How to Help Others Love The Word of God - A Dose of Encouragement

I work with kids in our church and think it is important to help them learn God's Word and hopefully they will come to love it and love God.

However I think sometimes we are not wise as to how we try to help younger people get to know the Bible.

Some time ago I saw a young girl make an appeal on Google+ for help as to how to go about learning bible verses.


Firstly
I was glad that she was looking to learn verses because doing so is storing up God's Word in your heart and mind and is something we are instructed to do from God's Word.


Secondly
I was sad that she needed to request help on Social Media because I would love to think that any young person would have someone they can personally talk to for this type of help and not have to appeal to strangers.


Thirdly
I replied offering to help by posting my Bible Verse Graphics and giving her permission to copy them to use to learn the verses.  Also with some advice on how to learn them.


BUT 
then I saw other replies by people who just did not read properly what the young girl had written.


This is what the girl wrote

Hey there My name's XXXXX I'm a 13 year old Christian girl who LOVES GOD, and is trying to live it! I need some advice on how to study the bible/memorize verses. I really want to memorize verses but what am I suppose to do? Choose a random book and then Read the same verse a million times till I memorize it? Thanks soooo much ya'll!!! Means a lot. Would ya'll mind praying for me to accomplish reading, and memorizing the Bible please? Thanks again!!!!


and this is part of what I wrote

Hi  XXXXX,  I teach a lot of kids bible lessons and bible verses and would be happy to help you.

followed by

XXXXX
Thanks Sandra Black   What do you suggest?

Me
I put various memory verses on our church website and I write a blog in which I put some Kid's songs and bible verses.
Will you please ask your parents to agree that it would be ok for me to help you.
They can find out about me here on G+ and then they can find my blog and check me out there too.

there was a little conversing back and forward followed by

Me
XXXXX I have publically posted a picture of a simple verse and linked your name to it so you should be able to find it ok.  If you can copy the picture (you have my permission to take my pictures although others do not) and print them out you can stick it up on your wall or pinboard and every time you go past it just read it out to yourself and you will know it in next to no time.

and I posted this

XXXXX

And thanks sooooo much +Sandra Black!!!

Now during this some other people were responding to this young girl


Woman 1:
Pray and wait with your eyes closed. You'll get a book or verse in your soul

Wait for how long?????

Man 1:
Gave a Link to his website which is 100 verses everyone should know by heart: study guide
and it continued for 26 pages.
plus a link for another guide which went on for 6 pages

This was a teenager he was talking to, but even for me it was way too long and too boring.


Woman 2:
Try memorizing the responsorial psalm each Sunday and one verse from the Gospel and Epistle.  That way you have just three things to focus on each week.  That should keep you busy for three years.  

There was more but that was about reading a chapter a day....  and who wants to be thinking of 3 years when you are trying to get started?


Woman 3:
Hello XXXXX  how lovely that you have posted on knowing Jesus.
I see that you have asked about memorizing bible verses - that is wonderful.
Now Katie... if you love the Lord Jesus you will know he died on the cross ..........

and she continued to speak out against the Catholic Church but said nothing about bible verses.


Woman 4:
One of the best ways to begin is to learn scripture verses and more importantly to know them in your heart to be true ..........   Did you know that 51 Things True of Every Christian .........

she continued about a link to a post on the 51 things but nothing about bible verses


Woman 5:
She mentioned music to help you learn verses and then told all about her wonderful journey to knowing God

 but nothing else about bible verses


Man 2:
Try "You version - The Bible" app on Android the give lots of plans to study the bible.

This was a teenager asking about learning bible verses not studying the bible - can we stick to the topic???



Woman 6:
Ask Jesus to come into your heart and reveal His Word (the bible) to you.

This was a girl who told us she was a Christian so we should respect her and believe her


Woman 7: For the reading part, I started with Matthew and have been reading a chapter every night before bed.  If you find a passage which you might like to memorize, read the first few words until you have memorized them, then add a few more and keep going until you have memorized the whole thing.

She is a teenager asking about verses - a passage would be daunting to me let alone her!


Woman 8:
Read the bible with love not as a book to memorize.  If you love it you will memorize automatically.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) 

Yes at least she gave a scripture - But NO, you will not learn it automatically!

There were many more people trying to give advice but all in a similar vein.

I was so disappointed that people had not read carefully before giving their advice.

Think before you give advice

Advice or help does not have to be long-winded a short answer directly related to the question is best with teenagers.

If we are in the position to help then we need to help by keeping their attention focused on what are the important points.

Every single one of those people (if they had thought about it for a little while) could have given a short helpful answer; but if while thinking about it, they had realised that they were not really suited to working with teenagers or had a true helpful suggestion, then they could have ended up a wiser person and not complicated things for her.

I believe as Christians we should all wish to help others love God's Word and to encourage them to read and memorize His Word.

I also believe that we should be willing to help others in any way we can but to remember to stay on the subject and not digress to our other interests.

Let's help others know God's Word

That teenage girl now follows my posts on Google+  so she can read articles on my blog or can use the verses I post to help her memorize scripture.  This is not something that takes a big effort on my part but is just one simple way of helping and encouraging others like her.

I and many other people post bible verses on facebook & google plus and other social media 

because 

for any of us, just to be reminded of a scripture can 

lift our spirits, 

turn our minds back to God in our busy days 

and 

encourage us.

I'm also reminded of something I used to hear older Christians say years ago and it is true today

Invisible Reins - A Dose of Encouragement

One time a few years ago while a group of us were praying for a friend I had this impression of how she was being held back, constrained, as if a set of reins were attached to her back and being pulled quite taut.

Something was keeping this lady from having the full enjoyment available in her Christian life.  She was being restricted from advancing because of some tie.

The restriction I was sure was coming from some incident in her past, something that was keeping a restraint on all she was to experience in God.  I also felt that she wasn't aware of this but it actually was something she was allowing to hold on to her when God had forgiven her and all she had to do was to forgive herself.

          

There are many things in our past that can still affect us even when we believe we have left them behind.  

When we moved to live in America for three years everyone would have thought that things from the past in a different country could not have gone with me and been a hindrance, but they did.  

In fact one of the reasons God moved us was to help me be free of a person from the past that always wanted to rein me in and curb anything that I felt God was doing in my spiritual life.

However moving thousands of miles does not offer the solution in itself.  

I still had to come to the point where I put certain things behind me and only then could I open myself to let God make a real change in me.

In America I was seen in a different light from the way people (who had known me most of my life) had viewed me.

I was freer to step out and do as God was leading me which meant a change in me.

Yet there still remained the feelings of hurt and restraint that I had from before.

But God is gracious and during that period away from the previous environment I had time to develop without the distractions and restraints.

We need to fly free from all restraints

Also things changed back at home as well so that on our return to Northern Ireland I was not thrust back into the exact same setting as before to suddenly have that same pull put on me.

No matter what stage of life we are in or where we are God can provide us with the circumstances and setting we need to help us move on in Him.

The important thing is to move on with God

In my case He used a move to a different country but in other cases He will use the right thing at the right time to work in any of our lives - we just need to be ready to let Him remove those reins and be freer for His use.

The devil will always love to see us tied up and bound by anything at all so that we are not free to be used properly for God's glory but God is always in control of each situation and we need to keep in step with Him and allow Him to work in us.

          

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 37

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.




Today I'm looking at Psalm 37

Many of the verses in this Psalm exhort us to do something and then we will see God work in us or around us.


V. 3
Trust in the Lord
We will dwell safely


V. 4
Take delight in God
We will gain the desires of our heart


V. 5-6
Commit our ways to God
He will act on our behalf


V. 7-11
Be still and wait patiently on God
The wicked will be cut off and we will possess the Land


V. 16-17
Be righteous
God will uphold us


V. 23-24
Walk in the steps that delight the Lord
He will establish us


V. 27-29 &  32-33
Depart from evil and do good
We will abide forever because God will not forsake His saints

It is important that we know how God desires that we live our lives

V. 30
Speak as a righteous person
God will give us the wisdom to be just


V. 31
Keep the law of God in our hearts
Our steps will not slip


V. 34
Wait on the Lord and keep to His Way
He will exalt us to possess the Land


V. 37
Be a person of peace
God will prosper us


V. 40
Take refuge in God
He will help, deliver and save us

It is important we know how God desires to work in our lives

but 

it is more important 

that we know how God desires that we live our lives.

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 126

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 126

This is one of the shorter more well-known Psalms



This Psalm falls into two parts:


V. 1-3
Surprise at the change of events
Rejoicing by the children of God
Acknowledgement by onlookers
Proclamation by the children of God


V. 4-6
Expecting more from God
Proclaiming the joy that is still to come.




Surprise.

Are we prepared for the great things God will do among us, or is it all a shock when it happens?

Sometimes we get used to not seeing our prayers answered straight away and can get into a state of asking but not totally believing and expecting daily.

Are we prepared for the great things God will do among us?

Rejoicing.
Do other people notice how we are rejoicing over great answers to our prayers and what has been happening to us?
We need to make sure others can see just how God is working in our lives.

Acknowledgement.
It is wonderful when others can see and admit that the events in our lives are ordered by God.


Proclamation.
Do we say and proclaim what God is doing among us?
Others need to see the way we know the hand of God in our lives and also how joyful we are because of it.


Expecting.
When we see God working we are encouraged to look for more of the work of His Hand on our lives and the lives of others.


Proclaiming.
We know the goodness of God and we know what He has said He will do, so we can look forward to further rejoicing and we should encourage others by reminding them of this.

It is not always easy, we do not see our prayers answered immediately and in exactly the way we would hope for.

Sometimes there is distress, anguish & sorrow as we pray for others 
and as we try to witness to them.


Tears of :
sorrow for sin
sympathy with others
tenderness in prayer.



But

there will be harvests of joy after the sorrow

We need to encourage others that there is joy after the sorrow

because 

those who sow in the tears of godly sorrow

shall reap in the joy of a sealed pardon

& a settled peace

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 32

In this series I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.

Today I'm looking at Psalm 32

I'm looking at this Psalm in 6 parts:



V. 1-2
Here we are told who the "blessed" are

V. 3-4
Here we see the condition we have due to the guilt of sin


V. 5
Here we see how to deal with sin


V. 6-7
Here we see the only one we can turn to


V. 8-9
Here we learn how God will look after us & guide us when we turn to Him


V. 10-11
Here we have the great example to end with

The Godly Man.
Basically those who are blessed are those who no longer are condemned by sin.
It refers to openly sinning and also sinning in your heart or spirit.



The Ungodly Man.
Before we renounce our sin our condition is dead to spiritual things.
So we need to know how to deal with our sin.
We need to be responsive and willing to turn from our sin and not be stubborn like a mule.

Is our sin covered in the right way?

God.
We need to know that God is the only one to turn to when we are ready to repent & renounce our sin.
Then we can be like the Psalmist who ends with a note of Praise and thankfulness.

The one things we must not overlook is dealing properly with our sin.

Changing our life from 
ungodly 
to 
Godly.

Only Jesus is the one who can take our sin and give us His righteousness.

The Day I Spoke like an American - A Dose of Encouragement

We lived in America in the lovely State of Delaware for 3 years, 1992 - 95, while our three children were young. 

Wherever I went I was conscious that if I spoke like an American then I would not have strangers come up to me and ask me to "Say Something" just because they just wanted to hear my accent.

Often we heard the differences in our accent and pronunciation compared to the way Americans speak.

Coming from Northern Ireland, UK, we were  I was determined to say the words the proper British way like garage and not ga-raase, tomato and not tomaayto, aluminium and not alummmminum etc.   


I was pretty good about this! 


Truthfully

           I was pretty stubborn about this.


However, you cannot live among Americans for long before you pick up the accent. 

 When we returned to Northern Ireland our daughter aged 8 was referred to as the "American Girl" by her classmates at school for quite some time as she took longer than the rest of us to drop the accent. 

The Kids & I at the Grand Canyon

On the way home from America we had a layover in London for a few days and while there we headed into a McDonalds for lunch one day.  I'm not a very picky eater but I do not like all the sauces and pickles you get on the burgers & they never get it right in America when you say you don't want certain things in it so I had spent my time there perfecting the way to say the word "plaaain" like I was a real American so that the servers in places like McDonalds would know what I was saying.  

This time in London I reckon they can get my order right as they will understand everything I say so I don't have to think so hard about it.  

So I'm trying to order a bacon cheeseburger with only lettuce and tomato & guess what happens when I get to the tomato bit? 

I say tomayto instead of tomato.

3 years of saying it properly in America and as soon as I get back to the UK out comes the American pronunciation. 


What was wrong with me?

Needless to say, I have told this story numerous times because I can laugh at myself.

     
Then one day in 2012, 17 years since we had returned from living in America I had to revive my American accent.  


Why was this?  

I wasn't speaking to American visitors or even to other foreigners who have learnt their English by listening to American films, TV programmes and pop songs. 
(we met many people like this while we lived in Belgium)

No, I was sitting at home trying out my new iPad.  

I was doing a test on the voice thing to see if it really would write down what I said.

This was the result: 

          I said   

             "So from now on I want to take all my notes by voice"

         It wrote  -  So Canion I want to take all my notes bivoice

          I tried the same phrase again
                         So from now on I want to take all my notes By Voice

          It wrote  -  Abigail.            seriously???????????????
          
Once again .....

       and it worked!

                    So from now on I want to take all my notes by voice

It worked that time because I used an American accent

          
           Conclusion:

                     The iPad works best if I use my American accent"

For a machine to understand me I needed to talk the way it expected me to talk, 

the way it was programmed to understand.

It worked that time because I used an American accent  

All of this made me think about how we speak to people.  

Sometimes we just speak out not thinking of how we phrase something or the tone of our voice because we are talking to our family or someone we are very close to.

Other times we are conscious of our voices and words when we are talking to someone new or people we feel we need to be careful with so that they understand exactly what we mean.

We got very good at speaking more clearly and slowly when we lived in America and in Belgium because people from Northern Ireland tend to speak very quickly.

During the past year I took a short course in teaching English as a second language and I am now even more conscious of my pronunciation.

Then there are the times we talk to God.


I am so glad that God hears us 

• whether we whisper or shout, 
• whether we can find the right words or not, 
• whether we even speak something out 

and that God knows 

• what we are really sorry about, 
• what we are worried about, 
• what we are care about 

We can be thankful that our language does not have to be perfect for God to hear and understand and undertake for us. 

He knows, no matter how we try to express ourselves.

However God does wants us to to be truthful from our hearts.


In Psalm 51:6 the Psalmist says 

"Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:"

How can we have this truth?

The Psalmist goes on to show he knows the answer in the following verses and then acts on this knowledge he has by praying specifically to God. 

     

Oh that we will be like the Psalmist 

and 

know the answer 

but 

also act on it.

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 13

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 13


This is not one of those very well-known Psalms.

This Psalm falls into three parts:

V. 1-2
It was because of his enemies that David turned to God here and cried out.
He could feel the oppression of the enemies but not the presence of God.


V. 3-4
David wanted to be refreshed so as not to get tired and relax and let down his guard.


V. 5-6
Even just crying out to God has started to change David and he starts to look on the positive side of God's goodness to him.
Appears that perhaps David has realised that his feelings do not have a direct correlation with the presence of God.

God's presence is not dependant on our feelings.

Questions.
David had questions about the presence of God because he could not feel that God was with him or showing him favour.  He was questioning himself and was sorrowful because of the oppression of the enemy.
How often do we feel like David did?
Do we tell God truthfully how we feel - Yes I know we can say that God knows how we feel, but He also wants us to keep up communication with Him and we can start with expressing our feelings truthfully.

Knowledge.
David knew the situation he was in was a grave situation.
He knew death could be the result of the heaviness and tiredness he felt in the midst of his situation because he could do the wrong things, make unwise decisions when he felt as if he was not in counsel with God.


Outcome.
This Psalm ends up with David lifted up in his spirit and therefore refreshed.
Just by thinking on God and restarting communication with God which we may even feel is one-sided can change our outlook and determination in any situation.


Yes David may have started with

"How long will thou forget me, O Lord"

but ends with

It is important we remember to keep an open communication with God.

Talking to God, even when it starts with moanings about what seems to be happening around us, will end up with us thinking of God and not dwelling on ourselves.

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 26

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.



Today I'm looking at Psalm 26

I'm looking at this Psalm in six parts:

V. 1-2
Who is worthy to say this to the Lord?
Do we walk in integrity?
Have we trusted without wavering?
Are we confident of having God find no fault in us when He tries us?


V. 3
The reason David says he has kept true to the Lord is firstly because God's Love is steadfast and he has recognized God's faithfulness.


V. 4-5
Secondly it is because he has kept out of evil company.


V. 6-7
Thirdly it is because he has kept about the place of the Lord, praising God and telling of His greatness.


V. 8-10
Here David expresses his love for God's House and his desire for God to accept him.

V. 11-12
Because he walks in integrity he knows he is in the right place and he is going to bless the Lord there.



3 Things stand out in this Psalm:

Questions, Relationships, Blessings.

Questions.
The first two verses bring up all the questions stated above and thinking on these questions will keep us very humble because it would be impossible to meet this standard.

Relationships.
David recognized the steadfastness and faithfulness of God that was essential in God's relationship with him.
Then David also realized that he needed to abhor evil, stay close to God, worship God, love God's House and be acceptable to God because that was essential for his relationship with God.

Blessings.
David blesses the Lord because of the fact that he is in the right place and God has looked favourably on him.

Oh that we were careful to 

consider these questions, 

grow our relationships 

and 

bless the Lord in everything.

Then we could be like David and say to God

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 3

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 3 


This is one of those Psalms which start out Down and end up Up, if you know what I mean.

This Psalm seems to fall into 4 parts:

V. 1-2
So much Opposition
So many not believing in God.

V. 3-4
God is there to protect
God is there to be our glory
God is there to lift up our heads
God is there to answer us in our cry of need

V. 5-6
God gives us rest
God keeps us in the midst of opposition


V. 7-8
God is able to defeat the enemy
God is the real deliverer

3 times in this Psalm we have the word Selah.

Selah is not just there to be dismissed,
it is there to make us

stop and ponder 

because it is advising us to pause and think carefully about what has been said.

Most notably it is there at the end after verse 8.




God's Blessing is upon His people!

Starts with a Tone of Despondency
Because of the people who do not believe in God and are against David.


Goes on to the knowledge David has of Who God is
God is the giver of hope, confidence, lifting from depression; the protector and carer for our needs and the one who is due all glory but also can restore David's glory as King.

Then the recognition of the peace & rest available in God
David does not need to fear because he knows to leave it to God who is caring for him through it all.


Ending in the Jubilant Proclamation of what our God can do!
A Call for deliverance because David knows God is the real deliverer and He provides the Blessing.

God's Blessing is upon His People!

So let's be confident and remember to keep going through everything because God is with us, listening and answering our prayers.  He is protecting us, giving us peace, and He is able to take care of everything.


Then we will rejoice in His Deliverance and Blessing.    SELAH