The Savior’s Grace Place Menu: Breve Blessings

Did you know...?? Your Savior has a “menu” of sorts (yes, you read that right!) and it's filled with the very best of His abundant provision and served up to you. 
In this excerpt from Sip, Savor, & Drink Deeply (found in both the Bible study book and the devotional), you will receive a selection from The Savior’s Grace Place menu by way of the description of one popular coffee shop beverage. Other selections include: Mocha Mercy, Cappuccino Comfort, and Latte Love, to name a few. And guess what?! Your cup overflows with an endless supply of each menu item, poured out in abundance by His grace and generously served up to you today and every day. Enjoy...

BREVE BLESSINGS

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Ephesians 1:3

A breve is perhaps the least known beverage on a coffee shop menu. This delicious drink is created simply by substituting half-and-half or light cream for the milk in any espresso-based beverage. Take your latte, cappuccino, or mocha, and simply replace the steamed milk with a creamier option and—voilà!—you have a breve. If you’re thinking, But I’ve always added cream to my coffee, keep in mind that a breve is more parts cream than coffee. It’s really rich. 

We are brimming with God’s breve-rich blessings, overflowing for us in Christ and found near the front of The Savior’s Grace Place Menu! His blessings are not limited to the past. (Sigh. My cup was rich and running over at one time.) They’re not restricted to special moments and milestone events we log in our memory books. In our sin, we are shortsighted. Not only do we fail to remember or recognize some of our blessings, but we neglect to acknowledge and praise our Savior as the one who provides each and every one of them. We bring our shortsightedness and neglect to the provider Himself, who knows our failures and forgives all of them for Jesus’ sake, blessing us “with every spiritual blessing,” beginning with the forgiveness we receive at the cross and flowing forward with the blessings of faith, peace, love, joy, and more!

Today’s blessings that fill our cups may have a new look, a different flavor than yesterday’s blend, and we may not yet recognize them to be the blessings that they are. Maybe they’ll appear through new means, revealing God’s continued provision in a different way.

One day, while waiting in line at my local coffee shop, I was startled as a woman appeared suddenly and grabbed me by the arm. With a smile larger than my grande breve, she exclaimed, “Can I pay for your drink? I am so blessed today, I just want to share my joy!” By God’s grace, this woman recognized His rich blessings in her life and let them overflow onto me.

Praise be to God, our cups of Breve Blessings are brimming over! The Lord’s blessings really do spill over from our cups of plenty; our cups overflow (Psalm 23:5).

Dear God, help me to recognize Your rich blessings as they flow into my life, sometimes through unexpected means. May I give You glory as I acknowledge and praise You for each and every one. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Drink Deeply: God is the giver of every good and perfect gift - every blessing - both physical and spiritual. All that we have comes from His hand. Read Ephesians 1:3-14, which begins, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." We "bless" or praise our triune God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - for His countless blessings, beginning with the spiritual blessings in Christ we read about here.

1. According to verse 3, you are blessed in Christ. Find and mark every "in Christ" or "in Him" across this passage. Why is "in Christ" so significant?

2. Because you are "in Christ," united with Him in your Baptism, you are a recipient of every spiritual blessing from heaven. Read the passage again, looking for some of the countless spiritual blessings you receive by His grace.

3. According to verse 6, the blessings you receive "in the Beloved" - in Christ, the one He loves - are the result of what?  [The blessings we receive are the result of God's grace, not something we earn or deserve.]

From Sip, Savor, and Drink Deeply Bible Study and SSDD Devotions by Deb Burma © 2017 CPH. 

Reprinted with permission

12 Ideas to Guide Your Child to a Life of Prayer

This post first appeared on The CPH blog (click to view) under "Everyday Faith".

“Momma, momma, huwwy! We need to pway!” My toddler ran to me the very moment he heard the siren from a fire truck speeding past our house down the nearby highway. I scooped my little guy into my arms and held him close. Together, we talked to Jesus, asking for help and protection on behalf of the people who may be hurting or in danger.

Just as my husband and I sought to teach our children that prayer can and should be our first response in every situation, you, too, can lead your growing children to pray, helping them see the need for it and the power of God in and through it. You can remind them that their loving heavenly Father’s eyes are always upon them, and that He hears and answers every prayer. They can draw near to His throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16) because of Christ’s sacrifice for them at the cross!

Here are 12 ideas to help you along the way:

1. From your children’s earliest toddler years, you can teach them to stop and pray for others when they hear sirens or when they witness any other potentially scary situation.

2. Encourage your growing child, and praise her for her humble words given to God in prayer. No matter how long or short her prayer, it is a beautiful offering to Him.

3. Teach your child how he can “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), offering pop-up prayers in the middle of the day and developing an attitude of constant prayer and dependence on God.

4. Pray for and with your child on the spot as a crisis or need arrives: when she walks through the door in tears, when you learn of another family’s illness or accident, or when another person suddenly comes to mind.

5. Develop a prayer habit for your family at regular times in your daily routine, such as mealtime, devotion time, and bedtime, if possible.

6. Sing the doxology or a table prayer set to music, and encourage your children to sing with no inhibitions as they offer praise and thanks to the Lord.

7. Pray with them about big and small things, revealing that it all matters to God. He is a God of details and desires that we bring them all to Him.

8. Encourage your children to be honest and forthright in their prayers. God knows every hair on their heads, so He surely knows everything on their hearts. They can pray about anything, even those things that they can’t talk to you about.

9. Tell your child that however his heavenly Father answers his prayers—yes, no, or wait—he can expect God to change and grow him as a result of his prayers.

10. Present your child with a journal, and encourage her to record her prayers and others’ prayer requests. Encourage her to look back to her past journal entries, recognizing God’s provision and answers along the way.

11. Model prayer as you teach it to your precious children. Pray openly and honestly. Let them hear you confess your sins and praise your Savior. Let them listen as you thank Him for the many blessings of the day and as you hold them up in prayer.

12. Pray the Scriptures for and with your children, inserting their names into them. Here’s a great place to start: “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you [ child’s name ] may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9–11).

Scripture: ESV®.  Portions excerpted from Raising Godly Girls by Deb Burma © 2015 CPH. Reprinted with permission.

The Bless(ing) in the Mess ~ A Choice to Rejoice!

In my previous devotion, “I’ve Got the JOY…Down in My Heart,” I spoke of this powerful fruit of the Spirit, produced in us, chosen and redeemed children of God. And I posed a question: What can we do daily with the JOY that we’ve been given (because of the Hope of Christ living in us)?  We make a choice every day (even minute by minute) whether to smile or frown, whether to bubble over with the joy inside or lock it up for no one to see.  We have been empowered by His Holy Spirit, so how can we bear His fruit & share His joy? To start, we can - by the power of the Holy Spirit - have An Attitude of Gratitude! (Read more about this in my previous devo.) And there is more! We can…

See the Bless(ing) in the Mess!  With God's help, you can choose to see the humor (and yes, even the blessing) in the midst of the messes in life - in difficult, stressful, or frustrating situations.  Not because they're funny, but because you’re shifting your outlook. So…What are your messes? 

ü  Your teen is talking back to you…again. = This gives you the chance you’ve been looking for to practice your patience and “long-suffering” skills! 

ü  You are stuck in a long line at the store = What an opportunity to show Christian love to the frazzled young mom behind you, letting her go ahead of you with her 152 items in the 12-items-or-less lane (and helping her while you’re at it). 

ü  You are late for an appointment and stuck behind a driver going 15 m.p.h. = Envision this motorist with a full fish tank in his back seat and consider the fate of little Goldie goldfish! 

(Okay, so I have chosen some silly examples to make you smile. Perhaps your messes are beyond compare with these.) A woman once spoke of her elderly father’s failing health, and how he taught her to rest in God's strength for the ability to rise above physical circumstances [to be able to shift her outlook!] to savor each moment and count her blessings, even in the midst of struggle. 

Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll once said, “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I choose to deal with it.”  Pray for the Lord’s strength to enable you to shift your outlook. To see the bless in the mess.  And remember this truth: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”   Romans 8:28

How might God use your “mess” for your good or the good of others? How might He turn a present mess into a future blessing?

Finally, to bear His fruit and share His joy, we can…

Make a Choice to Rejoice!  With the joy of the Lord rooted deeply in your heart, by God's grace and in His strength, you can delight in each day:  “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”.  Psalm 118:24 

·         Don’t wait for the weekend or vacation to enjoy life - to let loose and laugh - to live life joyously! 

·         Don’t save the China for good company only. 

·         Don’t wait for an act of Congress to go out for a dialog date…or lunch…or coffee… 

·         Don’t delay renting that great movie with wholesome humor! 

·         Don’t wait for Sunday to dig into God’s Word where you will be blessed by His powerful messages to you. Delight in His Truth today.

DO take time to smell the roses (you’ve heard this before, no doubt!), for each day contains a beauty and aroma of its own, if we stop long enough and draw close enough to notice! (Without worry for the thorns…)  “Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10

DO live like children, concerning your attitude; they live IN the moment, enjoying it for what it is and not fretting about tomorrow.  “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow…” Matthew 6:34

DO live each day as though it were your last (Yep, you’ve heard this one before, too!) and you want to make the most of it. How can you impact the world for Christ today, even if it’s just one heart that you have the opportunity to touch?  “…make the most of every opportunity.” Colossians 4:5

DO sing in the shower, shout praises to the Lord, and offer Him your heart-felt worship. A heart of worship is a JOY-filled heart!  “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!” Psalm 98:4 ESV 

Bear His fruit & share His joy! By the power of the Holy Spirit, how can you make a choice to rejoice TODAY?