Raising children who want anything to do with the Lord is really hard! It's even more difficult when their lives are filled with the world's pleasures.
One way to get them to turn their thoughts to the Lord is through good reading materials. The Girlhood Home Companion is meant to do just that! This Christian magazine is made for young ladies and spans past generations as well as the present. Girls will get encouragement from articles, cooking and craft ideas, and other blessings throughout the pages.
You can order recent copies, or past copies in single or bundle form. Sign up for their e-mail to see when a new edition is out! Follow this link for more information.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Friday, August 5, 2016
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Gluten Free Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Cake recipe
Preheat your oven to 350*.
Gluten Free Flour mixture:
12 TBS Rice flour
3 TBS tapioca flour
2 TBS Potato Starch
1/2 tsp Xanthan gum
Mix all of this up together well- this is your flour for this recipe.
Cake:
1 cup flour mixture
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
Mix these ingredients together and spread out in the bottom of a greased cast iron skillet.
Top with 1 cup fresh chopped Strawberries.
Cream Cheese:
1 TBS flour mixture
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 TBS lemon zest
8 oz cream cheese
Blend this together well. It works best if the cream cheese is softened first (don't worry if there are little lumps of cream cheese, it'll bake just as well). Pour this over the strawberries and spread out as best you can.
Streusel:
1/3 cup flour mixture
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter
Cut the butter into the other ingredients until it makes a crumble topping. Sprinkle it on top of the cream cheese mixture.
Bake for 60 minutes.
Gluten Free Flour mixture:
12 TBS Rice flour
3 TBS tapioca flour
2 TBS Potato Starch
1/2 tsp Xanthan gum
Mix all of this up together well- this is your flour for this recipe.
Cake:
1 cup flour mixture
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
Mix these ingredients together and spread out in the bottom of a greased cast iron skillet.
Top with 1 cup fresh chopped Strawberries.
Cream Cheese:
1 TBS flour mixture
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 TBS lemon zest
8 oz cream cheese
Blend this together well. It works best if the cream cheese is softened first (don't worry if there are little lumps of cream cheese, it'll bake just as well). Pour this over the strawberries and spread out as best you can.
Streusel:
1/3 cup flour mixture
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter
Cut the butter into the other ingredients until it makes a crumble topping. Sprinkle it on top of the cream cheese mixture.
Bake for 60 minutes.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
The Sculptor (poem)
I took a piece of plastic clay,
And idly fashioned it one day,
And as my fingers pressed it still,
It moved and yielded to my will.
I came again when days were past,
The bit of clay was hard at last.
The form I gave it, it still bore,
But I could change that form no more.
I took a piece of living clay
And gently formed it day by day,
And molded it with power and art-
A young child's soft and yielding heart.
I came again when years were gone,
It was a man I looked upon;
He still that early impress wore,
And I could change him never more.
-Author Unknown
And idly fashioned it one day,
And as my fingers pressed it still,
It moved and yielded to my will.
I came again when days were past,
The bit of clay was hard at last.
The form I gave it, it still bore,
But I could change that form no more.
I took a piece of living clay
And gently formed it day by day,
And molded it with power and art-
A young child's soft and yielding heart.
I came again when years were gone,
It was a man I looked upon;
He still that early impress wore,
And I could change him never more.
-Author Unknown
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
How To Hear That SOUND (video sermon)
In II Samuel, David is fighting against the Philistines. He battles them twice. The first time, God delivers them into the hand of the David when David attacks the first time. But, the Philistines come back again. David knows that it was the Lord that helped him win, so he goes back and asks God what to do now.
God tells David, what worked last time won't work this time. God gave David some very interesting directions. First, God told him to go rest under some mulberry trees until he hears a sound. And, so David and his men go and sit under the mulberry trees and wait for an unknown sound.
The devil doesn't take vacations; he'll attack again and again. You may have to fight the same battle, or enemy, multiple times. Sometimes, you will have to change up the way you fight the battles.
There will be times when we have to wait on God. We have to wait for an unknown thing to happen before we can successfully win the battle. How will we know the sound?
There are joyful sounds in the Bible. In Genesis 3, it's the voice of the Lord. For Elijah, it was the sound of rain. For Moses, it was a voice from a burning bush. How do you know what sound is meant for you?
There are many sounds that a Christian hears throughout his Spiritual life. Some are sounds that every Christian hears. Some are personal sounds for each individual soul. But, you have to learn to listen if you're going to hear the sound.
The first one is the sound of salvation. Each sinner hears the call of salvation from the Lord. The call may come from different preachers, books, songs, tracts, etc. but the sound is always the call of salvation made by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This will be your first supernatural sound.
The next one is the sound of service. A sound that calls the Christian to be more than they already are. God doesn't save you to have you sit in a pew. God wants you to serve Him. The call to be a preacher, a teacher, a missionary, a minister to others, etc. The sound of the call of service will be the next to ring out over your life.
There is also the sound of the Holy Spirit. This sound comes during times of prayer and praise- a sound when the Lord shows up with His Divine Presence. This sound gives you guidance, direction, certainty, conviction, etc.- the sound of the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the Words of the Lord.
The last sound a Christian will hear on this earth is the sound of the Trump of God. When God gives His Shout you will hear and you will fly! Your body will leave the ground, and you will meet your loved ones and your Savior in the air to be with Him and them eternally. Do you know that is what makes the Lord shout? That He finally gets to bring His bride home!
Are you listening for the sound? It's an unfamiliar sound, but you'll know it when you hear it!
God tells David, what worked last time won't work this time. God gave David some very interesting directions. First, God told him to go rest under some mulberry trees until he hears a sound. And, so David and his men go and sit under the mulberry trees and wait for an unknown sound.
The devil doesn't take vacations; he'll attack again and again. You may have to fight the same battle, or enemy, multiple times. Sometimes, you will have to change up the way you fight the battles.
There will be times when we have to wait on God. We have to wait for an unknown thing to happen before we can successfully win the battle. How will we know the sound?
There are joyful sounds in the Bible. In Genesis 3, it's the voice of the Lord. For Elijah, it was the sound of rain. For Moses, it was a voice from a burning bush. How do you know what sound is meant for you?
There are many sounds that a Christian hears throughout his Spiritual life. Some are sounds that every Christian hears. Some are personal sounds for each individual soul. But, you have to learn to listen if you're going to hear the sound.
The first one is the sound of salvation. Each sinner hears the call of salvation from the Lord. The call may come from different preachers, books, songs, tracts, etc. but the sound is always the call of salvation made by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This will be your first supernatural sound.
The next one is the sound of service. A sound that calls the Christian to be more than they already are. God doesn't save you to have you sit in a pew. God wants you to serve Him. The call to be a preacher, a teacher, a missionary, a minister to others, etc. The sound of the call of service will be the next to ring out over your life.
There is also the sound of the Holy Spirit. This sound comes during times of prayer and praise- a sound when the Lord shows up with His Divine Presence. This sound gives you guidance, direction, certainty, conviction, etc.- the sound of the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the Words of the Lord.
The last sound a Christian will hear on this earth is the sound of the Trump of God. When God gives His Shout you will hear and you will fly! Your body will leave the ground, and you will meet your loved ones and your Savior in the air to be with Him and them eternally. Do you know that is what makes the Lord shout? That He finally gets to bring His bride home!
Are you listening for the sound? It's an unfamiliar sound, but you'll know it when you hear it!
Monday, August 1, 2016
Two Child Kings
There are times throughout history when children have been crowned king, and have sat on the throne of different nations. The Bible speaks of such times during the reign of the kings of Judah. There are two different child kings that I want to compare.
The first is Joash.
II Chronicles 24:1- Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.
This first child king ascended the throne during great turmoil. The King Amaziah, his father, had been slain while visiting a sick king in a different nation. His grandmother, Athaliah, didn't want to lose her position as the Queen Mum, and so she killed off all of the king's seed who would be able to take the throne. It was only because of the King's sister that this young boy was saved.
The king's sister took the boy to the temple where her husband, the priest Jehoiada, was serving. He was hid there by the priest and raised for about six years. On his seventh birthday, there was a coup and the child, Joash, was crowned king. The wicked Queen Mum was executed for treason.
This child was raised the first seven years of his life in the temple of the Lord. Then, he was guided by the priest Jehoiada until he was old enough to rule the kingdom on his own. So, how did his reign end?
II Chronicles 24:24-25- For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
He killed the sons of the priest who had raised him. He sent the kingdom into idol worship. He was smitten with great diseases (could have been caught in battle, or they could be the consequences of a wicked lifestyle- the Bible doesn't say). And, he was killed by his servants. His end wasn't one of honeor- he wasn't even buried with the kings of his nation.
The second is Josiah.
II Chronicles 34:1-2- Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
This child king also ascended the throne during a tumultuous time. His father, Manasseh, had been the most wicked king Judah had ever had. In fact, it was during his father's reign that God had declared judgment on the nation and said they would be carried away captive. Idolatry was more rampant during this time than at any other time in the history of the nation of Judah.
It was under this prophesied judgment and the apostasy of the nation that Josiah took the throne.
How did his reign end?
II Chronicles 35:23-27- And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD, And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
This king, too, died from wounds inflicted during a battle. He was so beloved that his entire nation mourned his death. He was known for years after in songs that told of his goodness and his love for the Lord.
What made the difference between these two kings?
It wasn't the state of their kingdom when they ascended the throne- both times the nation was in apostasy.
It wasn't their age- they were only a year apart and both were crowned before their teenage years.
It couldn't have been their upbringing- the first was raised in the temple of the Lord by a priest!
The answer is in the verses themselves.
Joash- II Chronicles 24:2- And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
Josiah- II Chronicles 34:3- For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
Joash only served the Lord when the priest led him to. He didn't make up his mind to serve God. He didn't purpose to find out what it was the Lord wanted from him. He just did what the priest said, and when the priest was gone he did what he wanted to.
Josiah, however, started to seek the Lord. AT twelve years old, he strove to find what it was that would please the Lord and do it. He not only allowed the Lord to lead his life, he followed the Lord's direction for his kingdom.
The difference was their heart! One had a deep desire to know the Lord and His ways. The other, only knew how to follow orders. Once the Spiritual guidance was gone he was lost.
Our children can have the best home, the most holy churches, the fervent preaching and teaching of God's Word, and if the Lord doesn't get their hearts, they will go their own way the second there isn't someone there telling them what to do. Obedient robots aren't what we need. We need children who learn to love the Lord!
The first is Joash.
II Chronicles 24:1- Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.
This first child king ascended the throne during great turmoil. The King Amaziah, his father, had been slain while visiting a sick king in a different nation. His grandmother, Athaliah, didn't want to lose her position as the Queen Mum, and so she killed off all of the king's seed who would be able to take the throne. It was only because of the King's sister that this young boy was saved.
The king's sister took the boy to the temple where her husband, the priest Jehoiada, was serving. He was hid there by the priest and raised for about six years. On his seventh birthday, there was a coup and the child, Joash, was crowned king. The wicked Queen Mum was executed for treason.
This child was raised the first seven years of his life in the temple of the Lord. Then, he was guided by the priest Jehoiada until he was old enough to rule the kingdom on his own. So, how did his reign end?
II Chronicles 24:24-25- For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
He killed the sons of the priest who had raised him. He sent the kingdom into idol worship. He was smitten with great diseases (could have been caught in battle, or they could be the consequences of a wicked lifestyle- the Bible doesn't say). And, he was killed by his servants. His end wasn't one of honeor- he wasn't even buried with the kings of his nation.
The second is Josiah.
II Chronicles 34:1-2- Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
This child king also ascended the throne during a tumultuous time. His father, Manasseh, had been the most wicked king Judah had ever had. In fact, it was during his father's reign that God had declared judgment on the nation and said they would be carried away captive. Idolatry was more rampant during this time than at any other time in the history of the nation of Judah.
It was under this prophesied judgment and the apostasy of the nation that Josiah took the throne.
How did his reign end?
II Chronicles 35:23-27- And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD, And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
This king, too, died from wounds inflicted during a battle. He was so beloved that his entire nation mourned his death. He was known for years after in songs that told of his goodness and his love for the Lord.
What made the difference between these two kings?
It wasn't the state of their kingdom when they ascended the throne- both times the nation was in apostasy.
It wasn't their age- they were only a year apart and both were crowned before their teenage years.
It couldn't have been their upbringing- the first was raised in the temple of the Lord by a priest!
The answer is in the verses themselves.
Joash- II Chronicles 24:2- And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
Josiah- II Chronicles 34:3- For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
Joash only served the Lord when the priest led him to. He didn't make up his mind to serve God. He didn't purpose to find out what it was the Lord wanted from him. He just did what the priest said, and when the priest was gone he did what he wanted to.
Josiah, however, started to seek the Lord. AT twelve years old, he strove to find what it was that would please the Lord and do it. He not only allowed the Lord to lead his life, he followed the Lord's direction for his kingdom.
The difference was their heart! One had a deep desire to know the Lord and His ways. The other, only knew how to follow orders. Once the Spiritual guidance was gone he was lost.
Our children can have the best home, the most holy churches, the fervent preaching and teaching of God's Word, and if the Lord doesn't get their hearts, they will go their own way the second there isn't someone there telling them what to do. Obedient robots aren't what we need. We need children who learn to love the Lord!
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