Contentment not resentment

1 Timothy 6:6 KJV

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

   This verse convicted me in my soul yesterday because I am often discontent when trying to serve my Lord  😞. I pray, "dearest Jesus, help me to live for you and do good" yet when I am working and he is answering my prayer by giving me opportunity to serve Him, I find myself grumbling within. The flesh is constantly fighting the spirit doing its best to rob me of all JOY in serving Him, all that CONTENTMENT vanishes and I'm left with a tired, complaint-ridden soul and I lose out on the beauty of serving my Lord 😔. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord" heartily (sincerely, genuinely, profoundly, thoroughly,completely...in an enthusiastic manner) well, folks, when I look at that, I begin to realize that if I'm serving Him THAT way, my attitude will change. If I'm feeling burdened and worn out, I need to check where my priorities are because, I know HIS burden is light and HIS yoke is easy...oh how I desire to just live in Him with contentment, for a life lived with it is great gain!!  😊

O be careful little minds...final week's lesson...PRAISE

O Be Careful Little Minds…

Phil. 4:8 Sunday School Series

 

Well guys, here we are at the final week in our lessons from Philippians 4:8.  I can’t believe it!!  It has been such a wonderful journey for Ms. Misty and I to learn right along side of you kiddos about the things we should always think upon… Whatsoever things are  TRUE, HONEST, JUST, PURE, LOVELY, OF GOOD REPORT, if there be any VIRTUE, and of course this week’s lesson rounding them out…if there be any PRAISE…think on these things!!  

 

This week, we are going to talk about the passage of scripture in the bible, Psalm 100. But first, let’s rewind a bit to the past few weeks…Do you guys remember Noah, a man of truth? Or Samuel the honest prophet, what about the just Queen Esther?  Stephen was a man who thought on things which were pure, to the point of his wonderful forgiveness of others…remember him?   I loved the Lovely friendship of David and Jonathan, what a joy.  And David who had a good report because he trusted God and fought the giant…and last week, we spoke of Ruth, a woman of virtue…wow, look at all the people we have learned about each week and how they ALL were children of God who loved Him and praised him with their actions and thoughts, how we, when we get our HEARTS and MINDS fixed upon these things Philippians 4:8 talks about, then we will be praising Him all the time.  He is good kiddos…really really good!!

 

What a wonderful joy it is to PRAISE THE LORD!!  Let us take a look at our passage for this week …

 

In verse 1 of psalm 100, David is talking about how we ALL should be praising him…shout for joy the bible says.  He created everything and everyone.  Genesis 1:1 tells us that!  

In verse 2, he talks about serving the Lord with all of our heart… what kind of heart? A HAPPY heart, thankful and so “Whatsoever ye (we) do, do it heartily as unto the Lord” (Col. 3:23)

In verse 3, we can be assured that we are His FOREVER and He is in control.  He made us and He will keep us always…”My beloved is mine and I am His. He feedeth his flock amond the lilies” (Song of Sol. 2:16a)  We can count on Him!!

In verse 4, when we have a heart filled up with thankfulness when we greet the world each day, that shows how grateful we are to Him for being so good to us!  It honors God!  “Oh give thanks to the Lord; for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever..” (Psalm 107:1)

In verse 5, the psalmist makes sure to sing the truth of how God is forever faithful, His mercy is everlasting… do you guys remember how long everlasting is?  YEP, for always and always it never ends…kinda like the infinity symbol you are gonna glue on your heart today in your craft.  God is good forever and ever!  “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever, his faithfulness continues…” (Psalm 100:5)

 

Can you guys see how all the ones we have talked about the past few weeks are all people of PRAISE?  They “fixed” their hearts upon the Lord and praised him with their thoughts and actions!! Today, I pray that each one of us will walk away with our hearts and minds fixed upon God’s truth and love…for He truly is good and His mercy definitely is everlasting!!  

 

Activity/Craft:  My HEART of Praise!

 

 

 

O be Careful Little Minds ... Philippians 4:8 Series

O Be Careful Little Minds…Phil 4:8 Series week 6

My goodness how time flies when you are learning about the goodness of the Lord.  I am so excited to be here in our sixth week of our Philippians 4:8 bible series lesson.  Last week, Mrs. Misty taught you guys about whatsoever things are of good report and I hear that you made an awesome “report card” where you could think about the things you guys have done that are good things for the Lord.  What a blessing that is!

Well, this week we are going to be talking about Virtue and what that means to the Lord.  Virtue means to be filled with goodness and right-living.  Basically to be doing what the Lord tells us to be doing.  So all those things we have been learning about are a part of this.  When we are keeping our minds are the truth of God’s word, honest things, behaving justly, keeping pure thoughts and making sure to have all A’s on our “report card” by living all these “virtues” out then we are pleasing to God.  I am so excited to share with you kiddos today about one of MY favorite women in the Bible, Ruth!  The Bible says in Ruth 3:11 that she was a “virtuous woman”.  

Ruth was a Moabite woman who had married into a family but early in her marriage her husband died.  But, Ruth, although she was not a Jew, loved her Mother-in-law, Naomi, so when Naomi was left all alone and decided to go back to her hometown where her family was, Ruth wanted to go with her.  This surprised Naomi because she knew that Ruth would have to leave her way of life and more than likely as a Moabite she would be treated as an outcast when she was among the Jewish people.  But, Ruth loved her and wanted to serve the same Lord that Naomi did which was our God.  What a blessing to know Ruth loved the Lord.  Ruth showed such virtue (right-living) that she had made an impression on Boaz who owned the fields where she worked.  She took care of her ailing Mother-in-law and always was respectful and grateful for having the chance to be with her.  This impressed Boaz so much that he had his men leave handfuls of the good wheat on purpose for Ruth.   When Naomi guided her in what to say to Boaz, the bible says Ruth said unto her, “all that thou sayest unto me I will do.”  She showed obedience and wisdom by listening to Naomi when she spoke of how to talk to Boaz.  Kids, Ruth is very special in the fact she was a person who stayed true to her word and wanted to do what was right “virtuous”.  She didn’t complain when she worked in the fields or when things may have seemed difficult.  Instead she was thankful and worked hard to take care of herself and Naomi, serving the Lord with virtuous living.  And, in the end, Boaz took her as his wife and cared for her and all of her family from that day forward.  And guess what?  God had a plan; he used Ruth to bring our Savior to the world…she was King David’s great-grandmother.  

God will always have a much better plan than we can imagine; so let us keep our mind fixed on the right kind of things in life….Whatsoever things are True, Honest, Just, Pure, Lovely, of Good Report, Virtuous and Praise-worthy!!