Savoring the Scripture

Only the Righteous Psalm 15 Every day we are training ourselves in one direction or the other by the thoughts we think, the words we say, the actions we take, and the deeds we do. Jerry Bridges, The Fruitful Life God’s goal for His children is that they would be conformed to the image of His Son. While we have been positionally made right with God and stand before Him on the basis of Christ’s merit, we are still sinners in practice and must grow in sanctification while we remain in this life. Today we will pray through Psalm 15 and use its direction to help us pray for growth in godliness. Who May Abide? 15:1 “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?   I pray: ▫️I would abide in You and bear much fruit for Your glory.  ▫️I would walk according to the Spirit and rejoice in the work of Christ on my behalf. ▫️I would be made complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28). ▫️I would pursue holiness empowered by the knowledge that You have made me justified ...

  In 2 Chronicles 14, we read about King Asa, the King of Judah. The account of his life starts out well saying, “And Asa did good and right in the sight of the LORD his God” (14:2). The Chronicler continues by recounting the good things Asa did: removing foreign altars and high places, tearing down sacred pillars, cutting down Asherim, and commanding Judah to seek the LORD (14:3,4). Furthermore, we read that the kingdom was undisturbed, and the LORD had given him rest on every side. Even in the midst of an attack from the Ethiopians with a million man army, Asa boldly calls to the Lord and says, “LORD, there is no one besides Thee to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in Thee, and in Thy name have come against this multitude. O LORD, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee” (14:11). And the LORD responded to Asa’s prayer by routing the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians fled and they were “shattered b...

It was nearing the beginning of another homeschool year for us. I had most of my curriculum choices made, but there was still one subject I was unsure of for my older boys: history. There were so many options and there were some I had ruled out, but I still had no idea which one we should use. I had been teaching through James at a small bible study, and we had covered James 1:5, which instructs believers to ask God for wisdom.   I decided to give even this seemingly insignificant detail to the Lord and ask for His wisdom in choosing a history curriculum. Not too much later, I was talking to a friend and she mentioned a curriculum I had never heard of before, and I decided to check it out. I decided to go ahead and order it and give it a try.   Well, that year, in that history curriculum, changed my life.   Primarily what impacted my life was reading the biography of Hudson Taylor and the autobiography of George Muller.   They both were men of the Word and prayer. ...

In the first post, I noted that one of the requirements for a widow that was to be put on the list for the church to care for was that she would have brought up children, nurtured them. I am first exploring how a mother can nurture her children spiritually. Next, a mother can nurture her children spiritually by teaching them to apply the Word of God in their daily living. Deuteronomy 6:6-7, "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons 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.”       The first thing I see is that the Word should be “on your heart.” The Word of God must first be on our heart, our inner person.  The innermost place in us that only God Himself can discern is the place where His Word is abiding.  Col. 3:16, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing ...

While studying 1 Timothy 5:3-16 and specifically the qualifications of the widows who were to be cared for by the church in verses 9-10, one of the qualifications stated that the widow was to be one who had brought up children. I looked at the meaning of “brought up” and it means to bring up children and to fulfill the duties of a mother.  It came from a word meaning to nourish and nurture.  Nurturing is the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something. A Christian mother, as she brings up her children, ought to nurture them.  In what ways should a Christian mother nurture her children? In what areas should she apply diligent effort in caring for and encouraging her children to grow and develop? I thought of four: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. The specifics of how these are to be applied will vary from family to family and may even vary from child to child within a family. However, there are general princi...

When God graciously gives us suffering there are some purposes God has in the suffering of His people. Suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory. 2 Cor. 4:17, “ For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison .” Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”   Notice the contrasts. Light affliction/weight of glory. Momentary affliction/ eternal glory. Beyond all comparison. Sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed. In suffering, we learn His statutes. Psalm 119: 71, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.” When we endure suffering or affliction, we learn how to count it all joy (James 1:2) and how to trust in Him through difficult times and pour out our hearts to Him (Psalm 62). We learn to persevere in prayer and to never give up (Luke 18:...

The Westminster Confession of Faith states plainly about the Word of God, that the people of God: ...have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them...that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship Him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope (Art. 1.8). This understanding of the necessity of reading and searching the Scripture is for all the people of God, not just for pastors, seminarians, or bible teachers. The Word of God to the believer is to be more desired than gold and sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10). In fact, we live not by bread alone but by these infallible words which have proceeded from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Women are included in the church of God and ought to take seriously our call to search His Word deeply. In this post, I will explore three reasons why we should study the Scripture. Know God First, we study the Sc...

Several mornings a week, I climb out of bed and after an early morning quiet time, I get my running gear on: shirt, reflective pants, shoes, headband, Garmin watch, phone, and ear buds. Some mornings, it’s easy to gear up and head out for that run. Some mornings are harder and require more effort. Some mornings are cold, or hot, or I’m tired. Some days the miles require lots of effort and other days they breeze by. But I love the quiet and stillness of the break of day and I love the accomplishment at the end of the run. What keeps me going out there week after week? Through pregnancies and nursing infants? Through the chilliness of below freezing temperature? Through heat and tiredness? Discipline. Spiritual Discipline Discipline is  the act of training and developing by instruction or exercise especially in self-control. [1] As believers, we are called to train and develop our spiritual senses for the purpose of attaining godliness, a life both in attitude ...