Magnify the Lord

 

"O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together."

Psalm 34:3

 

Magnifying the Lord - rejecting the desire to complain about circumstances and instead focusing on God, his character and how I see him at work.  It's a daily challenge.  I'm working on it, though I'm sorry to say there's probably been more failure than success. I'm thankful for the grace God extends to me despite my failures!  Anyway, what better way to magnify the Lord than to share a moment in the classroom when it was clear that the Holy Spirit was at work. 

 

We were just finishing up a Social Studies unit on Me and My Family and were waiting for a special celebration with our families to begin.  I had covered just about everything that I had planned but I had yet to get to the little lesson I had wanted to teach on being a part of God’s family.  Fifteen minutes remained.  Not much time but God just directed my thoughts back to that lesson.  So I called my students to the mat and we talked about God’s family – how God wants everyone to be a part of His family and how we can do that by accepting the free gift of salvation offered by Jesus through His death on the cross.  Before long, one little boy right in front of me raised his hand.  “I a-a-am part of Go-o-od’s fa-a-mily,“  he stuttered.  “I’ve a-a-sked Jesus into my heart.” 

 

“Wow, Junior! That’s amazing!” I said.  “Did you know that when you are a part of God’s family, God takes cares of you just like your Mom and Dad take care of you and your sister?  God takes care of you because He loves you!”  I wish you could have seen the smile that just lit up that little boy’s face.  It was beautiful!  Before me was a child who knew the confidence and peace that comes from knowing that you are cared for not only by an earthly family but also by Our Heavenly Father.

Next, a hand was raised on the back of the mat and a little girl said that she too had asked Jesus to come into her heart THREE times.  Thinking that not unlike me as a child, she might be struggling with fear and wondering if she really belonged to Jesus, I assured her that she really did belong to him and she didn't have to keep praying to receive him as her Saviour.  She promptly raised her hand and assured me that she wasn't afraid.  She had asked Jesus into her heart three times because SHE LOVED GOD SO MUCH!

Our fifteen minutes were drawing to a close.  I just asked my students if anyone would like to pray and thank God for making a way for us to be a part of His family.  We pray every morning together but my students rarely volunteer to pray so you can imagine my surprise when several hands went up all over the mat.  Being part of God's family is A BIG DEAL and there were lots of little thankful hearts so we had some popcorn prayers.  Everyone prayed out their sentence or two thanking God that they could be part of his family.  I listened and my heart was blessed and I'm pretty sure that God must have been smiling too.