how to provoke your children to anger

Some of the good reads found this week:

Can Satan Put Thoughts Into Our Heads? “‘Can Satan himself put thoughts into our heads?’ Yes, he can and he does. And of course, the urgent questions then are, How do we recognize them? And how do we resist them and not get controlled by them?”

10 Things to Pray for Children Who Have Walked Away from Jesus, HT to Challies. “God is never too busy or preoccupied to receive you when you bring your burdens into his presence. God cares for your children. That is such an encouragement when we are struggling to persevere in prayer. But it’s hard to know what to pray sometimes; or we’ve been praying for so many years that we’ve run out of steam and lost momentum. So, to reinvigorate your prayers for your children, here are ten ways you can pray.”

Making Space for Others In Our Conversations. “I walk into church and spot a new person. I know I should go over and engage her, but such actions often end in stilted exchanges or awkward pauses. Making conversational space for people I don’t know well takes much more effort than the comfort of finding my seat or chatting easily with friends. Do I take the path of least resistance and avoid eye contact? Maybe I offer an acknowledging smile, but continue to my familiar chair? Or do I practice Christ-like hospitality and in love, make my way over to her?” The author includes ideas for conversation starters besides the usual “How are you?” and “What do you do?”

To My Almost-Adult Kids: Don’t Be Afraid of These Three Words, HT to Challies. “I try not to tell you about all my worries. But one fear that I want you to know about? I worry you will be afraid to say these three words.”

How to Provoke Your Children to Anger. “Apparently if you want to be a good parent, the thing that Paul is most concerned about is that you not provoke your children to anger. The somewhat frustrating part of this, though, is that he doesn’t stop to explain what he means by this phrase or explain how it should be done! So what does it look like to provoke your children to anger?”

The Cost of Slowing Down. “Recently a friend asked me when we start ‘locking in’ activities for our daughters. ‘When does it become their thing?’ he wondered, meaning when do we encourage them to commit to a single sport and dig in deep.”

How Can We Bless the Lord? “God’s blessings abound, but we can’t return these favors because He needs nothing from us. Yet, Scripture contains the concept of blessing the Lord.”

10 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor. “I’m sure a million requests could be added, but here is a brief post to offer at least 10 ways that you can pray for your pastor, compiled by a pastor.”

Time Is NOT Money: Redeeming the Hours God Gives Us. “While many modern translations have chosen to steer away from the financial metaphor, Paul’s Greek word choice for ‘making the most’ of time is actually a money word, used like our English word ransom or redeem. Thus, we can legitimately make the case that time and money have correlations. But let’s hit pause right there and consider the many contrasts between the two.”

The Art of Thankfulness. I enjoyed seeing a piece of art here that was discussed in Russ Ramsey’s Rembrandt Is In the Wind: Henry Ossawa Tanner’s The Thankful Poor. This post ties in observations about the painting with Philippians 4: 6-8.