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“Discipleship is a life, not a lesson”

Sally Clarkson, Season’s of A Mother’s Heart

As parents, (homeschooling or non-homeschooling) our greatest “call” is to raise our children for Christ. In Psalm 139, we are reassured that God is intimately involved in creation of each of us and I truly believe that this includes God designating the parents of each life that is given. Have you ever considered the idea that YOU are specifically chosen to raise the child that He has placed into your home?

There are a multitude of verses in the Bible that speak to parents on the teaching of our children and it is not my intent to lay this foundation. If you are unsure of what the Bible says to you as a Mom, I strongly encourage you to stop reading now and grab your Bible, highlighter and concordance and look up the word, “children” “teach” and “train”. This may take several days, but will be well worth your time and effort, as you seek God for HIS instructions for your home. If you don’t have access to a concordance, use the internet. There are several online concordances available (http://www.biblegateway.com/; www.bible.crosswalk.com )

My purpose in writing to you today is to encourage you to seek GOD for His discipleship plan for YOUR family.  There are a great number of teachers and curriculum writers, who will tell you this is THE WAY to disciple your family. Through creative advertising and “absolute” statements they will imply (or even straight out say) that if you follow a specific method or plan, then your child will have the right character or even will  be surely saved. Listen very carefully to my heart here…there are many good resources available to us as we disciple our children (although the Bible is the very best one!). These can freely be used as a tool in our home to organize our teaching time, or to give us ideas on making the lessons fun and memorable. However, we must be very very careful to seek God on what tools to use. While, I sincerely do believe, that God will honor us as parents as we seek Him in the training of our children, and our children may do well in staying faithful to the call He has on their lives…I also am seeing an alarming number of children who have been raised in the Church (and even homeschooled!) that are forsaking God when they reach adulthood. As I talk to these young adults and their parents, I am finding that a significant number of them, have bought into the lies that our children’s outward behavior is the “fruit” of our child training. What I mean by this is the idea that if our children dress a certain way, can quote x number of scripture, etc. then they are “holy, righteous and obedient to God.”

 Is this what God says? In John 7:24, Jesus tells the religious people, “to stop judging according to outward appearances” (hcsb) and in 1^st Samuel 16:7, the LORD says to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the LORD sees, for man sees what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart.”  Often times, it appears that as parents, we become obsessed about our children look to others and how they represent us (our homeschooling—OUCH!) and totally lose sight of their hearts and how their hearts are toward God. Yes, Proverbs does tell us that “even a child is known by his actions”, however, I would like to suggest that as parents, it is our responsibility to “know” the heart of our child and how that is reflected in the actions of our children…as parents, we must strive to be aware of the actions of our children and prayerfully discern their heart. The root word in this verse for “known” is defined as “observe, perceive, understand and scrutinize”. To know our child’s behavior implies that we are proactive in assessing the behavior and what is at the root of their behavior and this is where true discipleship occurs! True discipleship is not a method or checklist where we have an agenda in mind…true discipleship occurs when we, as loving parents, know our children, know their hearts and seek to train them according to God’s word and standard.

I have much more to say on this….so will add more thoughts later this week…be sure to check out my new blog for more thoughts on Discipleship…click here.

Posted on January 3rd, 2009 by Deanne Crawford
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Hi Everyone,

As the new year quickly ascends, I am “changing spaces”. Come see me at my new blog where I will continue to share our Lifestyle of Discipleship (and will be more proactive, as I have officially stopped working). I also can be “seen” on Facebook..add me as your friend!

Posted on December 31st, 2008 by Deanne Crawford
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Can you believe that 2009 is nearly upon us?

I am constantly amazed at how quickly the year flies by and we add another digit to the number of years on the calendar and my age! LOL!
Seriously, as the New Year approaches, have you begun your New Year’s Resolution list? Or are you like me, not even caring to make a list because you know you will “miss the mark” by February?
In years past, I have made lists upon lists and failed miserably and for the past 2 years I have refused to even make a list! But this year…well….this year will be different!

Yes, I am making ONE New Year’s resolution this year. Why only one? For me, I can only focus on one thing at a time, and as I am successful at this main thing, I can then begin to work on another area of my life.

As I battled within myself this weekend, about whether I should even make a New Year’s Resolution, God sent 2 confirmations to me, that Yes I should—and that I should not JUST make a New Year’s Resolution, but also ongoing lifestyle resolutions! The first confirmation came as I listened to a sermon on Sunday which was an interesting perspective on setting New Year’s Resolutions. The primary text was from James (the pull no punches book!): James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Our ultimate priority in making New Year’s Resolutions is to go to God and His Word. We must HEAR Him speaking to us and DO what He says! Making a New Year’s Resolution is not about me and what I feel I must do to make changes in my life; instead it is about God! What is God calling me to do? What is God laying on my heart, showing me, calling me to walk in?   My New Year’s resolution must reflect God’s leading in my life!

The second confirmation came when I took time this morning to look up the meaning of the word “resolution”. I was totally blown away! I always considered resolution as “make a promise to do better”—but was I wrong! Resolution is a much stronger word! The word resolution means a “fixed purpose or determination of mind”. A fixed purpose—when something is fixed it is unmovable. As you consider a New Year’s resolution, are you making the determination that when you set this resolution, that it will come to pass…regardless of what happens? The definition for resolution continues with this profound thought: “the act, operation or process of separating the parts which compose a complex idea; analysis.”
I just love this!! Within the definition of a resolution is the idea of GOAL SETTING! It is not just a “pie in the sky” what I want to change about me….A true resolution includes the ideas of having a vision for change in your life, setting goals and creating action steps to reach that goal. We are to analyze the change and separate the steps to achieve our resolution! Now this kind of resolution is do-able!

How many times have you set a resolution with absolutely no thought of how to pull it off, except for the vague, “well tomorrow’s the new year, it will just happen”? Ah but this is not what is meant behind a resolution! A resolution is having the end in mind (a vision), setting your heart on it, determining the steps to being successful and then DOING it!
At the beginning of this article, I began with the text  James 1:22. Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 

Have you ever considered that God has a lot to say about setting resolutions?

In the Bible, we are called to be like Christ in our attitude (Philippians 2:5), and we are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:16; 2 Peter 3:11; 2 Timothy 1:9 Hebrews 12:14) and within these 2 callings is a multitude of fleshly, sinful desires! I know as I battle each of them myself!  Oh how I praise God for His Word! In His Word, you will find behaviors/attitudes we are called to “put off” and the right behavior God calls us to. (See Colossians 3; Ephesians 4:25-32 and 5:4; 11; 18; Philippians 4:6; Romans 13:12-14)

 Oh, dear sisters, lest we become overwhelmed with the prospect of so much change—let us not grow weary or burdened…instead let us lift our eyes to the hills from where our help comes from—our help comes from the LORD (Psalm 121:1-2)
Hebrews 4: 15-16 tells us that Jesus (our High Priest) is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and will give us grace and mercy to help us in our struggles (time of need) IF we approach the throne of grace. We simply must ask Him. And when we ask, we must believe that He will hear us and answer!

So many times, I have struggled to approach God for help as I *think* that He will not hear me, because He expects me to be holy and perfect…and I am not. Oh, this is not God’s heart. God desires us to seek Him out for strength, help, and the power to overcome our temptations and sin. He knows we are in a daily battle, He knows our weaknesses; He knows we cannot overcome it alone! Listen to the words of Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers (and SISTERS!), I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Oh sisters, we must PRESS on toward the goal. We must seek God for any areas that we are not obeying His call, we must seek God for areas of temptation that we are losing the battle in and we must continually seek Him to remain strong in the battles we are winning (or even have won historically!)

New Year’s resolution? Yes, I have set one. God has shown me what the one area I must work on and that is to seek Him first and not become bogged down with theological arguments and the like. It is so easy for me to become obsessive about “researching” the truth and become so obsessed that I forsake my relationship with Christ. Having “head knowledge” is good, but not at the cost of forsaking my relationship with Him.  Jesus is ALL about relationship! He has shown me that I MUST  keep my focus on Him and HIM ALONE. He alone has all the answers I need, He alone is the “Theology” I must learn.

And dear sister, I encourage you to seek God for your new year (and throughout the year!) resolution. What is the one thing you need to work on?  Let your vision and goal be His vision and goal and  look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith for the strength, courage and power to succeed in living a godly life for His glory!

Posted on December 31st, 2008 by Deanne Crawford
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 Mr Thomas speaks well on the election..may his words encourage you this morning.

CAL THOMAS COMMENTARY NOVEMBER 5, 2008

            IT’S OVER. TWO YEARS OF NONSTOP POLITICS. THIS IS BEING WRITTEN AND RECORDED BEFORE THE RESULTS ARE KNOWN, BUT THERE WAS LITTLE DOUBT HOW THIS ELECTION WOULD TURN OUT. IT IS A DEMOCRATIC YEAR AND THE REPUBLICANS BLEW THEIR CHANCE. THEY HAVE NO ONE TO BLAME BUT THEMSELVES.

            STILL, GOD IS IN CHARGE OF ALL THINGS. HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS. NOTHING ESCAPES HIS NOTICE AND NOTHING MAN CAN DO IS OUTSIDE HIS WILL.

            SO, REGARDLESS OF WHO YOU VOTED FOR AND HOW YOU FEEL THIS MORNING, CONSIDER THE ANCIENT WISDOM OF PSALM 2: “WHY DO THE NATIONS CONSPIRE AND THE PEOPLES PLOT IN VAIN? THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TAKE THEIR STAND AND THE RULERS GATHER TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS ANNOINTED ONE. ‘LET US BREAK THEIR CHAINS,’ THEY SAY, ‘AND THROW OFF THEIR FETTERS.’

            “THE ONE ENTHRONED IN HEAVEN LAUGHS; THE LORD SCOFFS AT THEM. THEN HE REBUKES THEM IN HIS ANGER AND TERRIFIES THEM IN HIS WRATH, SAYING, ‘I HAVE INSTALLED MY KING ON  ZION, MY HOLY HILL.’”

            THAT KING IS NEITHER OBAMA, NOR MCCAIN. IT IS JESUS CHRIST THE LORD. NEVER FORGET THAT.

I’M CAL THOMAS IN  WASHINGTON.

Posted on November 5th, 2008 by Deanne Crawford
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Although I was unable to hear John McCain’s speech last night..I took a moment this morning to read it online. My friends, Mr. McCain is a true gentleman, honorable and respectful. My respect further grew for him as I read his words. You can read the full text here.Dear Friends, let us put our faith in God. My meditation this morning has been on Psalm 2. I am reminded that regardless of the world situation around us, God is still God, He is still on His throne and His ways will come to pass. Let us keep our faith in God Almighty and not on any presidential candidate (or winner) and let us pray for America and Mr. Obama. For God’s glory.

Posted on November 5th, 2008 by Deanne Crawford
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