Youth Sunday School

Youth Sunday School, a photo by J. Benton Adams Photography on Flickr.

The Prayer Principles

Being a Christian means that we are in a battle. Every since he fell from heaven, satan has made himself an enemy to God and to His prized creation, mankind. In Ephesians 6, our Father has given us the tools that we need to win. One of our weapons is prayer.

There are 3 principles to a successful prayer life.

 

There is a time to talk.
God is our source. He holds the keys to the universe in His hands. He is the Creator. When we have doubts, concerns, and questions, He is the one that we should run to. In fact, He is anxiously waiting to hear from His children. It is a shame that some of us only talk to Him before we eat or only when there is a dire emergency.

I believe that God desire to have a running, consistent, conversation with us just like He did with Adam and Eve in the garden. You shouldn't just always run to Him with your laundry list of requests. Prayer is our opportunity to tell God how much we love Him and how grateful we are for all that He has done in our lives. It is also time for us to tell Him how much we look forward to what He is going to do in the future.

We should most definitely tell God how we feel if there are things in our lives that are making us nervous or afraid. As a matter of fact, we should bring all of our burdens and concerns to Him. The great thing about this transaction is that we can bring them to Him and leave them right there. He will deal with everything that concerns us and perfect them all.

 

There is also a time to listen.
Conversations between two parties are usually more effective when there is only one person speaking at a time. Sometimes our problem is that we spend all of our prayer time talking. We have to tell God all about everyone and everything that has been getting on our nerves. We have to tell Him about the guy that honked his horn at us on the expressway. And we also have to tell Him about our mean boss and nosy neighbors.

We even spend a great deal of time in prayer telling God how wonderful He is and thanking Him for all His wonderful blessings. The moment we get exhausted from talking for 30 minutes straight, our time in prayer is over. We never even give God 5 seconds to talk to us.

Prayer is a 2-way street, and we have to give God ample opportunity to speak to us. We should never jump to our feet without getting some sort of response. He may not always respond in the way we want but we must give Him room to be God. Sometimes we are afraid of what the answer might be. Sometimes we jump to conclusions about what He was going to say.

 

There is a time to act.
Once we have brought our petitions to God and once we have given Him room to respond, we must not stop there. We must allow the connection to God through prayer to give us the strength to act upon what He has said to us. There may be a time after prayer that we may need to call a friend or loved one that we haven't spoken to in years. There also may be opportunities to witness to a co-worker.

On the flip side, there may be times of distress coming where we need to act calm and rational. Our connection with God through prayer will show us how to act peaceful. Whatever the situation may call for, like in any war or battle, we must be prepared for action.

There is an ongoing effort by our enemy to destroy us or, at the very least, hinder our progress. When we learn who we are and all the advantages we have with prayer as a weapon we can cause mountains of despair and confusion to be cast into the sea of forgetfulness. When we connect to God through prayer we maintain our status as more than conquerors. The power of prayer is our weapon of choice.

Artis L. Smith

Reading Is Fundamental

I have this small problem. (Maybe you can help me!)

It's a problem I've had for as long as I can remember. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to shake it off. It has frustrated my wife for a while now, and quite recently, even my children have begun suffering because of it. I know I need to get some help.

Now they say confession is good for the soul, so I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot. Besides, if there's anyone I can trust my problems to, it's Christians right? (smile!)

Here's my problem: I hate reading manuals.

That's right. Whether it's a new television or DVD player. A new cell phone or laptop.
Or maybe even a new toy or bike for the kids. No matter the situation, I have embraced this warped sense of pride that reading manuals are somehow completely unnecessary.

They seem beneath me. Way too time-consuming. A viable threat to my ability to be a man. (See, I told you I had a problem!)

I have discovered, after all my attempts to program the things around me, that life would be a whole lot simpler if I had taken the time out to read the manuals. Despite the times when I feel I can just glean on my previous successes, it is foolish for me to continue to assume I will ever know more about a product than the builder or company who created it.

I wonder how many "crashes" I could have avoided, if I took the time to read and discover whether or not those new programs (and people) I was trying to "download" into my life, had old systems that were no longer compatible to where I was going?

Or I wonder how many "holes" I could have avoided hammering into the "walls" of my heart, had I just taken the time out to read and discover that there are some dreams I have regarding my life that need "stronger anchors" to hold up?

One of the most avoided manuals in the history of mankind is The Word of God.

Inspired and written by the greatest Builder and Manufacturer the world has ever known, The Word of God (also known as The Bible) has a wonderful disclaimer for people like me who tend to live life trying to figure it out as we go:  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

What a wonderful assurance it is to know that God, the author and finisher of our faith, has created a manual for you and I that will help provide us with the reproof, correction, and instruction we need to program and repair everything we need in our daily lives.

His instructions are visible. His paths are clear. And his customer service is top-notch and always available to us, even when life seems to be labeled: some assembly required.

So the next time you go to flick the light on and the microwave comes on, or try to turn on the television set, only to discover you've opened up the garage: try to relax.

Life can get chaotic like that sometimes. But isn't good to know that God has already laid out a plan for our lives, full with step-by-step details equipping us for every good work.

Because when it comes to our faith and walk with Him, reading is fundamental.

Artis L. Smith

A Word To Father

New Hope as Fathers, everything we do in regards to our children should be done out of the love of God, and not just for our benefit. Love is not self-seeking, and so everything we do as a Father should be for their benefit. 

The Word instructs you to bring your children up tenderly, so you have to monitor everything you're doing with your child. You almost need to have a kind of love meter to see how many things you're doing that are out of God's love versus how many things you're doing just for yourself.

You need to be diligent and pay attention to how you're raising and training your children to make sure that everything you do with them is out of the love of God. Now, I know that's easier said than done. You're talking about every day of your life, but the Bible teaches us we're supposed to walk in love every day anyway.

That's not a new commandment. And that surely includes loving your child.

We as Fathers have to take this business of training our children up seriously. Many of us are very successful in our fields because we're detailed, diligent, and focused. We don't miss anything. And thank God for the achievements that we have, but the day is going to come where all that is going to pass away. But what you do with your children will last forever.

So if you're going to be detailed and focused in whatever your career area is, you should absolutely be like that with your children. The Bible says that a Father who has produced a righteous son will greatly rejoice. Why is that? Because the way your children turn out has a great impact on you.

So when you see them living a righteous life, mighty before God, producing for God, and prospering in every area--you'll rejoice!

God wants you to make sure they become righteous for their benefit and also for yours. The job you do as a parent will determine your future prosperity. One of the things that will cause you to rejoice is that your child is living right before God, and staying on the path that God has for them.

Your children are part of your prosperity.

Scripture Of The Day: "Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord." - Ephesians 6:4 (AMP)

 

Happy Father’s Day

Artis L. Smith

The Bible is Your Instruction Book

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. 1 Peter 2:1-2 (KJV)

Before we were saved, we were easily filled with anger, easily filled with wrath, even with malice. There were times when we just felt mean. Nobody did anything to us, but we just did something to somebody because we felt like doing it. Now that we are born again, we must put away anger, wrath, and malice.

Malice is an intent to commit an unlawful act or to cause harm without justification. Now some folks are just downright mean. Do you know anybody like that? They can be downright ornery. They have no reason to plot to do something against somebody, but they do it anyway.

It is unfortunate, but before we were saved, we acted with malice. This is a non-Christian behavior. But now that we are saved, it is time to put that away. Christians do not plot to harm other people with or without reason. Christians think the best of every person. And since you are thinking the best instead of harm, you are planning blessings for others, with or without reason.

Children get angry and act with malice like that all the time because they have not been taught yet. They haven't learned how to resist the enemy and how to flow in God's love. So, you will see a kid and nobody has done anything to that kid. But that kid will sit there and plan how to 'do in' somebody, and then he will do it. Have you ever watched what two and three year olds will do to each other? One kid will be playing by himself, and another kid will set a trap for him. Or he might come over there and whop the other kid upside the head for no reason. That is the nature of sin. Those are the clothes that you had on coming into this world.

But it is time to put on some new clothes now. You are no longer of this world now that you are born again. You are in this world, but you are not of this world. Therefore, you do not operate the way the world operates. You have a different instruction book. It is called the Bible. And the Bible will help you to put off that old way of malice and put on the new way of love.

Scripture References: John 10:10; 1 Corinthians 5:8; Colossians 3:8

Artis L. Smith

The Difference Between Being Lost and Being Led

 "Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness”  (Exodus 15:22).

Many people who find themselves stuck in difficult situations often feel as if they've become lost.  Somehow, they've arrived in a wilderness where everything has dried up and nothing seems to be growing.  Many of them have lived in this wilderness for so long that they have given up on things changing and concluded that this must be all God has in store for them.  On numerous occasions, they have attempted to change their situation, but all of their efforts have failed.  If this sounds like you, you may not be lost at all!  You may be squarely within the Will of God.  All dry places in life are not the result of being lost.  Sometimes God uses dry places as a place of preparation. 

In Exodus 3:8, when God met Moses at the burning bush, He told him that He was going to deliver His people from bondage and into a land flowing with "milk and honey”.   Yet, we know when God delivered His people from bondage, He led them directly into a "wilderness” where they spent 40 years.   We know that their wilderness experience had a purpose because the Bible tells us that there was a shorter route available that they could have taken and avoided the wilderness altogether. Exodus 13:17 says, "God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near."  

Whenever God leads you some where He has a purpose and a predestined place for you, even if the route is a long or a dry one. 

Often, your wilderness is the doorway to your promise.  At the initiation of Jesus' public ministry He was led into the wilderness first before He ever preached a sermon.  If you are in a wilderness right now, remember what you learned while there because it will be necessary to sustain you in your Promised Land.  Don't faint or lose heart.  You may be at the door of your promise and purpose.  You may not have been lost at all.  You may have simply been led!

Artis L. Smith

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