Introduction to new Bible study on faith

Ah, Faith, everyone has it, right? So, why does some people seem to have more than others?

Hebrews chapter 11, also known as the faith chapter, is one of my favorites. Maybe because it has a list of people of faith in it. My heroes! tI calls them, the great cloud of witnesses.I call it,the hall of faith. Let us walk down that hall, look at each hero's picture & learn from them, shall we?

In this study, we will look at faith, what it is, & the lives of the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews chapter 11 & in Christian history to get a better understanding on faith, what it looks like & how to get it.

I haven't named this study yet, so if you have suggestions, let me know.

Blessings!

Toni Kratochvil

letter from the author

Hi!

I am sorry that I have not posted on here. This blogsite wasn't letting me post from my last post until today.
Pray that it will let me do so each week again. I have missed my time with you.

In His service,

Toni

Spiritual goals launch us into the new year

As most of us enter a new year, we make New year's resolutions. These are goals of things we want to accomplish in the next 12 months.

Here are a few I have heard of: Lose weight; advance in one's place of employment; find a new or better job; be a better parent, husband, or wife; take some schooling.

These days it seems that many laugh at the thought of New Year's resolutions since so often we do not see them through. but "where there is no vision; the people perish" (Prov. 29:18a). We need to have a goal of where we are heading so that we can steer our lives in that direction, or we may never change anything in our lives for the better.

But do we ever think of making spiritual goals in our lives? We should.

But this is a new idea and I do not even know how to begin, what types of goals could I make for this area of our live? I hear you ask.

Here are a few that I have used over the years:

* Read the Bible more. How? You can start by reading it daily. you have many choices as to how much you want to read. you can read a verse a day & meditate in it, or a few verses to a chapter a day. some people read through the Bible in one year.

* Pray more often. Prayer is to be more than a fast prayer before meals. prayer is to be a conversation between you & God. It is meant to bring you and God closer together into a relationship. Things you can talk to God about are forgiveness of sins; salvation for yourself or others. guidance; needs of others and yourself; worship & praise of who God is; and foe those over you, be it parents, bosses, or government.

* Serve God. This can be done in many ways. here are a few ideas. In the church, by way of teaching, cleaning, parking, working in the nursery. A visitation ministry in the hospitals, nursing homes, the shut-ins. Let your light in your home, neighborhood, job, and school.

* Memorize
Scripture. You can memorize a verse a week, a verse a month or a verse a year. for about 18 years now, God and i have picked  verse for the year for me to memorize and meditate on. Amazingly, many of the verses coincided with what happens during the year.

In 1989, it was "for I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord.'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV). This was the year we moved three times in one year.

The year 2000 found me with, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" (Is. 40:31, KJV). This is the year i physically collapsed and took most of the year regaining my health and strength.

For more than one year, I used I Thess. 4:11-12,"And that ye study to be quiet, and do your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly towards them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing." These were very productive years on the farm for me.

All of these verses acted as catalysts that helped propel me into a new year. Then when the going got tough they encouraged me to keep my eyes on the goal, as I continued through the year. I found myself closer to my goal at year's end.

You, too, can take one or more of these ideas and use them to launch you into your new year. I wish you a new year filled with Christ and spiritual growth!

A prayer for the new year: Take a way my yesterday and give me a new dawn. Take away my yesterday and give me a new song. As I'm launching on, Lord, launching out into another year; as I'm launching on, Lord, help me to remember you are here.

Christmas greetings from the Author

Hi!
Sorry about last week. We had a storm and our internet was down.

On the first Christmas so long ago,
God gave His gift we know.
He did not wrap His gift in gold for show,
But He wrapped His gift in swaddling clothes.
He gave this gift to you and me,
So His great love we could see.
God holds this gift in His hands,
Across the years it still stands.
To receive this gift you must do your part,
You must receive Christ in your heart

I pray that you will have a Christmas full of God's gift~Christ Jesus,
And a New Year full of blessings from Him too.

Toni Kratochvil

Decisions made for the Christ of Christmas

When we look at the Christmas story in the Bible, do we really see the decisions that were made for Christ?
Let's look at that now.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was told that she had been chosen to be Jesus' Mom. Now let us remember that she is a young lady who is engaged to Joseph, and waiting for her groom to come and take her to her wedding. What was being asked of her could destroy all of that,  For in her time, a woman found pregnant before her wedding day, could not only be disgraced by the public, but stoned to death. She had a hard decision to make. But in the end, her responds was, "Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Joseph was a good man in every way. He followed the law of God and his land. AND he was in love with a young lady named Mary. But then one day, she tells him that she is is pregnant, and he knows for sure that that baby is not his. If this got out he would be disgraced, and Mary could be stoned to death. Well, he didn't want that, so he tries to figure out how to call it off, quietly. He had a tough decision to make, but with God's help, he decides to go ahead and marry her, then help her to raise God's son (Mat. 1:18-25).

The night that Jesus was born, there were shepherds watching over their flock of sheep making sure that no man would steal them, nor animal would kill them. Then suddenly the deep darkness of night was over powered with a bright light in the sky. It goes without saying that they were scared out of their minds. But what happened next was even more mind boggling. An angel tells them that the Messiah that they had been waiting for for generations, was born that very night, and laid in a manger, no less! Now we have a test of faith here. Should they believe it? Could the Messiah really be here, after all these years? But their responds was, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see... (Luke 2:15).

The same night, in a far country, east of Jerusalem, some men who studied the stars, were star gazing. When all of a sudden, a new bright star appears in the sky!This caused quite a stir, to say the least. They researched out what it could mean, and figured out that it meant that the King of the Jews had been born. They had a decision to make. Do they stay in their comfortable homes, or do they go and honor him? Their responds was, "Where is he who has been born the King of the Jews? For we have come to worship him" (Mat. 3:5).

Christmas comes to us year after year, and it is here again. With each year, we face the same question~ What decision has God asked you to make for the Christ of Christmas?

Song still sparks Christmas memory

The Christmas song that is near and dear to my heart is "Away in the manger," The reason is personal. Let me tell you about it.

One night during the Christmas season, when I was a child of eight years of age, my family was on our way home  from church. We were singing which was our custom, Christmas songs mostly.

In the middle of that trek home, my parents stopped at a little Mom and Pop store in Powell, Ohio, to pick up a few things. We children stayed in the car while they went in the store.

As we waited for them, we sang. As we sang, I looked across the street at the big evergreen tree that the firemen of that town had put lights all over. I was in awe of its size.

As we started to sing, "Away in the manger," my eyes dropped to the manger scene that was set under the tree.It was like any other manger scene with angels, Wisemen, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. But through my child eyes it was all new and I switched my awe from the tree to it.

Just as we started to sing the last verse, I looked upon baby Jesus in that manger and realized that Jesus loved little old me, So much that he came down to earth as a human baby! That song became tidings of good news to me at that moment.

I opened up my heart to him and the last verse became a prayer for me. The next spring, I asked Jesus into my heart as my Savor, Lord, and King.

As I sit here recalling this memory, with a tear in my eye.  I realize that there is a world around us that has a shallow perception of Christmas being just food, and wrapped stuff.

They are quietly screaming for meaning in the mist of all the confusion, because they have not heard the tidings of good news that Christmas can bring.

Are we telling them,"Fear not, for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people" (Luke 2:10) like the angel told the shepherds long ago?

Are we sharing the tidings of great news with them, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasing life. God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:16-17) or do we, too, get caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas ourselves? We should slow down enough to make sure that we give those around us the tidings of the best Christmas gift ever- Jesus.

Like the star that led the Wisemen to Christ, we, too, should lead others to him. This the perfect season to share the tidings of good news.

As you go through this Christmas season, I wish you and yours, a Christmas filled with joy, peace, and good tidings that only come through Jesus Christ.

Note: This article was first published in The Marietta Times, Thoughts of Faith, Dec. 17-18, 2005

note from the author

That is the end of 'In Pursuit of the Virtuous Woman'. I would like to thanks all the women who have taught me what a virtuous woman is by what they taught me and by their lives I have been privilege to watch and learn from including  Mae Pettet, Juanita Van Horn,  & Charolette Frye.

A special thanks to Hellen Van Horn & Mrs. Elliot who taught me to read and write as a child. Look, thanks to you, I can spell well enough to write a book!

Thanks to you the reader. I pray that you have learned something from this Bible study. Above all, I want to thank my God for moving so many mountains, including the ones in my own mind to get this done.

I'm not sure What I will post next. We are about to have a holiday here in the USA that we call, 'THANKSGIVING'. So I may not post anything until that is over in about 2-3 weeks.
it would be real helpful to know what it is that you would like to see on this sight. Bible Study, Sunday school material with puppet plays, novels, articles... I am open to suggestions.

I pray that God will richly bless you in your walk with him,

Toni Kratochvil