Category: Education

Household Prayer: community, love one another

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

1 John‬ ‭4:11‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/1jn.4.11.ESV

Brothers, today I’m praying for the community. Praying that we love and serve one another in the grace and mercy of God because He first loved us. Every family in our CC community will have joys and challenges and I pray we love and serve one another and rejoice and morn with one another. Finally, I pray that our love for one another in our community would bear witness to the love of God in the larger community.

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us…
We love because he first loved us…
And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

‭1 John‬ ‭4:9-12, 19, 21‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/1jn.4.9-21.ESV

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Hebrews‬ ‭10:23-25‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/heb.10.23-24.ESV

Household Prayer: faith to upend the world

“And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,”

Acts 17:6 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/act.17.6.ESV

Praying that we embrace “[our] responsibility to raise up the next generation to know Christ and His world… steeping them in the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christ and His ways… training them to believe and obey the King of the world.” (1)

I pray that we and our children would “follow Jesus at all times and in all places… in marriage, vocation, education, military service, recreation, financial exchanges, and political decisions.” (1)

And I pray that our faith would be so strong that like Paul and the other Apostles people would say “These men.. have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6 ) and that our witness would “shutdown the very industry of idol making (Acts 19:27).” (1)

““Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it … You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Deuteronomy 6:1, 7 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/deu.6.1-7.ESV

“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,”

Psalm 24:1 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.24.1.ESV

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Matthew 28:18 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.28.18.ESV

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:10 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.6.10.ESV

1. “Strong and Courageous: following Jesus amid the rise of America’s new religion” https://press.founders.org/shop/strong-and-courageous/

Household Prayer: eternal focus

Brothers, today I’m praying that we would be living for eternity and that our children would come to know that they are eternal souls. I pray that we can represent God and His eternal Kingdom well and that they would be more esteemed than the things of this temporary world.

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

Mark‬ ‭8:34-38‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/mrk.8.34-38.ESV

“Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”

Psalm 34:11 ESV https://www.bible.com/59/psa.34.11.esv

Fear God

“He is an awesome God. He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). He is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). He makes mountains smoke (Psalm 104:32). He makes the waters divide. He created man from the dust. He gives life and breath to every living thing. And He has condescended to speak to us. If we do not fear God, then we cannot raise a generation to fear Him.”

Strong and Courageous: following Jesus amid the rise of America’s new religion https://press.founders.org/shop/strong-and-courageous/

Household prayer: providence and the work of our hands

Brothers, I’m praying our children will see God’s hand, His work and His power, in history. And I pray they will see their part in His story. Bless the work of our hands, Lord, to educate and instruct our children in the knowledge of God!

“Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”

Psalm‬ ‭90:16-17‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.90.16-17.ESV

“For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”

‭Psalm‬ ‭95:3-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.95.3-6.ESV

Household Prayer: image bearers on earth

This week I just want to share the prayer I shared at the foundations/essentials parents meeting.

https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.6.10.ESV

“And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”” Matthew 22:20-21 ESV

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:26-27 ESV

“but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”” Matthew 19:14 ESV

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 ESV

Heavenly Father, thank you that we are yours, that we have your likeness and image upon us. Thank you that our children bear your image, your inscription.

And thank you Lord that if we place our faith and trust in your Son we are forgiven and sealed with the Holy Spirit. 

Holy Spirit lead us in your truth. Help us with our faith and obedience as we seek to do your will here on earth as it is in heaven.

Heavenly Father bless our community, help us live in obedience and display love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. 

Help us as we instruct and educate our children to know you, and help us equip our children to make you known in this world. Thank you, Lord, that our children belong to you.

For your glory God because you first loved us. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray – Amen

“Some things – educating the young, caring for the old or ill – might be just too precious to leave to the care of impersonal institutions. Other things might be just too risky to fully outsource – things like food security and sources of income are moving closer to home…

exercising dominion, as in the dominion the first household was given, and as Tom Bombadil, in The Lord of the Rings, lives it out in Middle Earth. Now, I know what you’re thinking – domination is bad. But the word dominion shares a common root with the Latin word for home, domus, from which we get the word domesticity. Tom Bombadil’s dominion is not over other people but over his own home domain.”

“Households Are Back” By C. R. Wiley https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/work/households-are-back

Household Prayer: fruit of the spirit

Hey brothers, hoping and praying you are well. It’s been tough getting the school discipline fired back up. I admittedly didn’t exhibit the fruit of the spirit well this week, so I’m praying for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Praying to keep the focus on knowing God and making Him known in the instruction of our children, equipping them to hold firm in the faith as they become His ambassadors and witness in the world. I pray for each of you as well. For His glory!

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/gal.5.22-23.ESV

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

John 15:8 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.15.8.ESV
https://www.ltw.org/read/my-devotional/2021/08/give-god-credit

Education from Worship

If our purpose is to glorify and worship God and enjoy him forever, then education, as with all aspects of life, should be an expression of that worship.

True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…

John 4:21-24

“What is the chief end [or purpose] of man? Man’s chief end [or purpose] is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” – A Baptist Catechism, question 2

“God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and truth – daily in each family and privately by each individual.” – 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, 22:6

“Worship is central to life; therefore, it is central to education for that life… education and learning follow worship and proceed from it… education that does not begin and end in heaven is not true education.” – Wilson, The Case for Classical Christian Education

“Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels that you may…

tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.

Psalm 48:12-14
https://www.ltw.org/read/my-devotional/2021/07/christ-is-counter-cultural

Education is Warfare – Disciple the Nations – SexEd?

Education is warfare

We, Christian families and the Church, are called to disciple all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them all of God’s commands.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28:19-20‬ ‭ESV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/59/mat.28.19-20.esv

Why such a focus on sex in government education? Is education primarily sexual?!?

“New York Times Shocked: Parents Oppose ‘Porn Literacy’ In Schools” https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-times-shocked-parents-oppose-porn-literacy-in-schools

We Will Not Be Silenced: Responding Courageously to Our Culture’s Assault on Christianity
by Erwin W. Lutzer

“A reminder that “secular” doesn’t mean neutral. As Jesus said “Whoever is not with me is against me…” (Mathew 12:30). Secular means anti-God. A reminder public school education is not neutral. Everyone has a worldview, a religion, through which they see the world around them. Teachers are not neutral. Curricula are not neutral. Don’t be shocked when a secular curricula does not promote Christian morality. Without God’s absolute Word as the foundation, anything goes. Parents are now seeing “secular” for what it really is.” Ken Ham https://twitter.com/aigkenham/status/1415989585117646848?s=21

Government schools claim to be neutral, but they are not. They are promoting a worldview, a godless religion. “The Christian faith is not a condiment to be used to flavor the neutral substance of secular knowledge. Paul tells us that every thought is to be made captive to Christ (2 For. 10:1-4)… Jesus said we are to disciple the nations, and to the extent that we see anything out of line with His Word, we are to call that into obedience.” (The Case for Classical Christian Education by Doug Wilson)

Is our children’s education grounded on the Truth? Are we making disciples? Or is our faith in Jesus Christ just a condiment squirted on a pagan education?

Household Prayer – 3/30/2021

“For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.””

‭Genesis‬ ‭18:19‬ ‭ESV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/59/gen.18.19.esv

Brothers, today I’m praying for our households. Praying that we would be set apart and dependent on the Lord in community with our church, including our CC community.

The link below is a video reviewing the diary of a young man and his household from the 1800s with a lesson for us as men today. I find it fascinating and inspiring. My personal family vision is to leave a Godly legacy. Working that out over the last 16 years has evolved into the practical theology of building a Godly household. I’ve spent the last 2-3 years considering what a Godly household is from Scripture. Some thoughts on it are to be “set apart” (holy, set apart for God) and “dependent on no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). To be builders and producers. To be fruitful, fill the earth, and take dominion (Gen. 1:28; Gen. 2:15; Gen. 14:4; Gen. 18:19; Jeremiah 29:4-7; Matt. 28:18-20). I have a long way to go. I hope the video is encouraging to you as well.

Household: (Hebrew: bayit) family, estate, dynasty, armory, clan, strong fortress.

Economy: Latin from the Greek oikonomia, oikos: household, nemein: manage, or household management.

youtu.be/AeJYrkxY74s

Reform the Church and ReEnchant the World with God’s Truth and Grace!

Enchant (latin: encantio): to speak meaning into.

If the church is not reenchanting this fallen world with God’s truth and grace, then it is being disenchanted with the lies of Satan!

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
– Romans 10:14-15

Prayer, public witness of the church, and proclaiming God’s truth and grace.

Why are we here (in this sin fallen world)? 
To bear witness to God and His truth and grace. 
To make disciples of all nations.
Matthew 28:18-20

Why are we here (on the sidewalk outside an abortion clinic)? 
To bear witness to God and His truth and grace. 
To love the captive soul and to preach the good news!
Romans 10:14-15

What message are we sharing and bearing witness to? 
There is a God that created the heavens and the earth.
We humans are created in His image.
We are sinners, we have rebelled against Him, and justly deserve our due punishment of death and damnation.
But God is merciful and loving. 
Jesus is God the only begotten Son and He took our punishment upon Himself in our place.
Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death and securing the hope of our salvation.
We need only confess our sins, proclaim Jesus is lord and savior, and repent and we will be forgiven our sins and have life ever after!
Romans 3:10-18, 23
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
John 3:16-21
Ephesians 2:1-10

Leviticus 18:21; Matt. 5:17-19; Acts 2:37-41

HouseHold Prayer 2/18/21

If we have assumed… that our children learned what they needed to know simply by ecclesial and cultural osmosis, let us be clear that we may hold this assumption no longer. Now is not the time to play down our doctrine of mankind; now is the time to teach it with confidence and with joy, seeking to be witnesses to fellow sinners and guides to all God’s flock.

“Reenchanting Humanity: a theology of mankind” by Owen Strachan

Brothers, I was reading in Numbers 14, “And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.” Numbers‬ ‭14:31, 33‬.

I feel the time is short. I don’t want my children to suffer because of my faithlessness to prepare them. I want to walk with my children out into the ministry to be a witness, to go and make disciples, and to be an ambassador for our King and His Kingdom in this foreign land! To instruct and disciple them to stand firm in the faith, being bold with God’s truth and grace, even in a culture of growing hostility.

Pray for the motivation and energy to make discipleship a priority in our lives and in our homes. To lead by example. Pray that we would not be distracted by lessor things.

Read Numbers 14.

I’ll share opportunities for public witness and discipleship during the current 40 Days for Life campaign when the temps warm up a bit. I know making it out during the work day with your family is hard, but it is the best time to be a witness when Planned Parenthood is open, and it opens amazing discipleship opportunities with your children. Take a long lunch if you can. (Just encouraging in love, no condemnation if you can’t make it out! Find other opportunities.)

“We have raised a generation on youth group skits and entertainment, failing to prepare them for the cost and battle of public witness to Christ… ‘Do not try to hide your children from the world forever, but do not try to pretend there is no danger. Train them. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous. Make them yeast, and when they’ve grown, they will pollute the shadows.’”

– Strong and Courageous: Following Jesus Amid the Rise of America’s New Religion https://press.founders.org/shop/strong-and-courageous/

“We have to change our church philosophy from telling to training… ‘Jesus had twelve men with whom he traveled and lived for three years, and even they did not understand nor act on all He taught them. Jesus knew that disciples are best made by life on life interaction, living transparently, watching and observing, along with extensive times of question and answer. And we must do the same. His last words were to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” We have to stop emphasizing an “attractional” model and adopt a training and sending model of church philosophy’… Discipleship is not just what you know; it is a lifestyle lived.”

— The Church in Babylon: Heeding the Call to Be a Light in the Darkness by Erwin W. Lutzer https://a.co/3ezHHzp

We have been told that we people are the chance result of impersonal chaos working its dark magic on the universe… The outcome of such thinking? Humanity is disenchanted…

But this is not the biblical account of man… God, the beautiful one, made the human race as his capstone work, his corporeal masterpiece (Ps 8:3-6; 27:4) … The imago dei marks out humanity as an enchanted race. Tragically, humanity disenchanted itself by following the anti-wisdom of the serpent…

If we have assumed… that our children learned what they needed to know simply by ecclesial and cultural osmosis, let us be clear that we may hold this assumption no longer. Now is not the time to play down our doctrine of mankind; now is the time to teach it with confidence and with joy, seeking to be witnesses to fellow sinners and guides to all God’s flock.

“Reenchanting Humanity: a theology of mankind” by Owen Strachan

Reform the Church and ReEnchant the World with God’s Truth and Grace!

Enchant (latin: encantio): to speak meaning into.

If the church is not reenchanting this fallen world with God’s truth and grace, then it is being disenchanted with the lies of Satan!

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
– Romans 10:14-15

Prayer, public witness of the church, and proclaiming God’s truth and grace.

Why are we here (in this sin fallen world)? 
To bear witness to God and His truth and grace. 
To make disciples of all nations.
Matthew 28:18-20

Why are we here (on the sidewalk outside an abortion clinic)? 
To bear witness to God and His truth and grace. 
To love the captive soul and to preach the good news!
Romans 10:14-15

What message are we sharing and bearing witness to? 
There is a God that created the heavens and the earth.
We humans are created in His image.
We are sinners, we have rebelled against Him, and justly deserve our due punishment of death and damnation.
But God is merciful and loving. 
Jesus is God the only begotten Son and He took our punishment upon Himself in our place.
Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death and securing the hope of our salvation.
We need only confess our sins, proclaim Jesus is lord and savior, and repent and we will be forgiven our sins and have life ever after!
Romans 3:10-18, 23
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
John 3:16-21
Ephesians 2:1-10

Leviticus 18:21; Matt. 5:17-19; Acts 2:37-41