"No Mader Where you Our"

My oldest son is seven.  Last night as we were praying in the back yard around the little fire pit, Isaac decided to pray for one of our neighbors.  

Isaac: "Dad, is something wrong with so and so?"  

Dad: "Why do you ask?"

Isaac: "He doesn't say much.  Dad, I think he's sad.  I think something happened in his life."

Dad:  We need to have him over sometime don't we so we can hear his story.

We pray and Isaac prays for our neighbor.

Isaac:  Dad, I think our neighbor needs a card.  Can I stay up and make him one?

Dad:  If that is what you think God would want you to do.

Isaac: (20 minutes later)  Dad, here is my card, look it says:  "Dear so and so, we love you.  nomader were you our.  We hope you com here soon!!!  love Isaac. (In Isaac's spelling and with a picture of the neighbors house, the neighbor, his dog...and Isaac standing by his side.)

Dad:  That is great buddy, I know he'll love it.

Isaac:  My favorite part is where it says, "No matter where you are."  (Grinning ear to ear)

God is working his compassion into a young heart.  One of the Lord's little ones is teaching his dad simple ways to love our neighbor.  Isaac's motivation is not to convert our neighbor, but to simply love our neighbor.  There is something that feels holy and pure about this.  

God, may you raise up this next generation to be who notices that people may have had "something happen in their life" and be willing to cross  fences in an act of innocent love.

Faithful Opponents

1 Kings 1:9-10 reminds me that God's gift to me on any team is a "faithful opponent".  This is someone whom I trust and respect but also has ability to frustrate me because they ask the right questions.  The questions I am referring to are not just ones of wisdom, logic, experience, or clarity.   No, these are the questions or statements that challenge me to consider my values, convictions, and the implications of my course of direction.  These are the questions that cause me to slow down and consider the people around me rather than simply the outcomes.  Thse are the sorts of questions that at times hurt my pride, challenge my decisions, and come at the issue from another angle.  

Adonijah does just what I have done many times in the past (and I'm sure a will do a few more times in the future).  He avoids consulting his faithful opponents.  He doesn't ask for their council.  He doesn't even invite them to the meeting because he knows that they will spoil his current leadership trajectory.  And by not doing so, Adonijah brings great shame and nearly death to himself and to those who followed him.

If you have a "faithful opponent" on your team, they probably have a tendency to frustrate you.  I challenge you to thank God for them today and the gift they are at causing you to see all sides of a decision, their ability to slow you down to have you evaluate how the decision aligns with your stated values,  walk humbly and purely before those you lead, and most of all, point you heavenward whether directly or indirectly. 

If you don't have any "faithful opponents" on your team, I encourage you to find one.

Displease your Children

 I Kings 1:5-6 are  great verses to motivate me as a parent to "displease" my children.  Obviously, this is not my hope in parenting, but there is something important to see here.  Adonijah's arrogant behavior is explained by the actions of his farther "never to displease him by asking "why are you doing that?"  Instruction over impatient denial (i.e."No, because I said so!) or mere destructive appeasing (i.e."Fine, you can have one more.") takes time, consistency,courage, thoughtfulness, love, and a Godward view of parenting (and at times a tough skin).  I encourage those of us who are parents to read 1 Kings 5:6 often as we raise our children.  

Priority of Prayer

"Prayer cannot be retired to a secondary force in the world  To do so is to retire God from moving in our lives.  It is to make God secondary.  The prayer ministry is an all-engaging force; it must be all engaging to be a force at all.  Prayer is the sense of a need for God and the call for God's help to supply that need.  How we estimate and place prayer is how we estimate and place God.  To give prayer a secondary place is to make God secondary in life's affairs." - E.M. Bounds - The Weapon of Prayer

"How we estimate and place prayer is how we estimate and place God."  I believe this to be true.  A few years ago I remember reading this and realizing that to overlook prayer is both incredibly prideful and incredibly foolish.

May our student ministries, churches and families be filled with men and women who elevate prayer and in so doing elevate the supremacy of God in their lives and ministries.

Do you agree with Bound's statement here concerning prayer's priority?  What are you currently learning and practicing in the area of prayer?