Better Families

My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; for they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck. Proverbs 1:8-9

How do you plan to raise your children? Wait, you do have a plan, don't you?

Many parents unfortunately seem to have paid a lot more attention to bringing a child into the world than they did to preparing that child for life in the world. The fact remains, however, that bearing a child and rearing a child are two very different things. And while you can bear a child on accident, you cannot successfully raise a child unless you put some hard work into making and keeping a plan.

Fortunately, God is a good Father, and He has shared with us some of His secrets. Here are three of them:

First, we must train our children to treasure what the world thinks is trash. In our verses today, God drops two very unpopular words. Instruction and law are not things we generally like to hear about, but God's promise is that when we hold fast to them then there is a reward. The picture we get here is one of a champion athlete who has won the race and has received the garland and medal that proves to everyone their quality. This is something worth treasuring!

Second, the world treasures freedom, but God treasures honor. Honor is the heart value that leads to obedience. It is the attitude that causes another person's words and actions to hold weight in your life. If our children have honor in their hearts toward us as parents then they will listen to what we say, hold us in higher regard than their friends, and restrain their own actions with good choices instead of needing punishment or nagging.

Third, the world treasures independence, but God treasures insight. We must train our children to value our experience, insight, and advice. They have to have ears that listen without rolling their eyes.

Discipline is the key to getting at your child's heart. The last thing you want is outward obedience without a change of heart, because they will follow their heart as soon as they leave your house. So focus your discipline not on your child's behavior, but at the heart behind their actions.

This is a good plan for parenting. It will take hard work and diligence, but you can do it. And I promise that your family will be a blessing beyond all you thought it could be.

Prayer Father God,

My family is so important to me, and I want to do it right! Thank You for helping me make and keep a plan for raising my children. Please help us to be a better family!

Amen

Just Making Sure

In that day sing to her, A vineyard of red wine! I, the LORD, keep it, I water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day. Fury is not in Me. Who would set briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me. Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.' Isaiah 27:2-6

There is someone out to get you. I know it sounds overdramatic, but it's true.

The devil is out there like a prowling lion and he wants to destroy your life. This serpent of old deals in lies. It's what he did to Adam and Eve and he's still up to the same tricks now.

How do you make sure that you're not living by the devil's lies? Well, you have to be filled with God's truth, and here are some tips to make that happen:

First, let God keep you. Just as our verses today tell us, God wants to keep us and protect us as He would a precious vineyard. He wants you to Himself. He wants that sweet fellowship that is free from competition with the whisperings of the serpent in your life. He wants your heart all to Himself.

Second, let God meet your needs. It's His promise. If we stick close to Him, trusting Him instead of ourselves or anything else, then He promises to water us, to meet our needs. Third, let Him protect you. What is it in your life that makes you afraid? Bankruptcy? Job loss? Family strife? Failure? Attack? Whatever it is that makes you afraid, God will protect you if you remain faithful to Him.

Fourth, make peace with God. Are there areas of your life in which you still live in re-

bellion to God? Is there something you hold back from Him? Surrender it to Him today. He simply wants to cultivate your life into everything it could possibly be, and certainly more than we can make it on our own.

God wants to graft you in, making you part of His family. He wants to bless your life and cause you to bear much fruit, keeping you from the lies of the devil. Will you let Him do all this for you today?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that all Your desires for me are good! I will let You keep, provide for, and protect me. Please show me my part in this and show me any area of my life that is not at peace with You!

Amen

Checking the Tyre Pressure

The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Isaiah 24:4-5

You've had this happen before. You're driving along, just like you always do, when a light flashes on your dash. Check oil, it says, and if you know what's good for you, you'll heed the warning before your engine seizes.

Everywhere you go, you see warnings. There's nothing mean about them. Actually, it's nice to have them; they're a friendly heads up to help us avoid pain. Warning: Hot coffee. Warning: Don't touch the power lines. Warning: Alarm will sound when you open this door.

God has a warning for us today. Warning: Check the pride gauge. What are you living for? Why are you trying to accumulate all that stuff? Who is it for?

The nature of pride is that it always wants to be honored before men, before its peers. But God wants us to be honorable before Him, and that's a big difference in the way we go about living our lives.

And really, God shows His faithfulness in warning us about it. He is faithful to remove those things from our lives with which He has to compete. Why does He compete against these things in our lives? Because He loves us! He knows that pride, lust, greed, and the things of this world would all destroy us, becoming the ruin of you and me.

There and then, instead of watching us destroy ourselves through terrible, worldly choices, He calls out a warning to us. Hey! Watch your pride there! Don't forget who made you and saved you! Come and live your life My way so that you can be safe!

Because you know what is going to happen to this world because of pride? It's going to be destroyed. Nothing will be left. The haughty, proud people of the world will be swept away. The only refuge will be for those who humbly confessed their need for God, who refused to do things their own way and instead trusted in and followed Him.

God knows what pride does. It destroys. But God wants better for us than destruction, lots better. In fact, Jeremiah tells us that His plans for us are for a hope and good future.

Humble yourself by coming to God today. Give your life to Him and let Him lead you into the good future He has planned.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that You warn me against the things that would destroy my life. I invite You to root these things out of my life and ask You to lead me into the good plans You have for me!

Amen

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Every Christmas, you will either send or receive at least one card with today's verse on it. But my question is, do people really know what it's talking about?

This is one of the most important passages about Jesus in the Old Testament, and it's important for us to fully understand what it says about Him.

First, it says that Jesus is fully human. In fact, it says He's even more human than Adam, because Adam was molded out of mud and began life as a fully functioning adult. Eve was the same way, but not Jesus. Jesus began life as a child. He was born as a baby, a real, human baby, just the same as you and me.

Or at least half the same as you and me, because the second thing we need to understand is that Jesus was fully holy. Both fully human and fully holy, He was born from a virgin mother. He was fully human because of His mother, but fully holy because His birth was miraculous, impossible without God making it happen and completely unlike any other human who ever lived.

Third, Jesus is fully God. He was born right around 0 AD, but that's not when His life began. He has always existed, created the world, and is fully God. There is not one single part of Him that isn't God. This is a claim no one else can make. Muhammad never claimed this. Buddha never claimed this. Not even Confucius claimed to be God (or a god).

The fact is that only Jesus has ever claimed to be all of these things-fully human, fully God, fully holy. But He doesn't just claim these things, He is these things. His birth proves it all.

And that is the power of these common Christmas card verses-the power of the incarnation, the proof that Jesus is who He says He is.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for being everything You are! Because of who You are, You alone are worthy of my worship and You alone can save me. I choose to worship and follow You today!

Amen

Beyond Belief

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

I can hear their conversation now. Sam is musing, as he often does to keep his heart light in the midst of the difficult task he must fulfill. He is trying to keep perspective on the enormity of the adventure on which he has embarked.

I wonder what songs they'll sing about you someday, he says to his best friend, Frodo, and your quest to destroy the Ring.

Whatever they sing in the songs, they will sing about you, too. I never would have made it this far without you, Frodo replies.

They continue on in one of the greatest adventure stories of our time, a story we all probably know. It is the story of Frodo and Sam, the humble hobbits from the Shire who use their overlooked position to overthrow the greatest darkness of all time.

What is your story? What adventure is being written in your life?

The crazy reality is that each of us can have a story more incredible than Frodo and Sam, but it requires one thing of us-we must live our lives by faith.

When we live our lives by faith, then it means we have heard God's direction for our lives and we step out, trusting in Him to help us. It means that we are doing things with His help that we cannot do on our own.

Think of that-living by faith means doing things you cannot do on your own. Cannot. Do. On. Your. Own. Impossible! Never in your lifetime!

Yet you are doing them because God is with you.

That's the kind of story that I want to live. It's the kind of story that I want to have read to me someday as I stand before God's throne and hear it read back to me from the Book of Life. I think that's the kind of story God wanted us to have from the beginning, when He walked with Adam through the Garden every day. I imagine them doing things together that Adam never could have done alone.

Are you living by faith? If not, then join with me now in asking God to speak to you and give you direction for your life. Then take courage, and follow the God of the impossible by faith.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You want to walk with me through life! I want to walk by faith and live the great adventure of being used by You. Please show me Your direction for my life and help me to live by faith!

Amen

A Kingdom of Everlasting Hope

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.' Matthew 2:13

I love hope, don't you? One of the times of year that we always think about with more hope than other times is Christmas and New Years.

It's like, no matter what happened during the year, we look at that time of year as the time when we can leave the old year behind and enjoy the hope of a new year being born, even as we remember Jesus being born into the world to give us hope for salvation.

But a lot of us maybe don't see the things we hoped for at the beginning of the year, do we? Or they don't happen quite the way we thought they would. And I just want to be real with you today and show you that this is exactly how it was for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus during that first Christmas.

See, after the rough start of having to deliver Jesus in the ancient equivalent of a dirty garage, things had perked up. Shepherds came with stories of angels, and then wise men came with regal gifts that would have certainly been a blessing and encouragement to that poor family.

But the very night that the wise men left, God changed whatever plans they might have had. Go to Egypt, He said, because Herod wants to kill your baby. Now that's some hopeful news, don't you think?

It gets even better. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus all escape, but Herod sends his army to Bethlehem and kills all boys age two and under. Merry Christmas, right?

Years go by and God speaks to Joseph in another dream, saying that it's safe to go back home. Awesome, except that when they get home, they find out that Herod's son is on the throne and that home-Judea-can't be home; they need to go to Galilee, to Nazareth. Good news. Welcome home-to a place you've never lived before.

See, this was no time to lose one's hope, no time to misplace it as if it got packed up in some box and put into storage. No, they needed it now more than ever. But the good news is this, they didn't misplace it. They didn't lose it.

My heart and prayer for you right now with all genuineness, in all that is going on in your life, I am praying you have not misplaced yours.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for this reminder to hold on to my hope! Thank You for lifting my eyes off of my circumstances enough to see how You have been faithful before. I put my hope in You, knowing that You will always be faithful to me!

Amen

Your Love Is King

But Ruth said: ...wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.' Ruth 1:16-17

You can learn a lot about a person by understanding their name, especially in Scripture. Unfortunately, this doesn't hold true for the man our story begins with-Elimelech. His name means, My God is King, but you can see by the way he lived his life that God was not his King.

Elimelech lived in Israel during the time of the judges, but when famine came upon the land, he ran away instead of trusting in God. Not only that, but he ran to a God-forsaken country called Moab, which worshiped false gods and was founded by a man whose mother was impregnated by her father.

Now, you need to know this: God will get us through the storms in life when we trust Him. If Elimelech had made God the King over his life, then God would have taken care of him even during the famine. But he didn't make God his King, and in running away, he actually ran himself into a worse situation.

In fact, he died. He ran so he would be safe, but then he died. And not just him, but his two sons died as well, leaving behind just his wife, Naomi, and two daughter in-laws, Orpah and Ruth. So now we have three widows who are wondering, What are we going to do now?

Naomi decides to go back home to Bethlehem and tells Orpah and Ruth that they should do the same. Return to your families. Get new husbands. Go back and worship your country's gods.

Orpah does exactly as Naomi said, but Ruth refused, and this is the great conversion moment for her. She answers Naomi with our verses today, leaving her old life behind and stepping out to allow God to truly become King of her heart and life.

That's where we have to start. Has God, today, right now, because of this great love that He has for you, been allowed to truly be King of your heart? And if King of your heart, then is He King of your hands?

What does that mean? That means, is His Kingship being lived out in what you now do and live for? He can't just be King of your heart without then allowing your plans and your future and your dreams and your fears and all of it to fall in line with Him being King over all of it.

If God is not King over all, then He's not King at all. Is He King over your life today?

Prayer Lord God,

It's scary to think of letting You be King over my whole life, but I can see from Ruth's story that the real scary place is a life over which You're not King. Please come and be King over my whole life. Lead me and take care of me today and always!

Amen