Jubilee Journey

Bible Study Notes: The confident Mom, chapter 15 – Enjoy the journey

This is our challenge: to enjoy the challenge of motherhood. To enjoy ordinary moments of life and celebrate the little things. What can you do to make life more fun for you and your family?

Here are some things to remember when challenges of motherhood bring you down:

• Jesus notices and appreciates everything you do for your family giving eternal significance to those mundane things done in love. He rewards our faithfulness and the effort you make to serve him with gladness. Jesus washed feet, cooked meals and since he didn’t do anything that       was unimportant these things must be important (John 13:14-15; 21:9). “love…action manifested in practical and beneficial ways.” How do you manifest love in your home in practical ways?
• With every act of loving service you’re stacking up eternal rewards. (Colossians 3:23-24)
• Jesus came so you could have life in abundance even in the ordinary and mundane so celebrate the ordinary in life. (John 10:10) Ask Jesus to show you how to make everyday life more fun; let him teach you.

“Joy and fulfillment are either gained or lost by how we approach the small, seemingly mundane tasks of day-to-day life.” ~ ~ Joyce Meyer

Bible Study Notes: The confident Mom, chapter 14 – Keeping it simple

Do you try to live up to the Pinterest mom? When you find you can’t do it like she does how does that make you feel? What’s your schedule like? Do you have more on your plate than you’d like? Are you too busy? Do you spiritually say to Jesus “not today, I have to…” How do we know we’re too busy? We don’t have time for God?

The secret to starting your day right is to start with God even if you have to lie in bed 5 minutes just thanking him, just saying “good morning”. Add a few minutes here and there around an infants’ schedule where you can just rest in his mercy. You can read and pray later. Don’t let this season of deviation turn into a life style. Pay for a babysitter or sitter-swap. We have to spend time with God because that’s where we get our strength and wisdom. If he’s first in our life everything else will fall in place (see Matthew 6:33). Your destiny depends on it, the enemy will fight you on this.

Get dressed spiritually:

• get a fresh start by getting rid of messes and mistakes from yesterday. Acknowledge them before God and receive his mercy and forgiveness.
• Thank God for everything you can think of no matter how small or insignificant. Gratefulness is a powerful weapon.
• Time with God is getting dressed spiritually with the new nature he’s given us. Set your mind to walking with the spirit not the flesh.
• Meditate on scriptures and set your mind to obey them with God’s help:

to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:23-24)

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:13-17)

• Give your angels something to do. They’re there to minister to you and help you serve God. Confess God’s word over specific areas of your life.
• Set your heart on being a blessing and ask God for ways that you can express his love.
• Pray specifically about your mouth – the mouth can be your undoing (It is with mine)
• Pray that you don’t enter temptation in areas of weakness. Pray about it regularly, not just when being tempted, be proactive.

No matter how small the time you give him, be faithful and it will increase.

Bible Study Notes: The confident Mom, chapter 13 – Shaping your child’s life

Discipline is love, withholding is unloving. Discipline with action not emotions because no amount of anger or outburst will motivate them to change their behavior. Calmly sit down and explain what they did wrong, show them in the Word where the behavior wasn’t acceptable, then tell them the consequences you’re going to impose. Hug them and tell them you love them then let that be the end of it. Be clear and action oriented so they have learning experiences.

Constructive discipline needs clear guidelines with consequences based on the Bible. It’s about teaching them to please God, not us. God’s part is to change their inner attitudes; their job is to choose – good     choice or bad choice. We get out of balance when we try to manage all three. Do your part, let God do his, and then let them choose.

Give them increasing authority over their own lives, letting them develop the skills to make good decisions. They will need to make some bad decisions so they can learn to think things through. They need the chance to express uniqueness and personality within acceptable rules.

Bible Study Notes: The confident Mom, chapter 12 – What are you saying?

Do your words create a cycle of failure? Do you use your words to bless or curse? Negative words that reflect unbelief will undo our prayers and the prayers for our children. When we rehearsing a problem in our mind or by our mouth the doubt it creates will undo our prayers.

Talking about your problems, even if the kids don’t hear the negative comments, the enemy does and he’ll use them to enter the problem and wreak havoc. Every time we talk about our problems it makes it harder for them to change, digging a hole you can’t get out.

Our words do affect our children. God has given us spiritual authority over our kid’s lives. The words we speak about them can harm or help them. God wants us to use our authority to enrich our children’s lives and turn successive generations towards him. All children choose whether they will follow God, but if they’re brought up in a God-saturated environment we’ll greatly impact their decision.

Put your words to work – we are called to bless, no curse them. When you’re tempted to speak words of doubt think on these:

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things Proverbs 12:14a

Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. 1 Peter 3:10

Bible Study Notes: The confident Mom, chapter 11 – Dare not to compare

We’re anointed by God to raise our kids to be individuals, not carbon copies of us. He’s given them individual gifts and talents. But sometimes we’re not thrilled with our own uniqueness so we compare ourselves to other moms, trying to impress them. Unfortunately, we pass this attitude on to our kids.

There is an epidemic of insecurity in moms today. But Isaiah 54:17 says “no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.” Security is part of our spiritual inheritance. Believe that you are secure in Jesus.

Don’t compare yourself to other moms at church, in media or magazines. What you don’t like about yourself is just the thing that God can use. It can be your greatest asset. Find out God’s plan for you, your children, and follow it.

What are your gifts, what did God create you to do?

“Be yourself. Be the mom God created you to be. Use the gifts He’s given you, and follow your unique, individual bent. Don’t try to follow anybody else’s program. Stick with God’s.” ~ ~ Joyce Meyer