Author: Mom Morsels

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

Our Merciful Vineyard-Keeper

~ Mom Morsels
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What Grace He Shows Us!

I’m not sure anyone really likes discipline, whether doling it out or receiving it. It isn’t fun to discipline our children, but I know it must be done. And when I am receiving discipline from the Lord, it always seems hard. Yet, in Hebrews 12:5-8 New American Standard Bible, God tells us that HIS DISCIPLINE shows us many things about His love for us:

…and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

According to this verse, it is God’s very discipline that shows His love for us. It is His discipline that proves we are His sons and daughters. This verse even goes so far as to say that if He does not discipline us, we are illegitimate sons/daughters. He disciplines us, reproves us, and scourges us. Let’s look at the meaning of these words for further insight. Discipline means “Tutorage, education, training, correction, chastening.” I wouldn’t be a good mom, if I didn’t teach and train my children or correct them when they go astray. In fact, it might even be dangerous for them if I did’t teach them, for instance, the dangers of running into the street. Reprove means “admonish, rebuke, reprove.” If I didn’t rebuke my children when they did wrong, they wouldn’t learn the correct attitudes in order to have the fruit of the Spirit and godly character in their lives. And scourge means “to flog” and comes from a root word meaning “to whip”. Yes, God may also allow us to be “whipped into shape” but always through His loving hand.

In Luke 13: 6-9 New American Standard Bible (italics mine), we gain some insight into our wonderful VINEYARD-KEEPER who tends His vineyard:.

And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

This parable actually makes me cry. The vineyard owner was DONE with the fig tree that was not producing fruit as it should. As an aside, have you ever had any non-fruit-bearing times in your life? I have. He said he looked for 3 years for fruit and did not find any-that’s a long time to wait for fruit! Pretty patient, actually. The vineyard owner was ready to tear the fruit tree down and give up on it, BUT the vineyard-keeper showed GRACE! Oh, how thankful I am for the grace God shows me in my life! The vineyard owner gave the vineyard-keeper more time and the vineyard-keeper went to work.

What did the vineyard keeper do? He DUG up the ground and put on more FERTILIZER. When God is dealing with me, digging up the fallow ground in my heart, I usually don’t like it that much! But don’t you realize what GRACE this is that He gives us?! He could choose not to dig. He could choose to just leave us as we are in our unfruitful state. But HE LOVES US TOO MUCH to do that! Instead, He takes the time to dig up our fallow ground, so that we can produce fruit. And the fertilizer that he adds after he tills the ground is the food that makes the tree full of nutrients to form the new fruit. Perhaps the fertilizer is the Word that though we have read it previously, we were not able to receive it because the ground around our tree was hardened. Hardened ground cannot absorb either rain or fertilizer; the ground has to be broken up and softened to receive it first.

So when we are going through a time of disciplining from the Lord, we really ought to rejoice that

OUR MERCIFUL VINEYARD-KEEPER CHOOSES TO INTERVENE SO WE CAN BE FRUITFUL!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Kindle Your Gift

~ Mom Morsels
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Fan the Gifts God has Given You

Every one of us has been placed here by God for a reason. We each have unique gifts. How do you know what your gifting is? You will feel His joy and pleasure over you when you use it. You may get feedback from others that your gift blessed them. What are you good at? What are your skills? What do you enjoy doing? Your giftings are hidden in your talents and interests. Our son is really gifted with computers, so when we have a computer or technical problem, we go to him for help. He built us a computer from an empty box when he was in high school and that computer ran for many years. That is what you call a gifting, a talent that my husband or I definitely do not have! He is now a mid-level developer.

The Bible tells us to 2 Timothy 1:6 New American Standard Bible to KINDLE our gifts:

For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Yes, kindle the gift of God in you. “Kindle” here means “to kindle up, to stir up, to inflame one’s mind, strength, zeal” and comes from a word that means “fire”. How do you kindle a fire? Maybe you haven’t even started the fire to begin to kindle your talents. So start with some tinder- this is the smallest material, like small shavings or shreds of material to get the fire going. It’s ok to start small. I started using my teaching gift in a very small group of women who met for potluck lunch and enjoyed hearing me teach. We only had about four to six ladies. This allowed me to practice my gift. If you are not using your gift anywhere, ask God to show you a small place that you could start.

Next add the kindling. Kindling is larger than tinder and includes dry wood, tree twigs, branches, pinecones, whatever is around that you could use. My next step in using my gift was in our small group Bible study. This was a little bit bigger step in using my gift to teach. After the kindling gets the fire going, you add the logs and the fire flames up. What might be your next step in using your gift? For me, it was to begin my blog in order to share what I had learned over the years and what I am currently learning from the Bible.

All fires will eventually die out unless you keep feeding them. Keep feeding the fire of your gifting by using your gift! Add more fuel to your fire. Keep stoking your fire. Blow on your fire to add oxygen to it and increase the flame. There is a lesson here-if you don’t use your gift, it may fade and it is certainly not going to grow. If your gift is teaching, not everyone can be the main preacher or teacher in a church, but if you seek and ask God to help you, I know He will find you somewhere for you to use your gift. So in order to kindle your gift…Use it! Grow it! Develop it!

Where could you use your gift? Maybe start there. In 1 Peter 4:10 NASB, we read more about a great way to use our gifts::

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God.

Use your gift to serve others! If you love to work with children, try volunteering in your Children’s Church. If you are great at administration, ask if anyone at your church needs help with organizing. Maybe you love to cook, so ask who is having a hard time in your neighborhood and cook them a meal. You don’t have to wait for a BIG opportunity to come to you before you start using your gift; you can find a small way to start using your gift. Remember the tinder? Start small and fan the flame and your talent and gift will grow!

So moms, don’t wait for a big opportunity before you use your gifts, go ahead and start small and this will

KINDLE YOUR GIFT SO THAT IT WILL GROW!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Serving from a Place of Identity

~ Mom Morsels
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Freely humbling Yourself to Serve

Jesus knew who He was and out of that place, He chose to lay down His life and serve. There is an example for us here to follow. Our serving comes out of knowing who we are -knowing our IDENTITY in God. When we are secure in the knowledge that we are valued by Him for WHO WE ARE, then we can serve others because we know, that our value does not change with WHAT WE DO. Jesus humbled Himself out of HIS SECURE IDENTITY in John 13:3-5 New American Standard:

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

This happened right before Jesus was about to go to the cross. He knew He came from God and was going back to God and He knew what He was about to go through. He is all knowing. He knew the physical suffering He was about to endure, yet He still chose to sacrifice Himself, to serve, to love, to humble Himself to bless others. It was out of this knowing He came from God, knowing His identity, that He washed the disciples feet. By the way, feet were really dirty back then.

Further, although the physical suffering that Christ endured on the cross was immense, I don’t think it compares to the separation from the Father that He endured. Think about this-through all eternity, from before creation (it’s hard to wrap our finite minds around this!), God was in unity-God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. It wasn’t like a marriage which involves fallible humans, differences, learning to build unity. This was PERFECT UNITY. They were NEVER separated. They PERFECTLY loved each other. Jesus chose to set that aside. I am not sure we can even fathom this sacrifice. Yet, Jesus knew where He came from and He knew He was going back, so it enabled Him to endure this awful separation, to set aside His desires and obey the Father perfectly.

If we follow Christ’s example, we can also choose to serve out of knowing our identity. In Philippians 2:5-8 NASB, we are told to have Christ’s same attitude:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Jesus didn’t grasp at His identity. Grasp G725 means “the act of seizing, robbery, plunder.” This comes from a root word that means “to take by force.” Jesus wasn’t forcing God the Father to make Him His equal or seizing His identity. He wasn’t plundering His identity from God, like a pirate with stolen treasure, taking something that was not His. Jesus KNEW who He was. Often, I find myself grasping at my identity in Christ. When you grasp something, you are trying to hold onto it but it seems to slip out of your hands and is not securely held. Jesus didn’t have to grasp at His identity, instead He knew His identity in God BELONGED to Him. Just the same, our IDENTITY IN GOD BELONGS to us. It is rightfully ours. Our identity in God can be SECURELY HELD. So reassuring!

Yes, we can HOLD FIRMLY our identity as His daughters and sons. If we are holding firm our identity, then we know that if we take a place of service, it does not demean our value. Our VALUE is the same no matter what we do. Our VALUE is WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST.

Jesus emptied Himself for us. He not only came in the lowliest form, a helpless baby, but then He became obedient to death. Jesus was God. He didn’t have to obey death. He Himself was not ruled by death. He CHOSE to humble Himself and obey death, in order to set us free from it. If we have the same attitude as Christ, we will also choose to humble ourselves for others without worrying about it devaluing us in others’ eyes. We too will be secure in the identity of who we are in Him, and this will enable us to freely serve.

So, when God asks you to humble yourself and put others first or serve others, you can

BE SECURE IN YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST, SO THAT YOU CAN FREELY HUMBLE YOURSELF AND SERVE.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Sifting

~ Mom Morsels
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Sifting is good!

A good shepherd will guide a wayward sheep with his rod and staff. The rod and staff are not padded! When we are wandering or going the wrong way, and God is redirecting us or disciplining us, we are going to feel a little pain from the firm rod and staff. This is not a bad thing because God is refining us! But it can be uncomfortable. God allowed Peter to be sifted, tested, purified but it was so that Peter could be prepared to be the leader that God knew He could be. Let’s look at Luke 22:31-33 New American Standard Bible:

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

Wait! I wanted Jesus to say NO to the sifting here, but He didn’t! …because Peter was boasting in his own strength. God knew that if Peter put his trust in his own strength, he would fall and would not be able to stand firm and lead God’s sheep. We all have to learn at some point that GOD IS OUR STRENGTH and that we cannot trust in our own strength. So SIFTING is actually not a bad thing, instead it’s the work of a loving Father-a Father who wants us to STAND FIRM. We gain more insight into how grain is sifted by looking at Amos 9:9 NASB:

For behold, I am commanding,
And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations
As grain is shaken in a sieve,
But not a kernel will fall to the ground.

How is grain shaken in a sieve? You can look it up for yourself. It is shaken VIOLENTLY. When I’ve been through trials, I have sometimes felt like I was being shaken violently. I didn’t like it! During those times, it is not easy to do, but we must choose to have faith that God still loves us, that He is still at work in us, that He knows what He is doing.

There is a song that says, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me” (written by Civilla D. Martin, composer Charles H. Gabriel 1905). When I first heard this song, I had a picture in my mind of God catching the sparrow and keeping it from falling. This was actually a false picture of God that caused me a lot of anxiety. Whenever I or a family member went through trials, it made me doubt, because I thought God was supposed to catch us and keep us from falling at all, to keep us from going through difficulties.

We get a true picture of the sparrow when we read in the scripture Matthew 10:29-31 New King James Version:

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Did you notice that? The sparrow FELL TO THE GROUND in this scripture. It was not caught. My picture that I had formed in my mind of the sparrow being caught was not correct. I had faulty thinking. What this scripture actually says is that not one of them falls “apart from your Father’s will”. We already know about Job, that satan asked to test Job’s faith, and that God allowed it. And in this scripture about Peter, satan is asking to test Peter’s faith, and God allows it. Jesus does not tell satan “No”, instead Jesus tells Peter that He is praying for Him to stand strong in faith so He can then encourage others after He has overcome.

In Psalm 1, the psalmist describes the righteous, how they stand strong if they seek after God. Then he contrasts the wicked in Psalm 1:4 describing how chaff is removed:

The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

At times in our lives, God will allow the wind to blow. He will allow our lives to shake or be sifted. These times are not without purpose, but they are allowed in order to remove the things that can be removed. Yet what God has done in our lives, the work He has done to bring character in us, will not be able to removed by wind or shaking or sifting. Remember the house built on the rock in Matthew 7:24-29? It stands in the storm. But sometimes we have things in our lives that are unnecessary, they may be distractions, these things may pull our affections away from God, and so God will allow them to be blown away. He will allow us to be sifted. This is His mercy towards us! Because He wants us closer to Him!

So if you are going through a difficult time and feel that God is allowing you to be refined, please remember

HIS MERCY ALLOWS YOUR SIFTING, SO THAT YOU CAN STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Hope Series- Part VI

~ Mom Morsels
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Our Living Hope

Our hope in God is a LIVING HOPE according to 1 Peter 1:3-5 New American Standard Bible:

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Looking at the Greek root of “living” gives us a lot of insight into just how rich and full our LIVING HOPE is. “Living” G2198 means “to live, breathe among the living, to enjoy real life, living water, having vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul, to be full of vigor, fresh, strong, active, powerful.” Wow, there’s a lot in that one little word!

Our LIVING HOPE enables us to BREATHE. When we are overcome by trials and difficulties, it feels suffocating. But God can breathe His life into us during that time, if we just chose to look to Him. Our LIVING HOPE, allows us to enjoy REAL LIFE. We get so caught up in what we think is life-comfort, pleasure, entertainment, prosperity, worldly goods, health, fame-but God wants to give us His real life-His presence. Our LIVING HOPE gives us LIVING WATER, the constant refreshing of His Spirit, His mercies that are new every morning, His LIFE. Our LIVING HOPE brings us new VIGOR, HIS STRENGTH, HIS POWER in our lives.

The word “HOPE” is mentioned 146 times throughout the Bible. Do you think God is trying to tell us something? That is a lot of teaching on hope. As mentioned before, we need hope in order to have faith. Hope is that expectation that God will come through for us, in His time, in His way, as our GOOD SHEPHERD. It’s the spark of faith. Anne Graham Lotz defines hope as:

“Biblical hope is absolute confidence in something you haven’t seen or received yet, but you’re absolutely confident that whatever God has said is going to come to pass.”

She also declares that “Jesus is your hope for the future. One day Jesus Christ will come back, and He will set all of the wrong right. Good will triumph over the bad. Love will triumph over hate. Righteousness will triumph over evil. He’s going to make it all right, and you can have absolute confidence that that’s going to take place. That’s your hope.” *

Jesus Himself and His work on the cross and resurrection are our HOPE! We never have to stop hoping-we can always hope! When we falter, we just have to look at Him again and He will guide our hearts back to hoping in Him. He is always there for us. Like David, we may sometimes have trouble hoping, but we have a choice and we can choose to place our HOPE IN HIM.

Our ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE is in Him! Our hope is in Him! So please don’t forget that

WE HAVE A LIVING HOPE, JESUS, WHO BREATHES HIS LIFE INTO US.

In His Love,

Suzanne

  • quoted from Through a Season of Grief: 365 Devotions for Your Journey from Mourning to Joy
    By Bill Dunn, Kathy Leonard

Hope Series- Part V

~ Mom Morsels
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Telling Your Soul to Hope in God

In our day and age, if you are seen talking to yourself, someone might think something is wrong with you. But the Bible actually teaches us that we should TALK TO OURSELVES! Sometimes our soul needs to be encouraged and we are the best ones to do it. It’s biblical to talk to yourself!

When you are down (noticed I said “when” not “if” because everyone feels down at times!), the Psalms are a great place to go for encouragement. The Psalms are basically statements reminding us why we should hope in God. And we also see the psalmists talking directly to themselves a lot! Telling themselves to hope in God. Many times David himself told his soul to hope in God as in Psalms 62:5-6 New American Standard Bible:

My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
For my hope is from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My refuge; I will not be shaken.

Yes, he’s talking to his own soul. David did not try to hide his emotions, negative or positive, but he was very open with God as to exactly how he felt about his circumstances. He often described feeling discouraged, down, distraught, angry, forgotten by God. He brought his emotions to God and was honest with himself and with God.

Three times in the Psalms the following verse is found and repeated almost verbatim ( in Psalm 42: 5, 11; 43:5). When God says the same thing three times, I think He wants us to listen. Here we see in Psalms 42:5 NASB::

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

Despair H7817 means “to bow, cast down, despair, sink or depress, bend or bow down, be low, stoop.” Doesn’t that just describe so well, how you feel when you’re in despair? It feels as if there is a weight on you, pushing you down, or like you are sinking/ drowning under the weight of your circumstances. But we don’t have to feel that way! God wants us to encourage ourselves to hope in Him. And Disturbed H1993 here means “to make a loud sound, be in great commotion or tumult, to moan, clamor, cry aloud, rage, roar, be troubled, be in an uproar.” Again, such a good description of how we feel when trials are all around us. We feel as if we want to scream, like everything is in commotion, warring at us, tumultuous like in a raging storm. But we don’t have to keep feeling that way either! We can make a choice to speak to ourselves and tell ourselves to hope in God (Note: sometimes we need help with this and seeing a counselor helps!).

David had a lot of things go wrong in his life. God had promised he would be king but it took a long time and he was persecuted even by his own family before he was actually made king. Then after he finally became king, his own son Absolom turned against him. Later his own people wanted to stone him! In 1 Samuel 30:6 NASB we see:

Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Sometimes when no-one around us is encouraging us, we need to encourage ourselves. We need to strengthen ourselves and tell ourselves to HOPE IN GOD.

So mom’s don’t forget to

TALK TO YOURSELF AND TELL YOURSELF TO HOPE IN GOD!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Hope Series- Part IV

~ Mom Morsels
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Tribulation Produces Hope in Us

I was a bit shocked when I read Romans 5:3-5 New American Standard:

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

When I am going through a difficult time, it usually brings discouragement, but this verse says that difficult times actually produce HOPE in us… if we let it. When we are in tough times, most people make one of two choices. We either pull away from God, blame Him for letting us get in the difficult circumstances, or pull closer to God, seeking His help and encouragement. We can ask “Why?” and doubt, or we can say “God help me” and trust.

It’s a matter of persective. God’s or ours. We have to have his eternal perspective. God is preparing us for our eternal home. He may need to let us go through trials so that our hope is refocused on eternity not on temporal needs. Remember Job? see Hope Series-Part II (.https://mommorsels.com/2024/06/24/hope-series-part-ii/ ) God had SO MUCH MORE in mind for him. When Job was going through his trials, losing EVERYTHING, I am sure he did not think God was looking out for him. But God was looking from an eternal perspective, and knew that there was something so much more important at stake than Job’s earthly comfort. God wanted Job to truly encounter Him- and he did! James 5:11 NASB says:

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

Yes, God is indeed compassionate and merciful! God is not satisfied that we remain in a state of comfort, because He wants to work something eternal in us! It is God’s compassion that leads Him to let us go through difficult circumstances, so that we can grow. Think back about a difficult circumstance that you have gone through-did it not help you grow in ways you probably would not have otherwise grown. I know that is true of me!

Hope does not disappoint us-when our hope is in God. That is so reassuring. We can always put our hope in God. Why do we hope in God? According to this verse, it is because He has poured His love out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that it was better for Him to go away, so that the Holy Spirit could come (John 16:7). Why? Because while on earth, Jesus could only be in a one place at a time, with a limited number of people at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be with many people, in many places at the same time because the Holy Spirit can even dwell inside of us. That’s why we can HOPE, because God showed His love for us through sending His son Jesus, allowing Him to die on the cross as a sacrifice for us, and even sending His Holy Spirit to live inside us!

So mom’s remember that

IF OUR HOPE IS IN GOD, WE WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Better than Silver, Gold, Rubies

~ Mom Morsels
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Why Study the Word?

I learned this principle from an older woman Linda Rogers who came to teach us at a women’s retreat at my church. She shared about the wisdom that can be found in the Bible. Here are some scriptures about that wisdom: 

How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, and its gain than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares to her. Proverbs 3: 13-15 New American Standard Bible 

For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared to her. Proverbs 8:11 New King James Version

How much better to get wisdom than gold. And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.Proverbs 16: 16 NASB

The beginning of wisdom is Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 New International Version 

This is what Linda Rogers asked us… If someone came to you and told you that in your backyard were buried tons of rubies, gold, and silver jewels, what would you do? Now, it is not a question as to whether they are there; it is 100% sure that they are buried in your back yard, What would you do? Would you wait a month? or a week? or a day? or a minute?No! You would call your husband and tell him there is buried treasure in your yard, you would rent a backhoe from Home Depot and you would start digging RIGHT NOW! **

So it is with the Word of God- within the Bible are HIDDEN ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM just waiting for you to dig out. So why wait? Why not start digging for the treasure? 

One of my favorite ways to dig for that treasure is by using a Bible app called My Sword Bible (https://www.mysword.info/download-mysword) which gives the Hebrew and Greek root words and their meaning. I call this BIBLE EXCAVATING. Exploring the root of a word in the Bible helps you dig for deeper treasure hidden in the Word. It’s my favorite ! It is so much fun! There is so much fun awaiting you as you study His Word this way! 

My tab called “Feasting” is dedicated to HOW to study the Word. I’ll give you Bible study tips and share what I have learned. Hopefully, it will inspire you to DIG DEEPER and start some BIBLE EXCAVATING ! 

In His love,

Suzanne 

** Biblical Womanhood seminar, Power point, Section “Discovering Treasures in God’s Word” page 3, by Linda Rogers January 6, 2006

Hope Series- Part III

~ Mom Morsels
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Hope that does not Disappoint

So how do we hope in God? How do we make sure our hope is in the right place? This is so important, because having our hope in the right place means that we will not be disappointed. Remember that hope deferred makes the heart sick, causing us to be discouraged and down. God does not want that for us. We are reassured by Isaiah 49:23b New International version, which says:

Then you will know that I am the Lord;
 those who hope in Me will not be disappointed.

The converse is also true-if our hope is in the wrong place, we will most likely be disappointed. If our hope is in the wrong place, then we are not trusting in God but in something else. Recently my husband and I were traveling and took a taxi while on vacation. The Taxi driver, Morty (name changed), told us that someone gave him a copy of the book of John from the Bible and that he keeps it in the front seat of his taxi “for a blessing”. He said he reaches over and touches the book and it gives him “a blessing” by touching it. He has never read the book. He says he doesn’t understand it. Morty’s hope is in the wrong place. He is using the book of John like a charm, something magical to give him a mystical blessing, when the real blessing is inside the book of John, placing his hope in God, not a copy of His book. We got to talk with Morty and encourage him to read the book and told him that God would help him understand it. We prayed for him-his wife has cancer-and when we left he said God sent us to encourage him, because he had been down that day but felt better after our talk. His hope was now in the right place!

Hoping in God means trusting in Him, waiting on Him for His timing. We see in Lamentations 3:22-26 NASB one way of hoping in God:

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.

We hope in God by letting Him be our portion, by being in His presence. We hope in God by reminding ourselves that God is good! Sometimes it is so hard to wait on God! His timing is so vastly different than our timing. His perspective is eternal, ours is not. But while we wait for His timing, putting our HOPE fully in Him, we can seek Him. We know He loves us and is a GOOD SHEPHERD to us. We can trust Him, therefore we can hope in Him.

We make sure our hope is in the right place, by staying in His Word, the Bible. I find so much encouragement in the Scriptures! When I am down or discouraged, I get myself in the Word and God encourages me again and helps me refocus on putting my hope in Him. Romans 15:4 NASB teaches us:

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

It does take perseverance to keep our hope in God. Worldly thinking will try to make us take our eyes off Him, but the Scriptures will help us get our eyes back on Him again. God the Holy Spirit also helps us keep our hope in the right place. Romans 15: 13 NASB says:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope must be important if God calls Himself “the God of Hope”! We abound in hope by “the power of the Holy Spirit.” Jude 20 tells us that praying in the spirit builds us up, encourages us, and this will help us keep our hope in God. So if you are disappointed, do a check on yourself and make sure your hope is in God, not in something else, because

WHEN YOU HOPE IN GOD, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

In His Love,

Suzanne





Hope Series-Part II

~ Mom Morsels
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Hope in the Right Place

Have you ever hoped for something and been disappointed that you didn’t get it? Have you ever hoped for something that you thought God wanted for you and then got offended at God because He didn’t let you have it? If our hope is not in the right place, we can get very discouraged when we don’t get what we hope for. We can become disappointed and even bitter at God. Proverbs 13:12 NASB reminds us:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Does God want our heart to be sick? I don’t think so. In this verse, Sick H2470 means “to be rubbed or worn, weak, sick, afflicted.” When we constantly hope in the wrong thing and repeatedly get disappointed because we don’t get the thing we hoped for, we get worn down. Being worn down leads to discouragement and soon we find ourselves not even able to hope in anything anymore. We give up hope. So it’s very important that our hope is IN THE RIGHT PLACE. Psalm 31:24 tells us where our hope should be:

“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” (Psalm 31:24)

Our hope is IN THE LORD. If we hope in something or someone besides Him, we will be disappointed, but if we put our hope in God, He will never disappoint us. Ultimately He knows what is best for us. I am retired now, but about 7 years ago when I was working as a Telehealth nurse, I applied for a promotion. Everyone in my department including my manager wanted me to get the position. I really put my hope into getting it. There was one part of the job that I especially wanted, being in charge of teaching nursing skills, but the rest of the job I was not that excited about, doing loads of administration. The decision was made by someone in a different department, and I was so disappointed when I found out that I did not get the job. Well, it ended up the person they picked could not do the teaching aspect of the job, so my manager chose me to do it. That was actually the only part of the job I really wanted, the teaching nursing skills part! God actually gave me something much better than I had in mind for myself. His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Hope in the Lord. This is really hard, but don’t put your hope in healing, a better job, a promotion (see my example above!), more money, because if you don’t get that thing, you will be disappointed. Your hope is in the wrong place. Instead put your hope in God, in His loving leadership in your life, in His love for you, in His leading as your Good Shepherd. He knows what is best for you. He knows what you need.

Job surely could not put his hope in anything around him-in his wife (she told him to curse God!), in his children (they were killed), in his cattle (they died), in his wealth (it was taken away from him), in his health (he was covered with boils), but He could put his HOPE IN GOD. God could have let Job continue on his journey, happy in his marriage, family, possessions, wealth and health, but God had something better for Job, something He wanted Job to learn. After all he went through, Job said to God in Job 42:5-6 NASB:

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes.

Before all of Job’s misfortunes, He had only heard of God. When you hear of something, it is not based on your own experience; it is based on someone else’s experience. Someone sees something, then they tell you, but you don’t see it yourself. You only hear about it. Job said that after all he went through, he came to the place where his own eyes saw God. He didn’t just hear a report from someone else about God; he had a first hand experience- HE SAW GOD FOR HIMSELF. Apparently God thought that seeing Him was worth more than Job’s comfort. Now. let’s go back to Proverbs 13:12, even more so, let your longing, let your hope be for and let your desire be for GOD ALONE and it will be a tree of life for you. God will fulfill your longing with HIS PRESENCE.

So, moms, remember to

PUT YOUR HOPE IN THE RIGHT PLACE; PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Hope Series- Part I

~ Mom Morsels
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Why Do We Need Hope?

I always thought faith seemed so much more important than hope. But after studying what the Bible says about hope, I discovered that we cannot have faith without first having hope! Let’s look at “the FAITH chapter,’ Hebrews 11 for more insight. Hebrews 11:1 New American Standard Bible teaches us:

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

So according to this verse, if we don’t have something “hoped for”, then we cannot have faith. There are many things we can hope for. We can hope the weather will be nice. We can hope we will have a good day. We can hope nothing goes wrong. We can hope no-one close to us gets hurt or sick. We can hope for healing. We can hope for a better job. You get the idea. The list is endless of what we can hope for. Some things we hope for disappoint us though-we’ll address that later.

Assurance H5287 in this verse means “a setting or placing under (support), that which has the foundation, assurance, confidence, substance,” So if faith is the foundation, it needs something to support. If there is no hope, there is nothing for our faith to support.

Here’s an example of HOPE. One of our two cats, Toby, loves whipped cream. We like to put it on our coffee sometimes. Our youngest daughter gives our cats a small dobble of whipped cream once a day (but not even every day). Toby knows the sound of someone getting coffee, and as soon as he hears it, there he is sitting at the edge of the kitchen, waiting, hoping that he might get some whipped cream. It does not take a lot to make Toby hope. We can try to be as quiet as a mouse, but even the slightest little tinkle of the coffee cups, and there he is- hoping, expecting. He doesn’t even get some every time, but he still holds onto the hope that he might get some this time. He is expecting some. He is hoping for some.

This is what hope does for us. It helps us expect. It’s like a little spark, just waiting to be ignited to start the fire of faith in our hearts. Noah Webster 1848 dictionary defines hope as:

to trust in with confident expectation of good.

Hope is confident expectation. On what basis do we have confidence? Toby has confidence based on the fact that he has been given whipped cream in the past, and so he expects that he might get some again. We can have confidence based on our testimony of God’s goodness to us in the past, and so we can expect that He will be good to us again. God IS good. It is who He is.

In the same way, Asaph remembered what God had done for his people Israel in the past and it helped him hope for what God could do for them in the present and in the future. Psalms 77:11-14 NASB says:

I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will meditate on all Your work
And muse on Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders…

Remembering is just one way of obtaining hope. What has God done for you recently that you can remember and praise Him for? As you praise Him for that mighty deed, can’t you just feel HOPE arising in your heart, and FAITH is building up underneath that hope.

So, mom’s, don’t forget that…

WE NEED HOPE TO HAVE FAITH IN GOD, SO LET YOUR HEART HOPE!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Living as Aliens

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We Really Are Aliens Here

Aliens are fascinating especially to children. They imagine little creatures with green skin, pointy antennas and shriveled up faces. There are countless TV shows, movies and books speculating whether or not aliens exist, and there are even stories of those who have supposedly had alien encounters. Our own children used to laugh at me, because I taught them that we are ALIENS. “No, we aren’t!”, they would say. Then I showed them that the Bible says we are ALIENS here on earth. Peter talks about this in 1 Peter 1:1-2 New American Standard Bible (italics mine):

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit

So there it is! Yes, we are ALIENS! No we don’t have green skin, but if we are following Jesus, we ought to look different than those around us who aren’t following Him. After all, we are living with HOPE; the hope of eternal life through Jesus. Those who do not follow Jesus will have a totally different mindset than we do. So it makes sense that we would be different than them in every aspect- we ought to talk differently, act differently, live differently. We see this spelled out in 1 Peter 2:11 NASB (italics mine):

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

Those in the world don’t have to abstain from anything. As Christians, however, we abstain, because we are living our lives to please God. And this is not our permanent home either, only a temporary one. We are just passing through! Hebrews 11:13-16 NASB (italics mine again) describes the attitude which we should have:

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

We seek after our permanent home with Him, a better country, our heavenly home. And since this earth is not our permanent home, we ought to be comfortable feeling uncomfortable here. It’s ok if we feel like aliens here, because we SHOULD feel like aliens. We shouldn’t feel like we belong here at all, because we don’t! If we don’t feel uncomfortable, if we don’t feel some friction living in the world, maybe we should ask ourselves whether we have let the world rub off on us too much. I’m including myself here-I ask myself, do I look too much like the world, or do I look like and feel like an ALIEN here?

1 Peter 1:17 NASB (more italics from me) says we have a “stay” here on earth:

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;

And it’s a relatively short stay in light of eternity! So mom’s teach your children that it’s ok to be and feel different than those around them in the world, because after all

WE ARE ALIENS WITH A SHORT STAY VISITING HERE ON EARTH.

In His Love,

Suzanne

His Law in Their Hearts

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His Law Leads Our Children to Christ

Before I knew Jesus, I did not behave well. Believe me, I tried – see my previous post on my story of redemption. So as a parent, I used to wonder, can I hold my children accountable to how the Bible says to behave, if they don’t even know Him yet? Are they capable of Biblical standards for behavior, if they don’t know Jesus? Maybe, I am setting up unrealistic standards for my children.

We teach our children the principles of the Bible and we tell them how to act based on the Bible, but can they really do it? It was the same with the Isrealites. God gave the Isrealites the Law and held them accountable to it. And they could not do it. They could not uphold the Law perfectly. So why did God hold the Isrealites accountable to a Law that He knew they couldn’t keep? Let’s look at Galatians 3:23-27 New American Standard Bible for some insight into this:

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

The purpose of the Law for the Jews was to lead them to Christ. The Law was their tutor, their teacher. God held up the standard of the Law and the Ten Commandments to show the Jews that in their own strength they could not keep all of it, to show them that they needed Christ in order to obey the Law. The Law was their tutor, to show them their need for Christ, for a Savior, to show them they couldn’t live by the Law without Him. In the same way, we hold up the Biblical standards of behavior for our children, so they can see their need for Christ.

I have shared my testimony before that when I was 12 years old, I got in a lot of trouble shoplifting, swearing, smoking, drinking. I tried to change myself and found that I could mostly change my outward actions, but I definitely could not change the motivations of my heart or my thoughts. I read my Bible and saw that in my own strength I was not able to do all that it said I should do. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t do it all. This is what led me to Christ. I knew I needed His help in order to follow Him and truly change on the inside. I also knew I needed His forgiveness for when I fell short. So I gave my life to Him and He has helped me ever since. He changed me inside; He changed my heart (2 Corinthians 3:3-4).

So we still need to teach our children the standards in the Bible, we need to be ready to tell them the secret to obeying His commandments and it is KNOWING HIM. And when they do know Him and they fall short of obeying His law, His ways, we can teach them about His forgiveness. He is there to catch us when we fall and He is there to offer forgiveness when we mess up. Yes, I’m so thankful that Jesus forgives! We had a saying in our family for when we messed up; it was “Lesson Learned”. When we mess up, we can a learn a lesson for next time. This is offering to our children, what Jesus has offered us. This is offering GRACE to our children.

So moms, don’t be afraid to expect your children to follow His law, just

BE READY TO SHOW THEM THAT KNOWING JESUS WILL ENABLE THEM TO FULLY DO IT.

In His Love,

Suzanne .

He Remembers

~ Mom Morsels
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He Records Your Alms and Your Prayers

Moms, do you ever feel as if you are working so hard, doing so many things for your family, and no-one notices? Now, I am not encouraging you to have a pity party, but I want you to know that we have all felt that way sometimes. To be honest, it’s often when we are worn out or just bone tired. Sometimes I think there is no-one anywhere on earth more tired than a mom. We do a lot!

Let’s look at Acts 10:1-4 New American Standard Bible for some insight and encouragement:

Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”

Cornelius was a Gentile. He wasn’t even supposed to know about God or who He was, because He was not a Jew. Yet this man sought to know God, offering alms to His people and prayers to God, and apparently GOD NOTICED. Moms, GOD NOTICES YOU, your alms and prayers. What are alms? “Alms” G1654 is translated “compassionateness, mercy, pity especially as exhibited in giving alms, charity or a donation to the poor, alms (deeds)”. Vocabulary.com (see below*) says Charitable means, “Something that’s charitable has to do with helping people who need assistance” Do you know anyone in your house who needs your assistance? Like-everyone! When you do acts of service for your family, show compassion and mercy, offer assistance to them, God literally TAKES NOTE. It’s a memorial to Him.

A “memorial” G3422 in this verse is “that by which the memory of any person or thing is preserved, a remembrance, a reminder, that is, a record.” When you do acts of service for your family, for those who need you, God RECORDS your deeds. He makes a note of them. He makes a memorial of them. Doesn’t that encourage you? Just to know that He takes note of what you do. Wow!

And He does the same with your prayers. Cornelius prayed continually and his prayers were so important to God, that God made a remembrance of them. He doesn’t only record the prayers you pray at church, or the prayers you pray when you have a quiet moment (Moms, how many of those quiet moments do we get?! ), or the prayers you pray when you are not distracted. No, He records all your prayers! Especially when my children were young, so many of my prayers were prayed in the middle of my business, my craziness, my mess. God knows your every coming in, going out, standing, sitting, remember from our Psalm 139 study? He knows that you are busy and HE HEARS ALL YOUR PRAYERS, even and especially those spoken or cried out in desperation to Him right in the middle of your busy, messy life. He knows that we need Him.

In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3), He even encourages us to be poor and needy. So don’t be ashamed if you feel needy most of the time. There is nothing like motherhood and the incredible demands placed on you and always around you, to make you feel that you need God more than anything. And that’s OK. That is something He loves- neediness! Good thing! I think the older I get the poorer and needier I feel.

So, moms, pray those needy prayers- He hears them! He loves them! And remember that

HE RECORDS AND REMEMBERS ALL YOUR CHARITABLE ACTS AND ALL YOUR PRAYERS.

In His love,

Suzanne

Hope in the Middle

~ Mom Morsels
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Lost but Found

Let’s just pretend that you and your family were vacationing in a small community together with a several other extended family. You all were staying a couple of blocks away from the beach. Your preteen told you he would be walking to the beach with his cousins but when you got to the beach he was not there. Can anyone say panic??

Now let’s make it worse and imagine a TON of people taking a several day (33 hour) journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. You had a great time and are on your way home. You assume your twelve year old son is in the band of cousins but when you’ve gone a whole days’ journey, you realize your son is nowhere to be found (at this point you might SCREAM, as you feel like the mom in Home Alone at the moment she realizes Kevin is not with them. I’d be screaming!). YOU… CANNOT… FIND… YOUR… SON. It actually takes you THREE FULL DAYS to find your son! More panic! This is the situation that Jesus put His parents Mary and Joseph in. Let’s look at the passage in Luke 2:41-52 New American Standard Version for more insight:

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him.Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

So when they finally found their twelve year old son, they were very upset. The parents took it personally and asked why their son had treated them that way and explained that they were worried about him. Now, in my opinion, the answer he gives his parents is a bit sassy! Anyone else think so? In fact, I think if my child answered me this way, I would send them straight to their room and tell them to only come back when they were able to speak to me in a different tone. Kids aren’t supposed to answer their parents’ questions with another question; just sayin’. But this is the Son of God.

As I was praying for my middle school children one day, God led me to this passage. I see a very middle school thing going on here. Children who are raised in Christian homes live on their parents’ faith at first. However, at some point, they need to make their faith their own. In this little picture of Jesus (we don’t have many from His childhood), he appears to be changing His perspective, from looking at His earthly parents to looking upward at His Heavenly Father. It’s a shift. If you see your middle school age child doing this, be encouraged. This is what is supposed to happen in middle school.

As a twelve year old preteen, Jesus wanted to now look directly up to His Heavenly Father, be where His Heavenly Father was, learn more directly from His Heavenly Father. Previously, everything He knew had been taught Him by His parents, although I am sure He had some sense that He was the Son of God.

Scripture even makes this point to the Pharisees that they cannot live on the faith of their relatives. Let’s look at Matthew 3:8-9 NASB:

Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The Pharisees could not just say, “Hey, Abraham is my father, so I am saved.” Jesus said they had to repent themselves and could not stand on their relatives’ faith. In the same way, at some point children will have to make their own decision for Christ and cannot stand on their parents’ faith either. Just like the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well, her community HEARD FOR THEMSELVES and believed in Jesus in John 4:42 NASB (italics mine):

…and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

So our children have to HEAR FOR THEMSELVES and BELIEVE THEMSELVES not just because of our testimony but because they have their own encounter with Jesus and they have their own testimony.

Please don’t get discouraged when you see your preteen or teen questioning, trying to find out for themselves, seeking after Him when you thought they were settled in their faith. They may have just been living on your faith and now they need to find their own faith. This is a good thing! A person cannot relate to God through another person- a person-your child-has to learn to relate to Jesus themselves.

So moms, when you see your child seeking,

PRAISE GOD THAT THEY ARE GROWING INTO THEIR OWN FAITH AND THAT IS GOOD!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Hope Series

~ Mom Morsels
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What is Hope?

I am starting a new series on Hope. Hope is a key component to faith. Come along and study the scriptures with me as we learn about how important it is to have HOPE.

Hope Series- Part I

Why Do We Need Hope? I always thought faith seemed so much more important than hope. But after studying what the Bible says about hope, I discovered that we cannot have faith without first having hope! Let’s look at “the FAITH chapter,’ Hebrews 11 for more insight. Hebrews 11:1 New American Standard Bible teaches us:…

Hope Series-Part II

Hope in the Right Place Have you ever hoped for something and been disappointed that you didn’t get it? Have you ever hoped for something that you thought God wanted for you and then got offended at God because He didn’t let you have it? If our hope is not in the right place, we…

Hope Series- Part III

Hope that does not Disappoint So how do we hope in God? How do we make sure our hope is in the right place? This is so important, because having our hope in the right place means that we will not be disappointed. Remember that hope deferred makes the heart sick, causing us to be…

Hope Series- Part IV

Tribulation Produces Hope in Us I was a bit shocked when I read Romans 5:3-5 New American Standard: And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit…

Hope Series- Part V

Telling Your Soul to Hope in God In our day and age, if you are seen talking to yourself, someone might think something is wrong with you. But the Bible actually teaches us that we should TALK TO OURSELVES! Sometimes our soul needs to be encouraged and we are the best ones to do it.…

Hope Series- Part VI

Our Living Hope Our hope in God is a LIVING HOPE according to 1 Peter 1:3-5 New American Standard Bible:  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and…

Faith-filled Prayer

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Praying in Faith for our Children

I used to feel so defeated, so discouraged as I prayed for my children. When I prayed I had a picture of them in my head, but it was a picture of them as they were then, with all their struggles, trials, difficulties, misbehaviors, attitudes; I prayed what I saw before my eyes. God showed me that this was the wrong way to pray for my children. This is praying BY SIGHT not BY FAITH.

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 New American Standard Bible:

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

So in order to have faith, we have to have “things hoped for”. What things do you hope for your children? As a mom, I know you can see the giftings and uniqueness in each of your children. I know you have dreams for them. THAT is a “thing hoped for”. Hoping for what they will be, who they will become, that is what you base your faith on. So when you pray for your children, have that HOPE and DREAM for your child before your eyes. That is praying IN FAITH for them.

One of our children at 5 years old, asked if she could look at a science book with nature pictures by herself instead of me reading to her for our before bed reading time. She had just started reading but still was so interested in that science book that she wanted to put all her focus into it. That was unusual for a child to do that. I took note. I treasured that in my heart. Today this child is a young adult who is in horticulture school and who has a job working with plants. She comes home from school with these amazingly beautiful flower arrangements as she is learning her craft. That was something I saw in her at a young age, that is something I prayed for her and hoped for her.

Many times as you pray for your child, you will be praying for things “not seen”. You might not see the character you want them to have when they hit their sibling. You might not see the steadfastness in their walk with God, when they are older and are not reading their Bible as much as you think they should. You might not see the kindness you think they should have, as they yell at you when they are mad. But good news! What you see today is not who they will be eventually. So instead of feeling discouraged by the things you are NOT SEEING today, or the things you wish were present now but are not there, pray and believe God that those NOT SEEN things will be there one day. Pray, believing that God can and will build in your child the things you HOPE FOR. That is praying IN FAITH.

And you can pray in faith and then EAGERLY WAIT for what you hoped and prayed for. Romans 8:24b-25 NASB shows us:

…but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

As you pray in HOPE for your children, you can wait eagerly for that hope to be fulfilled. It will happen. There have been discouraging times we have had with our children, but we kept praying, hoping, waiting, and God came through. We PERSEVERED in prayer for our children. Don’t give up hope as you persevere in prayer for your children.

For younger children, plant those seeds of the Word-lots of them! And pray for them to fall on good soil in your child’s heart. For older children, where you have planted seeds already, as you pray, talk to the Lord of the Harvest and ask Him to help those seeds grow!

So moms, as we pray,

LET’S PRAY IN FAITH FOR THE THINGS WE HOPE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND WAIT FOR THEM EAGERLY. .

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 23-24

~ Mom Morsels
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Search My Heart

How desperate are you to know God? Are you willing to let Him shine His light on your heart to reveal any dark areas keeping you away from Him. Remember that where He is, there is no darkness, because His light illumines any darkness it encounters. In Psalms 139: 23-24 New American Standard Bible we read:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

In verse 1 of this Psalm David asked God to search HIM. But after recounting the marvelous way God knows him, formed him, stays with him, planned his days for him, he goes a little deeper and asks God to search not just him, but his HEART and his THOUGHTS. If you really know a person well, you know their heart and you can almost anticipate their thoughts. My husband and I have been married 35years. We’ve spent a lot of time together. I trust him, because I KNOW his heart. And we often say the same thing at the same time, because we almost know each other’s THOUGHTS. David invites God to know him that well. Of course, God already knows our hearts and our thoughts, but He gives us a choice to go deeper-do we welcome Him into the deep places in our hearts and thoughts?

David wants God to know his anxious thoughts. “Anxious” H8312 means “disquieting thoughts” and comes from a root word that means “ambivalence, divided in mind.” When our heart is divided, James 1:6-8 says we are double-minded, and we sway “like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” We want God to show us if our heart is divided, so we can turn and instead be whole-hearted towards God.

And David must be very desperate to know God, because he even asks God to “try” or test him. That’s very brave! Asking God to test you is like playing with fire- because God tests with fire! And God allows fiery trials in our lives for a reason. In fact in Deuteronomy 8:2 New International Version explains that one of the reasons God tests us with trials is to reveal what is in our hearts as we see He did with Israel:

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

I remember one of my friends once told me that she was a really kind person until she had kids! She didn’t realize that she had some work to do in the area of being kind until her kindness was tested. And, yes, children will definitely test your kindness! In the same way, we often don’t know what is really in our heart until we are tested.

We need to keep our hearts open to God, as we ask Him, like the psalmist, to see if there is any hurtful way in us. Hurtful H6090 means “wicked, pain, sorrow, idol.” Hurtful or wicked ways only keep us apart from God. If we sincerely want Him to lead us in His everlasting way, then we have to ask Him to shine His light on the dark areas of our heart to reveal any idols we have there. If idols are taking up space in our hearts, then God can’t be in the same space at the same time. It’s one or the other. And we have to ask ourselves, which will it be?

So let’s run after God hard enough that we say

TEST MY HEART AND MY THOUGHTS, LORD, BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW YOU MORE.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 19-22

~ Mom Morsels
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His Enemies, Our Enemies

It’s ok if you have enemies. In fact, God does. And He says we will too, if we follow Him. Psalm 139 takes a turn from addressing us and His plan for us, to addressing God and His enemies. Let’s look at Psalm 139:19-22 New American Standard Bible:

O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

In a world that seems to be wanting us to turn everything gray, God makes a clear distinction between those who love Him and those who hate Him. And those who hate Him, He calls His enemies. It’s one or the other, not both. David, the psalmist, is asking God to slay the wicked, those who take His name in vain, who cause bloodshed, and while God promises us that He will deliver justice to the wicked, He also instructs us in a different way to deal with our own enemies.

Yes, God does promise justice will be served (Luke 18:7-8), but He is also a kind God who draws us to Himself. When Jesus sent His disciples ahead to make preparations for Him and they did not receive the welcome they anticipated, they asked Jesus if they could slay the people. We read in Luke 9:53-56 NASB:

But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] 

While He could easily have slayed them, since He is God, He chose here to extend kindness instead. Don’t get me wrong, there will be a day when a person will stand either by their own works or by the blood of Jesus and receive the justice deserved (Romans chapter 2 explains this more). On that day, you want to be standing under the blood of Jesus, that washes your sin away and covers you with His righteousness. While God is just, He is also kind. But justice will be served in the end (see Revelation).

So how are we to treat our own enemies? It certainly is not easy to treat our enemies like God wants us too. His instructions for us are in Matthew 5:44-45 NASB:

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

We are to PRAY FOR our enemies, LOVE them, and even BLESS them (Matthew 5:44). Is there someone in your life that is your enemy, or if you don’t have an actual enemy, is there someone in your life who does not like you? Make it a point to start PRAYING for that person. Ok, good job! Now start LOVING that person. Could you take them a meal? or could you mow their lawn? Great! Now find a way to BLESS them. This includes how you speak about them to others. Ok, we are really getting into a challenge now. Is your mouth blessing them in front of others? Now you are getting it! These are Jesus instructions on what to do with your own enemies. Then when they ask you why you are treating them this way, you can say it is because you know Jesus and you are following His instructions!

I have issued you a challenge. The only way you can meet this challenge, is in the strength that Jesus gives you! So next time you are confronted with an enemy, a person who doesn’t like you, an unkind person, try to

PRAY FOR THEM, LOVE THEM, BLESS THEM.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 17-18

~ Mom Morsels
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His Precious Thoughts

If something is precious to you, what do you do with it? I have a heart-shaped necklace that my husband gave me on our 20th anniversary that I love (just celebrated 35 years yesterday!). I have several choices here. I could stick it in a lockbox and never take it out. I could wear it only on very special occasions. Or I could do what I have chosen, and wear it all the time and never take it off. In Psalms 139:17-18 New American Standard Bible we see that God’s thoughts are PRECIOUS:

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

So what should we do with God’s precious thoughts? We find some of them in the Bible. Do we leave them in our drawer for safekeeping? Do we display them on a table as decoration? Do we only take them out on special occasions like Easter or Christmas? Or do we clothe ourselves with them every day because we cherish them so much? It’s our choice. What we do with His precious thoughts will indicate just how precious they are to us. Ouch! I know, I hurt myself there too.

“Precious” H3365 means “valuable, make rare, be precious, be prized, highly valued, be costly.” In terms of jewels, the more rare a jewel is the more valuable it is. The Hope diamond is very rare at 45.42 carats and this makes it the most costly diamond in the world worth $250 million dollars. God’s thoughts are also costly. In fact, for us to have His thoughts in our hearts, He had to redeem us and that cost Him His only beloved Son’s life. And 1 Peter 1:18-19 New American Standard Bible says:

…knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

At this point in Psalm 139, I can almost feel the psalmist’s bursting heart of gratitude after recounting throughout the Psalm how God planned ahead for him, intricately created him, brought His light into his darkness. It is an overwhelming thought just how much He loves us! Just how many thoughts must God have? We could not even count them because we are told that they would be more than the grains of sand. Scientists estimate there are 7.5 sextillion grains of sand in the world (that’s 21 zeros!).And God’s thoughts are more in number than that!

The last part of this verse, I love; “When I awake, I am still with Thee.” Yes, this is because God never went anywhere while you slept, since He Himself never sleeps or slumbers (Psalm 121:4). I like to picture Jesus, watching over me all night, then when I wake, He says, “She’s awake!”. I remember my parents telling me that they brought their first child (my sister) home from the hospital and the first night she slept through the night (Never heard of this before! None of my babies did that!). They were worried and hovered over her bassinet all night waiting for her to wake up. It appears that God does the same with us. He is watching over us while we sleep, and as soon as we awake, we can feel His presence, that HE IS STILL THERE.

Yes, He is ALWAYS with us and the best thing to do with His precious thoughts is to

TREASURE HIS THOUGHTS DEEP IN OUR HEARTS.

In His Love,

Suzanne