Dear Jesus: My Christmas Wish List

This is the time of year that we are all thinking about gifts, getting them and giving them. I was journaling this morning, writing a letter to God and trying to remember to prayerfully ask for what I need instead of worrying or becoming frustrated.

There are several gifts I would like to ask for and if they come well before Christmas, that is OK:

• To be able to pray more. As I referred to above, my natural instinct is not to pray in all things, unceasing. I would like help from you Lord in remembering to pray all the time.
• To re-commit to my daily Bible studies. I would like help to never skip a week here or there but to remain consistent despite the circumstance (sickness, whatever).
• To teach my children to pray and study the Bible. Please guide me as I am reviewing ways to show Chase how to do a word study.
• More faith in a faithful God who never changes.
• More joy in all circumstances, just because I am saved by God's grace and I am to rejoice in the day the Lord has made.
• More of the peace that passes all understanding. Again, despite the circumstances, peace in what I pray for to you today.

Jesus, I know that I have been more naughty than nice and surely do not deserve your blessings. But I ask that you in your grace and mercy, through the sacrifice of your son, Jesus grant me these things of which I am asking.

Amen.

The Blessings of a Gift

I was humbled and surprised when a friend of mine, Elizabeth over at HomeEdUnderGrace had a book that I really wanted to sent to me from Christian Book Distributors. It was a collection of C.S. Lewis classics that I had seen at her house. Elizabeth is a very busy homeschool mom yet she took the time to think of me and to very specifically act on my behalf.

What a lovely bright spot in what was an otherwise dreary day to receive an unexpected and dare I say, undeserved gift. As thankful as I am for that gift, I am reminded of how much more grateful I should constantly be for the grace and mercy that God so undeservedly showed to me.

Is that perhaps the hidden blessing in every gift, that it reminds us of and points to the greatest gift ever given to mankind, Jesus Christ himself?

Now I am challenged: when was the last time that I stepped out of my busy life to bless someone else with an unexpected gift?

I pray that God will open my eyes and my heart so that I can bless someone with an unexpected gift that may make a difference.

Birthday Prayer For My Daughter

Lord, I thank you for mychildren and for the blessing of being a mother. Today, on Alyssa's fifth birthday, I take a special moment to thank you for the gift of Alyssa.

Thank you for her safe delivery, infancy and toddlerhood. Thank you for protecting her through her preschool years.

Thank you for drawing her to yourself and to me. Thank you for building strong and precious bonds between me and my daughter.

Lord, continue to build and strengthen Alyssa's relationship with You and with me.

Keep her safe and healthy. Surround her with godly friends and role models. Prepare her for the perfect godly husband and help her to recognize him when he appears.

Help to prepare her for the blessings and trials of motherhood and equip me to be her guide.

Amen.

Psalm 119: Ask For Understanding

Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Psalm 119:73

I have to always remember to ask for understanding. How much more meaningful my study of the Scriptures is if I ask the Lord to shine his majestic light on all that I read and give me full understanding as he sees fit to suit his divine purposes.

I try to take a few minutes before I begin to read to pray:

Heavenly Father, Speak to me through your word today. Grant me understanding that I might follow all of your commands. Show me the truth in your word and help me to apply it to my life today. Amen

I know that of my own accord, I am very prone to error. I have fairly recently been led astray by not paying careful attention to God's word and not seeking his understanding.

The psalmist knew of our tendency to err and he knows we must ask our creator, the One who knows us better than anyone, to help us to understand as he wants us to understand.

How fortunate we are to serve a loving and caring God whose mercies are new every day.

Want to Stay Home With KIds?

Here is advice I recently shared with a new mom in a Facebook group for Christian mothers that I recently joined:

Dear Amanda, I know how you feel as I have been in a similar situation. Begin each day in prayer and in Bible reading. I did not realize how important that was until I stopped doing it. Also, persevere and do not give up, no matter how impossible the situation seems. All things are possible through Christ!

If all readers who feel so inclined would pray for Amanda as you read this, I believe that God will hear our prayers.

Thank you.

Called to a Ministry?

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Paul reports in the above verses that he has seen good results from his ministry. Is he bragging about this? No. He writes that he can claim competence only through God in sharing the life-giving message of the Gospel.

Although I have felt for some time that God was calling me to share my Bible study with other Moms, I have felt too unqualified to step out and move forward.

As an answer to a prayer the very same day that I prayed it, a godly friend reminded me that it was indeed true: I am not competent for such a high task as sharing the Gospel of Almighty God with others. What was also true, she confided, was that God will supply me with all that I need to do his work. She urged me to never forget my complete dependence on God and all that he sends me.

R.C. Sproul's Reformation Bible has a note that states, "All ability and power in ministry comes from God, not from ourselves."

Lord, I pray that I will daily remember these truths and daily be humbled in your site in complete dependence on you.
Amen.

Are You Competent?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16,17 (ESV)

The NIV translation leaves out the word "competent" in it's rendering of this verse. Most other versions I read, including the ESV, NASB, HCSB and KJV include another word in front of equipped that implies "competent".

The word competent, as seen here in the ESV rendering, is from the Greek hikanos.

According the Stong's Greek dictionary, the word hikanos means:

competent (as if coming in season), i.e. ample (in amount) or fit (in character)

Let us take a look at the parts of this meaning and get excited about what God's word can do for us!

Coming in season-
I am immediately reminded of our pastor speaking this past Sunday about Queen Esther. She was called by God to save her people, God's covenant people from whom our Lord and Savior would arise, by being made the queen at such a time as that. We too, are called by God to be at this place, at this time, in this marriage and with these children. Studying God's word will make us competent and right in season.

Ample in amount-
Do you have enough? Do you have enough energy, patience, kindness, generosity and wisdom to get through each day? I know that many days I feel I do not. How can I get enough? How can I be amply supplied? Drinking deeply from the well of God's word is the answer.

Fit in character-
Is my character one to be proud of at all times? Do I act like Jesus in all circumstances? Does my character exhibit the fruit of the Spirit? Do I have a pure heart and act from a pure heart all day? If I can not answer yes to these questions, I know I need to go back to God's word, the source of all competence.

I have spent a fair amount of time and energy seeking to be competent on my own. Books on parenting, marriage, housekeeping and cooking have occupied by attention for years on end.
Yes, I can learn the mechanics of doing all that God has called me to do as a wife, mother and homemaker. Without the word of God, however, I can never reach the full level of competence at a heart level that I need to be pleasing to God.

Lord, I pray that you would humble me and keep me dependent on only you and your lovely word for my truest source of competence.
Amen

Mother's Day Prayer

Lord, today, may I seek not to be honored but to honor other mothers in my life. Help me to be a better mother undertaking my god-given responsibilities with your joy, faith and hope.

Thank you for choosing me to serve your kingdom. Make me a willing and cheerful servant. Search my heart and remove all wrong motivations. Make my heart pure.

Help me to everything that I do only for your glory and out of love for you, not for my own selfish reasons.

In Jesus' name I pray.

A Mom's Prayer

I pray Heavenly Father that you will pour out your Holy Spirit on me and my family.
Continue to show me your ways. Show me how to be faithful in my roles as wife and mother. Clearly delineate for me the tasks I am to do in your service. Help me to manage my time well and do all for your glory.

Amen.

To My Heavenly Father

Thank you for your wonders
I praise your majesty
The howling wind
The beating rain
All act at your command.

I remember your past faithfulness
O Lord of Lords
Thank you for your deliverance
Thank you for your guidance

Help me to obey
Help me to serve
Help me to love
Help me to be of good cheer.

Amen