Remain Faithful to God's Word

One of my favorite examples of discipleship in the Bible is Timothy. Timothy was a unique person in that his mom, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, were devout Jews, but his father was a Greek Gentile. Timothy's mom and grandma taught Timothy the Scriptures when he was a child (2nd Timothy 1:5). Along Paul's first missionary journey, Paul met Timothy and shared the gospel with Timothy and Timothy became a believer in Jesus Christ (Acts 14). Timothy joined Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3) and became Paul's son in the faith (1st Timothy 1:2) and co-worker for the gospel (1st Thessalonians 3:2).

Paul wrote two letters to Timothy (1st and 2nd Timothy). In these letters, Paul gave Timothy wisdom and advice on how to remain faithful to God and His Word amidst persecution and false teachers. In 2nd Timothy 3:10-17, we see Paul warning Timothy that persecution was inevitable as a follower of Christ and that deceivers and imposters would come into the Church. Paul also encouraged Timothy to stand firm in his faith and in God's Word, which he had known from childhood.

14 - But as for you, you must continue to remain faithful to what you have been taught/what you have learned and firmly believe to be true [God's Word], for you know that you can trust those who taught you/you have learned from.
15 - From childhood you have known the holy/sacred Scriptures [God's Word], which has given you the wisdom to receive salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 - All Scripture is God-breathed/inspired by God,
and is profitable for:
doctrine/instruction/teaching what is true/right,
reproof/rebuke/conviction of what is wrong,
correction of sin in our lives,
and training in righteousness/what is right
17 - so that the man/servant of God may be thoroughly equipped/prepared for every good work
and will be complete/perfect.

When I look at this passage of Scripture as well as cross-references, I see 10 things:
1) Eunice (Timothy's mom) and Lois (Timothy's grandma) had built a trustworthy relationship with Timothy.
Paul also built a trustworthy relationship with Timothy.
2) Eunice and Lois taught Timothy God's Word as a child.
3) That teaching made Timothy ready to hear and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ when Paul shared it.
4) Paul encouraged Timothy to remain faithful to God's Word no matter what.
5) God's Word is breathed out/inspired by God. Men wrote what God instructed them to write (2nd Peter 1:21).
6) God's Word teaches us what is right.
7) God's Word exposes our sin/what is wrong.
8) God's Word corrects us of our sin.
9) God's Word trains us in righteousness/right living.
10) God's Word equips up for every good word God has called us to do.

How do we apply this in our lives and in the lives of our children?
1) Build and cultivate a relationship built on love and trust with your kids.
2) Teach them the Scriptures from childhood (it's never too late to start).
3) Pray for them to be ready to hear and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ when it is shared with them.
4) Encourage them to remain faithful to God and His Word no matter what.

Heavenly Father,
I pray for each parent or guardian or person who is reading this devotional right now. Everyone has a level of influence with children and people in their lives. I pray that we would build relationships of love and trust with our kids and others. I pray that we would teach them the Scriptures. I pray that their hearts would be fertile soil ready to hear and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ when it is shared with them. I pray that we would be encouraged and encourage others to remain faithful to You and Your Word no matter what. To You be all the glory!
Amen.

Appreciation

D.L. Moody said, "Character is what a man is in the dark."

Instilling Godly character into our kids is crucial. Character is who they truly are.
After reading and highlighting so much of an awesome book,
Parenting With Scripture, by Kara Durbin,
I decided to make Character Studies for my kids and I am going to share one with you today.

Basically, you look up the definition of the character trait. Then, there is a verse to memorize.
Then, there is a passage of Scripture that illuminates the character trait in action.
After reading the passage, there are Observation and Application questions to go through.
Lastly, a place for prayer is given to encourage a time of prayer.

The first one is on Appreciation. Who doesn't appreciate being appreciated?
But what I have realized that more important than being appreciated by others
is having an attitude of appreciation toward God and others.

APPRECIATION

Word to Look Up: appreciation:

_________________________________________________________________________

Verse(s) to Memorize: Psalm 100:4:

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Scripture to Read/Study:
Luke 17:11-19:
¹¹ Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem
    that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
¹² Then as He entered a certain village,
    there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
¹³ And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
¹⁴ So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
    And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned,
    and with a loud voice glorified God,
¹⁶ and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
¹⁷ So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
¹⁸ Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
¹⁹ And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Questions to Answer:

Who are the key people in this lesson?

_________________________________________________________________________

Describe 9 Lepers: ________________________________________________________ 

Describe 1 Leper: _________________________________________________________

What happens?

_________________________________________________________________________

How does the 1 leper stand out?

_________________________________________________________________________

What does Jesus say to him?

_________________________________________________________________________

Application to Plan:

What is the key thing you learned from this lesson?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

 How can you apply what you learned from this lesson?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Prayer to Pray:

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

If you need an easier-to-print PDF version, please e-mail me at mightyacorns613@hotmail.com

Psalm 1:1-3

PSALM 1:1-3

Scripture:

 

Psalm 1:1-3

¹ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
   nor stands in the path of sinners,
   nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
   and in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
   that brings forth its fruit in its season,
   whose leaf also shall not wither;
   and whatever he does shall prosper.

 

Observations:

 

Blessed means that this person has joy and contentment that can only come from God.
He also has the believer’s blessings that are reserved for God’s children.

To truly follow after God, one cannot follow after the ungodly. They must avoid associating with those who are walking in sin. Caution: Please don’t think this means the believer doesn’t interact with unbelievers at all. It means that the believer is not following and taking “wisdom” or counsel from unbelievers/sinners. Rather, his wisdom and counsel comes only from the Law of the Lord, the Word of God, which he not only meditates on (thinks deeply about), but also takes delight in (enjoys).

 

One of the blessings of being a godly person, is that they are like a tree planted by rivers of water. They are surrounded by the abundant resources that God gives His children. They are never parched and never run dry. They always have that Living Water.

They also bring forth fruit, which is demonstrated in their life through peace, joy, contentment, love, and godliness.

 

One of the greatest promises here is that whatever they do will prosper. Caution: This does not mean that they will live in mansions and drive fancy cars. It means that when they are following the Word and will of God, they will prosper because they will be on the right path.

 

Applications:

 

As Christians and Christian parents trying to raise our children to be Mighty Acorns for God, we must only seek counsel and wisdom from God through reading, studying, memorizing, applying, and praying the Word of God.

 

We must resist the temptation to follow after the “wisdom” of the world. We must cherish the Word of God and seek to encourage our children to also. When we do this, blessings will abound from God.

 

Prayer:

 

Heavenly Father,

You are the source of all wisdom. You are omnipotent, all-knowing. Your ways are above our ways; your thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). Your Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. It has perfect wisdom for our lives. Help us to cherish You and Your Word with all our hearts. Help us to meditate on Your Word day and night. Help us to follow You with all that we have. Help us to raise our Mighty Acorns and that they would be Mighty Oak Trees that would be planted by water, with roots so deep and wide that they will never be shaken, that bear fruit for You and Your Kingdom, whose leaves never wither. Lord, help us to prosper in whatever we do to bring honor and glory to You. Amen.

This method of studying Scripture is called "SOAP Method".
Basically you write out the Scripture verse(s),
write out any of your Observations about the verse(s),
write out any Applications to your life,
and then write out a Prayer to God about the verses.