Happy As The Day

I am enjoying a wonderful book, called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I am sure many of you can say the same. This book is...well, it is just such a beautiful reminder that we are to be thankful in all things. I am thankful for Ann and the eloquent way she brings life to the mundane things of life. We are reading the book aloud in the evenings as a whole family. It has been a blessing. The book is a new treasure to me.

It just so happens that I picked up a book from our bookshelf this week too and this book is an old treasure. It is a very old tresure. It is from 1848. I have had a rekindled love of vintage things recently and this book made me smile. It is entitled Book That Will Suit You.

The messages inside are so wonderful. I hope to share some with you. I started writing notes in my journal and found there was great value in so-o much of the text, I might as well write out the entire passages. :)

The section I want to share here is from a chapter called:

Happy As The Day

" In Thy name shall they rejoice all day."- Psalms 89:16

"The believer has all the elements of misery in his nature, and he is often surrounded by the most trying circumstances; yet he has a source of joy, which is sufficient to enable him to rejoice all the day long. He may be happy every day, and all the day. He should rejoice but not as the world does in health, wealth,wisdom, skill, strength, station, or worldly prospects; but in the name of God.

The name of God assures us of pardon, full, free and immutable; a daily pardon, a pardon of all sin, for a part of His name is "forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." All manner of sin is forgiven. God pardons daily the sins of the heart, the sins of the tongue, the sins of the life; may we not well rejoice all the day in the name of our God, which forbids fear, generates confidence, and promises pardon.

For as unworthy as we are, we are accepted in "the Beloved".

The consistent Christian rejoices in God's name as containing all he needs, and as preventing all he fears. He rejoices in it in private and in public; in prosperity and in trial. His joy is holy and humble; it is abiding and sweet. Reader, a believer has always cause for joy, and the cause of his joy is always the same; and it is his duty as well as his privilege to rejoice in the name of God. The unhappiness of Christians often arises from their ignorance of God's name, or from the working of unbelief, which leads them to fancy that it will not be illustrated in their experience. Believer, do you know God's name? If so, rejoice in it, spread the knowledge of it, and let all see that it is the source of your sweet joy!"

Questions in the Bible

Questions in the Bible

Serman Notes Speaker: Steve Hulshizer (8/15/10)

How we answer life’s questions has a great deal to do with what our lives will be like!

The Bible is filled with questions…… and ANSWERS!

It has the answers to life yet too many don’t go to the Bible for the answers.

Some of the questions few find in the Bible:

Question: At the Fall…

A question asked by Satan:

Genesis 3:1 “ Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman “Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (by asking this, he is undermining the word of God. The serpent (Satan) is trying to get her to the rethink what God clearly said.)

They (Adam and Eve) had the wrong answer.

Because of their wrong answer:

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Romans 5:19 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

Not all men commit all sins and man’s sins are at different levels of severity but…We are ALL sinners.

Genesis 3:9 “The Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where art thou?”

God knew. God didn’t ask because he didn’t know where Adam was- but asked to say…We used to be close (now a distance created by sin.)

Genesis 3:10: So Adam said “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and hid myself.

…that too was new- Adam was fearful. A fear was created.

With wrongdoing, we also have a conscience (we sense wrong)…and that is because there are consequences.

Later in the Bible, Isaac asked…

Genesis 22:7 Isaac spoke to his father (Abraham) and asked, ……!”…Where is the lamb for a burnt offering? “

Abraham didn’t question God.

Abraham answered…Genesis 22:8 "My son, God will provide for Himself a lamb for burnt offering."

John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

New Testament Lamb = Jesus

We are not redeemed with silver and gold. We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.

If we don’t know the Lamb of God personally – we are still under the judgment state- we don’t have the closeness. We should be afraid. Hell is real!

To get freed from the judgment we must accept the Lamb of God.

When God asks a question- it is important!

Read Psalm 22: 1-8. The question asked in this passage is in

Vs. 1 (cry) My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Answer (vs. 3) … because you are holy.

Why? 2 Corinthians 5:21 He hath made Him to be sin for us- a perfect lamb (holy)

As the sacrificed lamb- he took on ALL the filth of our sin!

The wrath of God- for all sin- fell on the perfect man to bear it FOR us!

He knew no sin- yet bore ALL ours.

Question: How can man be righteous (just) before God? (Job 9:2)

How can man get back to the original closeness? The Word of God (The Bible) has the answers. God has made it possible that sinners can be made right in His sight.

BY FAITH!

Romans 3:28: “Therefore we conclude that man I justified by faith apart from te deeds of the law.”

Romans: 5:1: “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Galatians 3:11: “But no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

Philippians 3:9-10: “be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed by His death.

We can NOT work ourselves back into right standing by our works! - it’s ONLY by our faith in the Lord Jesus!

Believers are in the sight of God (made “right” with God)

Grace is a gift- you can’t EARN it! You can’t pay God for it! You must just believe and receive it!

Question: (asked by jailer- desperate man facing death) What must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30) Was in stocks and chains (and they fell off)

Paul and Silas in answering DIDN’T give a long list to him of what he needed to do! …like Do the best you can. Be good. Save the earth. That would be a FALSE answer. (Yet some will give this answer)

Do? Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

Answer: Acts 16:31: “So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Summary: John 3:16

Praying For Our Teenagers

So many things cross my mind in a day... in my wonderful job of being a mother. I have children at many various stages in life and love that. There is more though to pray about I think as they get older and are in the teen years. I think it is mostly because I realize my time with them at home is lessening. (I have mixed emotions about that.) I am around teenagers and pre-teens a lot and I enjoy them a lot. A close friend and I were just commenting to each other this week how it is so nice to see our daughters becoming young women and how nice the mother/daughter relationship becomes when you can start talking more as adults and you have more "grown-up" conversations during the days at home, etc.

This morning I ran across this information in a newsletter I get and printed it out. I also wanted to share it with you. It is a great list to use when praying for our children... and their friends.

Praying for Our Teens
What to Pray for Your Teens :
* A heart which personally and fully understands, embraces, and shares the gospel
* Reverence for God, and a passion to please and serve him
* Continual filling, anointing, and equipping of the Holy Spirit
* God-honoring family relationships filled with respect, affection, compassion and cooperation
* Protection and strength to face moral temptation and cultural pressure
* Repentance and humble acceptance of correction
* Guidance for decisions about high school options, as well as future college and career
* Maturity to make the right decisions for the right reasons
* Wise priorities for using time
* Preparation for marriage and parenting – pray for their future spouses, too!
* Ask your teens how you can pray for them!

What to Pray for Ourselves as Parents
* Unity in and commitment to your marriage – or if you are a single parent, basic harmony with the other parent (and any step-parent) in raising your teen
* A warm and trusting relationship with your teen, characterized by healthy and open communication
* Forgiveness and release from bitterness, whether conscious or subconscious
* Confidence and boldness to lead, even when a teen attempts to manipulate or rebel
* Wisdom to know which battles are worth fighting, and when to let your teen make decisions (and face the consequences)
* That you will be an example of godliness, wisdom, grace, and good humor

(List taken from The Hope Chest e-magazine written by Virginia Knowles)

“…We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints.” Colossians 1:9-12

Protection and Friendship

Father, please guard my children by day and night,

Keep them in Your care.

Raise up for them friends who know You and love You;

bring them into their lives to reinforce Your ways and values that they may seek them out.

Prepare them to be a trusted friend to others just as You are to us.

~ Lori B. Whitman~