Weekly Devotion, " Primary Faith Nurturers" March 26

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager
 

PRIMARY FAITH NURTURERS

Listen, my son (daughter), to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

Proverbs 1:8

A Barna Group study reported eighty-five percent of parents of children under age 13 believe they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about religious beliefs and spiritual matters. That’s great news: parents understand their job description! The problem is negligence. They’re failing to take action and do what God requires of them. Related research “revealed that a majority of parents do not spend any time during a typical week discussing religious matters or studying religious materials with their children.” Most parents are willing to let their church (or GEMS Club) provide the religious teaching rather than doing what they acknowledge is their responsibility – training their children!

God assigned parents to be the first line of Christian education. Proverbs 1:8 points to the family lines needed in training children: Listen to your father’s instruction. Do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Proverbs 6:20 reiterates: Keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

There’s a tendency in our culture to bind our lives to schedules and things. People are tied to their calendars, car keys, cell phones, and TV remotes like a baby to her pacifier. Lose any one of these items and everything stops until the lost has been found.

God teaches us through Moses to bind ourselves to His Word and to take every opportunity to teach our children to do the same! We are to impress the command to love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, and strength on the hearts of our children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, emphasis mine).

What children has God entrusted into your care as a parent, grandparent, aunt, or special friend? Talk with them about God. Identify God sightings in your lives and in the world. Talk about His creation and marvel at the wonderful deeds He has done. Read His Word together at breakfast and bedtime, and other moments sandwiched in between. Pray together and for one another. Expect Him to answer! Create a journal of thanksgiving to God – an ongoing list of praise and thanks. Memorize His Word. Choose a name of God to focus on each day or week. This is the tying and binding that is most needed in families. This is the tying and binding that will change lives one home and a time.

Wisdom Step: What one-on-one faith nurturing are you doing with the children God has entrusted to you or your sphere of influence? Will you do more? If so, what?

It is very important that children learn from their fathers and mothers how to love one another ­– not in the school, not from the teacher, but from you. 

Mother Teresa

Weekly Devotion, "Legacy", March 5, 2012

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

 

LEGACY

The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,

but the name of the wicked will rot.

Proverbs 10:7

Last night youngest daughter Melanie told us the Senior Class Hall of Fame categories that will be published in their high school yearbook. Each student in their small class received an honor as most musical, most competitive, most stressed, most unique, and so on. Melanie earned the honor for being most adventurous which probably has something to do with her going skydiving a few months ago.

If your friends and family created a Hall of Fame category for you, how would you best be remembered today? Nichole Nordeman considered that and put her thoughts to music in her song, “Legacy”: 

“I want to leave a legacy. How will they remember me? Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough to make a mark on things? I want to leave an offering – a child of mercy and grace who blessed Your name unapologetically and leave that kind of legacy.”

The book of Proverbs confirms that the legacy of the righteous will be a blessing (10:7) and that a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold (22:1). The name, fame, or legacy of the righteous should point people to Jesus and edify, encourage, and benefit the body of believers. The Bible’s heroes of faith, Christian biographies, and the stories of saints within the family of God locally and around the world should inspire us as we consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7).

The Apostle Paul was ever mindful of his legacy and lived in such a way that he boldly encouraged people to follow his example. “I urge you to imitate me” (1 Corinthians 4:16), he told the church in Corinth. “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

A humble, dear sister in Jesus once told me that 1 Corinthians 11:1 is her life verse. Like Paul she intentionally seeks to live a life that is worthy of being modeled after because she’s steadfastly following the example of her Savior Jesus Christ. I can testify that I am blessed each time I have opportunity to spend time with her and am greatly encouraged when I reflect on the way her words and actions have shaped my life.

The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot (Proverbs 10:7). What great incentive for Titus 2 women and all believers to live righteously and leave a legacy that glorifies Jesus!

Wisdom Step: Think about your legacy. Could you boldly say with Paul, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ”? Why or why not?

You have been created by God and for God, and someday you will stand amazed at the simple yet profound ways He has used you even when you weren’t aware of it.

Kay Arthur

Weekly Devotion, "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread:" Feb 27, 2012

From Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD

“Two things I ask of you, O LORD, do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God”

Proverbs 30:7-9

There are dangers in living at economic extremes. If we have too much, there’s the temptation to disown God and say, “Who is the LORD?” Before the Israelites entered into the Promised Land, a land of plenty, flowing with milk and honey, they were warned: do not forget the LORD. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (Deuteronomy 8:10-14). In spite of the forewarning, Israel did just that. They ate their fill and turned from God, rejecting Him and breaking covenant.

How easily we could point fingers at the arrogant, independent Israelites if their story didn’t have so many correlations to today’s culture and mindset. Jesus warns us through the Word, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).

There are equal amounts of danger in poverty as there is in prosperity. If we have too little, there’s the temptation to dishonor God by relying on self instead of Him. In self-preservation we are tempted to do whatever we need to do, including theft, to provide for our needs. When we steal, we make an assumption about God – that being, that He really isn’t Jehovah-Jireh, The LORD our Provider. Jesus tells us in the Word, Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them (Luke 12:29-30).

Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).

Whether living in prosperity or poverty, living in plenty or in want, the Apostle Paul knew the secret of contentment (Philippians 4:11-12). As did Agur, the author of this Proverbs prayer: Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread (Proverbs 308b). May that be our prayer, too.

Wisdom Step: Rate your contentment level. Make this Proverb prayer the desire of your heart.

In all His dispensations God is at work for our good. In prosperity, He tries our gratitude; in mediocrity, our contentment; in misfortune, our submission; in darkness, our faith; under temptation, our steadfastness; and at all times, our obedience and trust in Him.

Unknown

grace and peace,