Back to AWANA

For those of you familiar with the AWNA program, our church kicks off its fourth year of Awana tonight.

We work with children ages 3 to 16 (although Awana offers programs for ages 16+). This year, I get to work with the teen girls once again. The Awana program runs through the school year, which means every Friday night at 7 pm. Much like school, they have homework: Bible verses to memorize and sections to complete! Leaders also have homework: lessons to prepare! Clubbers are awarded special Awana money for their work, which they spend when we open the Awana store, once a month.

Awana is a great program for churches to have. Awana is an outreach program to spread the gospel. It’s an investment in the children of tomorrow.

If you would like to learn more, simply visit the following link: AWANA

God’s book of remembrance

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. Malachi 3:16

Verses 13 to 15 of Malachi 3 contain a complaint of God’s people about the difficulty of keeping God’s ways.

In verse 14, the people feel that serving God is vain and that even the wicked are being spared. We get a sense of discouragement in God’s people. They have turned their eyes away from God and have looked to the children of the world. The carnal and disobedient are getting ahead in life and God’s children have envied. "What good is it to be godly?" they ask. God replies to them with a promise in verse 16. Sure, He does not say that He would end the injustice right then, although we know that He will one coming day.

But rather, in verse 16, God shows that His ear is on our conversations. Even Psalm 139 teaches us that the Lord is everywhere and that there is nowhere that we can hide from Him. He sees and hears all! The promise of Malachi 3:16 is that God is keeping a book of REMEMBRANCE and will Honor those that fear Him and those that aren't afraid to speak His name.

It is all too wonderful to think that each time we speak His name, or even so much meditate upon His wonderful name, He records it in His book of remembrance. This means that every time Christian brothers and sisters talk about the Lord it is being recorded in a book kept by Him. I wonder if even every time we blog about His name, the Lord records that too.

I would like to conclude by pointing out how important it is then to get God’s words in our hearts for as Luke 6:45 mentions “for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh”. Let us, therefore, build consistent Bible reading habits that we may boldly speak the name of Jesus Christ. After all, as He has promised, for every time we speak His name, He writes ours in His book of remembrance.