Encouragement for Courageous Women in Christ
No. 33 of Returning Home (Renewed) The succinct Chinese proverb, “Talk doesn’t cook rice,” warns about what can happen when we make plans to change our lives but don’t follow through. Ezra was active in motivating the people to separate the nation of Israel from…
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No. 32 of Returning Home (Renewed) The men of Israel had married women they knew were godless and would remain godless. They married these women knowing they were making political alliances with other nations in the region. It was a way to ensure protection and…
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No. 31 of Returning Home (Renewed) After Ezra’s confrontation with his brethren, exacting their oath that they will put away their idolatrous wives, we are given a glimpse of what’s weighing on his heart. Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went…
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No. 30 of Returning Home (Renewed) Shechaniah, seeing the weight of sin hanging over the nation of Israel because of their marriages to women of godless nations, proposes a solution to Ezra to bring them back into the right relationship with God. Therefore let us…
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No. 29 of Returning Home (Renewed) We like to keep sin private. The sin problems we deal with as individuals and as families are often tucked away. We call them “skeletons in the closet,” but they are sins. Family members convince each other, “It would…
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No. 28 of Returning Home (Renewed) Before Joshua led the people of Israel to conquer Canaan, Jehovah gave them specific commands. He began by saying, “When you go to war against your enemies…” and He told them what to do. They were not to be…
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No. 27 of Returning Home (Renewed) Ezra grieves because of Judah’s sin of intermarrying with the Gentile nations. His first response to the news is astonishment; he is pained and refuses food. From this inward turmoil he emerges to go directly to God in the…
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No. 26 of Returning Home (Renewed) The descendants of Abraham were tainting their bloodline by marrying Gentiles, in direct rebellion with God’s law to them. Their own leaders, including the Levites, were practicing this disobedience. When Ezra learned of the crime the children of Israel…
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No. 25 of Returning Home (Renewed) Ezra was a great student of Moses’ law. He was a priest, and he was a scribe. He kept the records, and he kept God’s word in his heart. As a faithful follower, God gave him many responsibilities. Perhaps…
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No. 24 of Returning Home (Second Return) One identifying characteristic of Bible narrative is the succinctness of the accounts. Looking at the compiled Old and New Testament in my lap, it’s easy to think, There’s nothing succinct about this book! It is a heavy volume,…
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