Women of Promise

       Fresh off of the wonderful marriage retreat weekend, all educated on the agape love that I am to have for my husband, I was pretty full of myself when I picked up my study of Titus 2 and came to verse 4.  I was so sure I knew all about what Paul was talking about. After all, I had just heard approximately 3 hours of preaching on agape love in addition to a couple of breakout sessions and a closing message that focused on practically applying this knowledge.  So, imagine my surprise when I look up the word for love in Titus 2:4 and find out that it is not agape  used, but phileo!  Phileo  love is the brotherly kind of love.  It means you really, really like someone!  Whoa! OK. What does that mean?  I mean, I know I am called to love my husband with that love also.  However, I had always just assumed that this verse referred to agape  love.        Agape  love means that we love unc...

       I grew up with a father who was a theologian and a philosopher.  He loved the Word of God and led his family to serve and honor the Lord.  He taught us well, but we always struggled as children to understand the practical application of all of his deep studies.  God balanced my dad's esoteric tendancies with an extremely practical and down-to-earth wife.  Mom was the epitomy of a Proverbs 31 woman. She found great fulfillment in keeping the home and was a help-meet extraordinaire for my dad.  She did her best to translate for us kiddos and help us practically apply what Dad taught.      Sometimes studying the Word of God is like that.  We can get very amazed and even overwhelmed with the amazing truths of creation and redemption -- and we should! These truths and wonders are the very foundation of who and what we are.  However, these truths should not just stop at being amazing, glorious facts and thoughts that...

         Recently, I learned a little about the "5 Solas," and shared with you about each of those foundational truths of the Christian faith.  While learning all those Latin phrases, I came across another new-to-me Latin phrase that has been a fascinating study.  I pray that it will be edifying to you as well.  It is the Latin phrase, Coram Deo.   It is first used in the Latin Vulgate Bible to translate Psalm 56:13:   For You have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. (ESV)          The phrase, Coram Deo , is translated into English in this Psalm as, "that I may walk before God."  Literally, Coram Deo  means something that takes place in the very presence of God, or in front of His face.  The Psalmist was praising God for the opportunity to live  life in front of His Creator.       We know from Scripture ...

      When life presses in pretty close and trials and troubles encroach on our hearts, where can we turn? When schedules and concerns overwhelm our minds, how are we to cope? When we can't even form words to pray, what will bring peace to our soul?     The Word of God provides the answers. The Word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than a sword. The Word of God is the Bible. The Word of God is Jesus. The Word of God is our peace and our comfort. The Word of God is our refuge when the storms of life are howling all around us.       The Psalms are one place in the Word of God that can provide the clarity of thought and the peace and calm to our souls that we need. My father gave me a Psalter many years ago. A Psalter is the Psalms of the Bible put into a form for singing (often to traditional hymns that are very familiar to me.)  I love to open this book and read this version of the Psalms, often humming them to the tu...

       Have you ever read through all the laws that God gave in the Old Testament? How incredibly detailed and thorough our God is.  Most of us can't even imagine attempting to keep even half of the prescribed rules for daily life laid out in in the first five books of our Bible.  We kinda skim over these precise directions and breathe a sigh of relief that we were born after the time of Jesus -- all is under grace now, right?  We don't have to worry ourselves with all that --right?     Recently, I am beginning to catch a glimpse of the blessing we may be missing by glossing over the Law of God too glibly.  Did God's Law just become obsolete, just because Jesus fulfilled it perfectly and paid the penalty for our breaking of the Law?  Is it just an interesting part of history?  No. It is far more.  Over and over again in Leviticus, God states that "this statute will last forever" or "you shall keep this commandment always."...