Do You Really Have What It Takes to Homeschool Your Children?

Well, I have bad news and good news. First, the bad new: No, you don’t really have what it takes to homsechool your kids. If you have not figured this out yet, it is the first important step to being able to successfully do so.

Now, the good news: By God’s grace you have everything you need to homeschool your children!

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you,
so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,
you may abound in every good work."
(2 Cor 9:8)

I think we all already know that teaching our children at home is a “good work.” But how often do you find yourself with nothing left, out of energy, creativity, and patience? That doesn’t sound very abundant and sufficient. Is this because God is not giving you the grace to accomplish this good work? Of course not.

We receive God’s grace by faith. It is up to us to depend on him. We are not just imparting knowledge to our children, we are preparing them to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives (See Make Knowledge Easy for Your Children). Therefore, we can be sure God will empower us to accomplish this task!

Here are three ways you can depend on God’s grace for your homeschool: prayer, Scripture, and God’s Spirit.

Prayer     Are you praying truth from God’s Word by faith for your children every day? Are you asking for God’s wisdom, strength,  and anointing for your time with the children each day? Are you diligently seeking him for what he wants you to teach them?

Scripture   Is God’s Word a central part of your homeschool? Are you reading, explaining, and memorizing God’s Word with your children? Are you discussing real life issues with reference to God’s Word? Are you helping your children build a biblical worldview?

God's Spirit     Are you the only teacher in your homeschool? I don’t mean that your spouse or others in your family or community help teach. I mean, is the Teacher present? Do you expect him to be? Are you depending on him to show up and help educate and train your children for life?

Can you envision your home a place of energy, joy, peace, and spiritual fruit? This is God’s will for your family! By faith take hold of his awesome, abundant, powerful grace!

Awesome App for Prayer

I recently wrote a post on How to Create a Weekly Prayer List on Your iPhone. I know, I know, I should have known: there's an app for that.

I heard a story on The World and Everything In It news and commentary podcast (which I highly recommend) on the app called PrayerMate. I was skeptical at first. I just failed to see how it could really do more than I had already created. WOW, was I wrong! I have been using it for several weeks now, and I love it!

It has so many great features:

  • add any number of topics, subjects, and notes
  • connect people on your list with your contacts (photos are imported and you can contact them right from the app)
  • set any topic or list to appear as often as you like and PrayerMate puts together a prayer list as often as you want, according to your preferences
  • RSS feeds are available (for example, I subscribe to the Operation World prayer feed)
  • you can also create your own prayer feed others can subscribe to
  • intuitive and easy to use
  • it is FREE

How to Create a Weekly Prayer List on Your iPhone

I used to have a "Quiet Time Notebook" for years. A real notebook with real paper in it. In my notebook,  I would journal, take sermon notes, make prayer lists, and keep up with Scripture memory. While there is nothing wrong with doing it that way, I have found digital ways of keeping up with these disciplines that ensure the safety of the data and are more convenient and efficient for me.

I recently bought an iPhone and created a daily and weekly prayer list system using the Reminders app. Here's how you do it.

Select the Reminders app that comes on the iPhone. Select "New List" at the top. Name the list whatever you want and make as many prayer lists as you want. The part that I like the best is the ability to create weekly reminders. For example, if there are certain items or people I would like to pray for every Monday, I can create a recurring reminder. After you have populated your list, select an item on the list and a blue "i" in a circle will appear on the right. Select the "i" and you will be able to set the date, time, and recurrence of the reminder for that item.

Here is the result: I can drag from the top of the iPhone screen at any time (even without unlocking my phone) and I get a summary of my day: weather, calendar items, and reminders (awesome feature). So each day, whatever prayer reminders I have set for the day appear in this view. As I pray through them, I can select each item and they will disappear until the set day next week! This makes it very convenient to pray through my list as I go through the day.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers" (Eph 1:16). He also exhorted them to pray "at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints" (Eph 6:18).

Like Paul, we don't really NEED an iPhone to pray for the saints without ceasing. But for now I am finding it a very helpful tool!

Whatever tool you use, the important questions are these:

  • Are you enjoying a daily love relationship with Christ?
  • Are you spending significant time with him in prayer?
  • Are you praying for the saints?

One Habit to Change Your Life

What one activity would change your life if you turned it into a habit?

I was recently challenged to reflect on this as I read the book The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan.

“Not everything matters equally; some things matter more than others—a lot more. . . . Go extreme. Once you’ve figured out what actually matters, keep asking what matters most until there is only one thing left. That core activity goes at the top of your success list.”
— Gary Keller, The One Thing

From a biblical perspective, our ONE Thing is very clear!

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
Psalm 27:4

My ONE Thing is to have a real, intimate relationship with Christ, to love God with all (Mark 12:30).

So, the answer to my first question is this: PRAY.

[I think that Scripture reading and meditation is just as important. but I already have made that a habit. It is my prayer life that is weak.]

I want to learn to pray. What am I doing to accomplish this? I have committed to significant amount of time in prayer everyday. I am also training my mind to return to the Lord often throughout the day in prayer.

I am reading these two books to help me grow in these areas. I highly recommend them both.

How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life:
The Biblical Path to Holiness and Relationship with God
by Dr. Gregory R Frizzell

The One Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan.

The Practice of the Presence of God
by Brother Lawrence

The Secret to Powerful Prayer [Podcast #2]

Sometimes prayer seems mysterious. When will God answer our prayers? What do we make of his promises to answer prayer (John 14:13-14; 15:7-11)? How can we learn to pray his will? If it is his will, why do we have to pray it?

Episode 2 of the Truth to Freedom Podcast is a recording of my teaching at Highland Christian Fellowship on Eph 6:19-20; Col 4:3-4. In these verses, Paul gives his prayer request to the Ephesians, a prayer for communicating the gospel. Not only do we learn what to pray, but we have the opportunity to dig into these challenging questions about prayer.

“1. If we ask him, God will provide opportunities to communicate the gospel (Col 4:3).

2. If we ask him, God will help us to communicate the gospel with boldness (Eph 6:19-20).

3. If we ask him, God will help us to know what to say when we communicate the gospel (Eph 6:19; Col 4:4).”

How to Train Your Mind for Constant Prayer [Podcast #1]

When you don't have to focus on what you are doing (like reading this post), to what does your mind wander the most? If we observe this over a day, or even a week, we can learn something about ourselves: what is really important to us.

That is why it is so disturbing to realize how often my mind does NOT wander back to God!

In Eph 6:8 Paul encourages us to pray at all times in the Spirit. This does not mean that I am constantly asking God for something. It means that I am maintaining an attitude of prayer and sensitivity to the Spirit throughout the day.

This podcast is a recording of my teaching from Eph 6:18, "Living a Life of Prayer." It is the first ever episode in my new podcast, Truth to Freedom!