Sweet Stuart

Stu and Chase were playing Wii golf, and Chase was really struggling.
Stu bowed his head and folded his hands, and prays, "Jesus, will you please help Chase play golf on the Wii and get a 'nice on.'"

Ask and you shall receive

I have felt myself being sucked into being consumed by this house. I've felt like I'm in a giant pool, being pulled by the water tornado toward the drain. I'm trying to keep my focus on God and the Kingdom, but I quickly turn my attention to the house again. Preparing our house, praying for a buyer, a quick sale, looking for a new house, wondering what will happen. It's almost like I'm watching myself fall into the trap. "Be careful, Jenn. You're starting to focus on yourself and not the Kingdom." I know God cares about every small and big thing in my life. We believe He's told us to move. I want a new house so I can fill it with people and use it for the Kingdom. I believe this house is His, as well as everything else; I am just a steward of the blessings God has given. Yet it's easy to focus on stewarding the blessings and not the One who gives them. So I've been praying, "God, help me seek the Kingdom first."

Amazing...God answers prayers like that!

Today reading Psalms 27-29, these thoughts and truths really blessed me and brought me peace.

27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.

That's really what I want, to dwell with God. To live my life with Him. In relationship with the most amazing being, Creator God. I want to dwell in His house, no matter where "my house" is and what it's like. I want to seek after Him, like a seek, pursue, and make time for a relationship with Michael. As long I'm with Him, why should I fear?

27:8 You have said, "Seek My face."
My heart says to You,
"Your face, LORD, do I seek."

It hit me tonight that seeking God's face isn't really just asking, "What should I do?" We say, "I need to seek God about that." But really, I will seek His face not to know what to do, but to know Him. I seek God to have intimacy with Him. That's what He wants. I do ask God for guidance and direction, of course. But mostly, worship and adoration, being in His presence, that's what I want.

Life in the Spirit Leads to a Missional Home

Hopefully my title will hint to me—and any of the rest of you who read this crazy recording of events in the Whitmer household—that this entry isn't typical for this blog. Also, this is a long one. I do have to lay some of the blame squarely at the feet of Michael for insisting that I write this blog.

I've been praying for the salvation of my children since they were doing somersaults in amniotic fluid. I pray lots of other things for my children, but salvation was one of the first things I started praying. [I will include a couple resources on prayer at the end] Before this summer began, I was asking God for some goals for the summer, for him to direct our activities that would fill the long days of summer without school. During that time of prayer, I felt like I should pray specifically for Chase's salvation this year. So, I've been praying that.

Yesterday, I wanted to put everyone down for a nap, even though Chase doesn't really take naps anymore. We 'rest'; basically, that's so I can have 30 minutes of silence during the day! Anyway, I felt like the Holy Spirit told me to keep Chase up and chat with him about the Gospel. Now, I was tired. I wanted to nap! Nevertheless, I strongly felt the Holy Spirit saying, "Keep him up and talk with him."

So I did. We both settled into different books to read for a bit and then I asked him about his memory verse for VBS today. 1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." He recited it (the kid has an amazing memory!) and we talked about the different facets of the verse.
Who died? Jesus
For what? for our sins
For whom? all
Who's all? all people
What does righteous mean? being perfect to God
Who is righteous? Jesus
Who is unrighteous? Chase immediately said, "Me!" I had to bite my tongue to not say "amen!"
How many times did he die? just once
Why did he die? To bring us to God
Why does Jesus have to bring us to God? Because we have sinned and Jesus is the only one who is perfect. Chase remembered some verses he's memorized John 14:6 & Romans 3:23 He used their meanings in our chat!

Lest you have a Rockwellian vision of this discussion—the child is in his boxer briefs, squirming all over and I'm talking to his bum more that his face. He's got his books piled on a upside down laundry basket, kicking them off and then asking why they're are falling off. Yet, despite this body language, he listening and answering and engaged in the conversation!

So then I read him Romans 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

We started talking about that verse. Basically we believe in our heart first and then say what we believe with our mouth. So I asked Chase if he'd like to do that. I would pray with you if you want to make Jesus Lord, the boss of your life. Do you want to do that?

I know you're all waiting with baited breath, but he said no. I told him that if you ever want to, Mommy & Daddy will pray with you anytime. And then once you do, you can be baptized. He got very excited about that and so then he had a lot of questions about baptism. I asked again, and he thought for a second and said, "No. Not yet." So then we went on with our day, reading and playing and stuff. And then went on to a very frustrating evening with Michael working late and a leadership meeting, but that's another story!

But here's the point. Jesus said in Acts 1:8 "You will receive power when the Spirit comes on you, to be my witness in Jerusalem..." My children are my closest 'Jerusalem'. My preaching to them is mostly with my life because I spend more time with them than anyone else. Yet, yesterday, I listened to the Spirit, and by His grace, obeyed, and I received power—not just in the form of energy, because remember, I wanted to nap—but in words to communicate the amazing truth of Justification & Salvation in Christ to a 5 year old boy whom God has given me the amazing privilege to care for. Our mission, the mission of the church, is to make disciples. I don't want to neglect a lost world for the sake of my children, but it is just as much of a shame to neglect my children for the sake of a lost world.

What now? I keep asking to be filled with the Spirit so that I will glorify Jesus in my life and I keep praying for God to open the eyes of my children's heart, that they will be connected to Jesus; then that they too, will be filled with the Spirit to connect people to Jesus.


Resources that I have found helpful and have influenced my thinking on prayer:
John Lanferman's Message on Prayer 27 July 08
Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian
The Most Important Place on Earth by Roger Wolgemuth