Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Do You Believe Him?

I couldn’t wait to sit down and write today’s post friends!  God has been stirring something in my heart for a couple of weeks and it has been bubbling up inside of me and today I literally feel like I’m going to explode if I don’t do something with it! 

Let me start with this.  I have never felt so sure about being in the perfect will of God than I am about my call to homeschool my children.  I can’t even explain it friends.  I fully believe what scripture says about God writing our days out before we were even formed in our mother’s womb.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” Psalm 139:16. Knowing that my days have been ordained by God, I don’t ever want to coast through this life doing what is easy, comfortable, or accessible.  Just because I can do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s God’s plan for my life, so I want to constantly be seeking God’s will for my life.  When it comes to homeschooling my kids, I may not know what God has in store for me and my children in the years to come, but I am certain that we are walking out the story that He had written for us before we were even formed and it feels good!

When I started this journey three years ago, I remember praying that God would grant me wisdom and equip me to teach my kids well.  I just wanted them to learn and my biggest fear was that I wouldn’t teach them everything they would need to know and they’d grow up stupid!  Although I still pray for wisdom daily, God has opened my eyes to just how much He wanted to teach ME in this journey…even more so than my children!

Six years ago is when the Lord began leading me to homeschool the kids.  I was in a Bible study and the entire study was on Deuteronomy.  When we got to chapter 6, the Lord messed me up!

“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 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 strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  Deuteronomy 6:1-8

I was a fairly new mom and when I began to study this passage and really think about it, it messed with me!  I realized that parenting was far more than snuggles, smiles, milestones, and play dates!  We have been given a mandate from the Lord and my parenting changed that day.  I vowed to be intentional with my time with my children and I desired to be that mom who talked with my kids about God’s commandments and God’s goodness from the time they woke to the time they went to sleep and I wanted my home to be Christ-centered and that has been my husband and I’s goal ever since.  It was this scripture and goal that ultimately lead our family to the decision of homeschooling our children.  Our children attended an excellent Christian school for pre-school so they were receiving great teaching that backed what we were teaching them at home, however, the Lord began showing me that we were living in a day where deception runs deep.  God had placed an urgency in my spirit to pour the Word of God into my children.  I felt Him warning me that this generation will not be able to stand on two feet without the unwavering foundation of God’s Word because the deception was deep.  Then when Myka was in kindergarten, I read an article titled, “Christianity Is a Generation Away from Extinction.”  Reading that article just confirmed what the Lord had already been stirring inside of me.  He was calling me to use these foundational years to POUR God’s Word into their hearts and lives with great purpose and discipline.  And that’s why we homeschool.

Because our ultimate goal of homeschooling is using these years to pour God’s Word into their hearts, Bible time is a huge part of our day!  (Cue the floodgates friends!)  I can’t hold back my tears as I think back over these past three years and consider what I have been able to teach my children.  The lessons, the stories, the devotions, the scriptures, the memory verses, the questions, the conversations…oh friends, they are hiding God’s Words in their hearts and that alone is worth every minute, every hour, every frustration, every sacrifice, and every struggle that homeschooling has cost.  Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”  That’s what it’s all about.  In a world where deception runs deep, our children must have the unwavering truth hidden in their hearts.  If not, they are going to be fed bold lies and even worse, half-truths that sound good but that will ultimately lead them to a path of destruction.  “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” Matthew 7:13-14.  Listen, our children need a foundation more solid than just Mom and Dad’s opinions.  They need a foundation stronger than a few songs and Bible stories they learned in Children’s Church.  Our children need a personal encounter with the living Jesus and they need the living and active Word of God alive in their hearts!  Mom and Dad’s faith won’t keep our kids from being deceived but the living Word of God alive in their hearts and active in their spirit will be able to judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart and therefore will not be deceived!  For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” Hebrews 4:12.

Someone stop me before I start preaching!  I am just so passionate about being intentional when it comes to pouring God’s Word into our children.  I better get back to sharing what I came here to share! 

I say all that to tell you that while I have been trying to teach my children as much about God’s Word for these past three years, God has used some of the simplest stories and lessons to do such a work in my own life!  Let me just tell you, there is no better way to learn about God’s Word than to start with a children’s Bible curriculum!  The stories are so simple, yet so powerful and always end with an opportunity for salvation and a call to action.  I have heard many of these stories all of my life, yet as I read them to my children from the lesson book and show them the pictures that go along and discuss the questions at the end of each lesson, I find myself struggling to get through the stories without tears.  My kids have learned that people cry when they are happy and when they are overwhelmed with God’s goodness thanks to Bible time.  Bless their hearts, they were so concerned the first time I sobbed through an entire story and couldn’t understand why mommy was crying if I was happy.  They get it now and just carry on as normal.  Sometimes they even join me now!  Little did I know that in my journey to teach my children, God would be teaching me something new every single day and awakening my faith in a new way.  I have seen first-hand childlike faith and I understand why we are instructed to become like little children in Matthew 18:3. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’  Watching my children take God at His Word has taught me more about faith than any teaching I have heard over my life. 

This past week we learned about Jesus healing the nobleman’s son.  Because of some needs that my family has been praying and believing for, this story just stirred something inside of me.  I felt lead to write a post last week and didn’t.  Then when the story came up in my devotion a few days ago, it was just confirmation of what God was stirring in my heart!  In John 4:43-54, we learned about an official whose son was very sick.  It’s apparent this was a well-off man so I’m sure he had access to the best care in his time and yet nothing was working and his son was near death.  They had exhausted all options when they began to hear talk about this man named Jesus.  They heard about how he performed miracles and word was spreading that he was coming to a town nearby.  Being desperate to help his son, this father thought maybe, just maybe he could go find this man and ask him to come heal his son.  His son was so sick, he wasn’t even sure he’d make it back in time but a parent’s love for their child runs deep and he was willing to do anything if it meant his son might be okay.  It was a two-day journey just to get to Jesus and when he found him, he begged Jesus to come with him.  He told Jesus about his dying son and asked him to come to his home to see if he could heal him.  Jesus continued teaching despite the man’s pleas and I can only imagine the relentless pleas of a loving father.  I mean could you even imagine?  He was desperate and I know Jesus must have heard the urgency in his pleas. Yet, instead of coming with the man, Jesus looked at the official and said, “Go home.  Your son is well.”  Now, keep in mind that this man was not yet a believer, yet it says the man took Jesus at his word and left.  As I read this story to my kids, I found myself wondering if there was something in Jesus’ voice or a look in his eyes that made this man believe him?  The man didn’t question Jesus at all.  He took him at his word and left!  I can’t help but wonder if I had traveled for two days knowing my son may have already died, I probably would have been asking, “Are you sure?  Can you come with me just in case?”  Yet, not a question from this man!  Then it hit me.  That’s faith!  Believing what he could not yet see. 


 This father left knowing his son was healed.  He couldn’t call and check with his family and he didn’t wait until he returned home to believe.  Scripture says he “knew” because Jesus said it.  What a great reminder!  I look at my children and they are much like this nobleman.  They have the word of God inside of them and when I listen to them pray, they fully expect God to do what He says He will do.  I mean, why wouldn’t they?  Is it that same nudge that father must have felt that day?  That nudge that whispers, “He’s serious.  It’s done.”  I want to live out that kind of faith because it’s that kind of faith that allows us to rest in the journey.  I can only imagine that father’s journey home.  When he left his dying son, I’m sure there was a cloud of fear hovering over him the entire journey.  Could you imagine the doubt that swirled in his head not knowing if he would even be there for his son’s last breath?  Oh, how the journey home was different!  He “knew.”  I’m sure he was still in a hurry to get home to his son, but this time it wasn’t because he was fearful that he’d be too late.  Oh no!  He was expectant!  He was eager to confirm what he already knew!  Praise God!  He was met by his servants the next day and they confirmed that his son was indeed well!  When he asked at what time he was well, he realized it was the exact moment Jesus said he was healed. 

Friends, what is Jesus saying to you today?  His Word is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  It never changes.  There’s no diagnosis that is too difficult to cure and it’s never too late.  But will you believe?  God’s Word is filled with His promises to those who believe.  We don’t have to wait to see the doctor’s report.  We don’t have to wait to see the evidence.  We can “know” because Jesus said it!  We can rest in our journey when we take Jesus at His Word.  If you find yourself in need of healing today, allow your heart to be encouraged as you read what God has said.

“I have come so that you may have life and that you may have it abundantly.” –John 10:10

“No weapon formed against you will prosper.” –Isaiah 54:17

“Greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world.” -1 John 4:4

“By His stripes, you are healed.” –Isaiah 53:5

“Nothing is impossible with God.” –Luke 1:37

“I am the Lord that healeth thee.” –Exodus 15:26

“He Himself took away our infirmities and bore away our diseases.” –Matthew 8:17

“My words are life to those that find them, and health unto their flesh.” –Proverbs 4:22

“And this is the confidence we that we have in him, that, if we ask any anything according to his will, he heareth us.  And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” -1 John 5:14

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” -3 John 1:2

“Fear not, for I am with you.” –Isaiah 41:10

It doesn’t matter what you are facing today because we serve a God that we can place our confidence in.  We don’t have to question if He’s really sure He’ll do what He says He will.  His Word never returns void so rest in your journey.  Don’t wait to believe His Word until you see the evidence.  Believe it today and be expectant. 

“Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace.” –Mark 5:34


“Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” –Luke 17:19