Three Ways to Teach Scripture to Children

I’m continually amazed at the amount of things my two-year-olds can understand and remember. They are little sponges soaking up everything we’re saying. This article inspired me to make sure that I’m using their malleability to teach them Scripture. The author offers three ways to engage our kids’ interest in the Bible and lay a great foundation for years to come.

It’s not an accident that the biblical history of maturation starts with a long book of stories. It’s where we begin. Before we learn to talk or walk or do abstract reasoning, we learned stories. Yahweh is the best parent. Before Israel received Torah, the tabernacle, the complexities of the sacrificial system, a land or a monarchy, they got stories, dramatic family stories. God gave stories because he wanted us to read, tell and retell, live out of and into the stories themselves. So start there. Tell the stories. They’ll remember.

[TGC]

A Truth That Destroys Pride

Confession: I have struggled with pride for years. I am a self-professed recovering Pharisee and humility is an area that I may always be asking God to grow me in. However, this article was so encouraging for me to read. When we shift our focus off of ourselves and realize that literally any good thing that comes out of us is due to God’s work in us then how can we glory in ourselves? I hope this article is as helpful for you as it was for me.

What’s the pride-destroying truth? “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work.” This is the true engine for bringing down all haughtiness—this is the sword for putting an end to all pride, when we are taught that we are utterly nothing, and can do nothing, except through the grace of God alone…

[Looking at Christ]

Giving Grace is Hard

Wow, this article could not have been any more timely. This morning I served in childcare for our mom’s ministry. I spent three hours trying to show Christ’s love to fourteen 2-year-olds. Then as soon as I get my 2-year-olds in the car, I’m impatient, easily angered, and completely ungracious. When we got home, I had to ask them to forgive me for not showing them the same grace I’d been extending all morning. One of the best ways we can model grace to our children is to show them that we have to receive grace daily from our loving Father when we blow it as parents and then give them grace when they need it as well.

When they hear us talk about grace, but don’t actually receive it at home, then we are teaching our kids, “Grace is a good idea, but nothing more than that.” Friends, we need to put grace on display at home. To do that, we are the ones who will model Christ’s sacrificial, grace-giving love towards sinners. 

I learned early on in parenting that my kids already know I’m a sinner. So when I sin against them, I’m not going to surprise them by admitting it! The way I confess my sin, repent, and walk in grace is a very real example of the Christian life for my kids to see. 

[Core Christianity]

5 Reasons People Don’t Come Back to Small Group

I’ve been in the same small group with the same people for about six years. We have shared a lot of life experiences together. So many ups and downs can happen in the span of six years. In the last year, we had a new couple join. About a month ago, I got lunch with her and she confided that it’s been difficult to break in because we all have so much history together. That statement broke my heart. She and her husband have been part of our small group for over a year but she still feels a little left out. I’m so guilty of valuing comfort over getting to know new people and making them feel welcome. This article was eye-opening for me and gave me so many great ideas for how I can put new-comers at ease when they visit our small group. I hope it’s helpful for you as well.

When previously existing groups try to start fresh and bring new people into the community the new members often feel like they don’t belong because relationships have already been formed. Everybody’s been in the group for a while, there’s common language, there’s history and it’s just hard. Mosley suggests current group members do something with a new member that bonds them even before they visit the group, such as getting coffee beforehand.

[Facts and Trends]

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Extras

Four Critical Parts of Family Worship

In this short two minute video, the speaker shares the importance of family worship and the four components that should make up that time.

Family worship is the underpinning of all that will be taught in the home.

[Joel Beeke]

The Gift of a Hidden Season: Trusting God’s Plan

A year and a half ago I left my job as an attorney at a great law firm and began my new career as a stay-at-home mom to my premature twins. I desired so badly to stay at home with them, and it was absolutely the best decision for our family. But I’ve never felt more isolated, unseen, and insignificant than that first year. I no longer had any markers to measure my success. There was no boss to tell me I was doing a good job. The world tells us that we are successful when we are moving up the corporate ladder, and I felt as though I was going backwards down a long slide. It was difficult for me to see God’s purpose in that season. So, “what happens when, in the Lord’s sovereignty, we find ourselves in a season of hiddenness, with no external markers of success or capability? Do we accept our limitations and obscurity as a gift from him, or as something to escape or overcome?” In this article, the author shares three ways to understand and accept the gift of a hidden season. 

Although it can feel challenging to untangle our worth from the work that the world sees, the undeniable truth is that our value and identity in Christ is unshakeable—and it’s not based on our work, but on the work of Christ! His perfect life, death, and resurrection did all the work necessary to gain us a place as “children of God” (1 John 3:1). Because of his good work, we are “chosen” (1 Pet. 2:9), and our truest life is “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). 

Our worth and value have never been in what we do or don’t do, or in how our children behave or don’t behave, but in who Christ is and what he has accomplished. In hidden seasons, we have a rich opportunity to allow our lack of earthly productivity to point us back to the glorious gift of acceptance and identity in Christ. 

[Risen Motherhood]

The Unrepenting Repenter

This article was so timely for me to read. In it the author shares what we often substitute for true repentance. I am guilty of reforming my actions without repenting from my heart, much like the Pharisees. On this side of heaven, we are called to be repenters who continue to repent. I hope this article challenges you as much as it did me.

The believer in Christ is a lifelong repenter.  He begins with repentance and continues in repentance. (Rom. 8:12-13) David sinned giant sins but fell without a stone at the mere finger of the prophet because he was a repenter at heart (2 Sam. 12:7-13). Peter denied Christ three times but suffered three times the remorse until he repented with bitter tears (Mt. 26:75). Every Christian is called a repenter, but he must be a repenting repenter. 

[CCW]

How to Kill a Thankful Heart

Theodore Roosevelt said “comparison is the thief of joy,” but this author posits that comparison is the enemy of a thankful heart and I have to agree with both statements. I really struggle with comparison. I find myself subconsciously comparing everything: how other moms cook their families healthy meals and mine just polished off a pizza, the size and cleanliness of my friends’ homes, the joyful marriages I see at church, the well-behaved and polite children I see at the grocery store as I’m wrestling one child to the ground who escaped from the cart while the other is kicking and screaming. Comparison certainly robs me of joy but it also causes my heart to be ungrateful for all the gracious gifts the Lord has given me. I hope this article stirs your heart to thankfulness, as it did mine.

Jabbing jealousies are the enemies of thanksgiving. They meter out degrees from self to another. Nothing kills a grateful heart as quickly as festering comparisons. There is a cure. Get a different measuring tape. One that measures forgiveness. And rejoices in its totality. “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12 One that counts the immeasurable love with which we are bestowed as the highest blessing. “…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 

[Sylvia Schroeder]

I Made My Daughter Cry–And She Taught Me a Lesson About Evangelism

Don’t children have the most sensitive and tender hearts? The gospel, eternity, and Jesus’ love is so simple to them. They know they’re loved by Jesus and they want others to know that as well. From the ages of 9-11, I became fixated on wanting our mechanic to trust Christ. I prayed for him daily. I requested prayer for him every week at church. It bothered me greatly that he was a kind man who didn’t know Christ. But somewhere along the way, I quit feeling that fervently about unbelievers. I just accepted that there are a lot of people who have heard the gospel but don’t want to accept Christ. This article really challenged how unaffected I am that there are people that I come into contact with daily who don’t know Jesus and yet I don’t feel moved to share the gospel with them. I pray our hearts would be softened and sensitive to the reality that there are people we can reach who are currently on the path to eternal separation from God.

I’ve become desensitised to the tragedy of people not knowing Jesus. I’ve become desensitised to the magnitude of what it means for someone to reject Jesus and live this life without him. And to face eternity without him. She has a deep care for those around her, and desperately wants them to know Jesus. Too often, if I’m honest, I don’t. It was a reminder for me to pray that God would help me to see people as he does. As people who are dearly loved, immeasurably valuable, and whose eternal destiny hangs in the balance. C.S. Lewis once famously said:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

[TGC]

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Extras

Help Me Walk By Faith, Not By Sight Podcast

In this podcast Nancy DeMoss Wolgelmuth shares about walking by faith. “If you are banking your life on what is seen, then when your mate gets cancer, when your child has a terminal disease, when your mate says he doesn’t love you anymore and doesn’t want to be married to you anymore, when you lose your job, when you lose a trusted source of income, when your health fails and you get that terminal diagnosis; if you’re living your life based on sight, then you will crater when it comes to these times of suffering and testing and trials and affliction. But if we will root our lives by faith in what is unseen—the promises of God, the character of God, the ways of God—then when these trials come, though we cannot see Him, we will trust Him.”

[Revive Our Hearts]

How to Pray for Unbelieving Family Members

Nothing is quite as painful as watching a loved one reject the gospel. As a young mom, I pray daily that my children will come to know Christ at the earliest point possible. I haven’t walked through years and years of praying that prayer as I know so many of you have. But my hope is that you won’t grow weary in asking the Lord to intervene. This article has some really powerful prayers we can pray for those we love to come to know Christ. I hope these prayers buoy your spirit.

Don’t doubt that the Lord is gracious and desires people to be saved. Pray on for their salvation, trusting in what God has said about himself, and aligning your desires with his.

It can be easy, especially after a long time seeing no apparent change of heart in those we are praying for, to begin to doubt that God really cares about them and that our prayers will never bear fruit. But we need to remind ourselves of the truth revealed in the gospel, that our God loves to save!

[Crossway]

Fighting the Epidemic of Me, Myself, and I

Over the last couple of months I have seen countless articles and books that urge us to take time for ourselves (for self-care), to do what makes us feel happy and fulfilled, to quit wasting our life and our time doing things we don’t enjoy. When comments are phrased like that, I can easily discount them as lies that encourage me to behave selfishly. But the enemy is so subtle, and without even realizing it, I had started believing these lies. I was in a bible study for moms and our teacher was discussing what our priorities should be biblically. In order she listed, God, husband, children,and church. At the end, she said, “You notice that you’re not on the list.” Ouch! Then she gently said, “That’s because your life is meant to be poured out right now.” I was so convicted by that statement and this article only reinforces that we are to love God first and foremost and then others–those are our priorities. We do not show up on the list–even though the world would love for us to think differently.

Our sin anchors itself in selfishness and self-preservation and self-focus. The moment sin entered the world through Adam and Eve is the moment we began putting ourselves above God. And now we fight the devastating effects of self-centeredness. 

Our problem is not that we don’t love ourselves enough or take care of ourselves enough or spend enough time fulfilling our own desires. Our struggle with contentment stems from our struggle to love ourselves over and above how much we love God. 

[Revive Our Hearts]

12 Faith-Building Reasons Why We Should Persist in Prayer

My mom and I were recently discussing why we must persist in prayer. Isn’t it so difficult to keep bringing the same request before the Lord day after day with no visible evidence that anything has changed? But God’s word continually urges us to persevere in prayer and not give up. I don’t know what you’re praying for–the salvation of a family member, health and healing for a friend, a baby in the midst of childlessness, but I do know that God hears our petitions and cries, and He is at work even when we can’t see with our physical eyes. I hope this article encourages your weary heart to continue beating on heaven’s door.

We should persist in prayer because we can’t see all that God is doing through our prayers.

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:15-17

[The Blazing Center]

A Letter to My Younger Married Self

Goodness, seven years ago when I got married I had no idea how ignorant I really was about joining my life with someone else’s. I was so idealistic and naive. The reality of marriage quickly set in and I began to see how truly sinful I was–I’d gotten pretty good at hiding it as a single person. Seven years later and I’m still a work in progress. God is still rooting out selfishness and using my spouse as one of the many tools in my life to accomplish that work. If you’re married, I hope this article will encourage you as you look back on your relationship and see how God has changed both of you for the better. Also, don’t miss the appendix at the end of the article. It has some powerful quotes from Pastor Timothy Keller.

As sinners you will be pulled toward your desire to please yourselves and hold onto your personal rights. Your self-centeredness leads you to say, “This is the way I am, accept it.” 

But God’s will for you—as husband and wife—is to let go of this conviction. You are to fix your eyes on the grace and love of Christ who made the supreme sacrifice on the Cross. Upon wholeheartedly seeing this, the cross will compel you to make your own sacrifices for each other—even if it is against your natural instinct to do so.

[TGC]

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Extras

Tempt Him to Apologize for God: The Awful Seed Satan Loves to Plant

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis’ books is the Screwtape Letters. In this article, the author follows in the footsteps of Lewis’ work writing The Globdrop Letters. This particular letter really hit home for me, as I’ve been tempted to apologize for believing the often unpopular truth of God’s word. I hope you’re equally entertained and challenged as you read it.

Getting him to be ashamed of the Enemy — and especially the Enemy’s Book — is no small feat, nephew. Consider it. What is this but to make the soldier skeptical of his General’s command? The ambassador humiliated by his King’s message? The warrior ashamed to use his own sword? He is the seaman who sails blindly in the dark for fear that his lamp might offend our sleeping ones. His unease at being found in his uniform confirms what we’ve always known the Enemy to be: Unbearable. Unworthy. Embarrassing.

If we disarm them of the Book, nephew, make them uncomfortable with its contents and sickened by even a few of its teachings, the battle for that soul is all but over. We need but lift our flag over him.

[Desiring God]

The Importance of Gospel-Centered Friendship

Finding Gospel-centered friendships as an adult in a post-college world can be daunting. In college, these friendships were easy to come by. But once I got married and moved away, it felt much harder. My husband and I joined a church early on in marriage. I’ve been going there now for seven years, but it’s only in the last year that I’ve felt like I’ve finally developed deep friendships. These relationships may take time and a lot of pursuing but they are worth the effort. It is such a blessing to have women in my life who point me to Christ, who love me enough to expose my sinful tendencies, and challenge me to love God, my family, and others more. Christ-centered relationships are an amazing tool the Lord can use to sanctify us. If you’re feeling alone in your struggles, I pray you’ll pursue community.

One of the most important but most neglected aspects of gospel-centered friendship is accountability. Our fellow travelers on the narrow path Jesus calls us to follow are given the unique responsibility to speak the truth in love when we stumble. A true friend is someone who loves you enough to graciously call you out on your sin, even when it stings. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6).

[Well Watered Women]

4 Lies that Hinder Evangelism

This article was incredibly convicting for me to read. I must admit that I have believed all four of these lies about evangelism. The lie that I most struggle with is that the person I’ve spent months or years building a relationship with will no longer like me once I openly share the gospel with them. I appreciated how the author reshaped the question–it’s not about what they will think of me, but whether God is worthy of me sharing His goodness and love with others. I hope you’re as challenged by this article as I was.

There’s always been a part of me tempted to being overly concerned with what others think. People-pleasing has been my biggest barrier to sharing the gospel. Will this negatively affect our relationship? Will she think I’m a fanatic? Will she reject me?

But will they like me? is the wrong place to start. It’s a vague question with an uncertain response. Instead, we should ask, Is God worthy? For the answer to this question is always fixed, and remembering this truth will compel us to step out in faith.

[TGC]

Five Ways to Grow in Prayer

As I’ve talked to women of all ages and life-stages, it seems we all want to grow in prayer. The high school girls that I spend time with recently told me they don’t feel much motivation to pray. A mom-friend that I have was asking for ideas about how to find the time to pray as she is busy with an infant and working full-time. We all know prayer is important but for me personally, it’s often the last thing I do when I spend time with the Lord and usually consists of just a few minutes. In this article, the author shares five ways we can be more faithful in our prayer life.

Prayer is a combination of both duty and delight. Some days you will not feel like praying—but God calls us to pray anyway. Once we start praying, delight will often follow. Set aside five or ten minutes each day to pray—in the morning if you are a morning person, or at night when you may have more time.

[Core Christianity]

Four Key Principles of Repentance

Repentance of sin is such an important part of Christian living but it’s a part that I don’t like to spend a lot of time on. Asking God to expose all my sin, lay it before me so that I can repent of it, and ask for forgiveness is often painful. But it’s so incredible that “no sin is too small to confess and no sin is too great to damn us.” I pray we would continually recognize our brokenness and need of a Savior and by extension rejoice in the saving work of Christ. I hope you’re both challenged and encouraged by this article.

No sin is too small to confess. There are no petty sins. Though different sins carry different degrees of guilt or consequence, every sin, no matter how big or small, brings alienation between God and man (Romans 6:23, Galatians 3:10). Every sin equally demands nothing less than the blood of Jesus Christ if there is to be reconciliation. For this reason we need to be quick to confess our sin—quick so we do not forget those sins that may seem so small. For this reason we need to have tender consciences, so we do not grow hardened against the small sins that eventually metastasize into large ones.

[Challies]

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Extras

When Has My Career Become an Idol

In this short podcast, Pastor John Piper shares how we can tell when our work has become an idol.

[Y]our work has become idolatry when it’s the root and not the fruit of your acceptance, your status, your riches, your identity, which are all free in Christ.

[Desiring God]

Ambassadors of Christ or the Dread of Every Sunday Retail Worker

In this article, I share my interactions with several retail workers who dread the “Christian shoppers” on Sundays. I hope it challenges you as much as I’ve been convicted and challenged by it as well.

We have been saved from our sin, the penalty of which we could never pay. We have been rescued by a gracious God, loved extravagantly, and invited into His family. So, shouldn’t Christians be the warmest and kindest people you ever meet?

[GEM]

Six Ways We Can Better Love Our Spouse

Recently, I was at a Bible study and my friend and I were chatting before it began. The conversation somehow digressed to our husbands. We began half joking/half complaining about them. Afterward, my friend texted me and apologized for not speaking highly of her husband to me. I felt immediate conviction both for not feeling convicted at the time and that through my words I had caused us both to sin against our husbands. We agreed to hold our husbands in high regard in our conversations and be respectful of them. This article was super helpful for me as I think through how best to do that. I realize this article is addressed to husbands, but as Christians we can implement these same actions to love and serve our spouses well. Over the past few months, I can point to multiple instances where my husband has surprised me with an act of kindness, served me selflessly, and asked great questions. I feel like I need to grow in all the areas the author shares, but the one I would most like to see growth in personally is speaking highly of my husband to anyone and everyone and serving him. I hope this article challenges you as much as it did me. I pray we would love our spouse with the lavish love of Christ.

Ask yourself daily, What can I do today to make my wife’s day easier? Perhaps it’s doing the laundry, washing the dishes, taking the kids to soccer practice, or making dinner. Your home is not only a refuge for relaxation but also a context to serve.

[TGC]

Beware Friendship Idealism

If I’m not careful I can easily drift into idealizing friendships–I like them to be easy, carefree, and full of laughter. When offense occurs, and it inevitably does because I’m human and sinful, it feels risky to stay in the relationship and work out the conflict. What if we just hurt each other more? These friends go to my church–what if we can’t get past the offense and end up making our small group or Bible study awkward? But that’s not true Biblical friendship. As the author points out, true Biblical friendship is ” being willing to love, forgive, and bear with those we don’t always understand. And being willing to confess sin, inadvertent or not, and receive the grace that helps us grow. This is certainly more characteristic of biblical friendship than the dinner parties and game nights we imagine in our minds. Biblical friendship helps us grow; it sharpens us just as we’re used by God to sharpen others.” I would much rather have a deep, lasting friendship where I am known, faults and all, but still loved and accepted just as Christ knows all my past and future sins but still loves and forgives me. Let’s leave our ideal friendship behind and embrace real Biblical relationships.

[Paul] exhorts us to actively pursue being a godly friend to others—that is, to actively pursue being patient, forgiving, loving, and thankful for others as we relate to them. The focus is on what we must give to others, not what they might give to us. We don’t do these things because we hope to get something in return—friendship or whatever else. We do these things because that is how Christ showed his love toward us, and biblical friendship will always model itself after him.

By actively pursuing others in the way Christ pursues us, we extend an invitation for the friendship we desire. But we also discover the beautiful and always-faithful way Christ relates to us.

[TGC]

Allowing God’s Pruning Process to Produce a Plentiful Harvest

My discipler and I have recently been studying sanctification in our time together. Yesterday, I read in John 15 that God cuts off every branch that doesn’t bear fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. My first thought was why do the branches that are bearing fruit still need to be pruned? Pruning is painful; no one likes having things cut away. But it’s so gracious of the Lord to prune us because He knows we can bear even more fruit without that particular branch. This article was so encouraging to me. Pruning has a purpose, and God, the good gardener, is at work even in the painful pruning process.

Just as with any season, the pruning season does have a beginning and an end. The cutting away will produce growth and in turn you will yield a bountiful crop of fruit. Beautiful, luscious fruit that nourishes others.

[Milk and Honey]

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Loving by Listening and Why It Matters

Most of us are familiar with Jesus’ command that “we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.” I already know I have a lot of a room to grow in that area. But I didn’t realize that one way I could practically show love to my neighbor is by listening attentively. I’ve often been told me that I’m a good listener, mainly because I tend to be quieter and let others talk. But that doesn’t equate a good listener. See, I struggle with reining in my thoughts and staying focused on what my friend is saying. Rather than really hearing about my friend’s problem or understanding what my husband is saying about college sports, I nod along and let my mind roam to the list I should be making, the item I forgot from the grocery store, and the meal I need to plan. I had never considered how unloving my behavior was. We can love others well and love and know God more, when we tune out all the distractions and focus on who is talking.

Loving others with God’s love is worth fighting the battle of our own distracted brains and wandering hearts. It’s worth counting others more significant than ourselves and looking to their interests. It’s worth taking every thought captive.

If we grow in this discipline of tuning out distractions, it will have broad ramifications. Yes, we will listen more attentively to those we can see with our visible eyes and hear audibly with our ears. We will also be better trained to “be still and know” our invisible God. By limiting other voices, we’re better positioned to hear the voices that really matter. Loving by listening matters for all of our relationships.

[Servants of Grace]

Three Verses to Build a Mother’s Faith

Scripture memory is vital to the Christian walk. I know that and yet I don’t always prioritize it the way that I should. However, it’s incredible how when you’ve committed verses to memory, the Holy Spirit will bring the right one back to your mind exactly when you need it most. A few weeks ago I was really struggling to believe that God saw me, cared for me, and loved me. Then 1 John 4:16 came roaring back to my mind, “We have come to know and rely on the love of God.” Even in those moments when my circumstances seem to say God doesn’t care, I must rely on His love, evidenced by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. I needed that verse and the Holy Spirit reminded me of it. I hope you’ll commit these three verses the author shares to memory–they’re powerful verses and I am confident God will bring them to your mind at the right moment.

Scripture memory offers us a tangible way to cling to Christ in the middle of the messiest, most tiring moments of the day. Mothers who hope in Christ have a Helper within us, the Holy Spirit, who empowers self-sacrificial love and care for our kids, and he often uses the word of God. Imagine if that word crossed our minds right when we needed it?      

[Risen Motherhood]

Are You Thinking or Praying? Why the Difference Matters

This article really convicted me. The author explains the difference between thinking about someone or a problem and actually praying for that person or that issue. I am so guilty of telling someone that I’m praying for them, when I’m actually just thinking about them. There’s a huge difference between having a passing thought or even maybe thinking about that person’s situation for several minutes and bringing their needs to the throne of God and asking Him to intervene and work. Our thoughts only gain traction and power when we voice them to the One who always hears and is ever ready to work on our behalf. Let’s not just think but earnestly pray.

As we pray, let’s sense the significance of that moment. We enter into the true spiritual presence of the Lord and that conversation can only happen because of the death of Christ. Prayer is a holy moment. It is a sacred moment. It is an intimate moment. And, it is a surreal moment. To be clear, the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in believers (Rom. 8:11). So, we’re never actually far from the Lord. Let’s place value on that conversation and the One who hears us.

Prayer is so much more than a thought that quickly runs through our brain. It’s more powerful than a conversation between humans alone. Let’s not “think” about someone in their suffering; rather, let’s pray for them. And when we pray, may we remember that moment was achieved through a high cost: Christ’s death and resurrection.

[enCourage]

When You Don’t Want This Daily Bread

As I look back at the last 2.5 years, it seems like each big prayer that I prayed, God did the opposite of what I asked. To say it was disappointing is an understatement. What made it even harder to swallow was that I was asking for good things–for my husband to keep his job, for my children to be born full-term. Yet, God didn’t answer my prayers the way I wanted. In this article, the author poses the question, “What happens when ‘give us this day our daily bread’ turns into, ‘Uh, Lord, I didn’t mean this bread?'”  We can be like the Israelites and complain that we are sick of manna, the bread the Lord has miraculously and graciously provided, or we can “look back at His faithfulness, look around at how He’s provided, and look up into the face of the One who always supplies all of our needs.”

Even when we struggle to give thanks, even when we’re tempted to complain about the daily bread that He’s given us, He will not forsake us. His provision is still good. His mercies are still new every morning. 

When the bread doesn’t look like you imagined, like the exiles, remember how He has provided for you, your family, and believers across the centuries. Steady your heart with memories of His faithful, good, “daily bread” provision, and pray those back to Him. 

[Revive Our Hearts]

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Extras

Tim and Kathy Keller on dating, marriage, complementarism, and other small topics

Pastor Tim Keller and his wife, Kathy, share their thoughts on dating, marriage, and other topics. It’s a short read but I hope you enjoy hearing a few snippets of their wisdom.

[T]he “best” Christians are ultimately the “chief repenters.” That is, they are quick to see and admit their faults unbegrudgingly and to seek forgiveness from God and others. This readiness to repent and accept forgiveness is perhaps the key “virtue” (if you can call it that) that you should be looking for in yourself and any potential spouse. If you both have it, then the sins and incompatibilities any two sinners will have cannot overthrow you. You’ll be able to grow in love for each other despite them.

[TGC]

For Jesus’s Sake, Be Kind

I’m sure you are all familiar with Ellen DeGeneres recently urging others to simply be kind, even to those who you disagree with. I know many applaud her sentiment. In an age where we are so polarized and hostile to people who hold different beliefs, I certainly agree we should be kind to everyone. However, I thought this article was so interesting as the author makes a distinction between being kind and being nice. I certainly fall into the trap of thinking I am being kind to others when I’m really just being civil or polite. But as Christians, we are called to be more than just nice. We are called to be kind, (it’s a mark that we are bearing the fruit of the Spirit). “Niceness and kindness are not the same thing. Kindness requires intentional action.” Christ was intentional in showing us kindness by coming to earth, living a sinless life and dying on the cross for our sins. It is His kindness that leads us to repentance. (Ro. 2:4). So, let’s be more than civil and polite to those we come into contact with today–let’s be kind.

If Christians are to be salt and light in a society marked by division and debate, then we will need to push back not only against those who say kindness should be reserved for “the deserving,” but also against those who would water down kindness to nothing more than an attitude of “niceness.” What if, instead, we were like King David, taking the initiative: Who might I intentionally show kindness to today? Even more: Is there someone unexpected who I could bless?

[W]e show kindness to others on account of our love and commitment to Jesus. It’s Jesus’s love that motivates us to show kindness to the undeserving. So, for Jesus’s sake, be kind.

[TGC]

Six Ways to Honor Our Parents

I have incredible, godly parents who continually go out of their way to serve me and my family. I love spending time with them and talking to them. However, I will confess that sometimes I can become so self-absorbed in what I have going on and, well, myself, that I don’t take the time to honor them well. The author shares six easy ways adult children can show honor to their parents. I especially appreciated her suggestion to talk to them/really listen to what’s going on in their lives and pray regularly for them. Those are both areas that I need to grow in. I hope this article is as helpful for you as it was for me.

Adults tend to have their focus on their spouse, children and careers however we can often focus so much on these relationships that our parents can get sidelined. While it’s natural that the relationship with our parents will change as we get older and become independent of them, we are still instructed to honor them.  We go from being so dependent on them as children to being able to function in life without them, and ways of honoring them will vary depending on our stage of life.

[Servants of Grace]

The Time Traveling Temptation of Christ

In this article, the author lays out how Jesus’ temptation works both backwards and forwards. He explains that Jesus was tempted in the same way the accuser tempted Eve in the Garden; however, He was without sin. And just like Eve, we are tempted to disobey God and make ourselves our own little god. But Jesus’ temptation also works forward on our behalf. When we trust Christ His righteousness is imputed to us and we can withstand the temptation that we’re facing by His power. What an incredible and freeing truth to dwell on today!

We see in Adam’s fall our own sinfulness, but we see in Jesus’s obedience our righteousness. We are forgiven by his grace. We are filled by his grace. And we can withstand temptation by his grace (1 Cor. 10:13). Through faith, we even receive Christ’s perfect submission to the Father’s will as if it were our own! And at each point of temptation, when we set our minds to the perfect work of Christ, we find the strength to say “No” to the tempter and “Yes” to God’s glory. 

[TGC]

The Benefits of Storing God’s Word in Your Heart

In college I was so diligent to memorize Scripture. I can’t tell you the countless times that I was facing an obstacle, an anxiety, or a temptation, and I would remember a verse or a passage of Scripture that was applicable. The Holy Spirit would bring the verse that I had memorized months or years prior to my mind just when I most needed it. But if we don’t memorize and meditate on God’s word then the Holy Spirit has nothing to bring to our minds in a time of trouble. This article was challenging for me as I have become lax about scripture memorization over the past few years. I hope it encourages you to make God’s word a priority as well.

When temptation comes our way–whether by our own thoughts or by external circumstances–having Scripture in our minds already prepares us to actively oppose sin.

If we don’t have it memorized and temptation comes, we may forgot the verse that reminds us that Christ is more satisfying, which in turn may give us away to our sin. Be diligent in memorizing Scripture!

[Theology and Life]

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Extras

Fill Me With Your Love Podcast

In this podcast, Nancy shares how we can love others and love God well when we abide in His love and rely on His power to love those we come into contact with.

We can’t love without Him, without His help. You can’t love God, you can’t love your mate, you can’t love your children, you can’t love your friends—not to speak of loving your enemies—without the love of God filling you and flowing through you.

Our love has boundaries, it has limits: “This far, no further!” But God’s love is endless. It knows no bounds. Our love is calculating. God’s loves is generous, its abundant, it defies logic . . . doesn’t it? 

[Revive Our Hearts]

Three Ways to Battle Bitterness in Marriage

Bitterness is so insidious. Often, I don’t even realize that I’m nurturing a root of bitterness until it grows so large that it begins choking out the relationship. This article challenged me to look first at my own sin before responding in bitterness to my spouse or any other relationship. When I am faced with the enormity of my own sin and the reality of God’s forgiveness, how can I not offer forgiveness and grace to my spouse?

The primary weapon in this fight is an ability to see my own sin, not my spouse’s. Your willingness to forgive will be in direct proportion to your capacity to see the mountain of sin for which Christ has forgiven you—at infinite expense to himself.

Pride is the root of most bitterness. Pride makes me see my own sin with 20/300 fuzziness and my spouse’s with 20/20 clarity. This kind of self-righteousness is deadly to marriage. It demotivates forgiveness.

[I]f God exacted the same standard of justice from you that you demand from your mate, you’d spend eternity in hell. Christians forgive because God first forgave them. Ultimately, Christ’s forgiveness, secured for us at the cross—at infinite expense to himself—enables us to forgive. Forgiveness is a supernatural act, and we’re never acting more like God than when we’re forgiving another person from the heart.

[TGC]

Reflecting Glory in Our Post-Partum Bodies

I remember years ago my mom telling me the story of my birth. She then jokingly remarked to me, “After you were born, my body has never been the same.” I felt a tiny twinge of guilt that I had forever changed my mom’s body. And then I had twins, and now I can say my body will never be the same. There are days that I really struggle with that fact. I’ll see old pictures of my pre-baby self and be filling with self-loathing. Why can’t I be that fit, that thin again? This article greatly encouraged me. The author reminds us that our bodies were created to bring glory to the only One who truly deserves it, not to glorify ourselves. Even (or especially) our post-partum bodies are able to beautifully reflect the glory of God.

The fading beauty of our bodies safeguards us from exalting them to a place they were never meant to be. Keeping us from fooling ourselves that we could, even for a minute, steal the glory that is God’s alone.

The story we were created to live in is about Another’s glory, a glory we so desperately desire when we get caught up in the empty promises this world offers for our body image. While we were busy exalting ourselves, our God veiled his glory in the frailty of flesh. He humbled himself, taking on a human body, to deliver us from our vain seeking and show us the better way of pointing to and reflecting a glory bigger than ourselves. 

The Messiah opens our blind eyes and gives us a vision for what is truly captivating. Our tired arms, aching backs, and postpartum bodies inhabit the very Spirit of God who promises to renew us inwardly when we fix our eyes on the unseen. When our eyes are on Christ, our bodies are both stewarded and given away in service to his will.

[Risen Motherhood]

In the Lord Your Labor is Not in Vain

Sometimes I feel like all the extra Christian activities I am engaging in are fruitless. Can anyone else relate? I’m usually so excited when I begin volunteering in a new position at church, but the shine quickly wears off. I begin to question whether I am having any impact. Is it really that significant that I watch 15 two-year-olds while their moms go to Bible study? Am I having any impact on the teens that I spend each Wednesday night with? Most of the time they seem more content to be on their phones than engage in conversation. However, when we are doing the work “of the Lord” we can know that our work “in the Lord is not in vain.” Even if you’re rocking babies and changing diapers so the parents can listen to the sermon uninterrupted or if you’re helping park cars so church goers can have a smoother entrance and exit, you are doing the work of the Lord. So take heart weary fellow-workers in the Lord. What you are doing has eternal significance and we do not labor in vain.

When laboring for Christ is discouraging, we’re told to keep on keeping on—“be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” But why? Is it just because we’re told to? Not at all. It’s because that keep-on-keeping-on labor is meaningful: “…knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” No matter what it looks like in those moments, or in those evenings when you come home and wish you did that thing or said that phrase differently, the work for the Lord still matters. We might be tempted to believe it’s vanity, but that’d be wrong: We “know” it’s never vain.

[Looking at Christ]

Alexa, Do You Love Me?

This article shocked me. “People aren’t only coming to Alexa with basic help requests; they’re also coming with confessions. “Alexa, I’m depressed” is among the many confessions users are voicing to the digital assistant.” We are hungry for meaningful connection, we desire to be known in a deep way, and we are looking for it in all the wrong places–including a digital assistant. As Christians, we can offer hope to those whose souls desire connection with their Creator. Alexa may be able to answer most of our questions, but only God’s voice can satisfy.

It’s astonishing that more than 50 percent of our interactions with Alexa go beyond simple command and fulfillment. Users are talking to Alexa in a way we’d typically talk to our best friend. [E]ven as voice technology advances, no non-human, disembodied voice will ever offer the true connection we need. 

Our job as Christians—those who have ears to hear the voice of Jesus, knowing it as the true voice of God—is to recognize that even in a secular, disenchanted age, souls are naturally haunted by echoes of God’s voice. They look for it everywhere, longing for it, because they were made for conversation with it. 

[TGC]

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Extras

Anger Podcast with Jasmine Holmes

I never thought of myself as someone who struggled with anger but then I got married and had kids. Everyone says marriage is a pathway to sanctification–I feel like that’s an understatement. Marriage and now children have revealed just how sinful my heart really is and how prone to anger I can be. But thank God that in Christ we are no longer slaves to sin.This podcast was incredibly helpful for me. I hope you enjoy it as well.

By his grace, anger is not something you always have to be ruled by. You may always struggle with it, but you don’t have to be ruled by it, because your King is Christ. So, even as you struggle he still has lordship in your life and lordship over that anger. That changes everything. [Journey Women Podcast]

Pumpkin Patch Pictures and Social Media

My husband and I took our twins to a pumpkin patch yesterday. The whole morning I kept trying to snap cute pictures of them surrounded by pumpkins, petting the goats, laughing with joy at the horses. But I wasn’t trying to get cute pictures for us to put away in our scrapbook and pull out years later as we fondly remember how adorable they were at that age. I was trying to get fall pictures to post on Instagram–because if you don’t get the obligatory, pumpkin-patch posed picture then is it even worth your time to go to the pumpkin patch? As I was reading this article, I realized that I was so focused on getting the right picture to share with my “friends” on social media that I missed out on enjoying my children’s simple delight at being outside on a fall day. The author points out that instead of caring so much about curating our lives to look a certain way to others, we should be honest and real and enter the rest that comes from a God we don’t have to impress with our Insta-worthy OOTD.

Sisters, superficiality is the road our Tempter desires for us: lives invested in the seen rather than the unseen, hours spent curating our outsides and neglecting our insides. However, feeling the pressure to present doesn’t mean we’re superficial. It means we have a desire for something, and we’re hoping presentation will fulfill it. This is always, always an opportunity for God to work.

We don’t have to entrust our desire to be seen to Instagram squares. Instead, we get something better—the opportunity to look to El Roi, the God Who Sees (Gen. 16).

We don’t have to strain to scrapbook our lives as we desire them to be. Instead, we get to depend on the one who has every day of our lives written in his book (Ps. 139:16), and we get to trust that his steadfast love is better than life (Ps. 63:3).

[Writer Caroline]

How to Share God’s Love Through Hospitality

I always feel a little guilty and ashamed when the subject of hospitality comes up. It’s not because I don’t enjoy hosting people, but it’s because I wrongly take on the burden that my house has to be spotless before we can invite anyone over. I have to have time and energy to cook a delicious meal. I err on the side of behaving like a Martha instead of a Mary and become so absorbed in the details and the work that I struggle to enjoy the conversation. But believing that my house, food, children, and circumstances have to be perfect before I can open my home has kept me from practicing hospitality. Let’s be honest–I have two two-year-olds–my home is never going to be spotless. I loved this article because the author challenges us to not only practice hospitality in our home but also at church. Furthermore, hospitality is such an easy way to show love to non-believers. I hope you enjoy this article and find it helpful as the author lays out ways we can welcome others into our churches and homes.

Here’s a shockingly simple question: When Jesus said “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 2:39), “What if he meant that we should love our actual neighbors? You know, the people who live right next door.”^[2] Christians should know and love their neighbors, even those who reject our beliefs. We affirm the image of God in our neighbors through engagement and kindness.

[Core Christianity]

3 Three-Word Phrases I Tell My Kids

As a mom to twin two-year-olds, I’ve been trying to teach them to apologize when they hurt each other, throw a fit, or hit in anger. But it’s been so humbling to have just taken one child to time-out for throwing a tantrum, ask them to say “they’re sorry,” and then lose my patience and respond in anger a few minutes later. In those moments, I’ve had the opportunity to go to my child, acknowledge my sin, and ask for their forgiveness. While they don’t really understand what’s going on, I think it’s so essential (albeit humbling) to model forgiveness and grace to our children when we act sinfully. I really appreciated this article. The author shares three phrases that he consistently tells his children; one of them being, “Please forgive me.” As parents, we have the privilege to model the gospel to our precious kiddos. What an incredible opportunity!

Before children turn two or three, parents must think about discipline. They will have hard talks during which they help their children confess their sins to God and others. But one of the most powerful conversations a parent can have with their children is when the shoe is on the other foot.

In my confession, I teach my children about sin. We are all sinners; we will not lay aside these selfish hearts as we age like some pair of toddler pajamas. And sin has consequences. Because sin offends God, we must confess our sin to Him. When we sin against others, we must seek reconciliation.

[Unlocking the Bible]

Christianity is not a Frowning Contest

A few months ago, within the span of a week, three different people who work in retail told me they hate Sundays because of how rude the “church-crowd” is to them. Their statements broke my heart. Shouldn’t Christians be the kindest, warmest, and easiest to get along with of everyone who is out shopping on a Sunday? We’ve just left church and instead of sharing the love of Christ, we evoke dread in the hearts of sales clerks because we’re rude and in a hurry. I loved, loved, loved this article. Randy Alcorn reminds us that Christians should be the happiest of all people. We should be the most joyful and we should spread that joy to those around us. Let’s allow Christ’s love for us to so permeate our lives that we can’t contain it. May His love that we in no way deserve, spill out onto those we come into contact with.

Truth is, the good news should leak into every aspect of our lives, even if we’re not consciously talking about God or witnessing to someone. Every time we ponder the gospel, live by it, share it, and anticipate its culmination in a world without sin and death, “good news of happiness” will permeate our lives with, well, happiness.

God proved his boundless love when he sent his only Son to die in our place so those who believe in him can have everlasting life (John 3:16). God is for us, and not even death can separate us from his love (Rom. 8:31–39). If we really believe these truths, we can’t help but experience deep happiness.

Imagine if God’s people stood out in stores, workplaces, schools, and even on social media for all the right reasons.

[TGC]

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Extras

I’m Just So Worried About It: How to Change Our Worry to Worship Podcast

The girls from Risen Motherhood discuss worry on their podcast. They define worry as turning something over and over in your mind. Haven’t we all been there? Laying in bed at night, worrying about this potential situation and replaying how it might happen. The girls look at what the gospel says about worry and how we can respond in worship. I hope you are as encouraged by this podcast as I was.

The key here is as we turn to Jesus, we turn our worry to worship. Over and over again, we see God calls his people to remember what he’s done. He tells the Israelites to write songs about it, put it on their door frames, write them on their walls, tell their children. In the early church, the apostles consistently recount all the magnificent things God has done. So, remind yourself when you’re worried about the past goodness of God. You can probably think through your life and remember the ways he’s blessed and provided for you and your family. But you can also think about the grand plan of God—everything from creation all the way until he returns. He’s planned for it with a good plan. He’s sovereignly writing history. He’s not forgotten you. He’s not surprised. He knows and he cares. Remember God has been faithful in the past and will continue to be faithful in the future.

[Risen Motherhood]