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––– Women's
Ministries ––––––––––––––––––
Ladies,
I hope this finds you standing on the old paths—the tried and true
applications of biblical truth. Our topic this month is Bible Intake.
It is one of the spiritual disciplines used by generations of Christian
women to keep themselves on those old paths.
OURSELVES FIRST
If there is to be a resurgence of the power of the Spirit
in our day, we must be on the path of God’s grace. That will require
that we discipline ourselves to read the scriptures.1 READ!! That is different
from glancing at a verse from our "spiritual minute" calendar.
My great grandmother read the whole Bible each year for forty years. She
died prior to 1920. Now, I know your objection, "She had a lot more
time, a slower pace of life than we do today." You’re right.
But, we can do it too. Here’s how:
® Pick a system and stick with it! Adapt it to your needs and skills.
When you get behind, don’t try to catch up; go directly to that day’s
reading and start again. The objective is to be in the Bible, not to reach
goals or win a star. Work your system so that your reading moves the heart
as well as stimulates the mind for doctrinal understanding. I like McCheyne’s
Calendar for Daily Readings because it does all of these. (You may
order this from Christian Gospel Book Service,www.DonReis@mac.com.)
LEADING LITTLE FEET TO OLD PATHS
Our children need Bible Intake as well. Read the Bible to them. Don’t
just tell them the stories or talk about the Bible doctrines. My mother
taught kindergarten and first graders in Sunday School for many years.
She used to use the beginning center time to get the children into the
scriptures in some way. It was trendy to start the morning with a craft
activity; she was looked at as old fashioned. Take that risk. Have them
read to each other as well. Then talk about it for understanding and application.
But, let the Bible intake be the priority. God works through His word.
LISTENING TO VOICES FROM THE PAST
Catherine Willowby lived in England during the reforming times of the
late 1500’s-early 1600’s. She was of the landed nobility, a
contemporary of King Henry VIII,King James, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth.
Can you picture her at Court and all those social occasions? She used
her position to require all pastors in her district to read publically
from the newly translated English Bible—the King James Version. She
purchased the Bibles herself, placed them in all the churches, and required
Bible Intake. I’m not invited to the White House functions but someone
is!! Catherine would urge you to use your position, wealth, or sphere
of influence to encourage others to read the scriptures for themselves.
What position or influence could you use to encourage Bible reading?
TAKING ACTION
Sow the Word. Remember in the parable of the sower, Jesus tells of the
word bearing fruit when planted in good soil. God must prepare the heart;
we can toss the Word out to others. Encourage that the Bible be read during
worship services. Sadly, my children grew up in churches that preached
the Bible but seldom read passages aloud during Sunday school or worship.
Read it aloud in your homes; and schools too, if possible. I was educated
in public schools where the Bible was read aloud every day. Host an event
for friends and give them the book of John. Risk being old fashioned for
Jesus’s sake and for the sake of our families and our country. Catherine
Willowby did; my mother did; we can too.
** 1 See Whitney, Donald. Spiritual Disciplines For
the Christian Life, (Navpress, Colorado Springs, 1997.)
Chapter 2 – Providence Dispels Fear
Ann Judson, one of the first American missionaries, moved to Burma in
1813 with her husband, Adoniram. By 1826, she was dead at thirty-seven
after much adversity. But her work helped found the Burmese church and
preserve Adoniram’s life for a further twenty-three years of mission
work there. The publication of her Memoir in 1829 stirred a whole
generation; she became a model of Godly womanhood; she made a significant
contribution to the missionary movement in the 1800’s. She was courageous,
steadfast, loyal, a teacher and defender of women and children.
The title of a new biography of Ann, My Heart In His Hands, by
Susan James, reveals Ann’s reliance on God’s providential care
of His people. The secret of Ann’s courage under great suffering
is her application of the Bible’s teaching on Providence:
Subjective experience (what she felt) was always based on objective
reality (what she knew to be true, this knowledge being based on scripture).
This was the reason for the strength and consistence of her spirituality.
The purpose of making this work accessible once again is so that this
remarkable story may encourage Christians today to face whatever trials
may confront them with the same confidence in the same God. 1
Ann’s trials included loneliness, illness, loss of children, lengthy
separations from her husband, and the need to provide food for Adoniram
while he was in an obscure prison. Ann increasingly relied on God’s
care:
If I ever felt the value and efficacy of prayer, I did at this time.
I could not rise from my couch; I could make no efforts to secure my
husband; I could only plead with that great and powerful being who has
said, ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear,
and thou shalt glorify me’ and who made me at this time feel
so powerfully this promise, that I became quite composed feeling assured
by prayers would be answered.2
We can have the same confidence in the same God... We can evaluate our
feelings by the truth of scripture... We can apply the providence of God
to our own situation... We can wonder at the uncertainties of life in
general, yet trust in the faithfulness of God’s promises. Hebrews
1:1-4 teaches that Jesus Christ was involved in creation and moves forward
or upholds all things now, keeping creation safe from destruction.
"God,…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom
He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,
and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had purged
our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having
become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they."
The New Geneva Study Bible notes explain "upholding all things
by the word of His power:"
In the midst of history the Son’s command holds the created order
in existence (Col. 1:17; 2 Peter 3:4-7), preserving it from destruction
until that day when His voice will remove all but the unshakable Kingdom
of God and its heirs (12:26-28).4
Jesus Christ, who made all things, is preserving what He has made from
destruction. The created universe is not going to crash in on itself.
Jesus Christ holds up your dearest ones, your children and grandchildren,
so that they might fulfill the purpose for which they were created. And
all this is for His glory-- that we all might see His wisdom, justice,
goodness, and grace.
God never changes. He has infinite power and wisdom. He uses that power
wisely to hold the universe together so that everything can function as
it was created to function. Even you. Even your kids!
"I got up, wiped my tears and went back to work - a humbled,
but more joyful mother."
–– Maude Caroline Dickinson
My grandmother saw her two older sons off to Europe and the South Pacific
during World War II. She told me of the agony she suffered at the thought
of their being killed. Still trying to run the family farm after Edgar,
her husband, died leaving one teen-aged son at home, her personal circumstances
looked bleak. But her focus changed when she was vividly reminded that
her heavenly Father had sacrificed His own Son for her. Who was she to
complain? Like Ann Judson, her subjective feelings were evaluated in the
light of scriptural truth, changing everything.
There is another aspect of the providence of God that is especially comforting
to us. An old Baptist statement of faith puts it like this:
As the providence of God doth in general reachs to all creatures, so
after a most special manner it taketh care of His church and disposeth
of all things to the good thereof.5
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as adopted by the Southern Baptist
Convention emphasizes the fatherhood of God in describing providence:
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures,
and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes
of His grace. He is all powerful, all loving, and all wise. 6
God’s care reaches to everything He has made. And isn’t it logical
that He would have a special concern for His own children? The biblical
account of Esther gloriously illustrates this truth. It took place in
the Persian Empire, centered in today’s Iran and Iraq and stretching
from India to Ethiopia about 470 B.C. God used Queen Esther to influence
the Emperor to favor the Jews, God’s people, and execute their enemy,
Haman. It is a real incident, not a "story."
God’s providence should be in your heart. You should teach it to
your children and talk to them of Esther. It should impact your actions
and how you see life. Even though a lot of what happens can’t be
explained, reasoned, or the "whys" answered now, the clear teaching
of scripture is that God does micromanage for the favor of His people.
It frees you to love and enjoy by putting your fears in perspective.
Understanding God’s providence while relying on His grace gives
you courage to face whatever troubles come your way.
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