Letters to My Children: Treasure God’s Word

Letters to My Children: Treasure God’s Word

Carolyn

My children are growing up quickly. There aren’t many more days for me to try to instill in them key truths that could shape their lives. I thought I’d begin a series of posts that point them to different things I want them to know, things that matter.

Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119:11)

Dear children,

Treasure God’s Word. Psalm 119 details in its 176 verses the many reasons why this is of such value. This is God’s Word to us, Him speaking. The God who created us, made us, loves us, knows us, died to redeem us—He has given us this personal Word.

It is different from anything else you will ever read. This is because it is “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). These are His words to us. We dare not ignore this Word because it brings life and truth and direction.

Let’s let the Word itself speak for us as to what it brings: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). Just one verse before (2 Tim. 3:15), we see that from childhood, Timothy has “known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.”

This Word brings wisdom, salvation, faith, training, teaching, correction, reproof, things that make us complete and adequate, equipping us for every good work. It will guard us from sin and help keep our way pure (Psalm 119:9, 11). That’s just to name a very few things!

What else does this? If you have any doubt, test it. Read it every day. Pray. Ask God by His Spirit to speak to you. Record what it tells you, things you see about God and yourself. Act on what it teaches you. Let it be the lamp unto your feet and the light to your path (Psalm 119:105). Nothing and no one else can deliver on these promises given to us in God’s Word, so take Him at his Word and treasure it.

There’s much more I could say, but go to the Word and let the Word tell you. Start in Psalm 119.

Then, from another angle, treasure this Word, your Bible, your physical, actual Bible. Read it, note in it, wear it out from use. Do you know how many people in the world do not have a Bible written in their own language or available to them, who do not have the freedom to own one and read one, who may not have the money to purchase one, who would be persecuted if they had one? We have multiple copies in various translations and versions all over our house. We are given free ones regularly. With so much access and abundance, it’s easy to take it for granted, underestimate its value, or set it aside. Treasure it because it is a treasure! Be thankful!

I was given my first study Bible when I went to college at our state’s big university. I took that Bible to church, but also took it in my backpack to every Campus Crusade or RUF meeting, to every Bible study, to sorority meetings when I was chaplain, to every place where God’s Word would be discussed or read. I wrote in it. I underlined. I wore it out. I still have it today. Though at some point I got a new study Bible and started all over again, I can pick up that first study Bible and see and feel and remember and taste all that God was doing in my life during those years. And it’s something I can share with you.

Take your Bible with you where you go. Display its worth to yourself and to others. Value it and treasure it. Read it, study it, and let God through His Word mold and make you into the man or woman of God He desires you to be. You won’t regret it! Give it time. Be persistent. Keep seeking God. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him in faith (Hebrews 11:6).

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Merry Christmas 2015!

Merry Christmas 2015!

Carolyn

It’s 9:00 a.m. Christmas morning. My kids are still sleeping. I guess that’s how it is with high schoolers. What has your Christmas season been like this year?

As usual, mine has been a bit hectic. I tend to have to take things one day at a time to get through each day and whatever is planned. Christmas is a busy season at church where I work; it’s a busy season at home when the kids get to exams and Christmas break; it’s a busy season as my husband finishes teaching and his semester. I again forego getting out family Christmas cards this year and race around shopping in the last week or two. And somehow it all comes together.

Yesterday, as I did some last minute shopping, this song came on the radio:

That’s what I felt: “I need a silent night, a holy night.” Time to be still and ponder.

We ended Christmas Eve at our church’s annual candlelight service. It’s a beautiful service that closed with all of us holding our lit candles and singing the traditional Christmas carol “Silent Night, Holy Night,” further reminder of the silence my heart has needed to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

And what is that?

I love Chris Tomlin’s new Christmas song, “He Shall Reign Forevermore.” The first thing I loved about the song was hearing the echo of the words from the poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rosetti. That was a poem my children learned in school when they were young, and I learned along with them. But I was struck by these words in this new song: “This baby born to sacrifice, Christ the Messiah.”

Christ was born to die. That would be part of His mission, doing the will of His Father. He, who would come and live a perfect life, would die. He would be our atoning sacrifice, paying the price for our sins. Christ, our Creator God (Genesis 1-2), the Word made flesh (John 1), became our perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10). Why was that necessary?

Sin separates and divides. It’s been the ongoing reality of life for all humans since the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve first sinned (Genesis 3). We are all now separated from God by our sin (Romans 3:23), with no way to have access to God again of our own ability. And we are due the just consequences of that sin – death and separation (Romans 6:23a).

But Christ restores and redeems. This was accomplished through his life, death, and resurrection. He was willing to do this (to be born to die – and not just any death, but a brutal one reserved for the worst of criminals) (Philippians 2:8) to restore our relationship with God (Colossians 1:19-22), to give us eternal life (John 3:16), to give us hope (1 Peter 1:3). This is great, great love (John 15:13, 1 John 3:16).

What is our response? If Christ has accomplished this great work on our behalf, I guess the question is what is our response to that?

Faith. Simple faith, childlike trust, in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved (Romans 10:9-10).

I think back to Rosetti’s poem:

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would do my part.
Yet what can I give him? Give him my heart.

We can respond with faith in Jesus, giving him our hearts. If you have not done that, what is stopping you? Ask in faith that God would help you and reveal Himself to you. Sometimes it’s that first step of faith that begins to open the door to much more truth, and step by step, He will lead us to Himself. I pray that for each one of us today and in the coming new year.

The Path of Life

The Path of Life

Carolyn

Our family had a fun weekend picnicking and hiking at a state park with some of the college students where my husband teaches. We also went to an apple orchard and ended the day with a chili dinner, homemade apple pies, and pumpkin carving. It was a beautiful fall day. 
path

We hiked through canyons on paths with precipitous drops where one wrong step could send you over the cliff and to a certain death! When my son stepped off the path to look down, I urged him to come back quickly — one slip and he would be over the edge. And the edge wasn’t like a roll down a hill, but a drop into a deep canyon. Only at one small portion did they even have a fence – most places were not guarded in any way. It reminded me of driving over a mountain pass where one wrong turn of the car’s steering wheel could take you over the edge of the mountain!

rock2
overlook into the canyon

As we walked (and I prayed for safety!), I couldn’t help but think of verses like Jude 24-25:

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time now and forever. Amen.

Psalm 16:11:

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 17:5:

My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled.

I thought about the path of life and how it is that we should walk. This was a picture to me of our lives. We need to stay on the path, following the Lord and His ways, to be secure. Going off the path and our own way leads to danger and could lead to death. But it’s exciting sometimes, it seems, to see what’s over there off the path, but it may just be a pit of destruction.

I also thought about those that we see walking off the path. Are we telling them to come back to safety? Or just hoping for the best for them? Their very lives could be at stake. If we have the words of life and know the path which leads to blessing and joy and salvation, should we not be sharing it with others who have not yet found it or don’t yet believe it.

Praise You, Lord, that you make known to us the path of life, that in your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. May we follow your path and ways, seeking you, and discover the many blessings and inestimable joy that awaits those who put their trust in you.

Radical Prayer by Manny Mill

Radical Prayer by Manny Mill

Carolyn

If you are part of a family, you know that there can be times that are hard! It can be for a variety of different reasons – perhaps someone is in a bad mood or doesn’t want to listen to good advice. Perhaps someone feels unfairly treated or is being selfish. No need to even provide many examples because you can likely identify.

My family had one such Thursday in July. I can’t even remember now how things unraveled, but at day’s end, there was much discouragement.

As I went walking the next morning, wanting to pray about it, I grabbed some memory verse cards I’d made earlier in the year, but had not since reviewed. I came across an entry from April, and it said,

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling” (Psalm 46:1-3).

This sounded very familiar to me! I remembered a text message I had received from Manny Mill the day before, seemingly out of the blue as I had not heard from him in months. I wondered if this was the psalm he had referenced in his text. I got home from walking and picked up my phone to see.

Yes, Manny’s text that Thursday morning had said he was radically praying for my family and had prepared his ministry message for that night with me in mind, that it was on Psalm 46, and that Barb (his wife) would be singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

Well, it was that very night that our family had this discouraging time. And after my walk the next day and reading Psalm 46 in my memory verses, I was reminded of Manny’s text that told me he was praying radically for my family before this had even happened.

God in His kindness was reassuring me through this. “Therefore we will not fear.” And when we next went to church as a family, the hymn that was sung that Sunday morning was “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

Manny Mill is a commissioned evangelist from our church. I have the blessing of working in the church and getting to know amazing people like Manny and Barbara whose lives are authentic and demonstrate that the relationship they have with God directs everything they do. They truly walk with God and live out what they believe.

Manny recently brought me a copy of his new book Radical Prayer. I read it in a matter of days, anxious to learn from this prayer warrior what I have seen lived out in his life.

What do you believe about prayer? 

In 2010, Manny’s wife Barbara was in an automobile accident. This event caused him to ask, “How can I treat God like a paramedic, calling out to Him only when there’s an emergency?” God used this as the impetus to begin to transform Manny’s prayer life.

Through the years I’ve read various things on prayer, and this is one of my favorites. Perhaps it’s because I know Manny and see this lived out in his life, but it definitely challenged me in new ways.

I loved being reminded that prayer is about God’s glory before it’s about my needs, and how he developed praying for the hallowing of God’s name. He encouraged radical prayer and radical love and gave practical examples of what this looks like. There were points in the book where he just says to set the book down, take a radical timeout, open the Bible and pray. I found those to be powerful moments.

As I read Manny’s book, I loved seeing all God has done in his life to reveal Himself to Manny so that Manny can now reveal Him to others and make Him known. And I wonder, how can I do the same?

Whatever it is you think about prayer, this book will encourage you to know more and to pray persistently, radically, and in biblical ways. The 10 chapters would make a great 10-day devotional or be useful in a small group discussion over 10 weeks.

Note: All proceeds from the book will be donated to Koinonia House National Ministries. Their annual banquet is coming up October 29 at 6:00 p.m. in Lombard, IL. If you live in the Chicagoland area and are interested, click here for more information or to register.

Books on My Shelf

Books on My Shelf

Carolyn

From time to time, I like to capture the books I’m reading and enjoying.

mosesWe are studying the Book of Exodus this year in Women’s Bible Study at church. The last time I studied Exodus was on my own in early 2006, and at that time, I loved reading F.B. Meyer’s Devotional Commentary on Exodus. This time, I’m reading F.B. Meyer’s The Life of Moses. It is excellent! It is enriching the study so much. F.B. Meyer is a gifted writer. He offers thoughts I would never think of, and I feel as though I’m transported back to that time as I think about Moses and what his life was like. This is a great accompaniment to a study of Exodus, or even by itself. I highly recommend it.

manny I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer the last several weeks, as seen in my last couple of posts, so this book came at a good time. Previously I’ve found classic books on prayer so helpful, such as Andrew Murray’s With Christ in the School of Prayer. I love this book, though, because it’s a present day book by someone whose life models the truths he shares and presents. I know Manny Mill is “the real deal,” and I learned a lot as I read through this book, truths that I am trying to put into practice.

self forgetfulness

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Tim Keller is a book I should read quarterly! It only take 30 minutes or so to quickly go through it again, but it’s worth it every time I read it! One of Keller’s quotes from the book that I often see on Twitter is “… the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.” That cuts straight to the heart! It reminds me of a quote from a sermon my father-in-law gave when I was in high school. He said, “Self is the single greatest obstacle to effective ministry.” I’ve always remembered that, probably because I wrote it right down on the page of my Bible.

I won’t spoil it, but the best part is toward the end. Keller writes on issues of Christian identity and why we don’t need to prove ourselves. I love remembering the truths he lays out so well in this short book.

best yes

I didn’t expect to really like or need this next book, The Best Yes by Lisa Terkeurst. I don’t feel in a season of “endless demands” but rather in a more balanced time, but yet, I ended up with this book and started to read it. And I liked it! I’ve underlined and been impacted by a lot that was perfectly timed for my life, even when I didn’t think this subject mattered to me. Lisa is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, and I’ve been impressed by many of the things they offer, including the new First 5 app, developed to help women study the Bible daily.

fierceOne of my all-time favorite books was Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas, and so his recommendation for Fierce Convictions by Karen Swallow Prior was all I needed to pick this one up. Though I’m just getting started, I’m enjoying it so far. It’s about the life of Hannah More, a contemporary of William Wilberforce. These reformers and abolitionists of the late 18th century were inspiration for the classical school my children attended, and so it’s always been of special interest to learn more about their lives and how through their faith they were able to stand against wrongs in their culture for the good of others. I find these sorts of books give inspiration for how we might do the same.

age

This is another book that’s worth picking up time and again to be encouraged in the task of parenting. Paul Tripp always draws you back to gospel truths and heart issues, helping you see this time of parenting teens as truly an “age of opportunity” instead of a season to be dreaded! I am thankful each time I browse through this book for the encouragement it offers.

So that’s most of what I’ve been reading at the present time. I probably need to read a larger variety, include some fiction, but I’m grateful for the strong truths and words of encouragement to be found in many books like the ones above.

What are you reading? I’d love to hear what’s on your bookshelf.