Clifton Ave.
C.O.G.
Title. Double click me.
January 2016
Pastoral Ponderings
Counseling Corner
Happy New Year!!!
STEP 1- We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies and that our lives had become unmanageable.
Biblical Comparison: I know nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:17)
NO-WIN SITUATIONS BIBLE READING: Genesis 16:1-15
Sometimes we are powerless because of our station in life. We may be in a situation where other people have power over us. We may feel that we are trapped by the demands of others and that there’s no way to please them all. It’s a double bind: To please one is to disappoint another. Sometimes when we feel stuck and frustrated with our relationships, we look for a measure of control by escaping through our addictive behaviors.
Hagar is a picture of powerlessness. She had no rights. As a girl, she was a slave to Sarai and Abram. When they were upset because Sarai could not bear children, Hagar was given to Abram as a surrogate. When she did become pregnant, as they wanted, Sarai was so jealous that she beat Hagar, and Hagar ran away. All alone out in the wilderness, she was met by an angel who gave her an amazing message: “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority, the angel added, I will give you more descendants than you can count.” And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard about your misery” (Genesis 16:9-11).
When we are caught in NO-WIN-SITUATIONS, it’s tempting to run away through our addictive/compulsive escapes hatches. At times like these God is there, and He is listening to our woes. We need to learn to express our pain to God instead of just trying to escape it. He hears our cries and is willing to give us hope for the future! (READ Jeremiah 29:11).
Pastor Tina
Dear Church,
I started following a blog online written by Linda Ranson Jacobs that has some great ideas for ministering to kids who have experienced trauma. To start out 2016, I’d like to share and excerpt with you about misbehaving kids. There is a lot of Great info on this website— you can check it out at: http://blog.dc4k.org.
Serving for His Glory,
Pastor Laura
What can you do with misbehaving kids that have no R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Perhaps no adult in his or her childhood has shown empathy to this child. Maybe no one has modeled respect. They don’t know or understand what respect is all about.
In other words children do to others what’s been done to them. You can count on it!
What you can do
*Get to know the child personally.
*Don’t make the child just another child in the group.
*Learn not only his first name but the correct last name also. (It might be a family where different
children have different last names. Don’t offend the child by calling him his sister’s last name.)
*Ask him or her questions about their week.
*Remember their situation week after week and inquire about their problems. Ask about the parent
that doesn’t live with them. Or about the grandmother they live with.
*Empathize and share small parts of your life with the child.
*Model respect. You be the adult and respect the child.
*Respect their feelings. It’s their feelings and they have a right to feel the way they do.
*Respect the fact that they have experienced some sort of trauma and that experience has skewed their
view of the world and many times of God also.
*Model the love of Jesus in your interactions with them.
*Model compassion toward them.
*Be joyful around them.
After you have gotten to know them; after you have developed a relationship with them; after you have connected heart-to-heart with them, then you can start introducing the concept of respect. It might be a slow process but isn’t it worth it if you can bring this child into the Kingdom?
Happy New Year!!
I can’t believe 2016 is already here. God certainly blessed us last year , but we like Paul must press into our future rather than dwell in our past. After some prayerful consideration, our theme for the New Year is : “Striving for dreams in 2016”. We have things to do and a Might God to trust so let’s live purpose-filled lives and watch God move in our midst. Joseph was a dreamer and that got him into a bit of trouble, but God was with him and things worked together for the Glory of God. We. Like Joseph may be misunderstood; but like Joseph God is with us and this New Year will bring great victories. I challenge us all to anticipate great things. I challenge us all to pray faith-filled prayers and watch God move. “Create in us clean hearts O God, renew a steadfast spirit within us. Do not cast us from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from us, restore to us the joy of our salvation and grant a willing spirit within us. Then we will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will turn back to you.”
Love & Peace,
Pastor David