Tag: Scriptures

Reflecting on the Scriptures: Peace

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Our word for Strengthen through the Scriptures is ‘peace.’ How do you define ‘peace?’ Harmony? Free from chaos? Lack of disagreement? Do you feel at peace right now – this very minute? How do you find peace in times of chaos or discomfort? Be honest. Don’t give the answer that you think you should.

Romans 8:28 is a verse that I keep in my heart. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I can keep those words in my heart and understand them in my head, but sometimes that means I have to wait for God’s plan. The Bible tells us to be courageous and wait. I must admit when I am waiting, the feeling of peace is NOT within me! Then I have to remember John 16:33.  Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Let’s start the week with a look at Peace in the Proverbs.

 Proverbs 3:1-2
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.

 Proverbs 3:17
Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.

Did you notice the ALL in that verse? ALL of her paths are peace!

Proverbs 12:20
Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy.

Do you promote peace? Is promoting a high priority for you? There are so many that live for drama in their lives and sharing it with others. We should always aim to promote peace in our lives and the lives of others.

Proverbs 14:30
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 17:1
Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

Have you ever had a meal with family or friends that was full of contention and strife? How did you feel during the meal…and after?

Proverbs 29:17
Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire.

This verse hits at home and goes back to God’s plan of giving instruction to our children. Is your life as a parent always going to be peaceful? Of course not. However, with teaching and disciplining your children will be more like to bring peace to you rather than turmoil.

Our challenge this week is simple and straight-forward. Look for peace in your life. Share with others how you found that peace and how they can find it also. Our memory verse this week can help us meet this challenge.

John16_33_Peace MV

Have a wonderfully, peace-filled week.

Kim_Oval

Reflecting on the Scriptures: Kindness

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Hello Friends!

How many of you have been invited to play the game where you take the first letter of your name and find an adjective that starts with that letter AND describes you? Is there a certain adjective that you always use? How does it describe you? My name begins with a ‘K.’ What do you include for a ‘K?’ I usually add the word, ‘kind.’ How would you define the word ‘kind ‘to’ someone? Friendly? Benevolent? Nice?

When a group of young children are playing together, what phrase is often said? ‘Be nice.’ Be nice to your…friends…brother…sister…cousins…the list goes on and on. What is expected of those children to ‘be nice’ to the other children? Do you ever look at those in the world around you and wonder what it would be like if everyone treated everyone nicely? What would the world look like if we were ALL nice to EVERYONE?

What did Jesus answer in Mark 12:29-31 when asked what the greatest commandment was?  “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Think about that: loving your neighbor as yourself. Think about the people in your close circle of family and friends and those that you worship with and what about the leaders in both business and government. Can you imagine what the world would be like if EVERYONE loved God will ALL of their hearts, souls, minds, and strengths? What if EVERYONE loved their neighbors as themselves?

Mistrust, envy, and hatred of others is nothing new. As Solomon shared – they is nothing new under the sun. But do we just use that as an excuse and dismiss the unkind actions of those around us – or even our own unkind actions?

Our memory passage for this week is: 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Mark 12_30_3131 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Mark 12: 30-31. This passage is also our challenge for the week. Stop often and reflect on your own thoughts and actions. Are you demonstrating that you love God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Not just one or two of these but all four! Secondly, when you are reflecting, ask yourself how you are showing love to your neighbor each day.

Come back on Wednesday to discuss the different types of kindness that are taught in the Scriptures.

Kim_Oval

Wrapping Up: Courage

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Hope everyone has had a week full of opportunities for sharing your courage and strength. Today, let’s look at four sources of courage. To help review and reflect, you are going to match verses with their locations in the Bible and then fill in the blanks to complete the verse. You can write the letter of the correct verse on the line beside the Scripture. All of the Scriptures are from the NIV.

Courage Friday Matching
We looked at many verses this week to teach us about being strong and courageous as we rely on God and His infinite power. Try to sit aside a few minutes over the next few days and reflect on what these verses mean to you and how you can apply them to your daily walk.

Enjoy your weekend and the blessings from God in your life. See you on Monday when we explore our next Strength from the Scriptures topic: Kindness.

Kim_OvalFor those of you that would like to print out the matching activity,  click the link for a downloadable version: Courage Matching Reflections,

 

Reflecting on the Scriptures: Courage

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Be strong and courageous. How does reading those words make you feel? Do you know where find the verse in the Bible that includes those words? Yes, that’s a trick question. 🙂 This phrase is actually found in numerous places in the Scriptures – both in the Old and New Testaments. After reading all of these verses, I decided that Psalm 27:14 would be our memory verse for this week: Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Courage MV

Let’s break this verse into four sections:

  1. Wait for the Lord
  2. Be strong
  3. Take heart
  4. Wait for the Lord.

How interesting that the verse begins and ends with the same four words: Wait for the Lord. Do you like to wait? Usually, waiting is not something that I want to do, but sometimes God wants and needs us to wait. Let’s look at three passages from the Scriptures to begin our look at courage.

In Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, Moses shared words from God with the Israelites. We read: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Then Moses spoke to Joshua in front of all of Israel and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.” What a challenge to give to Joshua! I wonder how Joshua felt.

Do you think the Israelites were afraid? Is that why Moses reminded them that God would never leave them or abandon them. Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever been terrified? What caused the fear you felt? These words from Deuteronomy should encourage us in times that we are afraid. If we have faith that God is always with us, doesn’t it make it easier to feel courageous in times of fear? Remember what Psalm 23:4 says? Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Shouldn’t we be able to say:

I will fear no evil.
I will have courage.
I will be strong.
I can do this because God is always with me.

In 2 Chronicles 32: 7-8, King Hezekiah told the Israelites to be strong and courageous even though they were in the midst of a war with Assyria. Assyria had a great army, but the Israelites were reminded that there was a greater power with them than with Assyria. Assyria only had a human army but Israel had God to help them and to fight their battles. We are told that the people gained confidence from these words. God is always with us as we fight our battles today. Do we always show the confidence we should knowing that God is with us?  How can we build that feeling of confidence? Studying God’s Word? Walking our daily walk with God? Surrounding ourselves with others that are walking in God’s Light?

Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight. (2 Samuel 10:12) David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men and sent some against the Ammonites and the others against the Arameans. Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans and put the rest of the men under the command of his brother, Abishai, to fight against the Ammonites. Joab told Abishai to be strong and to fight bravely, and most importantly, that God will do what is good in His sight. God has a plan and is in control. How often do we think that we know what is best for us and expect God to take care of it? God will take care of us – in His way and in His time. We must learn to wait. (Yes, there’s that “wait” word again!)

We may not want to wait or delay our expectations. Immediate gratification is not always in God’s plan. What we must always remember is that God is always with us. Knowing that, we can be strong and courageous in all challenges that we face – big and small. My challenge for you this week is to examine the challenges in your life. Hod did you show courage and strength? How did you lean on God? Then look around you and see the challenges that others are facing. How can you help them be strong and courageous and to have confidence in God’s power?

See you on Wednesday when we will discuss circumstances that require courage – in Bible times and today. Remember to work on our memory verse!

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Kim

Strength from the Scriptures: Scriptures

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How is your week going? Have you been reading 2 Timothy 3:16 daily to help you commit it to memory? Have you been able to carve out time each day to read God’s Word? I have heard that it takes doing something for 21 days for it to become a habit. Does that sound like another challenge? 🙂 Did you have time to find some verses in the Bible that teach about the Scriptures?

First, let’s talk about strength? What does strength mean to you? How would define strength to someone else? Does it mean being strong? Courage? Force? Endurance? 2 Tim 3_16Power? The book of Second Timothy was written by Paul when he was a prisoner. The believers at that point had begun to be unfaithful to God. Paul was concerned that Timothy who was there to help Paul might be frightened by what was happening to the Church. Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him and to strengthen him with this letter. During this difficult time, the strength of God and the grace of Jesus Christ was apparent. This book continues to be an encouragement today for us.

Here are the four verses that I found, my reflections, and some questions to discuss.

2 Timothy 2:15 – Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
What does it mean to ‘correctly handle’ the word of truth? Can God’s Word be handled incorrectly? How do you handle or manage your use of the Scriptures?

Psalm 1:2 – …but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law both day and night.
Do you delight in the words in your Bible? Do you read and meditate on God’s Word both day and night? Does that mean meditating 24-7? We all have activities to take care. So, how and when do we spend time in the Word? What have you found that works for you? Meditating means more than just reading, doesn’t it? To me, it means taking the time to read and THINK about what you’ve read. To think about how you can use those verses to guide you during your days and nights.

Ephesians 6:17 – Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
I grew up in a time where we “got dressed” when it was time to “go to town” – whether to shop, go out to eat, or go to the doctor. Dressed meant ‘nice’ clothes, brushed hair, and a touch of lipstick. As Christians, we are instructed to take the helmet of salvation and the Word of God. Why is the Word of God considered to be a sword? Can this sword protect you? Can it lead you safely into a battle?

Hebrews 4:2 – For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.
How discouraging to know that there are some who will hear the Good News, but it will not have any value for them! How do we give value to the Good News? We share it! How do you share God’s Word with others? We can share in little ways or on a larger scale. Each time we share, we plant seeds and share God’s Word and love with those around us.

Keep working on your reflections and memorization. Come back on Friday to wrap up this first weekly Strength from the Scriptures study.