Sky Ranch Family Devotional…Your Free Gift, with Stacy A. Davis ~ Bible Teacher and Sky Ranch Board Member

Family Fun Icebreaker: What is a good gift that you have gotten? Why?

Question: What happens if you trust God?

Topic 5: Trust—God’s Salvation

Today’s Big Idea: Your Free Gift

Share with your family that God, the Father, sent Jesus, His Son, into the world to pay for your sins as a free gift to you.
The questions give your family the opportunity to share the core belief of a Christian. Everyone, including you, sins against God. As explained before, we cannot help sinning—it is in our nature. God knows about your sin and provided the solution, Jesus. All you have to do is accept His free gift for you. To accept this free gift, tell God through prayer that you are sorry for all the things that you have done wrong (sin) and that you trust (believe) that Jesus was punished for your sins. Ask God for guidance to follow Him the best you can for the rest of your life—it is really that simple! Another benefit of trusting Jesus for your salvation is forgiveness. God forgives you for your sin against Him. This means you can forgive yourself, too. As a family, talk about the benefits of forgiveness and how your heart feels when you know you are forgiven! 

Talk with God: Read scriptures and questions below.

Romans 6:23 (NASB): “For the wages of sin is death, but the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 5:8 (NIV): “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: ’While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’”
Romans 3:22 (NLT): “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.”

Walk with God:

Discuss with younger kids: I bet you love to get gifts. Have you ever had a gift “with strings attached”? (Parents explain if needed.) Is it the same as a gift that is truly free? There is a difference; the free gift is better! God is amazing! He is freely giving you the gift of forgiveness and the opportunity to be with Him forever through Jesus. Is there anything that would hold you back from accepting His gift?

Discuss with older kids: Who doesn’t love a free gift? But, amazingly, some people still don’t believe in God and don’t receive His free gift. Sometimes people struggle with accepting that they are forgivable or they won’t forgive themselves, so they stay far from God. Is there anything that would hold you back from accepting this free gift?

Prayer suggestion: Pray for God to forgive you and help you accept His gift. 

I will be praying for you!
Stacy

Stacy A. Davis, Author
Sky Ranch Family Devotionals 
© 2013 Stacy A. Davis, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sky Ranch Family Devotional…Believe, with Stacy A. Davis ~ Bible Teacher and Sky Ranch Board Member

Family Fun Icebreaker: Is there anything that you need to confess that you are sorry for?

Question: What happens if you trust God?

Topic 5: Trust—God’s Salvation

Today’s Big Idea: Believe

Share with your family that God, the Father, sent Jesus, His Son, into the world as a sacrifice who would take the wrath for your sins.
The questions give your family the opportunity to share about how, in Topic 4, your family looked at the problem of sin and how these actions cause issues in your relationship with God. Before Jesus, God had provided a temporary solution for the people’s sin that is described in the Old Testament or Jewish Scriptures. God shares in Hebrews 10 that the “Jewish sacrifice”, or making sacrifices of animals, was meant to be a temporary fix. Jesus’ sacrifice was intended to be the real and permanent solution for sin. It was a one-time payment for all sin, for all people in the past, present and future, of all who believe in Him. In the moment that you believe in Jesus, God accepts His payment for your personal sins against Him. He won’t hold the sins of the past against you. Now you will be accepted in God’s home, heaven, and can live eternally with Him. Talk to your family about the dangers of rejecting God’s offer and staying trapped in a lifestyle of denying God, living life your own way. 

Talk with God: Read scriptures and questions below.

1 John 4:9-10 (NIV): “This is how God showed his love among
us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for (or as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away) our sins.”
Hebrews 10:10 (NIV): “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Walk with God:

Discuss with younger kids: As you are growing up, your parents guide you by showing you right from wrong. When you have broken one of their rules, there is a consequence from your parents. But there is another consequence, the feeling of guilt. You can feel bad inside, right? It is the same with sin; you have a choice. If you continue a sinful lifestyle, God will have consequences. Yet there is another consequence: your own guilt within your heart. Can you think of other consequences associated with a sinful lifestyle?

Discuss with older kids: You have seen some people that you know make really bad choices by now. Whether it is a celebrity in the news or a personal friend, you have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Living sinful lifestyles cause people to pay a heavy price, such as public embarrassment or humiliation. But not all sinful lifestyles are public, they can be private. Are there still consequences? What are they?

Prayer suggestion: Pray for God to show you the way to remove your sins. 

I will be praying for you!
Stacy

Stacy A. Davis, Author
Sky Ranch Family Devotionals 
© 2013 Stacy A. Davis, Inc. All rights reserved.

photo credit

Tori's SkyMoms Tips....Do you have scrappy mismatched pieces? Be encouraged this Valentines Day!

I came straight home from the Sky Ranch SkyMoms retreat and knew I needed to make a specific prayer quilt for me to use daily during my time with the Lord … Full of scrappy fabrics representing so much in my life right now and use the key verse 
"she is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future" 

Proverbs 31:25

Right now this quilt is such great symbolism for the season of life I am in... laying down all the mix matched/messed up pieces - sewing them all together knowing The Lord is in control and can bring all the "scraps of our lives" together to make a beautiful story.  

Blessings, 
Tori

After I posted this picture and comment on Instgram and Facebook I got the sweetest response from a special SkyMom.....

"I have come to the realization that the life as I have known it (I have been so blessed by this world's standards with many lovely things, homes, vacations, clothes, etc...and NEVER want to not be greatful for those things) is dismantaling...I have a ton of fears...insurance, income, ect...but I also feel God's peace in it all and keep seeing His hand. I have said to my mom many times "I just want to walk this out with integrity and dignity". So as you can see that verse really spoke to me. Many days I feel too small and weak against the forces I am up against...and He will give me STRENGTH. I want to honor God in even the most difficult of circumstances and He will give meDIGNITY. And I do get stressed and worried about the days ahead on my own and He will give me laughter (which i haven't had for years) without fear of our future.

So you see my friend, I am also person with many scrappy, missmatched, pieces. But today God chose to speak to me in a language that (as a quilter myself), I WOULD UNDERSTAND!! For the first time I have excitement about the wonderful pattern that God is going to make out of my life. I wish I could go back and recut the pieces of the last 20+ yrs. but I can't. So now I need to lay them down and let Him make the design...which is VERY HARD for a type A, likes to be in control and organized, likes to know the plan, likes to be put together, likes to not have drama in my life and draw attention to myself, wants to honor God -person!!!!!!!"

 Love, 
An Anonymous Sweet Sky Ranch SkyMom Prayer Warrior

Sky Ranch Family Devotional…The Hope of Eternal Life, with Stacy A. Davis ~ Bible Teacher and Sky Ranch Board Member

Family Fun Icebreaker: What do you think heaven will be like?

Question: What happens if you trust God?

Topic 5: Trust—God’s Salvation

Today’s Big Idea: The Hope of Eternal Life

Share with your family that God, the Father, sent Jesus, His Son, into the world to give you hope.
The questions give your family the opportunity to share about eternity and how each person’s spirit is eternal. According to scripture, all of us have an eternal spirit and that does not end. God loves each person so much that He created a way for you to live forever with Him. Heaven is God’s home, and just like in your own home, you decide the rules. God makes the rules that allow you to enter His home. His rule is that you must believe in Him and in His Son, Jesus Christ. If you believe in God, then you believe all that He says as well. The word “believe” implies a belief so strong that it influences your actions, so that you put aside ruling your own life, and you follow God in obedience to His way of living life. If you really believe God, you will see a change in your heart, mind and lifestyle. If you don’t believe God, then He says you will be separated from Him eternally. Talk to your family about God’s teaching that you are eternal and where you want see yourself going eternally.

Talk with God: 
Read scriptures and questions below.
John 3:16 (NASB): “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 12:44 (NIV): “Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.”

Walk with God:

Discuss with younger kids: You often don’t know the way that your day is going to turn out, much less the rest of the week, month, year, or rest of your life. It is really hard for people to think about the future. God tells you that you have a very long future; your spirit within your body is eternal and lives forever. This eternal life does not end. Sometimes, it can be hard to think beyond life on earth. God shares in scripture that your life will keep going and your decisions on earth affect your future. Do you believe that you are saved? If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?

Discuss with older kids: In this section, you will have a time to review your own choices that you have made. You are an eternal creature. Your spirit does not end, but lives on forever, according to scripture. However, during your time on earth, you will make a choice as to where your spirit will live out eternity. God says that in order for you to live eternally with Him, you must believe in Him and in His Son, Jesus. Do you believe that you are saved? If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?

Prayer suggestion: Pray for God to help you see His hope for you.

I will be praying for you!
Stacy

Stacy A. Davis, Author
Sky Ranch Family Devotionals 
© 2013 Stacy A. Davis, Inc. All rights reserved.

photo credit

 

Prayer Encouragement: "Awkward. It’s Good!" by SkyMom, Terrie Chevaillier

Awkward.  It’s Good!

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

We are two weeks post Sky Moms retreat and this phrase that David Penuel shared when he spoke to us on Biblical Digital Parenting has been in my mind this week.   He said, “I have never found anything in the bible that says, “Thou shall not do/be awkward.”

Dictionary.com defines awkward as: Causing difficulty.  Hard to do or deal with.  It’s not hard to realize regardless if you were with us at the retreat or not, that the culture our kids are growing up in is going to be awkward for them if they do not bow down to it.

During the Q&A portion, it was evident that we all struggle with a bit of fear if our kids say no to this or that around them and we kind of want to save them from awkward.   Things that cause or bring difficulty.  Not going along with parties around us, porn around us, people around us, and sometimes harmful technology around us.  Not only will our kids have to be OK with awkward, but we must settle in our hearts that we are OK with awkward for ourselves first as we parent counter to the culture and then for them.

Let’s Pray:

Lord, thank You that your word says that you cause everything to work together for our good.  Even the awkward moments of being left out, alone, or casted out.

You love my children and you will use those times for their good.  Grow my trust and faith in You to parent that way and not get blinded to “have to” thinking.

You have a purpose for my child.    Will You use these times to mold them and shape them for all that You have called them to be and please save me as a mom from trying to save them from difficulty?

Help me to trust and believe that when the difficulty comes, that you are taking it and using it for good and that if I just hang on and trust You, I will get to see it lived out in their purpose.

All because you LOVE us.

Amen

~Terrie Chevaillier

photo credit

Sky Ranch Family Devotional…Judges, Kings, and the Promise, with Stacy A. Davis ~ Bible Teacher and Sky Ranch Board Member

Family Fun Icebreaker: What is a good memory so far? Mom and dad, what is a good memory from being a parent?

Question: Can you trust God’s Word?

Topic 4: Trust—the Holy Bible

Today’s Big Idea: Judges, Kings, and the Promise

Share with your family that throughout the Bible, God has given a picture of all the ways that He has worked with mankind to deal with sin. God allowed men to rule the people as judges and kings to show mankind that other people still can’t resolve issues with sin. People need a true rescuer, a Savior.
The questions give your family the opportunity to share about why God has taken mankind through all the events covered in this section on the Bible. To refresh your memory, your family can skim through Judges and Kings in the Bible. These books center around God allowing people to act in leadership positions to help the people control their own sin. However, the effort still failed. Even with other people to help, mankind could not stop habitually sinning. They need a true Redeemer. God devised this plan, knowing that mankind needed to go through this process in order to listen to Him. God has a purpose with all that He does. Talk about God’s plan and how it affects each of you and your future.

Talk with God: Read scriptures and questions below.

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NASB): “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of (His) government or of peace, on the throne of David and over
his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.”
Isaiah 46:9-10 (NIV): “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”

Walk with God:

Discuss with younger kids: This section has worked through some major passages of the Bible that focus on sin. At creation, man started good, but man sinned. God has continued to work with man by starting over with Noah, writing rules down with Moses, and later giving people to judge. God knew ahead of time none of these solutions would work...so why would He go through all that trouble?

Discuss with older kids: You have covered a great deal of material about the Bible in this section, but can you summarize God’s big picture? Why did God go to all this trouble? What is He showing you? How will this affect you personally and your future? What do you think God has planned for your future?

Prayer suggestion: Pray for God to help you see His future plans for you. 

I will be praying for you!
Stacy

Stacy A. Davis, Author
Sky Ranch Family Devotionals 
© 2013 Stacy A. Davis, Inc. All rights reserved.

photo credit