a quote the other day that I know you would like.  ‘Storms will come in life, but without rain, we’d have a drought.’”

As part of a Bible Study assignment, we were discussing the oft repeated one-liners spoken in our home over the years.  The exercise was to consider the things you have heard in your home, and then evaluate those thoughts from a Biblical perspective.

We listed several of the ones we could think of that had become part of the family mantras: 

Dunns are different.

Make good choices.

Nothing good happens after midnight.

It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with it.

Attitude ‘A’ everyday!

Be a blessing and be blessed.

Leave a place better than you found it.

Be part of the solution not the problem.

Remember, you are an ambassador for Christ.

What you practice you become.

Health Journal

Five Minute Friday at http://thegypsymama.com/category/five-minute-friday/ 

In early May I decided to start something that is often recommended by doctors, nutritionists, and friends, a health journal.  In my quest for better health, I thought it would be a good way to track changes I was making as well as changes in my condition.  It is already rather fun to look back and see how I began this adventure - yes, at my age everything is an adventure.  

As I go through the process of writing things down, I have become more aware of what I am doing, what I am consuming, and the slight changes in my own wellness.  Journaling does help to motivate and keep me accountable; so I become my own accountability partner.  I am looking forward to what I will learn and to seeing how I will change over the course of the coming year.  For now little changes seem to be reaping positive health-rewards, and I am delighting in the process.

Accountability and Discipleship Prayer-Partners

I have been working on developing a pamphlet or leaflet for women desiring to establish accountability and discipleship relationships.  Here's my first draft and I welcome input.  God bless, Maria

Accountability and Discipleship Prayer-Partners

We are called In Scripture to love one another in the Lord, to come together, support one another, and hold each other accountable as we encourage one another to good works and to walk by the Spirit.  Even in the church it can be difficult to connect to one another as we are either holed away in our homes or too busy with our day-to-day lives and work or simply unable to make the connections when we do meet with others. 

This is a tool to assist accountability partners in building a relationship with one another that is biblical, meaningful, and fruitful. 

 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”  Romans 12:10-11

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”  John 15:12

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  Colossians 3:16

Seek to be specific with each other in your answers to each of the questions to help you to be able to better verbalize your faith walk.   This will also help each of you do what the Scriptures call us to do for one another.  You may not address all of them each time you meet.  This is a tool, a guide to help you build your relationship in a Christ-honoring direction through which you can both get to know each other on a deeper level in order to stand firm in the Lord when and where you face storms and to encourage each other’s growth in Christ.

Determine a regular time to meet, preferably in person, but if that isn’t always practical, then you can skype or talk on the phone, but do meet regularly, once a week or once or twice a month.  Find a schedule that works and allows you to develop a bond of love.

“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is within you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” 1 Peter 3:15

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us , an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”  Ephesians 5:1-2

1.  Open by reviewing the Gospel together.  Jesus Christ should be the center of our lives, and we do not give enough legitimate focus to Him, and what He has done and does for us.  Beginning with Jesus reminds us of what is really important and central.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefined and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,” 1 Peter 1:3-4

“For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners againsht Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”  Hebrews 12:3

“Therefore gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. “  1Peter 1:13

2.   How are you doing with your personal time and relationship with God, devotions, Bible study, prayer?

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. “ James 4:8

“Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,”  1 Peter 2:2

“Pray without ceasing.”  1 Thessalonians 5:17

3.  What is God teaching you?  

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction for training in righteousness; that the man (woman) of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

“But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.”  1 Timothy 6:6

4.  How is He challenging you, stretching you, growing you?

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” John15:14

“…the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22-23

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  James 1:2-4

5.  How are you using your gifts for Kingdom purposes?

“For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members one f another.  And since we have gifs that differ according to the grace given to us, let each ecercise them accordingly…” Romans 12:4-6

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Colossians 3:17

“  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”  Galatians 5:25

6.  How are you involved in God’s mission, sharing the Gospel and/or discipleship?

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:  19-20

“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  Romans 12:1

“Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”  2 Timothy 4:2

7.  With what are you struggling and how can I encourage you?

“Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.“  Galatians 6:2

 “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  James 1:12

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.  The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”  James 5:16

“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”  Hebrews 3:13

8.  Do you have relationships that need repairing?

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no which no one will see the Lord.”  Hebrews 12:14

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God for Christ sake has forgive you.  Ephesians 4:22

9.  What thoughts do you need to change and replace?

“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”  2Corinthians 10:5

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”  Philippians 4:8

10.  What are you thankful for and rejoicing in?

“Give thanks in everything.”  1Thessalonians 5:18

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!”  Philippians 4:4

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear it and rejoice.  O magnify the Lord  with me, and let us exalt His name together.”  Psalm 34:1-3

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

11.  What other prayer requests and concerns do you have that you would like to share with me?  How else can I pray for you?

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”  Philippians 4:6

“These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”  Acts 1:14

“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,” 1 Timothy 2:1