Chapter 6: A Positive Mom is a Praying Mom- How to effectively pray for your kids
"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16
Why should we pray?
1. We pray because God tells us to bring all our requests to him.
Matthew 6: 9-13
Matthew 26:41
James 4:2
Philippians 4:6
2. We pray because we need wisdom from above to be good mothers.
Proverbs 2:6
James 1:5
--But wisdom is not the only thing we need as mothers. We should also pray for patience, strength, peace, perseverance-and the list could go on and on.--
Mark 11:24
Isaiah 40:28-31
Personally, during this particular section in the book, she mentioned a time in her life when her children were both very small that she needed all these things during the phase of the "trying twos." She had a 2 year old and a baby, sounds very familiar to me. The two's have definitely brought me to my knees in tears many times.
3. We pray because it turns our eyes toward God and off our problems.
1 Samuel 1:11
1 Samuel 2:26
These verses are about Hannah and Samuel, definitely worth reading their story if you haven't done so before!
1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing". "Pray continually". (NIV)
Ladd also gives us a list of things to pray for our children. I loved it so much I feel like I should share it:
Pray that they will come to know Christ and follow him. (Romans 10:9-11)
Pray that they will be able to recognize evil and hate it. (Psalm 97:10)
Pray that when they do something wrong, they will be caught. (Psalm 119:71)
Pray for their protection against the evil one. (John 17:15)
Pray that they will be kind and forgiving toward others. (Ephesians 4:32)
Pray that they'll have courage to stand up for what is right. (Joshua 1:7)
Pray that they will have respect for authority. (Romans 13:1)
Pray that they choose wise friends. (Proverbs 13:20)
Pray for their future spouse, that they will marry a godly person. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
Pray for them to submit to God and resist the devil. (James 4:7)
Pray for a hedge of protection around them. (Hosea 2:6)
If you attend The Church at Pinnacle Hills, maybe you remember a sermon that Pastor Floyd did called Becoming a House of Prayer back in June of 2008. I was looking over some older notes of mine and found this. I will say that the sermon combined with this section in "The Power of a Positive Mom" definitely go hand in hand. :) I'm not sure if its still on iTunes or not, but if it is, I encourage you to download it and listen to it! :)
Questions:
1. How have you seen the need for prayer in your own life?
2. What did you learn from Hannah and Jesus' example of prayer?
3. In what ways did this chapter encourage you to develop a deeper prayer life?
4. Any prayer requests and/or praises
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Principle 1: The Power of Encouragement
Chapter 5: Bringing Son-shine to Others
This whole chapter is about the value of a smile. :) Yes, a smile. It's all children really need to see in the stands, auditorium, or wherever you end up being to support them. Smile to them encouragement! :)
Make the decision today to be a smiling mom and see what happens.
Start giving your smile away as a gift to the people around you, whether you feel like it or not; you'll find that the feelings will follow, and you will be the richer for it.
After all, with the joy we find only in Christ, we have reason to smile.
DO: Pick a day this week to give everyone you come in contact with the gift of a sincere smile. Share with your husband, your children, or a friend how your experience with smiles touched you and touched others.
Questions:
1. What are some of the reasons people choose not to smile?
2. What are some reasons you personally have to be joyful?
3. In what ways do you express your joy?
4. Did you do the experiment with smiles? If so, tell about it.
5. Prayer requests and praises. :)
This whole chapter is about the value of a smile. :) Yes, a smile. It's all children really need to see in the stands, auditorium, or wherever you end up being to support them. Smile to them encouragement! :)
Make the decision today to be a smiling mom and see what happens.
Start giving your smile away as a gift to the people around you, whether you feel like it or not; you'll find that the feelings will follow, and you will be the richer for it.
After all, with the joy we find only in Christ, we have reason to smile.
DO: Pick a day this week to give everyone you come in contact with the gift of a sincere smile. Share with your husband, your children, or a friend how your experience with smiles touched you and touched others.
Questions:
1. What are some of the reasons people choose not to smile?
2. What are some reasons you personally have to be joyful?
3. In what ways do you express your joy?
4. Did you do the experiment with smiles? If so, tell about it.
5. Prayer requests and praises. :)
Principle 1 The Power of Encouragement
Chapter 4: Helping your Children Discover Their Potential
Our challenge is to learn how to be the wind in their sails without blowing them off the course God has set for their lives.
We need to study our children.
Questions:
1. How would you descrive the special and unique qualities that God has given your children?
2. In what ways can you encourage and support their gifts and talents?
3. Is there someone in your life who saw your potential and took the time to help you reach toward a goal? Would you share it with us?
4. Lets not forget prayer requests and praises. :)
Our challenge is to learn how to be the wind in their sails without blowing them off the course God has set for their lives.
We need to study our children.
- See the potential-- Start by writing down the potential you see in your children in four areas of growth: mental, physical, spiritual, and social.
- Offer opportunities for growth--As a particular interest or aptitude emerges, you can look for a class or team or meeting where the child can develop that skill or talent further. But don't be in a rush!
- Set realistic goals
- Support their endeavors--as positive moms, we can support our children by being there-by taking them to their lessons and practices and showing up for their recitals and games. Our support must be unconditional!
Questions:
1. How would you descrive the special and unique qualities that God has given your children?
2. In what ways can you encourage and support their gifts and talents?
3. Is there someone in your life who saw your potential and took the time to help you reach toward a goal? Would you share it with us?
4. Lets not forget prayer requests and praises. :)
Principle 1 The Power of Encouragement
Chapter 3: The Positive Impact of a Good Word
This chapter is all about positive and negative things said to us and that we say to our children. I'm going to pass on some of the passages in the book I particularly liked and then some thoughts I had and then I'll post the questions.
When our young people are reminded of their God-given value, they receive deposits of confidence, security, and well-being in their emotional bank accounts. On the other hand, when our children have nothing positive to believe about themselves, their emotional bank accounts can become bankrupt- overdrawn by the negative comments and disappointments that occur every day in the world around them.
Some psychologists say that a person needs to hear ten positive comments to overcome the effects of a negative one.
So, while I was reading this I wrote out beside it... What were some encouraging things said to you? What were some hurtful things said about you?
We need to be deliberate about building up our children's strengths and putting regular deposits in their emotional bank accounts. We need to make sure they're getting a positive picture of who they are.
Set a goal of saying at least three encouraging comments to each child each day. As you put them to bed at night, do a mental check to see if you have put enough verbal deposits in their emotional bank accounts that day. If you come up short, you can use this bedside time to make up the difference before they doze off.
With your encouraging comments you need to 1. be specific, 2. be prepared, 3. be creative, 4. be resourceful. This means instead of just saying "You make me happy." Say why they make you happy. Have a couple comments prepared ahead of time. Be creative how you deliver them. Leave them a special note in random places. Use Scripture.
DO: Write out four specific accolades for each of your family members and deliver one of them each week for the next four weeks. When you see the positive response you get, you may want to make one day a week your note-writing day to regularly express to your family members and friends how special they are.
Questions:
1. Share a time when someone's words of encouragement were meaningful to you in your life.
2. Can you think of a time when someone's words were damaging to you?
3. What are some creative ways you can give words of encouragement to your family members?
4. Share some of the comments you wrote out in the "Do."
This chapter is all about positive and negative things said to us and that we say to our children. I'm going to pass on some of the passages in the book I particularly liked and then some thoughts I had and then I'll post the questions.
When our young people are reminded of their God-given value, they receive deposits of confidence, security, and well-being in their emotional bank accounts. On the other hand, when our children have nothing positive to believe about themselves, their emotional bank accounts can become bankrupt- overdrawn by the negative comments and disappointments that occur every day in the world around them.
Some psychologists say that a person needs to hear ten positive comments to overcome the effects of a negative one.
So, while I was reading this I wrote out beside it... What were some encouraging things said to you? What were some hurtful things said about you?
We need to be deliberate about building up our children's strengths and putting regular deposits in their emotional bank accounts. We need to make sure they're getting a positive picture of who they are.
Set a goal of saying at least three encouraging comments to each child each day. As you put them to bed at night, do a mental check to see if you have put enough verbal deposits in their emotional bank accounts that day. If you come up short, you can use this bedside time to make up the difference before they doze off.
With your encouraging comments you need to 1. be specific, 2. be prepared, 3. be creative, 4. be resourceful. This means instead of just saying "You make me happy." Say why they make you happy. Have a couple comments prepared ahead of time. Be creative how you deliver them. Leave them a special note in random places. Use Scripture.
DO: Write out four specific accolades for each of your family members and deliver one of them each week for the next four weeks. When you see the positive response you get, you may want to make one day a week your note-writing day to regularly express to your family members and friends how special they are.
Questions:
1. Share a time when someone's words of encouragement were meaningful to you in your life.
2. Can you think of a time when someone's words were damaging to you?
3. What are some creative ways you can give words of encouragement to your family members?
4. Share some of the comments you wrote out in the "Do."
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Why haven't I posted the new chapters yet?
Due to the bad weather and some people not having power and internet problems. I've not posted any new blogs about the book yet. Also, I wanted to post all of the principle chapters together. There are 7 principles in the book and each one has 2-3 chapters. So, it has taken a little while to get them done on my end. I apologize. I will be posting these hopefully tomorrow. :) Yay! More later.
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