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Bits and Pieces 8/31

August 31, 2011 Leave a comment

The Bible In Two Weeks: If you want an overview of the entire Bible, these passages, which you should be able to read easily in 14 days, will give you a kind of “Cliff’s Notes” view of the Scriptures.  The reading plan is here.

Amazingly Small Things:  While I love to glorify God through what we can see through the lens of the Hubble Telescope, being astonished at gigantic images we cannot begin to comprehend or ever hope to see with the naked eye, I am equally able to praise Him for His tiny creation, things so small they can only be seen with a special scanning electron micrography.  Take a look here.

Video Classroom Teaching: If you want to “take a class” with a well-known theologian, pastor, teacher, writer, these series of videos are now available free online.  Taught by Dr. R. C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries, they are entitled “Chosen By God” and can be viewed here.

How Suffering Is A Blessing: This article/blog written by a Christian counselor can speak to anyone who wants to be able to put despair, suffering, hardship, difficulties in the proper God-centered perspective.  He illustrates his main point by telling of a counseling situation, then goes from there to teach how each one of us must undergo suffering.  His premise is “personal suffering is the thing we fear the most.”  You can read and meditate on the article here.

Categories: Bible, Bits and Pieces, Devotionals Tags: ,

Do You Take Enough Pictures?

August 29, 2011 2 comments

During the past few months, I’ve had two different occasions for which I’ve needed to look back through several years of our family’s photograph albums.  The first was to pick out pictures to make a memorial video for my mother’s funeral.  The second was to choose photos to be used during my husband’s retirement party. Although these have been two quite dissimilar reasons for perusing through the album pages, each time I’ve been so thankful I took snapshots of events, occasions and even everyday activities.  At no time was I sorry I decided to pick up my camera and photograph someone.  In fact, I have instead asked myself, “Why didn’t I take more pictures?”

If there’s one word that describes what photos do for us, it’s the word remind. Since a photograph “freezes the moment,” when we see that moment again, we are able to remember the feelings we were experiencing when that situation was happening.  We get to relive both the happy and sad times, perhaps realizing, with the passage of time, that the sad times weren’t as sad as we thought they were then, and that now the happy times bring another round of happiness as we view the scenes again.

It’s especially joyous to view photographs in the company of friends and family and have them share these moments with us.  If they were there when the pictures was taken, and they express their impressions and feelings, then you’re able to understand them and their emotional makeup even better, and if they weren’t there, but you are explaining the scene or the people, then your retelling of the situation puts things in a better perspective for both of you.

Like a photograph, the reading and teaching of God’s Word is a form of reminder. In 2 Peter 1:12, Peter writes, “I shall always be ready to remind you . . .” and  then he writes again of the importance of pursuing holiness and seeking righteousness.   Paul does the same thing in his letters, and the entire book of Deuteronomy is a “photo album” from Moses to the people of Israel.  The pages of Scripture are reminders of truths we’ve heard and experienced for ourselves, of God’s purposes He has planned for us from eternity past and certainly of people, including His Son, He has placed in His Word to give us a picture of who He is.

Similar to the joy of sharing our family photos, when we open up God’s Word and share these people and events and truths and insights of Scripture with each other, we gain new perspectives and notice little details we’ve never seen before.  Perhaps the best similarity between the Bible and a family photo album is that His entire Word is simply an incredible portrait of His love for us in the face of His Son, Our Savior Jesus.

I would definitely suggest taking more pictures, but much more importantly, take the time and effort to view the revelation God has given us of Himself through Scripture.

Categories: Bible, Personal Tags: , , ,

What Do I Pray?

August 18, 2011 2 comments

Prayer is often defined as “just talking to God.”  While that is true as a simple definition, prayer is much more than talking.  To be effective, as in James 5:16,  “the effective prayer of a righteous man has great power,” our talking to our Heavenly Father must also be in communion with Him, must be tuned in to His way of thinking.  And what better way to communicate in this way with God than to use His own words?

One day during an extremely difficult time in our lives, with multiple crisis swirling all around us, my husband, knowing I prayed for him each morning, asked me, “What are you praying for me these days?” I shared with him I was only praying one prayer over and over for both of us.  It was what I called one of my Personalized Scripture Prayers, that is, the very words of God repeated back to Him.  By praying in this way, I could be assured that what I was expressing to the Lord was in keeping with His own heart, was expressing His own desires when we were so uncertain of our own motives and what we needed to do.

Here’s what I was praying for my husband from Colossians 1:9-11, “Father, I pray that he  may be filled with the knowledge of your will, with all wisdom and understanding so that he will walk in a manner worthy of you, to please you in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of you, strengthened with all power, according to your glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience with thanksgiving.” 

There are numerous passages like the one above that can be personalized and prayed back to God and can be used to “talk to God” in His own words.  Let me know if you have some favorite Scriptures which you pray often to our Lord.

Categories: Bible, Prayer Tags: ,

Will We Know Each Other In Heaven?

August 10, 2011 Leave a comment

A subscriber to my blog recently wrote to ask me that question after we shared with each other some feelings about our loved ones’ dying.  I’ve been asked this question before, so I know others often wonder about being able to recognize our dead friends and relatives once we enter into Heaven ourselves.  I do believe we will know and fellowship with each other in Heaven, although these relationships will be so different from what we experienced here on earth because they will not be tainted by the blackness of our sin nature, they will not be marred by our emotional weaknesses and they will not be limited by our lack of intellectual understanding and discernment.  In other words, our relationships with each other in Heaven will be just perfect! 

Here are some Scriptural reasons I believe we can count on knowing each other in Heaven.  In Genesis, each time one of these men died, it is noted, “he was gathered to his people.” When David’s child died (2 Samuel 12:23), he said, “I will go to him.” These were words to give comfort, and they wouldn’t have comforted if there was to be no recognition of each other in Heaven.  In the New Testament, there is the enlightening account of Jesus being transfigured (or showing a little bit of His pre-incarnate glory) before His disciples (Luke 9).   Moses and Elijah arrived from Heaven to talk to Jesus about His upcoming death, and the disciples easily knew who these men were.  I believe they “knew” in the same way we shall “know” each other in Heaven.  Paul mentions in several of his letters that he looked forward to seeing those who were his converts in Heaven. 

Besides our loved ones, we will also share our Heavenly lives with the millions of other believers who are called the “children of God” (John 1:12).  These descriptive words were chosen by God to paint the picture of Heaven as a family setting, to paint the picture of Heaven as a place of relationships.  Paul says we will “be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).  So, yes, I believe we will recognize those we have known on earth, and we will also know those whom we had never met while in this earthly life because we will all be in a perfect relationship with the One who brought us all together as a family.

“Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Categories: Bible, Devotionals, Theology Tags: ,

His Glorious Word

July 31, 2011 2 comments

Tomorrow I’ll be teaching my Bible study class at Bethel Baptist Church for the last time.  I will have taught this class for the past 17 years, although the name of the class has changed several times as has its membership.  Throughout the years the attendance has remained pretty steady at 25-35 and has mostly consisted of married couples.  As I’ve taken inventory this past week, I’ve discovered that I have taught over half of the books in the Bible.  Genesis alone took almost two years to complete since my style of teaching is to go verse-by-verse, and it’s not been unusual for a chapter to take two Sundays to cover. 

For the past ten years, I’ve taught using PowerPoint, scanning in Bible story pictures and illustrations from children’s Bibles in order to bring the passage outline to life.  (Previously, I used transparencies and an overhead projector and when I first started teaching more than  40 years ago, I utilized  an old-fashioned flipchart.) Since I write my own lessons and make my own illustrations, the process of developing a lesson can easily take 15-20 hours each week. 

But the reality behind all these facts is the overwhelming blessing I have received from being given the privilege of teaching the Word of God.  To prepare each week I get to read commentaries by great Bible scholars like John MacArthur, John Phillips, James Montgomery Boice, John Piper and many others.  I get to meditate on one passage of Scripture all week long and decide how best to share it with others.  I must see how the passage applies to my life before I can make the application to others.  After a day of study, I often find myself singing the old hymn, “All day long I’ve walked with Jesus, it has been a glorious day.”  

Yet, even after all these years of learning and teaching, I feel I know next to nothing of the incredible treasures His Word contains.  As soon as I discover one nugget, I look up to see a whole mountain of gold waiting to be mined. My overwhelming desire for those I have taught is that I have created within them a thirst for His Word that will never be quenched.  I pray for them even as Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,  and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19)

Categories: Bible, Personal Tags: ,

Thriving In The Vine

July 28, 2011 Leave a comment

Every year we plant sweet potato vines along our back fence.  We don’t plant many, maybe 15 in all.  But by August, they’ve completely covered the length of the fence and serve as a gorgeous backdrop to my backyard when seen from my living room window.

However, this year in Oklahoma the weather has been one for the record books.  Since early June, it’s been over 100 degrees almost every single day.  We’ve had sparse rainfall and yard watering is under mandatory restrictions in our city.  So, the vines have not been watered by human hands, having to survive on the moisture from the intermittent rainfalls.  Two weeks ago, I wasn’t sure they were going to make it at all.  However, here they are, thriving as if they had been watered and cared for every day.  In reality, all they really did was remain rooted to the main branch.

As I looked at the thriving vines, I was reminded of Jesus’ teaching from John 15 concerning vines.  He was teaching the necessity of the vine (or believers in Christ) remaining and not being cut off from the main branch (or Christ Himself).  A believer thrives spiritually by continually staying attached to his spiritual life source, to Jesus. 

No matter how harsh the conditions, if I remain in Him, I will thrive.  No matter how sparse the resources, if I remain in Him, I will thrive.  This beautiful truth is the reason I’ve used this phrase when signing my name to letters and emails:  Abiding in Him, Luana.

Categories: Bible, Bits and Pieces, Personal Tags: , , , , ,

Help Wanted?

July 21, 2011 Leave a comment

There is much talk today about unemployment.  In my Bible study class, we often pray for people who need jobs, who are interviewing for jobs or who are changing jobs.  My husband is about to retire from a position, essentially becoming unemployed or about to have no job.  So it is probably not a surprise that I have been meditating on a recent devotional thought I received from author and pastor John Piper.  He noted that God’s message to us, that is the gospel of Christ, is “not a ‘help-wanted’ sign but a ‘help available’ sign.” 

When Paul was preaching to the Athenians in Acts 17, he told them, “God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything.”  If God cannot be served, that is really bad news to anyone trying to “score points” with Him by religious ritual or evangelistic zeal or by observing His laws.   The rest of verses 24-25 says, “He himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.” Now this is really good news to anyone looking for the “help available” sign.  Jesus pointed out that he did not come to serve but to “give his life a ransom for many.”  (Mark 10:45)  That’s the help available for all who would come to Him for mercy and grace.  His arms are open wide.  His help is available.

Categories: Bible, Devotionals Tags: , ,