Author: Mom Morsels

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

Proverbs 31: 20, 25-26

~ Mom Morsels
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Extending Kindness

Continuing our study in Proverbs, we see that the Proverbs 31 woman EXTENDS KINDNESS to her family through her words, to the needy with her outstretched hands, and to herself through knowing her strength and worth. Do you realize that what we SAY is very important and has an impact on our husbands, our children, our friends, and our community. Let’s look at Proverbs 31:20, 25-26 New American Standard:

20 She extends her hand to the poor: and she stretches out her hands to the needy. 25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. 26 She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

It’s interesting that this verse does not say, she “speaks wisdom”; instead it says that she “OPENS HER MOUTH in wisdom.” So maybe sometimes wisdom is found in not opening our mouths? Oh my! I can relate to that. I talk a lot, so I often pray that God will help me know when to open my mouth and when to keep it closed. One of my daughters, at around 8 years old, would often say the first thought that came to her mind. I had to teach her that some thoughts need to stay in your head and some thoughts come out. One time, I was getting ice cream with my family and was about 6 months pregnant. A woman came up to me and said, “You are huge! When are you due?”. I actually couldn’t believe that she said that to me. That was a thought that should have stayed in her head and not come out of her mouth.

Kindness is on her tongue. KINDNESS is defined as “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” Why is it that we often are more considerate to strangers than to those closest to us-our husbands, children, family? Is it because it is harder to be kind and to love the people we know best? But it’s not that way with God. The ones He knows the best, He loves the most. God is our example in that we also can LOVE and BE KIND to those we know the best-OUR FAMILY.

She is also KIND to the poor and needy. So when I had a baby, a toddler, a preschooler, an elementary schooler and a middle schooler at the same time (yup! it was crazy!), I was thinking about this passage. Lord, how can I reach out to the needy, when I am so busy with my family? That’s when He gave me the idea for what I called my “Chicken Pot Pie ministry.” This is something that I could easily do. My family loved chicken pot pies, so I would make three at a time (it really was not that much more work), keep two for my family and give the other one away to someone in my church or community that had a need. There always seemed to be someone who was struggling with sickness, or a trial, or I would just give it to someone that God put on my heart and usually it turned out that that person really needed it. God is not going to ask you to do something you can’t do, so why not ask Him what you CAN do to reach out to others with KINDNESS? It might even be something you do together with your family.

And I love that STRENGTH and DIGNITY are her clothing. STRENGTH H5797 here means not only strength but also “force, security, majesty, praise.” The same word is used in Exodus 15:2 King James Version:

The Lord is my strength and song and He is become my salvation…

So we can see the source of her strength is the Lord. And MAJESTY is part of her strength because remember that she is a DAUGHTER OF THE KING OF KINGS. Further, DIGNITY H1926 here means “magnificence, splendor, beauty, glory, honor, majesty.” So did you know that as HIS DAUGHTER, you also are MAGNIFICENT, because you reflect HIM! Just as a child can look like a parent and reflect their image, so you reflect His image, His MAGNIFICENCE!

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and clothing is something that you PUT ON. So how do you PUT ON strength and dignity? Just as you put on your regular clothes, putting these attributes on takes ACTION. First, we need to realized that these attributes BELONG TO US as His children. We have a right to them. Second, we need to realize that no-one is going to put them on for us-WE HAVE TO PUT THEM ON OURSELVES. How do we put these attributes on? By studying His truth about us in His Word.

And once we clothe ourselves with STRENGTH and DIGNITY, we can SMILE AT THE FUTURE, because our hearts are full of His Word, so our hearts are full of faith. Often we can look at the future and feel anxious because we think we are alone there. But we are not. Jesus goes with us into our future, so anything that we have to deal with there, whether bad or good, He helps us with. So let’s remember that

WE CAN SMILE AT THE FUTURE, BECAUSE JESUS IS THERE WITH US. HE IS NEAR.

In His love,

Suzanne

Philippians 4: 6-7 Part VII Conclusion

~ Mom Morsels
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..in Christ

So we are at the end of our study of Philippians 4:6-7. But let’s not forget the most important point of this verse. Here it is again in the New American Standard Bible (italics mine):

Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Yes, the whole point here is that we cannot have true peace if we are not IN CHRIST JESUS. After all, He is the PRINCE OF PEACE (Isaiah 9:6). He is the source of our peace. HIS PEACE is secure.

Isaiah 26:3 King James Version (italics mine):

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee.

I grew up in the Lutheran Church and learned the FEAR OF THE LORD there. Our family went to church every Sunday, but Jesus was not really a part of our every day lives. We didn’t really KNOW HIM. When I was a pre-teen, I was hurt deeply at school due to peer pressure and I reacted by making up my mind to be popular at any cost-not a great resolve! So I started swearing, smoking, stealing, lying to my parents. I changed myself to be popular. I then got caught doing every one of those things but I lied my way out of it. The thing is-because of that fear of God, I knew what I was doing was wrong. I actually tried to change myself and did change my outward actions, changed my friends, but realized my inside was the same-same sinful thoughts, same sinful intentions. I couldn’t change my inside. I tried to read the book of Matthew and every time, I fell asleep reading it. I confessed my sins every night but I fell asleep and never made it through my list!

Around this time, I changed schools and went to a Bible study where I learned that Jesus could actually change me inside. My brother shared the gospel with me around Thanksgiving 1975 and in response, I said a prayer confessing my sin, telling God that I believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that He died on the cross to forgive me of my sins and rose again to conquer sin, that He cleansed me from my sin, and that I wanted Jesus to be my Savior and Lord (King, Ruler) of my life. That is what I had been looking for! Right away, I felt clean inside! He changed me inside, where I couldn’t change myself! I tried reading Matthew again and I noticed the Bible came alive! Every day, God spoke to me from His Word!

I share my story, to encourage you, that you can KNOW HIM too. Jesus is PEACE. In order to have HIS PEACE, we have to start by KNOWING HIM. If you don’t know Him, here is a simple prayer you can pray: https://wildatheart.org/prayer/prayer-receive-jesus-christ-savior

It’s all about HIM. Ephesians 2:14 NASB:

For He Himself is our peace

It really is that simple. HE TRULY IS OUR PEACE! As we conclude our study, let’s learn from Philippians 4:6-7 that to not be anxious we need to:

TAKE OUR THOUGHTS CAPTIVE,

KEEP OUR EYES ON JESUS,

TURN OUR WORRIES INTO PRAYERS,

MAKE OUR REQUESTS KNOWN TO HIM,

STAY THANKFUL AND GRATEFUL, and realize

HE HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE AND

HIS PEACE WILL GUARD OUR HEARTS AND MINDS

IN CHRIST JESUS.

In His Love,

Suzanne

He is Our Portion

~ Mom Morsels
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If only I could get my house organized, my life would be better. If only my kids would listen to me and behave more perfectly, then my life would be better. If only my husband or I could get that promotion and we had more money, then my life would be better. If only we could get in the right house or neighborhood, then my life would be better. If only I could get along with my mother-in-law, then my life would be better. Have you ever gotten yourself caught up in “if-only”ing? I know I have! It seems there is always something that we think we need or that we are asking God for or that is just beyond our reach and if we could get that thing, life would be so much better!

But the problem is that when you get that thing-the new house, the better job, the raise, the perfectly behaved children (let me know when you get that one!)-it doesn’t satisfy you like you thought it would. That is because there is only one thing that will COMPLETELY SATISFY you. That ONE THING is found in Lamentations 3:24 New American Standard Bible (italics mine):

‘The Lord is my portion‘, says my soul, ‘Therefore, I have hope in Him.’

And, also in Psalm 73:26 NASB (italics mine):

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

It is only GOD HIMSELF who will satisfy us. No perfect house, no perfectly behaved children, no perfect family, no perfect career, no perfect anything will satisfy us-only PEFECT GOD will satisfy the deepest yearning of our souls. GOD HIMSELF is our portion, the ONLY portion we need to satisfy our every longing.

Recently, I was reading in Exodus 16:16 where God told the Israelites to take “an Omer apiece” of Manna for each person, not enough for someone else, not enough for tomorrow, only for one person and only for today. Then in Exodus 16:32-33 God told Moses to put ONE OMER of MANNA in the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was kept in the temple and in between the two cherubim on top, the presence of God dwelt. There were only three items in the Ark of the Covenant: the second copy of the 10 Commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded, and ONE OMER of Manna. These three items must have each been very important to be the only three items placed in the Ark.

So why was only ONE OMER or ONE PORTION of Manna put in the Ark? Wouldn’t you think it would have been better to save a bigger portion, just in case some got lost? The Israelites were traveling A LOT. I know we have lost some things while traveling. But we see the reason why and exactly what the Manna represents in John 6:31-35 NASB (italics mine):

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.

The Manna represents Jesus who is God’s BREAD OF LIFE for us. And we only need ONE PORTION and that is God Himself to satiate us. Note that the Israelites were to gather the Omer of Manna only enough for themselves and not for anyone else. Since they could only gather enough EACH FOR HIMSELF, so it is with knowing Jesus, the Bread of Life; each of us must have OUR OWN PORTION of the Bread of Life, of Jesus, and we cannot live off another person’s portion. We cannot live off another person’s faith-not off our parent’s faith, not off our spouse’s faith, not off our pastor’s faith, not off our church’s faith-only OUR OWN PORTION, only OUR OWN FAITH.

Let’s go back again to that ‘if-only’ing. What fruit does ‘if-only’ing bring you? Does that practice bear good fruit for you? I know that it definitely does not bear good fruit for me. So let’s stop ‘if-only’ing and instead

LET’S BE SATISFIED WITH GOD HIMSELF-OUR PORTION.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Philippians 4: 6-7 Part VI

~ Mom Morsels
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Guarded with Peace

As we have studied Philippians 4:6-7 we have learned so much about conquering anxiety. To not be anxious, so far we have learned to: take our thoughts captive, keep our eyes on Jesus, turn our worries into prayers, connect to God by making our requests known to Him, and stay thankful and grateful as we trust Him. And what can we expect when we do this? Let’s look again at the last part of our study verse, Philippians 4:7 New American Standard:

…and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

PEACE G1515 means “a state of tranquility, harmony, security.” Mom’s doesn’t that sound luxurious-A STATE OF TRANQUILITY? I want that! Don’t you? And the PEACE of God “passes all comprehension”; in other words, it goes beyond understanding. HIS PEACE can’t be understood in light of our circumstances. Have you ever experienced this kind of peace? I have been going through a difficult trial but I have HIS PEACE through it all. If you look at my circumstances, you wouldn’t think that I could be at peace, but I am-because of Him. The PEACE OF CHRIST keeps us at peace even when our world is falling apart or our circumstances are not looking good. That’s why His peace is beyond comprehension, beyond understanding-it does not make sense.

And in this verse, GUARD means “to mount guard as a sentinel (post spies at the gates).” And what does a guard do? A guard stands watch and warns the people of danger approaching. So this peace is like a guard on the wall of our hearts and minds, ready and alert against the enemy, against anxious thoughts, like a spy, spying out anything that might make our hearts wander or that might take our thoughts away from where they should be.

For a little more insight into this peace, let’s look at John 14:27 New International Version:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Jesus gives us HIS PEACE. And HIS PEACE is not as the world gives. The world only gives you peace when all your circumstances are in order, but Jesus gives you peace even when your circumstances are NOT in order. HIS PEACE is an abiding peace, a peace that you can rely on to sustain you through difficult times. HIS PEACE is always available, not just when things are going well. Because of His peace, your heart doesn’t have to be troubled and you do not have to be afraid.

So let’s LET HIS PEACE GUARD OUR HEARTS AND MINDS IN CHRIST.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Proverbs 31: 19, 27

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Valuing What We Do

Most of what we do as mom’s takes so much skill. Yet many times we underestimate what we do. We read in Proverbs 31: 19 and 27 New American Standard Version:

19 She stretches out her hand to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle. 27 She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

I watched a video of someone spinning wool with a distaff and spindle-it takes a lot of talent to spin wool this way! One hand holds the distaff with the unspun wool, while the other hand holds and twirls the spindle turning the wool into yarn-this takes a lot of coordination. It’s kind of like balancing several spinning plates at the same time-doesn’t that sound a lot like what we do as mom’s? It’s called JUGGLING. “Grasp” H8551 in this verse means to KEEP FAST, HOLD, RETAIN, STAY. This is a picture of a woman FIRMLY grasping the distaff, PURPOSEFULLY using her skill. Whether we work outside the home or inside the home, we need to VALUE the skill it takes to juggle all we do as moms.

Looking well to the ways of our household, means being prepared. But in the Hebrew LOOKING WELL means to PEER INTO THE DISTANCE OR AWAIT, KEEP THE WATCH OR WATCHMAN. Moms are often the first to sense when their child is in danger-can anyone say Momma Bear? But as moms who are believers, we peer into the distance or future, not with fear, but with HOPE, knowing that nothing can touch our children apart from His will for them, knowing that God loves our children, even more than we do! In prayer, we can also be watchmen on the wall for our children, praying and interceding for them and their future.

So what does it mean to eat the bread of idleness. I find the phrasing here interesting-this does not say, “don’t be idle”, instead it says, “don’t eat the bread of idleness”. EAT H398 means to EAT, CONSUME, DEVOUR. Therefore, EATING idleness, means CONSUMING it. There is a choice here to consume or not consume. And Idleness means LAZINESS, SLUGGISHNESS. If someone is lazy or sluggish, they are usually either moving very slowly or sitting still. They are not moving forward. When we are EATING or CONSUMING idleness, we are doing things that are not helping us or our families make any progress. We are doing things that DO NOT add anything to our lives or our families lives. Reality check! I know I can think of a few things that I spend my time on that really don’t add anything to my life or our family’s life. Time to assess how I spend my time!

So as we are juggling all we do as moms, let’s be purposeful in how we spend our time and

LET’S REALIZE OUR WORTH and VALUE OUR OWN SKILLS and ALL THAT WE BRING TO OUR FAMILIES.

Tell yourself YOU GO GIRL! (It’s ok to talk to yourself-David did it all over the Psalms!).

In His Love,

Suzanne

Proverbs 31: 17

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Girded with Strength

Remember we talked at the beginning of our Above Rubies series about how strong our Proverbs 31 woman is? She is worth more than rubies which are VERY STRONG and she is a WOMAN OF VALOR or STRENGTH. We see more about her strength in Proverbs 31:17 and we’ll look at the King James Version to get a little more insight into this verse:

She girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms.

Well, no wonder she needs to make her arms strong; have you seen all she does with her hands? Sit down some time and make a list of all the things you do for your family with your hands and you will be amazed! “Strengtheneth” H553 here means TO BE ALERT PHYSICALLY, FORTIFY, MAKE STRONG. So physically we can make our arms strong through exercise-I definitely could improve on that one! How could we make our arms ALERT? Possibly by ALWAYS BEING READY to use our arms to serve. Have you noticed that being a mom means we often have to do things at inconvenient times-waking up in the middle of the night to feed the baby, stopping everything when we hear our child cry for help, answering question after question (if you have a 3 year old you know exactly what I mean!) in the middle of making dinner or working on a project? We can have physically alert arms, by always being ready to use them and not being upset or irritated when our work is interrupted to serve our family’s or children’s needs.

And what exactly does GIRD UP YOUR LOINS mean? In old times, men and women were not dressed like us. No tank tops or shorts; these men and women wore long flowing robes. So girding up the loins means pulling up all the flowing robes and tucking them into the girdle, so they are out of the way and we are ready to get to work.

Another place we see “Gird up your loins” is in Job. Job had a rough time and he took most of Job to complain about how God had treated him. After 37 chapters of complaining with his friends, God answered Job in Job 38:1-3 New American Standard Version (italics mine):

Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind and said, ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me!’

After meditating on the verses from Proverbs 31 and Job, I realized that we have a phrase just like this-it is “Pull up your big girl panties!” It’s the same idea here, that the Proverbs 31 woman is a woman who pulls herself back up when she is down, who stands back up when knocked down and even lets God make her stronger through difficulties. And sometimes you might also need help pulling yourself back up by leaning on a friend or by seeing a counselor to help. Even Moses’ arms grew tired in battle and he needed Aaron and Hur to hold his hands up for him; check out Exodus 17:12-14 for that story. So how does the Proverbs 31 woman gird her loins with strength? Let’s look at Psalm 28:7 NASB:

The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him.

So God is ultimately her strength. She girds her loins with the strength that she gets from Him. “Gird” means “to put on”. So how do you PUT ON the Lord’s strength? Prayer, reading the Word (Bible), meditating on the Word, singing spiritual songs, seeing a counselor, encouragement from a friend and I also ask God to remind me of His presence throughout my day (because I tend to run ahead of Him and forget that He is there! Am I the only one that does that?). I ask God to interrupt my day to remind me He is NEAR.

SO LET’S CHOOSE TO GIRD OURSELVES WITH HIS STRENGTH.

In His Love,

Suzanne

ABC Word

~ Mom Morsels
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Already Been Chewed

Ok this will date me, but when I was a kid there was a practice that was pretty disgusting. Myself or one of my siblings would eat our piece of Juicy Fruit gum and once most of the taste was gone and we didn’t want to chew it anymore, we would give it to our mom and she would chew it for a while. I know, ick! Gross! Of course we got the first big burst of flavor and our mom didn’t get much, since the flavor was gone by then, because it was ABC gum-ALREADY BEEN CHEWED gum. But that first burst of flavor was SO GOOD!

It’s the same with the Bible. While it’s good to have a balance between being taught the Word and studying the Word yourself, many people get way too much teaching and not enough personal study. This is why I am including in my website, some tools for studying the Bible under the Feasting menu tab. If you haven’t read my post called Bible Excavating (click here-https://mommorsels.com/2023/06/11/bible-excavating/), please go back and read it. It explains how to study the Bible looking at the Greek and Hebrew roots with an example from scripture .

When I teach you, I have already CHEWED the Word and gotten that first burst of flavor for myself then I am giving you what I already chewed or studied. While you are getting what I learned from the Word, it’s just SO MUCH JUICIER when you get the treasure of the Word for yourself. There is just nothing like when the Holy Spirit highlights a passage for you and shows you how it applies to your life. And it’s even better when you dig a little deeper and find those TREASURES that are hidden deep in the Greek and Hebrew roots. Are you excited yet? I just have to tell you that studying God’s Word this way is SO MUCH FUN!

We are encouraged to search the scriptures ourselves in Acts 17:10-11 New American Standard Bible:

And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.

Well, first of all, don’t you just want to be NOBLE-MINDED? It sounds so good, doesn’t it? Noble-minded here means “to be well off, fare well, prosper.” Yes, of course, I want to be that! I want to be well off. I want to fare well. I want to prosper. So to be all that, you need to be like the Bereans and take time to examine or study the Scriptures for yourself.

Jesus Himself said in John 16:13 NASB:

But when He, the Holy Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth…

So as you study the Scripture yourself the Holy Spirit will guide you. This is not to say that you don’t also need to be taught. God has put teachers and pastors in place to help you stay in the truth as well. There is a balance. You shouldn’t be a sheep alone away from the flock either, just studying on your own with NO teaching, because the wolf (satan) can more easily pick off a sheep that is away from the protection of the flock (church community, pastoral teaching).

Hopefully, I have motivated you to get into the Word and study it yourself. Studying the Word through looking up the Greek and Hebrew, word study, reference study-it is MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! If it isn’t already, I hope it will become your favorite too! Please don’t settle for only Already Been Chewed Word; do some of your own digging, and

GET SOME OF THOSE FLAVORFUL TREASURES FOR YOURSELF!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Proverbs 31: 16, 24

~ Mom Morsels
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Considering our Work

Each of us has different seasons we find ourselves in in our families. Perhaps you are in a season of being a stay at home mom, or maybe you work part-time and are a mom, or maybe you work full-time and are a mom. Whatever season you find yourself in, I think we can see that the Proverbs 31 woman works to use her skills to benefit her family. Proverbs 31:16 and 24 New American Standard says:

16 She considers a field and buys it; from her earnings she plants a vineyard. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies belts to the tradesmen.

For myself, I worked part-time and my husband and I raised five children. It was a LOT OF WORK! Looking back, we are not exactly sure how we did it! It was DEFINITELY by the GRACE OF GOD. I hadn’t intended on working outside the home, but my husband lost his job, his pay went down and I needed to work. At first, I really struggled with working, but then I was very successful in my job as a pediatric nurse and felt great fulfillment in it. God knows me best and I think He knew that I needed to work for my mental health, and that’s OK, if you need to do that. But my prayer often had been, “Can you give me a little smaller field, please, Lord?” Has anyone else ever felt that way? But I trusted that He knew what I could handle with His help, and He increased my FAITH through my working.

Whether you work outside the home or are a stay at home mom, you can see that this virtuous woman uses her skills to either bring money into the home, bless her family or bless others. “Supplies” here means give, so she may have given the belts away just to help the tradesmen. What skills do you have that you could use to bless your family? What skills do you have that you could use to bless others? One of my friends loved ironing-Oh, how I hate ironing! But she used this skill to wash and iron clothes for people and paid both her daughter’s private Christian school tuitions by doing so.

In verse 16, we see that, “She CONSIDERS a field.” “Consider” in the Hebrew means to PLAN, CONSIDER, PURPOSE, THINK. In the past, I know that at times I have rushed into a commitment before I really thought through how it would affect me or my family. This woman PLANS, CONSIDERS, PURPOSES, and THINKS before she makes a commitment of her time. How will it affect her? How will it affect her family?

This woman’s work, whether inside or outside the home, enhances her family’s wellbeing. It enables her to plant a vineyard, which implies that her work brings FRUITFULNESS. If you do need to work outside the home, I believe God can give you a job that helps bring MORE FRUIT to your family. I can see the FRUITFULNESS in my adult children now from my years of working. If you are able to work exclusively inside the home, I also believe, He can use your work and your skills to bring FRUITFULNESS to your family and to bless others.

So before we make a commitment to use our skills or time for work either inside or outside the home, lets’s CONSIDER how it will affect our family and let’s ask God to

HELP OUR WORK AND SKILLS BRING FRUITFULNESS INTO OUR FAMILIES.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Philippians 4:6-7 Part V

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Thankful and Grateful

Thanksgiving G2169 in our study verse Philippians 4:6 means GRATITUDE or GRATEFUL LANGUAGE. Isn’t it so true that “our language” or what we talk about shows us what is in our heart? Eek! Heart check for me. For more insight into our hearts, let’s look at Luke 6:45 New American Standard Bible:

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good: and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

A question for us… what treasure is filling our heart? Hopefully, our heart is full of the TREASURE OF HIS WORD. And we need to be wise in how we talk. We need to change how we talk about our situation, change our language, keeping our hearts thankful to Him, because we know He has our best interests and we know we can trust Him.

Do we complain so much about our situation that if a non-believer listened to us, they would think we have no HOPE? When we start to thank God, despite our circumstances, it can change our whole attitude. When one of our children was younger, she tended to complain a lot. I made her keep a THANKFUL JOURNAL. Whenever she would complain, I had her write down: what she complained about, a Bible verse about thankfulness, and how she could apply that verse to her situation in order to be more thankful. I think, we as adults, need THANKFUL JOURNALS! It is a good way to keep ourselves thankful.

The root of the word thanksgiving G2170 means grateful, thankful, WELL-FAVORED. This reminds me of Psalms 5:12 New American Standard Bible (Italics mine) which says:

For it is Thou who dost bless the righteous man, O Lord, Thou dost surround him with favor as with a shield.

We are righteous when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). And we will study the favor of God more at a later date, but for now just know that according to this verse His FAVOR surrounds us, protects us, and nothing can touch us unless it is part of His plan for us. Yes, we go through suffering and trials, but He also uses those to mold and shape us to be more like Jesus. So the conclusion is that if nothing can touch us unless it is part of His plan, then we can TRUST HIM that He is in control of our circumstances, and

WE CAN BE THANKFUL AS WE TRUST HIM WITH OUR REQUESTS.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Proverbs 31: 15,18

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Her Gain is Good

So often we expect more of our own selves than anyone else. I know I am that way. Perfectionism is not something I would wish on anyone and it can make our lives miserable. It puts pressure on us that is unnecessary. Especially in this “capture the perfect Instagram worthy moment” world, there is such pressure to be perfect. But no-one is perfect except God, so why do we expect ourselves to be perfect? Proverbs 31: 15 and 18 New American Standard Bible says:

15 She rises while it is still night, and gives food to her household, and portions to her maidens. 18 She senses that her gain is good; her lamp does not go out at night.

I love the phrase “she senses that her gain is good.” It is full of such SATISFACTION, which in turn is so full of peace and is so opposite to the stress of seeking perfection. Gain H5504 means profit, merchandise and comes from the root H5503 to travel around, go about, occupy with. So this woman senses or realizes that her “going about” or what she occupies herself with is GOOD. She is satisfied with what she does. What a great goal for us! To be SATISFIED with WHAT WE DO.

And, by the way, how does she get any sleep? Our verses say she gets up while it still night and her lamp does not go out at night. My college friend and I (I told you I had studied this passage a long time, I’m in my 60s, so you do the math! I love Proverbs 31!) were discussing this and figured out that the Proverbs 31 woman could go to bed after sunset and get up before sunrise and still get a good 8hours of sleep! The point is that she is RESPONSIBLE with her time.

And how about those maidens? When I was a young mom with the soup on the stove, mounds of laundry waiting to be done, the baby crying, the toddler running around getting into everything, I remember crying out to God, “Where are my maidens?! I could use a few right now!!”. I was not expecting an answer, but surprisingly, I got one… He answered, “What do you think your washing machine, dryer and dishwasher are? Those are your maidens!” So in one moment, He turned my attitude from frustration to laughter! And I began to appreciate my “maidens”.

But let’s go back to that perfectionism. Hey, let’s not do that to ourselves! Remember, our verse says,”she senses that her gain is good.” Sense in this verse H2938 means to perceive or to taste. To really taste something, we need to SAVOR it, and savoring takes time and reflection. So in order to SENSE the goodness in what we do, we need to slow down and TAKE TIME to SAVOR our lives. Yes, let’s take time to sit back, think about, and PERCEIVE that what we do really is GOOD. Let’s SENSE THAT OUR GAIN IS GOOD and it will bring us so much more PEACE in our lives.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Philippians 4: 6-7 Part IV

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… and Supplication

Let’s look again at our study verse, Philippians 4:4-6 New American Standard (italics mine):

Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Supplication G1162; in the Greek is: a petition, a request, seeking, asking. And later in the verse, it says to “let our requests be made known to God.” So God wants us to petition, ask, request Him for what we need. I have a little problem with this part of the verse, because doesn’t God already know our thoughts? So doesn’t He already know what we need? Psalms 139:4 King James Version says:

Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all!

So why do I need to ask Him, if He already knows what I am thinking? The thing about a request, is that you have to go to the person to make the request. It’s the difference between the request staying in your thoughts versus you going to God with your request. It’s about connecting to Him. He wants to connect with us. It’s about communicating with Him. He wants us to communicate with Him. It’s about our RELATIONSHIP with Him. He wants to build a relationship with us. To build a relationship with someone, you have to communicate with them and spend time with them.

There’s something about the process of turning our thoughts into requests and offering them up to God that helps us not be anxious. Psalms 139: 23 NASB gives us some more insight on this:

Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my anxious thoughts.

Thoughts H8312 in this verse actually means “disquieting thoughts” and its root means “divided in mind” which comes from “to disbranch”. Hmm. Remember that Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). When we allow disquieting thoughts in, we are actually dis-branching ourselves from Jesus, in a sense disconnecting ourselves from Him. Anxiety is not abiding, not STAYING CONNECTED to the Vine, to Jesus.

So as we bring our requests to God, it connects us to Him, it builds our relationship with Him. We, the branches, are connected to Jesus, the Vine and this helps us not be anxious. So instead of mulling those anxious thoughts over and over, let’s turn to God and let Him know our requests.

LET’S TURN OUR WORRIES INTO PRAYERS.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Mom Morsels

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What are Mom Morsels?

In Matthew 15: 22-28 New American Standard Bible a Canaanite (Gentile) woman came to Jesus seeking healing for her “grievously vexed” daughter. 

Jesus’ FIRST response was to ignore her. 

Jesus’ SECOND response was to give her another reason that he would not help her. He told her that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, but the woman came and worshipped Him anyway and pleaded “Lord, help me”. 

Jesus’ THIRD response was to push her away again, answering that “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But the woman replied, “Yes, Lord; but please help, for even the dogs feed on the crumbs (morsels) that fall from their master’s table.”

In response to her PERSISTENCE despite his three refusals to help her, Jesus healed her daughter and said the woman had great faith. 

So all she really needed was a MORSEL from HIS TABLE. 

So many times as a mom, I thought, if only I can get away with God for an hour or two, then I will have what I need from Him; then I will be satisfied. But raising five children and working part-time, I did not always have that amount of time. 

What I didn’t know is that …

SOMETIMES ALL WE REALLY NEED IS JUST A MORSEL FROM HIS TABLE 

and we can be healed, comforted, put at peace, needs met.  

In this blog, I hope to give you SMALL MORSELS and some BIGGER BITES from the Master’s Table, to help you run after Jesus harder and fall in love with Him more. 

In His love,

Suzanne 

He Intended to Pass By

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So I’m reading through the Bible and am currently in the book of Mark. I’m also still going through a very difficult trial with some stormy seas. In the middle of this storm, I read:

And immediately Jesus had His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He Himself dismissed the crowd. And after saying goodbye to them, He left for the mountain to pray. When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. Seeing them straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and they cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.” Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished,  for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Mark 6:45-52 New American Standard Bible (Italics mine)

Some background for you… earlier in Mark 6, Jesus had fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. And He did not forget His disciples, because there were 12 full baskets leftover- one full basket for each of His disciples to have a meal also. Wow! What a miracle Jesus did! So glorious!

Jesus then went to the mountain to pray while the disciples went ahead in a boat to Bethsaida. In the companion account in Matthew 14:24, it says that Jesus was several stadia away from the disciples at this point (a stadia is 600 feet), so pretty far away, yet Mark 6:48 says, “seeing them straining” He went to them. It’s encouraging to note that even though God may seem far away during your trial, GOD SEES YOU. He sees your “STRAINING”; He sees your “STORMY SEAS”.

As I was going through my trial, the end of verse 48 really bothered me; HE INTENDED TO PASS BY THEM. Jesus SAW them straining; He came to them; why would He PASS BY? This went against everything I knew of my Jesus. My Jesus came from Heaven to rescue and ransom me. My Jesus has always been GENTLE AND LOWLY (Matthew 11:29). I must be missing something. Was there a good reason that He wanted to pass by them?

Let’s look at another scripture, in Exodus 33:18, 21-22 NASB (Italics mine):

18 Then Moses said, “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!…21 Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22 and it will come about while My glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

Maybe this is exactly what the disciples needed; for Jesus to PASS BY so that they could SEE HIS GLORY. What could be more glorious than seeing Jesus taking a stroll on the stormy seas? Only God can stroll on top of stormy seas!

To see why the disciples needed to see His glory, let’s look closer at the passage. Verse 51 says when they saw Jesus walking on the water and calming the seas, “they were ASTONISHED”. In the Greek, Astonished means “to be astounded” or from the Noah Webster 1828 dictionary, “surprised.” This implies an element of DISBELIEF. Wait, He had just fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, and fed His disciples too! Why were they surprised that He could walk on water and calm the seas?

We get a deeper look at the disciples’ hearts in verse 52, “for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” Ok, ouch! I think I have done this before too! God does something wonderful for me, but when I come to my next trial, I stand in doubt forgetting all about the previous victory He gave me.

So what is a hardened heart? In Mark 8: 17b-19 NASB Jesus confronts the disciples about their hard hearts again:

Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?…

Apparently, a hard heart, DOES NOT SEE, DOES NOT HEAR, DOES NOT REMEMBER His previous works. Hey, let’s ask God to help us SEE, HEAR, REMEMBER all that He has done for us. Let’s choose too SEE GOD in our situation, HEAR GOD’s voice calling us closer during our trial, REMEMBER that He came through for us before and

CHOOSE TO STAND IN FAITH THAT HE WILL COME THROUGH FOR US AGAIN.

In HIs love,

Suzanne

Proverbs 31: 13-14

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In Delight

As a mom have you ever thought about how much work you do with your HANDS? There are so many ways you use your hands: change diapers, wash dishes, give hugs, wipe noses, stir pots, put ice on boo-boos, do laundry, work on your computer, and the list goes on. Your hands bless your family so much! Let’s read Proverbs 31:13-14 New American Standard Bible:

She looks for wool and flax, and works with her hands in delight. She is like merchant ships; she brings her food from afar.

This Proverbs 31 mom is a HARD WORKER, looking for items her family needs “like a merchant ship’. A merchant ship travels far away to get its produce, implying some effort. Talk about “Shop ’til you drop” this woman knows how to shop! So why would she want to bring her food from afar? Perhaps a better price or a better quality? That’s fine, but we all need something quick and easy at times, so the occasional fast food is certainly ok. However, when our son thought of Ronald McDonald as a good friend, I realized that I needed to put more effort into cooking. Just sayin’!

This passage also says that the Proverbs 31 woman “works with her hands IN DELIGHT”. It’s easy to work with your hands “in delight” when your day is going well, no one is sick, everyone is getting along, the weather is nice, and there is money in the bank. But when it is raining outside and the kids are stir-crazy, the day is not going well, there’s no money in the bank, you have just changed your 10th dirty diaper, refereed your 15th sibling squabble, or as happened in our family, all five kids are vomiting at the same time, or three of five kids are in casts at the same time (don’t call the authorities, there is a story there! see below), it’s not as easy to work with your hands “in delight”. But this is when we say, “Help me, Lord!” and He changes our heart.

One of my favorite verses to help give me a THANKFUL ATTITUDE when nothing is going right is Habakkuk 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.

Do you get the idea that nothing is going right for this person? Has that ever happened to you? It has to us. But no matter what our circumstances are, we can ask Him to give us the faith to praise Him in the good or bad times. Back to the three of five kids in casts story-so one broke her wrist when someone mopped the dance floor right before she danced at a nursing home, a week later one fell off a child’s chair right after I told her to get down so she wouldn’t fall, and two weeks after that another child hit the end of the curb on his bike and fell onto his arm. One lady at church said, “Oh, I better not hug you, or I might break my arm.” (wasn’t funny at the time, but it is now). So I called my mom to get a little sympathy but my mom has always taught me THANKFULNESS in every situation. As I complained and was hoping for an “I’m so sorry, honey,” instead I got, “There must be something you can find to be thankful for in this situation.” Really, mom? But you know what, God showed me that no one hit their head! And the arms all healed and we got through it, and I did thank Him for no head injuries!

So while we are working with our hands, can we check our attitudes? Are we working with our hands IN DELIGHT? Are we working with our hands AS UNTO THE LORD? And maybe as you’re doing that 10th load of laundry, think about how THANKFUL you are to do laundry, because it means you have people to do laundry for. As my mom said,

“THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR.”

In His Love,

Suzanne

Philippians 4: 6-7 – Part III

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But…By Prayer

So how do we cast our anxiety on Him? How do we keep from being worried and weighed down by our thoughts? How do we keep from being distracted? WE TURN OUR WORRIES INTO PRAYERS.

Praying and worshiping helps KEEP OUR EYES ON HIM. Praying is talking to God about our concerns. Worshiping is taking our eyes off of us, off of our circumstances, and focusing our eyes on Jesus. Mary was VERY FOCUSED on Jesus (Luke 10:39). Hebrews 12:2 New American Standard Bible says”…fixing our eyes on Jesus…” We FOCUS on HIM like Mary did; we FOCUS on JESUS.

Let’s go back to my favorite verse, 1 Peter 5:7 NASB:

Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Casting G1977 means “to throw upon” and comes from a root word G4496 which means, “sudden motion, to fling, to deposit (as if a load), cast, throw.” I have to say that anxiety definitely feels like A LOAD! And when you fling something, you have to wind up and it takes some force or effort. You put your weight into it. When we cast or FLING our cares on Him, we PURPOSE to do it; we have to put some effort into it.

Deposit is defined in Noah Webster 1828 Dictionary as “to lodge in the hands of a person for safe-keeping, to commit to the care of”. So we are taking our CARES, our WORRIES, and firmly with force placing them IN HIS HANDS, committing them to HIS CARE. Think of a bank deposit, transferring from one account to another. Our cares are deposited from our account to HIS for safe-keeping. Praying is taking our WORRIES and transferring them to Jesus.

He CARES for you. My goodness! He even counts the hairs on your head! Luke 12:7 NASB says:

Indeed, the very hairs on your head are numbered.

I don’t even count the hairs on my head, do you? This tells me that HE CARES FOR ME BETTER THAN I CARE FOR MYSELF. So can’t we TRUST HIM to take our cares and care for them for us? Psalms 55:22 NASB says:

Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

Cast H7993 in this verse means, “to throw out, down, or away, hurl, pluck, throw.” Think of the Olympian HURLING the discus. As the Olympian trains, he gets better and better at hurling the discus. So it is with us. As we practice HURLING our cares on Him, we will get better and better at it. GET RID of that CARE! HURL it on HIM! He CARES for you! When we continue to KEEP our CARE, we are essentially saying that WE can CARE for it better than HE can. We are saying our CARE is safer with us. Of course not! Our CARE is safer WITH HIM.

Let’s start CASTING OUR CARE on HIM. And He will do a much better job of CARING for it-CARING FOR US!

In His love,

Suzanne

‘

Philippians 4: 6-7 – Part I

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No Worries

As long as I can remember, I have struggled with anxiety. I think it’s my thorn in the flesh. My life verse is 1 Peter 5:7 New American Standard Bible “Casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” My problem is not casting my anxiety on Him; it’s taking it back from Him. That’s why I was drawn to Philippians 4:5-7 New American Standard Bible and began studying the following verses:

Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let’s look at some key words in this passage. “Anxious” G3309 means “to be careful for, to be anxious about, TAKE THOUGHT”. This word comes from the root G3308 which means “care or concern for someone or something, through the idea of DISTRACTION.” If we look up “Anxious” in my favorite dictionary Noah Webster 1828, it means “greatly concerned, respecting something in the future or unknown, being in painful suspense.”

Anxiety is painful. Proverbs 12:25 King James Version says:

Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad.

Heaviness in this verse comes from the root for anxiety. Stoop means to weigh down. So, anxiety weighs our hearts down, but meditating on a good word- His word- makes our hearts glad!

It’s all about our thoughts! Let’s look at some scriptures using the same Hebrew root word for anxiety G3309. Matthew 6:25 KJV says,”Therefore I say unto you, TAKE NO THOUGHT G3309 for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?” And in verse 27, “Which of you by TAKING THOUGHT G3309 can add one cubit unto his stature (=height, life span)?” (Italics and numbers mine). Anxiety and worry do not ADD anything to your life! Not one single thing!

In verse 34 KJV, we read, “TAKE THEREFORE NO THOUGHT G3309 for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.” Or in the English Standard Version Bible, the same verse says, “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Anxiety makes our minds jump forward, thinking about things in the future that might go wrong and that we have no control over. Our minds jump forward trying to work out how to handle problems that we have not even encountered yet. The thing is-when we look forward like this, in our mind, we are the only one working out these problems; we forgot that Jesus will be there to help us when we actually face them!

I am sure, as a mom, you have more than enough to think about for one day-for today! Let’s agree to TAKE THOUGHT only about today, and TRUST Him even with the moments yet to come today, that He will be WITH US in those moments.

In His love,

Suzanne

Philippians 4: 6-7 – Part II

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Eyes on Jesus

Let’s talk about our thoughts a little more and that idea of DISTRACTION. Martha was distracted, careful, troubled while in the PRESENCE of Jesus. Luke 10: 38-42 New American Standard Bible (italics and numbers mine) says:

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted G4049 with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried G3309 and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Jesus said, “Martha, Martha”. If your child is distracted and you want their attention, you call their name twice. Have you ever been so lost in your thoughts, so DISTRACTED, that someone had to call your name twice? It wasn’t what Martha was doing-she was serving-it was about where her thoughts were while doing it.

As mom’s we serve A LOT in our homes. We are very busy, but we can choose to serve as a form of worship to Jesus and to keep our eyes ON HIM as we serve. Jesus explained in a parable to the disciples, Matthew 25:39-40 NASB, ” ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ ” When we serve our family, even the least of them, we are actually SERVING JESUS.

Are we serving our family as unto Jesus? Colossians 3: 23 NASB says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord.” So as we serve our family, let it be an act of worship, KEEPING OUR EYES ON JESUS as we serve, knowing that He is pleased with our serving “the least of these”.

Jesus Himself said that He came to serve and not be served (Matthew 20:28). Serving our family, pleases Him. So as we serve our family, we are doing what Jesus would do and we are being LIKE JESUS. Let’s ask Him to help us not be DISTRACTED but to KEEP OUR EYES ON JESUS as we serve and love our families,

In His love,

Suzanne

Worries Into Prayers Series-a study of Philippians 4:6-7

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Philippians 4: 6-7

Has anxiety or worry every bothered you? It definitely has me. I found an answer to my anxiety and worry in studying Philippians 4:6-7. Come along and learn more with me in this 7 part in depth study.

Philippians 4: 6-7 – Part I

No Worries As long as I can remember, I have struggled with anxiety. I think it’s my thorn in the flesh. My life verse is 1 Peter 5:7 New American Standard Bible “Casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” My problem is not casting my anxiety…

Philippians 4: 6-7 – Part II

Eyes on Jesus Let’s talk about our thoughts a little more and that idea of DISTRACTION. Martha was distracted, careful, troubled while in the PRESENCE of Jesus. Luke 10: 38-42 New American Standard Bible (italics and numbers mine) says: Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village, and…

Philippians 4: 6-7 – Part III

But…By Prayer So how do we cast our anxiety on Him? How do we keep from being worried and weighed down by our thoughts? How do we keep from being distracted? WE TURN OUR WORRIES INTO PRAYERS. Praying and worshiping helps KEEP OUR EYES ON HIM. Praying is talking to…

Philippians 4: 6-7 Part IV

… and Supplication Let’s look again at our study verse, Philippians 4:4-6 New American Standard (italics mine): Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your…

Philippians 4:6-7 Part V

Thankful and Grateful Thanksgiving G2169 in our study verse Philippians 4:6 means GRATITUDE or GRATEFUL LANGUAGE. Isn’t it so true that “our language” or what we talk about shows us what is in our heart? Eek! Heart check for me. For more insight into our hearts, let’s look at Luke…

Philippians 4: 6-7 Part VI

Guarded with Peace As we have studied Philippians 4:6-7 we have learned so much about conquering anxiety. To not be anxious, so far we have learned to: take our thoughts captive, keep our eyes on Jesus, turn our worries into prayers, connect to God by making our requests known to…

Philippians 4: 6-7 Part VII Conclusion

..in Christ So we are at the end of our study of Philippians 4:6-7. But let’s not forget the most important point of this verse. Here it is again in the New American Standard Bible (italics mine): Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving…

Bible Excavating

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Hebrew and Greek Word Study

Bible excavating is my favorite! I love studying the Bible this way. As we saw previously, the BEST TREASURES in the Word are hidden and you have to dig for them. When you discover those treasures, it is PURE JOY! So let’s get started with an example.

First, go ahead and download an app or find a website that lets you see the Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) for each Bible passage. I like to use My Sword Bible app (https://www.mysword.info/download-mysword) but there are many others you could use.

We are going to start with Proverbs 18:4 King James Version and this is similar to what it looks like in my app :

“The words H1697 of a man’s H6310 mouth H6310 are as deep H6013 waters H4325, and the wellspring H4726 of wisdom H2451 as a flowing H5042 brook H5158.”

If you click on the letter/number, it will show you the Hebrew or Greek root of that word. This verse is contrasting man’s words/wisdom versus God’s wisdom.

Mans words are compared to “deep waters”. Looking at the root of “waters”, we see it means “water of the feet, urine, wasting”, so in other words, NASTY WATER, think dirty water used to wash feet or that contains waste/urine, sort of like standing water full of germs, decay, death. Yuck!

God’s wisdom is compared to a “flowing brook”. Where “flowing” means to “flow, gush forth, bubble up” and “brook” means “stream, torrent”, together think FLOWING, BABBLING, BROOK. Brooks that are flowing, streaming, bubbling are fresh, full of life, teaming with life. Yes!

Do you see the difference? Man’s wisdom / earthly wisdom brings death, whereas God’s wisdom brings life (James 3:14-18 KJV). Man’s wisdom brings WASTE, whereas God’s wisdom BRINGS REFRESHING. Studying the Hebrew roots makes the meaning of this verse so much more clear! Wasn’t that fun?

So now I have given you a tool for study. Go download that app and have yourself a GREAT time doing some BIBLE EXCAVATING!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Introduction to Proverbs 31: 10-31

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Beautifully Imperfect

Proverbs 31 was written by King Lemuel. It was an oracle that his mother taught him, Did you catch that? His MOTHER TAUGHT him what kind of wife he should look for. Moms, you have more influence over your children than you think and many places in scripture, it talks about mothers TEACHING their children.

Timothy was taught by his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15) “from infancy”. Proverbs 1:8 and 6:20 talk about not forsaking your mother’s teaching. We are so busy as mom’s taking care of our little ones, but we have such an opportunity to teach them about God as well. Even teaching them just one Bible verse or playing songs with scripture can help plant small seeds in their hearts that will reap a great harvest later (seeds take time to grow). Our adult children, still remember scripture from songs that we played for them when they were children,

Through our study of Proverbs 31, we will be learning about the characteristics of the godly Proverbs 31 woman, but I would like to also point out what she is NOT:

  • There is no mention that she is physically beautiful. You don’t have to look like a model. Only one mention of her appearance, and it is about the clothes that she has made for herself.
  • There is no mention that her house is either spotless or germless. Only one mention of her house, and it is about the tapestries she has made for it.
  • There is no mention that her children are perfectly behaved. Only one mention of her children and it is that they rise and call her blessed. For us, our children came back to bless us as young adults.
  • There is no mention that her house is perfectly organized. No mention that every closet has color coded shoes and accessories, every item in its perfect place. What a relief! These things are nice, but not required. Pottery Barn houses in catalogues look spotless for a reason-no one lives there!

SO PRESSURE OFF! You don’t have to be the perfect wife, mother, coworker, woman. He accepts you just as you are!

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

Psalms 103:13-14 New American Standard Bible

God has COMPASSION on you, so have compassion on yourself. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect or have a perfect house or perfect children. He knows how we are made, because He made us! He knows how frail we are; that we are made of dust; that we fall apart without Him. Just as we needed His breath to become alive, WE STILL NEED HIS BREATH, HIS LIFE, HIS SPIRIT to live our lives. We can’t do it on our own. We are not supposed to. So let’s commit to have COMPASSION on ourselves just like God has compassion on us.

In His love,

Suzanne