Category Archives: Application Season

God’s Word is more than stories. Children need to begin their Application Season Early in Life.

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Many years ago, God impressed upon me that our children begin life reflecting on Bible stories as just that, stories. Over the many years, I served as a K-8 principal and a Bible study teacher, I learned that our children are eager to learn more than the character traits and behavior told in school and at home. Once exposed, they want to emulate Christ-like behaviors. They want to apply the Word in their day-to-day living. This blog will assist you in developing your child’s application season of living by the Word of God.

I have two sites. My first website, Youngchristianwarriors.com, initially focused on our children, answering the question parents often posed – when should we begin training our children to live like Christ? Below is a partial list of posts I wrote in 2017, focusing on Christian child development. The later posts mirror lisasdailyinspirations.com posts and are still worth perusing. I hope all parents find the posts beneficial.

Children – Armoring Up Every Morning https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/armor-first/

Helping Children Put on Their Armor Through Prayer https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/the-prayer-putting-on-my-armor/

Fruit of the Spirit for Children https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/defining-the-fruit-of-the-spirit-for-children/

Activating The Fruit of The Spirit in Children https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/recipe-the-fruit-of-the-spirit/

Core Values Early in Life https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/core-values/

Children – How Do You Define a Friend? https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/ask-your-children-who-is-a-friend/

How To Train Your Children to Embrace the Word of God https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/how-to-train-your-children-to-embrace-the-word-of-god/

Introducing Your Children to the Peace of God https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/introducing-your-children-to-the-peace-of-god/

Defining the Fruit for Children https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/defining-the-fruit-for-children/

Children – Protected by Angels https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/angels-protect-us/

Children – New Mercies Everyday https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/children-new-mercies-everyday/

Children Should Expect God’s Blessings and Favor https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/children-should-expect-gods-blessings-and-favor/

God Urges the ‘Why’ in Children https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/god-gives-children/

Children Model After Christ https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/595/

Learn To Thank God as Part of Prayer https://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/children-thanking-god/

Stewards of the Earth

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We have been gifted with being stewards of the earth.

~ Lisa Blair

This morning on the BBC News, a story was reported about the effects of Climate change. The guest speaker stated, extreme heat increases mortality. We hear cases where throughout the world older people and people with illnesses often die from the heat intensity brought on by climate change. But the brutality is much greater than that which focuses on human beings. When we experience extreme heat, as we are this year, throughout the world, we experience droughts that reduce the water levels of lakes ponds and rivers. The ground dries and has no moisture needed to nourish living things to grow. Fish, wildlife, and insects begin to die off which creates another level of mortality due to starvation. When fish, wildlife and insects die, their purpose dies. As the heat lasts longer and becomes much more intense plants die, trees die and green life itself begins to pass away. Trees and plants are the filters that help clean our air, keep vegetables healthy, and diseases at bay.

Entrusted to steward the earth and all it offers

God created the earth and provided all of the resources for man to live and prosper. Have we been good stewards of His earth? I think not. But let us look at this a bit differently if we, Christians, are blessed with an earth to live on and sent Christ who in John 4:14 tells us, “Whoever drinks of the water that I (Jesus) will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” Then, doesn’t it stand to reason that our gifts should create a consciousness of stewardship? 1 Corinthians 4:2 calls us to prove faithful.

“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”

Are you a good steward? Am I a good steward? Are we doing all we can today? How do we impact the cycle of life? “Our stewardship of creation involves the caretaking of the environment and animals as well as our families and communities. Charles Bogg defines stewardship in the Holman Bible Dictionary as “utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation.”” (Bible verses about Stewardship. Biblestudytools.com. 02/23/2021)

And most importantly, how do you help those in need, not just through provision of things, but in finding Christ? When we become more responsible, the earth will reap the benefits, as will those who are lost.

Who is Asaph?

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I always wondered, who was Asaph? Now I know. This is a lengthy read but great information. Knowing who he was gives us the connective tissue needed to understand the scripture more fully. I found this article on Bible study tools.com. Tap address below to open.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/what-are-the-psalms-of-asaph.html

What will the WITNESSES say?

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Do you live according to the Word? What do those around you see?

~ Lisa Blair

I am sharing a video from Grace for Purpose. It is a great reminder about the path we must travel. As we travel the path, do we exhibit a Christ-like character in all that we do? Will the witnesses report that we faced challenges but throughout it all reflected a Christ-like character?

The witnesses are those in heaven who observe us during our life on earth.

Video – YouTube

Images – Free image, Word Swag app

Scripture – Bible.com

Are You a Peacemaker?

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We are all peacemakers. It is a natural practice and as Christians, we benefit by implementing the characteristics of Christ and therefore are described by God as His children.

~Lisa Blair

We are all peacemakers. It is a natural practice, and as Christians, we benefit by implementing the characteristics of Christ and therefore are described by God as His children.

Mathew 5:9 says peacemakers are blessed because they will be called children of God. So, who are peacemakers? Barnes Notes on the Bible-biblehub.com informs us that they are the people who work to prevent contention, strife, and war. They are the people who use their influence to reconcile opposing parties, and who prevent hostilities in families and neighborhoods.

 “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of competing or fighting. That’s when you discover who you really are and your place in God’s family.” ~ Matthew 5:9 MSG

We can influence others in our homes, between friends, at work, and in social settings. We are the peacemakers. We can promote peace.

As Christians, our call is to share the gospel. The gospel can be shared in several ways: we can share the Word of God, i.e., scripture, ensure our behavior reflects the character of Christ, and mediate verbally.

I believe if any of us retrace our past experiences, we have already established ourselves as peacemakers from a very young age. Given our pasts, some of those experiences were done before and others after being saved.

Our goal should always be to live as a peacemaker whenever the opportunity arises and not to shy away It may call you to share a scripture or scriptures with others, offer to listen to others in distress, and offer options if it is the right time, or volunteer to serve as a mediator.

In doing these things, God says He will call us His children. As peacemakers, we abide by the characteristics of Christ. We are acting under our primary goal in life to share the scripture and reflect on how the scriptures frame who we are and how we live. We should not only share what the Word of God describes a peacemaker to be, but we should act as peacemakers. You never know who is observing you. Some people will reflect during trying times about how you present yourself as a peacemaker; others may ask why you feel comfortable being a peacemaker.

Reference: Matthew 5:9, biblehub.com; biblegateway.com

Image: bibleversestogo.com, free site

No Forgiveness Without Repentance

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Micah 6:8 is a short verse, and is packed with instructions to become a better person. This post could be entitled, ‘How to become a better follower of Christ’, or ‘Improving our walk with Christ.’

“…there is no forgiveness without repentance, and that repentance is but a name, unless there be a ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well…” (Benson Commentary. Biblehub.com)

I have written many posts that focus on forgiveness. There is no end to the process. With each reading we learn more about forgiveness and repentance. They are tied to justice, compassion, kindness, mercy, humility, and sacrifice. These are traits Christ modeled during His walk on earth.

If we want to walk with Christ, it requires more than simply testifying that we forgive, we mush repent and as Benson wrote, cease to do evil. We must replace evil, e.g., being self-righteous, and self serving and become servants, and ambassadors of the Lord. This type of action does not determine salvation. We cannot acquire it to what we do, it is not by our work, salvation is a gift from God. HOWEVER, it is through our work, actions, and practices that we become closer to God because we must think on these things before we act, this links us to God’s instructions in a deliberate way.

We cannot expect justice until we act justly; we cannot expect compassion until we have compassion for others; we cannot expect kindness until we demonstrate kindness through our actions; we cannot expect a merciful society and world until we demonstrate mercy in our daily walk; we cannot expect the world to be a humble place until we demonstrate humility towards others; we cannot expect others to sacrifice until we work to strip ourselves of being self-righteous. Walking with Christ is more than trying to keep in step with His walk. He was sent to earth to model what it means to possess God in our hearts.

We are one people, culture and race create diversity, but does not negate oneness. We are all God’s children. A friend put it this way, Christ came to earth, modeled His purpose, was Crucified, said to the thief, ‘on this day you will be with me’. He did not take time to evaluate if the thief was worth saving, no, He takes us as we are, that is our salvation. The way in which we choose to live life demonstrates that receiving Christ is more that reciting scripture, it is acting the intentions set forth in scriptures in our daily walk. Our faith is demonstrated through our actions.

If our actions do not align with our faith, it is incumbent upon us to ask for forgiveness, repent, and cease doing evil. We are asking God to forgive us. This happens when we experience the need to repent from the heart, not the mind, meaning we truly experience the sorrow our actions we committed that are not aligned with God’s Word. This is Godly sorrow, heartfelt sorrow, not a sorrow we experience momentarily before we repeat the act we are seeking forgiveness for.

You can ask for forgiveness, but until we truly repent, the forgiveness is fleeting (because) there is no heart felt godly sorrow. Godly sorrow creates the process of change. It weakens and eliminates the evil we demonstrate in our walk, we continually become new creatures in Christ as we strip away our carnal behavior.

Resources: Bible hub.com; Photo – Vikas Nirmal, Twitter