Preachers At Home: December 2008

Friday, December 26, 2008

Are Your Children Praising God?

Have you ever thought of the scripture, "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments." ?

I remember a time in my early years of being saved how I very earnestly wanted my little ones to love the Lord. I wanted them to know Him and serve Him. After reading the scripture just quoted, I set the kitchen timer for one hour and told them we are going to stop everything we are doing and praise the Lord every time the timer went off. We went on our knees and praised God for a few minutes every hour when we heard the timer, it only lasted part of one day but it was great fun for us!

I learned soon after that to praise Him through out all the day, no timer needed.

Oh there are so may ways to praise the Lord! We can praise Him with thanks for everything around us, what He has provided and the miracles He keeps bringing into our lives!

We can take a walk with our children in the winter and point out how the snow and the ice crystals bring glory to God and praise Him. Or how the flowers in the Summer glorify Him! How the sky and clouds speak of Him. . . it's endless, the ways we can point our dear ones to Jesus our Lord!

Do your children praise God continually? Do you?

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:

Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Praise and thanks to God is what He has instructed us to do! Always!

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Let us set the example before our children to see, so that they might understand better and learn to do well!
Praise our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ always! Praise is good let us praise God even when things are hard or bad things happen! This is a sacrifice of praise.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Are Your Children At Rest?

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
world.
(Hebrews 4:1-3)

Are your children at rest and peace?
Are you?

We as Christain mothers want to think we are raising our children godly. The truth is that we often don't know what godly looks like! How does godly act and talk and think?

Shall we seek our wonderful God, our Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to reveal to us what godly really means? Have you any thoughts about this?

If we are raising our children in a godly way then there is rest for them in the home.

.............................................................................................................

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
(Hebrews 4:9-10)

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
(Hebrews 5:9)

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
(Hebrews 7:25)

Who is the author of eternal life? Who is able to save to the uttermost?
How do you enter into that rest that God is speaking of here in Hebrews?

The answer is through Jesus Christ the Lord! He is God and the only way of salvation!
If you want to understand more about who Jesus is go to these links:
(you'll need to copy and paste.)

http://crossroad.to/HisWord/verses/topics/gospel.htm

http://crossroad.to/HisWord/notes/gospel-stamps.htm

http://crossroad.to/HisWord/verses/topics/cross.htm

Monday, December 22, 2008

Are Your Children Sober Minded?

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and on your gates.

(Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

Are your children sober minded? Are you?
Do your children fear God? Do you? What does God say about fearing Him?

He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.
(Psalms 115:13)

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.
(Proverbs 8:13)

And fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
(Matthew 10:28)

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
(2 Corinthians 7:1)

Let us therefore fear, lest, although a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
(Hebrews 4:1)

These are a very few verses. . . can you find more? Do so! and think about them. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Let us examine our own souls and see what is the depth of our love for God?
Did you know that fear of God is a treasure?

And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
(Isaiah 33:6)

Jesus Christ our Lord is our only hope and salvation, let us pour our soul unto Him and seek His face. Examine your heart and see if you are in the faith. . . then you can teach your dear children to be godly by the power of God through His Holy Spirit.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Welcome!

Greetings to you!

It seemed like a good idea to create a blog for the purpose of sharing the wonderful things God has been teaching us here at home.
We have learned; patience and contentment, joy in our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sober minded, to let God by His Spirit pour forth His fruit out of our lives, to rejoice in adversity, to proclaim the gospel of our Saviour to our family and all those around us!

Oh so much more!
This blog is for the glory of God and to proclaim His goodness and mercy!

"Not By Might, Nor By Power, But By MY SPIRIT, Says The LORD"

"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."Zechariah 4:6
I am forever grateful to our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ for the truth of this Scripture and His love. For it was He that saved me nineteen years ago, in 1990, on my way to teach Sunday School at a Baptist Church in Illinois.

In the year, 1970, I had made a commitment to God and asked Him to save me. I told Him I was sorry for my sins and wanted Jesus to come into my heart, and I would live for Him,"from now on." I was determined to endure anything for God, even if it meant suffering. Due to certain circumstances, I did suffer because of this decision, and I was very sure that God was pleased with me. My husband was not a saved man and had no interest in religious things. I tried to submit myself to Him in obedience to God but I was trying this in my own strength. Alone in my desire to raise my children for God, I tried, with reading the Bible from time to time, taking them to church and praying with them at night before going to bed. I taught them some Christian songs and scripture memory and was sure God would bring them through because of my efforts, which made me feel very proud. In my mind, I was suffering as a Christian, and enduring for God, I was sacrificing. I had such a good feeling inside about myself, I thought the feeling was the Holy Spirit, but now I know it was just pride. At Church I was someone else than I was at home, I was a hypocrite and didn't know it. However, my children could see right through me.

As time went on I knew that something was wrong. . . things weren't going the way I thought they should go. . . Wasn't I "Living for God?" I was miserable and wondered where was that joy and peace and love I was suppose to have as a Christian? I remember thinking about Jesus and the cross and wondered, what does it really mean, "Jesus died for my sin"?
Even though I had prayed a prayer for salvation, and was sorry for my sins, I was not saved. I was still under the wrath of God because I did not truly believe in my heart nor did I have His Spirit dwelling in me. My outward life reflected good works, sacrifice, spiritual talk and song, but inwardly I was dark and sinful, though at the time I would not have admitted it even to myself.

My oldest children became very worldly minded. I became very confused and though I didn't know it, was worldly minded as well. We went through some very stormy and troublesome times which left us wounded and groping as a family. Without going into detail, the marriage of 18 years, ended in a horrible divorce. Broken hearts and complete despair was the result of sin that I and their father was guilty of.

I blamed God. My heart was broken, I thought it was not right that I had, "suffered so much for God" and my marriage should end that way. But someone encouraged me to love God just because He is God, and trust Him even when things go wrong. Because of my pride and desire to please God, I continued to live religiously, and would not face my own sinfulness.

Which brings this back to the day I was driving to Church. I knew scripture verses and I was thinking about Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." I asked myself,"What does that really mean, "laid on Him the iniquity of us all?" When suddenly I understood, a light had been turned on in my understanding and in my heart! ! ! At that moment I knew the reality of what Jesus Christ had done on the cross for me! All my sin was laid on Jesus at the cross, He became sin for me. I deserve hell because of my sin, I deserve the wrath of God and punishment in eternal fire and darkness and suffering. But Jesus took it all for me on the cross, He died and rose again the third day! At that moment I saw myself for what I was, a miserable sinner, deserving of hell fire. Yet I saw what Jesus Christ had done for me, and I believed! Oh I cried at this and thanked Him for what He had done on the cross, and repented of my sin. He saved me at that moment and He came into my life, His Spirit came in my soul to dwell, I was truly born again!

After this, life changed drastically for me. I was new, not the old me.. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". 2 Corinthians 5:17.
I began to hunger for and understand the Bible and had a desire to give the gospel to others. I had for too long taken for granted what Jesus has done on the cross and it grieved me sore.

"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
Romans 5:8

Praise God! As time went on God began to reveal to me the grave faults I had and the wrong things I had done with my older children. Because I remarried and realized the wrongness of divorce and remarriage, I repented of that sin and I know the Lord Jesus has forgiven me. He has renewed my life in Him. (I do not seek to be loosed from my husband,
1 Corinthians 7:27 ) but desire to be the best wife I can be as his help-mate.

Now after 23 years of marriage to my dear Mick, and 5 children grown, I can see the hand of God in their lives. His mercy has been great toward them. They are an amazing blessing to Mick and I as we enter into our older years.

I grieved deeply that I had not been saved when my older children were being raised, but God very tenderly showed me... "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." Jeremiah 18:6.
God helped me to understand that we are His vessels to be shaped and molded the way He wants. He uses our past, present and future experiences as a molding tool to make us according to His design and for His glory. Life is not about us, but about Jesus Christ the Lord and for His glory. All my children are very precious to me. I pray and seek God to continue to mold them and shape them for Himself to His glory.

Nothing is too hard for our God. My daily prayer is that all my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and on, (if Jesus should tarry)...will know, love and serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and for a godly seed to continue for many generations to come.

You see by this testimony that I did nothing to save myself. No one can save themselves from the wrath of God. It is only Jesus Christ the Lord that can save us from His wrath. His wrath is fierce against us because of our sin and the spirit of Cane in Genesis 4:3. Cain brought the fruit of the ground as an offering to God. Able brought a lamb as God required. Cain offered a sacrifice to God in his own way, (I did the same thing before God saved me.)
What about you?
Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God.

Please Pray For Ellen, A godly Wife and Mother of Seven.

Our family has been acquainted with Ellen and Greg and their children for over 3 years now. Ellen has been battling with her health for many long years. They recently discovered a mass the size of a watermelon that is threatening her life and needs surgery.
It is clear now that her health problems were related to the mass growing for these many years. Throughout the years they had been to many doctors and specialists who never discovered the source of her health struggles.
Ellen is a prayer warrior, loves her Savior Jesus Christ, and has been submitting to Him and surrendered her will to His even in the hardest times of her life. Even with the difficult pain mounting, the weakness and inability to do the things she has longed to do as a Wife and Mother she submits to God and says, "Thy will be done."
Greg and Ellen's beautiful children bear testimony to the faithful prayers of praying parents surrendered to God in impossible situations and circumstances, (but with God all things are possible. ) Their children love the Lord Jesus.
Their eldest daughter in her 20's is a beacon of strength in her Lord Jesus as she submits to her parents and is content to serve them in any way she can. The other 3 daughters under her, all close in age, are also obedient and submit to serve their parents. The three youngest are following the examples of these 4 sweet sisters and it is like music to see them earnestly, quickly, respectfully serve their family.
They are a precious jewel of a family what a blessing to know them!
Please pray for Ellen and Greg and their beautiful children as they face this difficult road.
Here is a web site which will keep everyone up-dated as to what is happening to Ellen and Greg and family as surgery is scheduled for Monday, July 25th.
Thank you for prayer!

Good news! Ellen's surgery went well. Check out their web-blog to learn of her progress! Praise God!

http://bowtheknee.blogspot.com/

Preachers At Home

Free Scripture Down Loads. I have started learning and enjoy these Scripture Songs