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Thoughtful Thursdays: Praying for our Children’s Salvation

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Last week, I mentioned how I wanted to pray for my children more. I talked about how I wanted them to be filled with the joy of the Lord; but as I looked at verses about the joy of the Lord, it was interesting to see that joy came as a by-product of a right relationship with God.

We saw that in John 15 where it talked about abiding in Jesus. I love verse 5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Verse 11 ends the passage by saying, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

Continuing with the idea of bearing much fruit, we looked at Galatians 5:22 where one of the fruit of the Spirit is joy — but we won’t have that joy unless we are Spirit-controlled.

Looking at these verses showed me that I need to be praying for my children to have a walk with a God that will bear the fruit of joy in their life rather than be filled with the joy of the Lord. Joy of the Lord will be a natural by-product of  a righteous life.

So here is the first way can pray for our children to abide or to have a righteous life:

Pray that they will be genuinely saved.

Praying for our children -- our biggest prayer request should be that they will be genuinely saved! The Bible gives us verses that will help us know how to pray for others' salvation.

All five of five children have prayed and asked Christ to be their Savior. Only God sees the heart and knows who has made a genuine decision of salvation. A fear I have is that my children, who have grown up in a not just a Christian home but also in a pastor’s home, will have just gone through the motions or that they will have prayed a prayer that they did not really think about. They just did it because they knew they should. As children grow into the teen years where some teens are more independent and rebellious than others, sometimes the fruit of the Spirit is not very evident; therefore the joy of the Lord is not evident either. When I see this in my own children, I am even more burdened to pray that if their conversion experience was not genuine, that they will be truly convicted of their need of a Savior.

  • Here are some verses that can aid us in praying for our children’s salvation (and anyone’s salvation):

    • Pray verses such as 2 Corinthians 7:10a that they will have “godly sorrow (which) worketh repentance to salvation.”
    • Pray that the Father will draw them to Himself. (“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:” John 6:44)
    • Pray that God will open their hearts like He opened Lydia’s heart. (Acts 16:14, “whose heart the Lord opened”)
    • Pray that the blinding influence of Satan would be removed so that they can see the glorious gospel of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4 —  “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”)
    • Pray that they will seek after God. We can pray that they will not be happy or fulfilled until they realize they have a God-shaped hole that only God can fill. “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:” Acts 17:27)
    • Pray that other Christians would come along their path to lead them to Christ. (“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:38)
    • Pray that God’s desire for all people would be accomplished in their lives. (“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9)

  • And here are important prayers for my life as I do not want to be a stumbling block:

    • Pray that my light will shine so that my children will want to know my Savior. (“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16)
    • Pray that I will not be hypocritical in my Christian walk. (“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;” Philippians 2:15)

Next week, I will share more prayer requests we can pray for our children and their spiritual walk.

Go HERE to read last week’s post:

What are some things we can pray for our children? We can pray that they will have the joy of the Lord!

Come link up your thoughtful posts to Thoughtful Thursdays linky party!

The thoughtful topics for your posts could be related to but not limited to the following topics:

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Thoughtful Thursdays: How to Pray for Our Children

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In last week’s Thoughtful Thursday’s post, I mentioned how I wanted to share some of the things I feel burdened to pray for my kids.

Every child is different and struggles with different issues. Also as they go through different stages of life, they struggle with different things. Since people who know my family read some of my posts, I will try not to get too specific so that I do not embarrass any of my children; however, one or two of my children have been struggling with being happy with the situation of life our family is in right now.

My husband is a pastor, and we moved from a large ministry and a large school to a smaller ministry and very small school. In fact, my oldest daughter homeschools by herself. This has been a hard adjustment. Then the few friends they made have moved. So they feel isolated. We have done our best to put them on sports teams or volunteer jobs or even real jobs as well as a co-op to try to find good friends, and it just has not happened yet.

Even though this is a huge struggle for teenagers, God has allowed this; and in His sovereignty, He has placed us here. He also knows what my children need. Not only are these truths real, He has said that we can be content in any situation He has placed us.

So as I get the brunt of the dissatisfaction, I have felt burdened for God to work in their hearts. I cannot change their hearts. Maybe I can handle the situation better. Maybe I could have said something differently; but only God can change their heart to be satisfied in Him and in Him alone.

When I thought, “What should I pray for them?”, I first thought I would pray for them to be joyful in God; to be filled with the joy of the Lord. I thought of verses such as:

  • for the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)
  • A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it! Proverbs 15:23
  • These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. John 15:11
  • But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Galatians 5:22

What are some things we can pray for our children? We can pray that they will have the joy of the Lord!

As I thought of these verses, I contemplated the fact that joy was a product of righteous living.

John 15:11 above says that John wrote these things that our joy would be full. What things? Verses 1-10 talks about us abiding in Him, obeying His commandments, and bearing fruit. Joy doesn’t come unless we do these things!  Galatians 5:22 shares that joy comes as a fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit first of all must reside in us (so we must be truly saved), and then we must be living a right life so that the Spirit is not quenched. As we live a right life and abide, one of the fruit that will be demonstrated in our lives is joy.

If joy is a fruit or result of right living, I then thought that maybe I should pray that my children will live righteous lives, that they will have a desire to seek God. Next week, I will share more prayers we can pray in this regard.

As I was searching verses on joy, here were some more of the verses I found:

  • And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation. Psalm 35:9
  • I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10
  • Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:18 (God gives us joy when we rejoice in Him.)
  • Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24
  • Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16 (We will have joy when we love and get into God’s Word.)
  • But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. Psalm 5:11
  • Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11 (Joy comes when we spend time in His presence.)
  • Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Psalm 32:11 (The upright in heart/righteous will be joyful.)
  • Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. Psalm 89:15
  • And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Romans 5:11 (The salvation we have received from God should bring us joy.)

I found these verses of joy especially interesting as it showed that joy can be had even when trials, persecutions, and afflictions are in your life. So praying that my children experience God’s joy in the middle of their trials is Biblical and attainable!

  • How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 2 Corinthians 8:2
  • Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Colossians 1:11
  • And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. I Thessalonians 1:6

Come link up your thoughtful posts to Thoughtful Thursdays linky party!

Some of my favorite posts from last week’s party:

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Being Grateful

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Installing thankfulness in our children’s lives is a job that is never done.

Gratefulness -- an important character trait to teach to our children.

I have done many posts over the years about what we are doing to try to raise grateful children. Yet my children, like most American children, have a very comfortable life that they take for granted. They can find many things to complain about on a day to day basis.

Going back to school for our family can be a trying time. It is great to have all of the kids back to a routine and busy again. However, it seems like there is more complaining — because school is work! This week has not been an easy week, and I have been reminded once again of how I need to go to God in prayer for the souls of my children. I want to share in the upcoming weeks some prayer requests I am praying for my children as well as some Scripture I can claim as I pray for different needs I see in my family. Chances are that if one of my five kids are struggling with a certain problem, your kids might be struggling with the same thing.

Parenting can be discouraging, but we know that we have an awesome God who can answer prayer!

If you would like free resources to help your children become more thankful, I received some emails from Compassion International about some of their products that are downloads or available on the internet. One of the products is a free download of Goggles of Gratefulness. It wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but I think most children could relate to the story in that they want for more and are not thankful for what they have when some kids have nothing.

Gratefulness -- an important character trait to teach to our children.

Compassions International also can send you daily emails called the Family Generosity Challenge — or you can download a PDF of all of the devotionals HERE. There are many other kid devotionals available on their website!

Thanksgiving is now only 2 months away, yet we should be thankful all year round! In the past, I have also made many printables that we have used at Thanksgiving time to focus on being thankful.

13 Printables--Verses for Thanksgiving and Worksheets to go along with the verses.

13 Printables–Verses for Thanksgiving and Worksheets to go along with the verses.

Come link up your thoughtful posts to Thoughtful Thursdays linky party!

Some of my favorite posts from last week’s party:

The thoughtful topics for your posts could be related to but not limited to the following topics:

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Choosing Joy in the Hard Times

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In the past few weeks, I have had many reminders that joy is a choice . . . and that joy is not always easy.

This is a lesson that sometimes has to be taught to children. My kids have now been in school for three weeks, and a couple of mine have had bad attitudes about some of the work they have to do. They don’t like their vocab. They don’t see why they have to write so many essays for health. I remind them that they can decide to have a bad attitude or just get their work done. This is life. We might as well go through it and decide to do it with a good attitude.

Martin Lloyd Jones said:

We all desire to be happy. That is something that is innate in human nature; nobody wants to be miserable, though I am aware of the fact that there are people who seem to enjoy being miserable and some who seem to find their happiness in being unhappy!

I know I don’t want my children to grow up to be unhappy when they should be happy! This is a learned condition of contentment. Paul says so in Philippians 4:11: Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

We have to teach our children to be content with what they have. That God has given them everything they need, and so much more. They can be happy, and they don’t need to complain. One way that we can teach this condition of contentment is by modeling it; therefore, we must make sure that we are not complaining and that we are content with where God has placed us and what He has given us.

A quote from Max Lucado about choosing joy. Having joy is a choice that we can make!

However, sometimes, life is hard. Terrible things happen to good people.

Our Sunday School lessons the past couple of weeks have been on trials and temptations. At the same time, our family devotions have been on choosing joy. One night this past week, my husband read in our family’s devotion a short devotional called “The Choice to Be Happy.” While he was reading the devotional, I was thinking of my friend who lost her husband last year in an unexpected accident, and then just lost her main helper to an unexpected massive stroke. This lady that died helped her take care of her four young kids, was considered to be “grandma status” by her children, and gave her the encouragement and strength she needed on the hard days.

Can she choose to be joyful during this trial?

The devotional went on to quote some verses:

  • My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; (or trials) James 1:2
  • Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4
  • Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

Rejoicing or having joy is a choice. Are you choosing to rejoice today? Philippians 4:4

In an earlier devotion about choosing joy, the author says,

All good gifts come from God, including joy. But God still invites us to participate in receiving His gifts and blessings through our own free will. We can’t save ourselves, but we must say yes to salvation. We can’t walk worthy of His calling on our own, but we can say yes to His strength through simple obedience. And we can’t force ourselves to be  joyful. But we can say yes to God’s kind and delightful offering by saying yes through our attitudes.
Have you chosen joy for your life? For today?

So in the day-to-day disappointments of life where we want to complain, we need to instead choose contentment. In the trials of life that seem to overwhelm us, we need to purposefully count it all joy. To go to God’s Word and rejoice — even if we don’t feel like it. In fact, Paul stresses this in Philippians 4:4. He says, “again I say, Rejoice!” Hard to do? Yes. Impossible? No! Because whatever God commands, He also gives us the strength to do and the Holy Spirit to aid and succor. He promises His peace when it seems like our hearts should be troubled. Do we avail ourselves of that peace is the question?

I choose joy.
I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance.
I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.
Max Lucado

Come link up your thoughtful posts to Thoughtful Thursdays linky party!

The thoughtful topics for your posts could be related to but not limited to the following topics:

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Be an Encourager

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We all need encouragement, don’t we?

As a mom, I know I need it. I can feel worn down many days after trying to school my oldest, working at our little church school, and doing other ministry events. Having someone come along beside you and encourage you can make all the difference in the world.

My husband in a monthly article that he publishes wrote the following  about being an encourager:

The Apostle Paul was a great encourager.  In 2 Thessalonians Paul was praising or encouraging a troubled church.  In 2 Thessalonians 1:3-6, Apostle Paul shows us how to be wise with people and praise; he was wise with his use of encouragement.  He was faced with a practical problem: how should we deal with Christians who are doing well in discipleship? If we say “Well Done,” or “at-a-boy,” it borders on flattery, promotes pride and robs God of His glory.  If we keep it privately in our prayers and say nothing, that permits discouragement.  People desire feedback; they want to know how they are doing. Paul demonstrates the solution to that problem; he thanks God for them, and tells them he is doing so.   In this way, he affirms without flattering and encourages without puffing them up.  Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul; everyone needs it and people perform better when they get it.  Paul understood this, so he tells his friends how much he boasts or brags about them all over the region, “we glory (boast) in you in the churches of  God” (v. 4).

Handing out encouragement doesn’t cost much and yet it pays great dividends.

Here are the steps we can follow to encourage people:

  • Be personal—Paul told them personally how much he believed in them in v. 3.
  • Be pointed—he told them specifically what he appreciated about them in v. 4.
  • Be public—he told other churches how much he thought of the Thessalonians in v. 4.
  • Be purposeful—he had a goal he was aiming at in their lives: their motivation and vindication in vv. 5-6.

All of us need encouragement—no matter how gifted or self-sufficient you think you are.  We need someone to believe in us, to reassure and reinforce us, to help us pick up the pieces and go on after we fall.  We need someone to stir us up with increased determination in spite of the odds.  Encouragement or praise can be defined as the act of inspiring others with renewed courage, spirit, hope.  When we encourage others, we spur them on to new heights and motivate them upward and onward.

Be an encouragement to someone today.

Pride keeps us from admitting that we need encouragement.  We all have down days; we regularly make dumb decisions that we need to bounce back from.  Without daily encouragement our tires get deflated so we feel heavy and we move slowly.  It takes more out of us to move forward.  Don’t be too proud to admit that you need encouragement—and don’t be too proud to give encouragement either.  The beauty of encouragement is that anybody can do it.  You don’t need a lot of money to do it.  You don’t need a lot of training to do it.  There are no age limits to doing it.  Sometimes our kids can encourage us without even knowing that they did it.  We can all come alongside someone and help them.  Let me give you a homework assignment:  How would you feel if someone sent a letter to you thanking God for you, boasting of you and telling you that they were praying for you?  We could all use this kind of mail.

Your name may not be on the bulletin or you may not be a deacon or teacher, but you have been equipped with spiritual gifts to strengthen the saints. A note with a brief word of encouragement, a phone call to someone in your Sunday school class, lunch with a discouraged parent, a small gift to someone in need—these are discreet but practical and encouraging ways to lift the spirits of sagging saints. Write a letter of encouragement to someone this week.

Be an encourager!

Come link up your thoughtful posts to Thoughtful Thursdays linky party!

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Teaching Kids About Facing Opposition as a Believer

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This summer, I have been teaching the kids’ Wednesday night program at church. We have been talking about some of the incredible heroes of the faith that are in the Old Testament.

This past Wednesday night we finished our eleventh lesson out of twelve lessons. The lesson was on Nehemiah and how he handled the opposition of Sanballat and Tobias in Nehemiah 4. The lesson talked about how Nehemiah was doing right and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem yet he still faced opposition. It went on to say that as believers we can expect to see opposition if we live godly and how many Christians around the world are facing much opposition and persecution just for being Christians!

Many of the lessons of the summer have shown how these heroes of the faith obeyed and did what was right even when they had no idea what would happen next or they knew there would be negative consequences. Here were some of the heroes of the faith that we looked at:

  • Abraham — He left his home and family not knowing where he went.
  • Joseph — He was sold into slavery and later put into jail even though he did not succumb to temptation.
  • Daniel — He was thrown into a den of lions! Yes, God rescued him, but he did not know that when he chose to pray.
  • Nehemiah

We can learn some important lessons about how to handle opposition from Nehemiah 4:

  • Prayer to God about the opposition should be our first line of defense.
    Nehemiah 4:9a “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God,”
  • Continue to do God’s work and guard yourself against evil doers:
    Nehemiah 4:9b “set a watch against them day and night”
  • Protect yourself from physical harm:
    Nehemiah 4:16 “And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons;”
  • Don’t give up in what God has told you to do! No matter the opposition!
    Nehemiah 4:21 “So we laboured in the work:”
  • Trust in God for His protection.
    Nehemiah 4:20 “our God shall fight for us.”

We discussed how they may face opposition from classmates and others if they do not give in to peer pressure and do what is right when pressured to do what is wrong. However, we should be like Nehemiah and do what is right even if opposition comes.

Towards the end the lesson, I shared about how there are many Christians currently facing persecution. Voice of the Martyrs has a site for kids called Kids of Courage. It is a WordPress site where a parent can become a free member and download books and many other resources. It has projects kids can do to raise awareness for persecuted Christians, stories of children who stood for their faith, crafts that can be done, and so much more! It is an awesome website. From their website, I showed them part of the Bold Christians In Korea download.

The website, Joshua Project, also has many resources to help us know how to pray for those who live in unreached people groups. It does not speak directly about persecuted Christians, yet many of these unreached people groups are unreached as Christianity is not allowed. There are still Christians in those countries and they could pay the ultimate price for their faith.

We finished the lesson talking about what we should pray for when we are praying for persecuted Christians. I remember hearing of a story of a pastor who was in China talking to a pastor whose son was in jail for preaching in a non-approved state church. The man said that he would pray for the persecution to stop. The father said, “Why would you pray for that? Persecution makes Christians strong! Pray that my son would remain strong and faithful! That God would be glorified! That others would come to know Christ through this persecution! Not that the persecution would end!” That story totally changed my thoughts on how I should pray for the persecuted Christians who are scatted abroad our world. I thought this article had five Biblical ways that we can pray for the persecuted church.

Teaching our kids how to deal with opposition as believers

We know that 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” How do you prepare your kids to face opposition as a believer?

Come link up your thoughtful posts to Thoughtful Thursdays linky party!

The thoughtful topics for your posts could be related to but not limited to the following topics:

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Paul’s Desire for all Believers

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I am doing a Bible study in Philippians 2, and the first day I was to read Philippians 1. One thing I was supposed to be looking for was “What is the author’s desire for the recipients?”

I found the answer for this question in Philippians 1:9-11:

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.)

I used the Blue Letter Bible website to go look up Matthew Henry’s commentary and to study this passage more. As I read, I thought, “What a great prayer and desire for all believers!”

Here is what Paul was praying that all the Philippian believers would become:

Here is Paul's prayer for the Philippian believers that is really a prayer for all believers! Matthew Henry had some great thoughts and quotes for this passage. (Philippians 1:9-11)

  • That they would be a loving people (that your love may abound still more and more)
  • That they would be a knowing and judicious people — it was not a blind love that was accepting of everything. No, it was to be a love grounded upon knowledge and judgment! (in knowledge)
  • That they would be a discerning people. (and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent,)
  • That they would be honest, upright-hearted people (that you may be sincere)
  • That they would be an inoffensive people — “not apt to take offence; and very careful not to give offence to God or their brethren,” Matthew Henry (and without offense till the day of Christ,)
  • That they would be fruitful, useful people. (being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ). The fruits of righteousness are evidences of our salvation! We have never arrived; a true believer should bear more fruit. The fruit comes from the vine — Jesus Christ. We are the branches that are worthless but for the vine that gives us the sustenance to bear the fruit.

What is the end result of living a Christian life in the above manner?

That God be glorified in all things!

  • If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. I Peter 4:11
  • Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31

It is much for the honour of God, when Christians not
only are good, but do good, and abound in good works.
–Matthew Henry

This would be a good prayer for us to pray every morning before we begin your day. Let’s bring glory to God in our every day activities this week!

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Learning from the Life of Daniel Printables

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It was my turn to teach the kids this past Wednesday night at our church. We are doing a summer program on the heroes of the faith. This week’s lesson was on Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

When I first started thinking about this lesson, I was wondering how to make the lesson stand out to the kids as they all already knew the story. I also went to Pinterest to look for craft ideas.

On Pinterest, I found this bulletin board idea, that I converted to a craft.  I used this craft as the springboard for the direction of the lesson; and after the lesson, we did the craft.

Since our craft talked about “not staining their reputation”, I started the story of Daniel 6 talking about Daniel’s reputation.

I had 3 papers of large print that I shared with the kids during the lesson. The first page talked about what the word “reputation” means: (Access all three papers HERE.)

REPUTATION

  • Is what others think about you.
  • Is what a person is known for.
  • Is based on someone’s behavior.
  • Could be bad or good.

I then asked them the following questions that was on the 2nd paper:

  • What was Daniel’s reputation?
  • What was he known for?
  • Was it good or bad?

Since no fault could be found in Daniel, the presidents and princes that Daniel was over had the king pass a law that they knew Daniel would disobey. Daniel’s reputation was that he always obeyed his God. We see this in verses 4 and 5:

Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

We also see the Daniel’s reputation in verse 16.

Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

So we see that even the presidents and princes that did not like Daniel considered him to be faithful, without fault, and obedient to the law of God. The king knew that Daniel served God continually. What a great reputation!

I ended the lesson asking the following questions that I had on the 3rd piece of paper:

  • What is your reputation?
  • How can you have a reputation like Daniel?

We discussed how that Daniel was without fault because he relied on God to help him do right daily. He prayed at least three times a day for God’s help and He knew God’s laws. If we want to have a good reputation, a reputation that we serve God, we have to first of all know God as our Savior. Then we must daily rely on God for His strength through prayer and getting into God’s Word.

After the lesson, we went to do our craft. I gave them this sheet of paper that was printed on cardstock: (You can print it out HERE.)

Printable craft that can go with the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den -- have a good reputation of obeying God.I had them color below the green line green, and  color the area above the green line blue. They could color the sun yellow.

Then they cut out the three articles of clothing on this sheet of paper. (You can print it out HERE.)


Use this printable to go along with the Don't Stain Your Reputation craft.

They made markings on two of the paper clothing items, and left one completely unmarked. After cutting the three pieces of clothing out, they glued them on the clothesline so that the perfect robe was in the middle. Here is a picture of one completed craft from last night:

Finished craft to go along with Daniel in the Lion's Den or a lesson about having a good reputation.

I also made this coloring sheet to go along with the verse for them to memorize with this lesson: (You can print it off HERE.)

Printable coloring sheet for Daniel 6:16, Daniel in the Lion's Den

Thanks for coming and reading these Thoughtful posts! I will highlight some posts from the last few parties next Thursday!

Daniel in the Lion's Den crafts -- free printables!

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Thoughtful Thursdays: Living the Truth

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It’s been a super busy and tiring week — but a wonderful week as we are having VBS at our church this week.

As it is now past midnight, I will share a printable I made for MomStrong book study that we did last week. We had to skip this week due to VBS.

Last week, we finished chapters 8 and 9 of Becoming MomStrong. I really liked chapter 8, so I made this printable for the ladies. You can click HERE to print it off.

This chapter talks about how we must be strong enough to live out the truth, which means we must not be afraid to let others see our weaknesses. We have to live our lives in the light of God’s Word.

Yes, we are weak many times as moms, and only when we realize our weakness do we become strong through Him.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  2 Corinthiahs 12:9a

We must become weak before we can receive God's strength!

Heidi St. John also talks about how God must prune us before He can use us. Many times that means that He takes us through times of suffering so that we can be transformed when we allow God’s truth to shine onto our suffering. On the printable, I included many verses from John 15 as that chapter talks about how we must abide in Him if we are to bring forth fruit and to have fullness of joy.

The wonderful truth is that even in the bad times, even in the difficulties, even in the suffering, we can be assured of the fact that God is good! We can trust Him!

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

So during those difficulties and struggles, remember to keep your eyes on Him! He promises that His mercies are new every morning. He has proved that He is faithful. He tells us to abide in Him and we will experience fullness of joy. We just have to not get distracted by the cares of this world. Keep looking up instead of around!

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

If we are to Become MomStrong,we must live out the truth that we find in God's Word!

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