Author: Mom Morsels

I love to encourage moms to hold on to Jesus tighter !

Faith Series- Part V

~ Mom Morsels
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Building Up Our Faith

We want great faith, so how do we get it? We don’t develop great faith overnight. Just as we need to exercise our bodies in order to get them to be stronger, we also need to exercise our faith to make it stronger. And just as we need food to fuel our bodies for exercise, we need spiritual food to fuel our faith. Romans 10:17 New American Standard Bible says about faith:

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

The Word is the Bible. So according to this verse, if we want to have more faith, we need to get more Word! We need to know the Bible. We need to read the Bible. We need to study the Bible. When my faith is weak, the first thing I do is read and study my Bible! The Bible fuels our faith, helps it grow, and helps us be able to stand firm when trials come.

But the process of growing our faith can also be very hard! Often God uses difficulties in our lives to grow us, as we see in James 1:2-3 NASB:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

As we talked about in the beginning of this series, if our faith is never tested, we don’t really know if it is real (see 1 Peter 1:7). But times of trial and testing cause us to grow by deepening our faith and helping us stand strong fortifying our faith at the roots. Deep roots are what causes a tree to stand strong during storms. Some types of pine trees can withstand high winds because of their deep roots and widespread root system. It’s the same with faith. As we see in this verse, when our faith is tested, it produces endurance in us. Endurance deepens our faith roots, and it is endurance that helps us finish the race of faith (Hebrews 12:11).

Another way to grow our faith is through prayer. In the first eleven books of Luke, we see Jesus delivered two men possessed by demons, healed a woman from fever, healed a man from leprosy, healed a paralytic, healed the centurion’s servant, raised a man from the dead, rebuked the waves and wind, healed Jairus’s daughter, fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, and much more. Despite being in constant demand, Jesus took time to slip away to be with His Father and pray – see Luke 2:49, 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 9:28. It was after seeing Jesus’ faith to do miracles and noticing that He often slipped away to pray, that the disciples seemed to make a connection between the two in in Luke 11:1 NASB:

It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.

The discples had discovered Jesus’ secret to His faith, and they asked Him to share it with them; they asked Him to teach them about prayer. Prayer is another way to build our faith. Prayer is nothing more than talking with God; spending time with God communicating our thoughts and our hearts to Him. While it’s good to take time to pray (work with your husband or a friend to make this happen), mom’s don’t often have an extended period in which to pray. But just like Jesus, in the very middle of our busy life with children wanting our attention, chores waiting to be done, work howling at us, we can take a few seconds to talk to God. We read in Luke 5:15-16 NASB:

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

As a mom with five children (this would be the same for any amount of children!), I often felt like a crowd was clamoring around me for attention, but even in the middle of that, and though I couldn’t literally “slip away”, I could take a moment to turn my heart toward Jesus and talk to Him, even if it was just, “Help, Lord!” We can slip away in our hearts towards God. Learning to practice His presence in the midst of our business will grow our faith.

So moms, let’s build our faith by

TALKING TO GOD IN THE MIDST OF YOUR BUSINESS AND READING HIS WORD.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Faith Series- Part IV

~ Mom Morsels
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Standing Firm

There are certain trials we encounter that are really tough. The kind where we are hanging on by a thread. The kind where we are barely making it through. And if we can just STAND FIRM through these trials, we are doing well! We read in 1 Corinthians 16:13 New American Standard Bible as Paul writes:

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

In this verse “Stand firm” G4739 in the Greek means “to be stationary, to persevere, stand fast”. Sometimes the only thing God requires of us is the stand fast and persevere in our faith, to continue believing what He says despite what we see around us. The root word here is G2476, meaning “to place, put, set up, make firm, fix, establish, set or place in balance, stand, abide, continue.” We place our faith in God. We fix our eyes on Jesus. We stand on His Word. We abide in Him, no matter what is going on around us- we DO NOT MOVE. We choose to STAND firm in faith.

When I found out I was pregnant with our fourth child, I also found out I needed surgery on my left wrist. Because I was pregnant, they could not operate, so they put my left wrist and forearm in a rigid cast for 9 months. Since I worked part-time on the phone and computer in a fast-paced Telehealth nurse job, working one-handed made life very difficult. When our daughter was 6 weeks old, I then had surgery, and so I cared for our newborn and our three other children with a cast from my hand to my shoulder. At the same time, there were many other negative things going on in my life. I cried a lot, but I still chose to stand firm in my faith with Jesus’ help and with help from my husband, family, and friends. This is just one example, and I am sure that others have faced much more difficult situations, but I felt God’s pleasure over me as I stood firm.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood firm in their faith, despite the threat of losing their lives. Read their story in Daniel 3:10-26. These three were thrown into a furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar, because they refused to bow down and worship his golden image. There were approximately 14000 to 18000 jews in Babylon with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. My question is, what were the rest of the Israelites doing? Why weren’t they resisting Nebuchadnezzar also and refusing to bow to his idol? The furnace was heated seven times hotter than normal. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood firm in their faith as we see in Daniel 3: 16-18 NASB:

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Having faith to believe in God to deliver them is one level of faith. Having faith to believe in God even if He did not deliver them, is faith on a whole other level. This is what I would call GREAT FAITH. In our human frailty, we believe in God when we feel we have His blessing over our lives. Things are going well, we have enough money for what we need and want, our family is healthy, no one has had an accident, everything seems “blessed”. But where is our faith when we are not living “the blessed life”? Would Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego have said they were “blessed” when they were feeling the heat from the seven times hotter fire that they were about to be thrown into? I’m sure they did not feel blessed at that moment, but they made the choice to praise God NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED. As you can read on in the story, you can see that God delivered them, but if God had not, they had decided they would praise Him anyway.

This is the kind of faith I want. The kind of faith that STANDS FIRM during trials, that doesn’t turn and curse God when He doesn’t give me what I prayed or hoped for. Another place we see this kind of faith is in Habbakuk 3: 17-19 NASB:

Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.

There is not much left that could go wrong for Habakkuk and Israel. There were no blossoms on the figs, no fruit on the vines, no olives, no food, no sheep, no cattle; every area of livehood and provision for the Israelites was gone. YET, despite dire circumstances, Habakkuk chose to continue to praise God. Continuing to praise God in difficult circumstances shows GREAT FAITH, because in order to praise Him when things are going wrong, we have to trust that He will eventually make things right for us. The difficulty for us is understanding God’s timing, because His timing is different than ours. We want everything now. But from His eternal perspective, it may be on the other side of heaven that God will right our wrongs, and boy, will He! Read Revelation for the end of the story, and to see what happens to those who have done evil and to those who have not bowed their knee to the King of Kings.

So we have to ask ourselves, what kind of faith do we want to have? Do we want to have the Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego kind of faith? … the Habakkuk kind of faith?

Moms, let’s make a choice today to

STAND FIRM IN FAITH WHEN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES COME.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Love Series- Coming Soon!

~ Mom Morsels
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The Greatest of These

The Bible tells us that between faith, hope and love, the greatest is LOVE. In this series, we will take a moment to look at what love means. We could study love for a long time, but this study will serve to wet your appetite for your own further study on love.

Faith Series-Part III

~ Mom Morsels
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A Mustard Seed of Faith

This picture is of tiny seeds. Mustard seeds are very tiny. Yet, God compares this tiny seed to the amount of faith that we need to have. Looking at Matthew 17:20 New American Standard Bible, we see that Jesus had just been talking to the disciples about little faith:

And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

And in Luke 17:5-6 NASB as Jesus talks to his disciples about faith again, we read:

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.

If we want to learn more about this faith that Jesus says we need to have, then we may want to learn more about mustard seeds. So what are the qualities of a mustard seed? We see these qualities in Matthew 13:31-33NASB where the mustard seed is described:

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

In light of all these verses, we can see that a mustard seed has the following qualities:

A secure identity- The mustard seed does not question whether it will grow into a mustard tree or not. The mustard seed knows if it is properly nourished, then it will become what God intended it to be.

Nourishment- Matthew Henry commentary on the Matthew 13 verses says, “A grain of mustard-seed is small, but however it is seed, and has in it a disposition to grow.” * In other words, the mustard seed is supposed to grow. It has an inclination to grow. But it has to be properly nourished with nutrient rich soil and water. Just so, our faith cannot help but grow, if we nourish it with nutrients from God’s Word and with the fresh water of His presence, the Living Water Himself (see Romans 10:17)

Hope– The mustard seed is very small. so it does not matter how small your faith starts out, it can grow into something much bigger!

Wait- Just as in the natural, a seed takes time to grow, so it is with the spiritual; your seed of faith will take time to grow. Be patient: there is no microwave faith. If nourished adequately, your faith will grow… eventually!

Moving mountains and uprooting trees- If your faith is like a mustard seed, with God you can move mountains and uproot trees! Ever seen a mountain move or a tree uproot and plant itself in the sea just because someone told it to? The point is that with faith in God, you can believe for the impossible!

Service- Just as the mustard seed grows into a tree that shelters the birds, we can know that our faith is growing, if our faith is helping us minister to, serve, and encourage others.

Be encouraged ye of little faith (I include myself, here!), because all you need is a LITTLE MUSTARD SEED OF FAITH! If you nourish this faith with His Word and the Living Water, your faith cannot help but grow!

So moms, be encouraged that

WITH A LITTLE MUSTARD SEED OF FAITH, YOU CAN BELIEVE FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Faith Series- Part II

~ Mom Morsels
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A Genuine Faith

Have you ever faced diffiucult circumstances in your life, and said to yourself, “I wish I could have faith in this situation”? I know that I have. But here is some good news for you! If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and been born again, then you already have the FAITH you think you lack! We see this explained in Ephesians 2:8-9 New American Standard Bible (italics mine):

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

It was through your faith that you were saved, so you actually do have some faith. It is God’s gift to you by His grace, not by anything you did. In fact Romans 12:3 New American Standard Bible clarifies this further (Italics mine, again):

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Yes, everyone of us, who trust in Christ as our Savior and Lord, have been given a measure of faith by God. Measure G3358 is translated as “a measure of (“meter”), literally or figuratively, by implication a limited portion, a portion measured off.” Looking at the Greek, it is not clear whether this is “a measure” or “the measure” of faith, but what is clear from this verse is that God determines that we each have at least some measure or portion of faith. I found this fact encouraging! I do have faith! and so do you! The question is, what do we do with our measure of faith?… We have to grow it!

So how exactly do we grow our faith? This is the hard part, because in order to grow our faith, we have to go through trials, difficulties, hard situations. Think of it this way… in order to keep our bodies healthy, we have to exercise. Most of the time, exercise takes effort and often, if we really want to get in shape, some pain is involved. “No pain, no gain” is the saying. It’s the same way with faith. In order to grow our faith, we need to exercise it and often this is a painful process..

If our faith is never exercised, is it really genuine faith? If our faith is never tested, then it’s just an idea or a thought. We really only know our faith is real, if we go through a trial, and we realize our faith in God has carried us through. Let’s look at 1 Peter 1:6-7, and I like the New International Version for this verse:

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Our heavenly Father is concerned about eternal matters. What matters to Him is that our faith is GENUINE or REAL. And how will we know whether our faith is real, unless it is tested? In fact, to God, the genuinessness of your faith is MORE PRECIOIUS THAN GOLD. Wow, that’s very precious! And did you catch the last part of this verse? When our faith is proven genuine, more precious than gold, that in turn brings GLORY and HONOR when Jesus Christ is revealed. God has done so much for us, so it is a great honor for us to be able to give something back to Him, to be able to bring glory to His name.

So moms, please don’t get discouraged when your faith is tested, and remember that

TO GOD YOUR GENUINE FAITH IS WORTH MORE THAN GOLD!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Faith Series-Part I

~ Mom Morsels
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What is Faith?

We could study what faith means for the rest of our lives and never stop learning about it. Faith is a central concept in the Bible, and so much is said about this important subject. In our Faith Series, we will only try to offer a simple definition of faith, and hopefully this will spur you on in your own study of what the Bible says about faith. According to Quora* the word “faith” is mentioned 254 times in the New International Version Bible. Obviously, faith is something God wants us to know a lot about! With such a big concept, we might feel intimidated to even study faith at all, but we are compelled to study faith, because of the importance God places on this concept in the Bible.

Let’s start with a verse that is the closest the Bible comes to a definition of faith, Hebrews 11:1. In our Hope Series, we looked at this verse in the New American Standard Bible version as it related to hope, but I also like how the New International Version Bible is phrased:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you know where we will go from here. Faith in the Greek G4102 means “persuasion, moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation, assurance, belief, faith, fidelity.” And faith comes from a root word G3982 that means “to convince, to assent, to rely, agree, assure, believe, have confidence, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.” There is a lot to faith! In the root word G3982, we can see that faith is related to trust.

So, let’s say you have a trustworthy friend. You know this person’s character, that they are truthful, that they are trustworthy, that they love you, that they are for you. Then circumstances arise which make it appear that this person has stolen something from you. Will your trust in that person override the incriminating evidence you see before you? If you really trust this person, you will be convinced that the evidence may be wrong, that there must be some explanation for your friend’s behavior, since you know your friend is trustworthy. FAITH would believe the friend, not the circumstances. It’s the same with God. FAITH believes that God is truthful, that He is trustworthy, that He loves us, that He is for us, despite our circumstances, difficulties and trials.

If we know God’s character, if we trust God, if our hope is in Him, despite what we may see around us, we can have FAITH in God. We will believe in God no matter what we see. We know God and His character, so even though it may look to us like He has abandoned us, we choose to trust Him anyway and have FAITH in Him. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 4:16,18 New American Standard Bible for more insight: .

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day…. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Many of us lose heart so easily when we encounter difficulties in our lives (you can see that I have included myself here!). But God tells us in this verse how we can avoid losing heart, and it is by fixing our eyes on what is unseen not on what is seen. What is seen are the circumstances that surround us-the amount of money in our bank account (yikes! there have been times with five children that we have lived pay-check to pay-check!), sickness, job loss, appliances breaking down, misbehaving kids (We’ve been through every one of these!). What is unseen, is what God is doing for us behind the scenes, the plan God has for us in these circumstances, how He will either rescue us out of them or help us endure as we go through them. FAITH focuses not on the temporary, ie our earthly troubles, but on the eternal, God’s eternal plan for us. FAITH focuses not on the seen but on the unseen. We stand firm in FAITH, if we keep our focus on God.

So moms, don’t lose heart, instead

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE UNSEEN AND YOUR HOPE IN GOD, SO YOU CAN STAND IN FAITH.

In His Love,

Suzanne

* https://www.quora.com/How-many-times-is-faith-mentioned-in-the-Bible#:~:text=The%20word%20%22faith%22%20appears%20336,Good%20News%20Bible%20(GNB).

Faith Series

~ Mom Morsels
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Exploring Faith in the Scriptures

Faith can be an intimidating subject. This series will explore various scriptures regarding faith in an attempt to learn more about faith. Come on along and learn with me!

Faith Series-Part I

What is Faith? We could study what faith means for the rest of our lives and never stop learning about it. Faith is a central concept in the Bible, and so much is said about this important subject. In our Faith Series, we will only try to offer a simple definition of faith, and hopefully…

Faith Series- Part II

A Genuine Faith Have you ever faced diffiucult circumstances in your life, and said to yourself, “I wish I could have faith in this situation”? I know that I have. But here is some good news for you! If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and been born again, then…

Faith Series-Part III

A Mustard Seed of Faith This picture is of tiny seeds. Mustard seeds are very tiny. Yet, God compares this tiny seed to the amount of faith that we need to have. Looking at Matthew 17:20 New American Standard Bible, we see that Jesus had just been talking to the disciples about little faith: And…

Faith Series- Part IV

Standing Firm There are certain trials we encounter that are really tough. The kind where we are hanging on by a thread. The kind where we are barely making it through. And if we can just STAND FIRM through these trials, we are doing well! We read in 1 Corinthians 16:13 New American Standard Bible…

Faith Series- Part V

Building Up Our Faith We want great faith, so how do we get it? We don’t develop great faith overnight. Just as we need to exercise our bodies in order to get them to be stronger, we also need to exercise our faith to make it stronger. And just as we need food to fuel…

Immanuel-God with Us

~ Mom Morsels
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His Presence-Our Greatest Gift

Immanuel means God with Us. This name for Jesus, encompasses God’s will for us from the beginning of time-He wants to be with us. Matthew 1:23 New American Standard Bible says:

 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 

God set up the garden of Eden like the biblical groom sets up a house for his beloved. Eden was the perfect environment for mankind to grow, trees flourishing, lush fruit for eating, no rain needed because a mist came up from the ground and watered the earth. And after He set up this home for man, he placed man and woman in the garden to meet with them in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8), to be with them. It’s so clear that He has always wanted to be with us.

Of course, the perfect garden became imperfect when Adam sinned, but even then, we find that God had a plan in place to rescue us and bring us to Himself through Jesus. Through Jesus the world was reconciled to God and fellowship with our Maker was restored. .If we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we are back where we were meant to be, in communion with God.

Often we seek after the things God can offer, but it is in seeking God Himself, His very presence, that we are most fulfilled. Psalm 16:11 NASB says:

You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Fullness here means “satisfaction, abundance, fill, full, be satisfied.” You know that feeling after you have eaten a good meal, not too much, but just the right amount to have a nice full and satisfied feeling in your stomach? It’s that kind of full, a completely satisfied kind of full, a not needing anything else kind of full. And at His right hand are pleasures forever. God’s right hand is where Jesus sits interceding for us. No wonder there are forever pleasures there!

So how do we get more of His presence in our lives? Getting more of the Word in our lives. My husband likes to listen to the Bible; I like to read the Bible. Singing the Word helps me retain what I hear. I also, ask the Holy Spirit to interrupt my day. I love to go on walks, but half way around the lake path, I often realize I left Him 1/4 mile back. I am a busy person, so I ask Holy Spirit to interrupt my life with His presence. A favorite book of mine The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence * says,

The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great a tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.”

Oh to be able to be like Brother Lawrence! It takes practice to remember to acknowledge God in each moment of our day. We invite Him into every area of our lives, not just the “sacred” moments, but the every day moments, the busy clattering moments which are to Him just as precious, because He wants to be with us ALWAYS AND FOREVER.

So this Christmas season, let’s remember to

PRACTICE HIS PRESENCE IN OUR EVERYDAY MOMENTS.

In His love,

Suzanne

*Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, (Old Tappan: 1958), p.8

Psalm 121- Part VI

~ Mom Morsels
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Protected, Kept, Guarded Forever

As we look at our last verses in our study, we remember that SIX times in this psalm the same word for WATCHMAN is used ( v.3, v.4, v. 5, v. 7 x 2, v. 8). God wants us to know without a doubt that He is our WATCHMAN. We see “watchman” three of those times in Psalm 121:7-8 New American Standard Bible (I italized the words for “watchman”):

The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

I am going to admit that I really wrestled with this verse. That word evil H7451 means, “evil, adversity, affliction, calamity.” Will God really protect us from all evil? It depends on our perspective. If we look at this verse from a human perspective, then, No, He will not, but if we look at this verse from God’s perspective, then, Yes, He will. You see, God has given us some promises, and we know that He will keep them. We know that God is just and He will not allow any evil to go unpunished (2 Thessalonians 1:6-8). We know that in the end God will right every wrong done to us, and in that way, God is protecting us from all evil (read Revelation for some insight on this point).

God has not deceived us. He has already told us that we will have difficulties here on earth, that evil will touch us. We read in Psalm 34: 19 NASB:

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.

When God makes a promise, to Him it is already done (1 Corinthians 1:20). So although we face afflications in our life here on earth, we know that God has an eternal plan to deliver us from every evil that we have faced. In our eyes, that deliverance is in the future, but in God’s eyes, that deliverance is already accomplished, because Jesus already paid the price for it on the cross. So though we are touched by evil while here in our earthly bodies, that evil will be wiped away for all eternity when we are in our heavenly bodies. God will even use the evil that has touched us for our good, as we see in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NASB:

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

From His perspective, God calls our afflictions here light, but they do not always feel light to me! Yet, according to this verse, that light affliction also accomplishes a purpose. It produces an eternal weight of glory for us! I want that, don’t you? And that glory is far beyond all comparison. God knows that something good is coming for us, if we just wait on Him, if we just trust in Him, and He will work everything out in the end.

And GOD IS WITH US in our trials, as we face the evil in the world, promising that He will KEEP OUR SOUL (v.7). Keep is that word for Watchman. He guards our soul. Our bodies will fade away, but our souls, spirits, and very life are eternal. God is more interested in our eternal destiny than in our earthly comfort.

As we travel through this journey called life, God watches over us as we come and go. The last few verses of Psalm 121 are the conclusion of this psalm. God promises us the He will be our WATCHMEN both now and forever. What a promise! To have the God of the universe watching over us, guarding us, keeping our soul NOW AND FOREVER is such a comfort.

So moms, remember that

GOD IS YOUR WATCHMAN, GUARDING AND KEEPING YOUR SOUL BOTH NOW AND FOREVER.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalm 121- Part V

~ Mom Morsels
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Your Shade on Your Right Hand

We learn more about God, our Watchman, in Psalm 121:5-6 New American Standard Bible:

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

Again, we are reminded that God is our KEEPER. And He doesn’t just give you shade on your right hand. He IS your shade on your right hand. When you’re in the scorching hot sun, the shade is near you, and if you are fully in the shade, it is actually on you. This shows us how NEAR God is to us. God is so near to you, and He refreshes you with His NEARNESS.

As God is your shade on your right hand, you are under His shadow. We read in Psalm 91:1 New International Version:

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

To dwell in God’s shelter is to obey His Word and to walk with Him. As you dwell in His shelter, He provides REST in His shadow. Rest H3885 means “to stay, abide, dwell, lodge, remain, tarry”. Dwelling is staying in His presence, living in it. Rest doesn’t necessarily mean we are not busy. Mom’s are always busy! Rest means that in the midst of our business, we can ABIDE in His presence, close to Him, knowing that He is always working on our behalf, always good, because GOD IS GOOD.

Your right hand symbolizes your working hand. We all have work to do. As you do your work as unto the Lord, He sees you. He sees your right attitude. He sees your service. He sees how you lay your life, your time, your energy down for your family. Moms work a lot! …at home, at work, always “on call.” God will REFRESH you with His presence, moms, as you faithfully serve your family, as He Himself is your shade.

Your right hand also symbolizes your hand of intercession. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us (Romans 8:34). As you intercede for others, He will be close to you, because He is the well of living water inside you (John 7:38), REVIVING you as you serve Him interceding, praying. You can intercede for others as God brings them to mind, in the midst of your business.

As you journey through this life, God will keep you from the dangers of travel. Whether you realize it or not, we travel a lot during our lives. If you have a fitbit or apple watch, in fact, you can know exactly how many steps you travel each day, and Google maps can tell you how many miles you travel in a year and exactly where you have been (it’s kind of creepy, actually!). As you journey through this life, you will face dangers now and then. God is your KEEPER and He will be with you. He will not forsake you.

Because God Himself is your shade, the light from the fierce hot sun will not hurt you. Just as the shade protects you from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun, so God PROTECTS you. God sent the cloud to shield the Israelites as they traveled through the wilderness. Have you ever been at the beach and you are sweating profusely in the blazing sun? Then someone comes with an umbrella, and you feel so much better after you are under it. In His shade, you are sheltered, protected.

The night has its dangers as well. At night the dangerous animals come out, and the wicked can use the cover of darkness to hide their evil deeds. When the Israelites traveled through the wilderness at night, God sent a pillar of fire to protect and lead them. Animals won’t come near fire. Fire also keeps you from the danger of the stark cold temperatures at night. God didn’t let the moon smite the Isrealites, as He protected them with the light and warmth from the pillar of fire, and He will not let the night smite you either. He is your KEEPER.

So moms, be comforted today that

AS YOU JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE, GOD IS YOUR SHADE TO REFRESH YOU WITH HIS NEARNESS AND HIS PRESENCE.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalm 121- Part IV

~ Mom Morsels
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Feet Unmoved

In our next verses of our study, Psalm 121:3-4 New American Standard Bible, God reassures us as to what kind of watchman He is:

He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

A slip is an accident. There are no accidents with God. Anything that comes to you has to pass through His hands first because He is sovereign. Remember Job? After all he endured, he said he now saw God, instead of just hearing about Him from others (Job 42:5). God had something more for Job than just letting him live the good life. God wanted Job to know Him more intimately.

When I was on a Ugandan Missions trip in June, we went hiking at a series of waterfalls called Sipi Falls. It had been very rainy with the trail to the waterfalls much slipperier than usual, and we weren’t wearing the correct shoes. Also, the trail was much steeper than what was anticipated. But we were very careful and we had wonderful GUIDES helping us. And no one fell. We were being watched over carefully. If we even tottered or started to slip, there was our guide’s hand stretched out towards us to steady us and keep us from falling, to keep our feet in place.

This phrase referring to the foot not slipping H4132 in Greek actually means to not “waver, slip, totter or be moved.” Your feet will not be moved. Why? Because your Watchman is watching over you and guiding you. This reminds me of the house that was built on the ROCK in Matthew 7:24-27. It got hit with the same storms that the house on the sand did. The house on the sand slipped and fell, but the house on the rocks DID NOT MOVE. If we build our lives on the Word, then when storms come (and they will!), we also will not be moved.

And if we come close to slipping, God is right there. He is ALWAYS NEAR. We see what happens in Psalm 37:23-24 NASB if we start to fall:

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.

Close your eyes and picture a parent holding their toddler’s hand. Just learning to walk, the toddler is a little wobbly. The toddler starts to fall, but the parent pulls the hand up, and though the toddler may falter, the parent’s action helps them place their feet square on the ground again. That is what God does for us. Because He is always holding our hand (if we let Him!), when we begin to falter, He pulls us up, so we don’t fall “headlong”, so we don’t fall on our face ,and so our feet stay on the ground.

When a person is tired, they are more prone to accidents. They might be drowsy, doze off or slumber. Did you know that driving while drowsy is just as dangerous as drunk driving? So I told our kids, don’t drive if you are sleepy! (they knew not to drive drunk). In reference to God not slumbering, the word slumber H5123 is used once in verse 3 and a second time in verse 4. He’s making a point. He said it twice. He does not slumber. He does not get drowsy. He does not miss anything. He is ALWAYS watching over us!

Our verse also tells us that God DOES NOT SLEEP. We need sleep to keep us alert during the day. God doesn’t need sleep to keep Him alert. He is always alert. Good night-watchmen don’t sleep. They stay alert all night looking out for danger lurking in the night. God is our GOOD WATCHMAN, always alert, never sleeping, never letting things slip by Him.

So moms, remember that

GOD IS ALWAYS WATCHING OVER YOU.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalm 121- Part III

~ Mom Morsels

Look Up

God has brought Psalm 121 to me several times over the last six months, also bringing deeper understanding along the way. At the end of this six months, my husband and I ended up in Banff, Alberta, Canada in the midst of the Canadian Rockies. The picture above is from our trip. Mountains were surrounding us everywhere on every side and we could not help but look around at them; we could not help but LOOK UP.

The first two verses of Psalm 121 encourage us to LOOK UP. Psalm 121:1-2 New American Standard Bible says:

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

In verse 1, the psalmist is making a choice to lift his eyes up. He says “I will” which indicates a definite choice that he is making. Yes, it is our choice where our eyes look. We can choose to look at our circumstances or we can choose to look up. We live in a broken, sin-filled, hard and difficult world. I don’t know about you, but when I choose to look at my circumstances, it often makes me feel discouraged. If I choose to look up, to focus on Jesus, to lift my eyes to Him instead, it always encourages me.

Jesus is our example. He went through some very difficult trials including torture and death on the cross in order to save us, but Jesus was looking beyond His present trials. Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB says (italics mine):

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We are instructed to FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS. I always cheer up when I fix my eyes on Him. When I set my eyes on encumbrances and sin, I am taking my eyes off Him. Jesus focused on the “joy set before Him” in order to endure the cross. What joy was it that He set His eyes on? It was the joy of sitting at the right hand of the Father- the joy of being right next to the Father again. Likewise, when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can endure the trials that we go through while living in this imperfect place called earth. If we trust in Jesus as our savior, we too have the joy of knowing we will live in HIS PRESENCE with Him in heaven throughout eternity.

So it really matters where we focus our eyes! Where we focus our eyes, will indicate where our help comes from. In verse 2 of Psalm 121, we are reminded that OUR HELP COMES FROM THE LORD. So I find that if I am looking at my circumstances, my trials around me, I am trying to fix things myself. I am then relying on my own way to figure things out, rather than looking to God for His solutions or even just for His presence to comfort me. When we choose to look at God instead of circumstances, Psalm 42:5b NASB reminds us:

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.

Yes, our hope is in God and we have the GREAT HELP of HIS PRESENCE whenever we need it. And why do we look to God for help? The psalmist tells us it’s because God is the Creator of heaven and earth. Do we really need any other reason? Sometimes when we ask for help, we forget who God is. We forget that He spoke the world into existence with HIS WORD. Recently my husband and I visited the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum in Kentucky. This visit reminded us even more of just what a wonderful and utterly magnificent Creator we have!

So moms, when you are in the midst of your trials, don’t forget to

LOOK UP TO GOD FOR YOUR HELP, FOR HE’S THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalm 121- Part II

~ Mom Morsels
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God our Watchman

Psalm 121 provides so much comfort to me. I just love this psalm! Let’s look at Psalm 121 together in the New American Standard Bible (italics mine):

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

We’re going to look at each verse in this psalm together through this series, but first, there is something very important that I want to point out. Throughout this psalm a single Hebrew word is used no less than six times- each use of this word is italicized in the verses above. I have said this before, that if I want to make a point to our children, I might say the same thing twice. If they aren’t listening, I might say it a third time. If something is said to us SIX TIMES, I think we should notice what God is highlighting to us! Don’t you agree?

The Hebrew word that appears six times in this psalm is H8104. This word H8104 is translated several ways in this psalm and in the Hebrew it means “to hedge about (as with thorns), that is guard; generally to protect, attend to, take heed (to self), keep, preserve, regard, watch(-man), keep watch, take care.” There is a lot of meaning in that word! It’s clear that our GOOD SHEPHERD is pointing out the importance to us that HE IS OUR WATCHMAN. I know at times it doesn’t feel that way, though. Perhaps you are going through some difficulty or trial. When we are passing through those hard times, it can make us doubt that God is our watchman, but you will see through our study that He truly is!

In the New American Standard Bible version, in verses 3, 4, 5 and 7b of Psalm 121, this word for watchman is translated KEEP or KEEPER. Yes, God is also our KEEPER. You can be reassured that He will not let you go. As we see in Isaiah 41:10 NASB:

Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

God is keeping you; He is upholding you with His righteous right hand. That word “uphold” H8551 gives us even more insight into just how God holds onto us. It means ” to grasp, keep fast, help, follow close, retain, lay hold of, to be seized.” Seizing is forceful! It sounds like He holds onto us pretty tightly!

He keeps us, but we also must make a choice to faithfully hold onto Him. Despite your circumstances, HOLD ONTO JESUS AND DON’T LET GO! In Jesus’ love song to the church and to us, Song of Solomon 3:4 NASB, the bride (the church and us) speaks to the Bridegroom (Jesus), encouraging us to hold on like she does:

When I found him whom my soul loves;
I held on to him and would not let him go.

Going back to that Hebrew word “to keep” H8104, farther down in our psalm, it is interpreted in verse 7a as “protect” and verse 8 as “guard”. Doesn’t it provide so much comfort to know that God is protecting and guarding you? And as we saw above, that He is your watchman? Watchmen in the Bible times, stood on the wall that surrounded the city to protect it. They warned the people of approaching danger and could see trouble coming from far off. God does this for us also, if we choose to listen to Him. To us, it may seem that at times, He is not watching over us, but we will see as we study further that He truly is our WATCHMAN and we can trust Him. We do have to choose to believe Him, though.

So moms, you can rest in the knowledge that

GOD IS OUR WATCHMAN, WATCHING OVER US, UPHOLDING US AND KEEPING US CLOSE TO HIM.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalm 121- Part I

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He’s with You in Your Uphill Battles

Psalm 121 has become very meaningful to me. I found Psalm 121 in my mother’s Bible. My mom passed this year and I really miss her, but the Good Shepherd has been close and brought comfort to me and my family. In the past 6 months since I found this Psalm that was so dear to my mom, four different times it has been brought back to me.

I went for prayer at my church, and one of the ladies praying for me, said she had a scripture for me that had come to her mind-it was Psalm 121. My husband and I went to see a movie and this psalm was quoted in the movie. In June, I went on a missions trip to Uganda and a friend left me a card with scriptures on it, and yes, there it was again Psalm 121. While in Uganda, I got to share the messages on hope from this blog. After I shared, I asked the believers present to gather in small groups for prayer, and I also joined a group. One of the men in our group suggested we pray for the person to our right. When my turn came, the person next to me said, “I don’t have a prayer for you. I have a scripture.” And, yup, there it was again, he gave me Psalm 121!

In July, my husband and I went on a silent retreat to the North Georgia mountains for a time of prayer, scripture meditation, and reading. While there, it dawned on me that since God brought this psalm to me so many times, maybe I ought to study it! You think? …sometimes I am a little slow. I even wondered if God might be sitting up in heaven saying, “Well, it took four times, but she finally got the message!” He’s such a patient and loving Father. So I want to share what I learned as I studied this psalm.

This psalm is part of a group of psalms, Psalms 120-134 that were written as a “Song of Ascents”. Scholars have different theories on when these songs were sung, but many commentaries agree that one of the times they were sung was as the Israelite worshippers traveled up the high hills of Jerusalem to the Temple for the three pilgrim festivals. This reminds me of times in our Christian walk, when we feel like we are in an uphill battle, yet we proceed with hope in our hearts, knowing Jesus is calling us higher, knowing He wants us closer.

ASCENTS H4608 means “elevation, that is the act (literally a journey to a higher place), a climactic progression, degree, go up, step, ascent.” This is so true of our walk with Christ, as He is always drawing us higher; He is always drawing us closer to Him. I have often looked back after going through a difficult time, and felt that I have grown so much closer to God through the struggles. The journey may be hard, and walking up hill takes more effort. In fact, we might even complain as we struggle to make it up the hill; we might even have to stop along the way to rest and recover our strength, our will to continue. But when we make it to the top, to where He leads us, we can look back and see He has brought us to a better place.

My husband and I recently went to Banff, Alberta, Canada in the middle of the Canadian Rockies. We had the opportunity to go up to one of the mountain tops in a Gondola. What a view! The Gondola made it easy to get to the top, but there was also a winding path that you could walk up, and some folks did walk to the top. It would take a lot of effort to walk to the top, but the view was absolutely breathtaking and would be well worth the effort!

Can I encourage you today, not to give up? Can I encourage you that there are times in our Christian walk, when we feel like we are going uphill? PLEASE KEEP GOING. I want to reassure you with this verse Psalm 9:9-10 New American Standard Bible:

The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
A stronghold in times of trouble;
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

He is our STRONGHOLD in times of trouble. Stronghold H4869 means “high place, refuge, secure height, retreat, stronghold, cliff or lofty inaccessible place, altitude.” He lifts us up ON HIGH when trouble surrounds us. Recently there have been a lot of floods from tornados and hurricanes. The devastation has been terrible-please pray for those who have been affected. When the waters of the floods surround us, where do we want to be? We want to be up on HIGH. That is where God takes us when we are in times of trouble. He takes us up ON HIGH. Who else is on high- He is! As this verse states, He will not forsake us in times of trouble. Though He might seem far away-He isn’t. Hang onto His promise, that He is there with you, because He has said He will never forsake you, if you seek Him.

So moms,

BE COMFORTED THAT AS YOU JOURNEY THROUGH HARD UPHILL BATTLES, GOD IS THER WITH YOU!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Our Watchman Series- Psalm 121

~ Mom Morsels
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God Our Watchman

Psalm 121 has become a favorite of mine. From finding it my mom’s Bible to God using it to encourage me, I have come to love the verses of this beautiful Psalm. Come along as we look more closely at Psalm 121 together and learn how God is our true Watchman.

Psalm 121- Part I

He’s with You in Your Uphill Battles Psalm 121 has become very meaningful to me. I found Psalm 121 in my mother’s Bible. My mom passed this year and I really miss her, but the Good Shepherd has been close and brought comfort to me and my family. In the past 6 months since I…

Psalm 121- Part II

God our Watchman Psalm 121 provides so much comfort to me. I just love this psalm! Let’s look at Psalm 121 together in the New American Standard Bible (italics mine): I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;From where shall my help come?My help comes from the Lord,Who made heaven and earth.He will not allow your foot to slip;He who keeps you will…

Psalm 121- Part III

Look Up God has brought Psalm 121 to me several times over the last six months, also bringing deeper understanding along the way. At the end of this six months, my husband and I ended up in Banff, Alberta, Canada in the midst of the Canadian Rockies. The picture above is from our trip. Mountains…

Psalm 121- Part IV

Feet Unmoved In our next verses of our study, Psalm 121:3-4 New American Standard Bible, God reassures us as to what kind of watchman He is: He will not allow your foot to slip;He who keeps you will not slumber.Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. A slip is an accident. There are no…

Psalm 121- Part V

Your Shade on Your Right Hand We learn more about God, our Watchman, in Psalm 121:5-6 New American Standard Bible: The Lord is your keeper;The Lord is your shade on your right hand.The sun will not smite you by day,Nor the moon by night. Again, we are reminded that God is our KEEPER. And He doesn’t just give you shade on your…

Psalm 121- Part VI

Protected, Kept, Guarded Forever As we look at our last verses in our study, we remember that SIX times in this psalm the same word for WATCHMAN is used ( v.3, v.4, v. 5, v. 7 x 2, v. 8). God wants us to know without a doubt that He is our WATCHMAN. We see…

Counting on His New Mercies

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Daily Mercies !

When I read the Bible, I sometimes read it like any other book I would read. I realized recently that this is not the best way to read the Bible. The Pharisees read the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) this way, and it didn’t do them any good, because of the state of their hearts when they read it. Jesus said their hearts were hardened and their ears were dull. So I ask myself what is the state of my heart when I read my Bible?

If I read my Bible with a soft heart and my ears open, then I realize how UTTERLY AMAZING all that I read in the Bible is. As I read my Bible with a heart full of faith, I stand in AWE of all that God is speaking to me through His Word. It’s the difference between reading the Word objectively and subjectively. Am I reading the Word like a list of facts or am I reading the Word, knowing that God wrote each Word to speak to me? The Bible is a love letter to us from God. How will we let this letter from God affect us? If we read His love letter to us with a heart full of FAITH, then His letter to us will truly change us.

Here’s an example of what I mean. In Lamentations 3:22-23 English Standard Version we read about what God’s heart towards us is:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is Your faithfulness.

If we really believe that His mercies are new every morning, then with faith in our hearts we should be looking for them. If indeed we receive new mercies from God every day, then at the end of the day, we can look back and see His mercy to us for that day. I have started making this a practice for myself. At then end of the day, I look back and I ask God to show me, where was Your mercy for me in this day? He always shows me something, even on my very worst days.

This word mercies is translated as “compassion, by extension the womb (as cherishing the fetus), tender love, mercy, pity.” Yes, God’s heart is tender and loving towards us, showing us His compassion. He extends His mercy to us in so many ways! It’s so interesting that this word mercies at it’s root means WOMB, because who is more helpless than the baby in the womb, totally dependent on it’s mother for everything it needs to grow and develop? In the same way, we are so helpless and NEEDY, much more than we realize (much more than I realize!). We depend on God for everything we need; we’re so helpless and yet He shows us His compassion and mercy.

I love this verse in Psalm 103: 13-14 New American Standard Bible, which explains His compassion for us:

Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.

If He knows my frame, then I don’t have to explain myself to Him. I don’t have to explain to Him that I am very emotional and tend to overreact to things-He knows my weaknesses, because He made me. If He knows I am dust, then I don’t have to explain my helplessness to Him. I don’t have to explain how utterly NEEDY I am, how dependent on Him I am for EVERYTHING. He knows that I am helpless without Him.

And if we can’t find any other mercy from Him in our day, then we can find His mercy in sending His Son Jesus to rescue us from our poor dust-filled state and in REDEEMING us! We can thank Him daily for that mercy.

So moms, let’s

LOOK FOR HIS MERCIES EVERY DAY AND WE WILL FIND THEM!

In His Love,

Suzanne

In the Wilderness

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Does God Still Care for Me in the Wilderness?

It’s so wonderful to feel blessed. It’s even better to not just feel blessed but to KNOW that you are blessed! If the Creator of the universe speaks blessing over you, then you do KNOW that you are blessed! At Jesus baptism, God the Creator, God the Father, pronounced a glorious blessing over His Son J also spoke identity over Him. In Mark 1:11 New American Standard Bible, we read:

…and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

Almost like when we boast about our children to our friends, God spoke this blessing over His beloved Son in front of a large crowd, so all could hear, saying He was well-pleased with Him. Well-pleased G2106 means “to think well of, approve, be well pleased, take pleasure.” Father God took pleasure in His only begotten Son. I know this same feeling, when my husband and I take pleasure in our children, simply the fact that they are ours (well, on loan from God!). We look at them and smile, enjoying who God made them to be. When you realize that God takes pleasure in you-well, let it sink in, bask in it, like when you bask in the sun and let its warmth penetrate your skin. Yet after God spoke over Jesus that He was HIS SON, confirming His identity and blessing Him, in the very next verse, we read in Matthew 1:12 NASB:

Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.

Why would God speak a blessing over His Son, then let the Holy Spirit “impel” Him into the wilderness? “Impel” G1544 means “to cast out, drive out, to expel a person from society, to compel one to depart, to draw out with force, to eject” and comes from a root word meaning “to throw or to thrust”. So God the Holy Spirit drove, cast, expelled, thrust Jesus into the wilderness. Doesn’t that seem to be the opposite of what a loving Father would do to His beloved Son, who He just said He was pleased with? Yet, God did just that. Perhaps the blessing that God the Father spoke over Jesus, was to prepare Him to stand strong in the wilderness, so that He would know for certain His identity as the Son of God in the midst of the temptations that He was about to face.

So many times when we are in the wilderness, things aren’t going well, or we feel like God is far away, we think that God does not care about us or love us. But the Holy Spirit (God) drove Jesus, God’s MUCH BELOVED Son, the Darling of heaven, His one and only begotten Son who He was well-pleased with-into the wilderness. He literally threw Him there. This was done to God’s Son. If you are in the wilderness at this moment, do not believe the lie that you are there because you are not well-pleasing to God. Be reassured that God can still be well-pleased with you and love you, even though He is allowing you to be in the wilderness and even though He may have thrust you there. He may be thrusting you there, so He can bring you to a place of victory over the devil, just like He did with Jesus!

Don’t let the enemy rob you of your identity in Christ! We let the enemy hijack our identity way too easily. Satan’s aim is to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10), so if we let our guard down even a little, we need to know that the enemy is going to be right there to snatch it away. Don’t let Him do that! This is why we need to STAND FIRM in who we are in Christ. This is why we need to get in His Word and KNOW what He says about us deep our hearts. The truth of our identity in God needs to be firmly planted there. When the storms come and the winds blow, we need a house that can stand strong on a firm foundation, on the ROCK, on CHRIST (Matthew 7:24).

So mom’s

BUILD YOUR IDENTITY ON THE ROCK, SO IT WILL STAND STRONG.

In His Love,

Suzanne

A Sincere Faith

~ Mom Morsels
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Faith that Dwelt in Your Mother and Grandmother

As mothers and grandmothers we have a great responsibility before God to pass on our faith to our children and grandchildren. Timothy acquired his faith from his mother and grandmother, and Paul recognized that Timothy’s faith came from them. We see in 2 Timothy 1:5 New American Standard Bible, where Paul writes to Timothy:

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

How did Timothy obtain a sincere faith from his grandmother and mother? This faith first DWELT in them. Dwelt G1774 here means “inhabited” . This faith INHABITED them. Noah Webster 1828 dictionary defines “inhabit” as:

INHABIT. to live or dwell in: to occupy as place of settled residence…to live, to abide.*

Yes, Timothy’s mother and grandmother LIVED the faith that they taught him, and he saw that their faith was REAL as they walked it out before him every day. Their faith was a PLACE OF SETTLED RESIDENCE in them. Their faith did not just come and go, but through day to day life, through storms and trials, their faith was SETTLED in them. Their faith ABIDED in them. John 15: 4-5 NASB explains further how we are to abide in Christ:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

The key to abiding in Christ is in that last sentence- apart from Christ we can do nothing. But with Him… Ah! That’s where we want to be found ABIDING IN CHRIST! Both his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois had learned how to abide in Christ. When we abide in something, we STAY in it. We are single-minded, focused on Christ. We are not going anywhere else; we are staying in Christ.

Let’s look a little deeper at the faith of these women and why it so powerfully influenced their son / grandson. Sincere G505 here means “unfeigned, undisguised, sincere, without hypocrisy.” In his mother’s and grandmother’s lives, Timothy saw real faith in action. They didn’t speak one way and live a different way. No, they lived what they taught and thus it was SINCERE. As they chatted about their neighbors, Timothy heard faith, love, godly attitudes. As they walked through trials, Timothy saw faith in action, trusting God as their Good Shepherd. Timothy saw that what they believed is what they lived. In the same way, our children and grandchildren are watching as we live our lives before the Lord. We pray they see our walk of faith as we live with INTEGRITY before Him, and we live with INTEGRITY before them. .

Cruden’s Complete Concordance says of the word SINCERE :

The Latin word, sincerus, is derived from sine and cera, without wax, honey separated from the wax, or pure honey. In the scripture sincere signifies pure, or without mixture… Sincerity is opposed to double-mindedness or deceit, when the sentiments of the heart are contrary to the language of the mouth, 1 Cor 5:8. **

As our faith is sincere, pure before God, it is not mixed with the world or worldly thinking. As pure honey, our faith is WITHOUT MIXTURE. What we teach is how we live. No impurities in our living. Those who live with sincere faith, live their lives in the sight of God. They know that God SEES all they do, and they live to please Him at all times, especially when no one is watching, when only He sees what they do. They live according to 2 Corinthians 2:17 NASB:

For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

Yes, we must also live our lives IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. And God is not the only one watching or listening to us. Our children and grandchildren are watching and listening to how we live our lives before God. I have sung “Jesus Loves Me” to our grandson since he was born. I was not sure he was even listening when I sang it. I sang the version which ends with “Oh, How He Loves You and Me.” He is now 3 years old and recently at Sunday School, they sang this song. When they were finished, he piped up and said, “Oh, Yes, that is what Mimi says!” He then told them that they were singing it wrong, because they forgot a verse and did not add “Oh How He Loves You and Me” at the end. Our daughter-in-love sent us a video of him singing this song for the whole class. Apparently, he was listening all that time!

Moms and grandmoms, you are commissioned by God to teach your children and grandchildren your sincere faith. And even if you don’t think they are listening, please do it anyway. Remember that any Word that you put in them will not return void. So go ahead

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN ABOUT GOD, BOTH WITH YOUR WORDS AND WITH YOUR LIFE.

In His Love,

Suzanne

*https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/inhabit#:~:text=To%20live%20or%20dwell%20in,a%20place%20of%20settled%20residence.

** (1986), John Sadie, D. D., LL (Ed.), Complete Concordance to the Bible, (pp 601), Dugan Publishers

A Determined Destiny

~ Mom Morsels
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He Maintains Your Lot

Are you worrying and wearing your self out trying to determine what your calling is? Trying to make your destiny come to pass? Thinking if you don’t find out what your destiny is and make it happen, then you might miss it? Psalm 16: 6 New King James Version says:

O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.

The word “maintain” here means “keep fast, help. grasp, hold fast.” And the word “Lot” means “casting lots, portion, destiny”. God maintains or HOLDS FAST your destiny. You’re not missing your destiny. It’s in His hands. This is so comforting. In the past, I had heard teachings that I was supposed to go after my own destiny and so I wore myself out trying to determine what my calling was. While it’s true, I can’t just sit still (unless God guides me to) and expect everything to come to me, it’s also true that I don’t have to strive after my destiny. Let’s think about some Biblical examples.

Abraham was living his life and God came after him, told him to move to a new country, chose him, and Abraham obeyed God and moved his whole family to Canaan. Moses was living a life of luxury in the palace of Pharaoh, privileged as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, when God redirected him. He ended up in the desert and then God appeared to him in the burning bush establishing his calling. Joseph was living his best life in his multi-colored robe that pronounced to his brothers that he was his father’s favorite, when God allowed him to be thrown in a ditch, then become Potipher’s servant, then get wrongly imprisoned, then get elevated to ruler of Egypt in order to save his family. Can you see a pattern here? Each of these people did not seek their own destiny. It was not their responsibility to figure out their own destiny. God directed their lives, leading them into their callings. It’s the same with us. We don’t have to stress ourselves out looking for what our destiny or calling is. We follow after God and He leads us into it. What a relief! This really takes the pressure off us and puts it where it should be-on God.

There isn’t anything left to chance when you are His. We read in Proverbs 16:33 New American Standard bible:

The lot is cast into the lap,
But its every decision is from the Lord.

Decision means “verdict, determination.” In Acts 1:21-26 the disciples cast lots to see who the next apostle would be to replace Judas Iscariot. God is the one who decided which way the lot would go, which one would be the next apostle. In the same way, God is the one who decides the outcome of our lives, the destiny of our lives, the calling of our lives. Not sure about you, but at varying times in my Christian walk, when I have focused solely on figuring out my own destiny, it has made me focus on myself, taking my eyes off Jesus. But if I focus on the Lord, and just follow Him with each step, it is easier for me to keep my eyes on Him, then He leads me where I am to go and leads me into my destiny.

So I don’t have to feel this great pressure to find what I am supposed to do. Instead I can follow after God, as did Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and He will lead me into my destiny as I keep my eyes on Him. He will MAINTAIN MY LOT. He will keep my destiny, my calling and lead me into it. My responsibility is to keep my eyes on Him and follow closely after Him. And it’s the same for you. You can relax and

TRUST GOD WILL LEAD YOU INTO YOUR CALLING OR DESTINY AS YOU FOLLOW HIM,

In His Love,

Suzanne

Perfectly Imperfect Devotions

~ Mom Morsels
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Simple Devotions with Children

I am sharing my journey through devotions with our children in the hope that it will encourage you. I did make some mistakes along the way. Does everyone struggle with doing regular devotions with their children? I know I did. I did what I would call bus-stop devotions. I read a devotion book with Bible verses and a lesson to our children while we waited for the bus. It was very hard for me to be consistent and I did not do devotions every day. Working against me was the fact that I am a perfectionist (God is working on curing me of this!). At one point, because I couldn’t do the devotions every day, I gave up and stopped doing them at all.

About two weeks later, I heard a little whisper from the Lord saying, “Who won that battle?” … the battle for devotions. Well, I stopped doing them, so I realized that satan totally won that battle! And I realized that even if I wasn’t perfect at doing devotions with our children, if I just did devotions a few days a week, that was better than none! So I went back to trying again.

I used to use devotion books with our children, but I learned a lesson here also. One time I picked up a cute little purple devotion book from the grocery store that was on a Christian book turnstile. It had pretty pink flip flops on it and since I was doing devotions with our girls (our son is the oldest and was in high school), I thought it would be just what we needed. We began to do the devotions but the book was talking about parents who got drunk, lied or left home. Finally, my little girls said, “Mama! This book may be for some little girls who have parents like this, but this book is not for us!” Out of the mouths of babes. Around this time, a woman came to our church and taught us on how to teach the Bible to our children. She said all we needed was the Bible! Imagine that! She taught us to go through the book of Proverbs or Psalms with our children, so that is what I began to do. I have to say that kids have the best insight into scripture, if you just give them a chance to think about it! Our girls thought of insights I had never thought of! And so went our devotions.

Here are some practicals for having devotions with your kids:

  • You have a commission to teach your children the Word (I will post more on this commission soon!), so go ahead and teach them.
  • Don’t nag your husband to do it, if he doesn’t feel led to. Do it yourself.
  • Pick a regular time and try to stick to it.
  • Start with going through Proverbs, just a verse at a time.
  • Ask your kids what they think about the verse and listen to their answers. You will LOVE this part!
  • Realize that your kids will fight you on devotions-they’ll say they don’t want to do it, that it is boring, they’ll get distracted, wiggle around… DO IT ANYWAY
  • Let yourself not do it perfectly!

I do believe in SEED STUFFING. Get as much of the Word in your kids as you can when they are little. There will come a point where they will not listen as well anymore (this is a natural process of childhood as they turn into teenagers, don’t panic), so get the Word in them while they are listening still. The Bible promises that any Word you get in your kids hearts will not return void without doing what God intended it to do in them (Isaiah 55:11). What a promise! Doesn’t that just make you want to get even more of the Word in their hearts? It did me.

God may lead you a totally different way to do devotions with your children, and that is ok. This was just our little journey with devotions. You do what God leads you to do. But if you are struggling to find time to do this, then ask the Lord to help you. He will show you practical ways to work the Bible into your daily life with your kids (I’ll also give you more ways to do that in future posts!)

So when it comes to devotions, my best is advice is:

JUST DO IT! START DOING DEVOTIONS AND GOD WILL HELP YOU!

In His Love,

Suzanne