How do I know how God wants me to live?

Should My Children go to School This Year?

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When Ethan reads, he won’t let Emery get near him, look over his shoulder, nothing! Yet, here he is, practically sitting on top of her to read over her shoulder!

Where I live, a big question for a lot of people right now is – should I send my children to school inside the classroom this year? Should they go 100% virtual? Should I take them out of school and homeschool them?

Lots of people are also asking, “How can I choose any of these options and keep my job? Who will keep my kids during the day when they aren’t at school? What is the best option for my children? For our family”?

I can’t answer these questions for you, but God knows the path He has for your family. He will reveal that to you (if He hasn’t already), all you have to do is ask. Then wait for His response.

You may wonder, “how will I know God is speaking to me?” Well…that’s a good question 🙂

I will never forget the first time I asked that question, and in response, I left my full-time job to be a work-from-home-mom.

Since taking that leap of faith with my family, I’ve become very interested in understanding how to hear God’s voice. So, I’ve studied the Bible for examples of how God interacted with people, and I’ve read books and articles written by people on the topic.

Although I still have a lot to learn, I can tell you what it feels like when you obey God from my personal experience. I also know what can happen when you choose to disobey God.

On the other hand, experience has taught me what Satan’s voice is like as well as some of the tricks he’ll try to use to distract you from hearing from God.

So, while I can’t tell you exactly what you should do in terms of your children’s school situation for the 2020/2021 school year, I can tell you this: Pray about it. Specifically ask God to show you what to do. Then, wait to hear His voice.

When you think you’ve heard from Him, ask yourself if what you think He said is consistent with scripture. Ask yourself if what you think you heard is persistent – you keep getting the same message over and over. Also, ask yourself if you feel at peace with what you think you’ve heard Him say. All these are pretty good indications that you have heard from God. Now all you have to do is do what He says!

Back in the last winter/early spring during our quarantine school days 🙂

You Are Kept For Christ

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Follower of Christ, did you know that you are “kept for Christ”?

In the greeting of his letter to early Christians, Jude, one of Jesus’ brothers, wrote:

“Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ” Jude 1:1

The original word used for “kept” in this verse is “téréo”, and it means to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard, to keep, to observe, to reserve.

God’s Promise

We are kept for Him, guarded for Him, reserved for Him.  Even better, He’s the one doing the keeping, guarding, and reserving. This means we are carefully attended to and taken care of by God. 

Notice that the word “kept” is in the past tense; the keeping and guarding was completed in the past.  God has already set us apart to carefully attend to us for Himself.  This is a task that is accomplished when we accept salvation.

In the closing of the letter, Jude writes, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy…” The original word used for “to keep” here is “phylassó” – another verb similar in meaning to “téréo.”  (This verb has a stronger emphasis on keeping someone or something safe).  Not only are we kept by God, for God – something completed in the past – but God is able to keep us – something He will continue to do.  He kept us in the past and will continue to keep us into the future.

Our Responsibility

Within Jude’s letter, he implores readers to “keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” (Jude 1:21)

This implies that Christians have a responsibility in the keeping and guarding as well.  So, although we are kept by God, we are also to keep ourselves in God’s love.

kept by God – God already did it when we accepted Jesus as our Savior

God is able to keep – God will continue to do it into the future

keep yourselves – Christians continue to do it

Ultimately, scripture teaches that true believers do not lose their salvation, but that doesn’t mean we have a free ride.  We must keep our eyes on God so that we don’t fall away into sin rendering ourselves useless to God.

This brings up an important question: How do we keep ourselves for Christ?

We find clues for that by doing a Biblical word study and looking for the words “kept” or “keep” in other parts of scripture.  Here are a few examples:

In Exodus 20:6, God, speaking to Moses, uses the word to explain that He will show lovingkindness to those who love Him and keep His commands.

In Leviticus 23:32, God talks to Moses about the Sabbath, describing how the people should behave on that day.

In John 14:23, Jesus tells the 12 disciples that anyone who loves him will keep his commands.

In these passages, God urges us to live as He said, to behave a certain way, to observe His words and do what He said to do.  This is how we keep ourselves for Christ.

Still, how do we know how He said to live or behave?  We have to study the Word and pray. We have to strengthen ourselves by reading our Bibles so we will know what God commanded. Then, we have to talk with Him daily to establish an intimate relationship with Him so we can know His heart.

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Say this prayer with me:

Father, I am grateful that I am kept for you and kept by you.  Thank you, Lord, that this part is finished. Done. In the past. Thank you for your lovingkindness.  But, Lord, your word also tells me that you are “able to keep,” which means that your care and attention continues.  I am grateful that, not only have you kept me for yourself in the past, but you are able to keep me today and forevermore.  You’re able to keep me from falling into sin.  I am kept, so my salvation is secure, forever.  More than ever, I want to study your Word, pray to you, and wait for you.  I want to live like I know you’re coming back.  I will keep myself in your love.

Amen