Liberty

liberty  n, pl -ties 

1. the power of choosing, thinking, and acting for oneself; freedom from control or restriction.

In themselves Liberty, and Freedom are very good, they are highly prized, and exalted by most cultures, especially by ours.  Liberty is not achieved easily, and is difficult to hold onto, because there are many who would try to take it away.  There are those who think that everyone has to be controlled, and that they themselves have been "chosen" to control everyone, and we, as a people have always been able to keep those who would dominate us in check.  In fact our nation's system has "built-in" safeties to ward against such individuals because the founders knew human nature very well, and provided for it in the foundation.

Nevertheless Freedom and Liberty can be very dangerous to the person that is not responsible with such power, in the sense that they become like the proverbial "man that had too much rope". Jefferson once said "A Republic cannot survive unless God is the King",  an amazingly true statement, and all of the founders understood that Liberty is an extremely powerful thing, and it must be maintained with temperance, and self control based on godly principles.  Each person controlling themselves with principles that promote, and foster a healthy environment where Justice, and Truth can thrive.

Knowing this information one might ask, "Is there anything more important than Liberty?"

Family Devotions - Jesus Sends Out the Seventy

This week we read out of Luke 10:1-24 about Jesus sending out the Seventy. This is such a great account how Christ instructs them on what to do and the wonderful results they had. Our daughter found the story in her children's Bible and followed along. We found this video that brings the story to life for her.

  Here is the link: https://youtu.be/zPrNre3ENqs

We always ask questions afterwards to each other, like how were they sent out, what were they to take, and how they were to conduct themselves in each town that they came to.  We were so pleased to hear our daughter recount each fact without hesitation.  We then found this hymn and sang along with it.

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/x7wVq7OGyf8

We closed in prayer remembering all those who are following along with us on the blog.  If you would like to make a comment, ask for prayer or just give us a "hello" please feel free to leave a comment or contact us by e-mail.  We would love to hear from you.  Just go the "Contact Us" at the top.  God bless you!

The Lord Will Fight for You

We read Exodus 13:21 to 15:21, where the Lord parts the Red Sea.  Our daughter wanted to read about Moses.  We told her there was a lot to read, so she picked this story in particular.  Rich read the passage and then we watched a short clip from the old movie, "The Ten Commandments".  Mary got such a kick out of seeing the water part that we watched it several times.  We just watched this part of the movie, otherwise the story is full of Hollywood additions that do not follow the Biblical account. She was just having a hard time visualizing what happened, so this really gave her something to bring the story alive.  We also sang a scripture song of the Song of Moses and another Hebrew and English song.  Again we like the songs that we post but we are not endorsing all the stuff the ministries are doing that make the video. 

We did a simple application of not hardening your heart to the Lord and wait on the Lord and trust in Him and the truth he taught and he will fight for us.  We then closed in prayer. 

Here are the links we looked at today:

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/t43jBNum4Kc

Here is the link:  https://youtu.be/miDydTQoV9k

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/m6dq8gLb-MU

Rejoicing in the Ressurection

Our family remembers what the Lord went through for us and His glorious resurrection on Easter but you can do this any time or day that you want.  We have a set of Resurrection Eggs for our daughter.  She loves opening the eggs and Dad reading the scriptures.  I will include some pictures of her set.  You can google it on the internet and find how to make it, really easily.  We also sang the hymn "Up From the Grave He Arose".  That is a family favorite as it is easy to sing and fun for all.  We pray you have a blessed day and we hope you have a wonderful weekend with family and friends!

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/oN77HjfAc8k

Family Devotions: The Book of Ruth

We revisited the Book of Ruth this morning.  We had a family devotion time on the Book of Ruth several months back but with having an 8 year old, that was a really long time ago for her.  So she wanted to read the story and talk about it again.  Rich read the story out of her Children's Bible.  We all love this story.  Rich really focused on Ruth 2: 11 & 12 which says, 

11 Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. 12 May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”

We were reflecting on the fact that Ruth left all behind to follow God.  She left her family and material possessions.  She was willing to take on poverty and trust in the Lord for her care.  Such an amazing story of faith.  We also thought how this must of shaped King David's life as Ruth was his great grandmother.

For worship, instead of going to You Tube to find some songs, we had our daughter bring out her guitar and play a little bit.  She has just started lessons so she didn't know too many chords, but what she lacked in knowledge she made up for in enthusiasm!   

We closed in prayer asking God to continue to guide us and help us to not let anything get in the way of us following Him whole hearted.

Two Sides of the Coin of Destiny

In every conflict there are at least two opposing sides, and there are those who encourage it, and profit because of the conflict, the powers who would desire to fan the flames of conflict in order to create schemes that they can use to manipulate, and fabricate an atmosphere in which they can achieve their agendas.

In our time now we are seeing the fruition of the seeds of ancient conflicts that have been growing, and cultivated for centuries.  We are seeing conflict forming, and the polarization of the modern world.  Ancient conflicts, hatreds, bitterness, and feuding, that has been cultivated, orchestrated, and refined to produce the desired effect for the enemies of Truth.

We see the polarization of North, and South beginning with the collapse of Alexander's empire, and the formation of the various Kingdoms that would eventually evolve into two great empires, one in the northern regions, and the other in the southern regions.  The two great Empires having two distinct, and diametrically opposed ideologies.  The perfect situation, and atmosphere for conflict.

Family Devotions: Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

We read Mark chapter 3 where Jesus heals the man with a withered hand in a synagogue on the Sabbath.  The religious leaders were upset at this and began plotting to get rid of Jesus.  They began to accuse him of healing by the power of Satan and this was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. After talking about this chapter our daughter brought out her children's Bible and wanted to read the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers and how one came back to tell the Lord thank you.  Such an awesome story too.  We found this video on You Tube that she really liked. 

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/PyQvXEgUKUg 

We talked about the importance of being thankful.

We found this video on Mark chapter 3 where Jesus heals the man with the withered hand.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/F3B4mqMToko

Our daughter really liked this song.  It tells about a healing after Jesus had rose from the dead, was in heaven and his disciples were filled with power from the Holy Spirit..

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/iYm949neO44

We talked about being filled with the power of Holy Spirit was to be witnesses of the Truth that Jesus taught.  These miracles followed those who followed Jesus' words.