Teachers, Why We Do What We Do, And a Book Review

Teacher friends, do you ever wonder why you show up to school every day? Do you wonder why you continue to do what you do? 

One of my most precious memories of teaching is when my 5th grade class was studying the Christmas story and the lineage of Christ. Mid-lesson, one of my young theologians raised his hand and asked a very serious question. He said, “Mrs. Willis, does it hurt to have a baby?” Momently struck dumb, I said a quick prayer for wisdom, maybe turned a bit pink and proceeded to explain that the pain of childbirth is part of the curse. Hoping that was a good enough explanation for the time being, I attempted to move on to the next part of the lesson. But of course, it was not enough. We needed to discuss blood and breech births, near death experiences, and recoveries. I assured the students that being a mom was worth the pain and most of us make it through childbirth ok… millions of us do every year. 

The young theologian was never afraid to ask hard questions. And I was happy to answer them. That’s how we learn and grow. He is now married and has a child of his own. He is a teacher now of Greek and theology and has just recently given birth to a different kind of child, his book “Flash Theology.” I don’t think there was any actual blood, but I am sure there was the proverbial “blood, sweat, and tears” as this child was born.  

I am not sure if Brayden remembers anything he actually learned in 5th grade, but I am honored to have been a part of his foundational learning and am so proud of who he has become. I love to see his passion for learning and teaching God’s truths. I have not read the whole book yet, but I am digging in and loving it!

So teachers, this is why we do what we do. 

Splendor and Majesty ~ The Trees of the Field Clap Their Hands

This is part of a series, Splendor and Majesty, Knowing God Through His Magnificent Creation. This contribution is by my dear sister in Christ, Jessica Hughes. I hope this encourages you to see God throughout your day in His General Revelation of Himself through His creation. 

I have always loved trees. I was born in Pennsylvania, which literally mean’s Penn’s (William Penn’s) Trees. If you’ve ever been there, there are just so many trees. People out here California) talk about forests, but where I grew up we talk about “the woods”. One of my favorite things as a little girl was to spend my days playing up in the woods behind our house. We lived at the base of a hill called Boulder Hill, which was odd because it had far more trees than boulders. Perhaps they ran out of tree names for hills in such a vastly tree-covered region.

At the top of Boulder Hill was my best friend’s house, and in the middle of the hill ran a creek amidst the woods. My best friend, Danielle, and I would meet in the middle, splash in that creek, and then hike those woods until we got lost. And then we would slowly wander till we found our way out again, usually just in time to part ways and head home for dinner. We climbed old sturdy trees and made tree houses among the wide, lofty branches. We snapped off old dead limbs to make “log cabins” (usually more like a 6 inch high perimeter of a cabin because young minds bore quickly). We bent young spry twigs to create romantic leafy archways along our footpaths. And we sat on stumps for many a tea party. 

Naturally I am drawn to the way God talks about trees in Scripture. In Isaiah 55 the trees of the field clap their hands in joy. In Psalm 1, people are pictured like trees planted by a river, they nourished and strengthened as they drink up the Lord’s laws and meditate on them. Something fascinating about trees you may or may not know – did you know you can tell how old a tree is by counting its rings? And did you know you can tell how rainy the different years of that tree’s life were by how wide or narrow the rings are? In seasons where the tree receives much water, it grows fast and the rings are narrower. And in seasons where there is drought, the rings are wider. These seasons are necessary for the tree to be strong. It needs seasons of speedy growth where it becomes taller and bears a lot of fruit. And it also needs seasons that are quiet and slower, so that its wood can solidify and become stronger.

In one of my favorite books, outside of the Bible, Green Letters by Miles Stanford, the author quotes A. H. Strong telling this story, “A student asked the President of his school whether he could not take a shorter course than the one prescribed. ‘Oh yes,’ replied the President, ‘but then it depends upon what you want to be. When God wants to make an oak, He takes an hundred years, but when He wants to make a squash, He takes six months.’ Strong also wisely points out to us that ‘growth is not a uniform thing in the tree or in the Christian. In some single months there is more growth than in all the year besides. During the rest of the year, however, there is solidification, without which the green timber would be useless. The period of rapid growth, when woody fiber is actually deposited between the bark and the trunk, occupies but four to six weeks in May, June, and July.’ “

I wonder sometimes what my rings would look like if I were a tree. I think mountaintop experience after mountaintop experience might be a refreshing season with rich rains. In my teen years especially I think I had many of these. The rings were probably narrow as the years zipped by, but how I grew tall and was eager to produce spiritual fruit in my life. But then have come the valleys, and oh there have been many valleys. The rains were a little more spread out, and I wondered at times how long until the Lord would grant me rain again.

Like David wandering in the wilderness of Judah, I have said in my heart, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1-2). But it’s there that my rings become wider and stronger. The dry valleys are a time of revealing whether what I learned up in the mountains has taken root in my heart.

Stanford also writes in Green Letters, “In that the Husbandman’s method for true spiritual growth involves pain as well as joy, suffering as well as happiness, failure as well as success, inactivity as well as service, death as well as life, the temptation to shortcut is especially strong unless we see the value of and submit to the necessity of the time element; in simple trust resting in His hands, ‘Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform until the day of Jesus Christ’ (Phil. 1:6). And, dear friends, it will take that long! But since God is working for eternity, why should we be concerned about the time involved? …’So often in the battle,’ says Austin-Sparks, ‘we go to the Lord , and pray, and plead, and appeal for victory, for ascendancy, for mastery over the forces of evil and death, and our thought is that in some way the Lord is going to come in with a mighty exercise of power and put us into a place of victory and spiritual ascendancy as in an act. We must have this mindset corrected.”

He does lead us to the valleys sometimes. It’s not by chance, it’s by design. Because He knows that we need wide rings too. I get impatient with the Lord and have thrown my fits that He didn’t pull me out of those valleys as quickly as I’d like. I’m learning to appreciate that He does all things in His time. He is God, He does it His way. In the theme of trees, Ezekiel says it this way, “And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the LORD; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.” (Ezekiel 17:24).

In my driest valleys is when I’ve truly come to understand who is the Lord, and who I am. And just to be clear, this is love. He doesn’t send us into dry seasons or valleys for entertainment or out of harshness. He tenderly walks with us through those seasons, with His glory and our joy in the forefront of His mind. He knows where the still waters and green pastures are, we need only to trust Him and continue faithfully at His side.

So, what would you look like as a tree? What would be the pattern of your rings? If you’re in a season where the rings are needing some widening, be patient with the Lord and don’t fight Him for that time (preaching to myself here). And if you’re in a season of frequent rains and narrow rings, praise the Lord! May your fruit be ever abundant in this time.

You can read more of Jessica’s blog here; jessmhughes.blogspot.com

If you are in a dry season and would like prayer, please feel free to email me at soulwater@kerilynnwillis.com. Also check back regularly for more refreshing waters or sign up to receive some Soul Water right in your in box.

Did Mary Know?

Surrendering to God’s Sovereignty

Have you ever struggled with God’s sovereignty? We want to believe we have faith enough to know God’s will is the best plan. But saying we believe in God’s sovereignty and living like we do are vastly different.

I had the opportunity to grow in this area recently. My husband needs eye surgery. After the surgery, he will have to lay on his face for a week and not be able to fly for a month. The problem with his eye was appearing to worsen, and surgery was scheduled for the week before Christmas. When I heard the news, I felt myself sinking into a mirey pit. Not because my husband needed the surgery (we already knew that it was coming), but that it would have to be right before Christmas, canceling our plans to go to Virginia to be with our kids for the holidays. 

Trying to be reasonable, I prayed, I asked friends to pray, and I told God just what I thought about this obnoxious surgery ruining MY plans. I let the worry and anxiety of not being able to see my kids steal the joy right out of Advent, the time I should be preparing my heart for celebrating the miraculous birth of our Savior. I woke up on the morning of the pre-op appointment wrestling with God. There was no use hiding my feelings from Him; He knew I wanted to be with my kids and was frustrated that our plans may be canceled. He knew my heart was hurting. After repeating my prayer and realizing I sounded like a broken record or a whiny child, it dawned on me that He really did have my best interest in mind, that He is sovereign, that all this wrestling was just wearing me out. I was able to finally pray, not my will but yours be done. 

He wanted me to hand over what I was so tightly clinging to, something I really had no control over anyway. When I surrendered to His sovereignty, the tension and anxiety started to drain away. Faith is the absence of fear. Peace is the absence of panic. 

We have many examples, in scripture, of saints asking for their will but surrendering to God’s will instead. Paul asked for the ‘thorn in his flesh’ to be removed. Jonah had to be in the belly of a great fish for three days before deciding to be obedient. Even Jesus asked, “If it be your will, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done.” One of the most meaningful examples of surrendering to God’s sovereignty is written in Luke, chapter one.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; [e]blessed are you among women!”

29 But [f]when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I [g]do not know a man?”

35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said,“Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”  And the angel departed from her.

An angel appeared to Mary and told her that she had been chosen of all the women on earth to bear the Christ child, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. All she would have to do was give up her reputation, become an unwed mother, endure scorn for being an unwed mother. We don’t know how long the conversation really went on. If I was Mary, it would have been a long conversation, because I want to have all my ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions answered. But Mary asked a couple of questions and then replied with one of the most powerful statements recorded in the Bible, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” 

What if Mary would have said “Heck no, get out of my house Gabriel.”? What if she would have let fear overtake her faith? What if she had wrestled with the angel instead of surrendering to the sovereign will of God? We would still have a Savior. Mary still may have been his earthly mother. But oh, what a blessing she would have missed out on if she would not have opened her heart and said “Let it be to me according to your word.”

About 40 years ago, Mark Lowery wrote a song for a church program that has gained great popularity in the past several years. His normal jovial self considered the question if Mary really knew what she was getting herself into when she agreed to carry the Christ-child. The song, “Mary Did You Know,” asks the wondrous and the devastating. Did Mary know that when she kissed the face of her baby, she was kissing the face of God? Did she know he would die to save all mankind from their sin?

God does not often reveal his future plans for our lives, because it would be too overwhelming and heartbreaking to take in unless He had prepared us for that moment in our lives. Mary, however, did have the benefit of knowing the prophecies in Isaiah about the Messiah. 


Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. Isaiah 29:18

I offered my back to those who beat me
    and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face
    from mockery and spitting. Isaiah 50:6

He is despised and [d]rejected by men,
A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our [g]griefs
And carried our [h]sorrows;
Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes[m] we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from [o]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

Isaiah 53:3-8

So, chances are, Mary did know. She most likely knew the joy and heartbreak that was prophesied, in Isaiah, of the life… and death of the Messiah. Her precious baby boy was going to change the world. He was going to bring great joy and suffer great pain and anguish. He was going to bear the sins of all mankind.  And she still said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

During this season, we try so hard to make things just right. Sometimes, it seems like the harder we work to make the perfect holiday, the more disappointment comes from unmet expectations. We try to buy the right present, prepare the right food, sing the right songs, decorate to our hearts’ content. I love to do all the above, but if I am missing the reason for the celebration, I am missing the greatest blessing of all. He came so that we might have life, life more abundant. His ways are better than my ways and surrendering to His sovereignty is the greatest gift I can give Him for His birthday. 

Dear Sovereign Father, 

Please help me to keep my eyes fixed on you. Help me to not hold onto my earthly dreams and plans so tightly that I snuff out the blessings your sovereignty, even through pain, will bring. Thank you that 2000 years ago, Mary was joyful in obedience to your will and gave birth to the Christ child who would be our Savior. Thank you for the gift of salvation through your Son, Jesus. 

In His Precious Name, Amen.

I pray you all have a blessed Christmas season, remembering why we celebrate the birth Jesus. And by the way, my husband’s surgery was postponed until January. Thanks, in advance, for your prayers.

If this has been a blessing to you, please feel free to share it. If you would like to receive more devotions like this in your email, just click the “follow” button in the bottom right hand of the screen and enter your information.

Splendor and Majesty ~ Let Heaven and Nature Sing

Have you ever heard it, heaven and nature singing? 

There was a time when Jesus went into Jerusalem, people were worshiping him and praising him loudly. The community leaders told Jesus to make them be quiet. Jesus responded “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out! “ Think about that… Can a stone cry out?  I ‘ve seen a lot of rocks, and I have never audibly heard one cry out. But I have seen Mt Whitney, Half-dome, and El Capitan and have witnessed Creation declaring His majesty. 

In high school choir, we sang a spiritual based on Luke 19:14. The phrase “If I don’t praise Him the rocks are gonna cry out, glory and honor, glory and honor…” is repeated throughout the song. This phrase often comes to mind when I am driving through the mountains east of San Diego, hiking through Yosemite, or through the slot canyons in our desert. 

“If I don’t praise Him, the rocks are gonna cry out.”

There is another song that is one of the most recorded songs in history. We often sing it from memory, without ever really giving thought to the words pouring from our mouths. 

“Joy to the World” was written in 1719 by Isaac Watts as his interpretation of Psalms 98.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
    burst into jubilant song with music;

5 make music to the Lord with the harp,
    with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
    shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
    let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the Lord,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples with equity

I may have heard it at some point, but I just grasped, today, that this iconic Christmas hymn was based on the majestic and beautiful words of Psalms 98. David is not just encouraging us to use our voices and instruments in worship of our Creator, but he is telling us that all creation worships Him. 

Isaac Watts joined this Psalm with the good news of Christ’s birth in the Christmas Carol, Joy to the World. Can you see the Psalm in his words? 

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let Earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

How do heaven and nature sing? 

Listen for the wind blowing the leaves of a tree. Be silent and eavesdrop on the bird’s song. Sit still and hear the river’s current splashing over rocks or the quick splash of the fish jumping out of the water. Listen to the waves crash on the shore. Take time to enjoy the laugh of a baby who sees and elephant for the first time. 

One of the most memorable worship services of my life was during a backpacking trip through Yosemite. We were tucked in between several rock formations that reached hundreds of feet into the sky. In the distance, we saw lightening flashing. Not yet hearing any thunder, we settled in for one of God’s greatest fireworks shows ever. We sat for several hours watching as the storm drew closer and closer to our little hide out. The thunder started crashing around us and echoing off the rocks. It was beautiful, yet terrifying at the same time. Retreating to a safer location, I couldn’t help peeking out to see the blankets of rain and the lightening hitting the rocks above us. We huddled under our tarps and tents as we listened, in awe and wonder, to heaven and nature sing

As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth. Let’s take time to be still, to truly worship alongside heaven and nature. 

This is part of a series, Splendor and Majesty, Knowing God Through His Magnificent Creation. I hope this encourages you to see God throughout your day in His General Revelation of Himself through His creation. 

If this was meaningful to you or you know someone who could benefit from reading this, please feel free to comment or share. If you are not already signed up to receive my blog right to your inbox, just hit the follow box in the bottom right of this page and fill in your information. 

Photo by Oleg Chursin on Unsplash

What Are You Doing to Prepare for Advent?

The theme for the first week of Advent is Hope. I would encourage you to think on the hope that we have because of the birth of Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us, so we do not have to live in darkness. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Hebrews 6:19

What are you doing to prepare for Advent? This was a question posed to me by a colleague that caught me quite off guard. She knew I was a believer and wanted to share a heart-to-heart conversation about the meaning of Christmas. Honestly, at that point, I had not really thought about the idea of Advent. 

Advent: The arrival of a notable person, thing or event

I celebrate Christmas. It is a meaningful time of celebrating Christ’s birth with family and friends. I love the music, the time sitting in my home with just the fireplace and the Christmas tree to light and give warmth. But the idea of “preparing for Advent” escaped me. 

I am pretty sure I responded with a blank stare and a response about decorating my tree. I was unprepared to give and answer for the hope that was in me. I Peter 3:15. I pondered the idea of Advent the rest of the day and well into the night. 

As I closed my Bible the next morning after my quiet time, I thought to myself, “This is how I prepare. It is not a once-a-year occurrence, but a steady, daily, moment by moment infusing of God’s Word into my soul that is preparing my heart for the celebration of the most precious birth of all time.”

When I shared this with my friend the next day, she embraced me with a bear hug that communicated gratitude. Gratitude that I took to heart her inquiry, gratitude that I gave her an honest and thoughtful answer, and gratitude that, in my naivety I pointed out the obvious, we should always be preparing our hearts for the coming of our Savior. 

See the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids in Matthew 25. Some of the bridal party were prepared with enough oil to wait for the Groom, others ended up in the dark. Be in the light. 

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A1-13&version=NLT

I have probably sung Joy to the World a thousand times. With great passion, I sing, “Let every heart prepare Him room.” Honestly, I probably spend more time preparing my home for Christmas than I do my heart. Often, I am worshiping as I decorate my Christmas tree and clean for company. But sometimes it leaves me so drained that my heart becomes the storage shed for grumpiness and frustration instead of the Joy He desires to fill me with. 

While I do take time each day to prepare my heart for Advent and believe it should not be a once-a-year event, I think it wise to slow our busied pace and our distracted heart, listen for the still small voice of the one who sent His son 2000 years ago, and remember the sacrifice that was made on our behalf. 

Every Sunday our church remembers Christ’s sacrifice through communion. We sing songs about the cross and take time to examine our hearts. We have to be careful that it does not just become a good habit. So, as we sing our Christmas Carols, it is essential that we don’t just celebrate Christmas as the world does, as just another time to party and spend a ridiculous amount of money on things people may not need or want. We cannot just sing Christmas carols without grasping the words we are professing. 

As I have been pondering Advent again this year, I began to think of it as a time to still my quiet heart and “prepare Him room” cleaning out the proverbial storage closet, disposing of the accumulated junk of the year and replacing it with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+5%3A22&version=NLT

I want my heart to be a sanctuary where the Holy Spirit feels welcome to dwell. I want the time I spend in the Word, in prayer, and being still before the Lord to cause my countenance to radiate the Light like shepherds witnessed so long ago. 

I love Christmas. It is my favorite time of year. I love the music, the food, the scents and even the presents, but more than all of that, I love that the whole world is celebrating the birthday of my King. As I prepare my heart for this celebration, I cannot let it be relegated to once a year or even once a week, but a day by day, moment by moment appreciation of the gift of God’s precious son. I pray that as I go out into the world each day, I will be like Peter and John in Acts 4:13 

 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Dear Heavenly Father, 

In the busyness of this season and throughout the year, when I leave the comfort of my prayer closet help the world to recognize that I have been with you. Please help me to be a fragrant offering to you and always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in me. 

Ideas for Advent:

Cara Ray’s Advent Collection

Emily P Freeman’s Quiet Collection $10 https://www.theschoolforcreativedirection.com/offers/Ue8j6jJy/checkout

Mariel Davenport’s Tending Through Advent $10

https://marieldavenport.com/product/tending-through-advent/

Listen through Matthew and Luke on the YOU Version Bible App $0

https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/

Study some of our traditional Christmas Carols

The History Behind ‘Silent Night’

Photo by Mario Losereit on Unsplash

Splendor and Majesty ~ Absence of Light

This is part of a series, Splendor and Majesty, Knowing God Through His Magnificent Creation. I hope this encourages you to see God throughout your day in His General Revelation of Himself through His creation. 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2

I am a bit of an outdoor enthusiast. This summer I got to play in King’s Canyon, home to Boyden Cave. We were on the way to the river but took a detour to explore the cave. The stalagmites (they might grow up from the ground) and stalactites (they hold tight to the ceiling) were beautiful, forming shapes that resembled Christmas trees and bridal veils. The park had installed lights that enhanced the beauty, shapes, and shadows of these rock formations. 

If you have ever gone on a cave tour, you know the guide will usually turn all the lights out and try to scare you. So as expected, the lights went out. It was pitch black. Strangely, it also became very quiet. It was all I could do not to start singing…

“He wraps himself in light
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God”

Click here to listen to the whole song. “How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin

Our guide proceeded to tell us the story of Mr. Boyden who discovered the cave and how he had been lost for two days in the pitch black of the cave. Sporting a broken leg, he eventually found his way out of the cave by following the water and light leading to the entrance to the cave. 

I must admit, I was a bit claustrophobic thinking of poor Mr. Boyden searching endlessly for a way out of the seemingly eternal cold, wet, and dark cave. And then the verses came pouring in my head and washing over my heart.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

There is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night, shuffling through a room and kicking your toe! If we are wandering around in the suffocating darkness of this world, we are sure to meet with obstacles in our way or stumble and fall. But we don’t have to live as those who have no hope. We have the Light. He has come into the world so we do not have to live in darkness, so we do not have to stumble, so that we can escape the suffocating world of darkness that wants to suck us in to its despair. 

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.John 12:46

A friend shared a story with me about her adventurous father. He would take her on his thrill-seeking explorations. As a little girl, my friend was quite fearful. She did not inherit her father’s enjoyment of all things adrenaline inducing. However, just as the fear would begin to overtake my friend, she would feel her daddy slip his hand into hers and hold on tight, assuring her of his presence and that he would never let harm come to her or let her face her fears alone. 

For I, the Lord your God,
    hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
    I am the one who helps you.” Isaiah 41:13

The companionship and protection provided to my friend by her father helped her to have a picture of how God is always with her, always holding her hand, always providing comfort and confidence to take another step, knowing that He is her guiding light. 

Your word is a lamp to my feet
    and a light to my path. Psalms 119:105

If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139:9-12

Our world may seem dark to you today. Let the words of God’s light fill your life. Know that He is with you, guiding you and holding your hand. In Him there is no darkness. Rest in His magnificent light. 

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. Ephesians 1:18 NLT

…for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

If this was meaningful to you or you know someone who could benefit from reading this, please feel free to comment or share. If you are not already signed up to receive my blog right to your inbox, just hit the follow box in the bottom right of this page and fill in your information. 

Splendor and Majesty ~ Light

This is part of a series, Splendor and Majesty, Knowing God Through His Magnificent Creation. I hope this encourages you to see God throughout your day in His General Revelation of Himself through His creation. 

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. Genesis 1:3-5

Have you ever stopped to consider why, before God created anything else, He said “Let there be light?” God, in His infinite power and wisdom, did not need the light to see what He was doing, yet the moment He spoke light into existence, He saw that it was good. 

Maybe God created light first because everything else in creation is dependent on it. Anything with life, plants, animals, and people are dependent on light to live, grow, and thrive. Did you ever do that science experiment as a kid where you put one plant in the sun, one under a light and one in a closet? The plant with just the right amount of light is the one that would thrive. We are like those plants, and God knows just how much light we need to survive. 

Since creation, light has signified beginnings; beginnings of a new day, more light signals a new season, and less light does the same. When we get up in the morning, we turn on a light and when we go to bed, we turn off the light. God gave us light to wake us up, and darkness to help us rest. 

God is a God of order, and we see that from His very first act of creation. 

He not only created light first because everything else is dependent on it, but without light, we cannot see. Even though God didn’t need the light to see, He gave it to us and all of creation as a gift so that we could revel in the beauty that surrounds us. Without light, we wouldn’t see color. Without light we would not witness the masterpieces created at sunrise and sunset. Without light we could not gaze into the eyes of our children or spouses. 

There is so much we would miss out on without light.

While in Yosemite, I had the opportunity to observe a beautiful Steller’s jay. The colors were breathtakingly deep and vibrant. I just had to be still and observe this simple yet beautiful creature. Eventually, I whipped out my phone and started taking pictures and sending them to the family chat. My park ranger son-in-law, quickly replied with a link to a blog and a picture of two feathers. One was gray, another blue. But interestingly, they were the same feather. 

This is an excerpt from the National Park Service blog that he sent me. 

“The Steller’s jay is one of the more common birds Yosemite visitors see. It has beautiful blue feathers that aren’t blue at all–that is, they have no blue pigment in them. This is also the case with Yosemite’s mountain bluebirds. Birds with yellow or red feathers usually get their color from pigments in the foods they eat, but the digestive process destroys blue pigments. So how do feathers on mountain bluebirds or Steller’s jays get their blue color?

Feathers are made of keratin, the same stuff your fingernails are made of. As a feather that will become blue grows, keratin molecules grow inside each cell, creating a pattern. When the cell dies, a structure of keratin interspersed with air pockets remains. As sunlight strikes one of these feathers, the keratin pattern causes red and yellow wavelengths to cancel each other out. The blue wavelengths reflect back, giving the feather its color. Different shapes and sizes of air pockets and keratin make different shades of blue. This is what scientists call a structural color (as opposed to pigmented color.)

Next time you see a Steller’s jay or a bluebird consider the amazing way nature has colored its feathers.”  NPS

I would encourage you to not just consider the way nature colors the birds but recognize the way God colors the feathers of every bird, the leaves of every tree, the brilliance of every flower, shades of the purple mountain majesty and gorgeous hues of the ocean. See all that God, The Intelligent Designer, has made and, like Him, acknowledge that it is very good. 

When I read that quote from the National Park Service, my heart immediately had a flood of scripture and biblical application for understanding this phenomenon that wouldn’t have occurred without light. 

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

When His light is shining in us and on us, we are made beautiful. The Light brings to life all we are meant to be. We who were once dead, now live. We who were once blind, now see. 

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

He lights the path we are to take and gives us light to do the work He has planned for us. This light is what points others to the Light of Life. 

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Then you shall see and be radiant;
    your heart shall thrill and exult…

Who are these that fly like a cloud,
    and like doves to their windows? 
For the coastlands shall hope for me...

…for the name of the Lord your God,
    and for the Holy One of Israel,
    because he has made you beautiful.

Isaiah 60

Without the light we would not see the brilliance of that Steller’s jay and all his radiant color. Before the light was in us, we were without life, one dull gray color. When we have the Light shining in us, we become beautiful, vibrant, brilliant, colorful reflections of the Imago Dei… the Image of God. 

Oh Lord, help me to let your light shine through me. Please allow your image to be reflected in my life, so that others may be drawn to you. In Jesus name, Amen. 

Do You Have FOMU (Fear of Messing Up)?

Hi Friends, I was planning a whole different post today, but this message is timely for me, and I hope it can be an encouragement to you as well. I will be back to my Splendor and Majesty series post haste! Thanks for being here with me. If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

Do you have FOMU? We all know about FOMO, fear of missing out, but how does FOMU impact your work, your ministry, your productivity, and your joy? I am talking about the FEAR OF MESSING UP. 

One of my greatest stressors is the feeling that if I do something wrong, everybody will know what a fake or fool I am. I have a stinkin master’s in education. How on earth can I use the word thrown when I mean throne or profit when I mean prophet?! (I could bore you or boar you with the details of how, but not today.) And don’t even get me started on the missing or over use of commas.

As I was contemplating an upcoming event, the FOMU started overtaking my thoughts. Then defeat inched in, disabling my forward momentum. Sometimes that inner critic saves us from embarrassing ourselves, but sometimes is keeps us from being fruitful, fulfilled and successful. If we never step out in faith, with courage, we are not only robbing ourselves of the blessing of a job well done, but we are robbing those around us from benefiting from our wisdom, knowledge, or creativity, or even our mistakes. 

Pay careful attention to your own work, 

for then you will get the satisfaction 

of a job well done, 

and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 

For we are each responsible for our own conduct. Galatians 6:4-6

We know David as “A Man After God’s Own Heart.” We also know him as one of the biggest blunderers who ever lived. I am not saying to go ahead and send someone into battle and then steal their wife. But I am trying to communicate that we cannot let the fear of messing up paralyze us, because even as much as we blunder, God’s grace is more. We can blow it big time, but He can make a masterpiece of our mess. Not because of David’s disastrous choices, but because of his contrite and repentant heart, we see how to have a blessed life and beautiful walk with God. 

What if David feared Goliath to the point of not going to the battlefield? What if he feared the lion or the bear? What if, when he was confronted with his sin, he refused to be humbled and corrected? What if he did not face his fear while hiding from Saul? He would have never written “Where does my help come from? It comes from the Maker of the heavens and the earth.” (Psalm 121) We wouldn’t have the example that says, “against you only have I sinned.” (Psalm 51) We would not have the comforting words of so many of the Psalms.  

I have FOMU. I worry too much about what people will think, how they will perceive me or do they “get me.” I fear messing up. However, I cannot let that stop me from speaking or writing the messages that the Lord puts on my heart. Oh, it would be so much easier to keep my faults all to myself and never risk putting my oops on display. That is just what the Enemy wants… to silence me. I worry about spelling a word wrong or mispronouncing it, when I should be more concerned about serving those who need the Living Water. 

Go ahead and edit; check your work; proofread; use the best keywords, phrases, and hashtags; make memorable taglines and headlines. (I pray God edits my thoughts, my words, and my mouth every day!) But please don’t let FOMU keep you from sharing your heart, God’s word, or using the gifts and creativity that He has put in you.  

I will bless the Lord who guides me;
    even at night my heart instructs me.
I know the Lord is always with me.
    I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. 
    My body rests in safety. Psalms 16:7-9

Book Review ~ A Grace Filled Homestead by Lana Stenner

What a fun and inspirational book. Lana blends her love of life on the farm with practical and biblical application. Her writing invites you into her home and heart in a way that makes you appreciate God in the simple things of life, like baby goats and fluffy chickens. Her recipes are simple and delicious! I have already used her bread dough recipe for pizza and cinnamon rolls and made her super easy goat cheese. The pictures are beautiful and make me want to go out and buy a goat and a good camera to take more pictures. Every time I pick up this book and read a section, I find myself smiling. Now that is the kind of book we should all be reading!

Splendor and Majesty – Be Still and Listen

Have you ever felt like Elijah? Alone, dejected, fearful?

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” I Kings 19:9-13

Have you ever gotten yourself worked into a frenzy just to get shaken back down to reality? I think that is kind of what happened with Elijah here. He was afraid. He ran to the desert then to the mountains and landed in a cave, sure that he was the lone believer in God left in the world and that everyone was after him to kill him. 

God used the wind, an earthquake, and a fire to get his attention and THEN He spoke very gently and quietly to Elijah, giving him direction for what he was to do next. 

Sometimes, I think I would like it if God spoke that clearly to me. And then I remember, He has. Through Scripture, His Special Revelation, and through His creation, His General Revelation. It is up to me to be still and listen; to respond; to worship.

Our culture has ruined the art of being still and drinking in the goodness of God through unplugging and listening to nothing but the birds, the crickets and frogs, the rain, the wind, and the waves, through taking a day off from the crazy and reading Scripture that declares His glory over and over again.  He made all of this for us and invited us to enjoy it with Him

Even Jesus went away to commune with the Father and to be recharged for the next leg of His journey. 

What does God have to do to get our attention?

Was COVID 19 enough?

Were the subsequent earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, and riots enough?

Just like God spoke to Elijah, He has spoken to us. He tells us we are never alone; “I will never leave you or forsake you” Hebrews 13:5) And that He is enough: “Lord you are my portion” Lamentations 3:24) and that He will walk through the water and fire with us. Isaiah 43:2-4

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
    I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
    you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
    you will not be burned up;
    the flames will not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.“

Take a minute and enjoy Nicole Mullins’ song, “I Know My Redeemer Lives”

Isaiah 55:3a Incline your ear and come to me; hear that your soul may live… He has spoken to us. It is up to us to listen.

Dear Heavenly Father, Please allow our eyes to be open to your wisdom and words through every gift of creation you have given us. 

If you have enjoyed this, please feel free to share it and drop your email to me by clicking the “Follow” button in the bottom right hand corner of this page.

Splendor and Majesty ~ Knowing God Through His Magnificent Creation.

In the words of Maria Von Trapp, “Let’s start at the very beginning.”

It would be great if you had time to click on the link below and read the Creation account before moving into the next message. 

Genesis 1:1-31, Genesis 2:1-3

As I read through Genesis one, the phrase that kept jumping out was “And God saw what He had made and behold it was good.” And after He created, He rested. Psalms 121 tells us that God, the creator of the Universe, never sleeps or slumbers. Yet God took roughly 15% of the recorded time in creation to rest. He did this not to take a nap, but to enjoy the fruit of His labor.

When was the last time you took a moment to rest, observe all that God has made, take a deep breath, and say “This is very good?”

Why should we study creation? 

He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him. And he is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-16 (ESV)

It seems that creation is a pretty big deal to God, so maybe it should be important to us as well. He created all of this to point us to Him.

They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature so they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:19-20 NLT

Like the Giant Sequoias in Kings Canyon or the breathtaking Redwoods along the Northern California Coast, all creation points upward to our Creator. Creation was given to us as a gift so that we may know our Creator. The Heavens declare His glory.

In speaking with Job, God said this: “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”  Job 12:7-10 ESV

If the animals know their creator, well enough to teach us about Him, how much more should we, the first fruits of all creation, seek to know Him?

We study God’s creation so that we can know Him and the power of His might, so we can trust him; so we can enjoy everything that He made and say “that is very good.”

And if all of that is not a good enough reason, finally friends there is this:

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

I know I am not the only one who has trouble sitting still. But I can sit for hours with my feet in the sand, listening to the waves or in the mountains listening to the wind blow through the trees and the birds sing, because it is then that I can clear the clutter out of my brain and my heart and truly listen to the voice of my creator and worship along with all of creation.

I like Daniel Darling’s four point explanation of why we should study creation. 

“The Bible asserts that a loving Father formed the universe and carefully crafted the human beings who bear His image… Creation matters because it helps correct ideas about God, about humanity, and about the cosmos…. Creation is a powerful way in which God communicates” 

1. “Creation reveals a God who is not like us. When we create, we use materials already in existence…” 

We use fabric, paint, wood, flour and eggs, but when God created, He simply spoke it into existence with all of the intricate details already in place. 

If you have ever visited Disneyland, you will be awed by the detail that goes into every inch of the park. In many places the detail mimics nature yet it pales in comparison to the intricate design and detail God has put into every hair on our heads, feather on a bird, or the flowers in the field

Daniel Darling says  “It should bring us comfort to know that there is a God who is above the messiness of this world. In our culture, we sometimes want a God who we can reduce to our size, a God who overlooks our flaws and blesses our indiscretions. We want a god we can shape and shift… but is this what we REALLY want? A god who is limited to our limitations. A god who is subject to our fears and captive to our whims? When we are praying at the bedside of a loved one, over our children, we are praying to a God we need to be bigger than we are.“

This makes me think of the song we sang when my kids were little “My God is so Big so Strong and so Mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do” As we get older and face bigger problems, we tend to forget that. 

Darling goes on to explain,  “A big God, A God I can’t understand, a God I see with a holy awe, is a God whom I can trust is managing a world I cannot control, a God who can uphold the universe as I lay my head on my pillow and as I send my children out into the world and as I huddle in the darkness during a violent storm. Deep down in our souls we don’t want the cheap plastic gods of our age, but an all-powerful God who is bigger than the problems we face and can defeat the things that haunt us.” 

2. “Creation reveals a God of order and beauty. – God is not a God of chaos or division, but a God of beauty, unity and order.” 

Everything that He created has a unique and intricate design, yes, an intelligent design. You only have to look at the leaves of a tree or the shape of a snowflake or look at your DNA sequence and your network of veins and arteries to know that we have an intelligent designer.

He made us with five senses to use in our observation of His creation. Eyes to see and behold all he has made, ears to hear all creation singing, the sense of smell to enjoy the scents of flowers, trees… and coffee… the sense of touch to feel the soft downy hair of a newborn, the sense of taste so we can enjoy the task of what we need to do to stay alive… eat. He also built into those senses a level of protection. If something is bitter, maybe we should not eat it. If something is hot maybe we should not pick it up. We could do a whole doctoral dissertation on this one intricate design element of God’s creation.

GOD IS UNDERSTOOD BY THE “SIMPLE” BUT CONFOUNDS THE “WISE”

As much as they have tried, even the most intelligent scientists and mathematicians and artists have not been able to understand or recreate the mysteries of creation. 

I Corinthians 1:27 tells us But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Psalm 19 spends the first six verses telling us how all creation (what some would say is “natural order”) declares the glory of God and then verse seven tells us this:

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

I want to be that simple…

3. “Creation reveals a God who is personal. ~ God can be very hard to see in a world gone mad.” 

So, look away from the crazy and go to the mountains lest you be swept away. In Genesis 19  The angels were speaking to Lot  ~  When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be swept away (destroyed).”

He is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in a time of trouble. Psalms 46

He is our very personal help and strength. I might need strength in ministering to my parents, while a new mom might need help in ministering to her children. Or someone may need Him to take their hand and drag them out of the ‘city’ and tell them to run from the sin lest they be swept away. He is our very personal helper and walks every step with us.

4. “Creation reveals a God of the beginning and end. ~ Beginnings are only beginnings because they have endings”. Sandra Richter writes “Everything that lies in between Eden’s gate and the New Jerusalem, the bulk of our Bibles, is in essence a huge rescue plan. In Genesis 3 humanity was driven out of the garden. In Revelation 21-22 They are welcomed home.” 

We study Creation to know more about God and ultimately join with the rest of creation in worshiping our Creator.

The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Job 38:7

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

He gave us creation as a way to explain himself to us in terms we humans can understand. What does anything need to live, grow, and survive? Food, water, the sun, and shelter. He is the bread of life, living water, light of life, and a shelter in a time of storm. 

If you have enjoyed this, please feel free to share it and drop your email to me by clicking the “Follow” button in the bottom right-hand corner of this page. Tune in next week for part two of “Knowing God Through His Magnificent Creation.” 

The “four points” and some of the text is from Daniel Darling’s book. “The Characters of Creation.” I used his points and added my own thoughts and narratives and scripture to further explain and understand why we should study creation.

To read more from Daniel Darling click here on his name.

Splendor and Majesty

Hi Friends, I am sorry I have been absent the past couple of months. Sometimes life gets in the way of our well ordered plans. When that happens, it is always good to take a break and revel in God’s magnificent creation. To help you do that today, I have created a video using pictures from my phone, my kids and Amy Grant’s Psalm 104 . Enjoy the video and then read Psalm 104 with me. Take a deep breath and breathe in the goodness God’s creation and breathe out the Good News of His salvation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6nCDQ3UqXc&t=8s

Psalm 104 (NIV)

1 Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;
    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
    he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
    and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,
    flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;
    it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
    they went down into the valleys,
    to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
    never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
    and plants for people to cultivate—
    bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens human hearts,
    oil to make their faces shine,
    and bread that sustains their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
    the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,
    and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
    and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
    and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
    they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go out to their work,
    to their labor until evening.

24 How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
    and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.

How to be a Royal Heir; Part II

Royals Are Beautiful People. 

As a Child of God you are a royal heir. 

As I continued this lesson with my middle grade girls, they described princesses or royal people as beautiful people. 

This is one of my favorite verses about being beautiful: Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news… Isaiah 52:7 and Romans 10:15

Martin Luther King Jr. is credited with the quote “One day I hope my children can be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” However, a couple thousand years ago this very concept was recorded in scripture. “God looks not at the outer appearance, but at the heart” I Samuel 16:7

I Peter 3:4 tells us Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

A gentle quiet spirit does not mean you never speak your mind; it does not mean you will never get fired up. What a gentle quiet spirit is referring to is the attitude of your heart. 

We see many beauty products that display the word “pure.”  True beauty comes from a pure heart that seeks after God. I used to tell my children and my students to run every thought through the filter of God’s word to determine its purity. I would challenge you to do the same.

James 1:27 tells us that PURE and genuine religion in the sight of God is taking care orphans and widows and refusing to let the world corrupt you. 

OUR BEAUTY COMES FROM THE DEEP PLACE IN OUR HEARTS, MOVING US TO THE ACTS OF SERVICE AS A RESULT OF THE GIFTS HE HAS GIVEN US.

“Royalty wears only the finest clothes.” Said one of my students, with her head held high and with a mock snootiness in her voice. 

As a Child of the King, how do you dress?

Here is how scripture tells us we should dress:

Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires. Romans 13: 14

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3: 12-14

Let our uniform that identifies us as a Child of the King, as a Royal Heir, be one of compassion kindness, gentleness and patience. When you put on the overcoat, let it be one of love. 

Be identified, not by our fancy clothes, but by our outward actions of our inward spirit. I Timothy 2: 9-10

Oh, and don’t forget, as royal warriors, we always need to be dressed and  prepared for battle.  Ephesians 6:10-17 (NIV)

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 1

 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 

 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The idea of our beauty as a Royal Heir is not that we can’t wear pretty clothes or do our hair up nice, but that we should be identified by the posture of our hearts, by our actions that are spurred on by the gifts and faith we have been given through our salvation. 

My daughter-in-law is a personal stylist. She helps her clients dress appropriately for the job or role they have. She helps them get rid of the junk in their closets that may have worked for their “old self” but would be inappropriate for their “new self.” When they are done, they feel confident and equipped to face the day. 

To be a beautiful person, we have God’s Inspired Word as our personal stylist. He cares about how the flowers look and the bird that falls, so of course, He cares about us and every hair on our heads. He tells us to untangle ourselves from the old creatures that we were before salvation and to clothe our new selves with strength and dignity, with gentleness and kindness, to be prepared for battle and equipped with faith, and above all with a cloak of love.

I would challenge you, before you go out your front door today, make sure you are clothed appropriately to face the world. Check you “mirror” and look for the Imago Dei. I pray that when people see you, they will see Jesus shining through.

How to be a Royal Heir

I was teaching a lesson on being a child of the King to my 10–13-year-old girl’s Bible study. We discussed how a princess would think about themselves, dress, act etc. We had some interesting insights to say the least. Royalty acts snooty. They think they are better than everyone else. They always wear the nicest and most expensive clothes and expect everyone to wait on them. 

As children of THE King, how are WE supposed to think? How are we supposed to act? How do we dress?

A royal heir thinks he or she is better than everyone else and everyone should wait on them (or that is our perception anyway). But what does our Handbook for Living as a Royal Heir tell us?

Romans 12:3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

I grew up thinking this verse was only about humility and about how bad I was in and of myself. And while there is truth in that, that is only part of the exhortation. It goes on to tell us to think honestly and clear minded about the faith and gifts we have been given and how we use them. We should not pretend to better than anyone. Equally we should not act as if we are worthless.If I stayed held down by thinking I was no good, unworthy, or without value. I would be serving the Father of Lies, not the Father of LIGHT!

If I stayed held down by thinking I was no good, unworthy, or without value. I would be serving the Father of Lies, not the Father of LIGHT!

How and what I think of myself needs to be based on Truth. 

To know the TRUTH, I must spend time with Him (the Way the Truth and the Life), learning about Him, reading about Him, talking with Him, investing in a relationship with Him. The more I know HIM, my King, the more I will recognize the truth and my value in Him. 

Here is another truth about how we should think as a child of the King. 

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[;he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

The attitude of Christ is an example of being a leader through serving, sacrificing, and being obedient to our Father’s will.

Knowing the TRUTH helps us to know our value and will keep us from searching frantically for it in what the world has to offer us. 

Next week “Royal Heirs are Beautiful People”

I Am a Child of God Part III

I haven’t had a lot of time to dig deep into God’s Word or write the past couple of weeks. God had other work for me to do. The only way I am equipped to do this work is by having my fuel tank full at the beginning of the journey, so I only needed a daily “top off” to go the distance. Knowing God’s Word, regularly digging in deep, letting my roots go down to where they find the water is the only way to make it through the times of drought or storm. 

Knowing who I am in Christ, knowing where my strength comes from, feeling confident in the work He has called me to is a work of the Holy Spirit in my life. It is from believing what He says in His Word is true and faithful, resting in Him and taking time to be still. 

I encourage you to look up these verses for yourself and find confidence in who you are in Christ. The verse link will take you to biblegateway.com which has many resources for Bible study and growth. 

I am Buried with Christ & Dead to Sin

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Galatians 5:24

I am Alive with Christ

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. Colossians 2:12-13

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.Colossians 3:1-3

I am Known

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. Psalms 139

I am Renewed & Transformed

Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. Colossians 3:10

I am At Peace ~ Given Peace ~Called to Peace

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body, you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Colossians 3:15

I am Free

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

I am Made in God’s Image (Imago Dei)

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.Genesis 1:27

I am A Holy Temple & Built for God’s Dwelling

We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:21-22  

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

I am God’s Masterpiece

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalms 139:14

I am Salt and Light

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world— like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:13-14

I am  a Branch Of The True Vine

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. John 15

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart Romans me you can do nothing. John 15:5

I am Appointed to Bear Fruit

You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. John 15:16

I am Able to Approach God

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. Ephesians 3:12  

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16

 

At the end of this series, there will be a pdf available for you to download. You can stick it on your wall or mirror to daily be reminded of who you are in Christ. 

I hope this has been an encouragement to you. Please feel free to share. This is not my work, but God’s. I hope you have a beautiful day. See you here next week for some more refreshing Soul Water from the Rivers of Life

I am a Child of God Part II

I have been told the first words out of my mouth were, “I do it myself!” I wanted to tie my own shoes, brush my own hair, and get myself dressed without help. For a child, that is really not a bad trait. We want our children to be able to take care of their own needs and become independent. 

However, as life becomes more complex and decisions are more than what to wear or whether or not I will put matching socks on my feet, I have come to realize that I cannot, nor do I want to “do it all myself.”  

I am so grateful to have a Heavenly Father who rescues me from the messes that I make; who goes before me and prepares the way for me; who walks beside me, so I am never alone. I am so fortunate to have the One who can pick me up out of the mirey pit and set my feet on solid ground. And I am humbled that the Creator of the Universe cares enough about me to slow me down and tell me, “Not that way my daughter, here is the way, walk in it.” On my own, in my own power, I can really wander, but with Him at the helm of my ship, I will stay on course. 

In this ongoing series of ‘Who God Is’ and ‘Who We are Because of Who He is’, here are a few more reminders from God’s Word.

I am Rescued

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Colossians 1:13

I am Strengthened

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy Colossians 1:11  

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

I am Redeemed

For he has rescued us Romans the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.  Colossians 1:13-14

I am Forgiven

For he has rescued us Romans the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.  Colossians 1:13-14

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.  You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

I am Reconciled

…and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:20-22

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:18-19

I am Holy in His Sight

Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault Colossians 1:22

I am Without Blemish or Accusation

Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:22

I am Made Perfect in Christ

So, we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. Colossians 1:28

I am Encouraged

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. Colossians 2:2

I am United

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. Romans.6:5

I am Given Confidence

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. Colossians.2:2 

I am Rooted & Built Up in Christ

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

I am Overflowing with Joy and Thankfulness

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

At the end of this series, there will be a pdf of these verses available for you to download. You can stick it on your wall or mirror to daily be reminded of who you are in Christ. 

In the meantime, I would encourage you to click the link (which will take you to http://www.biblegateway.com) of any of the verses and study them more for yourself.

I hope this has been an encouragement to you. Please feel free to share. This is not my work, but God’s.I hope you have a beautiful day. See you here next week for some more refreshing Soul Water from the Rivers of Life

I am a Child of God

This morning, I woke up to a chorus of birds singing in my backyard. I was reminded how much God loves it when His creation worships Him. More than that, I thought of how much He cares for all those birds and how much more He cares for me. Because of His great love, I am chosen, redeemed, and set apart for His work.

I recently wrote a series on who God is. Last week I began a series on who we are because of Him. The next couple of weeks will be His words about who we are because of Him and in Him. At the end of this series, there will be a couple of downloadable PDFs that you can use for your own study or just good reminders of these truths.

I Am Chosen & Set Apart

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12  

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4

I Am Saved

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. Romans 10:10

I Am a Child of God

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26  

And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children   of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promises to Abraham belongs to you. Galatians 3:29

I am an Heir of the King

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father”   Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.Galatians 4:6-7

And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18

I Am Loved

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12 

Children of the King

In the past several entries, we studied who our King is. Now I want to discuss who we are because He is our King. 

A while ago, I was relating to a couple of friends that Father’s Day is kind of hard for me. You see, my parents are both God fearing Christians, and apparently many people assumed I had an ideal upbringing. I even had someone say to me, “but the Christian life is easy for you, you grew up in a wonderful Christian home.” 

My parents pointed me to the Lord from the time I was born, and I was in church every time the door was open. I had grandparents and great grandparents who also loved Jesus. However, in my youth, my father was plagued in ways, that I now know that were his human, imperfect and insecure ways of trying to prove his worth. I struggled with feeling like a disappointment and lived in fear of upsetting the precarious apple cart at any given moment. Wonderful and easy would not be the words I use to describe my youth. But the Lord used all of it to redeem and refine me.

So, my sweet friend asked me how I turned out so wonderful, her words not mine. I laughed at the overstatement and then took a deep breath and thought “How indeed?”  Having godly people in my life really helped; going to church was good, Christian education didn’t ruin me. 

But the truth of who I am, is this; when I was five years old, God became my daddy. He wrapped His gentle arms of protection around me and told me that I was special and loved. He guided me from the first moment I asked him to be my Abba. He spoke to me in a still small voice reminding me of who I am in Him.

His child 

His redeemed 

The one He died for

The one he strengthens

The one he feeds 

The one he wants to spend time with 

The one who he gives confidence to

The one he set aside for a purpose

His ROYAL heir.  

Later, I was lamenting about how I never felt like I could do enough to please my dad. If I got a B, why wasn’t it an A? If I tried out for a sports team, why wasn’t I good enough to make it? 

In that same breath, it hit me like a ton of bricks; I realized that all my life I had been seeking to please the wrong Daddy. There is only one I need to please, that is my Heavenly Father.  There is only one relationship that will satisfy that deep longing in my heart, the relationship with my Savior. 

If I really know my Abba Father, it becomes hard not to trust him with my deepest thoughts, desires, needs and emotions. The more I grow to know Him, the more confident I become in who I am. 

Like David said in Psalms 71:5 , You have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. 

And the author of Hebrews encourages us with this in Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

If God is not already your Father, I invite you to change this today. If you struggle to feel loved and accepted, know that you can go with confidence to the throne of grace where you will be loved and accepted unconditionally. 

A side note: My dad is 82 years old now and the Lord is using this time in his life to rebuild our relationship into a sweet friendship.

Over the next few weeks, we will explore who we are because we are children of the king. 

Oh, My Lord, You are so Kind.

The Apostle’s Sister Book Review

Angela Hunt is not only a master storyteller; she is a scholar. Her latest book in The Jerusalem Road series, The Apostle’s Sister, draws the reader into life in first century Tarsus and Jerusalem with vivid descriptions of sights, sounds, and fragrances to complete the story. The accurate use of the Hebrew language woven throughout the story immerses the reader more fully into the culture of the time and people.

The inspired Scripture gives us the perspective of the writers. It is complete and lacking nothing. Angela’s story helps the reader to understand potential perspectives of other participants in the stories contained within the Scripture. 

In this narrative, the Apostle Paul’s free-spirited sister, Aya grows up in the shadow of her brother who is a student of the Torah. We travel with her as she marries, leaves her home in Tarsus and the freedom to sing and teach others music, and moves to Jerusalem with her new husband, also a student of the Torah who has committed his life to the study. 

Through the eyes of Aya, we are given a front row seat to observe the goings on leading up to and surrounding Paul’s conversion and his impact on the known world. 

One of the most difficult aspects of writing historical fiction is studying and researching and understanding the history of the time and bringing it to life for the reader. Angela has not disappointed. Her work will teach and inspire you. It will give you a better understanding of the struggle of women, children, Jews, and believers in the first century. 

Jehovah Roi Who is God? Part V

Psalm 23 tells us that the Lord (Yahweh, Jehovah) is our shepherd, Jehovah Roi, and as our shepherd he leads us where we need to go, provides for us, feeds us in the presence of our enemies and protects us. 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Growing up, I always equated the “rod” with punishment or discipline. Just recently, I learned that the rod was a type of a club that the shepherd used to fight off wild animals and predators, not a tool of punishment. Not only does He guide us, feed us and give us rest, but he is a vigilant protector. We can take comfort in the security of our protection in Him and knowing that we will dwell with Him throughout eternity.

We have a good, good Father don’t we? Here are a few more descriptions of who He is to us.

Lamentations 3:24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” 

Psalm 18:2 Says He is my Rock and Redeemer, Psalm 61:2 Says when my heart is overwhelmed, please lead me to the ROCK that is higher than I.

Psalm 62:6 Says He is my Refuge

Psalm 71:3 He is my Fortress

Habakkuk 1:12, Exodus 3:15 He is Eternal

Romans 10:13 He is my Savior

Hebrews 13:8 He is the Same yesterday, today and forever.

John 14:6 I am the Way, The Truth, and the Life 

Isaiah 64:8 tells us that he is the potter, and we are the clay.

Psalm 68:5 He is a Father to the fatherless, defender of the widow.

Isaiah 54:5 Your Maker is your Husband, “The Lord God Almighty” is His name.

Who is He to you? 

Who is the God you need today? 

In times of uncertainty, (which we have certainly experienced in abundance these past two years) there is absolute certainty, when you call on God as Creator (Elohim), Provider (Jehovah Jireh), Healer (Jehovah Rophe), God of Peace (Jehovah Shalom), or our Shepherd (Jehovah Roi),  you will be heard. 

We have been taught to not trust strangers, but our God has offered us the privilege of knowing Him, our King and Creator of the universe, intimately and personally. We learn to trust Him when we grow in revelation, knowledge and understanding of His great name. We do this through studying scripture, listening to sound teaching, and praying. God invites us right where we are to know and trust Him and to become a Child of the King.

You may know the name Yahweh, I Am that I am, but can you call him ABBA Father (daddy)? If not, right now is the time.   

Will you be one who diligently seeks to know Him, know Him better? 

As it says in Colossians 3:10, Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator (Elohim) and become like Him. If you need to, seek someone out to pray with or just make your heart right with God right here and now, and feel free to tell us about it so we can rejoice with you. 

For further study:

Becoming a Woman Who Knows God by Name by Jan Harrison 

Spoken For by Robin Jones Gunn and Alyssa Joy Bethke 

Victim of Grace by Robin Jones Gunn 

The Divine Romance by Gene Edwards 

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver 

Worshipping God by RT Kendall 

The Books of Psalms and Isaiah  

Resources: 

Bible Gateway at www.biblegateway.com – Various versions of the Bible – check out the “Names of God” Bible, the NLT and others. This is a great study resource. 

Bible Hub at www.biblehub.com

Have a very blessed day. I hope to see you back here next week.

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