Run With Horses

Why Should I Be Good?

December and January is Travel Time for the Smith Family. Back to Japan. Bear with us!Send questions and ideas for shows we can do in the next few weeks, will help a lot. Tell a friend about Run With Horses, we want to be an encouragement to you and to everyone who is serious about following Jesus. 
What is Goodness?“Goodness is virtue and holiness in action. It results in a life characterized by deeds motivated by righteousness and a desire to be a blessing. It’s a moral characteristic of a Spirit-filled person. The Greek word translated “goodness,” is defined as "uprightness of heart and life." It is goodness for the benefit of others, not goodness simply for the sake of being virtuous.” (accessed Dec.9,2022 - https://www.gotquestions.org/fruit-Holy-Spirit-goodness.html)
Mark 10:18 – No one is good except God alone.
Are you good?  Not a chance! But as a Christ-follower you can be a good in the life of someone else as the Spirit of God works in you, You bear spiritual fruit that is not of your own making.
Doing the right thing because it is the right thing. Because it helps someone else.
Why is it important?
The world is looking at you! Friends, Family, co-workers, strangers.One of the things that gives us an opportunity to share Jesus with others is our actions and attitudes. We should want Goodness to mark them clearly. 
The testimony of the church at large is influenced by our actions, attitudes and words. Goodness should mark the life of every believer.  Titus 2:6-8 “ ...encourage the young men to be self-controlled...  set them an example by doing what is good... In your teaching show integrity, ... and soundness of speech ... so that those who oppose you ... have nothing bad to say about us.”
Intentionally considering our actions and desiring that they be good is part of our fight against selfishness. We are self-centered at our core. Goodness is contrary to that self-centered attitude.
It is part of a life of obedience in following Jesus. Gal. 6:10 – Do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith.
God meets the needs of the church family as we practice acts of goodness in community.
As your spiritual fruit is expressed in acts of Goodness that benefit others, your service results in joy in your life that can be found in no other way. 
How do we live it out?
Start with prayer. Ask God to give you spiritual strength and the courage to fight against the natural selfishness and desire to protect yourself.  Our natural desire is to take care of ourselves. Goodness takes care of others.
Fill your mind and heart with the promises and words of God. Recognizing His hand at work in you and around you can give you the confidence in Him to trust Him to take care of you, freeing you to take care of others. Particularly consider how God sees people. Do you have the compassion that Jesus expressed? How do we do Good to those Jesus loves?
Make it a point to spend time each week with people who love Jesus. The church is really important to Him if you haven’t noticed. How can you do Good to them?
Spend time with people who are not like you. It really stretches you to see how others live and think about life. There is no context in which you cannot find Good to do. Look for it. Surrender to it.
In the end, Goodness is the overflow of a heart that is changed by God. You can’t just choose to be Good. You can surrender your life to Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to control your mind, heart and actions resulting in the Goodness of God flowing through you and blessing those around you.
It’s not easy to follow Jesus. But then, He never said that it would be!
 
 

Family Friday: Discipling Your Children PART 2

Discipling Your Children   PART 2 
Why not leave it to the church?
Why should you do it?
They are your responsibility. Proverbs, Eph. 6, examples in Bible (kings/parents’ examples)
You are in the best position to help them. You know them best. -- You are the one spending most time with them (unless you choose differently) -- Beware of who spends more time with them than you do (worldly voices, TV, video    games, friends, unsaved teachers -- You have the most influence in their life while they’re young. Use it wisely, intentionally
You care about them the most. (John 10 – the underling doesn’t care for the sheep like the shepherd)
We are to be making disciples – These are your prime ones!
It aids in your own spiritual growth!
It helps you mature as an adult, to care for your child, invest in them, see potential dangers ahead
Somebody WILL “disciple” your children.

Need Patience Now? : )

Want Patience Now? : )   - Who doesn't!
Recognize the Realities of Life
Life Is Not Fair
It’s Not All About You
You Don’t Always Get What You Want
Money Will Never Solve Your Real Problems
Nothing Lasts Forever In This Lifetime
Positive Mindset
Live in The Now/ Today
You Need to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Learn to Be Flexible
Be Thankful

Excerpt from Simply Pray

Today I read the first chapter of my book on prayer, Simply Pray. If you are interested in purchasing it, it is available on Amazon for $6. There is a kindle version and a paperback  available.
You can also find links at www.runwithhorses.net on the resources page.

Be Thankful - Paul’s Encouragement from Colossians

Colossians is one of my favorite books. Every chapter encourages us to be truly thankful!

Upward Outward Inward

Ten-Gai-Nai (Upward-Outward-Inward)
Ten- Everything starts with God – Joy and Obedience
Luke6:22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Philippians 4:4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Romans5:3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
James 1:22-25 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Gai- Our relationship to others is marked by service and evangelism
Service and Evangelism are difficult for us, not natural to the flesh. Trials and suffering can result from a life of service.Trials and persecution lead to endurance and growth in our character.
Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
1 Peter 4:11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.
Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[a] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Matthew 23:11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Matthew 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
 
Nai- We change inside. Character growth and heart change help us view ourselves in light of our Savior.
We have fellowship with God and grow in humility and faith
Our changed lives send us back Out (Gai) with a testimony of God’s grace and work in us.
God works through us to change others. 
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Colossians2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Being Thankful in Trials? What?!!

God calls us to be thankful in and for our trials!
How are you doing at keeping your attitude right when life throws you a curve?
God says rejoice, HE is doing something in your struggle. 

Family Friday: Discipling Your Children PART 1

Discipling your children
 
Importance of discipling your children.
 
What do we mean by discipling?
 
Were you discipled? By Who? How?
 
Shared resources. Encouragement.
 
Helping them follow Jesus, to be a disciple themselves.
 
What do they need to know? Age-appropriate
 
What have you learned along the way that has helped you_
 
How can you find out if you don’t know? Forces you to grow yourself.
You can’t teach something you don’t know, do.
 
Basis is life on life. Life together. Intentionally share your journey of following Jesus with your children.

Marriage A to Z: Are You Listening?

Listen
What?
Definitions
Listen vs. Understand vs Hearing
Engaged listening
What hinders it?
Distracted, not focused.
Poor timing. Environment noisy, distracting.
Physical pain, sickness
Assumptions, assuming you know without actually listening, preconceived ideas
Critical spirit kills people talking
Should we ever not listen?
Gossip/slander
Listen to heart/message behind the words (problem, whining, speaking untruths); address the main issue, not condemn result of illness, real problem, etc. Goal is help them deal with it better way.
What if someone never quits talking?! Depends on who it is. Able to set some boundaries; encourage spouse to hang out with friends. Help them see your need for quiet and mental health
What if spouse won’t talk? Figure out why … not a talker? Critical of spouse? Interrupt? Make difficult for them to talk; some unresolved issue between you?
What about when someone is attacking you? Listen to understand. Legitimate? Their problem?
 
Why?
Listening is the foundation for communication. Communication is foundation to relationship
God tells us – quick to hear, slow to speak; His example of hearing our cry
Shows respect
Good for the relationship!
Need to communicate to live peaceably together; get things done
Not being understood is frustrating!!!!!!!!
 
 
How To?
Focus
Set aside time for important discussions, topics
Set aside time for non-important stuff
Limit distractions – choose location, time (more important for critical topics)
Refuse to think ahead to your response; focus on listening first.
Be okay with quiet, and give each other time to think.
Try rewording spouse’s point of view
Be patient – understanding is worth the effort
Body language (Don Trott)
Understand the value the other person brings to the table
Don’t let stuff build up; talk before there are issues!
 
 

Does Group Size Matter in Making Disciples?

Group size and Disciple Making – Does It Matter?
 
Faith Communities Today Research 2020
“Our best estimates are there are between 350,000 and 375,000 congregations of all faith traditions
within the nation. The trends around size will be addressed in a bit, but the vast majority of the country’s congregations are small. 70% of these faith communities have 100 or fewer weekly attendees. Only 10% of them have more than 250 in weekly services. However, far more people attend these larger congregations – roughly 70% of all attendees – than the many smaller ones. Those smallest communities of 100 or less are home to only 14% of all weekly attendees. “ (1)
 
Most churches have fewer than 100 people on Sunday mornings.
Most People go to a church of over 250 people on Sunday mornings.
 
“I’ve heard that churches with 30 percent of their adult worship attendance in small groups are in the top one half of one percent of all churches in the U.S.” -
 
Congregation – Large Group – whole church, 100 people {1500}
 
Sunday School - Mid-size Group – a subset of the church, 10-20 people {100}
 
Bible Study - Small Group – 8-12 people {20-30}
 
A Table – Micro Group – 3-5 people
 
One-to-one - 2 people
 
What is Important for Spiritual Growth and Maturity?
Personal invitations are important.
Prayer – with and for each other.
Commitment to each other – we miss you when you aren’t here.
Transparency – we all struggle.
Reading the Bible together. Not just a sermon, but reading passages together.
Bible Memorization – encouraged, supported and checked on.
 
Resources:
(1)https://faithcommunitiestoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Faith-Communities-Today-2020-Summary-Report.pdf