Bible Basics and Sunday's Message

The Holy Spirit spoke to me at the end of 2008 that I was to focus on Bible basics for my kids and to use the superheroes of the Bible to teach those basics. We started in Genesis with Noah, then Abraham, Joseph and now we are heading into week two of Moses. I was praying for the life application for this segment of the Moses story and it leaped off the page of my Bible this afternoon. I'll be covering the ten plagues that fell upon the land of Egypt. As I was studying the scriptures, it jumped out at me. In each segment of the listing of the ten plagues, the verse repeats..."but Pharaoh's heart was hard." How great would it have been to learn as a child about the dangers of hardening our hearts towards the things of God? I want my kids to be tender hearted towards the Lord. A yielded, soft, pliable heart is a thing of beauty. Oh, some may look at it as a sign of weakness but I think it's a sign of ultimate strength! To be purposed enough to always give into God's plans, correction, teaching, rebukes, direction, and Fatherly love shows character, grace and submissiveness.

So many times we know exactly what God is asking of us and yet we harden our hearts and ignore His voice. We feel the sting of rebuke or conviction but we refuse to get out of the pew and walk towards an altar of reconciliation because we don't want others to wonder what is going on in our lives. Pastor Tommy says there is no shame in the altar...only the shame of not getting out of your seat.

Lord, I pray that this Sunday my kids will be in awe of the story of Moses and how you used a flawed and ordinary man in such a powerful way as bringing the ten plagues. But, Jesus, I pray that even more than awe they understand that a hard heart brings a hard road; a life of pain, disappointment and ultimately death. May those kids grasp the strength and blessing of a tender heart towards all the things of God. Use me God...