Teach Your Children

When we kids were little, sometimes Mom took in kids to babysit. One time in particular that I remember, Mom took in a pretty little dark-haired girl about 3 or 4 who stayed overnight with us for a couple of nights. She really missed her parents and cried quite a bit. The first night she wouldn’t go to sleep. I think Mom was trying to get her to go to sleep in the baby bed, but she just kept crying and saying something over and over that none of us could understand.
Mom kept asking her what she was trying to say and finally figured out that she was saying she wanted to sleep on the “davenport.” Suddenly Mom understood and the little girl went sweetly off to sleep on our “divan.” The whole problem had been simply a matter of understanding the words she was saying.
 Mama loved little children. She was always glad to have children hanging around the house with us, and when she later went to work at the school cafeteria, she loved every little kid that went through her cafeteria line.
 
Mama taught Sunday School as well as teaching us Bible stories and songs at home. We learned the song “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
 
 We held in our hands little Sunday School cards with a picture of Jesus on the front and the story and verse on the back. We gazed on the picture of Jesus holding the little lost sheep, and fell in love with Jesus while we were children. We were taught in a level of language that we could understand.
 
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deut. 11:19 NIV.
It is easy to believe in Jesus as your Savior when you are raised from babyhood hearing about Him.

Royal Blood

 

 Aethelwulf Birth King Of Wessex 839-861, Kent 839-858
photo from west facade Lichfield Cathedral in London

The PBS TV station has been showing movies of kings and queens of England. I have watched 3 shows of “Victoria” who was the queen of England, and a show called “Secret of Six Wives” the story of King Henry the 8th who had six wives. I love those historical shows. When I was in elementary school, I read through all the books of the kings and queens of England and France. I was mesmerized by the stories of their lives, the lavish lifestyles, and their impact on the present day.

And now I’ve discovered while doing my family tree that I have royalty in my dna. Oh it’s way back there a thousand years ago, and I’m not the only one who is a descendant, that’s for sure. If you figure that he is my 33rd great grandfather, then the possibility of being a descendant of his is astronomical. The way I figure it, there would be 8.5 million descendants, if he had 2 children and each child had two.  You wouldn’t recognize the name, so I won’t mention it but he really was a ruler of the area which became England.

I’ve had my dna tested and it shows 65% of my dna was from the British Isles, so I really am English and Irish. That’s proof, isn’t it? I am Eunice and Roscoe’s darling daughter and their dna flows through my veins. In addition to what I inherited in my dna, the physical possessions that belonged to my parents became mine and my siblings when they both passed away.

I am also a child of the Creator, the Lord God Almighty. I am His child and He is my Father.  I’m His favorite, but He has millions of favorites.

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:16-17. NKJV.

I’m a descendant of God, His darling daughter, and His spiritual dna flows in my spirit.

 Aethelwulf Birth King Of Wessex 839-861, Kent 839-858
photo from west facade Lichfield Cathedral in London

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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.

The Day After Jesus’ Birth

Mary woke up early the morning after Jesus was born with the glow of His birth lingering around her. The memory of the shepherds’ stories of angels singing in the night sky brought back memories of the angel who stood before her and told her she would conceive and give birth to a son who would be the Son of the Highest. “And you shall call His name Jesus.” Luke 1:31 NKJV.
She pondered in her heart that early morning the words the angel had spoken to her and remembered how she had replied. “Let it be to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38.
And now in the light of day, looking down at the newborn Baby who had come into the world just as the angel had said he would, she had no trouble believing that the Baby was the Son of God. She knew she was a virgin when she conceived the Baby Jesus. She knew and God knew. She still didn’t know how it had taken place. She only knew that God had done what He said He was going to do. He had fulfilled His promise to her through the words of the angel that day.
She must have wondered just what was expected of her now that the Baby was born. Maybe she expected the angel to return and give her more instructions, but when he didn’t, each day she did what every other new mother did. She fed her Baby, dressed Him, and taught Him day by day. And when He was old enough, His step-father Joseph began teaching Him and taking Him to the synagogue. And she pondered in her heart the ability of Joseph to raise a son who wasn’t his as if He were his very own.
“And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:40
All because one woman Mary in faith said “Yes” to God.