Are You Willing?

Jesus was not merely with His disciples in his spare time. Mark 3:14 says, "Then He appointed the twelve that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach." The idea of "Quality Time" is one of the great lies of our times; our "microwave" approach to discipleship is not working. Like our Lord, parents who disciple like Jesus will sacrifice time, careers, hobbies, prestige, money, entertainment and possessions in order to be with their children. "Quantity Time" is what it takes to build deep relationships. Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 16:24-25). Are you willing to lose your life in order to follow Jesus and disciple your children?

---from the book Disciple Like Jesus For Parents

Have Dinner with Your Children.

Nothing says "I truly care about you" more than spending dinnertime with your children at least five nights a week. More than any other day-to-day behavior, parents who dine with their children produce healthier adults because it sends a clear signal that their children are a high priority. Parents who miss dinner--no matter what the excuse--are sending the wrong message, and that message is unfortunately being heard loud and clear.   --From Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

Busyness: The Thief of Family Memories

The following article examines our busy lifestyles and how we may make better choices.

Busyness: The Thief of Family Memories

Quality vs. Quantity

Hey Dads! Happy Fathers Day!


If you are looking for ways to spend time with your kids check out the link below. 


Remember, you can't have QUALITY time without QUANTITY time! When you spend QUANTITY time with your children chances are you will be there for those QUALITY moments. Are you doing that? Is your family your number one ministry? It needs to be! It is the first ministry that God has entrusted you with. That is where you need to be spending the bulk of your time. Building a relationship with your children. I recently heard Josh McDowell say in a sermon, RULES without RELATIONSHIP equals REBELLION. Wow!


Do you want to be a good Dad? The best thing that you can do as a Dad is love God, love your wife and love your children. Make your relationship with all 3 your top priority!

http://www.listen.family.org/images/60_fun_things_dad_can_do_with_his_kids.pdf

Family Man's Creed

I was cleaning out my garage today and came across this card with the Family Man's Creed on it. Definitely a good find!  It's a good check up for us all. 

The Family Man's Creed

With God's help I will do my best to:

PRAISE AND HONOR GOD DAILY

in my thoughts, my words, and my deeds, thus establishing the foundation for my success as a family man.

HONOR AND RESPECT MY WIFE

by loving her as Christ loves His church, and faithfully demonstrating my lifelong commitment to providing for her needs.

SPIRITUALLY PROTECT MY FAMILY

by constantly interceding in prayer for their needs, establishing the word of God as our home's final authority, and boldly declaring that "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

EMOTIONALLY PROTECT MY FAMILY

by speaking words of blessings and encouragement, spending lots of quality time together, and remembering to be slow to anger and quick to extend mercy.

PHYSICALLY PROTECT MY FAMILY

through hard work, preparedness and diligence, understanding that my call as a family man requires daily sacrifices.

BE FAITHFUL TO MY FAMILY

by ensuring regular weekly church attendance and faithful giving of my time and resources, in addition to maintaining relationships with other Christian men for edification and accountability.

ASK THE LORD FOR WISDOM

and His empowerment that I may walk in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.

Don't Waste the Sound of Sirens

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. NIV

I was happy to see the article below on the Desiring God Blog. What a great way to get your children to be more aware of the world around them! As a family we try to always pray for the sick person as well as the Emergency Workers. It has now become instinctive whenever we hear a siren and by God's grace our children usually initiate the call to pray.

So how can our families expand upon this? How can we make prayer more instinctive in other areas of our lives? What about those medical helicopters that we see fly by so often?  Or when we see a homeless person? When we hear of someone that has lost their job? When we see a tragic story on the news? What about those kids on the street corner? How about when a famous athlete or celebrity makes a bad decision that effects their entire family? Do our children hear us criticize them and their actions or do we pray with our families for the people involved? There is power in prayer and there are so many ways that we can demonstrate this to our children. There are countless opportunities to demonstrate our love for others that can easily be overlooked.

There is a lost world around us that we need to train ourselves and our children to be aware of. Just because we cannot personally touch everyone that we see we can ask our Father in heaven to step in and make a difference in their lives. Wouldn't it be great to one day get to heaven and meet people that you never knew on this earth who are there because you or your children prayed for them? Do you believe that your prayers can have that kind of impact? They can! If you struggle in this area, ask God to expand your faith and to show Himself to you in this way. This decision can effect multiple generations in your family.  It can mean one day, possibly many years from now, you are driving down the road and you hear a siren and it is your grandchild who prays for the people in the ambulance!

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2429_dont_waste_the_sound_of_sirens/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+DGBlog+(DG+Blog)&utm_content=My+Yahoo

A Thriving Family makes time to.......

How much time are you spending with your spouse? Your kids? How many times a week do you eat dinner together? What are you doing to have fun together? How much mindless time do you and /or your kids spend in front of the television, computer or video games? Below is a good checklist. How are you doing?

Even the most loving, well meaning parents can fall into a rut of busyness. There is no better day than today to make some changes. Click on the link below and see how you are doing. If you have some good ideas on how your family thrives please share them in the comment section.


http://www.focusonthefamily.com/nsc/simple_tips.aspx