July Dad's and Mom's Corners
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
I thought you might like to see this newsletter from Steve and Teri
Maxwell.
Virginia
--------- Forwarded message ----------
Dear Friends,
"Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that
whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your
affairs,
that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the
faith of the gospel" (Philippians 1:27).
In this month's Mom's Corner, Teri writes about the blessing a prayer
notebook has been in her life and gives simple directions for starting
one
of your own. The Dad's Corner focuses on weaknesses and excuses.
The ladies STUDYBoard (titus2.com/studyboard/) begins a new study
on Monday, August 19th. The book we will be going through one chapter per
week is called Loving God with All Your Mind by Elizabeth George. This is
a
perfect opportunity to be part of a women's study without leaving home.
You
might want to consider doing this with your teenage or older daughter,
which
is what Teri does with her twenty-year-old daughter. The FAQ has more
details about the study and about STUDYBoard
(http://www.titus2.com/studyboard/study-board-FAQ.htm). Sign ups begin
August 5th on STUDYBoard.
If you have a change of address, please send an e-mail from your old
account
to [email protected]. To subscribe from your new account
send an e-mail to [email protected]. If you would like to stop
receiving this monthly mailing, please send a blank e-mail to
[email protected] and our mailing list software will take it
from there.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen" (Romans
16:24).
In our Precious Lord and Savior,
The Maxwells
Steve, Teri, Nathan & Melanie, Christopher, Sarah, Joseph, John, Anna,
Jesse, and Mary
http://www.Titus2.com
http://www.PreparingSons.com
http://www.PreparingDaughters.com
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July Mom's Corner
Prayer Notebook
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Have you ever had a friend ask you to pray for a specific situation? Then
the following week she comes up to you thanking you profusely for your
prayers. How do you feel and what do you say when you completely forgot
to
pray? Has it happened to you?
Not only have I had "egg on my face" in relation to saying I would pray
but
then forgetting, I sometimes didn't remember to pray for what was truly
important in my own life. While I would stew about a situation in our
family, did I consistently pray about it? Often I found I did not! I said
I
wanted God's solution, but there were no "feet" to my desire.
A prayer notebook became a valuable tool in my life to facilitate my
prayer
time. It is something to help me do what I want to do. "The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16b). It
facilitates doing what the Lord has told me to do. "And he spake a
parable
unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint"
(Luke 18:1). In addition, it is beneficial to others and to me. "Confess
your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be
healed"
(James 5:16a).
It is important to understand that my prayer notebook has been a tool. It
did not take the place of being quiet before the Lord and letting the
Holy
Spirit put on my heart what to pray. Rather, it has been a memory device
so
that I don't forget to pray about the areas the Holy Spirit has directed.
I have been using prayer notebooks, of one style or another, for about
nine
years now. I am pleased with the benefits they have afforded to my prayer
life. I am happy to encourage each of you to put this prayer tool into
use
in your life as well. Because I am a practical person who loves great
ideas
but always asks "how," I would like to give you some basic prayer
notebook
guidelines based on my personal experience. From these beginning stages
of a
prayer notebook, you can, with time, fine tune and expand your own prayer
notebook.
I want to start out with simple and practical ideas so that realistically
you can make use of your prayer notebook and continue to use it. If it is
too complicated, you will enjoy the process of setting up your notebook
and
using it for a week or two. However, as soon as you hit your first major
life interruption, your prayer notebook will become too cumbersome to
maintain.
You will first need to decide what kind of notebook to use. Then you will
have to choose how to set it up. I am sharing information to help you
with
both of these decisions. Please don't let the decisions hold you back. If
you can't decide, simply follow my recommendations and go with them.
This notebook will begin by being a prayer request notebook. In it, list
prayer requests, leave blank lines, and then fill in with answers as they
come. With time, as the disciplines to use the prayer notebooks grow,
other
sections can be added. The starting goal of this notebook is to let it be
easy so that consistency in its use is achieved.
Any kind of journal book or notebook should work. I am currently using a
pretty, hardback, blank journal. The drawback with it is that the pages
are
not removable so I face limitations and frustration as some pages fill
up,
but others don't. I have overcome this by putting a checkmark at the top
of
every page that has all the requests answered and writing "Completed"
beside
the checkmark. Periodically, I move all the prayer entries from pages
that
only have one or two left unanswered, plus the ongoing prayers, forward
in
the book. The advantage of these kinds of prayer notebooks is that you
can
find ones with beautiful covers on them, and they are relatively small.
Plus, when it is full, it is all contained together in a bound book for
storage.
You could also use a three-ring binder - small or large. This would
probably
involve little or no cost. Often, in our homes, we have unused binders
stashed here and there, or they can be purchased rather inexpensively at
a
store like Wal-Mart.
Having a three-ring binder for a prayer notebook allows you to redo pages
if
you aren't pleased with them the first time or even after you start using
them. You can also move a filled page to the back of the notebook so you
don
't have to flip through completed pages when you are praying.
The small three-ring binder size has the benefit of fitting nicely on top
of
a Bible and in a drawer or basket. Its disadvantage is that paper is less
easily available. The 8½-by-11-inch size is bigger and more awkward to
store, but paper and tabs can be purchased at places like Wal-Mart. It
also
provides more room for writing.
If even a notebook is beyond the scope of your finances, you can use
sheets
of paper stapled together for your prayer notebook. The advantage of this
is
that you can keep your prayer journal right inside your Bible - very
convenient.
Start small and simple. Grow your prayer notebook with time.
Using Your Prayer Notebook
1. Scripture decoration - In the top margin of each page of your prayer
notebook, plan to copy in a Scripture verse on prayer that is
particularly
meaningful to you. You can write them on pages you haven't begun using
yet
as well.
2. Prayer requests - In your notebook, you will list things you want to
pray
about every day plus requests that are temporary. This has to be a
reasonable list so that you can work through it during your prayer time.
When you enter something in your prayer notebook, I would suggest leaving
at
least two blank lines between entries and perhaps three. This allows you
room to write answers or updates.
3. Always date entries in your prayer notebook. This makes it a prayer
journal, in many ways, because you know when you started praying about a
particular thing, when it was answered, and how. In preparing to write up
this information, I looked back at my prayer notebooks. I discovered the
year Steve was laid off from his job and the year we made a major
curriculum
change. Those were dates we had tried to remember, but weren't able to
with
certainty.
4. Obviously, you can put as many requests in your notebook as you want.
The
caution is that you keep it simple and not too long so that you can
actually
pray through your prayer notebook each day, plus have time for anything
else
the Holy Spirit puts on your heart.
5. You will probably want a mixture of prayer requests in your notebook.
There will be important, ongoing entries for you, your family, and
ministry.
Then there will be short-term prayer requests that will be prayed for a
few
days or weeks with an outcome.
6. If you choose a loose-leaf prayer notebook, I would suggest having one
page for important, ongoing prayer, such as one page for yourself, your
husband, and your children. Then put other prayer needs on the page
immediately after those pages.
7. You can consider using two different pen colors, one for the request,
and
one for the answer. The advantage with this is that it makes seeing
requests
versus answers easy. The disadvantage is switching between pens when you
are
filling in your notebook. Also, if you lose one of the pens, and it is a
color pen you don't have many of around the house, you will be likely to
stop filling in that part of the notebook - until you get a new pen - and
who knows when that will happen.
8. Develop a system to note prayer requests when you think of them but do
not have your prayer journal handy. This is probably best done by having
notepads near the computer and the phones. If you have a prayer need come
in
via e-mail or message board, you can jot it down on a sticky note, carry
it
with you to where you have your time with the Lord, and then enter it at
a
later time.
9. Faithfully fill in answers to the prayer requests as they come. Again,
remember that simplicity is our goal. Give the date and as brief a
description as needed to understand it.
Just get started. There are drawbacks with almost any prayer
notebook/journal. Some are so complicated the user never has time to do
it.
The easy ones, like we are doing, don't have as much flexibility as far
as
categorizing and dividing up prayer time. That's okay - just do it.
Develop
the habit of entering the prayer requests, praying, and recording
answers.
Then move to more complicated prayer notebooks once those disciplines are
in
place.
I have been blessed through using my prayer notebook. It has fueled my
dependence on the Lord as I have learned to write the concerns of my
heart
in the notebook and then pray about them rather than worry. That notebook
has enabled me to consistently pray for people and issues that are near
and
dear to me. I am grateful for my special friend, Janice, who first
encouraged me to start a prayer notebook. The prayer of my heart is that
you, too, might be challenged to begin a prayer notebook, finding it a
useful tool in your spiritual walk.
Teri Maxwell
Written by Teri Maxwell, co-author with her husband, Steve, of Managers
of
Their Homes, A Practical Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian
Home-School
Families and Just Around the Corner: Encouragement and Challenge for
Homeschooling Dads and Moms and author of Homeschooling with a Meek and
Quiet Spirit.
Teri Maxwell is the mother of eight children and began homeschooling in
1985. Three of her children have graduated from homeschool, two are still
living in their home and one is married. Teri is a homeschool conference
speaker and has been writing monthly articles of encouragement for
homeschooling moms since 1990.
To subscribe to free monthly Dad's and Mom's Corner e-mails send a blank
e-mail to [email protected] and our mailing list software will
take it from there. Or you can sign the guest book at
http://www.Titus2.com.
********************************************
July Dad's Corner
What's Your Excuse?
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I have an audiocassette of a sermon by David Ring that he preached during
one of Moody Bible Institute's Founder's Week. He wove the testimony of
what
Christ did in his life throughout the message. What set his message and
life
apart from any I've heard is that Brother Ring has cerebral palsy.
He shared the tremendous struggles he has had in life. He talked of how
the
children made fun of his stammering speech and his difficulty in walking.
Most of us have had others tease us at some point in our life, but it is
likely that very few reading this have ever experienced the mockery that
David endured. Children can be cruel and can delight in making fun of
anyone, no matter how "perfect" they may be. But let children see someone
who has a real physical challenge, and they will swarm to attack like
killer
bees or sharks in a feeding frenzy. Can you imagine what it would be like
to
be around children and have great difficulty speaking clearly? What about
not being able to run and play like the other children, but instead to
have
a leg that hinders you from walking normally?
If that wasn't bad enough, both of David's parents died when he was a
child.
I believe his father died first, and David was all the more dependent on
his
mother. When his mother died, he was devastated. One of his sisters loved
him deeply and took him in. She showed him great kindness and patience as
he
was struggling greatly with the loss of his mother and the way others
treated him.
School was awful for him, and he wanted to give up. His sister kept
encouraging him that he could do it, all the while others said that he
would
never amount to anything. I'm not sure of the exact sequence, but he was
finally saved. God began working in his life, even giving him the desire
to
be a preacher. He shared, to my amazement, that other men studying to be
preachers would tell him he would never make it. He completed college,
married (and now has several children), and travels the U.S. as a
full-time
evangelist.
Religion may provide some degree of outward conformity, but Jesus Christ
not
only saves a person from hell, He also changes lives. Jesus Christ can
take
ashes and make something beautiful. Jesus Christ did a wonderful work in
David Ring's life. He took a man who was full of despair and bitterness
and
made a new creation. Jesus Christ took a man who was predisposed to a
life
of failure and rejection, and appears to be using him as a powerful
instrument to glorify Himself and challenge others in their walk.
There were several things I noticed in particular from his message that
encouraged me as a father. First is the influence we can have on those
around us when we are encouragers. It is easy to point out every time our
children fall short. The Lord used David's sister in a mighty way. She
believed in her brother and conveyed that to him over and over. When I'm
not
with my children, will their thoughts "hear" me correct them or tell them
they can succeed at something? Are they likely to see Dad as the one who
most believes in their ability to succeed? When they think of Dad, does
it
give them a feeling of assurance? Those are my desires for my children.
Along similar lines are the voices of those who told David he would never
amount to anything. Have you ever heard yourself say, "You always . . .
?" I
sure have, and I wish I could take every one of those times back. The
positive affirmations we make to our children can be quickly forgotten by
our negative global statements. If we are going to make a universal
statement, may it be one of blessing. "Son, I want you to know that every
time I see your face my heart rejoices."
Everyone on the face of the earth has areas of weakness. As I listened to
David Ring, I realized the great need to be extra patient and
understanding
with the mental and physical limitations of my children. It is easy to
let
their weaknesses become irritants instead of stimulants for us to bless
them
more. These are the areas in which they need us most. Yet, those are
often
the areas where we will lose patience first. "Charity suffereth long, and
is
kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up"
(1
Corinthians 13:4).
I suppose the greatest challenge I received from David was his desire to
be
used of God despite any difficulties he faced. "But we have this treasure
in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not
of
us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed,
but
not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed;
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the
life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).
David Ring longs to be used by God for His glory. In his physical
limitations, God gives grace. David is willing to receive God's strength
and
be used as an instrument of righteousness.
For those who are saved, we have been bought with a price, the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. "For ye are bought with a price:
therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1
Corinthians 6:20). We are no longer our own, but His. We are not on this
earth for our pleasure and entertainment, but to serve our Lord. "Ye are
bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" (1 Corinthians 7:23).
We
have daily opportunities to serve our family. The needs of our wives and
children are to come before ours. "Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25).
May each of us take a sincere appraisal of our life. One way might be to
review how we spend our time each day. Who or what is it spent on? Are we
being obedient to the Lord? Are we serving Him in gladness of heart? Are
we
serving others outside the church? Are we responding with peace and
patience
to the tribulations that come our way? Are we welcoming them as
opportunities for God to show Himself strong? If not, what is our excuse?
David certainly had a good excuse, and yet he chose to be used of God.
May
we be men of God and let Him be glorified through our willing, cheerful
obedience. What is our excuse for not being used of God?
Steve Maxwell
Written by Steven Maxwell, co-author of Managers of Their Homes, A
Practical
Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian Home-School Families, Just Around
the Corner: Encouragement and Challenge for Homeschooling Dads and Moms,
and
author of the new book entitled, Preparing Sons to Provide for a
Single-Income Family.
Steve Maxwell is the father of eight children. His family began
homeschooling in 1985. In 1997, the Lord brought Steve home to run his
own
business, and he now enjoys the privilege of working with his two adult
sons
and one adult daughter. Steve is a homeschool conference speaker and has
been writing monthly articles of encouragement for homeschooling dads
since
1990.
To subscribe to free monthly Dad's and Mom's Corner e-mails send a blank
e-mail to [email protected] and our mailing list software will
take it from there. Or you can sign the guest book at
http://www.Titus2.com.
*****************************
If you would like to stop receiving this monthly mailing, please send a
blank e-mail to [email protected] and our mailing list
software
will take it from there.
Please direct reprint inquiries to [email protected]
Selected Dad's and Mom's Corners are available at our web site:
http://www.Titus2.com
(Over five years' worth of Dad's & Mom's Corners, have been compiled into
one book entitled, Just Around the Corner: Encouragement and Challenge
for
Christian Homeschooling Dads and Moms. For more information, please visit
our web-site.)
*****************************
**All Scripture is quoted from the King James Version.
© Copyright 2002 Managers of Their Homes