Yearly Archives: 2006

You may want to check out my article at Clear Vision today, that is somewhat related to our current topic here.

This week I want to continue on laying the foundation we started last week. We are working off of 2 primary Scriptures that show us that this is where we need to begin. “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” (Pro. 4:7 – but read the whole chapter) And, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Pro. 9:10 – again, read the whole chapter) Add to that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments : his praise endureth for ever.” (Psalm 111:10)

In a past post, I summed up a working definition of wisdom that was stated thus:
“Wisdom is being able to see the Big Picture, God’s view and purpose, and then carrying through and acting on it. ” I don’t know how long or how far I will carry this this week, but for today I just want to make a couple of general observations.

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” (1 Cor. 3:19) “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.” (James 3:15) “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” (James 3:17) Not all that is called “wisdom” is true wisdom from the Lord. Some of it is just plain fleshly foolishness. The wisdom we desire to teach our children is the wisdom of God, from His Word.

Pro. 2:6 tells us that “the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” (read also, at least vss. 1-11) And, James 1:5-6 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” Because, as Pro. 2:7 says, “He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. ” God is the source of true wisdom and He will give it to the “righteous” that ask for it in faith. We are told that “thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him , if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” (Deut. 4:29) So we are to seek for wisdom, “seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;” (Pro. 2:4) We are to seek with all our hearts. For God’s wisdom is in His Word, and it will be found by those that seek it.

Which leads me to my second initial observation. The Proverbs are a great place to begin looking for God’s Wisdom. They contain much for us to learn about wisdom.. A whole curriculum could be built upon the Proverbs. In fact, that is exactly what they are, a parent’s instructions (the college curriculm given to a young son) for living a successful life.

One small thing that you can do to begin laying this foundation in wisdom is to begin reading the Proverbs daily. Read them as a family. Disuss them and reason from them. An easy discipline to follow is to read the “Proverb of the Day” every month – Pro. 1 on the 1st, Pro. 2 on the 2nd, etc. You will read through the book of Proverbs every month. (You can double up on chapters 30 and 31 in the months that only have 30 days.) Don’t think you will exhaust what can be gleaned from these words of God’s Wisdom in 1, 2 or a few months. The depths are endless. Also, begin memorizing from the Proverbs. There are great passages and whole chapters that are worth comitting to memory.

Well, there’s a starter for you. We’ll continue tomorrow, Lord willing.

In concluding these foundational messages on the Fear of the Lord, do you feel like you have a grasp on it? Is it making sense?

More importantly, are you beginning to internalize it? Are you growing in the fear of the Lord? Are you finding a new awe in His awesomeness? Are you seeing Him for the wonderfully perfect God that He is? Are you recognizing His absolute Majesty?

If you haven’t been following along in our study, take the time to go through your Bible and find all the references to the fear of the Lord. Read them in context. Meditate on them. Pray over them. Memorize them. Ask God to make them clear and real to you. Then ask Him to help you pull it all together, to see the Big Picture of what the fear of the Lord truly is and how it is to be applied in your life – how it is the foundational depths of all of life and learning.

As you grow and follow the Lord in this, bring your children alongside you. Share what you are learning/have learned. Bring them into their own study of this. Have them look up and mediate on the Scriptures. Have them reflect and reason from the Scripture, and come to Biblical conclusions, as much as possible, on their own (or with a bit of guidance from you as needed).

This is discipleship. This is Lifestyle Education through Discipleship. And this study on the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the foundation of all of Life and Learning. It is the place to start.

Are you saying, “But this isn’t phonics and physics, arithmetic and zoology”? Remember, we are laying the most important foundation, according to the Word, to study those things and more. For “Wisdom is the principal thing” and “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. I believe this verse should be memorized by every Christian parent:
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecc. 12:12-14)

Why don’t you begin the teaching and training of your children today with Psalm 34:11:
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Next week, we will move on to Wisdom – the Principal Thing, Lord willing. Although I’ve written much about it in the past, my goal is to pull it together for you here, next week.

Today I’m still continuing a look at the fear of the Lord, with a brief conclusion. Tomorrow, I will wrap it up. If you haven’t been following these posts, you can start back at Sat. Jan. 7 for Let’s Start at the Very Beginning – or to some groundwork laid before that on the 5th and 6th.

For the non-Christian the fear of the Lord is truly, and rightfully, a very scarey thing (Luke 12:4-5). It is definitely not something they want to think of. It reminds them that in the end, they will not get away with anything, and they will pay the wages of their sin, which is death and hell. Not a fun subject to discuss, but the truth of our existance.

But for the Christian, the fear of the Lord is a truly humbling thing. It is still recognizing that we have sinned, that we are deserving of hell just as surely as the non-Christian, for “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin are death”. But we willingly see that God is God and He is Just. Because in that we can trust His faithfulness to ALL His Word.

We are humbled that He chose to, not ignore our sins, but to pay the wages of them Himself. That His mercy was longsuffering. He didn’t execute the penalty of our sin upon us immediately, but in His goodness, He was patient to bring us to repentence.

The fear of the Lord is an awesome thing. Even though it means much more than awe or reverence for Who God is, it truly includes such. For when we fear the Lord, we do truly stand in awe of Who He is, and we do truly reverence Him to the utmost.

With this foundation laid, I will wrap up this topic tomorrow, Lord willing.

No question about it, my mind has lost its focus on the continuation of this topic. That new baby (our grandson born Mon.), and keeping my own family at our home on track, through this birth, the visit of another daughter and grand-girls (LOVE to have them!), and a relative’s funeral today (that car trouble on the way there prevented our family from attending) has got me a little off track the last couple of days. I have plenty more to say -as always, but no guarantees of a nice smooth continuation Hopefully I have laid the foundational understanding of the fear of the Lord – what it is and why it is so important to begin there with our children.

In beginning to build upon that, start by reading James 1:22-25:
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

What we are looking at here is the idea that we began with in laying the fear of the Lord as the depths of our foundation. To fear God is really to trust His faithfulness. It is to believe Him, and act accordingly.

We are either Believers or Doubters. Either we know that God says what He means and means what He says, or else we doubt Him – “maybe not”. Maybe “I” can get away with it. “I” don’t have to obey.

When we say that we are Believers, then we believe what God says and act accordingly, because He says we will reap what we sow. And we believe Him. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. because without faith it is impossible to please him. Without belief it is impossible to please Him. If we think we can hear His Word and then not do it, we don’t really believe it. We don’t really believe Him. We have no faith.

We cannot be a believer without being a doer. If we are not a doer we are a hearer only and “forget” what manner of man we are. We forget we are sinners and deserving of the judgement of God. We forget that we will reap what we sow. We forget that God is not a man that He should lie. We do not believe God. We do not fear Him.

Perhaps this sounds negative, and a harsh thing to teach. But again this is not the end! But it is the foundation. We must know and teach that God is God and we are not. That He makes the rules and we are to follow them. Until our children see that they are in a sorry, helpless state, they will see no need for a Savior. As long as they think that if there is a God, He won’t hold them accountable, they will do as they please, then whine or blame others when they suffer the consequences of their actions. This is not harsh negativity. This is Truth, and as we build on it, they (and we) will see just how much we can trust God. How His unchanging faithfulness to His Nature, Name and Word is a glorious thing for us. Because He is also Love. His Love, He, is unchangable, unrelenting, unstopable. And everything He allows in our life, He has under control. Nothing catches God off guard. Nothing is unpreventable by Him. So we will be OK, because He is watching out for us. He died for us. Not because we are so good. Not becuase we deserve it. But because He is who HE IS -I AM!

He is God and I am not! A good life principle to believe.

Continuing from the weekend. A third misconception about the fear of the Lord is a misapplication. Some (who don’t truly know God) would say that to teach the fear of the Lord makes God out to be a very mean ogre, just waiting for us to mess up so He can squash us. This is just the opposite of the Truth. God doesn’t not operate on revengeful whim. The fear of the Lord comforts us that God is faithful; He does not change. He doesn’t have a “bad day” or throw temper tantrums. He isn’t waiting for us to mess up, so He can pour out His wrath. The truth is, we have already messed up. And He, in His abundant mercy, is longsuffering in His awaiting for us to repent, so He can pour out His forgiveness.

A story was told yesterday, that I guess was suppose to be funny. I don’t know if the guy in the story was making a very bad joke or if he had really bad theology. But after a very bad day he said, “I think God is trying to kill me and keeps missing.” I guarentee, if God is “trying” to kill you, He does not miss!

That our consequences are not reaped immediately, does not prove that God winks at sin, or that we are getting away with it, and will not have to pay the consequences. It means that the goodness and mercy of God are allowing us time to repent before the consequences take effect.

Are you beginning to see how the fear of the Lord is the depths of the foundation we must lay for our children to build their life and learning on – for us to build our lives and learning on!?

Continued tomorrow, Lord willing.

Continuing again to expand – that is dig the foundation a little deeper, from the last few days, if you can make the connection. Let’s return again to my favorite – Life Message – topic, The Fear of the Lord and Wisdom. But let’s come from a different angle.

Remember what we are wanting to do is plant seeds that will bear good fruit. To do that we must plant in good soil and cultivate it. This was the job God gave Adam, to “dress” the garden. I’ve heard it explained that this whole Dominion Mandate was for Adam to take what God had given him and work it, be creatively productive with it , and return it back as an offering to God.

If Wisdom is the most important thing for our children to “get” in life, and it is (Pro. 4:7) , then our job as parents is to lead our children to Wisdom. Remember too that Wisdom is personified, it is a person, and that Person is Jesus. Taken one step further, the beginning of Wisdom, or the most important, first part about Wisdom, is the Fear of the Lord (Pro. 9:10). If we can teach our chidlren nothing else, we must teach them the fear of the Lord. For this is the beginning of the most important thing in Life.

Now, it has been said of the Fear of the Lord that,
1) it is an Old Testament concept tied to Law that doesn’t apply to us. Hmm, better go read the New Testment – Heb. 12:28-29: Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. See also: 2 Cor. 7:1, Eph. 5:21, 1 Peter 2:17, Rev. 14:7, Rev. 19:5.

2) it doesn’t really mean fear – it really means respect or awe. Oh really? What do you do with this? Luke 12:4-5: And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. And Mt. 10:28.

No, fearing God is more than just respecting Him, or being amazed at Him, or thinking He has changed since the Old Testament – He’s “nicer” now. Fearing God means knowing that He is not a man that He should lie. That all the promises of God are Yes and Amen; they will all surely come to pass. But not all His promises are wonderful blessings for everyone. He is not to be mocked, saying “Yea, has God said? You will not surely die.” The idea that “it looks good, tastes good, I want it” is not the test for consequences. The enemy will always lie and tell you that you will not get caught. It won’t happen to you. You can get away with it. No one will ever know. But God will not be mocked. Surely, whatsoever you sow, you will reap. He has promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. There is great reason to fear Him. He is just. He executes perfect justice. No one ever gets away with anything. He has the final say.

Our children (and of course, first WE) must understand that every choice has consequences. God will see that the consequences are paid, and justice is done. This is not good news to our flesh. The news that we don’t choose a destiny of our own making. That we are not our own God. Many people including children try to justify themselves (look, even Adam and Eve did so), that what they’ve done isn’t really that bad, that they’ve done more good than bad (as if somehow God is weighing deeds on a scale), that others have done far worse. The fear of the Lord is recognizing that when I do wrong, there are negative consequences to be paid – surely, yes and amen (so be it). I will not get away with it – I WILL reap what I sow .

The Good News, the only Good News we have, is that if we are “in Christ” He has already paid the penalty for us. We, all of us – including our children, must be brought to the point of recognizing our true state. And recognizing that God is to be feared. That is NOT where we END, but it is where we must begin. They must know that God is God, and they are not. He may be our Abba (if we are born again of Him), but we do not have Him wrapped around our little finger to manipulate at whim.

I have only touched the tip of this iceburg. Although the fear of the Lord is not the most “fun” thing to teach and learn, it is the solid, deep foundation for everything else that we teach our children. It is the beginning of Wisdom, which is the most important thing in Life.

I will continue this topic next week, Lord willing. Have a blessed Lord’s Day.

I can’t break my consistency yet, so this is kind of a “cheat” post. It’s a continuation of my thoughts, from yesterday, that I shared with a couple of friends.

I think it is so important that we as parents learn to rest in the finished work of the Lord, (The principle of Christian character through labor 🙂 and not continually strive to build greatness through the flesh. I see far too many hs moms doing this. (We all tend too. We all have external, and perhaps remaining internal, pressures to do so.) Maybe it’s driven home with me because a friend once told me about what she saw in my life was an oak tree, saying: ‘a blade of grass can spring up to its full potential very quickly, but it is short lived and easily withers. It has shallow roots that cannot support anything larger. A mighty oak has roots that go down very deep. It is not easily shaken. It is strong and firm. It is lasting. Its visible greatness is only as big as the roots that support it. There is as much underneath as there is visible. It reaches far and provides shade and comfort to many.’ I have held onto that word and prayed that God would bring it to pass. Especially when things didn’t seem to be growing quickly in the “visible” realm I tried to remember this. I believe it is really applicable to what God wants to do in all of us, (and relates to the house on the rock and house on the sand.)

In Paul Jehle’s tape on sowing and reaping he talks about planting the seed, and the soil needed to receive it (keeping our children’s hearts soft). He says something about taking a machine gun and blasting the seeds into the (hard) soil – as we sometimes want to/tend to try to do that. If they won’t get it, we’ll MAKE them get it. I think we parents can all relate to times we’ve had like that.

But, I can tend to think that way (wish it would work) with adults sometimes. I think, “Why won’t you just receive this? It will make your life so much easier. It will produce so much better fruit than what you have growing now. This would be so much better for your children.” (usually in relation to them pushing academic content early and fast on young children – or home educating at all). My goal and true desire and ministry though is to plow the soil – I just need to always remember that a plow works better than a machine gun.

This (from Jehle) just really spoke to me (on the plowing before planting) because a verse that I have always thought spoke to my life ministry is Jer. 1:9-10.

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

The idea is that old patterns have to be torn down before new can be built. We have to plow (dig up, root out) before we can plant. We have to prepare the soil/hearts. Oh yea, that’s called the renewing of the mind.

Remember we haven’t been called to transplant full grown trees, we’ve been called to plow, plant seeds and water them!!!! Then God will bring the increase!!!!!!

I’ve made it my 5th day – one more day and I’ll have a half of year’s worth of posts done 🙂

Many years ago I heard that it takes till your third year of home educating until you really feel like you know what you are doing. I think that is probably true. But to take it a step further, I think it applies every time you switch approaches, the way you home educate. It’s all about retraining our minds to think differently and that takes time.

I’ve laid at the foundation of my teaching the principle of Renewing the Mind. It is a process that many home educators would just as soon skip over. They “don’t have time for this”. They just want to know how to teach this way – how to apply this method, and want to know it now. They have children sitting and waiting to learn, and they must start shoveling it in now. The clock is ticking.

But I think there is a reason Jesus walked daily with his disciples for three years. Perhaps it takes that long for us to make a paradigm shift. (Wouldn’t it be great to have a daily mentor for three years! We do, not just for three years, but for a lifetime. It is the Holy Spirit, our Teacher. He really is!!) But, as I was saying, there is no instant transformation except in our spirits when we are born again. Our minds must be laid on the altar daily. And the changes must be internalized. We can read something and “know” it, but it takes time for it to become a part of us, and to become natural for us to automatically apply – to automatically think that way.

We have been so trained in the supposed supremacy of content, “getting that building up”, that we forget that it is the foundation that is important. The things that aren’t always seen. The things that don’t measure on a test. But the things that will allow us/our children to stand, especially when the storms come.

There is no short-cut to renewing our mind to think or teach Biblically. Only study and time will accomplish that (in addition to the work of the Holy Spirit). As we work through Biblical principles as the foundation of our teaching for a Biblical worldview, it may seem like we aren’t “covering the subjects” like we “should”. At first, we may not even understand what the principles are and how they apply to anything, let alone everything. But as we continue our study, and leading our children as Christ leads us, line upon line, precept upon precept, eventually we will notice that it is starting to all come together. Things that made no sense before, suddenly all fall together. Application becomes obvious, and we can begin building the part of our “building” that will be seen. We are thinking differently. The foundation is set.

Never feel that the time laying a foundation on the solid Rock is wasted, unnecessary, or too time consuming. The “house” (education) without a foundation may look grand, big and beautiful, but its fall will be great when the storms of life come. It is only the life that is built upon the time-requiring foundation of Biblical thinking that comes from renewing the mind that will truly stand.