The Inheirtaince by Beth Moore

Join us for Beth Moore’s The Inheirtance. This nine session series is a topical study of Inheritance throughout God’s Word. Each session is approximately one hour in length. Key verse: Psalm 16:5-6 “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance”. We’ll begin in September.

If you’re interested in joining us for this study, email us at info@hilocog.org.

Prayer Guide for September

This month we will join Church of God congregations around the world, 32,000 strong, for a unified prayer effort – 30 Days of Prayer. The denominational emphasis coincides with a prayer initiative launched by other denominations in the United States – and the Awakening Alliance, the revival arm of Mission America. This initiative for the Church of God is being called: Days of Awakening – Days of Action.

Throughout the month, we will be posting resources for you and your family to maximize your participation in this prayer initiative. Below you will find a Prayer Guide that will assist you daily in your prayer time. Take a moment to peruse and download these items.

• Prayer Guide for September
• Ten Ways to Deepen Your Communion with God
• Praying With and For Your Kids

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at info@hilocog.org.

Ten Ways to Deepen Your Communion with God

Ten ways to deepen your communion with God:

1. Sit quietly. Enjoy the very real sense of His presence. Let him lead. Don’t rush the moment. Let his peace renew your soul.
2. Listen. Listen deeply. Tune your soul to His stillness. Listen to the rumblings of your own soul, and let God quiet your inner storms. Be still before Him. “God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.” ~Mother Teresa
3. Yield to God’s action. Let him come near. Let him move around you, encircling you. Put yourself in a “Here am I!” position.
4. Let God speak. Avoid the temptation to break a holy silence. He may speak through scripture, through a life-experience, through the memory of some history you share with Him. Listen for any word the Spirit might bring.
5. Keep a prayer journal. Record your impressions and thoughts. Note scripture references. Write down promises you make to God and those you sensing him making to you. Make notes of action items – things you are led to do; and change points – things you are led to change.
6. The essence of the prayer relationship is love. Let God love you. And then, express your love to Him. Let Him lead with love. Let Him love first.
7. Take a walk. Drop everything. Go and get alone with God. Or, take a drive. No agenda. No list. Just a spontaneous encounter with God.
8. Then go to your secret place. Get your journal. Write. Record the fresh insights.
9. Sometimes you may find yourself at a parallel to some moment in Scripture. What is happening to you has happened to David or Paul, or some other Biblical character. Let the Bible give you language that expresses the depth of these encounters with God. The Psalms are especially helpful in cultivating our prayer vocabulary. Athanasius, the fourth-century Egyptian theologian said, “Scripture speaks to us; the Psalms speaks for us.”[1]
10. Sing. Shout joyfully. Dance. Celebrate his presence. Glorify him. Give voice to the deep sense of his presence. Be spontaneous. Be grateful to and for a God who pursues you.

Weep. Weep deeply over the wonderful grace of his embrace. Tears have a way of cleansing the soul. Weep joyfully. Weep over the wonder of why he loves you so.

Source: Prayer – the Heartbeat of the Church Resource Guide: P. Douglas Small (Pathway Press: Cleveland, TN; 2008), p. 23.

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[1] Quoted by Eugene Peterson, “Praying by the Book,” The Contemporaries Meet The Classics on Prayer, ed. Leonard Allen (West Monroe, LA: Howard Publishing, 2003) 53.

Praying With and For Your Kids

In preparation for our 30 days of Prayer Initiative, the following resource is a great way to begin covering your family in prayer. Take the time this month to pray with and for your children. The impact will be far greater than you can imagine.

Praying With and For Your Kids

1. Praise God for his Creation. Pray spontaneous prayers of praise when nature’s beauty is so apparent. Point out rainbows and the colors and the fall, springtime flowers with the buzzing bees and the singing birds. Thank God for such a beautiful earth.

2. Point out answers to prayer and celebrate them with your children. Encourage them to share God ‘s answers to their prayers. When you entertain ministers and missionaries or praying Christians, have them share answers to prayer. Stories are the means by which we pass on God’s active work in history.

3. Bless your children. When your child is hurting, turn the situation into prayer time. They will never forget the association of pain and prayer. When you are wounded or in despair – pray! It is a life lesson. Bless them. Invite God into their difficulty. Lay gentle parental hands of love on them. Pronounce a Biblical Blessing over them. Read a passage of scripture to them, out of their Bible. Mark it. So they will remember it as a promise from the Lord.
   
   The Daily Blessing. Invoke Numbers 6:24–26 over your children. “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

4. Teach your children about the armor of God. Help them understand that life is a battle. But, we all have been given critical tools that assure us victory. (Eph. 6:10–18)

5. Establish a family worship time. Create a time when the whole family commits to be together. Worship. Sing. Read Scripture – do that systematically (through the Psalms, or the Gospels, or a Bible Story Book), share needs and pray for one another, take some principle and talk about its meaning. Do this at least once a week.

6. Lace prayer into family gatherings. Don’t just give a birthday gift and light candles, pray for the birthday child. Bless them. Ask God to guide their lives and help them make a difference in the world. Say, “We thank God for __________, a gift you gave to us. What a wonderful boy/girl s/he is – a gift to us, and a gift to the world.” Have them pray a prayer, “God, thank you for the gift of life … help me live my life to honor you …”
7. Pray for people in need – on the spot. Ask God to bless at an accident scene. Pray for the homeless you see on the street. When exposed to a problem on the television news – pray, then and there. Spontaneously. Teach your children to pray about everything. Prayer invites a compassionate heart. It keeps us tender. It reminds us that we should care. Life without prayer creates an insulated life that sees tragedies unfold and does nothing.

Make Holidays – Holy Days. Read the Christmas story at Christmas and take time to thank God for the greatest gift of all – the Christ child. Consider a family gift to God, and his work at Christmas. At thanksgiving, pray prayers of thanksgiving!

8. Prayer-walk your neighborhood. Take a family walk and pray all along the way. Bless the families that live in your neighborhood. Teach your children casual and informal prayer – under the open heaven, as they walk along. Get the video Prayerwalking for Kids from Joey and Fawn Parish.
9. Pray for City and National Leaders. The National Day of Prayer Task Force wants families to adopt a local, state, or national political leader. In doing so, the family commits to pray for and communicate with this leader for at least one year. Kits are available from NDOP at (800) 444-8828. There is also a wonderful video that teaches children about the 10/40 Window called The 10/40 Window for Children. It is available from Joey and Fawn Parish, 6673 Sora Street, Ventura, CA 93003.
10. Take your family to prayer events. When the church has a prayer meeting, take your children. When National Day of Prayer gatherings take place on the 1st Thursday of May, take your children. Other similar community prayer events include – PrayUSA!, Praying Through the Window, March for Jesus, the Global Day of Prayer, Meet Me At the Pole, September 11 Prayer Gatherings at the Courthouse, Meet Me At City-Hall. Encourage your children to take part in such prayer events.
11. Keep a family prayer journal. Record family answers to prayer. Significant spiritual experiences. Promises of God. Make a place for each child. Journal the spiritual experiences, even the struggles and the prayers you pray. What a gift that will make some day. Keep records of missionaries the family has committed to pray for. Make the connection between prayer and people coming to know God. Pray for neighbors. Pray for enemies. Let your kids hear you bless them.

Source: Prayer – the Heartbeat of the Church Resource Guide: P. Douglas Small (Pathway Press: Cleveland, TN; 2008), p. 43.

The Praying Church Movement

The Safety Zone by Joyce Meyer

Do you feel like you’re living on the edge and getting close to falling over? Is your plate too full because you have a hard time saying no? Discover how setting boundaries can de-stress your life and place you in the safety zone!

Thursday, August 19/26 @ 6 p.m.

Turning Point

We often talk about it. Recognize we need it. But it change takes more than a speech or an awareness. Genuine change involves a revelation that changes is needed NOW and a commitment to the process, regardless of the pain.

In Turning Point we’re going to look at making changes in our spiritual lives, family and finances.

Join us for Turning Point. Sundays at 10 a.m.

For more information, emails us at info@hilocog.org.

Re:Church

Re:Church
Rethinking ♲ Reforming ♲ Relaunching

Every organization or ministry must remain true to its purpose and reason for existence. During various stages of the Church’s existence, reformations have been required to regain the focus of its intended purpose. In this series we will revisit our core values compass to regain our focus on what God has called us to be and do.

Beginning
Sunday, May 30, 2010

Since You Believed

Since You Believed is a six-week study of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. From His person and work to His role in your life, we will discuss the relevance of the Spirit’s in the believers life. This study begins Thursday, April 22 at 6 p.m.

It’s Time

I love the New Years and new beginnings. It offers a set time to initiate change in our lives. It is a beautiful opportunity to draw a line in the sand, making yesterday and yesteryear the past and today a brand new chance at life.

As a part of any new beginning, one of our priorities is to kick bad habits and destructive behaviors. Be it smoking, eating or the like, we all generally have something we want to gain victory over. It is no secret that the rage of online pornography has gripped our society with a death grip. It is destroying marriages, future marriages, and the innocence of our young people.

Listen to these statistics:

• 43% of all internet users view pornographic material
  • 1 out of 3 are female
• “sex” and “porn” are among the top 5 search terms for kids under 18
• only 3% of adult web sites require age verification
• 61% of parents check browser history, but only 32% use parental control software. Chances are your kid can delete browser history. (SafeEyes)
• Over 1/2 of divorces mention online pornography as a cause. (SafeEyes)

These were numbers I pulled from two credible sources in less than 5 minutes. In the last few weeks I have heard of former UN officials being busted in sex stings, a University of Florida staff member being charged for child pornography, and even a PA sheriff accessing pornography from his work computer. Sure, these are all people far away from us, and you’re family is probably different…No, not at all! It’s present in our families, our church, and our community.
Over the last several months I have been promoting an internet filtering software called SafeEyes. It is an annual subscription that offers a variety of filters and protections for your family’s internet usage. If you download it from the company’s site it is just $49.95 per year and is permitted for up to 3 computers. If you use the following coupon code (“tweet10”) you can receive 20% off. This is certainly worth purity of your family.

This program will allow you to:

• Filter unwanted material from your computer and searches
• Monitor the activity and usage of those in your household
• Block certain users from certain programs
• Establish usage restrictions and time limits
• And, much more

It’s not to late to get your family on the right track. Let’s take this issue seriously. It is affecting our families, our church, and our community.
If you would like more information, feel free to contact me.

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