Our Goodly Heritage - Dinner #1

     About 4 years ago, during a summer between college semesters, the Lord laid it on my heart to write a weekly e-mail devotional called “Dinner’s In The Oven”. The idea behind them was that each be short enough for a busy wife or mother to read something encouraging while dinner was “in the oven”. It was a blessing to my own heart, doing the research to pen the words each week, and many of you expressed that it was a blessing receiving them as well. Recently, I felt the Lord prompting me to take up this little ministry again – now as a newly married woman, seeking to have a godly home – and cooking dinners in my own oven! SMILE!
     When I asked the Lord to show me what He would have the first lesson be about, Psalm 16:6 stood out in my personal Bible reading time. I thought about it, prayed about it, and then was amazed when during the Wednesday night service this week, the preacher used it as a point of reference in his sermon! SMILE! No more promptings necessary – time to type! SMILE!
     Psalm 16:6 declares, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” The word heritage here speaks of an inheritance, a possession, or an estate. It is something special that is passed down in a family. What better possession to hand to the next generation than our FAITH IN GOD?!
     At our wedding reception, my husband and I gave framed tributes to each of our families, thanking our parents for raising us in godly homes. More precious than gold, or palaces, or chariots, or diamonds . . . that faith in God is our “goodly heritage”!
     I have a box in our living room right now, packed up and ready for storing, that contains many of my girlhood treasures. Looking through those items, prompted my husband and I to recently share with each other about all the Bible verse memorization opportunities we were given as children - AWANA programs, VBS, summer camps . . . where we literally learned hundreds of Scripture passages. Psalm 119:111 says, “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” God’s Word is such a big part of that “goodly heritage”, and how THANKFUL Brandon and I are for parents who made sure we hid The Word of God in our hearts as children! Now as a married couple, my Sweetheart and I are responsible to live out our faith in God, so that we may one day pass that possession of faith onto our own children.
     In Ezra chapter 8, we see the record of a people who needed to know what was right for them and their families as the enemy rose up against them. Verses 21-22 tell us that they were looking to the Lord “. . . to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way; because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.” They had told the king about the might of their God, and they did not want to do something that would keep their God from being held in high esteem. They wanted to keep a good testimony for their Lord.
     Verse 23 - “So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.” They were serious enough about God’s Name to set even their eating aside, as they sought the Lord in this situation. Our enemy, the devil, is very real, and God still wants His Name to be exalted through the lives of our families! If it is our sincere goal to hold His Name high, He WILL BE INTREATED OF US! It should be our desire to magnify God’s Name in a dark and sin-stained world, where the enemy is fighting hard, and to exhibit a goodly – a GODLY – heritage.
     Psalm 61:5 “For thou, O God . . . hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.”
     If you are a believer in Christ, you should not only hold onto that precious possession of your faith, but PASS IT ON – to your children, your neighbors, and your loved ones. Hold God’s banner high on the battlefield! And God Bless!