Giveaway Winner and Favourite December Posts

Since our 6 year old son, Caleb, recently read through the whole Bible in the New Living Translation, I thought it would be appropriate for him to pick out the winner of the giveaway, since it is a Bible study book! So I put the names on folded up papers in a pot and he picked one out.

Caleb reading his Bible

The winner is Talking Christian!  Congratulations!

For those who didn't win, I would still encourage you to get the book if you can somehow - it's been the most helpful book I've read in the last year :)

I'm going to take a little blogging break for the rest of this week till after New Year. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and have a great New Year too!


Here are some of my favourite posts from other blogs (that I actually got around to clicking on!) from December:

Ten ways to bring the gospel home this Christmas - if you have family around who are not Christians, this post has excellent advice to help bring the gospel to them in a gentle and loving way.

Two great morning prayers - starting our day with an eternal mindset.

Everyone you know needs your grace everyday - this contains the reason I always remind myself of why not to judge people. Because we all sin and fall short, it's just that some do it in other ways!

"I am too busy for church!" - great reasons why you should keep on going to church.

When saying no means saying yes - reminding us that saying no to others can often be saying yes to our family - written especially for tired mothers!

Pastors, what you preach is already decided - a quote from Spurgeon that I think is good for bloggers too!

How not to look at children - a reminder to see children as a blessing.

God Sees and Rewards

Happy Christmas!! I am running a giveaway this week, so please hop over to this post and leave a comment if you want to enter! I hope you have a wonderful and joy-filled day.

I read two stories in my Bible yesterday – both of women who did ordinary things. Yet through doing those ordinary things in a way that honoured God, they accomplished extraordinary things and were rewarded.

The Hebrew midwives in Egypt. They were just doing their job as midwives, a pretty normal thing to do. Then Pharaoh commanded them to kill the baby boys as they delivered them.  ‘But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.’

They obeyed God who says, ‘do not kill’ rather than man, even though their lives might have been taken as a result.

Two things I noticed came from their fear of God. One was that many baby boys were saved from death, and families from heartache. The other is that God saw what they did and rewarded them.

It is quite possible that nobody else knew of their command to kill the boys at the time, because if they had known then they might not have used the midwives to deliver their babies. But God knew, and it says, ‘Therefore God dealt well with the midwives… and so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.’

The second story I read was also of a woman – Ruth. She was a very ordinary woman whose husband had died and who left her own country to stay and help her widowed mother-in-law. She was doing nothing particularly noticeable, and gleaned the leftovers of grain to support them.

I noticed the same two things though. She honoured God by loving and helping her mother-in-law, and God saw what she did and rewarded her. The man in charge of the fields helped protect her and made sure she got food and enough grain.

When she asked him why she had found favour in his eyes even though she was a stranger, he said, ‘It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law…’ And of course it wasn’t long before he married her – he a man of great wealth, marrying a poor stranger.

The extraordinary thing that happened as a result of her honouring God was that she was then brought into the family line that Jesus ended up coming from. So she joins all the other names in the genealogy of the Saviour of the world, whose birthday we are celebrating today.

My encouragement from this was that though I often feel insignificant because I am doing menial work which doesn’t seem to impact too many people other than my immediate family, God sees it. And God will reward us, if not in this life then the next. And who knows... maybe extraordinary things will come of it!

'But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.' Matt 6:3,4

It is so easy to get caught up in the stress of interruptions, whining, crying and yet another spill to clean up. I can so easily get impatient and start snapping, or feeling discontent and wishing it would all go a bit faster and they would grow up more quickly!

But I want to honour God in what I do by being thankful for what He has given me right now, and for those sweet little faces and hearts, and do my best to show Christ to them in the way I speak and act.

After Hope's birth - tired but joyful with sweet blessings in my arms

Today is Christmas Day and I want to try and reflect what I have learned by focusing on God and the souls and hearts of my family and others, and not get too bothered by potatoes and messes, or discouraged by too many things to do and not enough time to do it in! Because as Elisabeth Elliot says, there is always enough time to do God's will in each day :)

Linking up with The Beauty in His Grip, please see sidebar for buttons.

Why Live to Please God?

I am running a giveaway this week, so please hop over to this post and leave a comment if you want to enter!

I recently had a discussion with a friend about the title of my blog, 'Living to Please God', and afterwards realised that it may be more misunderstood than I think!

It is really who I am and what I live for - my aim in life for a long time now has been to please God and it is my heart's desire and simplifies everything. But it can seem like something that is legalistic or a duty that is called for, which is not where I am coming from at all.

God loves us as who we are - He loved us while we were still sinners, and He offers us the free gift of salvation with nothing we can do to earn it. We don't need to earn His favour, and He doesn't want us to feel like we HAVE to do anything.

I believe rather that He wants us to desire to live to please Him, not because we have to (we don't), but because we want to. And that is the reason why I have changed the description of this blog to this beautiful verse which I hope sums up why I live to please God:

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.  2 Cor 5:14,15

As my husband loves to say, 'My life is not my own, I was bought at a price'.

God sent His only Son for us, He loved us while we were still sinners, He has saved us from sin and death and a empty life without Him, He has blessed us immeasurably, and He is preparing us a place in heaven where there is no pain, no sorrow, no heartache.

This makes me want to live for Him and serve Him and please Him!

Last night I was reading the Evangelism Explosion book and I thought it had a great explanation of the whole reason why we would want to live a godly life:

'Why, then, should I try to live a good life? The reason for living a godly life is gratitude. I'm not trying to gain something I don't have by my efforts to be good; rather I'm saying "thank you" for the gift of eternal life Christ has given me.'

We get to show our thanks to God by living in a way that pleases Him!

Linking up to Women Living Well and Winsome Wednesdays, Thought Provoking Thursdays, please see sidebar for their buttons.

Christmas Giveaway and New Facebook Page

I have finally got around to making a facebook page for my blog... and it didn't even take that long! When I first started reading blogs I used to think I'd never make a facebook page because they had fans, and it didn't sound very humble to have a fan page!!

Then I gradually realised that many people follow blogs through liking them on facebook, and some people ONLY follow blogs that way. I also would like to stop spamming my personal facebook account with blog posts and just let the friends who are interested in it get the spam :) So I have ended up creating one after all and eating my words!

Anyway, to celebrate Christmas and the launch of the facebook page all in one, I thought I would do my very first giveaway. I want to give away a brand new copy of a book that has transformed my Bible reading time. It has made me start keeping a journal in a way that is exciting, and makes what I read much more easily remembered and applied to every day life.

It is called 'How to Study the Bible for Yourself' by Tim la Haye (author of the Left Behind series). I have mentioned it before in a blog post on Bible study books. I picked this book because the Bible is so important for our spiritual growth, and I think this book would be helpful to most Christians.

If you are a newer Christian it breaks down how to read the Bible in a way that is helpful and easy to follow (15 minutes a day). If you want to go on to deeper things it shows you how to study the Bible in more depth, but in a way that is easy to understand and do.

What really helped me was when he talked about keeping a spiritual diary. The reasons he gives for keeping one are:

• It provides a handy method for recording special daily insight from God's Word
• It produces an attitude of expectancy
• It provides a handy check on regularity
• It provides a handy review
• It provides an easy appraisal of spiritual growth

He then tells you to write out ahead of time the date, the passage, and then spaces for 'God's message to me today', 'a promise from God', 'a command to keep', 'a timeless principle', and 'how does this apply to my life?'.

Doing these things have got me so into the habit of recording as I write that I now don't even need to do that as I see things, record and apply them without thinking. But it took those first steps to get to that point.

There are many other really useful helps and hints in this book, so that you can get the most out of the amazing treasure of God's Word.

The Giveaway!

One person will win a brand new copy of 'How to Study the Bible for Yourself' by Tim la Haye




It is an international giveaway, so it is open to anyone from any country!

To Enter:

Leave a comment and an e-mail address if you don't have a blog (or e-mail me if you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment or putting your e-mail address out there in public!)

For Extra Entries:

Share this giveaway by blog, facebook and/or twitter and let me know that you have in your comment. Each count as one extra entry.

This giveaway will close on Monday, December 26th at 10pm GMT

If you want to follow this blog and get notified of new posts you can either 'like' the new Facebook page and make it look a little less lonely(!), follow me on Twitter, or subscribe by RSS feed or e-mail (at the top of the sidebar), though I have not added these as extra entries for the giveaway.

The Bible's Call to Action

It warmed my heart to read this, in an old Puritan book called Precious Remedies against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks:

If any should ask me, what is the first, the second, the third part of a Christian? I must answer, Action; as that man that reads that he may know, and that labours to know that he may do, will have two heavens – a heaven of joy, peace and comfort on earth, and a heaven of glory and happiness after death.

The Bible calls for action

I think we can sometimes be so overwhelmed with people saying that we need to rest and be still (which is also a good thing!) that we are scared off from putting in effort in the Christian life. But the Bible calls for it.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Jas 1:22 

It is a balance

It is interesting to me that it is John who talks about the importance of abiding in Christ, but it is also John who talks about how we show that we love God by keeping His commandments.

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." John 14:21

It is important to be still and spend time with God away from the busyness of life, and we need to pray and depend on God for His strength. But we also have our own role to play in growing as a Christian, and are called to put into action what we read. We are fighting a fight, and running a race!

Reading in order to do

I think the important message to take from all this is to read the Bible in order to know, and to do what it says. So we shouldn’t just read it and think, "That’s a lovely promise", but actually apply it to our lives personally.

"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" Luke 6:46

For a while now I have kept a journal to go along with my Bible. I try to write down at least one principle, promise and commandment from my reading every day, as well as anything else that strikes me. I then write down at least one application to my life, and try to pray through what I’ve written.

Doing this has transformed my Bible reading into an exciting and practical time, which transfers into my daily life, as I am taking away real challenges. It doesn’t take that long, and it is so exciting that I now really miss having my journal with me if it’s lost somewhere.

If you don’t do something like this already, please try it, and I think you will be encouraged by the results!

Linking up with Winsome Wednesdays, Women Living Well, Beholding Glory (their buttons are in the sidebar).

What the Bible Means to Me

When I have seen people reviewing new books on their blogs I have often felt that I probably wouldn’t have time for it, since I am in a very busy season of life. I also would rather only write about books that I would recommend, and it would be difficult to know if it was good without reading it first!

Then a few weeks ago I found out about a new book that Christian Focus wanted bloggers to review, and when I saw it I jumped at the chance. It is called ‘What the Bible Means to Me’, edited by Catherine Mackenzie, and contains testimonies of how God’s word impacts lives.

I love the Bible and I also love biographies, so a combination of the two sounded like just the kind of thing I’d love to read. Testimonies are usually inspiring, and since I would like this blog to inspire and help people, hopefully some good quotes would achieve that purpose too :)

I wasn’t disappointed. The testimonies are written by different people with a wide variety of backgrounds, and they share a short personal story of what the Bible means to them. I found it interesting, exciting, encouraging and inspiring.

I underlined a lot of the book, but here are just a few of the things that stuck out to me from what was written:

The Wonder of the Bible

David Robertson says that the Bible is ‘an astonishing book – unlike any other. It is not an academic book yet it stretches my mind and makes me think unlike anything else I have ever read. It is not a self-help book yet it has been a greater help to me than everything I know. It is not a religious book and yet it has led me to God. It is not a political book and yet it has shown me why our world is in such a mess. It is not a book of morals and yet it has helped clarify for me right and wrong.'

What the Bible does

Peter Nicholas says that ‘God’s Word is active, it’s at work in me as I believe – comforting challenging, transforming, sustaining, refreshing me, and much more.’

Encouragement to read the Bible

Dr. Helen Roseveare says, ‘I cannot recommend too highly or too strongly the daily reading, learning, meditating in, feeding on and memorising of the Scriptures, the Living Word, the Bible. For me, they are the essential life-blood of Christian living. ‘For me to live is Christ!’ and He is the Living Word.’

Helpful tips for Bible reading

Bob Bond says, ‘As my mother told me, ‘Read it in, pray it down, and work it out.’

Rebecca Davis says, ‘A friend told me that too many Christians read it as if they’re looking for a Daily Vitamin Pill. When I began reading for actual understanding, I thought of it as my map from God, giving directions to Him. I thought of it as my greatest treasure.’

The Bible’s relevance for an unbeliever

Jim Cromarty says that ‘It was through my reading of the Scriptures that I came to see my sin, my coming judgement and my need of a Saviour.’

Also after every testimony there are facts given about the Bible, and these were very interesting to read, for example:

'6,900+ is the number of languages spoken in the world today. Almost 2,100 is the number of languages without any of the Bible.'

What I got from reading this book was a reminder of how powerful and amazing the Bible is, and also the encouragement that comes from knowing that there are others who feel the same way about it! I really liked the fact that quite a few of the testimonies were from people from the UK since that is where I live.

My only issue with the book was that the testimonies were so short that it was hard to transition from one to another. It felt like I was just getting into one person's story before they had stopped and another had started! But that also makes it a good book for picking up and putting down easily, since each section is only 2 or 3 pages long.

I think this book would be helpful to most Christians, and could also challenge those who are seeking the truth. For those who struggle with reading the Bible or who might wonder if it's really relevant, there are so many stories of how real and powerful it is that I think it would motivate them to read it.

I felt like I was meeting kindred spirits - others who love the Bible like I do, and I really enjoyed reading it.

Favourite Links from November

I know I'm a bit late for November links, but my husband came down with pnuemonia the day I wrote my last post, so I've been a bit busy! These are some of the blog posts I came across last month that stuck out to me.

Four reasons to passionately pursue God - I love anything that will inspire or motivate me to love God and pursue Him more, I don't think anything on this earth is so exciting and rewarding.

Nine potential pitfalls of ministry - I think everyone in some kind of ministry should read this!

Violence in video games - does it really matter? - video games are so common in our age and culture that I think it is good for us to think through these concerns for our own sake and for our children.

In quietness and trust is your strength - this is close to my heart, as sometimes we really need quietness.

Seven misconceptions about submission - this is such a sticky topic, so I think these corrections of common misonceptions are important.

When you are in desperate need of hope - a story and challenge to make us think about what we are doing with our money.