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What is Heaven Like?
Have you ever dreamed of heaven? I love to talk about what heaven might be like. Especially with my children. We imagine what kinds of things we’ll get to do in heaven, pets we want to have, etc. I mean, have you ever really thought about heaven? A lot of people think it will be boring, that we’ll float around and play harps or lead meaningless lives. But that is far from the truth.
One of my favorite things “to do” when I get to heaven is to swim under water with the dolphins. Can you imagine? No drowning in heaven!
I love my horses here. They bring me a lot of joy. But, wow, in heaven, I won’t have to muck out stall, clean horse feet, or worry about hay, feed, blankets, and water in the winter. Joy!
The Bible tells us quite a bit about heaven, but I think the descriptions will pale in comparison to the real thing.
- God has prepared a place for us that is far greater than anything we could think of on our own! “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2: 9
- We won’t have to worry about violence or destruction there. “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.” Isaiah 60:18
- All the animals will be friendly! “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11:6
- There will be no more disabilities. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” Isaiah 35:5,6
- We will build houses! I will eventually have my ultimate dream home! Plus, we will enjoy working with our hands and the work will not be in vain. Things will work out right and never go wrong. And those of us with black thumbs will finally get green ones. I plan to have a big garden in heaven! “They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” Isaiah 65:21,22
- We will gather for worship each Sabbath. “From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me,declares the LORD.” Isaiah 66:23
- We will eat from the tree of life! “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 22:1,2
- We will get to see God face to face. Glory! “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” Revelation 22:4
- There will be no more pain, sorrow, sickness, or death!! “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4
- We’ll get to sit down and have a chat with Adam and Eve or Abraham or even Noah and Moses! King David! Esther! Ruth! Oh, and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John! Who do you want to talk to? “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 8:11
The Bible also tells us that the New Jerusalem will be adorned as a bride. Beautiful!
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 21:1-3
- The city of God is about the size of the state of Colorado. It is the shape of a cube: about 350 miles wide, 350 miles long, and 350 miles high! Plenty of room for everyone who wants to go! ” The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.” Revelation 21:16
- The foundation are named after the twelve apostles. “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Revelation 21:14
- Its gates are made of giant pearls and the streets are made of pure gold like transparent glass!“And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.” Revelation 21:21
I hope you are as excited about seeing heaven and living there with Jesus forever as I am! I hope you’ll be there!
The Sabbath Day
From Chaos to Calm: Day Thirty-Two
The Sabbath Day
Scripture Memory: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11
Photo Credit: Jonathon Monk
Download the .pdf version of this article.
Today, I want you to reflect again on what God’s holy day means to you. Is it just another day for catching up on chores or do you set aside that time solely for worshiping your Creator?
The Sabbath is not just a day for holy convocation. (1) It is a real 24 hour period in which we are called to put aside worldly cares and spend time with God. The fourth commandment begins saying, “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.”
The fourth commandment in all its beauty is still relevant today! One of the most famous evangelists of all time, D.L. Moody said, “The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word ‘remember,’ showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?” (2)
By not setting aside the Sabbath as holy, we as Christians lose a tremendous blessing! There are many ways to keep the Sabbath holy and still enjoy the day. The Sabbath is a perfect day to enjoy being with your family while at the same time helping your children to learn more about God.
Some of our favorite activities (3) for Sabbath include:
Afternoon walks
Going door to door witnessing
Visiting a park to enjoy God’s creation
Playing games such as Bibleopoly or Bible Trivia
Have a picnic and feed the ducks
The Sabbath should bring you joy! Make a list of things you would like to do with your family this Sabbath.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13-14
Footnotes:
1. Leviticus 23:3 tells us: “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.”
2. D.L. MOODY, Weighed and Wanting, page 47.
3. Making the Sabbath a Delight: 100 Ways to Keep the Sabbath: avirtuouswoman.org/2005/08/15/making-the-sabbath-a-delight/
The Whole Duty of Man – Or Woman!
From Chaos to Calm: Day Six
The Whole Duty of Man – Or Woman!
Scripture Memory: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments:
for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether
it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
Photo Credit: Andreas Krappweis
Download the .pdf version of this article.
Think about the verse above for a moment. What is God telling us?
It is our WHOLE duty to fear God (show Him due respect and reverence) and keep His commandments (God’s eternal moral law found in Exodus 20). Sounds pretty easy, right? Not really.
In fact, the closer I come to Jesus the more wretched I realize I am! I see my own sin sooo much clearer now than I did even 5 years ago. Years ago, I would have thought nothing of losing my temper or watching a violent movie or being lazy. Today, I realize that those things are just as much a sin as stealing or worshiping a false idol.
The closer you come to Jesus the more you will desire to keep His commandments. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15). As followers of Christ we delight to do His will, we want to keep His law.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3
So, how do we come to a point in our lives where His commandments are not a burden?
Daily Prayer
This has been part of our homework each day. By now you should be feeling better about getting up early in the morning for prayer and devotion. A daily gathering of manna for the soul. Having an early morning prayer sets the tone for the day and gives you the strength you need to get through the day as a virtuous woman. Through daily prayer you will begin to see peace take over your heart where turmoil used to reside. You will begin to feel contentment where dissatisfaction used to creep up. You will begin to understand God’s purpose for your life. God has a plan in mind for your life – the perfect plan! It is up to you to seek out His plan for you. And while you begin to live a life of prayer, you will begin to see sin in its natural state.
In Isaiah chapter 1 our sin is likened to putrefying sores. (Verse 5) In our sinful state, we are like the desolate city who has forsaken our King of Kings. It is time to acknowledge our sin and do away with it! Praise God that He loved us enough to send us a precious Savior, Jesus Christ! Verse 18 – 20 says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
God wants us to come to Him with our sin and repent. He wants us to delight in His will and have His law in our hearts. If we repent of our sins and follow Him our sins will no longer be scarlet, but covered by the blood of Jesus, they will be white as snow.
We all have our own weaknesses, our own temptations, our own struggles. We all have a purpose set before us to follow His will for our own lives. Through daily prayer, our character will develop into something beautiful – something like the woman of Proverbs 31.
Daily Study
Learning to follow God’s commands is a life long journey. Having a meek and quiet spirit that is filled with His likeness comes through prayer and the studying of His Word. If you are not in God’s Word on a daily basis you are missing a tremendous blessing! There is so very much to learn through God’s Word. There are so many lessons, so
many revelations that can only fully be understood if you are really reading and studying the Word of God for yourself.
It is good to go to church each week and listen to the Bible Study and hear the pastor preach. You should be doing that! However, I counsel you to be diligent in your search of the Scriptures on a daily basis – for yourself. keeping God’s commandments are made so much easier if you understand what He expects of you. The lessons we learn from the many stories of the Bible are too numerous to count.
What is so amazing to me is that often, I may have read a story over and over again through the years, and then read it again and come away with a completely new insight on what God is saying. You can never know enough about the Bible or God. There will always be much to learn.
If you find the Bible hard to read, try getting a good version that is easier to read. Or, I recommend purchasing the Bible Story Books (1). They are written to read aloud to children and are perfect for family worship at night. However, you could even read these to yourself during your devotion time.
Another wonderful tool for learning the Bible for you and your whole family is the Your Story Hour CD’s (2). Wonderful hours can be spent in the car, doing housework, or in the evening before bed listening to the stories of the Bible acted out. Doing either of these might be just what you need to get excited about the Bible and how it applies to your life today!
Daily Living
You know, it is not enough to pray and study if we don’t take those lessons we have read and those lessons God has spoken in our hearts with us throughout the day. We need to practice what we have learned! We need to make ourselves – however difficult at times – to follow through. Whether we have been convicted to speak with love or convicted not to watch soap operas or to have patience with our children (just as Christ is with us) we need to take those convictions – those lessons – and put them into play.
By putting into practice those lessons we have learned, we will begin to live a sanctified life, a life of obedience. We will begin to understand what it means when the Bible says that the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments.
This does not mean we will never have a set back or mess things up royally. When we do, we should go to our loving Father, yet again, and ask for forgiveness and strength to do better in the future. It IS possible to live according to His law and His will for your life. It may not always be easy or fun but it will always be worth it in the end.
Foot Notes:
1. Bible Story Books are available online at: www.thebiblestory.com.
2. Your Story Hour CD’s are available online at: www.yourstoryhour.org or you can contact them at: Your Story Hour, P O Box 15, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49103 or call them at: (800)-987-7879
A Heart White as Snow
During our morning worship this morning we again read from our devotional book for the year, God’s Amazing Creation by Vicki Redden, Dee Litten Reed, and Joelle Reed Yamada.I particularly love this book because every devotion has an illustration taken from nature. My children and I are nature enthusiasts to say the least! Today’s story was about how Jesus makes our heart white as snow, the Snowy Owl and white Sand Dollars. It is yet another reminder that God’s love is found all around us. We just need eyes and hearts open to spy it.
In this morning’s devotion titled “I Spy,” Dee Reed says, “When you were in beginners and kindergarten in Sabbath school, you sang a song that said no matter how dirty your heart is with sin, “Jesus makes it white when He comes in.” It’s true. When we ask Jesus to forgive us, he will make our sins whiter than snow. And when Jesus is looking for a child with a clean loving heart, He’ll look at you and say, “I spy!”
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; they they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Isn’t that a beautiful promise? Our children need to be reminded daily that Jesus can make them clean.
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Each Wednesday, we will add a new post for A Year of Family Worship and you can do the same. Share your goals, experiences, and ideas for family worship with the rest of us!
If you don’t have a blog, you can add your comments in the comment section! You can join A Year of Family Worship here. And you can see the 52 Weeks of Family Worship here.
If you do not have a blog… you can either post your ideas here in the comments or even join our Proverbs 31 Sisters Network and get a free blog that way!
Everything Christmas: Book Review
Everything Christmas: Celebrate the Joy of the Advent Season with the Best of
I was excited to receive this delightful book from Water Brook Press. I love Christmas time! Even more than that, I love the time I am able to spend with my family making memories that will last a lifetime. This book is packed with ideas!
From the back of the book:
Christmas is a time of celebration and wonder, a time to embrace longstanding traditions and establish new ones. It’s a time for meals filled with memories and heartwarming stories shared around the fireplace. It’s a time for worship, reflection, and remembrance of God’s greatest gift.
Everything Christmas is divided into 24 sections beginning with December 1 and ending with December 24. Because of this, it can be used as an advent calendar if you wish. Each day is filled with old-fashioned stories, Scripture verses, quotes, jokes, poems, Christmas carols, recipes, trivia,and more! In addition to all the wonderful stories and tidbits are a number of sections about how countries around the world celebrate Christmas.
This book could be used at breakfast or dinner time around the table, at bedtime, during family worship, or even during homeschool time. There is something for everyone in this little book!
I did want to mention that “Father Christmas” and “Santa Claus” are mentioned in a few places in the book, but these little sections could easily be skipped if that offends you.
And of course one of my favorites is always the recipes. I was delighted to find a recipe for Christmas Snowballs – a cookie my own mother made for use every Christmas and that I now make for my own family. The recipe is found on page 199 of Everything Christmas:
Christmas Snowballs
4 sticks butter, melted
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups finely chopped pecans
6 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
Confectioner’s sugar (to roll cookies in after baked)
Preheat oven to 325 F degrees.
Mix first five ingredients well. Form into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes until cookies turn lightly brown. Remove from oven; cool for 5 minutes. Roll each cookie in confectioner’s sugar.
When cool, roll again until well coated. If cookies break up while rolling in sugar, cool for another 5 minutes. Makes about 100 cookies.
I received this book from WaterBrook Press in exchange for doing this review. I am glad I did!
My Sabbath Bag – Activity Bags for Church Worship
For a long time I have wanted to make quiet activity bags for the children in our churches to use during the worship hour. I have been planning to make a stash of them that I can pass out to children as they arrive or to guests with children to use during church.
It occurred to me a few days ago (while again sitting in church watching little ones squirm) that a personalized bag for little ones would make a really nice Christmas gift.
I am sharing this idea with you, even though I have not actually made one yet! My idea is to take a plain canvas bag and decorate it with acrylic paint and use a fabric paint pen to write the child’s name on it along with the words “My Sabbath Bag.” Then, I would fill it up with some activities to keep them occupied during the quiet worship hour.However, making generic bags for all the kids in your church would be just as much fun! The bags can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you want to make them.
Here are some ideas to put into the bag:
- I Spy Bottles or Bags
- eeboo Children of the World Lacing Cards – or other themes
- Baby Moses Board Book or Other Bible Story Books
- Bible Activity Books
- Craft Stick Puzzles – kept in a easy zip top baggie
- Small Clipboard
- easy zip top baggie of crayons
- magnetic dollhouse – my girls loved this!
- puzzles
- a small stuffed animal
Really the possibilities are endless! I would suggest that you keep the items in the bag in keeping with the holy Sabbath day, but other than that, I think these could be so much fun to put together. If you do these for the children in your church, you could hang them on hooks in the bag of the sanctuary or in the foyer of the church, or have the Sabbath School teacher pass them out as the children leave class.
Oh, and one more tip – if you make a collection of these bags for your church, it would be important to number the bags and then place a corresponding number on each item that goes into the bag. You can make the bags all different so that the children don’t get bored with having the same exact bags each week!
Busy Mom’s Bible: Review
It’s funny how God works. Way back in October 2009 I was in a Bible book store and was looking at all the beautiful new Bibles wishing I could justify the expense of a new Bible when the one I have is perfectly good. In fact, the Bible I carry with me was given to me by my husband twelve years ago before we were even married. (Not to mention the dozens of Bibles in my home.) But I wanted something smaller and something prettier than the typical burgundy leather I already owned. And then I had the opportunity to review this Bible.
The Busy Mom’s Bible is just that. It is smaller, one of Zondervan’s new Slimline NIV editions. It is also a really fun and pretty pink, hot pink, and brown. This Bible is designed for busy moms who don’t have a lot of time to study, but who desire a closer relationship with Christ. It offers 52 devotions on topics that are near and dear to moms everywhere. Topics like God as the Creator, Disciplining Children, and Guilt.
These 52 devotions are broken up into three segments – 1 minute Readings, 5 minutes to Reflect and Pray, and 10 minutes for further Study. The format of the Busy Mom’s Bible is simple to use and definitely will make morning devotions easier for moms whose time is already stretched to the max.
In the back of the Bible you will find a concordance, maps, 10 minutes study index, additional 5 minutes Reflect & Pray, 5 minutes reading about Jesus, and 5 minutes reading about the women of the Bible.
One aspect that I really appreciate is that this Bible does not include commentary. I prefer to do my own study rather than rely on the opinions of a scholar whose theology I may not agree with. The words of Jesus are also printed in red. In all honesty, I do prefer the King James Version, but for ease of reading, the NIV doesn’t take a lot of concentration and thought.
This Bible is one I will be using quite often – especially when I am on the go. The size is perfect for traveling and carrying around.
A Year of Family Worship: Praying for Our Worship Experience
Have you prayed about it?
Teaching our children to worship God with respect and reverence and with adoring love is not something to take lightly. So have you prayed about it?
What is it that God wants you to teach your children through family worship? What is it God wants you to learn through family worship? How can family worship bring you closer as a family?
Prayer should be our first priority no matter what it is we are undertaking. During worship our hearts should be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Sometimes trying to keep little ones still and interested can seem like an uphill battle. If you are having a hard time with your little ones (or even the older children) bring it to God! Ask Him to bless your worship experience and to show you exactly what you should be praying for and what your worship time should focus on.
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If you would like to take part in A Year of Family Worship, add your blog to the Mr. Linky below. If you don’t have a blog, you can add your comments in the comment section! You can read about A Year of Family Worship here. And you can see the 52 Weeks of Family Worship here.
Each Wednesday, we will add a new post for A Year of Family Worship and you can do the same. Share your goals, experiences, and ideas for family worship with the rest of us!
If you do not have a blog… you can either post your ideas here in the comments or even join our Proverbs 31 Sisters Network and get a free blog that way!
When you add your link below with the Mr.Linky… please add the link directly to your post on Family Worship – not to your main blog. This way, folks don’t have to go searching for the Family Worship post!
Q & A: How to Wake Up Without Waking the Kids
Photo Credit: Mehmet Goren
Q: Hi Melissa! I am reading through some of the Spring Cleaning reading you’ve given us, and I’m coming across a question that I’ve had in the past and have never come up with a solution for. How do I manage waking up early for devotion and getting breakfast ready for my family without disturbing their sleep?
I have two kids (ages 2 and 3) who are light sleepers, and I worry that an alarm will wake them since they’ve been known to wake up at the sound of a car driving by outside. They generally wake up around dawn anyway, so I really don’t want to wake them earlier because they won’t be getting enough sleep. With this in mind, I have wanted to wake in the morning to do a devotional each day and start the day off right, but I can’t figure out how to make it work without disrupting the rest of my family. Do you have any suggestions? Or alternatively, do you have any suggestions on how I can do a morning devotional if they’re awake with me?
I’m sorry to bother you with such a silly question, but it’s something that’s been circling my mind for months and I just don’t know what to do with it. I know that as they get older things will be different, but I would like to find at least a temporary solution for now.
– Amy
A: Hi Amy, I understand how hard this can be. I had a baby, (she’s 9 now) who would wake up at any noise and was sooo hard to put to sleep! This is not a silly question! I am so glad you asked!
First, I would pray about it.
Second, go to bed early enough that waking up early is easy.
Third, ask God to help you wake up at a specific time. (I can’t count the times I have asked God to wake me up at a certain time and He has! )
I use my cell phone for my alarm clock. My husband uses our actual alarm clock. But with my cell phone I can set the ringer on real low – say 2 or 3. and it will wake me up. I don’t know if that would work for you.
So, if none of those ideas work, I’d have my devotions at the breakfast table either during or just after we ate.
I usually do family worship with my kids just after breakfast. Since your children are little you could have family worship and then tell the kids to go play for 15 or 30 minutes (whatever you feel your kids can handle) while you have your “Mommmy Worship Time.”
If they try to bother you during that time tell them that they have to wait until you are done. If you have a problem with them listening to you, try setting an egg timer and telling them that when they hear it “ding” they can come out of their rooms (or where ever they are playing).
This time will pass quickly and it will get easier as time goes on. One day you will miss all this! I hope these suggestions work. May God bless your efforts!
– Melissa
52 Weeks of Family Worship
“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.” Psalm 95:6
Each week, over the course of this year, we will be looking at ways we can worship together as a family. You can Join in A Year of Family Worship here. Come back each Wednesday to join in!
- A Year of Family Worship
- Family Worship
- Making the Sabbath a Delight
- Cheerful Homes will be a Light to Neighbors
- Church History
- Getting Started with Family Worship
- Scripture Memory
- Q & A: How to Wake Up Without Waking Up the Kids
- Praying for Your Worship Experience
- Scripture Adventures
- Morning Worship
- Resurrection Cookies
- The Bible Story Books
- Lessons in Nature
- A Heart White as Snow
- Scripture Memory – Chapters of the Bible
