What does it matter where they sleep?

You know, I’ve had a lot of people say over the past couple of years, “why don’t you make your kids sleep in their own beds instead of with you?” Well, as cramped as our small house is, not everyone has a bed of their own right now (Emily does, Nate doesn’t). But this past week it really hit home that having them share my king size bed by choice is a blessing.

Emily is at that age where she could be a snotty tween, anxious to be free from acknowledging her mom. Instead, she freely holds my hand in public and comes up to me to get big hugs from me and the past couple of nights, she hasn’t been able to get to sleep without asking to snuggle with me (which is a lot easier when Nate is not between us – LOL!) She is at a point where she needs reassurance from her mommy and love and acceptance. She is so wise beyond her years in many ways, but still is a sensitive, emotional child at heart. I know that all too soon those days will go by the wayside, most likely, so I cherish each request for a snuggle, each body ache from having her or Nate wrapped around me/draped over me as they sleep. It’s one part of this mommy’s way of giving them that unconditional love that every child needs.

Preemie babies thrive with touch and holding. It’s been scientifically documented that touch relieves pain and stress and preemies who receive frequent touch grow faster and have less health/medical issues. Touch is fundamental to brain growth and function in babies, so why wouldn’t it have the same stress/pain relieving effects on older children and adults? You know it does. How many times has the hug of a loved one helped you to feel better when your heart is hurting or your soul unsettled? With me, it’s like something falls into place. It is a balm to the pain, a calm to the unrest. At least that’s what I’ve found.

With Em last week and this week, she has struggled with the time change and has trouble finding sleep...until she asks me to snuggle with her. She’s out in less than 10 minutes. It is calming and soothing to be held, and I know that for my brainy, quirky, unique, brilliant babygirl, it helps to center her, feeds her need for unconditional acceptance and quiets her often chaotic thoughts. And for my whirling dervish that is Nate, it calms his effusive exuberance when it’s time to sleep and soothes his raging tempers; it takes away his pain. So confident is his belief that mommy’s kiss can cure anything, when he had that raging ear infection with blisters on his eardrum, his first thought was to try and get me to “tiss” it and make it stop hurting. Before any Band-Aid or ice-cube, it’s mommy’s hug and kiss he wants first to take the worst of the pain away.

So be free with your hugs, especially to your children. Even if they say they don’t want one, do it anyway. That one, simple touch, might just help cross a bridge you didn’t know was there. It lets them know that you care. And during their growing up years, that shapes so much of how they view the world. Make it a positive one.

Who are YOUR closest 5?

It is said that you are who your 5 closest friends are...your belief, your work habits, your income, and your family life....so the question is, Are you happy with that?
I absolutely hate to admit it, but this is why I no longer have the contact now with those I used to be very close to that I once had. While I still love them dearly, I find that my interests, my goals, my dreams, my life have all changed radically over the past couple of years and these past several months especially. I’ve changed. God’s really been working in me personally and what I once found enthralling and chased after, it matters not to me now.

I prefer to spend time with my children, who are at a stage in life where they need me to BE THERE for various reasons. My 11 year old daughter looks up to me and learns the example that I teach her, and I have to be careful that my actions are measuring up to my words if I want her to be a young woman of character and quality. Regardless of what the joke is...life with children IS a do as I do and not just what I say. Monkey see, monkey do. My 3 year old son needs quality and quantity time with his mommy. Boys need a mother who is engaged and interested in them, because, quite frankly, a mom is the most important person in a boy's life and these are his developmental years. Who I am is the kind of person he will end up looking for in a wife. As a general rule, the saying is true, girls look for their fathers and boys look for their mothers...though there ARE exceptions to this. As a single mother, my daughter may not have a great father to look up to, but she can learn the kind of woman to become by watching me.

The cuddles and hugs and laughter and memories made with my children are infinitely more important to me than going out to a bar. These are the memories and traditions that will linger on, long after I am but a memory. I’m good with being mostly a homebody these days b/c these times with my children can’t be taken back. Once they’re gone, they’re gone and as Aerosmith sings “I don’t want to miss a thing”.

Does that mean that I don’t take time for myself? Goodness no! I just prefer to do it in a more relaxed atmosphere once in a while or go out to listen to some great live music on occasion. And I absolutely love tubing with my friends during the summer. That’s some good Texas fun, right there!!! I might go out with friends one night a week a couple weeks in a row and others I might not go out at all for several weeks and, frankly, while I absolutely love to dance still, bars no longer hold the interest that they once did so my experiences in them is extremely limited now. Literally now only for a friend’s concert or a benefit event. I’m perfectly ok with that because I’ve changed. And I’m happy with the change in me. I’m content.

I have to be entirely honest and say that I don't even think I can count 5 friends who I am truly close to anymore. I have a lot of friends that I truly love dearly, as mentioned above...but genuinely CLOSE friends??? I can think of 3 off the top of my head. They're all diverse in their stage/station in life, and my mom is one.

People I look up to, learn from, take advice from and work on emulating, however...I have a lot more than just 5. And as I continue to work on myself and becoming a better person and building a better life for my children and a better future for us, I know that I will end up being able to say that those people I choose to have as my mentors will end up leading me to find like-minded people that grow in to the close friend category.

You are who you hang out with, what you listen to, what you read, who you look up to and learn from. Where you are right now, what does that say about where your future is headed? Be honest with yourself. When you look in the mirror, are you content and happy with the person you see staring back at you? If not, why not? (Rhetorical question there – answer to yourself). Me? I’m happy. I’m content. Finally. But I have a drive that is starting to build in me, a fire that has caught and is starting to burn for me to become better...more...GREATER. I will get there b/c it’s too important to me and not getting there is not an option for myself or my children.  

Why I make the choices I do:

Biblical Motherhood: Week Four/Day Three Who Gains?

(My apologies for being away from this for sooooo long! Life happens, but I will pick up where I left off and continue to post on this as I can. You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

Who Gains?

Today you may want to ask the Lord to do a special healing in your life! To do that, He must have access to your wound. It will be worth the cost to be close to Him.

"'For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,' says the Lord,"
Jeremiah 30:17.

At times, as mothers we may wonder if our unrest is caused by our loved ones. We may feel bitterness toward them and not recognize it, or not know what to do with it. While it may be difficult to do so, we will uncover the end of the attitude of resentment in the life of a mother. Her condition may be related to the difficulty of raising children, even toward her husband for not supporting her in the way she would find most helpful. It may be that she has had hardship and feels that the Lord has abandoned her when she most needed Him; she doesn’t think He is predictable enough for her to trust Him. Maybe she sees her role as wife and mother from God as an unfair burden rather than a blessing. Whatever the case, the Word of God seems to slide right off of her heart, and she finds herself taking care of her own needs, or at least trying to, but not making a lot of headway.

We find some of the traits of this old nature described for us in the prophets. In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah is writing to the people of God who have been afflicted by their own sin, yet they did not heed God’s warnings and finally were invaded and conquered by Babylon.

In Lamentations 2:9 we read of the city’s broken condition. Among the things listed, we find, “...the Law is no more,...” You may recall that as parents, a father is given the privilege by God of leading and teaching the family to know the Lord, and as a mother is a help meet for her husband, she is qualified by God to assist him in the work. This begins at infancy, holding, feeding, bathing and changing diapers, smiling and talking to a little baby, and grows in specifics as a child grows and has different needs. “No, no, honey, that isn’t yours,” is actually the teaching of God’s law of love. Setting the boundaries for a child and enforcing obedience when they cross them is the work of a mother. All the time, the Biblical mother’s goal is to reach their heart in Jesus’ name, and it is done while a child is young by teaching them right from wrong and the pleasure of choosing the right. But in Lamentations, we find that this training is gone from the people of Jerusalem; as it is written, “...the Law is no more,...”

Because of this, in Lamentations 2:12, what do the children ask for and from whom?


From this verse, what is happening to the life of the children?


Please find Matthew 26:26-28, and John 6:51,54. Jesus says that He, indeed, constitutes real nourishment! What is the meaning (in the realm of the spirit) of the nourishment for which the children are crying out?


See Lamentations 4:4, and also John 6:57. What might it mean to “break bread” for the young children?


In Lamentations 2:20, we read, “Should the women eat their offspring, the children they have cuddled?” Lamentations 4:10 says, “The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.” As their enemies sieged the cities of God’s people, the Israelites were starved to the point of such agony that they did the unthinkable, what they never would have entertained otherwise. These desperate women let their children’s lives be destroyed for their own attempt at survival. They devoured instead of sacrificing themselves, using their children’s lives to gain strength for themselves.

In this time and place, how might a mother’s struggle in her own life cause her to put her survival and well-being ahead of her child?


When we put the demands of this life as priority over giving the knowledge of God to our children, the devourer eats away in the unseen places of our souls. If our reputation means more to us than training up our children, we will be concerned with how we are coming across rather than what the Lord is showing us through them. If we are rushed, we won’t spend the time together, or hear the thoughts of our children in the midst of daily life. Yet it is often through those times together that the Lord would expose the place of hunger in the heart. Are you trusting someone else to give your child the ‘bread and wine’ of the knowledge of Jesus? Who will live His love before them in the daily goings on of this life? Who will teach them of His sacrifice and His resurrection power if you won’t?


And how will your life be healed if you decide to willingly follow society’s dictates and not hear the Lord?


It is never God’s heart to destroy His children, so when you read the prophets you must understand that He allows spiritual bondage in order to cause His own to cry out to Him and look at Him to save them. Fellowship with us is so precious to God that He died to gain it. So take to heart that He longs for His children and will go to great lengths to win us back. Eternal treasure is more valuable in His sight than temporal comfort.

If we will not come to Him, our lives will be tainted by waste, but not because of His lack of effort to turn us from our destructive ways. With this in mind, read Hosea 4:4-6.

A priest was to talk to God about the people; a prophet was to talk to the people from God, and mothers were to teach their children to know the Lord from infancy. What brought destruction into their lives (verse 6)?


Please read Hosea 4:5,6 with 5:7. “Pagan” is also translated “strange” from the original Hebrew. God says that it was the parents who dealt treacherously with Him by bringing up their children to be pagan, strange children. How did that happen? The things that God gave to them they began to use to exalt themselves. Their New Moon festival had been instituted by God Himself as celebration and worship to Him, but when people began to worship the ritual, or even the moon itself, they forfeited the peace and heritage that God would lavish on them. How do you think God feels as He says, “Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children”?


The Lord grieves over those who will not come to Him! He longs for us, and would gather us to Himself to love, protect and heal us!

From Hosea 7:13 we read, “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me. They did not cry out to Me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds.”

The Lord watches over the responses of the people, and His grief is evident. He says that in fleeing from Him instead of to Him, there will be woe and destruction waiting for them. He says that He has already redeemed them, but they have rejected Him by speaking lies about Him. How does one speak lies against God? This is how: to say that God demands more than we are able to live up to. Living in a way to attempt to “appease an angry God” is a lie against God. It totally ignores the cross and the Way God has made. It looks only to human (self) effort. Often it is the case that the person who accuses God of anger is actually the one who is angry at God.

The “father of lies” is Satan, and he is continually accusing us before God, and he even accuses God before us. Can you identify any lie(s) he has wanted you to believe about God?


Note that the people “wailed upon their beds.” They were grieved and heartsick; they were broken in heart! But they didn’t cry out to God. To cry out to God requires humility, an acknowledgment that one who is needy is coming to The Answer. It is our natural born arrogance that keeps us from telling the truth about, or crying out to, God.

God knows that the eternal end of man is separation from Himself in hell except for the Way that He made Himself. Please also read Hosea 5:15. When you understand the loving heart of God better, these verses become a cry of warning! He is not angry because He’s not getting the attention He wants. He is God who shouts out across the span of all time with His agonizing, victorious cry, “It is finished!” He calls all men, “Come to Me! Come to Me and escape your certain future of destruction! Turn to Me; I will heal you!” Yet He will not force anyone to come.

1 Timothy 2:15 says, “Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.” The words “will be saved” in the Greek is sozo, pronounced “sode’-zo” meaning to save, deliver or protect: heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.”

How can God use your motherhood experience to protect, deliver, and heal you?


Please read Isaiah 48:18 and make note of the benefits of a mother’s obedience to God’s heart to bring up their children to know Him. (Keep in mind that waves are caused by wind, a picture of the Holy Spirit.)

There are promises from the Lord for those who build the walls of their house on the foundation of God’s Word. Please read Isaiah 54:11-14. What does He promise?


Please copy verse 13 here:





Remember that the Lord goes before you (Deuteronomy 31:6)! Wherever you go, He has already been there. He has won the essential battle, but the wage for territory still remains our training ground. This battle is for an area in our soul (life), delivered from the enemy’s purpose to the purpose of our King! We now fight from a position of rest, trust, in His victory.

If you find that you are afraid, decide where to place your trust, and by an act of will, tell Jesus you are giving Him your faith. Copy Psalm 56:3 to take courage!

For further encouragement, the Lord has given us Isaiah 51:12. It gives us His perspective on the matter. Please look it up and pray it in!

You have many promises from God; some you will find in this study, all you will find in God’s Word. Isaiah 49:15, 16 tells you that you are always on God’s mind.

Please write it here:




Not only will the Lord go before you and never forget you, but He also promises you that He will fight for you! Isaiah 49:25, “For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.” He has issues with anyone who comes against you when you are His child, and your children have the attention of His heart! If you will walk in obedience with Him, He will meet you at that first step with all the power of heaven to see that you are able to do what He calls you to do. And He will use you to draw your children to Himself!

If you are encouraged, thank God! If you are heartsick, pray! Repentance must start with one who will humble herself before God and agree with Him. You will find healing there at the foot of the cross.

Please write James 4:10. (You don’t need to lift yourself up. God will!)



“Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth,” Hosea 6:1-3.

Please come with me to bring it all before the Lord:

Dear Father, Thank You that You intend healing for Your children, though it means that we be offended first. Your Word goes deep into the heart where everything is visible to You. Nothing is hidden from Your sight. Please cleanse me from my fear. Help me to care about my children, and their eternity. Give me strength to take a stand upon Your Word. Oh, Lord, I trust that You meet Your servants where we are needy, where we choose to trust You. Right here is that place for me. I surrender it to You and wait for Your deliverance. In Jesus’ saving name I pray, A-men.

Biblical Motherhood: Week Four/Day Two Have I Missed God’s Plan?

(You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

Have I Missed God’s Plan?

As you ask the Lord to bless this study today, consider thanking Him for being Who He is. There is no one like our God, Who becomes for us all that He requires. Come with an open heart and a ready mind, and expect to hear from Him!
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"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord, "Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope," Jeremiah 29:11.
Please allow me to define guilt using Webster's 1828 dictionary:

Guilt: "...To constitute guilt there must be a moral agent enjoying freedom of will, and capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, and a willful or intentional violation of a known law, or rule of duty. The guilt of a person exists, as soon as the crime is committed... Guilt renders a person a debtor to the law, as it binds him to pay a penalty in money or suffering. Guilt therefore implies both criminality and liableness to punishment. Guilt may proceed either from a positive act or breach of law, or from voluntary neglect of known duty."

Have you missed God's plan for your life? Have you messed things up so badly that all is lost? You know that it won't be what it would have been if you had had God's best for you, and there is no going back. You can't undo what was done to you, no matter how many times you relive it or block it out of your mind. You can't make the choice again, or you would; you would do it differently. You can't do what you should have done, or not do what you shouldn't have; it's too late and there's no going back. Life keeps going, but you struggle with having missed God's perfect will for your life. How can you live with confidence and make decisions from here with this wound that never will heal? You look at your children and you know that this is not the inheritance you want to give them. Have you passed the point of hope? Does Jesus – can He  – give you hope in this mess? How does God see you? Will He hear you, and if He could heal you, would He?

Let's consider titles for these conditions of life: Plan A and Plan B.

Plan A is learning what is right and having no trouble accepting it and following through on it. It is focused on the Lord in thought, word, and deed, and being totally given over and obedient to the Lord. It looks good – because it is good. To trust in the Lord with the whole heart, believing Him to be fully the God who loves, and to love others at one's own expense, and to do it right the first time; that is Plan A.

How about Plan B? This is for those who have failed. Plan B is all about falling down and needing mercy to even look up. It is far short of good; it is helpless hopelessness. This is the way of someone who has blown it so much that they aren't even sure that God can use them again. Or if He'd even want to. Weakness, failure, and selfishness exposed, it has an awareness of such unrighteousness, yet an area of numbness that doesn't want to admit it has failed that badly. That is Plan B. It will never be Plan A. How does God see this?

Plan A carries God's heart of love. It is greatness like we have never fully seen, and He loves Plan A. But because of our lack of love, He will wait for heaven to work out His Plan A. His sights are still on it. It is still His intention, but He will wait.

In our human nature, we have a desire for continuing in Plan A by refusing to acknowledge that it has been made unreachable by our own fault. So when we attempt to achieve it, we must do so using force, anger, and manipulation. We have actually set up ourselves as the measurement of what is good in this; an attempt to be our own god. This results in a system which looks good on the outside, but is dry and empty on the inside.

To enter the failure of mankind is to enter the steadfast love and self-sacrificing nature of our Mighty God. We need to know that we have God's attention. This Plan B, the place of missing God's perfect will, is where He showed us His greatest demonstration of commitment and fervent love as He took nails in His hands, in His feet. This is where He meets us where we are with eternal words of promise to give us hope and a future. It is Plan B where He promises us great things that He will fulfill unfailingly by His power. This is where we learn by personal experience the faithfulness and the love of God! This is where our own faith in Him is made authentic. Yes, you are in Plan B. And God is fully committed to Plan B!

Yet in any ground we gain, any area of life we give to Him here in Plan B, we can have a taste of Plan A; a foretaste of heaven! We'll have the full Plan A when we get to heaven, and there we will walk in it perfectly, but we can experience something of the character and the mercy of our God now, and experience Him, incredibly, because of Plan B.

Please make note of how God feels about you, and His promises to you.

Psalm 3:3 (Is God the author of shame?)

Psalm 18:19

Psalm 18:35,36

Psalm 37:23,24

Psalm 37:37 (Remember, if you are in Christ, He has transferred His blameless and upright character to your new identity.)

Psalm 37:39,40

Right in the place where you have failed – maybe you are afraid you married the wrong man, or are in the wrong place, maybe you've gossiped and ruined a friend's trust, acted unfaithfully, had an abortion, been violated in body or soul, or have treated your children harshly – in every kind of failure you have experienced, God has gone ahead of you, and in fact, He has a plan to use that very failure.

Please turn to the book of Joshua. Chapter 6 recounts the victory at Jericho, the first city that the children of Israel defeated. The Lord gave explicit instructions they were to follow, and with their obedience, they saw the arm of God move on their behalf. The city was taken in the Lord's name, and a place was gained for them to inhabit in the Promised Land.

A city here may picture a place in your life which has been inhabited by the enemy. The people of the city are temptations and they keep the stronghold of the city from the reign of Jesus in your life. You have God's authority as a child of His to take it under His control and, as with Jericho, maybe you have experienced God's power in your life and are longing to see Him move again. Only by your obedience will you see Him work on your behalf! Without Him, you can't; without you, He won't!

Chapter 7: A nearby city was Ai, a small town, and Joshua sent spies over to it. They knew the Lord was fighting for them, and decided to let most of the men rest, sending over 2-3,000 men to easily gain ground. But what they didn't know was that one of their own men had disobeyed the Lord and had taken some of the treasures of Jericho and hidden them for himself. Because of this sin, when the army went to fight, they were chased away and ran from Ai, confused and confounded in terror.

Joshua sought the Lord: what had gone wrong? God revealed to Joshua where there was unrepented sin (v. 11-26) and what to do about it. Only after they had cleansed the nation from sin could they proceed. It needed to be confessed and forsaken!

Here we are, in chapter 8. Now the children of Israel are sent back to Ai, and God gives them the battle plan. It will only be the same as that at Jericho in that all of the warriors were to be involved. From here the strategy is a whole new plan. They are to divide in groups and set an ambush on two sides behind Ai by night. Joshua and his men were to gather in the valley in front of the city, in plain view. When the king of Ai and his men saw the Israelites in the valley, they got themselves ready quickly and ran out to meet them in battle. The Children of Israel were to run for their lives! They fled – and when the Lord nudged Joshua that it was time, he turned and held up his spear into the air. At that signal, the men hiding in ambush rose up and came from behind, lighting the city on fire and sandwiching the men of Ai and Bethel in the middle of the armies of Israel.

They fought until every enemy soldier had been killed, and then turned to the open gates of the city. Only the livestock was to be kept as booty. Please record here (either word-for-word or in your own words) what took place in the first attack from Joshua 7:4.

Now turn to Joshua 8:5. How was this second attack to go?

This tells us something incredible about our God! He is so sovereign, and so flexible and full of grace that He will actually use our failed attempts at life as part of the strategy for coming victory. How powerful the work He did on the cross, how complete and beyond our desire to hope. He not only redeems us from the pit, but sets our feet upon a rock and enables us to be established in our walk!

See Psalm 40:1-3. In what horrible pit, miry clay, have you found yourself hopelessly stuck?

What should you do?

What are God's promises to you in verse 2?

In verse 3, what are His promises to you?

Please hold your place in Psalm 40 and also find Psalm 18:31-34. From Psalm 40:2 and Psalm 18:31, what guarantees that the place God sets you on is steady?

Psalm 18:33 says that God makes our feet like a deer, able to scale the heights, to go places without fear and with confidence. Verse 36 tells us how. How does this increase your confidence in and love for Jesus?

When He makes our way 'perfect'(verse 32), it means that from this point, after we have come to Him with our failure, we can rest in confidence in Him. The consequences of our sin He will use as His servant, as our servant. The time spent He will not deem as wasted or useless. The longer I know Jesus, the more grateful I am for Him showing me such mercy.

And the longer I know Jesus, the more I don't want to find myself in a pit or in clay! He teaches us how to avoid the pitfalls of the enemy, and we become more skilled in standing on the Word of His truth as we continue in daily study with Him. But when we do find ourselves bogged down, He will always reach us in mercy. Praise His name!!

Will you come before the Lord with me?

Our Father, You are my Redeemer. You made me, and You've bought me back again. There is no one like You, Who uses even the ashes of my life so that I can walk in Your victory. You don't treat me as my sins deserve, but You use it all to serve Your purpose: to redeem that which was lost. I worship You, Lord! By Your Spirit, I believe You that You forgive me, and that You are not ashamed of me! I believe You have a plan for my life and have already worked my failure into it by Your grace. By Your Spirit, I am not ashamed, but am trusting Your sovereign power and love! In Jesus' name, A-men!

Biblical Motherhood: Week Four/Day One Mother, the Restful

(You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

Mother, the Restful

As you come to a quiet place with the Lord today, ask Him to reveal places where your unrest comes from not realizing all He is for you, and ask Him to help you to put your trust in Him right there.
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"This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls," Jeremiah 6:16
We have discovered that the only meaningful study that will last beyond this life is the study of God Himself. Learning of Him must become the meditation of Mother as she learns to teach her children to know Him. Not only do we know Who He is, but we have a relationship with Him, based on what He has done for us and our receiving of His sacrifice. There must be a personal decision involved.

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name," John 1:12.

To receive Him is to have a heart of agreement toward Him, and to ask Him in by prayer; as simple as that. We want to be in the family of God and to lead our children to that relationship as well. While they are young, they will follow because they love and trust you, and when rebellion begins to crowd in, you

have the Word of God to lead you to tell them, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," Joshua 24:15.

Walking together, and sometimes with you leading the way, you will be fulfilling the heart of God for your family. If you prod from behind, "Don't do it like that! Do this! Get over there! Move it!" you are blinded to the precious value of your children to the God who formed them. He longs to help you to see that He loves you without your earning Him at all, He cherishes you just as you are, and your children, too.

When you see this great acceptance He offers you, no strings attached, you begin to see your lack of accepting others. Often we expect others to behave a certain way before we will love them, but that is not in the character of our God and King, Jesus. We begin to long for His kindness and tenderness to be within us!

This is the meaning of Isaiah 29: 23,24, "When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction." It is believing that our children are valued by God and loved by Him, and seeing our own lack of love that brings us facedown before God, crying out for His mercy upon us. There is a time to grieve and mourn over our sin.

And after we have, we must place our trust in God, that He took our eternal punishment for us, and go to His Word for hope and life. We live now by His promises.

And we teach our children! As we learn, we teach them, just as a mother bird feeds her young from her beak to theirs. Our study is of the Word of God; we speak to them of Him during our waking hours. And we speak to Him of them!

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates," Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

What is the difference between the way we live and the way of the unsaved?

Several years ago I awoke with three verses in my mind and the difference clear, as though spoken to me. I don't think I've ever had an experience quite like it before or since. But I want to share with you what the Lord showed me:

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways."
Psalm 139:1-3.

If you look at these two passages (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Psalm 139:1-3) together, you will see the same actions:

Deut. 6, " when you sit at home"
Ps. 139, "You know when I sit"

Deut.6, "and when you walk along the road"
Ps. 139, "You discern my going out"

Deut.6, "when you lie down"
Ps. 139, "and my lying down"

Deut.6, "and when you get up"
Ps. 139, "and when I rise"

These are written of God and His people. Now let's see another passage that reveals the actions of the unsaved:

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." Psalm 1:1
Here we see only three actions:

"walk in the counsel"
"stand in the way"
"sit in the seat"

What is missing?

The lying down. Rest, which pictures spiritual rest: trust, surrender.

What a privilege we have in trusting God. Believing Him is rest for us, and it is exactly what the unbeliever never has.

"For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
"In returning and rest you shall be saved,
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength,"
Isaiah 30:15.

"But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.
"There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked,"
Isaiah 57:20,21.

This is the result of reading the Word of God, but not trusting in the Word made flesh. It is placing emphasis on ritual and performance of virtue, but leaving off the cross, in order to have a kingdom on this earth, a reward here and now. This is why the cross is so offensive. It boldly says: "You cannot measure up to God. You have nothing, and this is your due reward." Judgment is sure for anyone who has sinned, and only those who leave their performance as filthy rags and wholly lean on Jesus find their penalty paid by Him, and thus, find rest. It is not just a first time repentance, though this is crucial since it is the point of the Holy Spirit's entrance into the human body and soul (Ephesians 1:13)! Now it is also a walk of repentance and trust, repentance and trust. And in the trust is where the life is lived in resurrected power. All the living is built on this foundation, and the walls are raised by actions now done in trust in the King, and growing love for Him.

Think of the order of things:

God told the Jews to celebrate the beginning of each month, which was marked by a new moon (Numbers 10:10, 1 Chronicles 23:31). You cannot see a new moon; it is dark, resting.

The Sabbath day is a picture of our rest in Jesus (Heb. 4:3). God rested on the seventh day (Heb.4:4), and after the resurrection of Christ, we call the day of rest Sunday, the first day of the week.

In the same way, God, who created the day, began it in the evening. Genesis 1:5, "...And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day."

We see that all of these point to a rest before work. So do we resist any work until we are completely trusting in God? No, we do what is right, and God will take care of our motives as we go. For work that will go ahead of us into heaven, it must begin with trust in the Lord. That's what He is working in us all the time. We are all in the process, and we are perfect in His sight as we trust in the Perfect One! Born again, and learning to walk. Growing up to maturity with the ability to reproduce spiritually. It's a process.

Will you join me to pray?

My Father,

You are so different from my inclinations to panic and press and make things happen. You tell Your children to rest, to trust in You, and You will see to it that our work is good. By myself I don't know how to rest and take confidence in You, so I will trust that You will work that in my life. You are so good, Father. You are trustworthy, and I worship You. I want to authentically trust in You. Thank You for telling me the truth, that not only is this the way I am saved, but the way I will live my life of faith. You will enable me! In Jesus' name, A-men.

Biblical Motherhood: Week Three/Day Five Links of Approval

Links of Approval

(You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

Please pray today and thank God that He wants to give you His view of you! Ask Him to help you to receive it!
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"We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise, " 2 Corinthians 10:12.
As you read this verse, do you wonder how can we not compare ourselves to others? Isn't that how we are urged on to do our best? We know that competition in business helps to keep prices down, and in sports team competes against team to find who are the most skilled players. What about grades in school? What could this verse mean? What could God be after?

First, we must know that the way of the whole world is to compare people to people, and it is a powerful motivator. Dependence on others' thoughts of our character and the opportunities we might gain through them can move us to do great things. The world will always compare people, and because of our old nature we will feel pressure to do the same. In fact, it is the only measurement there is outside of God.

But in Christ, is there an authentic measurement?

In the world of competition where one goes against another, the goal is to see who performs the best. Value is placed on the actions one is able to do. This is essential when, say, a person is applying for work. An employer must be able to determine whom to hire, and he must look at each person's achievements to make a judgment between them. He should choose whomever is most suited to the work.

Often a Christian should look at the gifting he has and others have been given by God to find where the Lord has designed him to be. The above verse is not speaking of this kind of comparison. This is discernment. We need this!

What God is speaking of in 2 Corinthians 10:12 is something harmful to us. It increases our fear of what others think of us and takes our eyes off of the Lord. This kind of comparison pits us against each other in an attempt to put ourselves first, or at least to do as well as others. It is a counterfeit that can only work fear in us, and not love. To gain God's view of this issue, we need His Word! Because we are studying God's design for us as students, we will liken this to the approval we attempt to achieve through our studies, but it also applies to any situation in life where there is comparison, which is used to control us. It is a good illustration of a place in our life where we often have an altar built to worship something other than God but, as is with most altars, it is not easily recognizable.

We all need correction. For example, it is good to find where we have worked math problems incorrectly and must go back to find the right answer. That is how authentic learning takes place. It can be through getting information that is true, and we believe it and act on it. That's the easiest way! But learning often takes place through our failure: when we forget, or when we make a mistake as we are working, or if we refuse to use the formula needed to achieve the right answer. When we are tested, we find where we have not gained an understanding. Through repetition we may remember what we have tended to forget. But a test often reveals what questions we need to ask in order to know what we have been missing. We can be thankful for correction.

You are going with your children through their education. Your child needs to know where he has done something wrong in order to learn to do it correctly. When he receives a certain percentage on his paper, it is a legitimate mark of performance. It shows him and you what he 'got' and that there are things he still needs to know. It is not an assessment of the child's person. It does not tell you who they are and what they will achieve one day. A score can be an opportunity to go further. It is correction that forms us and informs us!

Please copy here the last lines of both Proverbs 15:5 and 10:

But comparison such as in 2 Corinthians 10:12 is not correction. It is fearful of what others think, and that is oppressive. In the center of the word "oppressive" is the word "press." That is what oppression is like. It pressures us and makes us act out of obligation and fear. Creativity and desire are not encouraged under oppression. It does not know joy. It will earn acceptance from others even at great cost. Walking this way, we will find we have a heavy burden, a "chain" we think we need in order to be approved, links that we cannot get free from.

When education becomes about pleasing people, achieving an acceptance from others because of what we can do, and hoping for good placement from them, we are in a vulnerable position. We are trying to please others by 'works', taking man's counsel, and looking to our performance to gain what we want. But we have missed the heart of God, not understanding that He is looking for us to use the gifts and skills He has given to us not to please men, but to please Him!

Israel did this, taking Egypt as their covering instead of God. For us, Egypt is a picture of the world, and this passage is very instructional to our lives in this light. Please read Isaiah 30:1-5. In verse 1, what did God want to give His people?

From verse 2, what did God want to give and be for His people?

Verse 3 tells what Israel would receive from the people in whom they had placed their trust. What did they receive?

We often have hopes of receiving what we need from the world. We live in the world and feel that in order to "make it" we must do whatever it takes. But God doesn't see it that way. In God's eyes, when we trust someone other than Him, it is idolatry.

In the King James Version, verse 3 says that their trust would become their confusion.

How about you? Have you received confusion where you thought you would find wisdom?

God has more for you than this! What does He offer you in Isaiah 33:6?

We need to know God's character in order to stand firm in Him! Please copy 1 Corinthians 14:33:

We can thank God that He doesn't write confusion, but His peace is His trademark. As it is written, this is true in all the churches of the true believers! Those who are united by the Spirit of God in the family of faith can encourage each other and we can learn and grow together out of confusion and into the knowledge of God through His Word. Once we have a family (husband and children), God lets our impact affect one another greatly as well. While it can be used either way, He intends it for good.

Turn to Deuteronomy 30:19,20. In verse 19, who will your choice affect?

From verse 20, what is God for you?

Your life is in Christ, as a believer. He made you and saved you! You belong to Him! He also holds in His hand the "length of your days," how long you will live. You don't need to worry about your life. He, who is your life, also holds your life. You can rest in His provision.

You may want to copy Revelation 4:11 here. It is an excellent verse to memorize with your children.

From Romans 11:29, God gives two things to you that He will not take back. What are they?

Do you realize that you have certain gifts from God for which only He can reveal His purpose? He made you and has a plan for your life, your husband's and your children's lives. Know that your children's strengths and weaknesses are a tool for you to see which direction the Lord would have them go. We aren't made to excel at everything. The gifts God gives are His, and what we receive from Him can be invested and made useful for His kingdom! He will meet every effort we give for His glory with His power to perform it, that people may see that He is God, and that He is good. We mothers will see God's glory as we make attempts to teach our children, and find the Lord's loving kindness there at every turn. Our children will see God's glory as we learn to love them with the acceptance that God gives to us, no matter our exact performance! His love is for them in the same way!

Our children do need to have skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic. They can't be compared to others for how quickly they should "catch on." Sometimes the greater lesson is not the mastery of a skill, but of patience and kindness, and the upholding of one's value not because of their performance, but because they are loved deeply by God.

Who should our studies give glory (reality) to? (exalt, boast about) See 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Now how can we glorify God or do something as to the Lord? Romans 14:6 says, "He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks." Through this verse, how can a person do something "to the Lord?"

A people who are not controlled by fear from outward pressure can be a people filled with joy and ready to do what is in their hand to do for God's glory! It isn't that we don't need any authority. We are under God's authority and those humans He puts in authority over us. Our children are under our authority. But as the people of God, we should grow past the need to be made to be productive, to have someone checking over our shoulder on us, because of our desire to please and obey the Lord. We will practice this to a greater degree the longer we walk with Jesus. It is a process of the heart, and God gives us a picture to help us see how it can look.

Please find Proverbs 6:6-8. As we "consider her ways and be wise," what will we not require in order to work diligently (verse 7)?

What kinds of things might we be about (verse 8)?

In the Word of God we learn that God has given us His creation through which to observe His character (Romans 1:20). But we are quite unable to learn His goodness and perform it. This is what the cross is all about! Now that we are saved, how can we do that which we know is His goodness (Romans 8:9a)?

As mothers, we are learning how to be a student under God, to live by His Spirit (to hear from God and obey Him through His strength), and to lead our children to Him as well.

"Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him," Psalm 25:12.
When our heart is open toward the Lord, He will teach us in a way that will suit our gifting from Him, and He will show us the way to use it! We will gain confidence in Him that He will also do this for our children.

As we instruct our children we will need to listen to them, and to be prompt with discipline for lying. This is essential, since there is an honesty about not needing someone to make you do your work. We can function in freedom, gladly thanking God for what we can do, and we can teach our children this way of keeping at our work until it is finished. Teach, encourage and correct! Live in front of them; live with them! But avoid fear instilled by human comparison that will keep you from teaching your children by the Spirit's leading.

How can we avoid such fear? We see the problem, but how do we move from here to freedom?

The key is found in understanding where we are focusing, and where we need to focus. Please find Hebrews 12:2 and write, very simply, our Focus:

From Matthew 5:8, what work is the Lord doing in us so that we can have this view?

So before our heart is pure, it is clouded with things that keep us from seeing Him. Consider what a person's focus will be on if she is very concerned about a letter grade which shows her where she is in comparison to other people. Won't her attention be on others? How about a concentration on one's own percentage? There one is absorbed in how well her own progress is going, and so is thinking about herself. One who cares very much for accumulating ideas, knowledge and the benefits it promises to bring will soon find education itself the focus.

But a purified heart will be seeking God in each area of study; He is the Subject. In all that is taken up to learn, it is done to please Him and to know Him a little better. The skills of mathematics and reading and writing a language are intensely about God. To invest them to know Him gives Him honor and glory! And so education now is no longer about a measurement of our achievement, but about the Lord God, and our study becomes a pleasure rather than an endless pursuit. This is not to say that it will never be difficult, but study becomes so full of purpose that the links of heaviness and expectation are unhooked and no longer hold our attention captive.

Now, we not only are enjoying God in our study, but we have something to share with others. The knowledge of God becomes our fragrance! (2 Corinthians 2:14)

So how should we consider the measurements of mankind now that we are learning to be controlled from the inside by the Spirit of the Living God? God can still use them for us.

Please find 2 Corinthians 8:8. What does God use to test the sincerity of our love for Him?

Sometimes the diligent, earnest efforts of a person are for another, sometimes a person can be earnestly against the other. God can use either for His child. As we grow in trust in Him, He can help us to see the positive and negative reactions of others toward us as His test for us, and so we can gain courage because we know that He is using it for us.

And when we gain courage, we can be for others, too! As it is written in Hebrews 10:24, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." When we are encouraged by someone else running the race, we will find ourselves no longer trying to outdo them, but instead we will pray for their continued courage, speak words that hold them up, draw boldness and determination to do well in our own life, "as unto the Lord," and live thanking God, thanking God!

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth," 2 Timothy 2:15.
Will you please pray with me?

Father, You are different than my old nature which tries to manipulate to be pleased or comforted. I confess that I have these things in me that are so against Your nature. I remember the cross You died on for me and I ask You to forgive me for the sake of Your own Son. Please so change me that I will treasure Your approval of me! Take out of me this fear of man so that I can fear and respect You! You give Life; You are Life. So I wait for You now to do this work in me. Help me see Your acceptance of me and let go of trying to please the world. Replace that fear of the world with a fresh focus and authentic love for you! Fill me with hope so that I will love my family the way You love me. Give me courage to be a workman who encourages others. Help me to obey what You tell me so that You can set me free. In Jesus' name, A-men!

Biblical Motherhood: Week Three/Day Four Open Heart, Open Eyes

Open Heart, Open Eyes

(You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

 

As you pray today, ask the Lord to make a solid foundation in your heart of the knowledge of Him. Ask Him for cool water where your soul is thirsty, and to redeem what is your inheritance!

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Yesterday we let God define false wisdom and true wisdom for us, and He also identified their sources. Today we will seek His Word to carefully lay the groundwork for gaining true wisdom. The Lord will show you by His Spirit where He will work in you. Your part is to stay pliable to Him and put your trust in Him and in His Word. When the foundation is secure, the storm will blow but the house will stand firm. That is God's aim for us!

"My purpose is that they...may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments," Colossians 2:2-4.
In Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! This is Bible truth! So can those wonderful treasures of wisdom and knowledge be found without Him? The Bible says no. True education is built on the nature of God; it is about knowing God. How can we know Him? There are three ways that the Lord reveals Himself, and they all work together to make Him clearly seen.

How does God reveal Himself from the following verses?

Matthew 4:4

John 15:26

John 15:27

Romans 1:20

The Bible is the Word of God, and we will have a special lesson more specifically on it in week 6.

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, and we will look further at Him in week 4.

In this lesson we will go through the creation more thoroughly to gain a better understanding of how God uses it to make Himself evident.

Let's go to Genesis chapter one. From verses 8, 9, 10, please list the three places that God made to support the life He was going to create.

Please see Psalm 135:6. (Do you see a pattern here?)

There are many verses in the Word of God where these three places are spoken of. God made them, and then filled them with creatures. All of them tell of His character. They reveal Him to us. However, they must be interpreted by the Spirit of God using the Word of God. When sin entered the world, it brought with it decay and death, and these have confused the message that God conveys through His creation. Without the Spirit and the Word of God we will begin to think that God is against us, and that we will surely always be under His scrutiny because we are untrustworthy. Even in reading the Word of God you may have noticed this tendency in your understanding. The Spirit speaks to us if we will take the whole counsel of God's Word and believe Him, and He applies it in creation to make truth tangible so that we have insight; we understand.

This study of created things is generally called science. True science can be tested, and the same results are observed again and again. Creation-science includes the physical makeup of air molecules, gravity, the speed of light, planets and rotation, stars, time, seasons, the layers of rock, sand, precious metals, gas and water in the earth, the lay of the ocean floor, currents, salt vs. fresh water, feathers, flight patterns, types of birds, styles of nests, habits of creatures, weather, feeding patterns of land animals, skeletal structures, cold-blooded vs. warm-blooded animals, types of fish, sea creatures, underwater plants and depth and density of water, for example. And all of it is here to testify of God's presence, His power, and His character.

Not only are there the sky, the earth, and the sea, which God made, but if you will look at Genesis 2:7, you will see God's tenderness with His last creation: man. From this passage, what intimacy do you see in the way God created the first man?

God's desire was for fellowship with mankind from the very first. He so intensely desired us! In fact, before we were ever born, before the first people could even sin, He knew what was coming, and so He had provided far in advance. From Revelation 13:8 we understand that as far as God was concerned, Jesus was, in His heart, crucified "from the foundation of the world," so set was his plan to buy us back. He is God for all people for all time! From the first man who stood upon the earth and breathed in air to those who today are being born, Jesus is The Answer. He was there to watch the birth of the firstborn child upon the earth. He was there, and He grieved over the people, which led to the flood. He was there when the people loaded up their earthly possessions to travel to unknown places on the earth. It was God who sent His Son as a tiny baby among the Roman soldiers, busy streets, and crude walls of an obscure stable. He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross in order to take the punishment of justice that sin required. He was there to rise from the dead and make His victory in the unseen realm known to all men in this physical act. He sees all the children He is forming within their mothers all across the world. He sees every person in every country, and has throughout all time. He watches the streets and farmland, He is in the tents, huts, and houses, with every man, woman, and child, and His great desire is for them to receive His sacrifice for them, to live within them, and to have fellowship with them.

The study of mankind we most often call history. History is not meant so much as a study of people in the past, present, and future, but of God and His presence and provision for the past, present, and future of people. Included in history are mechanical and medicinal inventions, languages, cultures and family groups, clothing, foods, transportation, uses of creation (creatures and resources), effects of climate and topography, governments and laws, uses of time, education, wars, value of money or trade, architecture, and dentistry, for starters. All of these things speak not so much of people and their coming and going, but of God who has provided the knowledge of Himself in creation and the opportunity for those who have His Word to testify of Him to others. It is His-story.

These areas of sky, earth, and sea and all that is in them, and the study of mankind become fresh and exciting when we see them in this light. No longer a list of subjects to fulfill on a report card, for us these become a way to know our God, and they are our pleasure to search out!

"But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?" Job 12:7,8.
You may find that you want to study in a new way, different than you have before. God's Word is the most important book you will ever read. Don't neglect it for the study of the creation. But it is an opportunity of a lifetime to pick up a book on nature and compare it to the Word of God. Take a walk and gather flowers to press, and find "flowers" in your concordance to see what God is saying to you. Sometimes He has more than one likeness for a picture.

Run a glass of water and find it a type of the Word – think on it. Ponder these things. Dig in your garden and look at the soil. Find a path and look closely at the ground, and then meditate on Mark 4:3-20.

As you bake a batch of cookies, check the sky at night, look out across the horizon as you drive, as you hear the sound of the wind, look into the eyes of your children, God is speaking to you. God is speaking to you! To hear Him requires not merely the desire for an educational experience, but the will to know God, to have fellowship with Him, to hear His voice!

In 2 Corinthians 2:15,16 we read, "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?" Every time we smell the blossoms of an apple tree, or catch the scent of a lovely perfume, the Lord wants us to hear from Him! That is the sweetness of His smell! With the odor of spoiled potatoes or a garbage can left too long comes a reminder from God to help us to understand how offensive the Righteous One is to the lost around us. They cannot come without the Lord's power.

From these verses, please identify the picture used and the lesson given. Remember that they are to be used in dividing the Word of God, not to become our focus in themselves. The creation must serve the Word of God and the Spirit of God!

Matthew 15:13

Matthew 15:14

Matthew 16:6,11,12

John 2:19-21

John 4:14

John 4:35

John 6:48,51

John 15:16

Oh, my friend, do you see? He has given us the creation to explain things that we cannot see yet, things that pertain to the life to come, life in His kingdom!

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer," 2 Corinthians 5:16.
When we see people, we can have God's vision of them, God's vision for them. Could it be time to ask Him for sight for the blind, that we might see from heaven's point of view? We might see a little clearer our Savior, our King Jesus and we might grow in longing for His kingdom and the citizens of that kingdom. Because of Him, we can see with new eyes! We will experience life like we never have! May what we learn be ours for eternity!

Please pray with me!

Oh, Father! Thank You for making it possible for me to hear You! It cost You everything to have fellowship with me. Oh, help me to see, open my eyes and my ears so that I will  understand how much You love me. Till up the soil of my heart so that I will not listen out of mere obligation, but with thankfulness, and a desire for Your heart. Thank You, Father, for this beautiful earth, and for using even the mean things of life to speak to me. You will not waste any of it. Open my heart that I might study to know You! In Jesus' name, A-men!

Biblical Motherhood: Week Three/Day Three Authentic or Counterfeit?

Authentic or Counterfeit?

(You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

Please ask the Lord to speak to you today from His Word, and to teach you to discern the difference between the knowledge of the world and the knowledge of Him.
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"For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent," 1 Corinthians 1:19.

We had a kitten that had a strange habit of jumping up into my husband's shirts, which were in the closet on hangers. The first time, I heard muffled meowing and knew he was somewhere in that closet, but only by going through, shirt by shirt, could I find where he was stuck. It only took once for me to learn where he would be. It took him longer to figure out that those shirts did not contain Jim! He was looking for someone, and got something instead!

In 1 Timothy 6:20,21, we find Paul warning Timothy against the same danger:

 "O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge - by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen,"

Knowledge is important, and the desire to learn is built into every one of us. Our desire to know is given by God, and genuine, real truth is the only way to an authentic education. For every authentic reality God has for us, Satan devises a counterfeit to make us feel sure of ourselves, yet confused. Only the genuine reality will hold up during a storm when the wild winds, the circumstances of life, blow hard against us! We will take a look at authentic wisdom, and its counterfeit, "what is falsely called knowledge," today.

From Hosea 4:1, what is the charge God brings against those who "inhabit the land"?

See Hosea 4:6. What destroys God's own people?

Please record what is the result of God's people having no knowledge (Isaiah 5:13).

Slavery in the physical realm is another person having control of your body. In the realm of the soul (mind, emotions, will), bondage is someone's control of your thoughts, your feelings, your decisions.

What controls your thoughts will affect your feelings and your decisions. The spiritual battle is waged over your mind.

In Hosea chapter 5 God speaks through Hosea to explain to the people the reason for their poverty of mind. In verse 11 He addresses a specific family line (Ephraim), but this also applies to any of God's people. Please copy Hosea 5:11 here and mark the phrases which tell their condition, and how they got there.

Webster's 1828 dictionary defines precept as follows: "In a general sense, any commandment or order intended as an authoritative rule of action, especially applied to moral conduct. "

We see that in focusing on the rules of human acceptance, God's people were controlled and oppressed by other people. They lacked discernment in life's situations and had lost sight of God's viewpoint. Oppression like this causes a heaviness and dullness of spirit. It overburdens, is unreasonable, and gives you no freedom for creativity.

Can you think of any area(s) of your life in which you have been walking by human precept?

In these areas you may notice a tendency to feel inferior at times, or to be very self-confident. It is a knowledge that "puffs up" (makes prideful), and is actually a counterfeit of the knowledge of God.

1 Corinthians 8:1 says, "...We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."

1 Timothy 6:20,21, "...avoiding...what is falsely called knowledge."

See James 3:14,15. What is God's definition of false knowledge (verse 14)?

What is its source (verse 15)?

The knowledge of God (wisdom) doesn't focus on humans as its point of interest. It is completely taken with God! How does God define wisdom? Is true wisdom a thing or a Person (1 Corinthians 1:30)?

The knowledge of the glory, the reality, of God is the knowledge that God is for us. We must know and understand that He is God, He is real, and we are not Him and will never hold His position as God. False knowledge (selfish ambition) is what puffs us up to think that we have control of our lives, that we are, in effect, God. But we aren't, and He calls us to humble ourselves to acknowledge the truth of His reality while we are still on the earth, before we enter the realm of eternity in heaven or hell.

When we trust in the ways of selfish ambition, what does God say will happen to our false security? Isaiah 30:12-14.

His remedy is Jesus! Please write God's counsel in verse 15!

Also copy God's instruction from Jeremiah 6:16.

When we study, we will either study to know God through His creation and the skills He gives us, or we will study to know and exalt ourselves. It has to do with the motive of our heart: why we are studying, and what, or Who, we are studying.

The religious leaders of the day took away the "key to knowledge" (Luke 11:52) by a counterfeit; by putting the people in fear of the leaders rather than focusing the people on God. If we don't understand the Way God has provided to Himself, we will never know that we can come to Him in full confidence in Him, never mind what any man says! God must become greater in our vision than any man. We must fix our eyes on Him to see how things really are.

What are some benefits the knowledge of God will bring to our lives?

Psalm 119:29 (something God will do in you!)

Psalm 119:134

Psalm 143:8

Proverbs 22:17-21

Isaiah 33:6

Isaiah 33:17-19 (What will be your focus, your vision in life? V.17)

Hebrews 9:14

The Lord has such good things for us as we learn of Him in all that we study! He longs to fill us with good things and satisfy and refresh us! If you will come to Him, He will never disappoint you. You will be His student; He will be your Teacher.

"Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart," Psalm 119:2.

Please pray with me:

Dear Father, I know that You are God, and yet I have such a tendency to think that education belongs to men instead of to You. I've sought after the approval of teachers on this earth and have found my attention on them instead of on You. I have been hurt by oppression, and I have joined in on that oppression toward others. This is not Your heart. Please take this out of me, and replace it with Your heart for learning. I receive Your forgiveness, and thank You that Your ways are not like mine. Please teach me Your ways. I love You, Lord, because You are good! In Jesus' name, A-men.

Biblical Motherhood: Week Three/Day Two “Who Are You, Lord?”

“Who Are You, Lord?”  

(You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

 
Ask the Lord for His identity to be revealed to you in greater clarity today! He knit you together, and wants you to know Him. He is so pleased that you are studying and He will bless your every effort!

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“That, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord,” 1 Corinthians 1:31.

There is a children’s book entitled Blueberries For Sal (by McClosky) in which Little Sal and a bear cub get mixed around while each of them are picking blueberries with their mother. Little Sal hears a noise and follows what she thinks is her mother, eating blueberries all the way. Little Bear has the same experience as he is busy munching the sweet berries. Only in time do any of them check to see how the other is doing only to find, “You’re not my baby!” and, “You’re not my Mother!” Both Mother and Mama Bear do find their own offspring and all of the berry-eaters leave Blueberry Hill satisfied. (Mother even has blueberries enough to can for winter!)

It is a sweet illustration of a much greater search for truth: Who is Jesus? To be following someone we think is our Savior, only to find out that we have not had Him at all would be devastating now, and also have eternal consequences.

“Who are You, Lord?” Acts 9:5

If we will go to God’s Word for the answer, we will find what we need to know, and we, too, will leave in security, having been satisfied!

“But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me,” Jeremiah 9:24.  

If we know God, we can boast about Him! Did you think all boasting was wrong? Here is one that, in God’s economy, is good boasting, in fact, it pleases Him. As we know God, we will understand!

“Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding,” Proverbs 9:10.

Way back in the beginning, God was revealing Himself through His creation, even before sin entered the world. We read in Revelation 13:8 that Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Before He even began His creating process, God knew what would all take place, and He knew the Remedy He would provide.

As He considered His crowning work, mankind, He ‘conferred together.’ “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...,” Genesis 1:26.

In fact, in the first verse of the Bible, the word used to describe God is, in Hebrew, plural. “In the beginning, God...”

The word used is elohiym, “plural of elowahh; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used of the supreme God.”

Yet Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”

When Jesus, in John 10:30, said, “I am My Father are one,” what was He saying? We are going to look at the Bible and compare, Old Testament and New, to see the whole teaching from God’s Word on Jesus’ identity. We will choose some key verses, but there are many more that you may read in your quiet times with the Lord. If you stay consistent in spending time each day with the Lord and His Word, you will learn more than if you study a large amount in a sitting or two, and then nothing for days. It’s like eating. You will be stronger if you take regular, healthy meals than if you gorge on whatever you happen to find in the kitchen, and then fast for days.

Following are eight questions. You will be able to find the answers in the Bible verses provided. 

Question #1:

In Isaiah 44:6, we find the first part of this course of the meal! From this verse, by what names does God reveal Himself?

The word ‘revelation’ means ‘the act of revealing’. From the first line in Revelation 1:1, Who does the book of Revelation reveal?

Just a few verses down, see Revelation 1:8 and 11. By what names does Jesus reveal Himself?

Outside of any other teaching, what does the Bible itself claim about the identity of the First and the Last?

Question #2:

The glory of God is His ‘weight’, His splendor, His reality.

What does God say about His glory in Isaiah 42:8?

With this in mind, please turn to John 17:5. What does Jesus say about His glory?

If God doesn’t give or share His glory with anyone, yet Jesus has had God’s glory from before the world was created, who is Jesus?

Question #3:

From Isaiah 6:1, who did Isaiah see?

From John 12:41, who did Isaiah see? (For clarity on who is the subject of verse 41, please read verses 36-41.)

From these two portions of Scripture, what is the identity of the One who appeared to Isaiah?

Question #4:

Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last. From Revelation 22:13, Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last? (Verse 16 identifies the speaker.)

Who is the First and the Last? Please see Isaiah 48:12 and 13.

Revelation 1:17,18 – Again, Who is the First and the Last?

From verse 18, what are His credentials?

Question #5:
Who raised Jesus from the dead? Acts 2:24

Romans 8:11

John 2:19

Using information from the Bible only, in your own words, who raised Jesus from the dead?

Question #6:

The word ‘manifest’ is defined as “Clearly apparent to the understanding or the senses; palpable; obvious. To make plain to sight or understanding; reveal; display.”

Please read 1 Timothy 3:16 (in the King James Version if you have it). Who was manifested in flesh?

What does that say about Jesus?

Question #7:

What does Jesus’ name ‘Immanuel’ mean? (Matthew 1:23)

Question #8:

In Isaiah 45, the Lord emphasizes one truth over and again. To find it, read verses 5-6, 14,18 and 21. What is it?

Please copy Isaiah 45:22.

God says there is no other god besides Him, and He ought to know. He is God!

Is God’s motive to try to disguise Himself and be mysteriously hidden? Read Isaiah 45:19. (1 Corinthians 14:33 may also give insight.)

When we think that God is trying to deceive us and manipulate us, who is actually doing the deceiving and manipulating? (Romans 2:1, “…For in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”)

Oh, soften your heart to receive the truth! Jesus is God in the flesh, and He is desperately in love with you! He has done everything to make a way for you to be with Him!

From 2 Corinthians 11:4, does every church preach the same Jesus?

Are there those who would urge you to receive a different spirit than the Spirit of God?

Is there a gospel that some preach that is not the gospel of the Jesus who is God in the flesh?

In 2 Corinthians 11:3 it is written: “But I fear, lest somehow...your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Dear friend, there is simplicity in the Living God! It is found in believing Him, putting your trust in what He has done for you, and what He says.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:23 to those who will not be in His kingdom, “I never knew you.” He is desiring an intimate relationship with you. His desire is to know and be known by you.

The cross of Jesus, this Jesus, is offensive because it says that you are not good enough to win God’s favor, that your good works are filthy in God’s sight because they promote you. Any other Jesus will accept your efforts and demand more of you. But God the Son will accept nothing that you bring; He demands only that you place your trust in Him. That requires that you leave off working for your salvation. In your mind, your trust must be placed in Him instead of in yourself, or in any one else. His sacrifice is sufficient for you!

If you have placed your trust in another Jesus, it is time for you to believe God’s Word and agree with God. The Bible is where we learn of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible is where we learn who He is, and who we are. Why should we take another companion book to the Bible so that we must believe the Bible sometimes and the other teaching other times? God says His Word is pure (Psalm 12:6). If you place your trust in Him and His Word, the Bible, you will know the God who made you and loves you, who redeems your life from the pit, who calls you His own, and will never leave nor forsake you.

If you have called others Christians who have confessed another Jesus than the Jesus the Bible reveals, you have given them false hope and have disagreed with God to their hurt. It is time for you to believe God’s Word and agree with Him.

“For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance,” Matthew 9:13.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me", Revelation 3:20.

If this issue has not been a crucial matter to you, you have not seen it the way God does. The name of Jesus is about His identity. This Jesus, the Son of God and God, the Son, is the only One who has the authority and power to redeem a soul from an eternity apart from God. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.

There is no one like our God! He is the One who saves!

Will you pray with me?

Lord, You have spoken clearly in Your Word about Your identity. You don’t require that we understand the Trinity, but only that we trust what You say above our own thoughts. In this matter, I relinquish my ideas and ask You to replace them with faith in You and what Your Word teaches. Help me to see that Your Word gives life, and that You are the Hope of the whole world. There is no one who doesn’t need You. I worship You as You tell me who You are in Your Word. I place my trust in You, the God who came in flesh to save me. Cause me to be unashamed of the truth of Your identity in the presence of others, because You alone are God. In Jesus’ name I pray, A-men.

Biblical Motherhood: Week Three/Day One Mother, the Student

Mother, the Student

(You can read the introduction to this 8 week study here. You can also click the tag at the bottom of this post and all of the Biblical Motherhood posts will be shown to you.)

Ask the Lord for His light burden and easy yoke today. To be His student is to be taught of things that have value for this life and the life to come. Ask Him to help you choose His way!

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“Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,and you will find rest for your souls,” Matthew 11:29.

“Learn of Me.” We are first and continually a student of Jesus before we can teach with understanding.

To teach is nothing new. There are teachers in every imagination and religion of man under the sun. That is because God has given His gifts, in this case, teaching, to people and the test is in how we will use it. Teachers of other gods have many sound observations and give practical counsel, some that mirror the Word of God. So who copied whom?

The foundation of all that we know must be in the identity of our God. Is He different than any other god and what is that difference?

Jesus is God manifest in flesh. The Bible makes that claim, He spoke openly of His identity while He walked the earth, and His followers stand on this fact as basic doctrine. If God came in the flesh, and human beings crucified Him, and then He rose from the dead, we are in real trouble. There is no greater fear for mankind than the fear of standing before the Judgment Seat of God, the Judge. Some ignore this thought or drown it out with anything one can reach, but in the end, this is what it comes down to: you and God.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.
This is God’s remedy for our prideful rejection of His identity: His own death upon the cross. He tells us if we will look on Him with faith, He will credit His death to us, and His resurrected life to us as well. Our old nature must be willfully rejected by us, and faith in Christ embraced.

That Jesus died on a Roman cross is an historical fact. People who were there wrote about it, and not all were followers of His. People who were there also claim that three days later He rose from the dead, and that they saw Him, and touched Him, ate with Him, and heard the things He said. They said He later rose up into the clouds, and angels announced that He would return the same way one day. The followers of Jesus had had everything to lose when He died, and it seemed reasonable to the Jews and Romans that they would try some sort of deception to hold on to their hope. But the thing that should shout to us is what their claim about Jesus led to.

Many people have died for what they believed in if they really held it as the truth. But if these followers of His had taken His body, as the story was told, they would have known that He didn’t actually rise from the dead, that it was a hoax and a great deception that they had carried out themselves. They would’ve known it wasn’t the truth. But they were treated with the greatest hatred, beaten, and killed (except for one, who was tortured, but survived) all saying the same thing to the end: “We didn’t take Him. He rose from the dead!” This rings with authenticity! Rest your faith on what Jesus did on your behalf! He rose from the dead, and He is like no other god! He alone has broken the powers we cannot see, and HE testifies of Himself every day.

And so we read God’s Word understanding that it is the “Word made flesh” who speaks to us, calling us to see the truth about ourselves, and the truth about Himself.

There is the beginning and ending of all Truth: God Himself. He is One God, of three Persons. Believe the One who died and rose again from death. He alone has the right to tell you just how it is.

“Learn of Me.” I need to know what He means specifically. How can I do this? If I am to know God, He must reveal Himself to me.

And if God will reveal Himself, it must be a practical revelation, something I am able to “get.” If I become a student of the Word of God, I will find that He tells me details. If I will take the whole counsel of God, not trying to make the Bible say something, but reading it to hear what God is saying, I will learn how to learn of Him. So how does He reveal Himself so that I may learn of Him?

“And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood;and these three agree as one,” 1 John 5:8.
First, the Spirit: the Spirit of God bears witness of Himself. John 15:26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” The first witness on earth is the Spirit of God.

The second witness is the water. Scripture must interpret Scripture, and with that thought, we wonder, how does water witness of God? In Ephesians 5:26 we find that God uses water as a picture of His Word: “that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” So the second witness is the Word of God, pictured by water. In John 1:14 we find that “the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us...” The Word of God is not a book of rules and regulations, but it breathes life by faith in the One it speaks of: Jesus. Jesus Himself spoke of this in John 5:39,40, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” We can miss Him in the Word if we take it as a good way to live, a good book to follow. But if we come needy, we will find Him on every page.

The third witness: blood. Hebrews 9:22, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Jesus came to shed His blood upon the cross so that God could pour out His judgment on Him instead of us. When we believe in Him, He sees that it was your and my sin condemned on the tree. He stood in for us before His own righteous judgment on sin. He took the full measure of the wrath of God toward sin. God is wholeheartedly against sin. He hates sin. Because He is pure, how can He agree to dwell with sin? He cannot. And likewise, we, in our sinful state have nothing but distaste, envy, anger, even hatred and malice toward God. Sin separates us from God! And it breaks God’s heart like we have never known.

That is the love of God.

And that is our condition without His blood.

But He! He is righteous: wholly right; the rightness of God in all His wonderful character, purity embodied, beauty manifested, Life, true Life. We would be wise to see things the same way He does, and when we find rebellion in ourselves, confess it openly to Him, not trying to cover it up, and trust that what He suffered in our place was enough. That is trust. Do you trust that the blood Jesus shed on your behalf is enough to cleanse you from sin so you can be close to God? If you do not, you are trusting that you have something that God Himself does not. You are placing your faith in yourself, and what you can do. But He knows what it took to defeat sin and death and Satan and, my friend, you don’t have it. His sacrifice reveals human lack. Place your trust in the only trustworthy One: Jesus, and He will become yours!

Blood, this third witness, took place here upon the earth. This planet is where God came in flesh to take upon Himself a body with a heart that pumped blood, and this is where He gave Himself a sacrifice, letting His blood pour out as payment for us before His Father. This all happened within the realm of creation. And so we find that the witness of blood includes His creation in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” All things seen and unseen, with and without breath, were created by God and it all reveals Him to us.

But consider the first part of Hebrews 9:22, “In fact the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood...” Nearly everything? Yes. Creation has been tainted by sin, and by looking at it alone to see God you will easily become confused. A mother cat rejecting her weakest and tiniest kitten, a diseased maple tree, bindweed infesting a garden, a broken body in a hospital, a grieving human soul; do these things picture God? No, not by themselves; these things have the effect of the condition of sin upon the creation of God, but the things that do not need to be cleansed with blood are the things that are pure and holy already and have never been touched by sin. These are the Spirit of God, and the Word of God. These two must interpret creation.

In order to study to know God, we must understand that He, by His Spirit, His Word and His creation speaks of Himself, and these three are in agreement. The Spirit of God will teach us: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you,” Psalm 32:8.

His Word must be our constant plumb line: “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,’” Matthew 4:4.

Creation is the place of application so that we will understand. “Now all these things happened to them as examples,” 1 Corinthians 10:11. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,” Romans 1:20.

How about you? If you took away all the extras, is your faith resting on the grades your children achieve to get them somewhere in life? Do you consider education to belong to God, or in your mind, would you sacrifice a study of the truth in order to win the favor of men?

All of creation tells us of God. It is not ours to study and make a living with by our own will, for our own purposes. It all belongs to God, and He will take an account of our stewardship. Have you glorified mankind in your hours of study, or have you glorified God? You cannot do both.

When you study to know man (yourself included), the weight is on your shoulders to accomplish, to understand, to achieve. When you study to know God, there is delight and security because He is all you need, and He will teach you as you go. The burden is not heavy with Jesus. To be yoked with Him means that He carries the weight, and we learn to walk with Him! When we lean into the yoke it will be with confidence in Him, and for His glory so that people might see that He is good. It is no longer about how well I am doing, but about His heart. It is not to show myself worthy, but to understand His worth to me, and my worth to Him. “We love Him because He first loved us,” 1 John 4:19.

That is where our worth comes from: we are loved by God!

Our effort to win the approval of men will keep us from loving God. No longer must we compare ourselves to those around us. God compares us to His Perfection. He also meets us with Perfection because of our total failure. He becomes for us what He demands. Only then can we do anything that He will acknowledge. We miss the eyes of God when we strive to become accomplished in the eyes of anyone human. “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him,” 2 Chronicles 16:9.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us,” 1 John 4:16.
Please pray with me!

My Father,

Please free me from the desire to please the world, and to believe Your complete acceptance of me just as I am in Your Son, Jesus. Help me to understand something of the way Your Spirit, Your Word and Your creation tell of You, and cause me to believe that all that I can see exists to worship and testify of Your reality. The sky, the earth and the seas all are Yours, and all the inhabitants of them. They were all made to speak of You. And all of mankind through the ages have their existence in You. All of us were made to worship You, and without You we have no stability for this life or for eternity. Thank You for telling me the truth. I put my faith in You, and I worship You. In Jesus’ name, A-men.