Girls To Grow

Hello! We’ve hit the middle of March and while that means Spring is close at hand, it certainly hasn’t felt like it here this week! We’ve pulled out the warm jackets one more time before they’re put away for next winter.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be successful. Maybe there are certain benchmarks you meet in a job or career that equal success. It could be earning a certain income or a specific job title. How about buying a new house or car or achieving a position of power or influence? Even just having lots of friends to hang out with could be an external thing we use to measure success.

But when we look at life through a spiritual lens, what does success really look like?

Here’s what I’ve come up with. Being successful is faithfully doing what God has set before us to do today.

That could be homeschooling children or running errands. Perhaps it’s working in an office or teaching in a classroom, taking care of an aging parent or ringing up customers’ purchases at the grocery store. Each one of us has specific things that we will do today.

Being successful isn’t about being noticed by others or getting rewarded for our effort…although that does happen sometimes. If we’re doing what God’s called us to do right now, and we’re doing it for His glory, then we’re successful.

In 1 Corinthians 4:2, we read, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” As we manage all that God has entrusted us with – our homes, children, finances, time, skills, and abilities – our responsibility is to be faithful.

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, we find that the master applauds his servants who’ve invested their talents well by saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The one who entrusted them with those talents is pleased because they were faithful with what they’d been given.

Note that each one of those servants was given different amounts to manage. God also gives each of us different things to oversee. But it’s not about who gets more…it’s about being faithful to manage what you do have well.

There’s nothing wrong with all the measurements of success I mentioned above. We can have goals and strive to reach them. We may end up with some really nice stuff or lots of recognition from other people.

But at the end of the day, let’s ask ourselves this question. “Have I been faithful to do what God gave me to do today?” If, by his grace, we can answer yes, we know that we’ve been successful in accomplishing what matters most.

Related posts:

• What Does It Mean to Walk with the Lord?
• 11 Different Ways to Study the Bible
• 8 Things That Will Matter When You’re 80

March is here, my friends! It’s the month when spring arrives, at least on the calendar. Our temperatures lately already feel like spring – and the pollen is out in full force.

Today we’re continuing to focus on prayer by looking at a prayer of praise we find in 1 Chronicles 29:10-19. I love this heartfelt prayer from David! If we want to learn to praise God as we pray, I think this prayer is a wonderful example to follow.

Since this is a long passage, I’m going to just put each section of verses under the respective point rather than add it here at the top of the post. Let’s examine this prayer to find five things that show us how to offer prayers of praise to God.

1. Praise God for who He is.

 Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever.

Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. [Verses 10-11]

God is so far above us. He is holy, all-powerful, full of glory and majesty, creator of Heaven and earth, and Lord of all. And that’s just the beginning!

Write out a list of God’s attributes that you can praise him for. To get you started, you can find five of God’s names here and use them in your praise. You can also check out these ten simple verses from Psalms to inspire your praise life.

2. Praise God for what he does.

Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.

Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. [Verses 12-13]

God is in control of all that happens in our lives. Every situation is allowed and orchestrated by him. Whether now in the present or when looking back at the past, we can see his hand at work in our lives.

How often have we been kept safe or recovered from an illness or come through a trial to joy on the other side? God does so much in our lives – including answering prayer – that we can praise him for.

3. Let God know that you recognize that all you have comes from him.

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.

For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. [Verses 14-16]

David realized how blessed he was. He knew there was nothing in him or his people that caused them to deserve all the blessings that they had received. David clearly recognized that everything they had came from God.

Stewardship involves using what God has entrusted us with to bring him glory. That includes our time, abilities, and money. Here King David and his people willingly brought some of their material blessings and gave them to God.

Recognizing that everything comes from God leads us to gratitude. And grateful people who want to steward their blessings well become generous people.

4. Examine your spiritual condition.

I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee. [Verse 17]

David knows that God wants praise from a heart that is seeking to honor and please him. David declares that his offerings to God are from an honest, sincere, and willing heart.

As we come before God in praise and worship, let’s make sure that we’ve dealt with any known sin in our lives. Let’s ask God to reveal to us those things that would keep us out of fellowship with Him so that we can praise Him from a pure heart.

5. Ask God to continually give you a heart full of praise and to bless those you love.

O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:

And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision. [Verses 18-19]

David wants his people to continually remember this time of praise and worship. And he closes his prayer by asking God to guide his son, Solomon, into following him.

As we close out our own prayer of praise, let’s ask God to bless our families with a rich heritage of keeping God’s commands and living out His plans for their lives.

I hope we make it a habit to praise God as we go to prayer. Often our minds are full of requests for His help and guidance. But let’s take time to praise God as we seek His face.

If you’d like to know more about using the Bible in your prayer life, check out my printable prayer guide on How to Pray the Bible for Yourself and Your Family.

Related posts:

• 3 Women in the Bible Teach Us How to Praise God
• How to Make Our Words and Thoughts Pleasing to God
• What Does It Really Mean to Rejoice in the Lord?

Hello, friends! It’s hard to believe I’m coming to you on the last Wednesday of this month! Spring will be here before we know it.

Recently, we’ve been talking about prayer here on the blog. In last week’s post, we looked at 5 Simple Truths About Prayer from The Lord’s Prayer. Today we’re going to dig into a prayer from the Old Testament.

We find a prayer of King Hezekiah recorded in 2 Kings 19. Just a little background…Hezekiah and the people at Jerusalem are preparing for an attack from the Assyrian army. Before the battle can commence, the Assyrian army has to leave the area to deal with another enemy. However, Rabshakeh, their spokesperson, sends a letter to Hezekiah, basically saying don’t think this is over! I’ll be back and no god will be able to save you from being defeated by the Assyrians.

Here’s Hezekiah’s reaction to this message.

And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only. ~2 Kings 19:14-19

As far as I know, none of us are under an actual physical attack from an army! However, we’re each likely facing some other type of trouble. It could be a financial shortage, a relationship that’s falling apart, a health crisis, a spiritual struggle, or a long list of other trials.

In Hezekiah’s prayer, we see five keys to praying during a time of trouble.

1. Tell God exactly what the problem is.

I love verse 14! Hezekiah took the letter and actually spread it out before the Lord.

Whatever our trouble is, we can take it to God in prayer. We can talk to Him specifically about our needs.

2. Recite God’s greatness.

Hezekiah begins his prayer by praising God. He says that God is God alone, over all kingdoms. He is the maker of Heaven and earth.

As we state truths about God, it helps us put our current trouble in perspective. We have a God capable of handling anything we face.

3. Ask God to hear your prayer and see your need.

God already knew about the threat Jerusalem was facing from the Assyrians. But Hezekiah still asked God to hear his prayer and to notice the predicament he was in.

God knows all about your problem, too. But go to God in prayer and ask Him to hear you. Pray for His attention to be drawn to your distress.

4. Believe that God will intervene on your behalf.

Hezekiah knows that the threat is real – Assyrians have totally destroyed other countries. He says, “Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands…” But He also knows that the gods of those countries weren’t able to save those people because they weren’t real gods.

Without God, there was a very real possibility that Jerusalem would fall to the Assyrians. And without God helping us, our trouble seems overwhelming. Yet when we go to God in prayer, we can trust Him to help us deal with our problems.

5. Pray for God to receive the glory through how He answers your prayer.

The prayer ends with Hezekiah’s desire for God to get the glory. As God saves Jerusalem from Assyria’s army, Hezekiah wants all kingdoms of the earth to recognize that God is God alone.

However God chooses to deliver you from trouble, seek to give Him the glory.

And in case you don’t know how this story involving Hezekiah ends, here’s 2 Kings 19:35.

“And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.“

May we each see God work in a mighty way as we pray to Him in our times of trouble.

Related posts:

• A Prayer for When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed
• How to Find Comfort in Praying the Names of God
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Hello! I hope today finds you doing well! After a very soggy weekend, we’ve had a couple of beautiful February days here. I’ve also been enjoying the sunrise coming a bit earlier and those few more minutes of daylight in the evening.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer. During my morning Bible time, I’m re-reading Jodie Berndt’s book Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children. (Amazon affiliate link) I’ve also been working on my own project related to prayer and I’ll be sharing more about that soon.

When we think of memorable prayers in the Bible, one of the top ones is surely The Lord’s Prayer. While we call it The Lord’s Prayer, I realize that it’s actually a model prayer for Jesus’ disciples to pray. The verses below are part of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount.

After this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. ~Matthew 6:9-13

Let’s look at five simple truths about prayer found in this well-known passage.

1. Because we pray to an almighty God, anything can happen in response to our prayers.

God is not limited in how he answers our prayers. He is our Heavenly Father who loves us.

Jeremiah 32:17 says, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”

As you bring your requests to a holy God, consider how great and all-powerful He is.

2. Praying for God’s will to be done is more important than praying for my will.

He sees and understands what I cannot. I think I know what’s best for me or for someone I love, but I may not. Just as God’s will is unfailingly accomplished in Heaven, so we want His will to be accomplished here on earth.

3. God wants to meet our needs.

This instructional prayer from Jesus includes one of our most basic needs – bread. Our physical needs are important to God, and He wants us to bring them to him.

Just a few verses later, Jesus talks about God’s care for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. As surely as He feeds and clothes them, so He will take care of us.

4. Forgiveness matters.

Isn’t it interesting that our being forgiven is tied to our forgiving others? That tells me that forgiveness matters to God.

How can we expect Him to forgive us if we’re harboring bitterness or holding a grudge against another person? Let’s ask God to reveal any unforgiveness in our hearts so that we can come to him fully expecting to be forgiven of our trespasses.

5. We should pray about our own spiritual condition.

This model prayer includes the request to be kept from temptation and delivered from evil. Don’t we all need that prayer daily? Whether it’s our own sinful nature that’s tempting us or the devil himself, we want to be aware of what’s going on so we can run from it.

There’s so much about prayer in the Bible. We have the Psalms, where David pours out his heart to God. There’s Hannah’s prayer for a son, Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance from the Assyrians, and of course, Jesus’ prayer in John 17. In the coming weeks, we’ll look at more of these prayers as we seek to learn and grow in our personal prayer lives.

Related posts:

• What Hannah Teaches Me About Prayer
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Can it be that we’re nineteen days into January and this is my first blog post of 2023??!! Yes, it’s true!

Our older daughter got married on January 7th. We went from pre-wedding week to post-wedding week, and this week we still have our younger daughter here at home on her college break. I’m actually driving down to Florida with her on Saturday, and she’ll start spring semester classes on Tuesday.

Life has been full of emotion and reflections, celebration and memories lately and I’m sure that will all come out in blog posts at some point in the future. But today I want to dig into a couple of Bible verses that can encourage us as we seek to grow in our walk with God.

I daresay no one wants to be stagnant or backsliding in their Christian life. But what are some signs that we’re actually growing? Let’s look at what Paul wrote in a letter to the church at Thessalonica.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: ~2 Thessalonians 1:3-4

Here are three characteristics describing these early-church Christians that we can look for in our own lives.

1. Your faith is increasing.

My husband recently said that we need to be quick to trust God. If you’re like me, our first response is trying to work things out on our own.

And isn’t it true that our faith is usually increased when we go through trials?

Our faith expands as we learn to wait on God instead of taking control of a situation ourselves. It comes as we see God answer a specific prayer we prayed.

When we look back on how faithful God’s been to us in the past and trust that He will be the same today, our faith flourishes. He’s never failed us yet, and He never will. Meditate on His promises and know He is faithful.

2. You’re full of love for fellow believers.

It can be easy to show love to our close Christian friends. And while we’re not going to be best buddies with everyone we go to church with, we do want to reach out in Christ-like love and compassion to other believers we know.

We can pray for them when they’re going through a trial. As the Holy Spirit brings them to mind, send them a text or a note of encouragement. When we hear of a need in their life, let’s do what we can to help.

In John 13:35, Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Loving others in the faith marks us as growing Christians.

3. You’re developing patience in trials.

Our human nature wants to run from any trial as fast as it can! If there were a place to sign up for a new difficulty in life, most of us wouldn’t be adding our names to the list.

But God-ordained trials come to all of us. Are we learning to be patient in the trial, to look for what God is wanting to teach us? Are we learning to depend on him for the outcome?

Being able to accept physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges as from God’s hand and waiting patiently on Him to carry us through is a sign that we’re maturing as Christians.

As always, this is written from a place of my own weakness. I want these things to be true in my life, yet I still have much growing to do! Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us continue maturing as Christians as we increase our faith, love fellow believers, and are patient in trials.

Related posts:

• How to Trust God in the Middle of Change
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Here we are, with Christmas less than two weeks away!

I’m actually feeling pretty good about that this year. All the presents are bought and wrapped and under the tree. (That’s mostly a result of our daughter’s wedding coming up on January 7th. I wanted to get Christmas tasks done so that we can focus on wedding stuff when she gets home from college soon 😉

Today I’m sharing one of my favorite Christmas passages from the Bible.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. ~Matthew 1:18-23

There’s so much to love in these verses!

We have Joseph, a just and righteous man, wanting to do the right thing by Mary, receiving divine guidance through a dream.

There’s Mary who’s been visited by an angel, a virgin carrying a child, while promised in marriage to a good man.

We have the fulfillment of the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, a Messiah to be born in Israel.

And there’s the promised babe, Emmanuel, God with us.

In this passage, I see four gifts for you and me this Christmas.

1. God’s faithfulness

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet…

God always keeps his promises. Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets foretold the Messiah’s coming. Every single prophecy was fulfilled.

God doesn’t change. His Word endures forever. And the promises we find there today are just as true as the day they were written. God is faithful.

2. Salvation from our sins

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

What we could never do on our own, Jesus came to do. He lived a perfect life, died by crucifixion on a cross, and rose three days later to secure our salvation. Truly the greatest gift ever given.

3. A Savior who knows our struggles

…and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. ~Hebrews 4:15

Emmanuel. God, come to live among the humans he created. Yet he didn’t avoid the pain, the trials, the struggles of life while he was here.

Rather he went through them all, just like we do, but without sinning. Jesus knows what our hearts feel today, how our bodies fail, the difficulty of guarding our minds. He empathizes and he understands.

4. Trust in God’s sovereign plan

Over the thousands of years before Christ’s birth, God orchestrated it all. The genealogies, the places, the timing of events – God made it all happen according to his plan.

Even down to Joseph and Mary…probably not on the list of “Most likely to be chosen earthly parents of God’s Son”…at least not if you were looking for the rich or the famous to play that role.

We can trust God’s sovereign plan for our lives. He is all-knowing, all-powerful and He works all together for our good and His glory.

I hope you get some great gifts this Christmas, I really do! But right here, in these four truths, we can find joy and peace that material gifts can never provide.

Wishing you God’s richest blessings this Christmas season!

Related posts:

• 7 Gifts I’d Like to Open That Won’t Be Under My Tree This Year
• What Are You Looking Forward to This Christmas?
• Unwrap the Gift of Peace This Christmas