TALK TO GOD
Ask ten people what is the most important ingredient in making a relationship work, and most of them will likely give you the same answer. "Communication". And it is no less true in a personal relationship with God. So in the early days of belonging to Jesus, A person needs to learn how to talk with the One they have just come to know.
As you meet with a new believer you have the privilege of introducing them to God's exciting invitation to His children: "Let's then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb. 4:16) God has invited us to come right into His presents, and claim His forgiveness for our sins, and His help for our needs. This is talking to God. As Paul wrote:"Do not be anxious about anything, butin everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7)
Having been introduced to the importance of talking to God, the new believer needs to experience communicating with Him. One possible action lab you can encourage is to write some letters to God before your next get-together. You may even want to give the person a template for the letters that include the following
Dear Lord,
I love you because....
Thank you for......
I'm sorry for......
Please......
With Love from........
As a new child of God writes thoughts like these to their father, he is practicing the ingredient in powerful praying. And this outline puts talking to God in the same kind of straightforward language we use in our conversations. When you get together again, your new brother or sister can bring those letters so you can talk about how their first communication with God went.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Secret #1 in Discipling a New Baby in Christ Is
READ WHAT GOD HAS WRITTEN TO YOU
I am quoting from the book - Called To Greatness By Ron Hutchcraft
When I was in college, my roommate Don used to get love letters from his girlfriend. We all knew when he had received one ------- he was in "la la land" all day. I noticed that he would always go off somewhere alone and read what Amy had written to him. Then he would read it again and again. After his fifth reading or so, I want to say, Don, there is no more new information here! But it wouldn't have done any good.
It was when I started receiving love letters from Karen that I began to understand. Now I was reading the same words over and over again. Why? Because when I was reading what she wrote to me, I was being with her--- until I could really be with her.
It is the same way with the new believer and the Love Letters he has received from the One who loves loves Him most ---it is called the Bible. Some one who belongs to Jesus feels he is with Him as he is with Him as he reads what He wrote to him. The lover of Jesus continues to read regularly, until one day in heaven when he will be with his Savior forever.
That's why God tells us, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your Salvation" (1 Peter 2:2) That "spiritual milk" is "the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23) known to us as the Bible. So in their first days in Christ , new believers should be introduced to the importance of daily reading God's Love Letter to them. We need to call their attention to the privilege of spending time with Jesus through what He wrote. This is not to be a ritualistic "Bible reading time" but time with a friend.
THE FIRST SECRET OF A GREAT GOD RELATIONSHIP
IS ABOUT TIME WITH A PERSON, NOT TIME WITH A BOOK
As a practical matter, it is important for us to help new believers set a time and a place to meet with Jesus each new day. If we leave Him until we "get around to Him" we never will. It is fundamental to growing in this new relationship that believers set a daily date with the Person who loves them most.
It is important, too, to help God's new child know where to read in the Bible. The "where" should be a book that is easy to understand and easy to apply to your life ______books such as Mark, Ephesians, James, and Proverbs. The "how" should emphasize asking oneself two questions about what he or she reads. Two primary questions would be, " In my own words, what is God saying here?" and "What am I going to do differently today because God said that?" In other words, "Do not merely listen to the word,....do what it says" (James 1:22) The Apostle James compares someone who takes in what God says but doesn't do anything about it to " a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like" (James 1:23-24). If the Bible is supposed to be a believers mirror, then the believer can't just look into that mirror without changing something.
Once you explain the importance of reading what God has written, it is time to give God's new child an "action lab" so she can do what she just learned. So give her a notebook and ask her to write this title on the front of it: "My Times With Jesus" This will be her, "Jesus Journal"
Your challenge to the new believer might go something like this: "Each day for the next week, ask God to show you something He wants you to know, then read a few verses in the book of James. It's easy to apply to your life! Read them two or three times. Then write in your Jesus Journal the date, what verses you read, and your answer to two helpful questions: "In my own words, what is God saying here?" and "What am I going to do differently today because He said it?" When you get together the next time, ask the person to bring the journal so you can talk about how those times with Jesus went.
As the spiritual caregiver for this new member of God's family, you have the joy of giving the person some exciting news about her newly begun relationship. Every day, she has the same message from God that greets many Internet users when they check their E-Mail: "You've got mail." In this case, it's from God Himself.
I am quoting from the book - Called To Greatness By Ron Hutchcraft
When I was in college, my roommate Don used to get love letters from his girlfriend. We all knew when he had received one ------- he was in "la la land" all day. I noticed that he would always go off somewhere alone and read what Amy had written to him. Then he would read it again and again. After his fifth reading or so, I want to say, Don, there is no more new information here! But it wouldn't have done any good.
It was when I started receiving love letters from Karen that I began to understand. Now I was reading the same words over and over again. Why? Because when I was reading what she wrote to me, I was being with her--- until I could really be with her.
It is the same way with the new believer and the Love Letters he has received from the One who loves loves Him most ---it is called the Bible. Some one who belongs to Jesus feels he is with Him as he is with Him as he reads what He wrote to him. The lover of Jesus continues to read regularly, until one day in heaven when he will be with his Savior forever.
That's why God tells us, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your Salvation" (1 Peter 2:2) That "spiritual milk" is "the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23) known to us as the Bible. So in their first days in Christ , new believers should be introduced to the importance of daily reading God's Love Letter to them. We need to call their attention to the privilege of spending time with Jesus through what He wrote. This is not to be a ritualistic "Bible reading time" but time with a friend.
THE FIRST SECRET OF A GREAT GOD RELATIONSHIP
IS ABOUT TIME WITH A PERSON, NOT TIME WITH A BOOK
As a practical matter, it is important for us to help new believers set a time and a place to meet with Jesus each new day. If we leave Him until we "get around to Him" we never will. It is fundamental to growing in this new relationship that believers set a daily date with the Person who loves them most.
It is important, too, to help God's new child know where to read in the Bible. The "where" should be a book that is easy to understand and easy to apply to your life ______books such as Mark, Ephesians, James, and Proverbs. The "how" should emphasize asking oneself two questions about what he or she reads. Two primary questions would be, " In my own words, what is God saying here?" and "What am I going to do differently today because God said that?" In other words, "Do not merely listen to the word,....do what it says" (James 1:22) The Apostle James compares someone who takes in what God says but doesn't do anything about it to " a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like" (James 1:23-24). If the Bible is supposed to be a believers mirror, then the believer can't just look into that mirror without changing something.
Once you explain the importance of reading what God has written, it is time to give God's new child an "action lab" so she can do what she just learned. So give her a notebook and ask her to write this title on the front of it: "My Times With Jesus" This will be her, "Jesus Journal"
Your challenge to the new believer might go something like this: "Each day for the next week, ask God to show you something He wants you to know, then read a few verses in the book of James. It's easy to apply to your life! Read them two or three times. Then write in your Jesus Journal the date, what verses you read, and your answer to two helpful questions: "In my own words, what is God saying here?" and "What am I going to do differently today because He said it?" When you get together the next time, ask the person to bring the journal so you can talk about how those times with Jesus went.
As the spiritual caregiver for this new member of God's family, you have the joy of giving the person some exciting news about her newly begun relationship. Every day, she has the same message from God that greets many Internet users when they check their E-Mail: "You've got mail." In this case, it's from God Himself.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Inspirational Message
THE ROSE
A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it bloomed he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened by his thoughts, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom it died.
So it is with people. Within every soul there is a rose. The Godlike qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only thorns, the effects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves, someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others. This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, realize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his fault. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth, thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it is given to him. Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other, only then can we bloom in our own garden.
Unknown Author
Found on door at Pine Ridge Bible Camp
Children Are Diamonds in the Rough
Deuteronomy 11:18-21
18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
(God's word)
Study and learn God's word yourself, know what it says
Have God's word at your finger tips for instruction and guidance
Your children will see you leaning on and depending on God for everything
They will be learning that with God all things are possible
That you are weak but He is strong, and He will carry you through
As a family you can depend on Him in everything that comes your way
When you sit down at meals together as a family you talk about the Lord
And dwell on His word, when you travel you pray asking and inviting Him to go with you
When you go to sleep at night your children can learn how to pray
In the solitude of their bedroom, a quiet place to meet the Lord
Waking up with a thankful heart for the Lord watching over them through the night
We can display the goodness of the Lord through poems
And pictures and verses hanging on our walls, teaching His ways
Take stock of yourself, where are you in your relationship with the Lord
And consider your children, your time and your thoughts are being watched;
How would you reply to the Lord should He ask, what have you done
“What kind of parent are you, will your children know who I am because of you?
Children may not inherit their parents’ talent, but they will absorb their values.
We as parents need to ask ourselves these things each and every day.
(By Peter Salmond's thoughts)
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