Bless Your Heart and Home

by his grace, through his word, for our joy, to his glory.

bless your heart

How Do I Read the Bible? Never Read the Bible Alone.

by Leave a Comment

Psalm 119:18 is a prayer we can use when we open our Bibles to read: “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your Word.”

We need the Holy Spirit to help us understand God’s Word. 1 Cor 2:14 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” The Bible cannot be understood and embraced accurately by unbelievers, or even by us in our own strength. Knowing this, we read the Bible with dependence on God to help us know him through the help of the Holy Spirit.

…

Read More »

How Do I Read the Bible? Read the Bible as a story.

by 3 Comments

I’ve been thinking through helpful ideas I’ve been taught for how to read the Bible. While Bible *study* skills are important, Bible *reading* skills are also vital. And so, I want to post some of those ideas I’ve found useful. I don’t think that ANY of these ideas are original to me!, so I’d love to hear your ideas, too. Today, here is the first thought…!

How do I read the Bible? — Read the Bible as a story. What I mean by that is that we want to read the Bible with the understanding that when we open it to a particular chapter and verse, we’re jumping into part of the story.

…

Read More »

Prayer in Two Words

by 2 Comments

A few days ago I encountered a short prayer in Psalm 12, and since then I have been praying this prayer. The Lord has been answering and giving me the very thing I’m requesting, and I’m enjoying this fellowship with the Lord so much that I wanted to tell about what God is doing for me.

“Help, Lord.” (Psalm 12:1)

In any situation – whether very small or eternally big — these two words are a way to come to God and begin to pray. They remind me (1) what it is that I truly need and (2) Who it is that can supply that need.

…

Read More »

Look to Jesus: what it means to believe in him

by 6 Comments

Thirty years ago this May I prayed to receive Jesus Christ to be my Savior from my sins. I’ve questioned whether I was really “saved” at that time or not, because how much did I really understand at such a young age? I wondered about the timing of my salvation for most of my 20s. But the more I understand what the Bible says about salvation and our Savior, I’m more convinced than ever that I was genuinely saved at almost-6-years-old when I prayed to “ask Jesus in my heart.”

…

Read More »

A Woman God Commends

by 2 Comments

What kind of woman does God commend? Of what woman might God say, “Her. She is a woman after my own heart. I commend that woman as an example of a holy, godly Christian. I am not ashamed to be called her God.”

The Scripture tells us of one such woman, and her name is Sarah. Yes, Sarah the wife of Abraham the Patriarch: Sarah, the barren woman, the quite jealous woman, the doubting woman, the harsh woman, the lying woman, the laughing woman.

God points us to Sarah as an example of a woman with whom He was pleased–a woman who receives commendation in both 1 Peter 3 and Hebrews 11–because of her faith in the God of the promises.

…

Read More »