A Call for Moms to PRAY!

I am sure by this point in your life you have heard of the book Power of a Praying Wife, by Stormie O’Martin. She has gone on to write Power of a Praying Mother, Parent, Woman, Man, Husband and almost every aspect you can think of. The principle is the same. We must take time to pray for the ones we love and care for the most. Scripture even tells us to pray for our enemies…Stormie O’Martin hasn’t written that book yet.
This school year 2008-2009 I am excited to lead a prayer group for my children’s school Marguerite Vann Elementary in Conway Arkansas. The prayer group is called Moms in Touch International. This is an international organization of women (moms in particular) who meet on a weekly basis for one hour to pray about their children and schools. The vision of Moms in Touch is that every school in the world would be covered with prayer. What an awesome vision.
Moms in Touch International (MITi) teaches moms how to pray scripture over their children and the school. When the group prays they concentrate on one subject at a time. MITi uses four steps of prayer Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, & Intercession. We use scripture to guide us through prayer and praise concerning a specific attribute of God. I greatly enjoy this process, because in praise we are able to see what God’s word says about Himself. It builds our confidence in Him as one who we can take our burdens and cares to because He can handle them. Confession is important! Confessed sin literally crushes the power of sin in the life of the believer. So, we give thanks to God who has forgiven our sins. We take this time to thank Him for prayers answered. Remember, answered prayers help us to understand that the Lord does hear our cries. Now that we have identified who God is, confessed our sin and drawn closer to the Lord with thanksgiving, we are able to make intercession for the lives of our children and their teachers/staff.
What should I pray for my children?
v Pray for their relationship with Christ
That they Know, Honor, Love, & Worship Christ
v Pray for godly attributes
Respect authority, love others, hate sin, are self controlled, exhibit fruit of the Spirit
v Pray for relationships with family
Honor their Mother and Father, are kind towards siblings, accept discipline and are obedient
v Pray for relationships with friends
That they would choose godly friends, be a witness to the lost within their peer group, stand firm in their faith convictions and withstand peer pressure, and befriend the lonely
v Pray for protection
From Satan, sin, drugs, victimization, in purity, physical danger
v Pray for the future
The kind of person they will be as adults, for wisdom, career paths, and that they would use their abilities for Glorify Christ in every way!

Mom, if not you then who will pray for the hearts and lives of your children? If you are interested in finding a local MITi group near you visit http://www.momsintouch.org/. Let’s commit the lives of our children to their Creator. Your children are gifts on loan to you by God, be a good steward of their heart, mind, body, and soul. Give them to the LORD in prayer!

Submission: A Woman's High Calling!

On July 2 -July 5, 2008 my family and I had the privilege to participate in the first Family Driven Faith family camp hosted by Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr. in Sandia, Texas (Zephyr Baptist Encampment). We gathered as families to worship Christ, fellowship, break bread, encourage, and enjoy each other through a host of activities. These four days were packed full of God’s word in didactic and visual instruction. In this blog I will share a portion of what I learned at this camp as a woman through the Scriptures.
This information will be life changing. What will you do? How do you view yourself as a Christian woman in light of our current culture? I found that more often then not Christian women can’t identify what God says because they believe what the culture says. We tend to believe what we see and not what God says. Why is that? First we don’t read Scripture in its proper context. We superimpose our modern worldview on Scripture, instead of being transformed by the renewing of the mind in Christ to understand the script. So women this is for you!

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that man be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”…But for Adam there was not a helper fit for him….And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Genesis 2:18; 20b; 22 ESV

For man was not from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 1 Corinthians 11:8-9 ESV

Women were created for the man! Through these two passages of Scripture in the Old and the New Testament, we clearly see that the very creation of the woman was for the man. Woman was a gift to man from the very beginning. The woman is the glory of the husband. (1 Corinthians 11:7) God saw that man needed a helper and provided the woman. This in no way changes the fact that women were made to worship the true and living God. Remember, the woman is a helper to the man created by God! Our worship as women belongs to God and God alone. Our service as women belongs to our husband. If you are not married then your service is to your parents until you are wed.

Women are to BE, submissive, self controlled, humble and quiet. This list speaks of the character of the woman. A woman can only be submissive and quiet if she has self control. The term submission in Scripture is actually a military term that means “rank.” So as a woman, we are to rank ourselves under our husbands. That means whether we think he is right or wrong, we submit to his authority that has been given by the living God. I pulled these character traits because they hit me the hardest. However I will only tackle them one entry at a time.

Submission to our husband is a command given to women by God. Everything has its place. If my knee thought it better to function as the bicep, how would by body maintain motion? My whole body would suffer as a result of that knee functioning a way other than its intended purpose. So I have learned it is best to stay in my place and function how God created me as a woman, wife and mother.

As we dig a litter deeper underneath the surface, we not only need to submit in deed but in our hearts and minds. Many women will submit to their husbands without proper respect in their hearts. Following his instruction while saying to a girlfriend or just in your mind that he is dumb and this is stupid…. IS SIN! I know those are strong words but it is very much the truth. Submission is an action, but more than that it is an attitude of the heart. The Lord says he will give His children a new heart. If you have found yourself in sin concerning this area ask the Lord to give you a new heart, and transform your mind. Please note that this is a daily walk. You will not just be changed and never sin again. The Scripture in 1 John 2:1 teaches us that when we do sin we have an advocate with the Father, who is Jesus Christ. Dear sister run to the Savior daily that you might find joy in who and how He has created you. The humble, quiet, submissive, and self controlled woman who is the crowning glory of her husband.