Tag: Children

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Secure In Christ

It’s the Right Thing

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based on the LGG Study, Secure in Christ/w6d1

Read: Ephesians 6:1-4; SOAP: verse 1

Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 2 “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: 3 If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

Ephesians 6:1-4 NLT or KJV

Today, Paul zeros in on the parent/child relationships. As parents or grandparents, we are to instruct and encourage our children to obey. We are also to lead by example in our relationship with God – and others, in our actions, reactions, and speech. After all, the Scriptures teach us that obedience is the evidence of a loving relationship. I don’t know about you, but when I became a parent, it was an eye-opener to my relationship with God, or perhaps my lack thereof. It was a huge revelation to me that my Christianity wasn’t meant to be just about a religion, it was intended to be about a relationship established by faith an love with God the Father, Son, and Spirit. This was such a timely gift/revelation from God, as it enhanced all the lessons that come with learning to be a parent. From peace and patience to training and loving and giving of oneself, my parenting and relationships with my children were made sweeter because I was walking and growing in a loving relationship with the Triune God.

 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”

John 14:15

Paul makes it clear to his readers that our relationships are fundamentally important, not only in our growth and oneness with God and others, but also in our call to be lights in this dark world. How we live as children of God, whether in the church body, in our marriages, or as children with our parents and/or parents with our children, how believers live and love matters. Why? Because how we live with others is to be a reflection of Jesus in us and us in Him (John 13:34).

We are to live and love in all situations and relationships like Jesus. Loving God with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength and loving others as ourselves are the two greatest commandments (Mark 12:29-31). There is no good excuse for anything less. Actually, anything less is a reflection of not loving God (1 John 4:7-21).

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living In Community, Not Made to Be Alone, Quiet Time

Standing on the Promises

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 41:1-20; SOAP / Isaiah 41:13

As believers we are God’s children, this means we can rest in these words that He spoke to Israel through Moses. Read and re-read verses 10 and 13. I memorized verse 10 years ago and I cannot tell you the number of times I have lay awake at night or walked through a storm of life claiming this verse – praying it – thanking Him for it – writing it … and finding it to put my mind and heart at rest. It is the essence of standing on God’s promises.

As you see noted in the above SOAP, living in community with God has great benefits – namely hope, joy, and strength- and to reiterate yesterday’s focus the assurance of His promises – ones like He will never abandon us, or fail us … and He will help us, and when we are in danger or afraid – He will hold our hand like a father and hold us up with His victorious right hand – and we will know with certainty the truth of the observations you see below – we have nothing to fear when we live in community with our God – because He is with us, He takes hold of our right hand, He speaks ‘peace’ to us, and He reminds us He is helping us. This is a true picture of a stronghold – this is our GOD!

For years I would get caught up in the fearful circumstances of life and fixate on the fear rather than God – It was this verse and the promise it proclaims – that taught me and helped me to remember it every time fear encroached. When we make it a habit to remember the things God has promised or the things He has done we will be strengthened in our Spirit, we will sense His victorious right hand holding us up and helping us. We will begin to trust Him as our Protector and stand on/rest in His promises.

Prayer: Response to God’s Word –

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, LGG Study, Quiet Time, The Importance of Prayer, The Importance of Prayer

Love With Your Whole Being

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Today’s Reading: Matthew 22:34-38; 2 Peter 3:18

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question Jesus again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:34-38

When asked what the most important commandment is, Jesus answered with the Word of God. – He pointed those trying to trick Him and all who were listening to God and what they would recognize as coming from God through Moses.

““Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, … Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
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Deuteronomy‬ ‭6:4-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The same words God gave Moses to teach the people of Israel, Christ now gives to the people as the first and greatest commandment. Both the father and the son called the people, and by extension- all those who would believe in Christ, to remember that the LORD was their God and that they were to love Him with everything they had – heart, soul, mind, and strength – their whole being.

We could stop there and let that be the devotion, for we can never be reminded enough of this first and greatest commandment. However, as I read the title again in the devotional journal of our study I was left wondering why on earth they had titled it, “Praying for Your Children and the Next Generation.” So, now I’m staring at my SOAPed up passage, the highlighted words and the notes in the margin and I’m not seeing anything to do with prayer or the next generation – BUT – what I do see is the passage I jotted down from Deuteronomy and I went back to it and there, in the context of that passage, was the answer.

“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, 2 and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. 3 Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Clearly these commandments, that were eventually summed up into the one that Christ gave to the Pharisees, were meant not just for each of us individually but for us and our children, and their children, and all the generations to follow. So important were the words God had given to Moses that they were meant to be passed on to their children, written on their door posts, and spoken of day and night, at home or on the road. Surely if they are that important they are meant to be a consideration of our prayers … prayers that we would love the Lord our God with all of our being, prayers that we would be faithful to teach our children and grandchildren about the commandments and how Christ summed them up, and prayers that our children and all the generations to follow would know and love the LORD our God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Lest you find yourself even for a moment wondering how it could be that important – consider this reminder – only a few generations after Moses the people of Israel no longer acknowledge God as the LORD nor did they know the wonders He had done for them.

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. 11 The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight and served the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the LORD. 13 They abandoned the LORD to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.

Judges 2:10
Prayer: Response to God’s Word

Father, this world we live in looks and sounds much like the description found in Judges chapter 2. In our country and around the world we see and hear people who have grown up not knowing You. They do not acknowledge You as Lord or remember the great things that you have done. They do evil in Your sight. Many who have grown up in the church have abandoned You and have gone after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. Change their hearts oh God, let them know You and Your love and may they be moved to love You with all of their being. Call Your people to live out Your command through Moses – to love You with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Help us to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to this command that Jesus summed up as the greatest of them all. Keep us faithful to repeat them again and again to our children, to talk about them when we are at home and when we are on the road, when we are going to bed and when we are getting up. May they not just be written and kept in places where we can see them but may they be written and hidden in our hearts as a light to guide our feet and as a lamp for our paths.   

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Quiet Time, She, Volume 2, The Importance of Prayer

Hannah’s Story

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God Remembers

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 1:1-20;

10 She was very upset as she prayed to the LORD, and she was weeping uncontrollably. 19 They got up early the next morning. Then they worshiped the Lord and returned to their home at Ramathaim. Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord called her to mind. 20 Then Hannah became pregnant.

1 Samuel 1:19-20

This is one of my most beloved passages of Scripture. Both because of how God’s power and tender-love are displayed; but also because of the way He used it to give me hope in my own days of infertility.

Hannah’s story, found in 1 Samuel chapters 1 and 2, is best read in full, for the truest beauty can only be seen when you know it is about more than Hannah wanting a child. It’s about relationships, it’s about God’s power withheld and poured out. We see the unkindness and even hatefulness of others, and we witness the deep love and encouragement of a husband. It’s about the faithful act of worship, the emotions, prayers, faith, and hope of one whose heart is poured out before God; it’s about the watchful eyes and encouragement of a priest, the power of prayer, the timing of God, and the waiting – while still pressing on in life; and it’s about God remembering the words of His daughter and pouring out His blessing on her, and likewise, it’s about a daughter remembering and responding with a grateful heart and faithful obedience. It’s about then, and it’s about now – for ultimately, it is about us remembering and knowing, as Hannah did, just who our God is and what He can do when we humble ourselves before Him in faith – believing He is able.

Hannah was Elkanah’s wife. She was one of two wives. Scripture says that the first was Hannah and the second was Peninnah. Elkanah cared for Peninnah and their children, but Scripture makes it clear that he took special care of Hannah and loved her, even though the Lord had not enabled her to have children. Peninnah, however, did not treat Hannah with the same kindness as Elkanah. Instead, we are told that she was her rival, “an adversary who provoked her to the point of exasperation, just to irritate her, since the lORD had not enabled her to have children. This is how it would go year after year. As often as she went up to the LORD’S house, Peninnah would offend her in that way.

Some things we can learn

“As for Hannah, she was very distressed. She prayed to the Lord and was, in fact, weeping. She made a vow saying, “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you would truly look on the suffering of your servant, and would keep me in mind and not neglect your servant, and give your servant a male child, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” 1 Samuel 1:10-11

When Hannah made her vow to God, she did so with great respect and purpose. She did so in faith and reciprocated with commitment. Listen as she prays specifically, boldly, and with the commitment of a child she had not yet received. Look back to the earlier portion of the story where we read that she prayed often, and watch as she responds to the priest, humble but unashamed, and how she does not seek to hide her anguish from God. Do not miss how prayer and Eli’s encouragement brought about a visible and inward change.

Eli replied, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request that you have asked of him.” She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. Her face no longer looked sad. 19 They got up early the next morning. Then they worshiped the Lord and returned to their home at Ramathaim. Elkanah was intimate with his wife, Hannah, and the Lord called her to mind. 20 Then Hannah became pregnant…1 Samuel 1:17-20

It is important to see how Hannah went on with life, and when God sent the child she had asked Him for, she was neither forgetful nor oblivious, nor so caught up in life that she could not respond accordingly concerning the vow she had made to the Lord.

Scripture says that “When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and a basket of flour and some wine. 25 After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. 26 “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. 27 I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. 28 Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there.

The Rest of the Story

If you continue reading through the book of Samuel, you will see that Hannah’s story doesn’t end with her leaving Samuel, her only child, at the Temple. As we read in the next chapter of 1 Samuel (chapter two),

“… But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest. 19 Each year, his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. 20 Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.”

1 Samuel 2:18-21

We can only imagine how difficult it must have been for Hannah to keep her commitment to leave this child she had longed for and prayed for behind, in the House of the Lord. Yet Scripture says that is exactly what she did, and in all of it, she was blessed by the Lord with other children to take the place of the one she had given to the Lord, just as Eli had prayed. She gave birth to two more sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, “the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:21), and He would go on to become the spiritual leader of Israel. As the prophet and judge of the nation, Samuel would anoint the nation’s first two kings, Saul and David. (emphasis adapted from gotquestions.org)

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, LGG Study
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Leah: Praise the LORD

Day 2, from week 5 of Beautifully Surrendered, A Love God Greatly

Today’s Reading: Genesis 29:31-35, 30:9-21; SOAP Genesis 29:35

Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I will praise the Lord!” And then she stopped having children.

Genesis 29:35
Observations:
This Time

Leah had already been blessed with three other sons and with the first two births she acknowledged they were from the Lord. With the first two and the third she also made mention of the situation with her husband, how she was unloved and hoping that because of the children he would love her more. However, with the birth of the fourth son, her words were different, “This time I will praise the LORD!”, perhaps indicating a different attitude – as though not so woe is me. Whatever the difference meant, the noted praise was more intentional and direct.

Worth Noting

It is worth nothing that this fourth son, Judah, is the one God names as the tribe from which His own Son, The Lion of Judah, will come. 

The Lion of the tribe of Judah is a symbol found in Genesis and Revelation. In Genesis, Jacob blesses his son Judah, referring to him and his future tribe as a lion’s cub and a lion (Genesis 49:9). In Revelation, this symbol is seen again when the Lion of the tribe of Judah is declared to have triumphed and is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals (Revelation 5:5). Jesus is the One who is worthy to open the scroll (see John 5:22). Therefore, Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. https://www.gotquestions.org/lion-tribe-Judah.html
How Then Should We Live?

We should be quick to acknowledge God’s work in our lives – or even in the lives of others. Direct and intentional praise brings glory to God – which is something we should strive for. After all, we were created to for His glory.

Bring all who claim me as their God,
    for I have made them for my glory.
    It was I who created them.’”

Isaiah 43:7
One Other Note

I feel I would be remiss if I failed to mention this one other observation that I believe is a point worth imitating. Leah commemorated all of the births as blessings of God by naming them with names that would remind her what God had done. I can’t help but think this is something to consider, not necessarily in the naming of our children but capturing the gifts in a journal, or with a photograph, or a conversation … the special ways God reveals Himself to you throughout your life. The Israelites used stones on a variety of occasions as memorial markers, such as in Genesis 28:1-22 and Joshua 4, Leah used names, what can you use?

Prayer Response:

Father, we are quick to say, “God did this”, but let us never fail to be intentional to genuinely praise You! Let us find ways to remember what You have done, so that they remain testaments of Your goodness and Your faithfulness – that we may never cease to praise You. May our praises bring You the glory and pleasure You are due! – Amen!

Your Turn:

What’s your take away from Leah’s story?

Reflection Questions:

In the midst of feeling unloved by her husband, we see Leah praising God for blessing her with her children.

  • What does this story teach us about Leah and her relationship with God?
Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

In Jesus I Am … A Conqueror

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Week 4, Day 5
READ AND SOAP: 1 JOHN 4:4

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

1 John 4:4 NLT

Reflection Questions:

  • How are you empowered to fight against the enemy’s schemes every day?
  • How can you overcome the enemy through the power of Christ?

Through our time together in this study on identity, we have learned that who we are is not about anything we have done, but who God is and what He has done for us.

Today’s full devotional LGG can be found here

Visit https://lovegodgreatly.com/lgg-blog/ for today’s blog.

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 1, Friday Children of the Living God

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READ: HOSEA 1:8-2:1; EZEKIEL 37:20-28; SOAP: HOSEA 1:10

Hosea 1:8-2:1

After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. 9 And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.

10“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ 11 Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel—when God will again plant his people in his land.

2“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’

New Living Translation

God is not like us. When He makes a promise, we can be sure He will keep it until it is fulfilled. – 

To find out how – Read Today’s LGG devotional

Reflection Question: What promises does God make at the end of Hosea 1? What do these promises tell us about the heart of God?

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Bridge to Everlasting Covenant Week 2, Tuesday

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Question of the Day: According to verse 4, why was Christ born of a woman, born under the law?

Today’s Scripture: Galatians 4:4-7 (S.O.A.P. Galatians 4:4-5)

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children.[a]6 And because we[b] are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”[c]7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.[d] And since you are His child, God has made you His heir.