What’s my mission?

By on August 31, 2011 in Missions

“What’s my mission, Dad?”

His always-sparkling eyes dance with excitement as he waits for instructions and his daddy’s, “Ready, set, go!” The nightly “mission” is really no more than telling our 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son to put on their pj’s, go to the bathroom, and brush their teeth, but hearing Dad frame it as a “secret mission” just never seems to get old, especially for our wild thing LB.

The idea of being sent on a mission contains some assumptions: there is something wrong or someone in danger, that something or someone is worth fighting for, and there is something the sent-one can do to impact the course of events.  For our boys, created to mirror God’s nature in a unique way in their manliness, the idea of being on mission resonates deeply with them. After all, God Himself is on mission. In the words of Sally Lloyd-Jones in The Jesus Storybook Bible:

The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne- everything- to rescue the one He loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

As we teach our sons a Christian framework for understanding reality, we really are teaching them their “mission.”

  • There is something wrong: God created this world beautiful and intricate and radiant with His glory, and everything has been broken and marred by sin.
  • There is someone in danger: Because of sin, all of us have been broken, we are incapable of solving the ‘sin problem’ that plagues us and separates us eternally from our holy Creator-God.
  • That someone is worth fighting for: Humanity, in all of their broken, sinful mess, is treasured by God. This is the amazing, eternity-altering good news: our loving Creator-God provided the solution to our brokenness: Jesus Christ, God the Son in flesh, laid down His life on our behalf. If we place our faith in Him as our only access to the Father and trust that His death paid the penalty for our own sin, we can know and walk with and live eternally in the presence of our God!
  • There is something the sent-one can do: This amazing, fabulous, eternally-altering good news is something the whole world must hear. How can they believe in Jesus if they have not heard? Once we know Jesus Christ, we have been sent on a mission to tell others. It’s news that can change the world! It’s the only news that can eternally change the world!

“What’s my mission?”

Our sons need to know who they are and why they’re here – the story of their lives is inextricably tied with God’s mission. There is something wrong, there is someone in danger, there is great news to share, and there is something we can do as God’s sent-ones.  As we impress the Gospel upon them, we also equip them with an eternally weighty and exciting purpose for their lives.

The problem is real. The solution is real. And our Heavenly Father can take our little wild things and use them to turn the world upside down with His good news.

“Ready, set, go!”

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Tackling “The” Talk~ Covenant

By on August 30, 2011 in tackling the talk

Understanding the biblical concept of covenant has opened my heart to a deeper understanding of God’s heart for me, God’s heart for His people and God’s heart for marriage.

The phrase “make a covenant” is mentioned 13 times in the Old Testament and the Hebrew words “karat beriyth” are translated “to cut a covenant”.

There is much to this theology that I do not have time to get in to here but I do want to talk about how it relates to our sons and their sexuality.

One of the places that covenant is referenced in the Bible is in relation to the marriage relationship (Malachi 2:14).  In the Old Testament, cutting covenant involved cutting through pieces of flesh and producing blood, such as during the sacrifice of animals.  In the New Testament, Christ’s death on the cross satisfied this requirement.  God takes covenant very seriously and expects His people to as well.

During a study on Covenant, by Kay Arthur I learned how the physical marriage relationship mirrors  the “cutting of covenant”. This blood covenant is even illustrated in marriage. The virgin bride bleeds when the newly married couple consummate their relationship. Marriage is a sacred covenant.

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh Genesis 2:24

Today’s culture and society has lost sight of the seriousness of the covenant of marriage and the role of sex. Sex is symbolic of a covenant between a married man and his wife. A covenant that we will be held accountable to one day.
In a culture where sex is viewed casually and more than half of marriages end in divorce, we as moms need to teach our boys about covenant.
Help them to understand the beauty of covenant, the seriousness of covenant and the responsibility that comes with covenant. Having that knowledge, in their minds and their hearts, will help them take sex and commitment seriously in the future.

Here are some resources if you want to learn more about covenant and marriage/sexuality:
~ The Marriage Bed
~Covenant, God’s Enduring Promises by Kay Arthur

Is this a concept you had considered when tackling “the talk” with your boys?

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waving the white flag {warrior prayers}

By on August 29, 2011 in Warrior Prayer

Are you a mother of boys who often finds herself wanting to wave the white flag in defeat?

Do they drain you, overwhelm you, steal your heart, break your heart and cause you more anxiety than you ever dreamed possible?

Maybe you only have one boy amongst a sea of estrogen and you just can’t figure out how to respond to him in a way that affirms all that is good about his masculinity.

You’re not alone.

Last May, over 1300 women and a few dads in SEVEN different countries joined together to pray purposefully and passionately for the hearts of their sons in a challenge called 21 Days of Prayer for Sons. 21 Days is based on the best-selling eBook Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most.

Even our best parenting efforts don’t come with a guarantee. As much as we might wish we could change their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), we can’t. But we serve a God who can. Knowing this, it becomes quite clear that there is only one thing we can do…

Plead with God.

Pray.

“The fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:17.

It’s our hope.

The next 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge starts September 6 and ends September 26, 2011. How can you participate? Easy!

  1. Purchase your own copy of Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most (just $5.97 as a PDF download or on Amazon Kindle!) You could, in theory, participate in the challenge without a personal copy, but your experience will be much deeper and richer with it.
  2. Commit to praying for your son(s) or grandsons 10 times a day for 21 days straight. This is a huge commitment, so if you feel God leading you to participate, pray and ask Him to give you the strength and endurance you need.
  3. Consider leading your own group on your blog or in your community!
  4. Sign-up HERE!

Get inspired by recent participants!

“This challenge…has given me my joy back in mothering” ~LaToya

“Thank you for giving me a tangible method for transformation in my family!!” ~Anne

“Thanks, Brooke for your help. I’ve always known that God was listening; I just didn’t know what to say!” ~Laurel

“So many heart changes are going on in our home and I’m just so thankful…” ~Ashley

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While you’re thinking about the power of prayer, may I introduce you to an opportunity to make an eternal, Great Commission difference in the lives of people who have never heard the word “Jesus?” Please visit here today to learn about how you can get involved, simply by committing to prayer.

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Thanks for joining the M.O.B. Society as we reach for the hearts of our sons. To join us every day, subscribe in a reader, by email or receive updates directly to your Amazon Kindle! We’re just 91 email subscriptions away from 2000! Think we could reach that goal by the end of August? YOU CAN HELP!

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Why Won’t They Lead?

By on August 26, 2011 in growing godly men, leadership, physicality of boys

“Every man feels that the world is asking him to be something he doubts very much he has it in him to be.” ~John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

I hear so often people lamenting the fact that there aren’t many REAL men out there leading the way – in church, in families and so on. Is this discontent happening where you live as well?

And while it is good to ask questions, figure out root causes, and challenge men to step up where they are now, it is BETTER for us as moms of boys to take action NOW with the future men God has entrusted to us.

As I am re-reading Wild at Heart, there are SO many things jumping out to me as challenges directly to us as mothers to raise leaders starting at a very young age.

The first problem is with what our culture has been saying…

“The idea, widely held in our culture, is that the aggressive nature of boys is inherently bad, and we have to make them into something more like girls.”

I am a girl. The “aggressive nature” of my boys caught me completely off guard. And my natural inclination was to stifle that.

Bad idea…

#1 – It’s almost impossible to suppress.

#2 – That is not allowing them to be who God designed them to be.

#3 – In stifiling their aggressive nature, I would be taking away an essential asset for them as a leader.

When I say “aggressive,” please do not read “bully” or “dictator” or anything along those lines.

I know when the word “aggressive” is mentioned, Scriptures about turning the other cheek and peace and such will be brought up as a counter argument. I do NOT want to raise men who push people around. But I love what Eldredge has to say on this very point…

“Yes, Scripture teaches wise use of strength and the power of forgiveness. But you cannot teach a boy to use his strength by stripping him of it.”

This is where I needed a wake-up call. If we want to raise men who step up to all God has for them, men who accept challenges and fight battles, men who lead the way into new lands to conquer, men who STAND UP FOR JESUS, we cannot take away their God-given strength.

Which brings me to the next issue…

I say no too much – to running and jumping and play-fighting and the like.

I used to say it a lot more, but I am seeing the good that come out of situations that seem crazy and out-of-control to me. I let them wrestle it out and feel strong. I let them play-fight and they develop stories of good defeating evil. I don’t jump into an argument right away and I see character develop as one boy learns to listen or forgive or agree to disagree.

God’s designs are never flawed. He made our boys exactly who He wanted them to be so they would become exactly the men He designed them to be.

“But God’s design – which he placed in boys as the picture of himself – is a resounding yes. Be fierce, be wild, be passionate.”

And we are the ones to tell them YES to all that God made them to be, so that one day they WILL become the passionate leaders so many are looking for today.

Will you accept this challenge?

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**All quotes taken from Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. As a mom of boys, and probably a wife as well, this is a must read.**

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