Young People’s Blog

Jacob’s Twelve Sons — Asher

He was the eighth son of Jacob by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid and his name means happy.“And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher” (Genesis 30:13).

When Moses blessed the tribes before he died, he said, “Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:24-25). There is a very real and practical lesson for us to learn from this portion. Children would speak of bearing fruit for God, and being acceptable to our brethren would remind us of the need to go on in fellowship with those who love and seek to please the Lord. The foot dipped in oil would speak of a walk in the power of the Spirit. As a result of such a walk there will be power and endurance in our life and testimony, of which the shoes of iron and brass are a figure.

In Luke 2:36-38, we have a prophetess named Anna, “the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.” She was a woman of faith and one of the few who was truly waiting for the Messiah.

Bible Algebra

C+O-S=G

C ommunion (reading your Bible and Prayer), and O bedience to the Lord (walking in the truth), along with keeping  S in out of our lives, will cause spiritual  G rowth in our Christian experience.

The following verses really speak for themselves in this regard.

“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Psalm 92:12).

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:1-2).

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:17-18).

Stress

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want”
(Psalm 23:1).

We live in a hurry up, worry up world. Stress is something we are all prone to face, and this Psalm of six verses, 118 words and 28 pronouns is power-packed with truths that can help us face and conquer the stress that surrounds us. What causes you to fret, fuss and fume, toss and turn? What makes you wonder if it’s ever going to work out? What puts a pit in your stomach? Worry is like racing your car engine: it is stewing without doing. Worry is unhealthy, unreasonable and unnecessary! Imagine if you saw me this morning choking myself. Would you think I was crazy? Sure, because I would be! Worry is like choking yourself.

What is God’s answer to our anxiety? God Himself! David, the writer of Psalm 23, had a lot of stress in his life. But he found his stress relief in the Lord, and the Lord’s provision for his daily life and path of faith. We can too! Read this Psalm through, memorize it if you haven’t already, and quote it to yourself whenever you are feeling especially stressed or anxious.

Dear Young Christian:

In the corner of the world where I come from — eastern Ontario, Canada — winter is upon us. Summer and autumn have long passed and now, cold, snowy, icy winter has set in. Everything in this life changes constantly! However, in the midst of all this there are some things that never change.

 The Lord Himself:

“Thou art the same” (Hebrews 1:12).

 The Word of God:

“The Word of our God shall stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

 His purposes:

“According to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).

So, in a world of continual upheaval there are some things we can count on. Has someone disappointed you or let you down this past weekend? Never mind — you can start the week with confidence in the Lord, His Word, and His ways.

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you. Send your comments or questions to [email protected]

Fire From Above

“From above hath He sent fire into My bones, and it prevaileth against them” (Lamentations 1:13).

“Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the
grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame” (Song of Solomon 8:6).

What we have, prophetically in these two verses, is not the physical sufferings of Christ at the hand of man, but the atoning sufferings of Christ at the hand of God. Notice it is “from above.” The Lord Jesus, in love, bore the judgment of God against sin in those three hours of darkness, when no eye could see, and no human hand touched Him. This is summed up by the Apostle Peter when he penned the words, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Paul also records this momentous event by saying, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Only the Son of God could do such a work to the glory and satisfaction of His Father.

You Are Loved

“Jesus beholding him loved him” (Mark 10:21).

Like the young man in this verse, the Lord loves you!

Frederick was raised in a Christian home like some of our readers. Sunday school, gospel meetings, family Bible readings, prayer time — he hated it — he was sick of it. Enough was enough! In his late teens, he decided that was it! He was gone! He left home for a distant city. He loved the busyness of metropolitan life. There was lots to do, plenty of entertainment, plenty of work — life was good.

However, the Lord loved him and had His eye on Frederick. One day while walking to the bus stop he glanced down and saw a crumpled piece of paper with some words on it. Curious, he bent down a picked it up. It was a gospel tract with a very timely message. A message warning of the folly of following the ways of Satan and leaving this world at the end of a godless life. The Spirit of God used it to go straight to his conscience, especially the verse, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Not many days later he was able to joyfully call his parents to tell them the good news, that now he was saved. This could be your joy too!

Making Time For God

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35).

“And He withdrew Himself into the
wilderness, and prayed” (Luke 5:16).

It wasn’t easy for the prominent missionary, Hudson Taylor, to make time for prayer and Bible study while traveling in northern China. His children remember how at night, after sleep and darkness had finally brought a measure of quiet, they would hear the striking of a match and see the flicker of candlelight which told that their father, however weary, was poring over his Bible. From 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. was the time he usually gave to personal, private prayer, as it was the time he could be most sure of being undisturbed to wait upon God.

In later years, the memory of that flicker of candlelight meant more to them than all they read or heard on the subject of Bible study and secret prayer. Their father, as busy as he was, had demonstrated in a very real and practical way the need for personal communion and time alone with the Lord.

God’s Dealing

“God dealeth” (Hebrews 12:7).

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’ve been dealt a bad hand in life”? Sometimes even a believer will blame God for dealing to them what they feel is a bad hand.

God does “deal,” and with His children, He deals out just what He knows and sees is the very best. What He deals to one of His children may not be the same as He deals to another. It is important for us to realize that we are individuals in His vast family, and that whatever He deals to us is in His infinite wisdom and love. If we don’t understand this, it will cause one of two things, bitterness or jealousy. Bitterness if we feel we have been dealt a bad hand that we didn’t deserve, or jealousy when we see others get what we feel is a better hand than us.

When I was a young person there was an older brother in Christ who used to often quote the following lines of a poem to us:

He knows, He loves, He cares,

Nothing this hope can dim;

He does the very best for those,

Who leave the choice with Him.

Poison

“Let all bitterness … be put away from you”
(Ephesians 4:31).

“Holding on to anger and bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

At first we may smile at the above quote, but with this unique analogy there comes a message that I believe is important for us to consider. So often we harbor anger, bitterness or an unforgiving attitude, thinking that it is going to affect or change the other person, when in reality it does as much — or even more — damage to us.

The result of imbibing this poison of anger and bitterness is that we lose the enjoyment of several things:

 Our communion with the Lord.

 Our joy in the Lord.

 Our walk before the Lord.

 Our dependance on the Lord.

 Our service for the Lord.

That is why we are exhorted, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled” (Hebrews 12:15).

Quiet Reflection

“I will give peace and quietness” (1 Chronicles 22:9).

“In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).

I sat alone the other day,

Sipping coffee in a small café,

And I thought of the pressure of daily life,

In this world of sin, and sorrow, and strife;

And then I thought of my Savior and Lord,

Whose love by so many is scorned and ignored;

It made me so thankful that He is my friend,

My faithful companion, whose love does not end;

He’s with me each moment, He keeps by His power,

He’ll never forsake me, no, not for one hour … 

I sipped at my coffee, and went on my way,

Glad for reflection at that quiet café.

So, if ever you doubt, or worry, or fret,

Stop and consider, and do not regret,

Moments of quiet reflection and thought,

They will help you recharge, and encourage a lot.