For the Generation To Come

It is Good to Thirst is a great word over at challies.com. I have just purchased the book “Desiring God” by John Piper partly due to the reviews through the challies and the discerningreader.com site. At first, I was puzzled at why so many seemed to be recomending this book as one of their favorites. I guess it seemed to me to be a book preaching how to be happy, but I think I missed the point entirely! As God so often does, as soon as I said this to myself He began to show me how I was delighting myself in so many other things. Good things, relationships, children…but not in Him. I became dissappointed in so many of my things and how they were not going the way I wanted. But I needed to be dissappointed to see that I was not delighting in the Lord! So now I eagerly look forward to curling up in bed tonight to start reading the book “Desiring God” and prayerfully set my heart to desire and delight in Him.

I have three CD’s from Charles Billingsley. Most of his songs are sung to God as opposed to songs about God, which I love. When thinking about discouragement earlier, God brought to mind his song, “Willing to Be Weak.” When we are weak, then we can see God’s strength like never before. When we get to the end of ourselves…then we can let God. That’s where we are supposed to be all the time…we just get in the way! It’s hard to tell God that you are willing to be weak…oh, but to feel His strength!

Starting a new school year comes with lots of excitement and planning…and then it starts…and things don’t go the way we envision. Discouragement comes to all of us…life happens…there is no perfect day. But I don’t believe that discouragement and fear come from God. The enemy does not want us to succeed. We need to put on our armor! Spending time in the Word is the first thing that seems to get squeezed out of my schedule when life happens. Then a domino effect comes in to play…and then the whole world seems to come crashing down. No, it’s not that bad…maybe hormones play a little role! I found encouragement today reading this article about Homeschool Burnout, maybe you will too.

I thought I’d share what me and my kids do for our time of devotion in the morning. This is what we started doing early this year…although, we weren’t very faithful through the summer. I ask my older kids (11 & 13) to read at least one chapter in the bible every day. They can pick wherever they want to read…but they must start with chapter 1 and keep reading in that book until they finish. Then they are to journal a few sentences about something they learned, a command they should obey, a promise from God, or just whatever.

Since we started using the SOW curriculum this fall for school, I have changed their journaling up a little. They are to write PRAYS letters each day as outlined in SOW. Each letter stands for something different. So on Monday it is a Praise letter; Tuesday a Repent letter; Wednesday an Ask letter; Thursday a Yield letter; and Friday a Supplication letter. The directions for each letter ask them to think about their bible reading when answering the questions and writing their prayer letters. Hopefully this will help give them a model by which to learn to pray.

I just started reading Acts this week, and am trying out using the prayer letters. I’m not sure I like doing them myself, but I do like it for them. In the past I have tried reading a portion of Psalms and rewrote a few verses in my own words as a Praise to God and then journaled about whatever else I read and what I thought I could learn from the passage. I think I like this better…but we’ll see.

Having a quiet time has always been a struggle. I don’t think I’m the only one.
Check out what Tim has to say, it will give you something to think about!