First of All, Pray: Blog
Bringing Biblical Truths to Daily Life
Who satisfies you with good so your youth is renewed like the eagle
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5 English Standard Bible
As you give yourself to the discipline of blessing the Lord and forgetting none of His benefits, His strength and gracious kindness begin to transform your life. You realize that you could never earn any of His benefits; you recognize that you are the recipient of unfathomable, unending grace.
Every benefit David extolled in Psalm 103 was based on what was still in the future—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Now, in Christ, all these benefits belong to you. Unlike David, you have experienced the ultimate benefit—new birth—as a result of your faith in Jesus as Lord. You are a new creation, the old you has passed away and all things are made new, and He has promised to be with you always, even to the end of the age (see 2 Corinthians 5:17, Matthew 28:20).
The Lord has provided for all your needs; He has forgiven your sins, He has provided healing for your body, He has redeemed you from hell, and He has crowned you with lovingkindness and compassion. And like David, you will also find the need to remind yourself to forget none of those benefits. It is far too easy to drift away from His inestimable wonders despite how long you’ve known the Lord. You must continually stir yourself up by way of reminder concerning this treasure trove of benefits (see 2 Peter 1:13).
David wrote that the Lord “satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” NASB says He satisfies your years with good things; NIV says He satisfies your desires with good things; and KJV states that He satisfieth thy mouth with good things. The Hebrew word translated years, desires, and mouth is `adiy, and actually means “ornament”. It can also represent the bit in a horse’s mouth.
No matter which meaning you prefer, the bottom line is that one benefit of the Lord is to satisfy you with good, whether in years, desires, or your mouth! Perhaps, in line with the “bit in a horse’s mouth” definition, as you develop a lifestyle of filling your mouth with blessing God and recounting His benefits, you become like a disciplined thoroughbred, allowing God’s bit—a self-controlled mouth—to direct the course of your life toward fruitfulness and good (see James 3:3).
Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
God satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. This is an amazing statement. It is your relationship with God which renews your youth, not Estée Lauder, workouts, or a scalpel. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, both experienced renewed youth as beautiful older women (see Genesis 12 and 26). Caleb, at 85, was as strong as he was when he was forty (see Joshua 14:7-12). Psalm 92:14 says of the righteous, “They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green.”
When your youth is renewed like the eagle, you are able to rise up above challenges and soar close to God, hidden under His feathers (see Psalm 91:4). Your perspective is broader than the vision of those who cling tightly to the ground; you seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (see Colossians 3:1-2).
The Apostle Paul also wrote of renewal. He said, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). In a youth-obsessed culture, it is easy to get sucked into the vacuum of superficiality and get fixated on externals. Yet David the king of Israel, surrounded by beautiful women, magnificent opulence, and men of war with imposing strength, remained strong as long as he blessed the Lord, and he was effective in his reign only as he kept his eyes fixed on the benefits of his God.
Isaiah 40:31 testifies that the individual who waits on the Lord “will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Are you exhausted, worn out, feeling as if life has passed you by? Wait on the Lord. Command your soul to bless Him, even in your exhaustion, and recount to yourself all of His benefits. Renewal will come to your soul, and your body will drink in the refreshing. And you? You will mount up, renewed by the Lord, and soar like the mighty eagle.
Bless the Lord!
Dorothy
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits…Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion. Psalm 103:1-2; 4b
When you train yourself to bless the Lord, you align yourself with His purposes. You may not be clear as to what those specific purposes for you are, but when you step out of your feelings, logic, and the fast pace of life to give God the honor He deserves, He has a way of depositing understanding into your being, thereby empowering you to make wise decisions.
His benefits are not subject to the erratic conditions of our age or the particulars of your situation. His benefits are rock-solid because He is rock-solid.
David the psalmist commanded himself to bless the Lord. He commanded all that was within him—mind, will, and emotions—to bless the Lord’s holy name. He required himself to forget none of the benefits of the Lord. Yes, David was tremendously successful, but he was also tremendously tempted and attacked. It was due to his strict dedication to bless God and to forget none of His benefits that, when all was said and done in his life, it could be honestly recorded of him in Acts 13:22, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” Even after the enormous failures of his life, David left a testimony that he was a man after God’s own heart who would do all His will. Why? Because he commanded himself to bless the Lord and to forget none of His benefits!
The Lord pardons all your iniquities, heals all your diseases, and redeems your life from the pit. These benefits parallel beautifully with what Jesus accomplished for you on the cross, yet there is more. Remember, every benefit David enumerated was merely a shadow of what we have been privileged to possess in Christ. We have the better covenant, based on better promises (see Hebrews 8:6).
Included among the benefits of the Lord is this one: He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion (Psalm 103:4b). Your sins are forgiven, you have access to His healing bounty, and you are absolutely redeemed from the pit of hell. And to top it off, He places a crown on your head of lovingkindness and compassion!
I see three streams flowing from this one benefit.
First of all is the crown of lovingkindness and compassion. Your God views you, from the top of your head on down, with great favor and tender love. The crown of lovingkindness and compassion that He has placed upon you marks you as His and sets you apart. I have observed younger children on field trips wearing the same brightly colored T-shirts. This makes them visible so their teachers can spot them without difficulty. The crown God has placed on your head makes you easily visible to Him; it separates you from the rest of the crowd and grants Him smooth access for dispensing His love and compassion upon you. If you are His, you are a recipient of His lovingkindness and compassion. Don’t let yourself forget it.
Secondly, we have been crowned with lovingkindness and compassion. One definition of the Hebrew word for crown, `atar, is “to surround”. (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H5849&t=KJV ) In other words, He surrounds us with lovingkindness and compassion. Wherever you go, you can be confident that the Lord is going to see to it that you are surrounded with favor. That hasn’t been your experience? Then bless the Lord and forget none of His benefits! My sister, who has not yet received Jesus as Lord, recently told me that she challenged herself to think positive thoughts for a set number of days. She was shocked when strangers began going out of their way to be kind to her. If this principle works for a person who has yet to be convinced about the claims of Christ, then how much more will those of us who are in Christ—recipients of the benefits and promises—find lovingkindness and compassion surrounding us as we refuse to forget His benefits? Trust Him in this and refuse to forget this portion of His benefits. You will soon find that you are surrounded by a wide assortment of loving, compassionate, and favorable “coincidences”.
Thirdly, when you are crowned, it signifies that you are a member of a royal family. You have a crown to wear because your father or mother is of royal lineage. In your case, your Father is the King of the Universe, and His Son, your elder Brother, is King of kings and Lord of lords.
As you go about life, you are crowned with His favor and compassion. But this crown is not just about you. It is your identification with the Father, and it gives you an ambassadorship wherever you go. Yes, as an ambassador, you are a very privileged person, but you are also accountable to act as a clear representative of the One who sends you. You are crowned and surrounded by His lovingkindness and compassion, and you are a representative of His lovingkindness and compassion. “Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more” (Luke 12:48, Holman Christian Standard Bible). That expectation is not to be viewed as tedious or difficult—“the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5b). It is because of that crown of lovingkindness and compassion that you are empowered to bring compassion and grace to the people in your life. If it feels impossible to you right now, then now’s the time you need to bless the Lord and to refuse to forget that He’s crowned you!
You wear a crown that targets you for God’s lovingkindness and compassion; you are surrounded by lovingkindness and compassion; and you are an ambassador of God’s lovingkindness and compassion. This is who you are!
Don’t forget it!
Dorothy
Who redeems your life from the pit
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits…Who redeems your life from the pit… Psalm 103:1-2, 4a
Have you been commanding your soul to bless the Lord? If you have, you have likely experienced some resistance, but as you stick with it, strength, victory, joy, and resolve will rise up within you.
While you bless the Lord, are you also focusing on His benefits? He has pardoned all your iniquities and is the One who heals all your diseases. Both of these benefits were foretold by the prophet Isaiah. He wrote, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).
The Lord has also redeemed your life from the pit according to the psalmist. In Tuesday’s blog, I mentioned that the benefit, “Who pardons all your iniquities” was the most important benefit on the list, and therefore was mentioned first.
You may wonder why I believe that pardoning of sin is more important than having a life that is redeemed from the pit. Romans 5:12 states, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” It was Adam’s sin that opened the door to sickness, death, and loss of fellowship with God. Without the complete forgiveness and remission of sin, neither you nor I would be able to enter eternal life with God when we died. The alternative—eternal separation from God—is the only available outcome for us unless we receive full forgiveness of our sin through the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ.
With this in mind, when David lists the fact that God redeems your life from the pit, this benefit hinges upon receiving the pardon of sin. First accept His wonderful forgiveness of your sin through Jesus Christ, and then, when you take Jesus as your Lord, He absolutely redeems your life from eternal separation from God!
Who redeems your life from the pit…
What is the pit? One writer asked, “If life is a bowl of cherries, then why am I in the pits?” Is the pit as simple as this tongue-in-cheek comment suggests, merely a drag of a life? Or is it more specific, referring, perhaps, to what is commonly called the “pit of hell”?
The word pit in Hebrew is shachath and can mean a literal pit or, indeed, the pit of hell. It also can refer to destruction or can signify the grave (see http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7845&t=KJV ).
Therefore, whether He is redeeming your life from hell, an early grave, or a pit of destruction poised to ensnare you for months or years, He redeems your life from the pit. It is my opinion that this benefit is good towards all of the above. The bottom line is: He redeems your life from the pit. Don’t forget it!
What exactly does the Lord do when He redeems something? The answer to this question caught me off guard.
Ga’al, the Hebrew for “redeem” means, first of all, “to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman.” The source further points out that this word infers that the One who redeems “…act[s] as kinsman, [does] the part of next of kin, act[s] as kinsman redeemer” (http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1350&t=KJV) .
When God redeems your life from the pit, He does so as your next of kin. He redeems your life because of His intimate sense of kinship with you. To Him, you are His next of kin, and He relates to you as such, with tender love, mercy, and concern.
At times, you can feel as if no one really cares, as if you are absolutely alone in life. Of course, as a believer, you know that God is for you and loves you, but that truth doesn’t necessarily hit home when you feel isolated, ignored, or invisible.
But when you read that God, as your next of kin, went to bat to redeem you—not just a nebulous “everyone”—can you picture Him, as I did, peering throughout history from before the beginning of time for the exact way and due season to redeem you—you, yourself? As I thought about this, I realized that I had tears in my eyes.
Perhaps you have no one in your life—either as next of kin or dear friend—willing to go to bat for you, to take up your cause, or to simply be there for you when you need a hand out of the pit. But here’s the good news: you do have a Redeemer. He, the God of the universe, has chosen to be your next of kin. Even if others forsake you, He is not ashamed of you. He, from the very foundation of the earth, carefully prepared the way for your life to be redeemed from destruction. And that’s worth remembering.
Hebrews 2:11 says it very clearly. “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”
Your God—your closest Kinsman—through the blood of His dear Son, has redeemed your life from the pit. Never forget it.
Blessings to you as you bask in this redemptive love of your closest Kinsman!
Dorothy
Who heals all your diseases
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases. Psalm 103:1-3
David the psalmist commanded himself to bless the Lord. You sometimes feel like blessing the Lord, but if you’re like me, that desire comes and goes. I admit it—I have nothing to hide—there are plenty of times when the last thing I want to do is to bless the Lord. Fortunately, I have the example of David, and I see him, the great psalmist of Israel, commanding himself to bless the Lord. That tells me very clearly that even powerful worshippers don’t always feel like blessing God! But David did it anyway; he insisted that everything within him bless the holy name of the Lord—mind and emotions as well, whether they wanted to or not.
He also instructed his soul to forget none of God’s benefits. Hebrews 2:1 states, “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” Two witnesses—one from Psalm 103 in the Old Testament and one in Hebrews 2 from the New—warn that it is far easier to forget the Lord’s benefits and to drift away from His Word than we care to think. That’s why David commanded himself to forget none of the Lord’s benefits. He was intimately aware of the drift factor.
You and I are also more than capable—despite our “pedigree”—to drift away from the Word of God. That’s why I have challenged you this week to challenge yourself to forget none of His benefits. Command yourself to think upon what He’s done for you. Insist that you spend time recounting the benefits Jesus has provided for you. And bless Him as you meditate on His provisions.
The Lord has not only provided pardon for your sins, but He has also included healing in His package of benefits for you. This aspect of God’s benefit package is still somewhat controversial for some reason; however, controversy does not negate the fact that it is written, “Who heals all your diseases.”
David understood that healing was one of the benefits that God provided in the earlier benefit package. Now, in Christ, healing is still included in our covenant with God—a covenant that is described in Hebrews as “a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6b).
In Matthew 8, after Jesus touched the hand of Peter’s sick mother-in-law, she got out of bed, healed of her illness, and busied herself with serving Him. Matthew followed that anecdote with the following commentary, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases'” (see Matthew 8:14-17).
After Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples, He commissioned them to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). He further instructed them to “lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:18b).
Peter, an eyewitness of the life of Jesus, declared to everyone present at Cornelius the Gentile’s home, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38), revealing to Jews and Gentiles alike the universality of the healing mercies of God, available to everyone, despite their background.
Peter later wrote in his first letter, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (I Peter 2:24), further instructing believers—both in his time and for the ages to come—that the substitutionary work of Jesus on the cross was for the purpose of forgiving sin and healing disease. Matthew had quoted Isaiah 53 in his commentary after Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law; here Peter quoted the same chapter in Isaiah when he declared, “for by His wounds you were healed” (see Isaiah 53:5).
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits…Who heals all your diseases.
Do not allow yourself the luxury of forgetting the benefit of healing that Jesus purchased for you at such a steep price. Don’t give yourself wiggle-room to drift away from or neglect so great a salvation (see Hebrews 2:3). Since healing is one of your benefits, like David you must make a conscious effort not to let it drop off the radar of your thoughts.
Are you concerned about how the sweeping overhaul of our nation’s healthcare industry will ultimately impact your life? David, the psalmist of old, has left you a very timely and clear set of instructions.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits…Who heals all your diseases.
Refuse to forget the healing benefit that is yours through Jesus.
Dorothy
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:8-9
“My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body.” Proverbs 4:20-22
“So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19 Holman Christian Standard Bible
Who pardons all your iniquities
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities… Psalm 103:1-3a
I have challenged you to challenge yourself to bless the Lord on a daily basis. Do it whether you feel like it or not. Do it whether it is practical or not. Do it when you have energy; do it when you are exhausted. Do it when you’re at the top of your game; do it when you have failed. Do it in the midst of the daily grind and the monotony of life.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits! (Psalm 103:1-2.)
I don’t know about you, but I love benefits. I was thrilled to have a job that provided a wonderful benefit package, and had that package been withdrawn by the powers-that-be, you’d better believe they would have heard about it!
But God has provided an even better benefit package for His people—one that puts corporations, unions, businesses, and all other employers to shame. That package of benefits was superb in David’s time; however, the upgraded benefits we have received in Christ are top shelf—the premiere, highest-priced package—complete and with nothing lacking. And those benefits have been paid for in full by our Employer, Provider, Physician, Counselor, and Protector!
Everything that David discovered in his benefit package from God is included in the far more expansive package that Christ purchased for you by His death on the cross. It was God’s early benefit package that David commanded his soul not to forget. Have you ever commanded yourself to forget none of God’s benefits? My guess is that now would be an excellent time to make yourself remember all of them.
Why would you need to force yourself not to forget any of God’s benefits, seeing as they are so wonderful? Hebrews 2:1 answers that question. “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” God’s benefits are first spiritual, and as they are received by you in faith, then they filter down into the natural realm of your life and bring transformation. As a result of this sequence, a waiting period usually occurs between faith and its manifestation, and this is the time when impatience and distraction can lead to drifting away from—or forgetting—what you know about God and His benefits. Soul, forget none of His benefits!
David commanded himself not to forget that it was the Lord “Who pardons all your iniquities”. The very first benefit listed—and therefore the most important—was the forgiveness of sin. David knew God as the One who pardoned all his iniquities, but God was able to pardon that sin because of the Sacrificial Lamb to come, Jesus Christ. God’s forgiveness of everyone’s sin—past, present, and future—was, then and now, based solely on the fact that a Substitute came to earth. That Substitute took the punishment each of us deserved and bore the full price for our sin. That’s why a Holy God can pardon you and me—our sins have already been judged and the punishment has already been borne by our Substitute, Jesus.
When I was a teacher, I sometimes had substitutes come into my classroom for me when I was sick or had a workshop to attend. Although I left plans for that sub, anything that happened that day in my class was on the sub. If a student had a temper tantrum, the sub dealt with it. If someone threw up on themselves, I didn’t have to clean it up. If—God forbid—a shooter entered my room that day, it would be on the sub, not me.
Our Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, took up our lesson plans—human flesh and blood—and in our place bore the full brunt of the punishment that we deserved. Because of this huge sacrifice of substitution, God is free to pardon our iniquities once and for all—and He has.
Now I command my soul to never forget that the Lord has pardoned all my iniquities. David only saw a shadow of the Messiah’s coming substitution through the sacrificial bulls, goats, and lambs, but I know the Messiah, Himself, Jesus, the Lamb of God, who substituted for me that day on the cross. And you know Him, too, if you have made Him your Lord. If not, He’s a prayer away, ready to enter your life for the asking. With Him comes the full package of benefits, already paid for and freely given.
Never let yourself forget that He has pardoned your iniquities. Keep this truth close to your heart, and bless the Lord! You are pardoned. Your sins have been forgiven!
Thank You, Lord!
Dorothy
Soul–bless the Lord!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalm 103:1-5
Benefits. All over the nation, people are worried about losing their benefits. Millions have already lost theirs. Several million more have lost their jobs. Others have never had any benefits at all. And some of those who do receive benefits are facing pay cuts. Our nation is in a benefit crisis. And that’s not even the greatest issue facing us!
The overhauling of the healthcare system in the United States has solved a few problems; however, it has created a multitude of other problems that we’ll just have to wait until it gets implemented to find out about all of them (to paraphrase a certain representative from California who will remain unnamed). For the last several months, more and more information is being made available about this massive legislation and its effects. Yet even now, less than two months before the exchanges open on October 1st, prices for the various mandatory insurance products are either missing or are next to impossible to find on the government website sponsoring it (and I’ve looked). As a result, the adults of this nation are like grain thrown into the air to fall back down into the winnowing basket, only to be tossed up again and again and again.
A sense of disturbance and lack of balance seems to permeate the atmosphere over the nation. Equilibrium and the comforting sense of sameness are being challenged and toppled. Change is good, we hear, yet if it is, why do so many Americans feel utterly disoriented?
Ready or not, here we come. This is the mix into which we are being tossed, and all of us have major decisions to make. Most of the choices before us are neither desirable nor comfortable, but one choice—one glowing, life-giving, sustaining choice—stands alone, immovable in the storm called Change swirling around us.
“…I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6a). Standing rock-solid in the midst of the upheaval rolling in on every wave is the One who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). He is the Ancient of Days and has witnessed the beginning and end of each generation as well as the rise and fall of every kingdom and empire. And it is to Him alone that we are ultimately accountable.
The psalmist David experienced more than his share of chaos and upheaval. Although he became the king of Israel, he was not immune to conflict, turmoil, and challenge—even while on the throne.
Psalm 103 was born in the heart of this man very familiar with difficulties and trials. When David wrote it, he was speaking to himself, not God. Let this truth sink in. David was commanding himself to bless the Lord.
You, too, in the face of the various complexities of your life, have the choice before you: bless the Lord. Here’s how it might play out within your soul.
Soul, bless the Lord. Bless Him whether you feel like it or not. Yes, emotions, that includes you, too. Mind, bless God! Will, bless the Lord! You don’t feel like it? I didn’t ask you if you felt like it! Just do it–bless the Lord! All that is within me—mind, feelings, dreams, desires, hopes, fears, concerns, gifts, talents, dysfunctions—all that is within me, bless His holy name! (And by the way, devil, if you insist on tagging along, I’m going to be blessing the Lord. It won’t be very comfortable for you. Too bad, so sad!)
As David directed his soul yet again to bless the Lord in verse 2, he instructed himself to go a step further. Not only did he insist that he bless the Lord, but he commanded himself to forget none of God’s benefits.
David had both a clear understanding of his dependence on God and an unashamed recognition of his need to force himself to focus on the Lord and His benefits.
As a Christian in this tumultuous, changing time in our nation, I challenge you to challenge yourself to bless the Lord. I challenge you to daily stake out the territory of your mind, your will, and your emotions for honoring God. I challenge you to do it without first consulting with your emotions or circumstances to get permission. Just do it!
Are you concerned about your benefits? I challenge you to join me daily this week as we search out every one of the benefits listed in the first five verses of Psalm 103, and I believe that if you do, you will gain confidence that the One who sees the end from the beginning will, indeed, care for you.
Bless the Lord!
Dorothy
Can God move in public schools?
Can God move in public schools? Intellectually, you know He can. However, if you keep up with current events and trends in education, you are less likely to believe that He will.
Be encouraged as I share two stories of God’s big, beautiful invasion on public school turf.
My pastor’s wife taught high school physical education as a young woman before she got married and attended Bible school with her new husband. After several months of planting imperishable seed in the lives of the girls she taught, this godly role model found herself in the middle of an unquenchable move of God among her students.
During P.E. class one day, girls began to ask her questions about faith in God and how to get saved. She shared with them, aware of the public school taboo she was violating, and soon led the entire class in a prayer to receive Jesus as Lord. Not only were the girls saved, but many of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues.
Later when she shared this wonderful outpouring with us, she said that girls were running in the locker room and halls, praising God and speaking in tongues! Can God move in a public school? He certainly did then.
Yeah, you may think. She was a cute, hip, young teacher, and that happened years ago. That sort of thing could never happen now!
Do you suppose that now–2013–it is just too difficult for God to navigate through the halls of public education? Well, buckle up…we’re heading to the coast to a progressive-run state where God is impotent and utterly irrelevant. Or so the left-leaners think…
My friend is a middle-school teacher in what is undeniably one of the most—if not the most—progressive state in the union.
Whereas my pastor’s wife was in her 20s during the P.E. class outpouring, my friend is in her mid 50s, an age that is not known to stir the buzz among most 13 and 14 year-olds.
She began a Christian club for interested middle-schoolers. Other students soon found out about the weekly club held during lunchtime, and they began packing this teacher’s large classroom. Soon kids started getting saved on a regular basis. She had guest speakers—local pastors—who spoke to the students about Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Kids kept coming, and new kids were added to the number getting saved.
As you might suspect, though, the ACLU caught on to the Christian club and threatened the school with a lawsuit. My friend was told to stand down. She had learned about the legal rights of Christian young people to meet on school property for the purpose of common religious interests, however, so she was equipped to hold her ground on behalf of the Christian club.
The ACLU backed off on the following conditions: pastors were no longer allowed to speak; my friend could not lead the meeting in any manner; and the students had to take on all leadership roles of the club—including planning, speaking, and prayer. If it was not entirely student-driven and maintained in the future, the club would have to disband.
Following much prayer and discussion with her husband and the parents of some of the students, she determined to abide by the new set of rules imposed by the ACLU so the kids could still meet.
She cringed in anticipation of what her seventh and eighth graders would come up with, and her fears were justified. Gone was the eloquence of the pastors; gone was the maturity that her own input had once provided. The first meeting after the ACLU’s threats was definitely seventh and eighth grade in flavor, tone, and quality.
As she sat in the back of the room, relegated to the role of sponsor only and not speaker, she was struck by just how goofy and middle-schoolish the program was. But the next thing that happened absolutely caught her off guard. One of the students gave an altar call, and all over the room, seventh and eighth graders responded, some with tears in their eyes. The ACLU’s demands served not to quench the Spirit, but to inaugurate a more intense move of God!
Not only were more students getting saved, but seventh and eighth graders were taking up the mantle of godly leadership as they ministered to their peers at their own level.
This club is still going strong and boys and girls are still getting saved, discipled by one another, and learning to become effective leaders.
Can God move in public schools? Pray, be available, and just watch Him!
Dorothy
A word to Christian teachers
To the Christian teacher: You are in the middle of a war zone. You may have a great group of students this year, but the enemy would love nothing more than to undermine your effectiveness as an educator and godly role model and disrupt your students’ learning and positive growth. I want to share with you some strategies that I used during my 32-year career to deal with the devil’s schemes, both in Christian and public schools. (Notice the emphasis for #s 1-4 is on prayer!)
- Pray in your classroom before the year begins. First Timothy 2:1 declares, “First of all…PRAY.” For many of you, the school year has already started, but it’s not too late to pray over your year. Take the time to walk around your classroom and pray concerning your students, their parents, and all of your interactions with them this year. Pray over each desk or table in your room. They represent the students who will be sitting there. I always brought oil and placed it inconspicuously on or under each desk—including my own—as I prayed for the school year.
- Pray outside your building before the school year, on a Saturday, or after school hours—and walk the entire campus and pray for the classes and administrators. If you have a like-minded colleague on staff, have them join you, or perhaps you have a prayer partner outside of school who would be glad to participate.
- Arrive early enough every morning to pray over the desks in your room representing each student and family. Let the Holy Spirit lead you as you pray for each one.
- Before or after hours, as the opportunity arises, pray inside the building over each classroom and area. I stayed late at school often on Friday nights to plan for the next week, prepare materials, and grade papers (frequently leaving the building as the custodians locked up at 10:30 or 11 PM!) and used that “unpopulated” time periodically to pray through the halls, especially when the school-day atmosphere was tense or chaotic. It bore the fruit of peace for my building. In fact, after I retired, a reading specialist in the building asked, “Did you used to put your hands on the walls and pray when you stayed late here?” I responded, “Guilty.” To my surprise, she replied, “Well, I sure wish someone would start doing it again! We need it!”
- Treat your students the way you would want someone else to treat your child. Be firm and keep your expectations high, but also be respectful and honest with your students. If you mess up, apologize with sincerity and then keep on teaching.
- Ask the Lord to give you honest strategies to streamline all the paperwork that threatens to bury you, but resist any temptation to cut corners in a dishonest way. God will give you wisdom so that you can effectively manage it all with integrity.
- Watch out for the malicious gossip-fests that play out with many staff members or parents. You are an “epistle read of men” (see 2 Corinthians 3:2) and your words are powerful, and as James 3:10 says, “From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”
- When you are supposed to be teaching, teach! I was amazed during my career that some people, hired to teach, felt comfortable with habitually giving quick instructions, and then, sitting back, just worked on paperwork (and more recently, surfed the net or played with their iPhones) the rest of the time. Don’t let this describe your work ethic! If you have minimal interaction with students, if you provide negligible monitoring of their work, then behavior incidents will escalate. As a result, your students will develop (or master!) an attitude of who cares?. Morale and achievement will deteriorate. But if you want your students to care, act like you care and over time, they will be positively affected by your close involvement. Simply walking the class while you teach or as the students work is an extremely effective tool. And give eye-contact to every kid as you teach. Nothing says I’m afraid of you or I couldn’t care less about you as blatantly as avoiding eye-contact! Yes, you can sit and do paperwork every now and then; just keep interaction with students your top priority. As for surfing the net or using your iPhone—do it on your own time.
- I’ve had several dream classes; I’ve had the proverbial “class from hell” more than a time or two; and I’ve had every type of class in between. And each year, even with the best of groups, I’ve had the opportunity to get stressed, angry, worried, or wonder what on earth am I doing in the education field?. So will you. And the best strategy at times like that is to cast your cares on the Lord. Even though you’re in charge of a large number of students, He is in charge of you and He cares for you, as the Amplified Bible says, affectionately and watchfully (see 1 Peter 5:7).
- How do you cast your care on the Lord? Here are some strategies:
- Tell God you are casting your cares on Him and then physically pantomime throwing your burden on Him. Do this as often as necessary.
- Take a quiet praise break during your restroom break.
- Sing and worship God during drive time.
- Recount the good things on your job and in your life and thank God for them.
- On particularly bad days, smile all the way home from school (see blog entry on July 23, 2013).
- Find a Christian on staff and pray about pressing concerns. If there are no believers at work, pray with a trusted friend, being cautious to keep confidential information to yourself.
- If you stay late to get a lot of work done, take a quick brain-break. Walk around the track or go off-campus to get coffee or tea or whatever. Smell the roses (or coffee or fresh air) before you dive back into work.
As simple as these strategies are, they are very powerful. As you implement them in your own way, God will use you to teach and reach the next generation with effectiveness and grace. If you would like me to pray for you as a fellow Christian educator, find my contact form on this website and let me know. It would be an honor to pray for you.
May He use your teaching to His glory this year!
Dorothy
Prayer and a custodian
How do you know if you’re supposed to pray for a school or for the entire educational system itself? A rule of thumb I go by is to pray about whatever grabs my attention or interest or arouses my anger. John Osteen, the father of Joel Osteen, wrote a book called The Divine Flow, in which he taught believers to recognize the flow of tender compassion within them for someone and then to follow that compassion with prayer and/or action.
If you see kids walking to school and sense a tug of compassion, pray for them. As you pass a school, if it catches your attention, pray for the students and staff there. If you feel outraged at some of the news stories you hear or read concerning the educational system today, then pray. Let your life become one of standing in the gap before God on behalf of others. It’s really simpler than we have made it out to be—you don’t have to pray for hours and hours; just pray when your attention is drawn toward the subject, whether your feelings are positive or negative about the issue. As you do this, you will develop greater sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and you will increase in your capacity to pray. And fruit will start growing.
If you pray for a school, lives there will be touched by God, whether you see it or not. You may be surprised in eternity at all the interconnected movings and miracles of God on behalf of the souls for whom you prayed and the impact their lives made on others.
Don’t discount a single life for whom you pray; God wants to pull that person out of their sin and use them to His glory.
An old Pentecostal woman prayed without ceasing for her step-daughter Pat who worked as a custodian in my school district. Pat had been running from God and was living a life of full-throttle sin. She started cleaning in my building when she was near the end of her rope. Every time I worked late, we would talk as she swept, dusted, and vacuumed the room, and I could tell she was hungry for God. I shared the Word with her; she told me about her step-mom and how she knew she was praying for her. It wasn’t long until Pat received Jesus as her Lord, and the lifestyle changes happened immediately. Gone were the ungodly romantic interests, gone was the alcohol, and tobacco left a little bit later. Pat was an astonishingly authentic new creation, and the staff, who liked her to start with, were drawn to her all the more.
She confided in me after she was saved that she was desperate to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Her step-mom had told her she needed the Holy Ghost to live a life of power. With her step-mom on the family end and me on the school end, we talked and prayed and shared with her all that we knew. Still nothing. I told her to relax; enjoy God, worship and praise Him as she went about her way, and she would be filled with the Holy Spirit when she least expected it, sweetly and completely, with biblical evidence.
Not too long after that, one night as Pat was alone, cleaning my classroom, she began speaking in other tongues. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and has remained filled ever since. And in my opinion, Pat became one of the boldest witnesses of Jesus that school has ever seen. The lives of teachers, secretaries, cooks, administrators, parents, and other custodians that have been touched by this one woman is an amazing thing.
So pray. Pray however you are led, because God will touch lives through your prayers in unexpected, interconnected ways. And if you pray for schools, don’t limit God—those prayers just might be the fuel God uses to pull a key individual out of darkness and to use him or her to further His work in this hour.
Keep on praying!
Dorothy
The impact of godly parents on public education
Parents: You can have a huge impact on your child’s education, his or her peers, and the adults working with your child. Below are the stories of four moms I met in my career as an educator who powerfully impacted their children’s teachers, their classmates, and the parents of their children’s friends.
Mrs. I. and Mrs. S. These two women both had sons in my class, one year apart from the other. They decided the year Mrs. I’s son was in my room to start praying for the school and their sons’ classes and teachers on a weekly basis. They didn’t tell me about it until much later.
Things flowed so smoothly those two years; the fourth graders were almost angelically cooperative; they loved coming to school and learning, and the ease with which I was able to witness about my faith in Christ was astounding. I read several books aloud to both classes from the Chronicles of Narnia series, and one boy who had never been to church told me he had asked Jesus into his heart one night after I finished reading the last book in the series. (This book revealed that the beloved lion Aslan was Jesus in our world, and the class was amazed and insisted on talking about it at length.) I attribute the success of those two years to these praying moms.
Mrs. C. At another school where I taught, one of the moms who left a lasting impression on the entire staff was Mrs. C., a Pentecostal lady who always wore a dress, never wore make-up, and had long uncut hair. This woman poured love into her children’s teachers. She often wrote encouraging notes to us, made sure we had cake or some other type of goody frequently in the staff lounge, and let us know that she was praying for whatever needs we might have. My public school colleagues always looked forward to a visit from Mrs. C.; her kind, thoughtful ways disarmed the gruffest, most skeptical ones among them. One of my fond memories at that school was conference time with Mrs. C. She always set up her conference appointments at noon on conference day so she could bring lunch to whoever was her child’s teacher that year. When I taught her son Matt, she brought a feast for me to enjoy during the autumn and the spring conferences—lots of homemade soup, rolls, salad, and one of her mouth-watering desserts. Her kindness and servant’s heart touched everyone’s lives, Christian and non-Christian alike.
Mrs. H. I never had the privilege of having any of Mrs. H’s three sons in my class, but her godly ways were well known among the staff and parents of the other children. She subbed in our building from time to time, and because she subbed for me, as well, I got to know her a little better. One of the boys in her oldest son’s class, Thomas, had developed a life-threatening infection and was getting worse quickly. Mrs. H. organized the parents and others to pray round the clock for Thomas, and whenever his parents received more bad news, Mrs. H. was there to encourage them and pray for them. She fought the good fight of faith for Thomas and never wavered. Against all odds, Thomas pulled through and is now a healthy young man, full of life and ambition. His parents attributed Thomas’ recovery to the power of God working through the faithful prayers of Mrs. H.
Mrs. H, full of the love and grace of God, died suddenly in a car accident a summer or two after Thomas was restored to health, along with her two youngest sons and her teen-aged brother and sister, on their way to a day at Six Flags. The outpouring of love and tribute for the four young people and the godly mother still touches my heart today whenever I think about it. The lives of the parents and kids Mrs. H. touched stand as a testimony to her authentic witness and abiding faith in her Lord, Jesus Christ. Though she is dead, her life still speaks. She left behind an imperishable legacy.
Parents, you have so much more impact riding upon your words and your life than you can imagine. Don’t be afraid of being yourself—a godly mom, a faith-filled dad—in the midst of what may be the less than desirable environment your child attends daily. You do make a difference—even in public schools—and armed with prayer, wisdom, and love, don’t be afraid to let your light shine on the teachers, children, teens, and other parents in your child’s life.
Dorothy