Comments for Parenting By Design

Comment on Plugging in to the Power by Angela Culpepper

Angela Culpepper — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:12:43 +0000

The temptation to pick our battles back up and try to handle them ourselves instead of leaving them at the feet of the Lord is a struggle we all face. Thank you for sharing your story with us!
Please do not give up… Wait on the Lord. Rest in the Lord. Rely on His strength.

Psalm 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word I do hope. (NASB)

Comment on Proof by shay

shay — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:22:06 +0000

this is sooo painfully true! we do not know how much we truly are depending on ourselves until we are faced with trials. i am thankful for our God having only the best for our lives. if it were up to us, we would be sunk, or i sure would! thank God for his mercy and grace in my life. Is not our Creator awesome!

Comment on Proof by Caroline Gavin

Caroline Gavin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:10:05 +0000

Amen! How wonderful to know that our Father only allows those things which yield ultimate good for His children. If His loving Hand allows trials, we know that these trials sculpt us, refine us, more into the image of Christ. “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold–though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” (1 Peter 1:7 NLV)

Comment on Plugging in to the Power by Caroline Gavin

Caroline Gavin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:00:29 +0000

Amen! Wonderful reminder that the combination of faith, prayer and full surrender to God’s will allows us to tap into His eternal power – through the grace and riches of Christ!

Comment on Plugging in to the Power by Faith

Faith — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:48:48 +0000

The computer battery – great analogy. I’ll be using it.

Comment on Plugging in to the Power by Hermionelawrence

Hermionelawrence — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:18:29 +0000

My marriage is going through a bad patch right now and I get very frustrated when I rely on my own strength to do the right thing and be the wife god want’s me to be. I need to have faith that things will improve and I don’t have to take the drastic action to end my marriage. When I rely on god I have peace but my human nature soon takes over and I want to do things my way. Thank god for reminded me that my strength needs to come from him.

Comment on Stewardship by Caroline Gavin

Caroline Gavin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:26:27 +0000

Amen! May we be faithful stewards of the many gifts our Lord generously bestows upon us – including our precious children. Wonderful it is that, as you wrote, we need not worry about the world’s approval; our desire in raising our children, as in all things, is to please our eternal Father. Thank you for another encouraging post!

Comment on The Danger of Pride by Caroline Gavin

Caroline Gavin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:28:12 +0000

Maria, thank you so very much, and may God bless your lovely heart!

I am grateful to you for beautifully explaining – with powerful verses of Scripture – the love of our Father and the salvation we know only through our belief in the redemptive Sacrifice of Christ!

May God bless you richly through the Treasures of Christ with divine peace, joy and love – always!
Gratefully your sister in Christ,
Caroline

Comment on The Danger of Pride by Maria Vela

Maria Vela — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:18:10 +0000

Bravo Caroline! Well said. Our heavenly Father is infinitely loving, kind, just and merciful. life. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

{ God havs given each of us a free will, the right to decide whether or not to obey and follow in obedience, or to reject (due to pride, unrepentant) their need for a Savior, which as God forwarned, leads to self condemnation }

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Comment on The Danger of Pride by Caroline Gavin

Caroline Gavin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:56:07 +0000

Amen! Powerful points in this post.

As written in Jeremiah 9:23-24:
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.”

Faith brings up an excellent question! Although God sculpts us into the image of Christ, it is His grace that does so. We do not become like Christ through our own power but only by the life-saving, mind-transforming, spiritually-renewing Spirit of God; we are not deserving of eternal life, but rather we are cleansed and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

With humble gratitude, we can receive these glorious Gifts, and we praise our Father who saves and redeems. Humility allows us to receive in full measure the Spirit of God, for when we “die to ourselves,” we become fully His. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ” (Galatians 12:20)

A proud heart, however, cannot overflow with God’s Spirit, as a proud heart has not fully surrendered to God. A proud man has not “died to self” in one area or another. Pride thereby hinders the movement of the Spirit. We live in the highest, purest states of joy and love when we are aligned fully with God’s will and purpose…and this is possible only with humility. Victorious living exists in full surrender to God. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)

“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:8)

Thank you for cautioning us against the danger of pride…and for encouraging us to pursue humility!