Thankful Homemaker: A Christian Homemaking Podcast

What is evangelism? The dictionary definition defines it as the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.

So evangelism is the announcement, proclamation, and preaching of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), which is the good news of and about Jesus Christ. It is a verbal message.

As Christians, we are all called to be God’s mouthpieces. Along with being salt and light to a lost world, we are called to open our mouths and share the good news—the best news we could ever share. 

Donald Whitney defines evangelism:

"It is clearly presenting Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to sinful people with the hope that they may see their sinfulness against a holy God and repent and put their faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation."

You can find all podcasts on the Spiritual Disciplines in this series here. The two books I'm utilizing the most for the series are Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and Habits of Grace. 

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Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

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As I am now over half a century old, I wanted to share some of the thoughts that go through my mind as I look back over the years of my marriage and raising our family.  There are so many good memories and things I wouldn't change, but there are many things I wish I would have grasped at a younger age.  

If I could go back here are some of the most important things I would like to tell my younger self:

Visit ThankfulHomemaker.com for the full show notes. 

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

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Join the Thankful Homemaker Facebook Group

Follow ThankfulHomemaker on Facebook, Pinterest & Instagram

Subscribe to the Podcast on Your Favorite App 

Spiritual journaling is a way to slow our lives down and ponder deeply over the events of the day. In my life journaling has helped me to grow spiritually by discerning my thoughts and motives. It has shown me areas where I need to give thanks and praise to the Lord. My journaling time has reminded me of situations or people I need to be in prayer for.

Journaling is an excellent time for me to see areas of weakness and set spiritual goals and not always just spiritual but other areas of my life that need some help too. Maybe I need to be better disciplined in my internet habits, or my homekeeping or some of my relationships may need time and attention. This is a good time to evaluate all areas of my life.

God’s Word doesn’t specifically talk about journaling it is a spiritual discipline that many saints over the years have benefitted from and I think of how we have profited by the journals of the saints of the past. I think of the journals like the diary of David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards, or George Mueller’s autobiography or Jim Elliot’s journal put together by Elisabeth Elliot. These are treasures we have of how the Lord worked in and through their lives. 

You can find all podcasts on the Spiritual Disciplines in this series here. The two books I'm utilizing the most for the series are Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and Habits of Grace. 

Head to ThankfulHomemaker.com for Full Show Notes

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

Prayer is simply talking to God. As believers, we have access to God the Father through our relationship with Jesus Christ. Prayer reminds us we are dependent on God for every aspect of our lives and we grow in that relationship by communing with Him in prayer. Donald Whitney reminds us in regards to the spiritual disciplines that prayer is second only to Bible intake in the order of importance.

Prayer is not demanding but we are coming before the Lord with open hands to what He knows is best for us. 

You can find all podcasts on the Spiritual Disciplines in this series here. T

Head to ThankfulHomemaker.com for Full Show Notes

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

We're continuing in a series on the Spiritual Disciplines and today's episode is on Bible Study. We're going to talk about the benefits, explain some basic Bible study methods, share some resources to help you get started digging into the Word.

Jerry Bridges says in regard to God’s Word - "Reading gives us breadth, but study gives us depth."

*I stated in the podcast the next episode in the Spiritual Disciplines series will be on prayer, and it will be up on Tuesday, April 23rd instead of April 22nd. 

Head to ThankfulHomemaker.com for Full Show Notes

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

We all want to grow in our walk as Christians. We've talked about how often we read God’s Word close the book and forget what we’ve read. We can blame our memories or our intelligence or our age, but the reality is it has more to do with our method than our abilities. Today's podcast episode is going to address areas that are important to our growth as believers: Meditation on God's Word and Scripture Memory. 

God desires us all to grow in the grace and knowledge of His Word, so we are all capable and equipped as believers by the work of Spirit of God in us.

We talked in our last episode on bible reading that we need to read the Word and hear the Word preached but just doing those two things doesn't always guarantee we will remember or be able to apply what we read. So then we briefly touched on meditating on the Word because this is where growth starts to come about.

Donald Whitney described it as:

“While hearing and reading plant the seed of Scripture into the soil of our souls, other disciplines are the water and sun God uses to bring the growth and fruit of Christlikeness in our lives.”

When we talk about meditation, please don’t get the image of a yoga class or some other kind of New Age practice. What the world describes as meditation is not what Christian meditation is. Again we are not emptying our minds, but in Christian meditation, we are filling our mind with God and His truth. 

Donald Whitney gives us a good definition:

"Let’s define meditation as deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture, or upon life from a scriptural perspective, for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer." 

Head to ThankfulHomemaker for Full Show Notes

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

We are continuing in a series here at the podcast on the Spiritual Disciplines. On today's episode, we are going to discuss the importance of reading God's Word along with some practical helps to implement it into our days.

We have a God that we can know and meet with and because of that, we should meet with God on a regular daily basis.

My hope is by the end of the podcast today that we would all see and understand why we need to do this as those who are born again - first off if we’re in Christ God is our Father, and we are His children. I want to spend time with my Heavenly Father. I desire to know Him more because as I do that I get a clearer understanding of who I am in light of Him and it changes my perspective of the world as I begin to see all of life and the world through His perspective. This only comes about as I spend time with Him in worship, in fellowship and in the reading of His Word—which is the topic today. 

I can only come before God because of Jesus—He is the mediator between God and sinful man. If we’re in Christ, we have access to the Father, and we can meet with Him and know Him because of Jesus. 

Hebrews 4:16 tells us  - Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

John 17:17 tells sanctify them in truth - your word is truth. Jesus is praying for our sanctification the process of being made more and more into Christlikeness. It’s to be like Jesus. He is asking the Father to do this by the truth. What is truth? God’s Word is truth. We are sanctified by truth - God’s Word is truth, so we are sanctified by the Word of God. I could just stop here because that’s a pretty good reason enough for us to be in the Word on a regular daily basis. 

If you haven't listened to the first one in this series you can do that here - EP 52 Introduction to the Spiritual Disciplines

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

For the rest of the show notes and resources mentioned visit Thankful Homemaker

We're starting a new series here at the podcast on the spiritual disciplines. Today's episode is introducing us to what they are and the vital role they play in our sanctification as believers.

In this series, we’re going to talk about why we need to practice them and share practical biblical ways how we as followers of Jesus Christ can pursue Christlikeness through these means of grace. 

The means of grace or spiritual disciplines (Bible intake, prayer, and fellowship the three main areas and we’ll work through each of them more each episode) are ways the Holy Spirit conforms us more and more into the image of Christ. 

I have two primary resources in addition to scripture that I'm utilizing in this series, and they are Donald Whitney's book called, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines by David Mathis. I encourage you if you want to dig a bit deeper to grab a copy of both or one of these as we work through them together. 

Spiritual Disciplines we hope to cover in this series: Bible reading, Bible Study, Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Evangelism, Journaling, Fellowship and Service. 

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

For the rest of the show notes and resources mentioned visit Thankful Homemaker

How many times do we give thanks to the Lord for the ministry He has given us at home. Are we thankful for the mundane everyday moments or are we are only thankful when we think we are doing “great” things for the Lord?

We live in God's home. He owns it. He has gifted it to us and given us the job of stewardship over it. He's put us in charge, and we are responsible to Him.

As believers, it should make us work harder, and we shouldn't desire to escape from work or difficult situations because we know they are all with a purpose and we also know we are equipped to meet these situations in Christ.

Mundane tasks are what make up most of our days. Everything matters —all of life is sacred. Once we’re in Christ there is no separation of secular or sacred. Every moment is a holy moment that God has ordained.

Do we think biblically about our time and what we see as these seemingly mundane tasks? We don’t see many photos on social media of people folding laundry or washing dishes—there’s no special medals or awards for these tasks. This is where we need to continually ask the Lord to gives us a mindset of remembering that the mundane matters. It's in these moments that He is growing us in holiness. 

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

For the rest of the show notes and resources mentioned visit Thankful Homemaker

I'm re-sharing a previous episode I need to re-listen to this time of year. I'm praying it will be an encouragement to you today.

We are already nearing Christmas Eve and plans that I had to bake or buy or clean haven’t all been finished.  There are gifts I wanted to purchase or send that didn’t happen.  There are cookies I wanted to bake that I didn’t get too and areas I wanted to tidy at home that I didn’t even get close to doing. But I want to share with you today reminders that I’m talking to myself about what I am choosing. I’m hoping to help us keep our focus on the main thing this Christmas season.

You can read the full podcast here, but my hope is you will sit with me for just a few minutes of your day and listen in to the podcast and let me pour into you a bit.

Resources:

Homemaking Matters: Living for God's Glory in the Ordinary

Thankful Homemaker Blog

Free Resource Library

For the rest of the show notes and resources mentioned visit Thankful Homemaker