21 Bible Verses About the Sheep and the Shepherd

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Verses-sheep

  • Psalm 23:1-3 ESV
    The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
    He leads me beside still waters.
    3     He restores my soul.
    He leads me in paths of righteousness
        for his name’s sake.
  • Psalm 78:52 ESV
  • Then he led out his people like sheep
        and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
  • Psalm 79:13 ESV
    But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
        will give thanks to you forever;
        from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
  • Psalm 100:3 ESV
    Know that the Lord, he is God!
        It is he who made us, and we are his;
        we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
  • Psalm 119:176 ESV
    I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
        for I do not forget your commandments.
  • Isaiah 53:6 ESV
    All we like sheep have gone astray;
        we have turned—every one—to his own way;
    and the Lord has laid on him
        the iniquity of us all.
  • Isaiah 53:7 ESV
    He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
        yet he opened not his mouth;
    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
        and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
        so he opened not his mouth.
  • Isaiah 60:3 ESV
    All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
        the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
    they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
        and I will beautify my beautiful house.
  • Jeremiah 23:1 ESV
     “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.
  • Jeremiah 50:6 ESV
     “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.
  • Ezekiel 34:11-16 ESV
     “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land.There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.[a] I will feed them in justice.
  • Micah 2:12 ESV
    I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
        I will gather the remnant of Israel;
    I will set them together
        like sheep in a fold,
    like a flock in its pasture,
        a noisy multitude of men.
  • Matthew 9:36 ESV
     When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
  • Matthew 10:16 ESV
     “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so bewise as serpents and innocent as doves.
  • Matthew 18:10-13 ESV
    “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.
  • Matthew 25:31-33 ESV
    “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
  • Matthew 26:31 ESV
    Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
  • Luke 12:32 ESV
    “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
  • Luke 15:4-7 ESV
    “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
  • John 10:11-15 ESV
    I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
  • 1 Peter 2:25 ESV
     For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

The holy longing for something more than right now

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“I’ll do that when I’m seven.”

“Or maybe when I’m ten.”

That’s the standard reply my five-year-old gives me.

Would you like to take ballet again in the fall?  

Do you think you would want to try this?

It’s never “yes” or “now” or even “soon.”

She has this timeline of plans, this plotted course, and she’s not really in a  hurry to jam-pack activity into this very moment right here.  Seven is soon enough. Ten is fine.  Why try to do everything when you’re five?

Part of me marvels at the wisdom.

What is it about me that tries to cram what feels like a life-time of living into every single day?

Something about me that cannot…..can….not…..leave the dirty dishes in the sink for the next morning.

I’m the anti-Scarlett O’Hara.  None of this, “I’ll think about that tomorrow” nonsense.  Today.  Today.  It has to be today.

I have to slip into bed every night, to-do list cleared out, dishes clean, laundry put away, nothing holding over for the next morning.

But my tiny girl lives out today and is content to let some things linger until tomorrow, or next year, or five years from now.

Today, she’ll do this.  And then one day she’ll do that.  Simple as that.

Part of me, though, worries:  What if I leave that for another day and that other day never comes?  Our lives are short.  Our future uncertain.  Our tomorrow is never guaranteed.

And if you leave too much left undone today, it just spills over on top of tomorrow and then the next day until it’s a 10-car pile-up of trauma and disaster.

I need to handle this and do this now, now, now!

In Lazarus Awakening, Joanna Weaver writes:

“Someone once asked, ‘Why do we tend to live like eternity lasts eighty years, but this life lasts forever?”

We are a mixed-up bunch: Our priorities, our timetables, all jumbled and topsy-turvy.

We think what we’re doing right now, this moment, this day, this season, this year, this project, this commitment, this ministry…is the end-all be-all.

It’s what keeps us up at night and what forces us out of bed in the mornings.

And yet, as Christians, the moment we choose for Christ to be our personal Savior, eternity with God begins.

It doesn’t start the day we die here and walk through heaven’s gates.

It begins that moment we bow our heads and our lives to His Lordship.

This very issue that leaves me sleepless and fretting or over-stuffing each day is a tiny speck in the grand timeline of eternity with Jesus.

And all those five-year-plans and ten-year-plans and budgets and agendas, hardly matter in the big picture of forever.

Our hearts long for this.  Truly.

God has created us for an eternal longing, a hope for something more:

He has also set eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11 b NIV).

We struggle to keep it all in balance and yet God breathes that refreshing breath into us, the reminder that THIS is not all there is.

The way the days sometimes stretch out in endless frustration or rushing or stress…that’s not forever.  That’s nothing more than a blip on the radar screen of the eternal.

Or the way one trial, a season of loss or pain or want, overtakes our life, and yet it’s here for this moment, and then it will be gone.

I read the reminder in Experiencing God:

God did not create you for time; He created you for eternity. Time- your lifetime on earth- provides the opportunity for you to become acquainted with Him. It provides occasions for Him to develop your character into His likeness. Then eternity will hold its fullest dimensions for you. ‪

Every moment feels a little more sacred.

Not more rushed.

Not more stressed.

Not more important even.

But holy.

Because the life we’re living in the here and now is just part of that eternity with Jesus.  We can love Him, know Him and worship Him, spend each day in His presence, and that forever-life shifts our perspective.

This situation.  The to-do list.  The appointments.  The schedule.  The annoyance.  The personal hurt.  The betrayal.

Those are so temporary.

What matters most is yielding to Him.  It is listening to His Spirit.  It’s sharing a laugh with God or marveling over the beauty of His creation. It’s rejoicing over the salvation of another.  It is dumping the sin out of the trash-bin in my heart.  It is allowing God to construct peace or patience or joy in my life.

What matters?  What doesn’t?  It’s all a little clearer in the light of heaven.

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer and worship leader.  Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness.  Her book, Ask Me Anything, Lord: Opening Our Hearts to God’s Questions, is available now!  To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

Copyright © 2015 Heather King

If I do one thing as a mom, let it be this

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I prayed for this.

This girl of mine brought home stories from kindergarten about this friend and that friend and her BFFFL (Best Friend Forever For Life) and what top-secret info they had shared with her on the playground.

She learned cuss words.  She learned attitudes.  She learned meanness.  She learned insults.   She learned that when you spell S-E-X you should whisper.  She learned far more than a five-year-old needed to know.

I visited her classroom and passed out snacks for a class party, listening into the conversation at her little table….

The kids interrogated me about why I wouldn’t let my daughter watch certain shows on TV.  I felt like I was in a courtroom and this group of kindergarteners were trying to break me down under cross-examination.

By her second grade year, I finally spilled it out as a prayer request in my small group.  My girl was fiercely loyal to friends who were tripping up her heart, and she just followed along after them like a blind sheep following another blind sheep off a cliff.

Dear Jesus, please help my girl choose good friends who are kind and who will spur her on to excellence, who will help her make good choices and encourage her to be her best, and who won’t lead her away from You.

I watched her playing with her friends this weekend, a full two-years after I started committing her friendships to prayer.

And, oh, I about cried at her birthday party.  Not because my baby is nine-years-old (although that might be another breakdown in the making)…..

Because God so graciously answered my prayers for my daughter.  She had gathered around her the nicest group of quirky, funny, playful, kind, encouraging, creative, sweet, and thoughtful girls, and each one of them is a reminder that God hears our prayers for our children.

He had built that shelter around her heart when she most needed it.

And I am thankful.

Sometimes it’s wearying, to keep praying when we don’t see the answer and to persevere on our knees when we don’t see results.  Praying isn’t an insta-fix or a quick solution.

And some days I’m overwhelmed with my failings and failures as a mom.

I get caught up in what I didn’t do.  I beat myself up over what I forgot.  I stress over what fell by the wayside.  I feel like it’s never enough and I should have done more.  I said the wrong thing.  I stepped in when I should have let my child handle it….or I didn’t step in when they needed me to handle it.  I regret a decision and I wish I could take back what I said.

But what I need to know—-what moms need to know—-is this:

What matters most as a mom is time on our knees for our children.

We don’t have to get wrapped up in programs, extras, Pinterest-activities, decorations, household management strategies, and developmental milestones.  We don’t have to compare ourselves to any other mom or our kids to any other kids.

We care for their needs.  We love them.  We encourage their hearts, and sometimes we also stress and fret ourselves into a blubbering mess over our kids.

Yet, we can trust God to care for our children. He knows them and He loves them even more than we do.

So, the best we can do for them is give them to Him.

I read the Psalms of David often, and pray through them, but I notice this one emptiness in his prayer life…..I don’t see him pray for his kids.

Mary prayed for Jesus.

Zechariah prayed for John the Baptist.

Abraham blessed Isaac.

Jacob prayed over his sons and his grandsons.

But David?

In Facing Your Giants, Max Lucado writes:

“Aside from the prayer he offered for Bathsheba’s baby, Scripture gives no indication that he ever prayed for his family. He prayed about the Philistines, interceded for his warriors.  He offered prayers for Jonathan, his friend, and for Saul, his archrival.  But as far as his family was concerned, it’s as if they never existed.”

David gave his kids a kingdom.  He gave them power and financial success.

Maybe he should have given them the gift of a praying parent.

This is the gift I hope to give my children:

Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner (Lamentations 2:19 NIV)

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer and worship leader.  Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness.  Her book, Ask Me Anything, Lord: Opening Our Hearts to God’s Questions, is available now!  To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

 

30 Bible Verses to remind you that God is sovereign and in control

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  • 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 HCSB
    Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. 12 Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and it is in Your hand to make great and to give strength to all.
  • 2 Chronicles 20:6 HCSB
    He said:

    Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, are You not the God who is in heaven,and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You.
  • Job 12:13-14 HCSB
    Wisdom and strength belong to God;
    counsel and understanding are His.
    14 Whatever He tears down cannot be rebuilt;
    whoever He imprisons cannot be released.
  • Job 42:2 HCSB
    I know that You can do anything
    and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
  • Psalm 103:19 HCSB
    The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
    and His kingdom rules over all.
  • Psalm 115:3 HCSB
    Our God is in heaven
    and does whatever He pleases.
  • Psalm 135:6 HCSB
    Yahweh does whatever He pleases
    in heaven and on earth,
    in the seas and all the depths.
  • Proverbs 16:4 HCSB
    The Lord has prepared everything for His purpose—
    even the wicked for the day of disaster.
  • Proverbs 16:9 HCSB
    A man’s heart plans his way,
    but the Lord determines his steps.
  • Proverbs 16:33 HCSB
    The lot is cast into the lap,
    but its every decision is from the Lord.
  • Proverbs 19:21 HCSB
    Many plans are in a man’s heart,
    but the Lord’s decree will prevail.
  • Proverbs 21:1 HCSB
    A king’s heart is like streams of water in the Lord’s hand:
    He directs it wherever He chooses.
  • Proverbs 21:30 HCSB
    No wisdom, no understanding, and no counsel
    will prevail against the Lord.
  • Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 HCSB
    Consider the work of God,
    for who can straighten out
    what He has made crooked?

    14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

  • Isaiah 14:24 HCSB
    The Lord of Hosts has sworn:

    As I have purposed, so it will be;
    as I have planned it, so it will happen.
  • Isaiah 14:27 HCSB
    The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it;
    therefore, who can stand in its way?
    It is His hand that is outstretched,
    so who can turn it back?
  • Isaiah 40:23-24 HCSB
    He reduces princes to nothing
    and makes judges of the earth irrational.
    24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
    their stem hardly takes root in the ground
    when He blows on them and they wither,
    and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
  • Isaiah 43:13 HCSB
    Also, from today on I am He alone,
    and none can deliver from My hand.
    I act, and who can reverse it?”
  • Isaiah 45:7 HCSB
    I form light and create darkness,
    I make success and create disaster;
    I, Yahweh, do all these things.
  • Isaiah 46:9-11 HCSB
    Remember what happened long ago,
    for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and no one is like Me.
    10 I declare the end from the beginning,
    and from long ago what is not yet done,
    saying: My plan will take place,
    and I will do all My will.
    I call a bird of prey from the east,
    a man for My purpose from a far country.
    Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about.
    I have planned it; I will also do it.
  • Jeremiah 27:5 HCSB
    By My great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please.
  • Jeremiah 32:17 HCSB
    Oh, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
  • Jeremiah 32:27 HCSB
     “Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
  • Lamentations 3:37 HCSB
    Who is there who speaks and it happens,
    unless the Lord has ordained it?
  • Daniel 2:21 HCSB
    He changes the times and seasons;
    He removes kings and establishes kings.
    He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to those
    who have understanding.
  • Daniel 4:35 HCSB
    All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing,
    and He does what He wants with the army of heaven
    and the inhabitants of the earth.
    There is no one who can hold back His hand
    or say to Him, “What have You done?”
  • John 1:3-4 HCSB
    All things were created through Him,
    and apart from Him not one thing was created
    that has been created.
    4 Life was in Him,
    and that life was the light of men.
  • Romans 9:18 HCSB
    So then, He shows mercy to those He wants to, and He hardens those He wants to harden.
  • Romans 8:28 HCSB
    We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
  • 1 Timothy 6:15 HCSB
    God will bring this about in His own time. He is

    the blessed and only Sovereign,
    the King of kings,
    and the Lord of lords,

Dear Daughter, When You’re Nine, Make It Count

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Dear Lauren,

There’s something about nine.

Eighth birthdays seem like a passageway to life as a ‘big kid.’ Welcome to third grade and the upper end of your elementary school years.

And then there’s ten, this monumental moment where you hit double digits and head into life as a ‘tween.’

But nine.

It’s a little bit of growing up and a little bit of holding on.  Prepping for the big time. Enjoying life as a little for just a bit longer.

And that’s good.  There’s no need to cling stubbornly to childishness and there’s no need to rush heedlessly into growing up.

So, happy ninth birthday! Enjoy it.  Celebrate this year.  Make it count, make it fun, and make it beautiful.

You are one loved girl.  Sure, you shield your face with your hand in order to ward off our attempts to kiss you.  You sidestep us as we try to give you a hug.  I say, “I love you,” and you blink big blue eyes at me and purposely refuse to say the magic words back, “I love you, too.”

I tell you how beautiful you are and you ‘harumph at me’ in annoyance.

“No mushy stuff,” you say.

Affection has to happen on your terms and I get that.  You cuddled up next to me on the sofa the other night and snuggled into my side and I just silently savored the moment.  If I made a big deal about it, you’d probably re-establish distance, but I just slipped my arm around you and let you sit there with me.

Because I love you.  That’s the truth.lauren

We love your cackle, the way you throw your whole body and voice into laughing over a silly joke, a groan-worthy pun, pranks and knock-knock routines.

I love that independent soul of yours, even if it does mean we stand toe-to-toe and battle out anything from meal-times, to piano practice, to math assignments.

I love how fiercely loyal you are to those you care about.

Enjoy who you are.  You like to call yourself a tomboy and you wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress unless it’s Easter Sunday or picture day at school (and even then you set pretty rigid parameters on acceptable clothing.)  That’s fine.  Girls don’t have to be prissy, frilly, pink and fancy.

Just remember that being a woman doesn’t mean being weak or being stepped on.  It’s no punishment to be a girl.  It’s an honor and privilege.

You’ve planned your whole life–no marriage, no kids, just two dogs that you’ll adopt from the pet shelter.  If that’s what God wants for you, great.  Just don’t think that somehow marriage is a burden or kids aren’t worth the pain of childbirth.

If you see anything when you look at your dad and me, I want you to see the way marriage is a blessing and a gift and how beautiful life is when lived with someone you adore who is your teammate and best friend.

Raw talent doesn’t determine success.  You’re astounding.  It was true when you were a toddler.  It’s true now.  You are a whirlwind of intelligence, memory, and creativity without being showy or in the spotlight most of the time.

Know this, though:  Hanging on tight and not giving up is far more important than being smart.

So it takes you more than two seconds to figure out a math problem. Don’t put your pencil down, tear up, shrug your shoulders and walk away.   Tackle it.  Battle it out.  Work on it this way and when that fails, work on it another way until you finally write that answer down.

So you have to actually study for 2 minutes.  So you can’t play a song on the piano perfectly the first time you look at it.

The only failure is giving up.  Wrong answers…Wrong notes…. All of that is okay as long as you are giving everything you have to give, persevering, overcoming fear, and learning from your mistakes.

We do excellence in this family, but we also do grace.  We love each other through mistakes because we know mistakes are the price to pay for growth and learning.

So, don’t avoid trying something because it takes effort or because you might fail.

Try.

If you fall, get back up, but DO try again.  DO push yourself for your best effort and never settle for what you can do with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back.  That’s just what’s easy.  Don’t settle for easy.  Live for the  challenge.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23 ESV)

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 ESV)

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer and worship leader.  Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness.  Her book, Ask Me Anything, Lord: Opening Our Hearts to God’s Questions, is available now!  To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

Mama Maggie | Book Review

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Mama Maggie: The Untold Story of One Woman’s Mission to Love the Forgotten Children of Egypt’s Garbage Slums
by Martin Makary and Ellen Vaughn

Mama Maggie has been ministering to a people group known as the “garbage people” in Cairo since 1997.  This biography, Mama Maggie, recounts how she grew up in an elite class in Egypt.  She was privileged and comfortable, educated and successful.  But she abandoned personal wealth and stepped down from a career in business finance in order to spend her days in the slums of Egypt where families live in shanties surrounded by the garbage they collect, sort, and re-use every day.  Her ministry has expanded over time and is now called Stephen’s Children.  Through camps, schools and outreaches every day on the streets, Stephen’s Children serves in very practical ways to help the poor.

I love Christian biographies and the example and challenge they offer.  They give us a glimpse at radical faith and lives given over wholly to God.  This biography was no different.  Mama Maggie sets an amazing example of self-sacrifice and how to be Christ’s hands and feet in our world.  It read a little less like a biography at times and more like a speech praising her life and efforts, maybe even as a plea for her to win the Nobel Peace Prize (for which she has been nominated in the past).  I didn’t walk away from the book getting a real sense of who she is as a person and that’s a little disappointing.  I think one of the merits of Christian biographies is the reminder that God uses regular people to do extraordinary things when they are yielded to Him.  In this book, Mama Maggie almost seemed so spiritual as to be unreal, untouchable, and ephemeral—like a spiritual shadow temporarily placed in a physical form.  Maybe that’s what she’s really like!  Or maybe the authors could have made her more tangible through their writing.  It did seem like they were using “spiritual” terms to talk about Mama Maggie’s faith more than personal faith in Jesus Christ, which is probably the authors’ way of distancing themselves from anything too ‘offensive’ to readers who like good works but don’t want to be preached at.  As a Christian reading this book, though, I’d have preferred something less ‘mystic-sounding.’

I did learn about the Copts in this book, who are at the center of Mama Maggie’s ministry.  They are a Christian people-group in Egypt, who often identify themselves as Christian socially, knowing only that they aren’t Muslim, but not knowing what Christianity is all about.  At the end of the book, the authors spend one quick chapter giving a political and social context for the ministry of Stephen’s Children, noting how the protests and overturned government in Egypt have impacted ‘the garbage people.’  The book also briefly discusses the way Christians are persecuted or shunned.  This chapter was fascinating, and I wish they had given even more contextual information such as this.  I’m going to keep reading online to learn more since the book only touched the surface.

All in all, the story is inspiring, uplifting, and heart-wrenching, too.  We could probably all use the reminder that the church is bigger than America, bigger than our own personal communities and comfortable buildings with temperature control and padded pews.  There’s an international community of believers who are sometimes desperately poor, abused, persecuted, and starving, and maybe even living in heaps of garbage.  Mama Maggie decided to do something about it.

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I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Sometimes a Crock-Pot is Just a Crock-Pot (and other wisdom for the indecisive)

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An indecisive person (AKA me) plus a store aisle full of choices = paralysis, disaster, and maybe a meltdown in the middle of the Wal-Mart.

It all started when I poured spaghetti sauce ingredients into my beloved Crock-Pot.  I felt like a domestic diva, a household management expert.

After racing from school to activities and then home, I’d be greeted by the aroma of simmering sauce instead of shoving a hamburger and French fries in my face after a drive-thru dinner run.

Win!

Only when I arrived home, there was no lingering scent of basil, oregano and tomato sauce in the air.

My Crock-Pot was still cold.

Knowing my propensity for human error, I ran through the possible list of user failures.  Had I plugged it in?  Check.  Had I turned the dial from OFF to LOW?  Check.

It had simply died.  (Cue funeral dirge).

That means my shopping list now included the item:  new Crock-Pot.

Was this a reason to celebrate?  Or was it no big deal?

Neither, my friends.

This became a capital-D Decision.  I prayed about it.  I read about it.  I scouted prices online.

Then I stood in that aisle with Jeopardy music ringing in my head, clocking the ridiculous amount of time I stared blankly at slow cookers.  Who knew there were so many choices to be made?

Oval or round?

Which brand?

6 quart or 7 quart?

How many programming options did I want?

Was I willing to pay $80 for a slow cooker that would not only prepare delicious meals for me but clearly should also vacuum and do the dishes? (I mean, for $80 it needs to do something incredible.)

I waffled.

I waivered.

I see-sawed.

It was agonizing.  Finally, my Wise Inner Voice held an intervention of sorts and talked my troubled, indecisive soul down off the ledge.

You need a Crock-Pot.  This is not choosing a career, a college or who to marry.  For crying aloud, you are simply choosing a relatively inexpensive cooking tool for your home. Just pick something.

So, I did.  I wanted a Crock Pot with clamps on the lid so I could carry it to church potlucks without spilling soup all over the inside of my minivan.

Programmable would be helpful when I’m out all day and I need the slow cooker to start at noon.

Awesome.  I had officially made a decision.

Until I got home.  And, that Crock Pot sat in its box.   A week later it is still sitting taped up in the original packaging on my kitchen floor.

Because….what if I change my mind?

What if I find a better deal?

What if I made a bad choice?

I am paralyzed by indecision.  It is a daily occurrence in my crazy life for me to be trapped by what if’s, possibilities and the pursuit of what is right, wise, and perfect.

Do I want red or blue?  Small or medium?  The park or the zoo?  Soup or a sandwich?  To watch a movie or read a book?

Yes. No.  Maybe?

I.  Do.  Not.  Know.

And when I do decide, I evaluate and criticize that decision, living in a perpetual state of regret and self-condemnation.

I knew I shouldn’t have bought that Crock-Pot.  What a stupid decision.  What’s wrong with me?

So, this is the prison of indecision I inhabit, just four walls holding in my kind of crazy.  I’m a cowering shadow, afraid of one false move or one bad decision that will disappoint God’s heart.

God says I can ask Him anything.  So, I do.  I pray for wisdom and guidance for every possible decision, including Crock-Pots.

No lightning strikes, though.  No neon arrow points to the right choice.

But here’s what I need to learn.

Sometimes it’s okay to just choose a Crock-Pot.  The world isn’t going to explode if I go with the oval one or the other brand.

Not every decision is a life or death matter of discerning God’s will.

Sometimes a Crock-Pot is just a Crock-Pot.

Sure, I’ll sometimes make the perfect decision.

And, at times I’ll just need to break off the chains of regret.  So, things didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped.  It’s in the past now.  Time to let it go and make a new choice on a new day.

As Paul writes:

 Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14 HCSB).

After all, God still loves me. He gives fresh mercy with each new day.  His grace covers my every flaw, foible, and failure (regardless of my choice of Crock-Pot).

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer and worship leader.  Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness.  Her book, Ask Me Anything, Lord: Opening Our Hearts to God’s Questions, is available now!  To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

A.D. The Bible Continues | Book Review

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A.D.:The Bible Continues
with notes and insights by Dr. David Jeremiah

This companion book to the NBC Miniseries, A.D.:The Bible Continues, traces the origins of the early church, starting with the crucifixion of Christ and continuing through the resurrection, the persecution of Peter, the conversion of Saul, and the missionary journeys of Paul.  The bulk of the text itself is the book of Acts in the New Living Translation, without the verse numbers and chapter divisions that you see in a standard Bible.  It feels more like reading a regular book, allowing you to get caught up in the story—the opposition, the enemies, the persecution, the miracles, the passion of those first followers of Jesus.

Dr. David Jeremiah shares insights about the historicity of the church, the veracity of Scripture, and the context of the events in his notes and insights in the book.  He includes biographies on the major players, making the people in Scripture ‘come alive.’

The book reads easily and seamlessly, making this a solid and engaging introduction to the Bible.  Key word there is ‘introduction.’  Those who love reading the Bible already aren’t going to find much here that is new or enlightening.  If you have a Bible with study notes, you probably aren’t going to buy this book.  However, the target audience is likely those with little or no Biblical background.  Or, for those who have tried to read the Bible before but struggled because they feel it is ‘dry,’ this might be a great way to start fresh.  It could also make a great gift for others (especially teens and young adults) and might work well for family devotions (read the book/watch the show and discuss).

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I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

25 Bible Verses and a Prayer for the Thirsty Soul

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  • Nehemiah 9:15 ESV
     You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
  • Psalm 23:1-2 ESV
    The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
    He leads me beside still waters.
  • Psalm 42:1-2 ESV
    As a deer pants for flowing streams,
        so pants my soul for you, O God.
    2 My soul thirsts for God,
        for the living God.
    When shall I come and appear before God?
  • Psalm 63:1 ESV
    O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
        my soul thirsts for you;
    my flesh faints for you,
        as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
  • Psalm 78:15-16 ESV
    He split rocks in the wilderness
        and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
    16 He made streams come out of the rock
        and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
  • Psalm 105:41 ESV
    He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
        it flowed through the desert like a river.
    He split rocks in the wilderness
        and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
    16 He made streams come out of the rock
        and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
  • Psalm 107:4-6 ESV
    Some wandered in desert wastes,
        finding no way to a city to dwell in;
    5 hungry and thirsty,
        their soul fainted within them.
    6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
        and he delivered them from their distress.
  • Psalm 114:8 ESV
    who turns the rock into a pool of water,
        the flint into a spring of water.
  • Psalm 143:6 ESV
    I stretch out my hands to you;
        my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
  • Isaiah 12:2-3 ESV
    Behold, God is my salvation;
        I will trust, and will not be afraid;
    for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
        and he has become my salvation.”
    3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
  • Isaiah 32:2 ESV
    Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
        a shelter from the storm,
    like streams of water in a dry place,
        like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
  • Isaiah 35:6-7 ESV
    then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
        and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
    For waters break forth in the wilderness,
        and streams in the desert;
    7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
        and the thirsty ground springs of water;
    in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
        the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
  • Isaiah 41:17-18 ESV
    When the poor and needy seek water,
        and there is none,
        and their tongue is parched with thirst,
    I the Lord will answer them;
        I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
    18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,
        and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
    I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
        and the dry land springs of water.
  • Isaiah 43:19 ESV
    Behold, I am doing a new thing;
        now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
    I will make a way in the wilderness
        and rivers in the desert.
  • Isaiah 48:21 ESV
    They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
        he made water flow for them from the rock;
        he split the rock and the water gushed out.
  • Isaiah 55:1 ESV
    “Come, everyone who thirsts,
        come to the waters;
    and he who has no money,
        come, buy and eat!
    Come, buy wine and milk
        without money and without price.
  • Isaiah 58:11 ESV
    And the Lord will guide you continually
        and satisfy your desire in scorched places
        and make your bones strong;
    and you shall be like a watered garden,
        like a spring of water,
        whose waters do not fail.
  • Jeremiah 2:13 ESV
    for my people have committed two evils:
    they have forsaken me,
        the fountain of living waters,
    and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
        broken cisterns that can hold no water.
  • Zechariah 14:8-9 ESV
    On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them tothe eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
    9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will beone and his name one.
  • Matthew 5:6 ESV
    “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
  • John 4:7-14 ESV
    Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
  • John 6:35 ESV
    Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
  • John 7:38-39 ESV
    Whoever believes in me, as[a] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
  • Revelation 7:16-17 ESV
    They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
        the sun shall not strike them,
        nor any scorching heat.
    17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
        and he will guide them to springs of living water,
    and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
  • Revelation 22:17 ESV
    The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

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Does God Listen When We Pray?

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“Listening is an act of love.”

That’s what she told me years ago as we sat around the table in our Bible study group.

She said it with a laugh, because she was a talker.  She liked chatting, chatting, chatting.  Listening was the sacrificial gift she gave to others.

Sometimes one phrase like that sticks with you years later.  It presses that impression deep into your clay-heart and you can trace your finger along the imprint over and over, to remember, to act, to transform, to put it into practice.

It changes you.

Listening.  That’s the act of love we give to others.

We quiet our own renegade thoughts, stop trying to think of what we want to say next, stop tuning others out in order to turn our selfish eyes inward once again.

We listen.  Really listen.  We listen so we can pray and ask the right questions.  Yes, we listen so we can show love.

I take this to heart.  Me, the mom perpetually in the minivan.  Some days, my kids want to babble on so.  I live in a world of noise.

But when I start to nod my head without hearing and insert appropriate “Mmmm—hmmmms” at well-timed pauses simply to pretend like I’m listening to them (while I secretly revel in my own private thoughts), I stop.

Now I choose to listen, choose to value who they are and what they have to say.

And I remind myself of this: Listening is an act of God’s love to me.

He doesn’t just ask me to give this gift to others.  He gives it first.

I don’t always feel it, of course.  Sometimes I push out those breathy prayers and feel like nothing is changing.  He isn’t listening, isn’t understanding my need or even caring about my little self in my desperate situation.

Those prayers sure feel at times like they are hitting that proverbial ceiling.

The Psalmists understood.

David wrote,

“Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth“ (Psalm 54:2)

and

“To you, LORD, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit” (Psalm 28:1).

Asaph prayed the same:

“God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God” (Psalm 83:1).

That’s what we feel perhaps, and yet we’re assured that God hears our pure hearts when we pray.

God doesn’t tune us out or ignore us.

Psalm 10:17 says,

“Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts.  You will listen carefully” (HCSB).

He listens.  Not distractedly, absentmindedly, or halfheartedly.

God listens “carefully” to the desire of the humble.

Indeed, the Psalmist could say, “You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh”  (Psalm 38:9 NLT).  Even when we can’t cram our needs and feelings into words, God hears the very longings of our heart and every sigh of our overwhelmed soul.

When Jesus stood outside of Lazarus’s tomb, surrounded by wailing mourners who blamed him for Lazarus’s death, He prayed with these words:

Then Jesus raised His eyes and said,

“Father, I thank You that You heard Me. I know that You always hear Me….” (John 1:1:41-42 HCSB).

Jesus prayed boldly on the basis of the promise of God’s character:  He is the God who always hears us. 

In Beth Moore’s book, The Beloved Disciple, she issues a prayer challenge:

Every time you pray for the next week, begin your prayer with Christ’s words straight out of John 11:42, “I know You always hear me.”  Then conclude it with Christ’s words in John 11:41, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.” Practice God’s presence!  Pray as if He’s really listening because He is!”

This is my prayer practice this week, the way I am pursuing the presence of Christ through my prayer life.

Because God does hear us.  We just need the reminder and reassurance at times.  This great God, so Mighty, so Awesome, loves us and chooses to listen to us as an expression of that merciful love.

Originally published: February 24, 2014

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer and worship leader.  Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness.  Her book, Ask Me Anything, Lord: Opening Our Hearts to God’s Questions, is available now!  To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

Copyright © 2015 Heather King