Quiet Times Search

• Told his brothers to not be distressed or angry with themselves for selling him to slavery
• Purpose was to save the lives of his family - Genesis 45:5
• He saved himself a lifetime of bitterness and self-pity

• We must come to peace with the past
• Develop his perspective on the matters at hand
• Be gracious is your evaluation of others' roles
• Forgive yourself and others
• Never waste the impact that your past can have on others
• Be thankful

• Not position
  
• Not recognition
• Not performance
• Not respect

• Physical blessings
• Family blessings
• Spiritual blessings

We can not be close to God in prayer if we deal only in generalities
God indeed wants to answer our prayers - how will we know what God is doing if we pray in generalities?

Abraham - Genesis 18 - prayed to save the city if there were 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, even 10 righteous people

Our lack of specific praying reveals a distance in our relationship with God

• More specific in your gratitude - become more grateful
• More specific in confession - understand the sin you are commiting
• More specific in your requests for friends and family - see how God will work

• We always thank God - Colossians 1:3
• Overflowing with thankfulness - Colossians 2:6-7
• And be thankful - Colossians 3:15
• Being watchful and thankful - Colossians 4:2

• Answered prayer
• Blessings of family and friends
• Health
• Material blessings
• Church

Can easily become sentimental when talking about salvation:

• Family, people you are emotionally connected with
• Thinking about people in remote parts of the world
  • It would be cruel to share the gospel with someone who hadn't heard it and was saved
  • Like not throwing a life jacket because you think they will be alright
• Religous people - would you be willing to stand before God with - infant baptism or non-disciple life?

All have sin and have fallen short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23

Being "broader" than the Bible puts you on the wrong road

God will be the judge and he has given us the basis of his judgement - John 12:48

Extremes:

• We become judgmental and reason like Pharisee; we are policeman, God is the judge
• Lose our conviction religious doesn't equal salvation

• Family name, likeness, privileges,
• Inheritance - since yo are his child, everything he has belongs to you (Galatians 4:7)
• Will be with God forever - 1 Thesslonians 5:10
• Be like Christ - 1 John 3:2
• Freed from all pain, death, and suffering - Revelation 21:4
• Rewarded and reassigned positions of service
• Share in Christ's glory - Romans 8:17

• 4 commandments  - deal with your relationships with people
• 6 commandments - deal with your relationships with God
• All 10 commandments deal with relationships!

• Abraham was old
• Jacob was insecure
• Leah was unattractive
• Joseph was abused
• Moses stuttered
• Gideon was poor
• Samson was codependent
• Rahab was immoral
• David has an affair and many family problems
• Elijah was suicidal
• Jeremiah was depressed
• Jonah was reluctant
• Nomi was a widow
• John the Baptist was eccentric
• Martha worried a lot
• Samaritan women had several failed marriages
• Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered
• Zacchaeus was unpopular
• Thomas had doubt
• Paul had poor heath
• Timothy was timid

Personality

You are very unique 10^{2,400,000,000} in DNA terms
All the particles in the universe is less than 10⁷⁶

It is obvious that God loves variety
God works through different people in different ways; achieves his purpose through all - 1 Corinthians 12:6
So many personality conflicts between just the 12 disciples

It is easier to  work with the grain than against it
Mimicking someone else exactly does not work

Experiences

• Family experiences
• Education experiences
• Vocational experiences
• Spiritual experiences
• Ministry experiences
• Painful experiences

Greatest ministry comes from our most likely come from your greatest pain
God allows you to go through painful experiences for ministry of others

When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the comfort God has given us - 2 Corinthians 1:4

Paual was honest with his bouts of depression
He eventually put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us - 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

If Paul kept his experience to himslef, millions of people would have never benefitted from it

Don't waste your pain, us it to help others

David - "God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course" - Psalms 119:33
Solomon - gave us books of Proverbs filled with practical lessons

Here are some questions to help you remember the lesson God has taught us:

1. Taught us through failure
2. Taught us through a lack of money
3. Taught us through pain and sorrow
4. Taught us through waiting
5. Taught us through illness
6. Taught us through disappointment
7. Taught us through people (family, friends, church, critics)

• the lost
• the people he met and healed
• his disciples to stay faithful
• his family who thought he was crazy
• the children

Unless the Lord builds, its builder labor in vain - Psalms 127:1-2
Solomon probably knew the truth of this passage as much as anyone
He saw incrediable tragedy in his own family from the result of his father's unspiritual leadership
His family stands as a warning to all married disciples of how Satan can destroy the most precious of all human relationships

Powerful benefits of daily prayer with one another:

1. Prayer keeps your relationship spiritual focused
2. Prayer keeps us going to bed united - Ephesians 4:26-27
3. Prayer makes us more grateful
4. Prayer gives us focus and direction

Prayer in family life:

1. Nightly prayer with children from infancy
2. Daily devotionals with younger school children - 15min in the morning
3. Taking pray walks with teenage children
4. Quiet Times with one another
5. Praying as a family about major decisions and challenges
6. Praying with children after they are disciplined adds powerfullly to the impact of such training

There is no greater privilege and responsibility than to pray for our spouse and children
It boggles the imagination to see how the quality of our family life can be affected by exercise this privilege

Powerful spiritual forces of evil try to undermine God's foundational institutions like the family

Bible clearly teaches that our struggle come from the spiritual forces outside conscious perception - Ephesians 6:12
Praying sometimes make things worst (at the beginning) because Satan is on the attack

Each of us need to realize that how we pray for our spouse is limited only by our creativity
If you want the kind of relationship that God intended you to have with your wife, prayer will be a major factor in seeing that desire realized

When we have been faithful in praying for my children, we have a great sense of peace about their lives
Christian dads have a tremendous privilege and a straggering responsibilty to pray their children

• Our lives
• Our family
• Our churches
• Our cities
• Our nation
• Our world

• Physical
• Emotional
• Spiritual

• Protection from the flesh
• Protection from Satan

It is helpful to keep a separate list of needs for times of pure intercession:

• Ministry
• Neighbors
• Family
• Special Needs

Also good to have a "miracle list"

God can do anything - nothing is impossible - Luke 1:37

During difficult times, God extended a seeming impossible invitation:
Jerusalem was under attack from the Babylonians and the city was destroyed

Call to me and I will answer with great and unsearchable things  - Jeremiah 33:3
God promised healing,  forgiveness, and cleansing to Israel - Jeremiah 33:6-9

He can do immeasurably more than what we can ask - Ephesians 3:20

We know God can do anything; we just don't know if he will do them

Kids who are showered with love must be taught to give it away
Otherwise they will become selfish, aloof, and arrogant
God commands us to love hime in return

Love and concern for others should be talked about often
Children learn to love by helping - capable of so much more than we think

We can do far too much for them - creates self-centeredness
They way we treat others is the way we treat Jesus - Matthew 25:34-40

The whole family is an instrument of God - God will use in us is a dark and lost world

Discipline your son and he will give you give - Proverbs 29:17

From the very beginning children should learn to obey
Should be a habit and a pattern = happy family

Our will and word will be supreme
We should not expect to have to tell them again

Repeating ourselves and louder each time is not true obedience - find ourselves frustrated, weary, and resentful