Exhort? Teach? Admonish? Ugh.

“OK… Do that one more time, just your left hand… No, this note, then that one… OK, now start.”

I’m sitting in the sanctuary of my church, catching up on some work while waiting for my daughters’ piano lessons. The teacher takes each girl one step at a time through timing, accidentals, the mood of the piece, melody, sitting and hand position, and all the other factors that must combine in unison to create a beautiful piece.

It’s interesting to see how the music teacher’s style changes as she has finished with my oldest daughter who has taken lessons for a few years and begins working with a younger daughter who has only taken for a few months. She patiently meets each student where they are at in their musical abilities and helps them develop to the next level.

I am reminded of how we, as Christians, need to help one another grow spiritually.

Exhorting.

Teaching.

Admonishing.

They may sound like really big concepts that can only truly be done by a trained professional. They really aren’t that big of ideas, though.

Come alongside.

Be a friend.

Speak a word of truth offered in love.

Say a prayer.

Meet them where they’re at.

Maybe your investment in the life of another person will take them from playing Chopsticks to performing Mozart.

A Woman of Valor

“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” 

Proverbs 31:10

One single word in this verse has transformed my image of who we are, not only as wives, but as women. 

Noble – Capable – Intelligent – Virtuous –

Good – Excellent – Worthy

Any of us would take it as a compliment if someone used these adjectives to describe us. Yet none of them fully capture the meaning of the Hebrew word. The word translated here as noble, virtuous, and excellent is chayil (khah-yil). Even today, people of the Jewish faith refer to this passage as “Eshet Chayil” or “A Woman of Valor.” A woman of valor, perhaps the most accurate, has become my favorite translation of this familiar passage.

A Woman of Valor

Old Testament authors used chayil most often in the context of war or battle. Traditionally, a man's role is to fight for and defend his country or his homeland. The Old Testament is full of accounts of the Israelite men leaving their homes to go to battle. Over and over it describes them as chayil. In the same way, a Chayil Woman fights for and defends her home. She protects it from invading negative influences and organizes those under her so that it runs smoothly and calmly. A Chayil Woman is strong, mighty, and efficient. She is valiant and virtuous. But, and this is a very important point, she is all of these things alongside her husband, not in opposition to him. 

Scripture contains a beautiful story of a Chayil Woman. Of the four times the Old Testament describes women with this word, only once does it refer to a specific woman. Her name is Ruth. 

A complete look at Ruth’s story shows her to be a woman of wisdom. The application of wisdom in daily life is a trademark of a Chayil Woman; we look at it in further detail in “Seven Roles, One Woman.” Wise choices made Ruth’s life prosperous.

Worth more than Rubies

“Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her” (Proverbs 8:11).

Does that amaze anyone else like it does me? We looked at Ruth and realized the impact wise choices made on her life. The very next thing we see is that a Chayil Woman is worth more than rubies, just like wisdom!

What is the significance of comparing a Chayil Woman to rubies? In our society, we think of diamonds as the most valuable gemstone. But, our society doesn’t recognize the value of a ruby – just like it doesn’t recognize the value of wisdom or the value of a good wife. According to a jeweler friend of mine, a ruby of gemstone quality can be worth more than a diamond of the same size. It is definitely rarer.

Wisdom and a Chayil Woman are both…

• Of inestimable value
• Extremely rare
• A source of life
• Good
• A blessing from the Lord

Like a flawless ruby, do you view yourself as being of inestimable value? If you don’t view yourself that way, will you begin to ask God to reveal the jewel He created you to be?

A Husband’s Response

“Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value” (Proverbs 31:11). 

We find balance when the wife is a Chayil Woman and the husband recognizes and respects that in her. Then, a marriage can be built that is beautiful and worthy of being compared to the future marriage relationship between Christ and His bride, the church. 

This article is based on one of the lessons in my Bible study book “Seven Roles, One Woman: You Expect Me to Do All That?” Learn more at Amazon.com. 

Find Power in the Name

Everyone likes a good story. My stories come from my own experiences; something in each experience reveals a truth about God that I decide to write about.

With this article, though, I’m led to write about a study I did with my Sunday morning class. The urgency of the times is prompting my spirit to get out as much information as possible about the truth of God’s Word.

If you are a long time reader of my blog, you may remember that I am teaching through John 13-17 on Sunday mornings. You can read some of the articles about that study here. Jesus refers to His Name ten times in these chapters. However, when we got to John 15:21, I sensed the need to stop and do an intermissive study on the name of Jesus. Listed below are things we learned that believers could do in the name of Jesus. 

SALVATION is offered through His name and only through His name

• Baptism (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38, 10:48, 19:5, 22:16)
• Confession, repentance & forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47; Acts 10:43, 22:16; 2 Timothy 2:19; 1 John 2:12)
• Become children of God (John 1:12)
• Believe (John 2:23; 1 John 3:23, 5:13)
• Not condemned (John 3:18)
• Spirit indwells & teaches (John 14:26; Acts 2:38)
• Salvation (Acts 2:21, 4:12; Romans 10:13; 1 Corinthians 6:11)
• Extended to the Gentiles (Acts 9:14-16, 10:48, 15:14-18; Romans 1:5, 15:9)
• Grace & apostleship (Romans 1:5)

The Believer can PERFORM POWERFUL ACTS through His name

• Prophesy (Matthew 7:22, James 5:10)
• Drive out demons (Matthew 7:22; Mark 9:38, 16:17; Luke 9:49, 10:17; Acts 16:18)
• Miracles (Matthew 7:22; John 10:25; Acts 3:6, 4:30)
• Speak in new tongues (Mark 16:17)
• Have power through prayer (John 14:13-14, 15:16, 16:23-26; 1 Corinthians 5:4)
• Faith in His name enables powerful acts (Acts 3:16)
• Do everything in His name (Colossians 3:17)
• Speak the Word & prophesy (James 5:10)
• Pray for & anoint the sick (James 5:14)

The Believer can REACH OUT TO OTHERS in His name

• Give a cup of cold water to a little one (Matthew 10:42; Mark 9:41)
• Welcome a little child (Matthew 18:5; Mark 9:37; Luke 9:48)
• Two or three come together (Matthew 18:20)
• Unity (1 Corinthians 1:2, 1:10, 5:4)
• Go out into the world (3 John 1:7)

We have ABUNDANT LIFE through His name

• Hope (Matthew 12:21)
• Blessed (Matthew 21:9, 23:39; Mark 11:9; Luke 13:35, 19:38; John 12:13)
• Protected (John 17:11-12)
• Life (John 20:31)
• Stengthened (Acts 4:7-10)
• Confident, bold, and lack fear (Acts 9:27-28)
• Thankful in everything (Ephesians 5:20)

Believers will endure PERSECUTION because of His name

• People will leave homes & families (Matthew 19:29)
• Counted worthy to suffer for Him (Acts 5:40-41)
• Risk our lives (Acts 15:26)
• Persevere & endure hardships (Revelation 2:3)
• Remain true & don’t renounce our faith (Revelation 2:13)
• Keep the word and not denied His name (Revelation 3:8)

How Believers VIEW HIS NAME

• Fear & honor (Acts 19:17)
• Praise & glorify (Romans 15:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; Hebrews 13:15; Revelation 15:4)
• Bow before Him (Philippians 2:9-11)

The name of Jesus is power - the power of salvation, miraculous acts, outreach, abundant life, and endurance. Why? Because He humbled Himself to leave the glory of heaven, to live as a man, to die for our sins, and because He resurrected to eternal life three days later. "For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow - of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth - and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).

Some More of My Story

For many people who “grew up in the church,” their testimony is a two-part story. Many children accept Jesus as their Savior. Later, as young adults, those same children often go through a time when they question and perhaps even rebel against their beliefs. I believe this period, usually in the late teens and early twenties, is a time of decision. The young adult is deciding to either accept what they have been taught as their own or to reject the teachings and follow their own path.

You can read the first part of my story here: Sylvester & Tweety Bird. This article is about the second part of my story.

Time passed and I continued to grow, both physically and spiritually. However, I reached a point where I became bored with church, God, and the Bible. I moaned at the same old stories. I had heard them over and over through years of Sunday school and Christian high school! Other activities and interests started looking more interesting; I spent my late teen-age and early adult years in a spiritually dark place.

I sensed God calling to me as the end of college approached. He wanted to pull me out of the pit I was in. I knew I wanted out but I was still leery of religion as I had come to know it – legalism, repetitive stories, and controlling leaders. However, the Spirit’s persistence and the logic within my own head won in the end.

I looked at the world around me and knew the God of creation could not be a boring God.

The God who enacted a plan thousands of years ago, prophesied that plan’s end, and carried it out thus far, could not be a boring God.

The God who would give His only Son to be born of a virgin, die on a cross for the sins of all mankind, and resurrect, thereby conquering death, could not be a boring God.

I determined I would seek the God of those things.

Despite many gifted and dedicated pastors and teachers, some of whom might be reading this blog, I came to realize I was responsible for my own spiritual growth. I believed every Word of Scripture was absolutely true. I also knew God wouldn’t have included it in His Book if it didn’t serve a purpose, not only at the time it was written but for us today as well.

So began an amazing journey of studying the truth of God’s Word.

• Of diving into the hard stuff.
• Of wrestling with it until it makes sense with the rest of the Word.
• Of breaking it down so we can understand it.
• Of considering the significance of the details.
• Of tying the Old Testament to the New Testament to the world today.

God is bringing me along one step at a time through this journey. In the beginning, I studied by myself; no one except God ever saw that work. Then, God called me to teach. I studied on my own at home and taught studies by other authors at church. Later, God called me to start sharing some of the lessons He had taught me in the privacy of my own home. As the journey progressed, God led me to start writing the studies down so other people could teach them. With the publication of my first Bible study, “Seven Roles, One Woman: You Expect Me To Do All That?” I have come one step further in the journey. A journey I believe God created for my life. At this point, I look back in awe of how God has worked in my life – I look forward in eager expectation of completing the journey.

Are You Hungry?

I recently had some friends for dinner; part of the conversation from that night has stayed with me for weeks. Our dinner guests included a young couple from church and a friend from Togo, Africa who is visiting the states for a few months. 

Usually a lighthearted and fun person, our Togolese friend somberly asked us at one point, “Have you ever been hungry?” Much of the conversation had centered on a comparison of our two cultures so we knew he didn’t mean the kind of hunger that comes from eating lunch a couple of hours past your normal time. No, we quietly answered; none of the four of us had ever been hungry.

In Togo, as in much of Africa, my friend doesn’t know where or when his next meal will be available. He recognizes that God provides their food, he is thankful, and he and his family eat all of it. I’m guessing they rarely complain about what food is available. In my home, as in much of America, we have a pantry, a refrigerator, and a deep freeze full of food. The only thing I wonder about the next meal is whether I should cook it or eat out. Although my daughters often say they are staarrrrving, we never know true hunger as we eat our three meals a day and graze on snacks in between.

A few days ago that young couple was at our house again, along with two other couples from church. We were discussing the first chapter of the Old Testament book of Joel and saw within its verses how a nation with abundance can come to ruin without warning. (Please note I believe this is a prophecy for Israel, not the United States. I do believe, however, that the same thing could happen in our country and for the same reasons.)

As we discussed Joel 1, I remembered our Togolese friend’s question from a few weeks earlier. I brought it up and our friends who had visited both nights said they had thought of that question many times, perhaps daily, in the weeks since their previous visit. This time, though, I considered his question in light of spiritual, rather than physical, hunger.

The American church is comfortable and complacent. I wonder if this is because our spiritual culture is much like our food culture.

Do we pop into church on Sunday morning as nonchalantly as we pop into Applebee’s afterwards? Would it make a difference if we didn’t know when or where we would have another opportunity for corporate worship and Biblical teaching? Would we then recognize the blessing of gathering with fellow believers?

Do we graze on Christian radio, 200 word devotional booklets, and a verse of the day on our computer desktop? At the end of the day, is this constant snacking why we are still spiritually hungry and in need of heartier food?

Just as moms often make separate meals for the picky palates of each of their children, have we forced our churches to cater to our pickiness by providing children’s church for the little ones, youth group for the teenagers, separate women’s ministries and men’s ministries for the adults and even a separate group for the older adults? If only one meal was available, would we come together to learn and grow as a family? If we did so, would it increase our unity and understanding of one another?

What if when we came together as a spiritual family, we had to eat everything on our plate? If one scant meal was all we had for the day, would we eat all of it, even the hard parts that might not taste so good instead of scraping them down the garbage disposal?

Are we so accustomed to the three point sermon of a trained minister, much like a three course meal from a culinary chef, that we feel our own story is inadequate, comparable to a peanut butter & jelly sandwich? Wouldn’t a spiritually starving world savor a true and simple pb&j?

Freedom of religion, corporate worship, trained teachers, daily tools, Christian radio, and everything else I have referenced in this article are blessings I use and enjoy. I just pray they never become enough on their own. 

I pray I always hunger to know Him and make Him known.