Category: Bible Studies

I’m fighting the frustration of learning computer language, I guess it’s good to be challenging my brain cells to grow!  Anyhow, the neat thing I realized is that I absolutely would not be doing this blog if I didn’t believe God wanted me here.  For Him, I will persevere into this world of technology.  I want to remain focused on the purpose of this blog and that is to encourage others to live for the God of my heart, to serve Him, understand Him, follow Him and recognize our desperate need for Him.  That means if one individual is motivated to look closer at our Lord and Savior then this blog is worthwhile and successful.  So, I’m not so much counting numbers as I am the opportunity to share my love for God.  He wants your devoted heart and He wants to supply you with an overflowing treasure chest of love.  All praise and glory and honor to Him, forever.

My better-half, and I say that truthfully, retired a few years ago.  He taught as a Professor of Physical Science at our local college.  His degrees are in physical geology and physical geography.  After thirty-seven years of teaching those subjects as well as math, physics, mining and astronomy, a series of medical issues made it clear it was time to open a different door.  In the years we’ve been married, I have developed some appreciation for rocks and have been on several gold panning trips!  “The Things You do for Love”!  Mining is really hard work.  Trust me.  Several times I have been known to say, “Keep your day job”.  It takes soooo much time, hiking down gullies with equipment, setting up a sluice, digging with shovels, moving boulders.  It certainly helps me to relate to the words in Proverbs 2:4 about seeking silver and the energy involved!  You can check out the study here.

God continues to cause our fig trees to produce huge numbers of fruit!  I’ve made fig jam, fig oat bars, salads with fresh figs, eaten several figs just off the trees, given dozens away and I still have bowls of figs!  Any ideas?  I would welcome them!  I pray you clearly see the wonders around you even in the midst of a corrupt world.  Take heart in knowing God will continue to refine His children for His glory.

 

How do you know if something or someone is important to yourself or to another person? Think words like time, energy, sacrifice, resources. Back in the day, when checkbooks were something we all used, there was a saying, “Look at your checkbook and you will get a good picture of where your money goes”. I remember each beginning of a new year I would be excited to pick out a new calendar. Our lives were written in that calendar! You could look back and see where much of our time was spent. When I was in my twenties, I seemed to have more time to get things done! I was able to check off most things on my to-do list. Now, one year away from sixty, I feel accomplished to finish only a task or two — time moves much quicker as I move slower 🙂 But, where is my time spent? What’s important to me? Or better yet, what is most valuable to me? Sheep have an unfortunate reputation for being stupid and needy. But, they cry out for their shepherd because they recognize their need. It is crucial for their survival that he is always nearby. Think about your relationship with the Shepherd as you study Proverbs 2:3. I want to learn to bleat like a sheep!

As I was writing a study on Proverbs 2:2 I was reminded of the need for truly understanding something in order to have wisdom about it. There is a story of a woman who always made meatloaf the same way. After she would carefully form the loaf for her baking dish, she would gently cut off the ends. One day when asked why she did that, she paused and thoughtfully replied, ‘Because my mother always did’. This caused her to realize she didn’t really understand the reason this was done. She asked her elderly mom why the ends of the meatloaf had to be trimmed before baking it. The mother’s answer: ‘because that’s how it fit into the pan I used’! How often do we do things without true understanding? Isn’t it so cool is that God wants to give us His wisdom and understanding if we just come to Him with a sincere heart!

Great time studying in the Word this morning!! This is pretty much always true but I am continuously in awe of God and the riches He unfolds in His precious words to us. I am totally, completely in love with my Savior! I pray you can join me in this statement. Check out the description of David’s longing for God in the new study I posted. Psalm 119:131. Now, time to pick even more figs — did you know a fig tree, unlike many other fruit trees — keeps on producing throughout the summer/fall season? It doesn’t have just one yield but several over time. I’m excited to work on the dinosaur quilt for baby boy grandchild #5 and not so excited to get the laundry done but incredibly thankful God didn’t insert me into the time of pioneer women 🙂 Can’t even imagine pounding my clothes with rocks in a stream to wash them! Dear God, thank you for washing machines and clothes dryers…. really, this is sincere.

Boy, is my mind being stretched! I feel like my brain is sweating as it’s trying to activate new brain cells 🙂 There have been some glitches in the blog but with the patient help of my Better-Half and support from WordPress, I think we’re good to go again!
I’ve received numerous emails about how to write a ‘proper’ blog, how to increase your number of ‘hits’ and key words to use. As I’ve read these articles, I can’t help but remember my purpose for doing this. I want to encourage others to get excited about the unfolding of God’s precious word to His children. Each day and often each moment, He showers His love upon us. We just have to get used to expecting His blessings. It’s amazing how you begin to notice them more as you learn more about God. So I may not follow the rules in blogging or be very savvy in the form or methods used but I look to a webmaster who’s name is God Almighty.
Yesterday, I was looking at a mountain-load of fresh figs from our trees in the backyard. Fresh figs are a delight to eat but you can only eat so many. After precious time with some dear sisters in the Lord setting up the schedule for our Women’s Bible Study and then my own time in the Word, I made a large batch of fig jam! Yummy, wish you could taste it!
At our Women’s Bible Study meeting yesterday, I was reminded of one of the first studies I wrote. The reference is Proverbs 2:1-6. There are conditions to meet and a promise made. In my own words: If you accept and treasure God’s commands (v.1), give heed to the wisdom revealed , yield your will and intellect to understanding (v.2), call, even cry out to God for knowledge and understanding (v.3), search for meaning as you would precious treasure (v.4), THEN you will understand what it means to fear and know God (v.5). He gives wisdom, knowledge and understanding! (v.6)
These verses are so encouraging!! What God wants from us is a genuine desire to know Him, to recognize Him as God. He wants to reveal His truths to His children. I remember as a child always having a Bible in our home and even as a young adult a Bible sat on my coffee table. But, it was for someone else to interpret, it may as well have been written in secret code. When I was saved, brought to my knees before the One True God, He caused me to immediately begin to understand that His word wasn’t just a book that looked nice or that a ‘good’ Christian should have displayed. It’s His personal message to me, it describes His love for me. The Bible tells me how to live a life honoring to the One who created me. And… it was written for me to understand and follow. I pray you are encouraged to dig in and ask God to show you His riches!

This is a beautiful day! Time in the Word this morning, coffee with my Best Friend, shampooed living room and dining room carpets, now onto working in my sewing room on the dinosaur quilt for my 5th little grandbaby due September 12th! The lyrics of one of the songs we sang at church continues to run through my mind as a prayer: “Give me one pure and holy passion, give me one magnificent obsession, Jesus give me one glorious ambition for my life: to know and follow hard after You.” Amen!

August 12, 2017. So here we go. I’m petrified mostly because I’m not very computer savvy. Why am I doing this blog? Well, I love God. Plain and simple. I love studying the Bible and writing and being encouraged, challenged, reminded, comforted by God’s word. I love sharing what I find in His word with other woman. It is a blessing to hear how God is working in their lives, and hearing their stories encourages me to continue to move forward in my pursuit of knowing Him.

My plan is to post  Bible studies with application and questions to help all of us continue to grow in our faith. Along with the studies, I’ll share how God faithfully intervenes in my plans to provide opportunities to stretch me and serve others. Boy, can I mess up at times : ), but to His glory, I’m saved by God’s grace and mercy. As long as I’m upright, as in a vertical position, my desire is to keep the focus of all I do on the One who provides all I have.

Much of my time in the Word recently has been in Psalm 119 carefully breaking down each verse with the prayer of better understanding and appropriate application. The last few days I’ve been looking at Ps 119:129 which says “Thy testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul observes them.” The word wonderful means that God’s word is a miracle, it is marvelous!! Therefore with my soul – or my entire being, including my thoughts, words, and actions – I will keep them, I will follow them, I will protect them. Wow! This makes me think of a sincere love for someone or something. Doesn’t it lead to a response? Words alone have little meaning without action. Lord, help me to live the love I have for You!

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You know it’s difficult to write about yourself. The most important fact I can disclose is that I’m saved by God’s grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. My desire is to live a life honoring to God in response for the gift of salvation I’ve been given. This is so much easier said than done! I struggle daily with right choices, right words, right thoughts, and right actions. My best and only defense against sin is the power of God in me and for that I am inexpressibly thankful.

I have three amazing grown-up children who have responded to God’s call in their lives along with their spouses. One of the great joys of my life is knowing my children and their families strive to serve and follow God. My grandchildren are another wonderful joy in my life! My husband and I are blessed with five beautiful grandchildren to date with another expected very soon. We also are thankful for the comforting knowledge that an additional three of our grandchildren, are in our Savior’s presence.

I have attended the same church since the day my eyes were opened to Truth over thirty years ago. How fortunate it is to have been led by God’s hand immediately to a church body that follows the Bible, no man-made doctrines, just the Word clear and strong. My husband is my best friend, my confidant, my encourager, and I still can’t believe how blessed I am by his example of love and generosity towards everyone around him. He is God-fearing, compassionate, and kind and I have learned so much from him.

I am a daughter to my almost 95 year-old mother, sister to three brothers, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, aunt, great-aunt, neighbor and friend. That means, whomever is reading this, we probably have something in common! I love every unique role I have been placed in. I’m frequently stretched and sometimes feel like silly putty that wants to bounce right back into my comfort zone. My greatest ambition is to be a follower of Jesus; a light that shines for Him at all times, in all circumstances.  I do not write as a scholar but as a child of God, saved by His grace alone.  I pray your walk is enriched by the application of His truths in your life.

As of date, God has graciously led me to publish three books.  “Until Death Do We Meet”, “Steeped in God’s Grace”, and “Faith Versus Fear – Peace In A Pandemic”, are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

So, there it is, a bit about me.  However, my existence cannot be defined without Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior. His love has permeated my life to His glory and my eternal thankfulness.

Proverbs 2:2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;
Read these additional translations of this verse in the King James and Revised Standard versions of the Bible.
Proverbs 2:2 (KJV) So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, [and] apply thine heart to understanding;
Proverbs 2:2 (RSV) making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

A result of following Proverbs 2:1 will cause you to regard the wisdom in God’s word and to yield to the understanding of it. Meeting the conditions of accepting and guarding God’s commands will lead to being attentive to His wisdom and growing in your understanding of God’s word. What a great example of cause and effect! We don’t have to figure it all out, we are responsible to accept and treasure what God says – He will then make it clear to us what He wants us to see.  This truth reminds me of the importance of prayer and time spent reading and studying His truths.

Mt 13:9 “He who has ears, let him hear.”  

The words Jesus shared in Matthew 13 were for those with understanding.  Consider the precious gift you have been given to understand the truths in the Bible.  This is not because of your own doing but because of God’s grace.

Proverbs 2:2 uses the word attentive.  Think about what it means to be attentive to something. This word is translated from the Hebrew word <qashab> which means to prick up the ears, hearken, give heed, incline, regard.

If you own a dog, you have seen their ears prick up when they hear something unusual or different. They may even cock their head to one side as they are intently listening. Our sweet little Boston Terrier Rosie use to do this  when we would talk to her. As if to say, “I’m listening”!

Most likely, you have heard the saying, “I’m all ears”.  Think about what this phrase means.  It means ‘I’m listening’, ‘You have my attention’. How about applying this simple thought by turning off your phone, radio, etc. and finding a quiet place out of distractions when you spend time reading the Bible?   Picture this – individuals at a nice restaurant, eyes fixed on their mobile phones, no conversation between them.  What might this convey about the attention being given to their companions? How do you feel when you are trying to communicate to someone and they have their eyes on something else?

The picture of gently turning a child’s face toward you when it is important to communicate to them comes to mind. I know I have said ‘let me see your eyes’ when communicating something important to my children when they were young.  I have done the same with my grandchildren.

Do we give God our full attention?  Do we genuinely seek to know Him?   He wants to give us His wisdom and cause us to be skillful in understanding His word! This is a gift!

Have you ever asked someone why they do a certain thing and you get a response like ‘I don’t know’ or ‘someone else said to do it’ or ‘because this is what I was taught’ or ‘I’ve always done it this way and never really thought about it’?  These answers all lack true understanding.  It is impossible to defend or explain something you do not understand yourself.  Consider that as God’s child, you are under the tutelage of perfect wisdom, truth, and holiness.

Proverbs 22:17-21 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge; for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, that they may be ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge, to make you know the certainty of the words of truth that you may correctly answer to him who sent you?

Acts 17:11 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.

Look closely at the word ‘heart’ in Proverbs 2:2. It means our feelings, will and intellect. This word also carries the idea of being willing. This is an intentional desire to understand.  I have tried to make someone who is unwilling understand something. Trust me, this never has good results! God wants us to come to Him with our full attention and a willing desire to understand His truths. This means having a genuine heart for God. Words alone, or acknowledging His deity and truths do not suffice. Our diligent efforts to know Him speak of our love for Him.

Pr overbs 23:12 Apply your heart to discipline, and your ears to words of knowledge.
Psalm 119:111-112 I have inherited Thy testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Thy statutes forever, even to the end.
Isaiah 55:3 “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.

Do we give our full attention to God’s instructions so that we may apply it with understanding?