The following are words given by participants at the streamed meeting. 1 Corinthians 14:29 says that "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others weigh carefully what is said." 1 Thess 5:19-21 tells us not to despise prophecies, but to test everything and retain what is good.
At beginning of meeting, Scripture Reading Deuteronomy 6:4-9 - "Israel, remember this! The Lord - and the Lord alone - is our God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates."
Scripture Reading Matthew 5:14-16 - "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
Prophecy - "Are you waiting for me, my children? Are you waiting to hear my word? Then I say, listen, listen carefully. Listen attentively for I am always speaking to your heart. Open wide your heart. Let me in. Let me in to those deep areas. Let me in to those deep corners. My people, I want to cleanse you. I want to purify you. I want to make you holy. I want to make you more like me. I know you love me. I know how much you want to serve me. You want to please me. You want to be in my will. Allow me to do the cleansing. Open wide your heart. Let me show you those areas that need to be cleaned. You are my chosen people but even the best of my children had to be cleansed. Allow me to go deep, deeper still and I will make you holier. I will make you more like me. Will you let me? Will you allow me? Please, my little ones, say yes and I will come and I will fill you with my Spirit. I will fill you with love overflowing. Let me do my work and watch me do my work in you and through you. You are my precious chosen ones and I am proud of each one of you."
Word of Knowledge - We need to ask St. Michael the Archangel to defend us and to remove any distractions that are coming. There's a reason why the distractions are coming and the Lord is saying, "Pray, be attentive but pray." When the distractions come, they don't always look like something benign. We have to be aware of what is happening. I'm just going to ask St. Michael the Archangel to protect us from anything that is trying to come through.
Prophecy - "Yes, the river is flowing in Winnipeg too, my people, the river of healing and of power sent by my Spirit. As it comes into your home, it will come into your heart, flow into your family and your friends and flow out of your neighborhood. Receive my river of power and you will be more spirit-filled and closer to me, my children. I love you. Now is the time, get closer to me and I will give you all that you need. Come to me, my children, come to me."
Scripture Reading Tobit 14:8-9 - "Now, my children, follow my instructions. Worship God sincerely and do what is pleasing to him. Bring up your children to do what is right. Teach them that they must give to the poor and must always remember to praise God with all sincerity."
Scripture Reading Psalm 13, Prayer to the Lord in time of illness - "How long, Lord? Will you utterly forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I carry sorrow in my soul, grief in my heart day after day? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look upon me, answer me, Lord, my God! Give light to my eyes lest I sleep in death, lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed," lest my foes rejoice at my downfall. I trust in your faithfulness. Grant my heart joy in your help, that I may sing of the Lord, "How good our God has been to me!"
Jim Burns spoke on "Exploring our Role as Parents of an Adult Child or as Grandparents of an Adult Grandchild." He presented 6 principles.
1) You're fired. Your role as a parent has to change. You need to reinvent your relationship with your kids: Letting go of your control. There's a sense of loss.
2) Unsolicited advice is usually taken as criticism. Experience is a better teacher than advice. It's very hard to let our kids make poor choices. What the kids hear is that we don't trust them to be all grown up. Ask permission to give advice. Be the people who bless their children.
3) Become a student of their culture, not your culture. You don't have to agree with their distinctives but understand their distinctives. They're shaped by technology. When these millennials get married, their number one desire is to have a good marriage and be good parents. This is when they need us as grandparents to be mentors in their life. And that's where they need the church. Some are coming back when they get married. Also, they view tolerance as a form of loving.
4) They will never know how far the town is if you carry them on your back. Are we enabling or helping them? If we're enabling them, are we really going to help them become responsible adults? We have to be careful not to enable dependency. The goal is responsible adulthood. The pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Entitled kids have a failure to launch.
5) You can't want it more than they want it. Kids do come back. Offer them tough love; not being mean or getting angry or frustrated. Tough love means allowing the consequences of their poor choices to happen. Expand the relationship. You don't have to agree with them. You can be in a relationship, loving, God honoring relationship with them. Go out for coffee and listen to what's going on in their lives. Once they crash, you need to be their safe person. They know what we believe, how we feel. Constant criticism, even if it's true, breaks the relationship apart. Bottom Line: If the kids are messing up and you have heartbreak, they're asking, "Do you still love me?" Who's the safe person in their life?
6) Find joy in the empty nest. Find fresh experiences. We can put energy into our grandkids. You have so much time now to build a legacy between your grandchildren and you.
Isaiah 43:19 - "Be alert. Be present. Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, and rivers through the badlands."
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