Take a deep dive and really look at yourself. Than do it again. Where are you strong. Where could you improve. What is your goal? Once you do that, notice where you’ve grown. Maybe you noticed some weaker areas. Make note of them. We always get to move forward. I don’t know about you, but I want to move forward in a positively good way. So, I’m not just going to wait for what happens, but I’m going to make, trust God, hope, and will for the best possible way forward.

First off, it is up to you to know the end game. No one else can do it for you. Figure it out. You can do it! I’m just going to put some things out there that I think makes a difference. You can sort them how you want.

Love is essential. Love makes a way. Love blesses. Love cares for needs even when you’re tired. Love gets you through the terrible days in each and every way. Love is critical to the success of your life.

Laughter and humor makes your home fun. Pastor Pete would often say to us, “Are you fun to live with?” That’s a good question that we should ask ourselves. Lighten up, We can be too serous at times. Enjoy your time together. Sometimes we just have to make ourselves easy to live with. I remember when my youngest daughter went to the insurance office with me. On the desk was a jar of candy, I noticed her noticing it, but I had coached her to not ask for anything, and she didn’t. Instead, she asked about the things on the desk, what she used them for and etc. You know how that went. In just a couple of minutes she was offered a candy.

Validate, accept everyone’s uniqueness. Play to people’s strengths. Encourage the areas of interests. Be sensitive to their fears. Minimize comparisons. Strive to know your child as a person, especially as he enters his own. Some people do this extremely well. Those people stand out. On the opposite end, be careful with your criticisms. A child’s spirit is easily crushed.

Another tool is prayer. Prayer is a resource always available to you. We pray for protection. We pray for spiritual needs, salvation and growth. We pray when someone’s sick, we pray, pray, pray. I remember when my first son got his driver’s license. I prayed for him. He needed the license to go babysit his nephews. He made it, then driving to and from babysitting. Prayer is such a wonderful habit.

Develop a spirit of gratitude. It took me awhile to make this one grow to become a part of me. When life is rough it is hard to remember to to give thanks to God. We develop a spirit of gratitude. Our homes reflect the gratefulness of our hearts. We should give thanks for the many wonderful ways God brings so many big and little things into our lives.

Give praise in all things, good and bad. Praise releases God to work in a situation. It takes some time to learn this one. The more you praise, the less you complain. You can’t praise while you’re complaining.

Shape their lives for Jesus. Disciple is part of it. It is unwise to hover and smother (to act like helicopter parents), but it is also unwise to not have limits and boundaries. Children need structure. The structure helps them control their impulses.

What area spoke to you? There are so many ways God speaks to us. If you noticed one sentence, think about it. I originally wrote this like sixteen years ago when my oldest daughter was expecting her first child. I shared it at a baby shower in my mother’s home. So much has happened since then…she has seven children, lives in Florida, and is a busy mother. I think the same concepts I wrote back then are true today. God gives us opportunities to grow, and change, and develop, and bless, and hope. He blesses us as he brings us along.

My former pastor told a story I’ve never forgotten. A faithful father had three sons who had gone astray from the Lord. This grieved him. He decided to go to God about it and plead for his sons’ souls with his heavenly father. He went off by himself in seclusion for several days, just him and God. During that time he prayed in earnest for each son, day after day, moment by moment. The father prayed in earnest for his sons, never stopping and never giving up. After a few days of nonstop praying on their behalf, peace came in, and he felt God had answered. He called each one of his sons independent of each other. All three sons had experienced the conviction of the Lord, repented of their sins, and had come to Jesus with their heart and soul.

The following list is for any area you wish to change that needs spiritual intervention from God. I’m putting it here for parents, but these five areas are important when there are serious spiritual needs, including your own needs.

Spiritual tools at your disposal.

1. PRAYER – Pray like you’ve never prayed before. Go to the throne of grace, bend the knee, pray, minute after minute, day after day, hour after hour. Set aside a portion of the day to pray in earnest for your family member who is not walking with God. There are many ways to pray for them. You can ask God to work in all aspects of their life: spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual. I ask God to bind their will to God, their mind to Christ, their emotions to the Spirit, and to remove and change what is not of God. Most of all, pray that God will become real to them.
2. FASTING – Fasting is of God. When you fast for a spiritual reason and commit to fasting and prayer on behalf of another person’s spiritual condition, it is a powerful offering for a divine purpose. Some do partial fasts. Fasts can be arranged in many ways such as, one day a week, one meal a day, one food group, a weekend, one week, two weeks, or 40 days. Time is spent in prayer in addition to the fast.
3. INTERCESSION – Intercession is when you intercede on another person’s behalf. This is fervent, frequent, and interactive prayer. God may direct the intercession by guiding the prayer session in a certain way. A great book that demonstrates intercession is found in this book I reviewed: Rees Howell: Intercessor: The Story of a Life Lived for God. Another thought, pray with others, should you be so inclined.
4. TIME – God works through time. Change takes time and dedication. You do not know how much time or if change will come in your lifetime. Time is needed to accomplish spiritual tasks. Do not be weary in well-doing. Imagine your loved one as whole in spirit and free in heart. Wish this for yourself as well. Ask God to do a work in you. God accomplishes something in you as he acts on your prayers. He will do this. God waits until you are ready, and God accomplishes his will over time. We can be too impatient.
5. BELIEVE – Have faith to believe God will work according to his plan. Believe in his love for your erring one. Believe he will and can change your loved one. Believe like Hudson Taylor’s mother prayed. Believe like the Prodigal father believed. Believe like Hannah, Samuel’s mother, believed. God answered their prayers.

Scripture says some spiritual manifestations come by way of prayer and fasting (casting out demons etc.). I have witnessed God change a life through someone’s prayer and fasting on their behalf. Christ brings the lost one to a knowledge of their lost condition, their sinfulness, their need of Christ and of Christ’s cleansing. At the same time there is a brokenness and a yielding of their-self to God. Repentance happens when the person sorrows for the sins they’ve committed against God. God is into making people into new creatures in Christ.

Millennials need Christ as much as Baby Boomers need Christ. They just may not know it and may be unfamiliar with the concept. Deception has blinded many from being able to discern truth. They may speak of the universe, which is fairly common right now, but not the God of the universe.

Your grown children deserve more. They live enveloped in a lie that sounds like a reasonable truth, under a delusion that says they can have it all. Wasn’t that the lie Eve believed? She wanted what seemed “good” and better for her. We all are privy to that lie, it sounds so innocent.

Dear Parents,

Try prayer, fasting, interceding, allowing time, and the faith to believe in the goodness of God toward your children. Wrestle this one through on their behalf. You will be glad you did. Expect a fight, the enemy will attack you, I almost guarantee it. Something will go wrong. The more serious you get, the more he gets serious in resisting your efforts to save your child from their selves. You can know you’re in the battle and making headway when you experience relentless opposition. You may experience darkness descend and confusion in your home. That is part of the battle. Once you know what the battle looks like, then it won’t scare you so much. Satan likes to scare us big time. But the battle is worth it. Ask spiritual friends to back you in prayer. Back-up prayer support is wise. Spiritual battles are not won easily.

When you get serious, God gets serious.

Here’s a challenge for you. Instead of taking a fun vacation, take the time for spiritual intercession. Have a spiritual staycation instead. Then tell people that you are unavailable. Prepare to stay home for the duration or as much as possible. I did one of these for three days, and fasted the three days, too. I wrote in my journal, prayed, read scripture, and prayed and interceded, and prayed some more. I had an objective, and God answered, and I was blessed. You will be changed. Take it as it comes, and insert your will in the deal. You, too, with serious intent must have your spiritual house in order to address the throne of God and access his help.

May you experience the joy of seeing your prodigal return home with a changed mind and heart.

God bless you.

Until next week, Norma

In our fast-paced society it is easy to ignore the internal self, our spiritual side. But that is not wise for any of us. This series of posts that I wrote a couple of years ago, are highlighted to direct our attention to a very important aspect of our beings. We are not just flesh and blood, mind and matter. We are also spiritual. That part of us is what makes us want to contribute something of value to life, even if we don’t acknowledge a heavenly Father.

It’s time to start paying attention.

These posts are written primarily for the Christian believer. However, I assume they might be interesting to anyone who is searching for truth and meaning. They may have something for you if you care about important matters including your spiritual side. Keep in mind that I am writing for the person who already has an established spiritual walk with God.

I see a common problem across the board in Christian circles. They’re too satisfied, even arrogant and prideful; and they don’t deal with their stuff, their rough edges and past history.

I believe there is so much more to this spiritual life than one might realize. I also know that many of my Christian brothers and sisters are trapped and bound to their pasts in a way that affects their daily lives and causes an ongoing disquiet that is often ignored or it feeds a depressed spirit, which eventually causes the person to become mired in a bog that weighs down their spirit in the shadows of the hidden places.

Could that be you? Sometimes? Are you negative or positive? Negative? Then keep reading.

And you don’t know how to break free. So you pretend. Yet, you know it’s there in the wings, just out of reach. Why do you lack joy? Why are most Christians lacking in life and spiritual health?

We must figure this thing out because we’re getting stuck without a hope, and everyone around us is noticing.

But there is always hope. I’m so glad for this. Hope kept me sane in the dark days. Christ kept me going. And God loved me. Yet, I was flailing and unable to get a grip on my life. Some times it’s slipping away from us. And we feel out of control, like we’re barely hanging on to life as it comes at us.

You see, I hadn’t gone far enough with it. I needed to let go and let God. I did. Then He did what He does. Let’s just call it, miraculous.

That is what this is this series is about.

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LINKS

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