Wander Woman

Col 3:21 “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.”

“Discipline is essential in the home; but not unnecessary rules and regulations and endless petty correction by which children are discouraged.” - Francis Foulkes

“Parents can be so exacting, so demanding, or so severe that they create within their children the feeling that it is impossible for them to please.” - Curtis Vaughan

“If children are exhorted to render obedience, parents, are urged not to irritate their children by being so unreasonable in their demands that the children lose heart and come to think that is useless trying to please their parents.” - F.F. Bruce

Obviously, the Lord is really trying to get my attention.  I typed this up last night and it got deleted.  I didn’t save it, so here I am typing it again.  Yesterday was a real challenge for me.  It seems like almost all my days have been challenging here lately.  Please pray for me as I think about the scripture and quotes above.  My relationship with my son has not been bringing glory to God.  I have been sinning BIG time against the very ones God has given me to serve.  I believe I may be provoking my child to anger frequently.  “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”  I have not been loving Tyler as God loves him.  I have not been setting a good example.  I remember someone saying once that a lot of times when we become angry it is because our child’s disobedience is inconveniencing us.  We have an agenda and they are keeping us from accomplishing it.  This is selfishness.  Maybe it is not even disobedience.  Maybe it is just our child needing extra help with school work which requires more time from us.  All too often, I do not have a gentle answer, but a harsh one that stirs up anger.  I know this is triggering an angry response in Tyler.  I don’t want Tyler to think that I constantly disapprove of him.  I don’t want him to think that I am only aware of his sins.  Pray that I can look for evidences of grace in the same way I look for evidences of indwelling sin.  I need a change of heart so I can relate to him on the basis of God’s grace and mercy and not sinless perfection.  I want Tyler to see and feel that I have great affection for him and that I really do desire his good and happiness.  Pray that I will enjoy my time with him.  It takes a lot of work and energy to encourage and I am not good at it.  I need God’s help desperately!  I cannot do it without him.  I feel like I will never get it right, like it will never get better - a lot.  I feel like giving up.  This is where I was yesterday.  I did not want to find comfort in my God, but wanted to stay in my pity party.  I didn’t want to ask for forgiveness.  I started spiraling down hill fast.  My thoughts got out of control fast.  Aren’t you glad God doesn’t treat us as He should?  He loves us the same yesterday, today, and forever!  He is unchanging.  WOW!  I appreciate your friendship and prayers. 

(I am trying to get that Casting Crowns song up, but computers hate me.  When I figure out how to outsmart the computer, you will be able to hear it).

I know I said I would finish this within the next couple of posts, but I changed my mind…….

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

What we love we love to think of.  We must have a constant habitual regard to the word of God as the rule of our actions and the spring of our comforts, and we we must have it in our thoughts upon every occasion that occurs.  The more we converse with the Word of God the better furnished we are for any good word and work.  

Ps 119:16 “I delight in your decress; I will not neglect your word.”
Ps 119:35 “Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.”

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water,”

A tree cannot live without water, just as we cannot live without God’s protection.  Like a tree that soaks up water and bears luscious fruit, we also are to soak up God’s Word, producing actions and attitudes that honor God.  The rivers of pardon and the rivers of grace, the rivers of promise and the rivers of communion with Christ, are never-failing sources of supply.

“which yields its fruit in season”

The man who delights in in the Word of God, being taught by it, bringeth forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial, and holy joy in the hour of prosperity

“and whose leaf does not wither”

He wont lose his beauty or fruitfulness if the Word of God rules in his heart.

“Whatever he does prospers”

It is not outward prosperity which the Christian most desires and values, it is soul prosperity which he longs for. 

“not so the wicked!”

the ungodly are the reverse of the righteous, both in character and condition.  They are led by the counsel of the wicked, in the way of sinners, to the seat of the scornful; they have not delight in the law of God, nor ever think of it.

“They are like chaff”

A description of their character - worthless, dead, unserviceable, without substance

“that the wind blows away.”

Thu ungodly are easily driven to and fro by every wind and temptaion, and have no steadfastness.  Those that by their own sin and folly make themselves as chaff will be found so before the whirlwind and fire of divine wrath, so unable to stand before it or escape it.

Ps 35:5 “May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away;
Isa 17:13 “Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale. 

“Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,”

The ungodly shall be found guilty, shall hang down the head with shame and confusion, and all their pleas and excuses will be overruled as frivolous.  So plain will the evidence be against them and so just and impartial will the judgment be upon it. 

“nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.”

They will forever be shut out from the society of the blessed.  They shall see the righteous enter into the kingdom, and themselves, to their everlasting vexation, thrust out.  Christ cannot be imposed upon.  A day is coming when he will separate the wicked and the righteous

Luke 13:27 “But he will reply, “I don’t know you or where you come from.  Away from me, all you evildoers!”

“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,”

He orders all our steps.  The Lord approves and is well pleased with the way of the righteous.

Job 23:10 “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”

“but the way of the wicked will perish.”

The ungodly, because the very way in which they have chosen and resolved to walk leads directly to destruction; it naturally tends towards ruin and therefore must necessarily end in it.  The Lord is angry at the way of the wicked, all they do is offensive to him, and therefore it shall perish, and they in it.

Lord, you know the desires of my heart.  Open my eyes to see what areas of my life need to change so I am living as you would want.  I need your help and strength.  Left to myself, I would turn away.  I want to know You and Your Word more so I can apply it to my life and follow You more closely.  The more I know Your Word, the more resources I will have to guide me in my daily decisions.  I want to have a fruitful and faithful life, so You can use me.  I do not want to be like chaff that drifts along without direction by even the slightest wind.  I pray that others will see You in me.  Give me a boldness to proclaim Your greatness that others may come to know You and save themselves from Your holy wrath.  Fill me with a holy dread of the wicked man’s portion.  I want to live a life pleasing and acceptable to You.  As Spurgeon said, “May the Lord cleanse my heart and my ways, that I may escape the doom of the ungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous!”  Amen.

I am so excited.  The Lord has been showing me so much.  On V-day my husband bought me the new Casting Crowns CD along with concert tickets.  There is a song on there that I really like (I’ll share it with you later).  The insert not only provides the lyrics, but also gives Scripture references that go with each song.  Since V-day I had been wanting to look up the verses, however, everytime I went to get my CD, it was gone.  In the meantime, at our Ladies Meeting Sun night, I won A 30-Day Walk with God in the Pslams by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  I started studying Psalm 1 Monday.  Later that night, when I finally got the CD back, I was so anxious to read the Bible verses that went with the song I liked.  The very first verse was Psalm 1.  God’s timing is perfect.  All I could say was, “Oh my gosh!”  For the past couple of days I have been digging deep.  I hope to share with you what I have learned over the next couple of days.  Thanks to Matthew Henry and Spurgeon for their thoughts and thanks be to God for openening my eyes to these truths.  Everytime I read the chapter, I find something new.  Are you ready?  Here we go.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked“

The faithful person takes wise counsel and walks in the commandmnets of the Lord.  His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God and not by the cunning and wicked devices of carnal men.  It is a rich sign of inward grace when the outward walk is changed and when ungodliness is put far from our actions. 

Ps 119:115 “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.” 

“or stand in the way or sinners“

He that would be kept from harm must keep out of harms way

Prov 4:14-15 “Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men.  Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.”

“or sit in the seat of mockers“

The seat of the scorner may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell; let us flee from it, for it shall soon be empty, and destruction shall swallow up the man who sits therein

Ps 69:12 “Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards.”

Notice the downward progression: walk, stand, sit.  When men are living in sin, they go from bad to worse.  At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God - the evil is rather practical than habitual - but after that, they become habituated to the evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who wilfully violate God’s commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful.

I took a break while typing this and allowed my son, Tyler, to play with neighborhood kids that I was already not to sure of.  I decided I would only let him play for about 30 min and that I would stay outside the entire time to supervise.  Not even 10 minutes went by and one of the boys said a curse word.  I immediately ended play and sent Tyler inside which made him upset.  This was a perfect opportunity for me to teach him what I had been teaching myself.  As tears ran down his face, I held him in my arms and explained to him what would happen to him if I continued to let him play with these bad influences.  I explained to him that our friends should help us draw closer to God, not hinder us.  Our friends should love God.  If I kept allowing him to play with these kids, he would go down hill, maybe not right away, but gradually.  Friends can lure us to do wrong and can lead us into trouble.  Tyler cannot see this right now and sometimes we cannot either.  While we should be accepting of others, we need a healthy skepticism about human behavior.  We must have contact with unbelievers if we are to witness to them, but we must not join in or imitate their sinful behavior.  We must be cautious that our friends don’t cause us to fall into sin.

Lord, help me to submit to your Word and to make it familiar to me that it may keep me from the way of the ungodly and temptation.  I want your wisdom to guide my life.  Help me to use caution when around unbelievers that I may not become influenced by their behavior even in a subtle way.  Thank you for what you are doing in my life.  Amen.

Last nights Ladies Meeting was so timely for me.  I was encouraged and motivated.  The topic was: Devotions or Devotion; Duty or Delight.  As you already know, spiritual training has not been a priority for me and I desire to change.  I want nothing more than to bring glory to God in all I do.  I was brought to tears several times while we were being taught.  I don’t think it was luck that I won a 30 day devotional at the end of our meeting.  I believe it was God’s love and care for me.  I walked in late, after everyone was already seated, and sat down by a friend because of her invite.  God knew I needed that devotional and He led me to the seat with the special sticker on it.  He is so good and kind.  I definitely didn’t deserve it.  You would think after last nights discussion that I would rise early excited to read the Word of God but, I didn’t it.  I failed again.  I learned last night that I need God far more desperately than my body needs sleep.  Piper said in his book When I don’t Desire God: “I earnestly recommend that your devotional time be in the early morning, unless there are some extenuating circumstances.  Entering the day without a serious meeting with God, over His Word and in prayer is like entering the battle without tending to your weapons.  It’s like taking a road trip without filling the tires with air or the tank with gas.  The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep.  The body does, but not the heart.  The spiritual air leaks from our tires, and the gas is consumed in the day.  We replenish our hearts not with sleep, but with the Word of God and prayer.  Thousands of saints have discovered throughout the centuries that starting the day by filling the mind with the Word of God will bring more joy and more love and more power than traveling on yesterday’s gas.”  Spurgeon said, “It is a good rule to never look into the face of man in the morning till you have looked into the face of God.”  WOW!  Lately, I feel like more times than not, my days have been like a battle.  Especially, when it comes to relating to my children.  I know that if I made time with the Lord the first thing I did every morning, I would be better equipped to handle the trials and struggles that come my way each day with my children.  My weapons would be ready.  I cannot live in my own strength.  I become uptight, anxious, annoyed, and resentful towards the very ones God has given me to serve.  This is when I started to cry last night.  I need God’s help desperately.  I can become preoccupied with earthly matters (homeschool perfection, “to-do” list, etc…) and become angry and demanding to those around me.  These things don’t matter most.  Mueller said, “Our hearts will be comforted, encouraged, warmed, reproved, and instructed by giving ourselves to the reading and meditation of God’s Word.  If meditation is not a practice in our life we will never know God’s greatness and glory.  I want to know it.  It is amazing to me that He accepts us, not because of what we do for Him, but because of what He’s done for us in Christ.  Nothing I can do can make Him love me more.  Carolyn Mahaney said, “My justification is found in Christ’s finished work on the cross - regardless of when I get up.  My righteousness comes only from Him, and my joy must be found only in Him.”  There will be days when circumstances prevent us from rising early.  We should try to find another time to fit our quiet time in and then go back to our original routine as soon as possible.  We should not, however, feel condemned.  I want my soul to be happy in God as the result of a consistent, daily devotional life.  Pray for me as I continue to try to make reading of God’s Word the most important thing I do.

Thank You Rhonda for teaching us last night. 

Every Friday morning, I do a Bible study with my mom-in-law and sister-in-law.  We have been going through the book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney.  Today, we talked about journaling, which was pretty cool, since I just decided to start this blog.  I wanted to share some of what we talked about.  Sorry it is so long, but I think it will encourage you.

Journaling is one of the best places for charting your progress in Spiritual Disciplines and for holding yourself accountable to the goal of becoming more like Jesus, which should be the main reason for everything we do. 
The value of journaling:

1) Helps in Self-Understanding and Evaluation – John Calvin said: “without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God.”  Through the knowledge of ourselves and our condition, we are aroused to seek God.  A journal can be the means by which the Holy Spirit shows us area of sin or weakness, the emptiness of a path we have chosen, insight into our motives, or other things that can transform the journal page into an alter of Seeking God.  We might also be able to identify patterns in our life we haven’t seen before.  The journal can be a mirror in the hands of the Holy Spirit in which He reveals His perspective on our attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions.

2) Help in Meditation – Meditation requires a concentration not often developed in our fast paced, media-distracted society.  When we record in our journal our mediations on a passage of Scripture, we can follow more closely the still, small voice of God as He speaks through the text. 

3) Help in Expressing Thoughts and Feelings to the Lord – A journal is a place where we can give expression to the fountain of our heart, where we can unreservedly pour out our passion before the Lord.  By slowing us down and prompting us to think more deeply about God, journaling helps us feel more deeply (and biblically) about God. 

4) Help in Remembering the Lords Works – By having a place to collect memories, like how God has answered prayer, made timely provision, and done marvelous things in our lives, we are less likely to forget them. 

5) Help in Creating and Preserving a Spiritual Heritage – Journaling is an effective way of teaching the things of God to our children and transmitting our faith into the future.  Psalm 102:18

6) Help in Clarifying and Articulating Insights and Impressions – According to Francis Bacon, reading makes a full man, dialogue a ready man, and writing an exact man.  If we write down the meditations of our quiet times with the Lord, those impressions are likely to stay with us much longer.  When insights from quiet times are clearly fixed in our minds through journaling, it helps us to have them ready to use in conversation, counseling, encouraging and witnessing.  I Peter 3:15

7) Help in Monitoring Goals and Priorities – A journal is a good way to keep before us the things we want to do and emphasize.  It can be a reminder of things we want to do as we press on towards the goal of Christ likeness.  Phil 3:12-16

Help in Maintaining the Other Spiritual Disciplines – We can record progress with all the Spiritual Disciplines and hold ourselves accountable. 

I LOVE THIS, IT KIND OF GOES ALONG WITH MY FIRST POST. 
          THE FLESH, OUR NATURAL INCLINATION TOWARD SIN, DOES NOT CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH, UNLESS WE LABOR TO PUT TO DEATH THE MISDEEDS OF THE BODY (ROMANS 8:13), OUR PROGRESS IN GODLINESS WILL BE VERY SLOW.  UNLESS WE FIND PRACTICAL WAYS TO COOPERATE WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AGAINST OUR CONGENITAL TENDENCY TOWARD SPIRITUAL SLOTH, WE WILL NOT BUILD OURSELVES UP IN THE FAITH (JUDE 20); WE WILL DRIFT TOWARD SPIRITUAL ENTROPY INSTEAD.
          MAURICE ROBERTS SAID: “THERE WILL BE NO MARKED GROWTH IN CHRISTIAN HOLINESS IF WE DO NOT LABOR TO OVERCOME OUR NATURAL DISINCLINATION TOWARDS SECRET SPIRITUAL EXERCISES.  OUR FOREFATHERS KEPT HONEST DIARIES WHERE THE SOUL’S BATTLES WERE RECORDED.  THOMAS SHEPHERD, PILGRIM FATHER AND FOUNDER OF HARVARD, WROTE IN HIS PRIVATE PAPERS, “IT IS SOMETIMES SO WITH ME THAT I WILL RATHER DIE THAN PRAY.”  SO IS IT WITH US ALL.  BUT THIS HONESTY IS NOT COMMONPLACE.  SUCH MEN CLIMBED HIGH ONLY AS THEY LABORED WITH SWEAT AND TEARS TO CULTIVATE THE SOUL.  WE, TOO, MUST EXERCISE OURSELVES UNTO GODLINESS.”  I TIMOTHY 4:7

Journaling can be fruitful at any level of involvement, whether we write well or poor, whether we write everyday or very little.  It will help us grow in grace.  We must remain persistent through dry times in order to enjoy long term benefits.  Consider journaling, not only for “the purpose of godliness,” but also as a way to raise up a “monument of God’s faithfulness in your life. 

Yesterday, in light of Valentines, I spent some time reading about love.  I found the following written by Spurgeon.  I thought it was good and appropriate for today.

Psalm 52:8 “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.  I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.” 

“Meditate for a while on God’s unfailing love.  It is TENDER LOVE.  With a gentle touch, He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.  He is as gracious in the manner of His unfailing love as in the manner of it.  It is GREAT UNFAILING LOVE.  There is nothing little in God; His unfailing love is like himself - it is infinite.  You cannot measure it.  His unfailing love is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners (like me), after great lengths of time, and then gives great favors and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God.    It is UNDESERVED UNFAILING LOVE, as indeed all true unfailing love must be, for deserved unfailing love is only a misnomer for justice.  There was no right on the sinner’s part to the kind consideration of the Most High; had the rebel been doomed at once to eternal fire he would have richly deserved doom, and if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause, for there was none in the sinner himself.  It is RICH UNFAILING LOVE.  Some things are great, but have little efficacy in them, but this love is a cordial to your drooping spirits; a golden ointment to your bleeding wounds; a heavenly bondage to your broken bones; a royal chariot for your weary feet; a bosom of love for your trembling heart.  It is MANIFOLD MERCY AND LOVE.  As Bunyan says, “All the flowers in God’s garden are double.”  There is no single mercy.  You may think you have but one mercy, but you shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies.  It is ABOUNDING LOVE.  Millions have received it, yet far from its being exhausted, it is as fresh, as full, and as free as ever.  It is UNFAILING LOVE.  It will never leave you.  If this love is within you, God’s love will be with you in temptation to keep you from yielding; with you in trouble to prevent you from sinking; with you living to be the light and life of your countenance; and with you dying to be the joy of your soul when earthly comfort is ebbing fast.”

Lord, how can I thank you for the way you love me?  I am so unworthy.  Thank you for your constant and unchanging mercy.  I pray that you will help me to love others as you love them.  May the people I come in contact with see your love in me, especially, my family.  I pray that you will help me to set aside my own desires and instincts, so that I can love without expecting anything in return.  Help me to love and not envy.  Help me to not think of myself as inferior, but as equal.  Help me to tread the path of love boldly even when it is rough.  Help me to love and pray for my enemies.  Help me to speak words that build up and encourage.  I am really struggling with this and need your strength.  I want to be an example to my children.  Amen.