1 John 4:1-21

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Tags: Bible Truths

Oscillococcinum, Natural Flu Relief. What is it? What is it for? And the biggest question of all, how do you even say that word? In hopes that I can pass along little tid bits of information to you that I have learned along the way, I didn’t want to forget this one!

Let’s begin with the pronunciation so you can read the rest of this blog post thinking it in your head correctly. Click here to hear it pronounced correctly. Just click submit and listen.

Working backwards from my initial questions, let me share what this is used for. Oscillococcinum, often shortened to be called Oscillo, is a homeopathic remedy that is to be taken at the earliest onset of flu symptoms.

The ingredients are as follows:

* Active ingredient: Anas Barbariae Hepatis et Cordis Extractum (extract of Muscovy Duck liver and heart) 200CK HPUS 1×10-400g[7]

* Inactive ingredient: 0.85 g sucrose, 0.15 g lactose (100% sugar.[8])

The amount of duck live in this little product is less than 1%, so don’t worry, it won’t make you quack. It tastes like sugar and no need to swallow it whole. It just melts under the tongue.

While the instructions suggest you take an entire vile (several viles come in a box), we have found success using  just a few grains under the tongue.

What is neat about this is that even the smallest person in your family can take just a couple grains and there are no side effects.

This product was introduced to us in the early 1990’s and we have used it since then to ward off flu. It works very, very well. Those that we have shared it with have been more than thrilled with the results because they didn’t have to miss work or other activities, as has been our findings.

Tags: flu, health

Skeet Savage is the Founder of Wisdom’s Gate, Editor of Home School Digest, An Encouraging Word, and Brush Arbor Quarterly. She is the author of the book, Homeschooling for Eternity, and is a powerful inspirational/motivational speaker. Skeet also makes occasional guest appearances with various radio, newspaper, TV and magazines including a feature in TIME Magazine.

In the 1970s Skeet began homeschooling and successfully home educated six children against numerous odds. In the face of court battles, social service visits, and the threat of having children removed from the home for being “truant,” she stood firm and helped to pave the way for the modern homeschool movement.

In the late 1980s Skeet came to know Jesus as Lord and now travels and speaks for His glory at events from coast to coast. Her ability to connect with her audience on a heart level and quickly build rapport makes her an effective speaker. Skeet minis­ters empathetically to those facing difficult obstacles such as home­schooling in the face of opposition, domestic violence, poverty, dyslexia, and serious health problems because she has walked through those trials herself and came through a victor, not a victim. Her powerful messages are built consistently on a strong, Biblical foundation and delivered in her warm, down-to-earth (and often humorous) style.

Skeet’s hard-hitting, no-compromise approach is seasoned with the wisdom of age and the love of the Lord that draws people to open their hearts and receive the convicting messages she brings. Wherever she has been called to speak, the Holy Spirit has used Skeet’s messages to bring many out of their double-mindedness and into full surrender to His will, a deeper understanding of His Word and His Ways, and a closer walk with Him. Her ministry goes beyond a message delivered from the stage. As she talks with moms who are discouraged, prays with parents who are struggling, encourages a timid young couple, or counsels a frustrated teenager, she is a conduit of hope–a vessel overflowing with God’s love and the light of His truth.

PLUS, you won’t want to miss the goings on at cmomb during the entire month of October! We will have drawings throughout the month for some great prizes that were donated by generous sponsors… just for this event! Watch for future news!

Tags: CMOMB, Homeschool

Kid power. You see it on television, we hear it on radio, even… and most especially christian radio!!!! It’s where the biblical roles within the family structure have been twisted completely backwards!

God’s Way:
Dad
Mom
Child

Culture’s Way:
Child (Smartest, proved through “kid power” and disobedience towards a good outcome is accepted because “kids know better” and the ends justify the means.)
Mom (Wiser than dad. Lets the kids get away with more, which is made to appear acceptable and compassionate and “reasonable”, when she is actually tearing her house down.)
Dad (Dumb oaf that is not involved with anything in the family’s life. He is the dumbest member of the family and not to be honored or revered. He just “doesn’t understand”.)

As Tedd Trip, author of Shepherding a Child’s Heart, states, “God has established authority structures in the home. Men are to provide loving leadership, laying down their lives for their wives. Wives are to receive and follow the leadership of their husbands (Ephesians 5:22–33). Children are to honor and obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1–3).”

Let’s not get this messed up anymore.

Tags: Bible Truths, Family, selflessness

So I go into a large, well-known store and was passing through the children’s department on my way through when I heard a small child screaming to her mother and throwing one HUGE tantrum. I walked right by them and the mother said, “You are not getting this if you are going to act this way,” to which the toddler screamed, “Yes I am!!”

I passed by them and continued to get the item I needed, turned around and headed back, following them to the checkout where, in fact, the little girl had the item.

Another example: A family member had her daughter in the shopping cart seat. She decided to stand up and do a little tap dance. She fell out of the cart, sustaining a concussion.

We are out in town, maybe the grocery store. A child talks back, throws a fit, wanders away, won’t listen and/or just makes a big scene. What is a mama to do?

When my children were small and in the major training stage, I would VERY CALMLY tell them to stop whatever they were doing. If they continued as I shopped, I peacefully and calmly took the children home…leaving my cart behind and dealt with them as needed.

We don’t want the child to consider that their actions are okay when we are not at home.

When my first 3 were small, it seemed like I disciplined all day long. I hated it, especially since my hsuband was on the road a lot. I am so thankful for cell phones! My husband would encourage me to remember the goals we had to raise up a heritage. He’d remind me that we were not, and still are not, doing a “one day at a time” thing, but rather, we do everything with a purpose with clear boundaries, nothing is arbitrary. And that training isn’t only the rod, but it is teaching the children about the Lord Jesus Christ as we rise up and when we sit down… and that we are a reflection of just a little of what He might look like, too! (frontals on your forehead). He reminded me that we were treading into new territory since our parents didn’t follow God’s Word.

Proverbs 13:24
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

Do you see it? Diligently… to be up early with earnestness is the literal translation of diligently. Wow! God’s Word encourages us when the times get tough!

What an inspiration to have others in the body of Christ, to go to and encourage you to keep on keep’n on. I know it was a great help to me and many continue to be an encouragement to me.

Now that those particular kiddos are 22, 20, 19, respectively, and we’ve gone on to have many more, the fruit of those long, long days, has shown that it was oh so worth the time, the diligence, the patience, the love, the prayer, the teaching… everything. The younger ones watch the older kids’ example. There is so much peace in our household!

Last story: I was in another major grocery store chain last week. I noted that on several aisles, there were abandoned carts.

Tags: Biblical truths, discipline, Family