Hiding God’s Word in Your Heart

Psalm 119:11

 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.“

When a soldier goes into battle does he walk out wearing his blue jeans and tennis shoes?  Of course not, he is prepared for battle.  He is armed with many different defense mechanisms.  He has a gun; he wears a helmet and special boots.  Often he wears a bullet proof vest to protect his chest.  Could he still get hurt?  Of course he can.  But what would his chances be of getting hurt if he did not wear protective gear?  It doesn’t take a scholar to know that his chances are much greater, and death is almost guaranteed.

God’s Word is our protective gear.  When we hide his word in our heart we are armed for battle.  When we study it, memorize it and believe it we reduce our chances of sinning.  I did not say that we won’t sin; I just said that we reduce our chances, just like the soldier reduces his chances of getting hurt in battle. 

I remember many times as a young girl my parents requiring me to memorize scripture.  I always thought they were so cruel.  But those same verses that I had to memorize as a child are still with me today.  Some I only remember bits & pieces, or I remember the verse but not the reference, but the words are still in my heart.  And so many times as I was tempted with sin one of those verses would come to my mind.  Then I had a choice; do I take that verse & obey it by fleeing from the temptation or do I set it aside and do what makes me feel good even if only for a fleeting moment?  It isn’t an easy choice at times, but as a believer we have the ability to resist and remain pure.

Bedtime Blessings!

I don’t normally post YouTube videos, but this one was good. 

 When it really comes down to it  the blessings we recieve from these little people that God has placed in our lives to train & nurture far out way the frustrations.

A Thief in My Home

I have a thief in my home.  He has stolen many things very precious to me.  He has stolen time.  He has stolen conversations.  He has prevented the making of memories. Who is this thief?

My computer, TV and sometimes even my books.

John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (NIV)

Most of what I do is geared around my computer.  Our school schedules, lesson plans and records are on the computer.  I do a lot of writing so when I get an idea off to my computer I go.  Often I don’t even know how long I have been here.  I realized how bad it was one day when I was in the kitchen and I noticed that everytime one of my kids was looking for me they went to my room where my computer is.  They just assumed I would be at my computer.

 So, now that we have started back to school I am not on it as much because I am teaching.  But I have begun to make a conscious effort to only spend an hour a day at my computer.  Whatever I get done I get done, and then I get up.  I don’t do that last little search on google or check that favorite blog.  I just get up.  If at the end of the day, I have everything done & my husband is busy somewhere else then I may sit down again at my computer to do a little writing. 

 I refuse to let this thief rob me of any more precious moments.  I have prayed over this and asked the Lord for help.  I know he is there, because today went much better.  My boys ran in the front door and into my room and I was not at my computer!!! 

What do you have that is robbing you of precious time?  If you are not sure, ask your family.  They know what it is!

Take Heed of God’s Word

I am working my way through Psalm 119 right now by way of a great book titled, “The Heart of the King” by Ron Auch.  It is a small book that takes one verse a day and he leads you into a deeper meditation of the scriptures.  I am loving it.  This has inspired a series of blog posts on ways to remain pure using Psalm 119 as a guide.  Here is the first one & hope to have more soon.

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TAKE HEED OF GOD’S WORD

“How can a young man keep his way pure?

  By living according to your word.”

Psalm 119:9

We are “taking heed” when we are paying attention to, listening, eager to learn, and following closely.  God’s Word is so full of instruction for us that you can’t grasp everything the first time through.  His word must be read & studied over and over & you will still never get it all.  But that is the fun part.  You will never know it all or understand it all until you are face to face with him.  I knew a very wise woman that even in her 90’s she was excited about learning new things from the Bible.  She is now face to face with her Savior, she is now complete.  But, just reading it isn’t enough.  We must live according to His Word also.  Seeing a stop sign doesn’t do you much good if you don’t stop.  God’s word is more than traffic signals in your life.  It is a complete GPS System.  Sadly many do not see the Bible as applicable to their lives today.  How can something written thousands of years ago help me today.  Because God knew you when first inspired these words to the authors.   Psalm 139:16 says,  “your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  Very awesome!!  Reading His word and then taking heed, doing it, is our first step to living a pure and blameless life.  Not easy, but we have the best example ever, Jesus Christ.  By keeping our eyes on him and living according to His Word we are on the path to purity.

Father, help me to keep my way pure and blameless.  Help me to love you with my whole being so that I can live according to your word.  Show me where I need to repent and change.  How great and awesome is your name!

What Moms need to Know about Boys…part 2

Here is part 2.  My comments are bullets below his comments.

Enjoy!

~ Dana

Boys really enjoy, for whatever reason, hearing a girl squeal at the sight of a mouse or frog or snake.  This draws the line between the real boys and the real girls in a boys mind.  Now, if a boy finds a girl that does not shriek at the sight of such ugliness, he will most likely have the opinion that he has found the perfect girl for him….for a while. 

• Sisters are not exempt from this. Our boys get just as big a thrill from throwing bugs or frogs on their sisters. We had some small chicken snakes show up on our sidewalk & the boys killed one. They spent the rest of the day tossing it on the girls. Of course the girls always get them back somehow.

-Boys like dirt, trees, hills, mountains, creeks, ponds, lakes, ditches, and anything around these areas.  These are like a very fine lady calling them to come to her.  A boy can play in a simple dirty ditch all day and conquer more enemies and rescue more young ladies in that ditch than anything else put together.  A boy can find more interesting rocks, plants, varmints, and such while playing in such areas….even a possible Indian arrow if he looks close enough. For little boys the ability to just play for hours in the dirt is truly amazing.  They may dress in their favorite hero garb of the day and run to and fro through backyard defeating the enemy and/or rescuing those held hostage. 

• Collin is nick named “dirt boy” because as soon as I began to let him play outside alone he was in the dirt. Thankfully, we lived on 4 acres so he had plenty of dirt to play with. When we pass a construction site with huge mounds of dirt Collin begs to go & play. Or if he sees a sign that says, “Free dirt” he wants to take some home. He even says that his first car will be a dump truck so that he can carry his dirt around with him. Our best punishment for him is to take away his dirt.

-Boys in general could care less about baths…this is not the optimum use of water in their eyes.  The real purpose for water through the mind of a boy is just to get wet in order to cool off on a hot summer day, walk into a creek to pick up something from underneath the water that looks interesting, swim for the fun of it, or getting wet while fishing.  Those are purposeful meanings of getting water on yourself….just for the simple purpose of being clean is not a high priority and a waste of water in a boys mind.  I mean a boy reasons that why use soap at the end of the day to remove the dirt he has worked so hard all day long to get on himself.  That just does not make sense to a boy….he went through a lot of trouble to get that dirty and smelly. 

• “Dirt Boy” also hates the baths. We have had to threaten to strip him down our selves & put him in the water if he doesn’t go get in the shower himself. Now, our youngest boy hates water. I would rather bathe the dog than give Sam a bath. I usually end up more wet than Sam.

-Boys although very rough and tough outwardly still want to be the “apple of their mother’s eye” as Psalm 17:8 (NIV) puts it. Boys still want the love and tenderness that a mom can give them along the way.

• Just not in public! I love the fact that my boys will hug me. I always heard that boys didn’t do stuff like that until the hormones began to rage & then the only female they wanted to hug was not their mom. I think the secret to getting your teenage son to hug you is letting him hug & talk to you when he is young. If he knows he can come to you then I think he will come to you later. My oldest son still hugs me several times a day. He stopped when he was about 10 – 12 years old & started again when he turned 13. His younger brother is 11 and he doesn’t hug too much, but on a rare occasion he will give me a short side to side hug. I think it is sweet as it is his attempt to let me know that he still likes a little affection every now & then.

-Many boys enjoy trading or selling things….anything is sell-able in a boys mind.  The thrill of making the trade is of most importance.

• Collin, “Dirt Boy” wants to be a car salesman! J He went to a skate park with a friend today. He played “SKATE” with a guy there for a popular skateboarding sticker. The game is like “horse” in basketball. Anyway, Collin won & came home waving his sticker around, so proud of himself. Then about 30 minutes later Josh (older brother) came downstairs with the sticker. When I asked him what he was doing with it he bragged about how he had bought it off of Collin for $2.00. Collin made a $2.00 profit & that was worth it to him.

-Boys must use their pockets to carry the daily necessities for survival such as a good pocket knife, rubber bands, paper clips, string, some coins, flashlight, wallet, rag, candy wrappers, etc.  All this could be mingled in with the lizards and frogs of course.

• Back to the washing machine, I usually end up cleaning out the washing machine after doing the boys laundry. I find everything from thumbtacks, nails, string and Legos®..and of course there is always the hesitation to reach in for it since the “lizard” incident. (See earlier post)

-Boys do enjoy stories being read to them just as much as girls do so long as there is plenty of action and lots of illustrated pictures to go along with the story.  Do not be surprised when he tries to reenact that last scene himself to bring it true to life.  The more visual the story the better for boys. 

• I have always tried to read a lot to my kids. When the boys would get wiggly, my first reaction is to tell them to sit down & listen. Then I realized that they couldn’t listen if they were sitting down. It is like tying a preachers hand behind his back & telling him to preach…they can’t do it. When I let my boys play with Legos ® or play dough or just color they listen better. If we are reading about battles or intense action they have to act it out. The best one was when the boys acted out some scenes from Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Nights Dream”

-Boys enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, and exploring.  For in a boy is a built in desire to catch something to eat, raise something to eat, or simply explore out new territories for living and relaxing. 

• We moved back to town a little more than a year ago. Our new house had a large group of trees right behind it. It was great to watch the squirrels and birds play. The problem was that the trees were not on our property. There is a 6 foot fence separating us from the trees. That didn’t stop my boys. It didn’t take them long to jump the fence & go exploring. What fun they had until that night they were all itching uncontrollably from the poison ivy. All of those nice trees are covered in poison ivy. You would think that would teach them, but they went back many more times and caught poison ivy many more times. They basically spent the first 6 months in our new house with poison ivy.

-Boys do like a good dog.  That old hound that will just follow anywhere they want to go or let them lay all over them when resting under a tree.  Boys need a pup to raise and take on long walks with.  The best friend a boy has outside human race is a good dog.

• My boys have had many a great dog since they spent the first 8 years of their life in the country. The best dogs we had were mutts; the second best were 2 chocolate labs. They followed the boys everywhere. One time when Collin was really little he wondered off from the house. We couldn’t find him anywhere. Then I looked up on the hill and there were our 2 old dogs jumping around & barking trying to get my attention. They were staying with Collin protecting him from getting hurt. I don’t think I was ever so glad to get licked in the face by those dogs. From then on we knew that if the dogs were home the boys were home too.

-Most importantly though, a boy has to spit.  It does not matter what is around him.  Make sure that you or anyone else is not in direct line of fire of a boy when he is ready to spit.  They have no discretion on where that spit goes….they simply must spit. 

• O’K, this one is just totally gross to me. I’m a girl; I don’t spit unless a bug gets in my mouth. Why would that happen? But my boys seem to have made this into a competitive sport. I don’t just let this spitting stuff happen though. They must be outside. One of our house rules; “No spitting in the house.”

Raising a Modern Day Daniel

 Daniel 1 details a wonderful story of 4 very strong and dedicated teenage boys.  These teen’s were in their early teens, but according to their culture were considered men.  There was evil in Jerusalem.  For many years it had been ruled by kings who were wicked and God handed Jerusalem over to the king of Babylon.  2 Kings 24:14 says that, “He(King Nebuchadnezzar) carried into exile  all Jerusalem: all the officers and fighting men,  and all the craftsmen and artisans-a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.” “Among these were some from Judah: Daniel,  Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. (Daniel 1:6)  

After arriving in Babylon the young men were gradually stripped of their Jewish heritage.  First they received new Babylonian names, and then they were to eat the Babylonian food.  Daniel and his friends, I’m sure, were not happy with their new names, after all they were much harder to pronounce, but they could live with it.  But when the new menu was set before them they knew they couldn’t defy themselves.  It would go against everything they had been taught.  The Mosaic Law was very clear about eating unclean foods; “Don’t do it”!  In Daniels mind, there was no choice; he could not eat the Babylonian food.  His friends agreed with him and together the 4 of them rebelled, respectfully of course, against eating the fine foods of the Babylonians.  They knew that their God was bigger than even the mighty Babylonians.  They had a very healthy fear of their God.

They stood before the overseer of the court of officials and asked permission to not defile themselves.  The God they so strongly believed in softened the heart of the officials.  This Daniel was a very wise man.  He made a bargain with the official.  Is that not like the typical man?  Daniel tells the official “Please test your servants for ten days by providing us with some vegetables to eat and water to drink.  Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; deal with us in light of what you see.”(Daniel 1:12,13)  It worked!  They got what they wanted.  Even better, the whole plan worked.  They were able to show that their simple diet of vegetables and water made them stronger than the others who ate the food of the Babylonians.  Then the official removed all of the junk food and they all ate the healthy food.  After all, the King didn’t need fat, lazy Jewish men in his court.  They were no good to him like that.

Because Daniel remained faithful to his God, did not conform to the pagan culture, and took a stand against that which he knew was wrong he was blessed over & over for the rest of his life.  Read about his life in the book of Daniel.  It is fantastic.  I didn’t say it was easy, but it was blessed.

As a mom, I have to wonder what kind of mom Daniel had.  Did she know that she had raised a young man who was so strong in his convictions?  Did she know that her son was capable of making such a difficult, yet brave move against his enemies?  Did his father know that he had prepared his son to lead others in truth and conviction?  How did he teach his son to not follow others, but to lead even if you are standing alone?  As far as we know Daniel never saw his parents again.  They may have never known what a mighty man of God their son became.  What do you want to bet Daniel would be called “strong willed” in today’s times?

 

After reading the story of Daniel in the first chapter to my children one morning I wondered to myself if they would be able to make the bold stand that Daniel & his friends did?  Am I equipping them to stand for what they know is right no matter what the costs?  If given the choice would they gobble up the kings’ food or would they ask for a diet of clean foods?  Am I raising my sons to be leaders or followers?  Their dad plays the major role in teaching them to be men, but I still have a role as I am with them more than their dad, especially while they are young.

When you throw seeds in a pot of dirt you hope that what comes up is what is on the package.  You have an idea of what to expect, but is that really what will grow out of the dirt?  You water it, watch for bugs, and shield it from too much sun.  You nurture & care for it and before you know it up pops a little green shoot.  As it grows it looks like what you expected & you are feeling quite successful as a gardener.  Then it blooms.  It doesn’t quite look like what you thought it would.  What do you do?  You keep nurturing your plant and you wait and trust the direction on the package.

This is how I see my boys(& girls).  I have these ideas of how they should turn out and some of my ideas are just not panning out.  I’m getting worried.  I don’t want to raise jail bait.  I want to raise future men of God who will make an impact on others.  God reminds me, just as I am sure he reminded Daniels mother to trust him and continue to raise them according to his scriptures.  Teach his laws and promises to them.  Believe and live according to them myself.  Teach them to guard their heart, to capture every thought that could lead them into foolishness and that whatever they do, do it as unto the Lord.  Talk to them about what we believe and why, and then expect them to live this way because it pleases the Lord and no other.

This is not what our society teaches at all.  The Christian is expected by God to live to please his God and in return receive blessings untold. Society expects us to live for ourselves and do whatever pleases us.  I don’t know if I am raising modern day Daniels, but I’m trying.  I see a passion in the eyes of my sons that I pray constantly will grow into a passion for their Lord.  I see a zest for life that I pray will grow into a zest for Christ and I recognize their natural God given hunger for adventure that could bring them to the point of history changing adventures.

I pray that even though my son must live in this world, he doesn’t have to be of the world.  I pray that he will guard his heart, resist the temptation to conform, and learn to love his God with his whole heart, mind and strength.  The rest is up to God.