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Loving to Read

Mother let me walk by myself to the library one summer when I was about 9 to get a library card and check out my first book. The librarian Mrs. Moss suggested a book for me. Three days later I was back to get another book. Then a few days after that, I was back. Mrs. Moss told me then that I could take more than one if I would be very careful and bring them back on time.

I started taking home two books and then three.  The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, plus Black Beauty and all those books that were available for my age.

I have often wondered just how I developed a desire to read at such an early age. Our daddy was a voracious reader, but he worked out of town all the time. Mother didn’t seem to have time to read, but she always had newspapers and books at our house. My older sister had been a very good reader, the teachers told me, so they expected me to like to read too.

One thing I loved to read from the beginning was the little Bible story cards we received in Sunday School, with a picture on one side and a scripture verse and lesson on the other.

Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul…. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. Deut. 11:18-21.NKJV.

God used these little scripture cards to develop the desire to read in my heart, so that I could learn His word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Framing Your World

Have you ever watched concrete being laid? They build a wooden frame around the area they are going to pour into, building it up to the depth they want and the shape they intend for it to become. Then they pour the cement and smooth off the top, working the bubbles out and let it set up.
 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” the Bible says in Hebrew 11:3.
This is how God made the world, framing it up with his word through faith. We are living life today exactly as we have framed it with our words. You are today what you have made yourself to become by the words of your mouth.

Don’t blame your parents or society or religion. Of course, bad things happen even to good people, but the outcome of your life depends on what you say. After all, your ultimate eternal salvation depends simply on your believing in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and confessing with your mouth that He is Lord.
Maybe you don’t like what your world has become. Maybe you are ready for a change. How can you change it? Reframe it.
Start building your frame. Speak the Word of God.
If you have wayward children or a spouse that isn’t serving God, for instance, here is a good scripture to frame with. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Josh 24:15. Another good verse is Acts 16:31 which
says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
If your body is sick and you need healing, frame your healing with these words: “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matt 8:17.
Here is another good one. I Pet 2:31 “By whose stripes ye were healed.”

We frame our world just like God does, with our words.
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The Prodigal



Luke 15 tells the story of a prodigal son who squandered all his inheritance and ended up slopping hogs in a foreign country, with nothing to eat but corn husks.

But the Bible says he came to himself. He came to his senses and suddenly realized what was going on. He thought to himself, “The servants of my father’s house are better off than I am. At least, they have food to eat.”

He prepared his speech. “I’ll tell my father, ‘I am no longer worthy to be called your son; just make me one of your hired servants.’ ”  Half-naked, barefoot, starving, smelling like hog slop, the son turned in the direction of home.

The father’s heart yearned for the son’s return. Every day the father watched the road, expecting his son to return. Watching. Waiting.
Even while he was yet far off, the father saw him, ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him fervently, all over his unshaven, dirty, smelly face. The son started his speech, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son….” But the father stopped him right there.

It didn’t matter if he was worthy or not, he would always be the father’s son. The father told the servants to bring the best robe, a ring, and sandals. Prepare a feast with that calf they had been saving for a special occasion. This was a celebration! The son had come home.

Do you know a prodigal son or daughter? Pray that he will come to himself, come to his senses. Ask the Lord to open his eyes.

Paul prayed a prayer for the Ephesian church, in Eph. 1:17, that “the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened,” that their spiritual eyes will be opened to the truth.

When you pray this prayer for your prodigal, you better start getting the calf fattened up, the musical instruments in tune, the balloons inflated, the confetti prepared. Get the “Welcome Home” banners strung across the front of the house and the yellow ribbons tied to the trees. Call all your friends and prepare the banquet room.

The prodigal will come home.