Monday, February 6, 2012

Teach Intentionally..."Family Time…Love changes us", with Stacy Davis ~ Bible Teacher and Sky Ranch Board Member

Family Time…Love changes us


Hug your kids and tell them you love them today! I am not just saying this because it is February and Valentine’s Day is around the corner. In the Sky Ranch Devotional for this month the scripture focus is on God’s love. God coordinated this topic to be covered in this month, I didn’t. Isn’t that cool! God is love so what does He say about love? How does He define love? Scripture teaches several different definitions of love depending on the original words in scripture and the definitions can vary from desiring the highest good for another, giving up your personal wants or needs for others to kindness, friendship or brotherly love, and compassion. This is God’s definition of love in scripture. Is this how our secular world defines love in music, TV, video, movies, etc? NO. When God sent Jesus, God desired your highest good, and your belief in Jesus changes you so that you will share the same love that God has. 
I actually lived this experience.  God’s love changed me. When I was young, I started out life with a big heart. I was kind and loving, but as I aged, something changed and I grew more cynical by my teens. You might be thinking, isn’t that backwards from the topic? Yes, it is. But it is real life. Sometimes life can harden you, this hardening can be from disappointment in yourself or others or anger, bitterness from lack of forgiveness. Any of these can creep into your life. There are many things that can cause it. By college it got even worse, until I surrendered to Jesus and wanted Him to be in control in my mid-twenties. Then, in time, as God’s Spirit worked in my heart, I began to soften and love began to change me. Instead of encouraging mocking other or tearing them down to make me look good, I began to have more compassion and the loving-kindness that God gives. My husband noticed and my family noticed. In others, God’s loving-kindness began to heal the damage that I had created with my words. I saw God’s love changes me in a good way and help my relationships with others. 
This week in your family time, I would encourage you to prepare by praying and asking God to show you how you define love and how your family defines love. Your kids may be confused by the very different definition that our culture sends on love. Spend time talking to your kids and listen to their definition of love. If their age is appropriate ask them, how they would define the love mentioned in music, and movies? Is it the biblical definition of love? Hopefully, you will be able to share the differences and then approach God’s Word with a clearer understanding of God’s message on love. As a Mom, explaining how Jesus showed love for you and your family by laying down His life on the cross, will help your kids connect God’s love for them.  Share how this very important act of loving-kindness helps you understand this awesome God that you choose to follow. Ask your family, what life would have been like if Jesus had never laid down His life for yours? Remember the Christmas movie “It is a wonderful life” and the point was to look at the man’s life and see how it looked if he had never lived. Consider what our world would look like if Jesus had never lived and given up His life for you…would you have any hope? What would you be like if Jesus did not change your heart to love like He does? Then talk through the study and share in the discussion section how has Jesus’ gift changed you?
Do you need help or prayer for your family time? Email me at SkyMoms@skyranch.org.
I will be praying for you! 
Stacy
Stacy A. Davis
Teach Intentionally
This week we are in the 6th Month Topic and  1st Family Time (or page 53) of the Sky Ranch Devotional 
“Open Your Eyes”…
Family Time 1:
Month 6 Topic: God is love…Love changes us
Talk with God: Read…1 John 4:10, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16   
~ 1 John 4:10  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.   Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
  • In 1 John 4:10, what is love?
~ 1 John 4:8  The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
  • In 1 John 4:8, who is love?
~ 1 John 4:16  And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
  • In 1 John 4:16, how do I show others that I know God?
Walk with God: Discuss… The greatest love ever given was Jesus.  How has that gift changed you?
Prayer suggestion… Thank God for loving you and sending Jesus as a payment for your sins.
Family Time 1: 
Month 6 Topic: God is love
Leader Answers:
  • He loved us and sent His Son to pay for our sins
  • God
  • Abide in love = love
  • Discussion ideas: God’s love changes us from the inside out. Hearts that were hardened become soft. God’s Holy Spirit lives in us and causes us to treat others in the way that we want to be treated. Examples are kindness, gentleness, truthfulness, encouragement, etc., and we stop being greedy, hurtful, mean, outbursts of anger, etc. 
© 2011 Tori Miller and Stacy A. Davis, Inc. All rights reserved.

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