There Is No Throwaway Generation, with David Arthur

How do you stir the hearts of the up and coming generation to love God’s Word? Find out in this episode of Grounded, featuring guest David Arthur. David’s passion for God’s Word began in childhood when his mother, Kay Arthur, taught him the importance of inductive Bible Study. If you’re looking for ways to engage your own children with the truth of Scripture, don’t miss this special conversation. 

Connect with David

Twitter: @DavidLArthur 
Website: https://www.precept.org/

Episode Notes

• Precept Ministries website: https://www.precept.org/
• Yarrow website: https://www.yarrow.org/
• True Girl Online Bible Study: https://mytruegirl.com/mary/

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Dannah Gresh: Well, good morning, friends, and welcome to Grounded. I'm Dannah Gresh. Hey, we have a question for you as we start this morning. Did you make a decision to follow Jesus before your eighteenth birthday? If you did, you're among 94 percent of believers who did so. 

Erin Davis: I did. I'm Erin Davis. Portia, did you make that decision before your eighteenth birthday? 

Portia Collins: Hmm . . . it's complicated. 

Erin: Okay, we’ll go with “it’s complicated.”

Dannah: Well, I did. So two out of three of us did make that decision. 

Erin: 2.5 out of three of us, and that lines up with what the data shows. I want to do a quick straw poll. If you're watching this live, you can use the chat to answer this. Did you surrender your life to Christ before your eighteenth birthday? You may be watching this and you haven't surrendered your life to Christ yet. That's great. We're glad you're here. But those of you who would consider yourselves a Christian, did you make that decision before you became an adult? 

And here's another layer to that question. When were your Bible study habits formed? Are those something that you started to form as a young adult? 

Dannah, I don't know if you know the answer to this question; I'm thinking you probably do. Do you know who led me through my first Bible study ever?

Dannah: No, I don't know the answer to that question. 

Erin: It was you. 

Dannah: Wow.

Erin: I was fifteen years old, a new follower of Jesus. 

Dannah: So, you were in high school?

Erin: Yeah, I was in high school. Yeah. I'd never done a Bible study before. I'd never really studied the Bible for myself before.

Dannah: Wow.

Erin: You planted that seed when I was just fifteen years old. I'm so grateful because God's Word means so much to me now.

Dannah: Wow, I love that. As we're talking about this today, I have to talk about another stat that's heavy on my heart. And that is that about 64% of young people today are leaving the church after their eighteenth birthday.

I'm so honored that Erin is one of the mentees in my earlier years of ministry that has pursued Jesus. But I hear almost every week about someone I love and mentored who is deconstructing their faith. It's easy to get disheartened. It's easy to wonder, Is this generation going to even follow Him? Do you ever feel that way? 

Erin: So easy to wonder that. I've had the same experience, lots of young women that I've invested in through the years and a lot of them turning away from Jesus, no longer thinking that the Bible is their source of authority. It breaks my heart. 

But I believe I would stake everything I have on this, that there is no such thing as a throwaway generation,, that God is at work in every generation. We've told you some of the revival stories of what's happening now. I'm sure there's a lot that God's doing that we don't know about. But He is stirring the hearts of young people. He is raising up a generation of young believers, and He is anchoring their lives in His Word. And that's a story we want to tell.

Dannah: It is a story we want to tell. Yes. 

I always come back to that, that I see young people who are following Him. I think of how it was students at Asbury that sparked a revival earlier this year. And I just got back from being on tour with my True Girl  team. We do events for seven to twelve year-old girls and their moms. We bring them closer to each other and closer to Jesus. And when I say we, I mean me and a bunch of twenty-somethings that are on a tour bus.

In twenty years, I gotta tell you, I've never had a team that was more excited about Jesus, that follows harder after Him, than the kids on that tour bus right now. These young adults were taking the initiative to lead worship times in their off time to prepare their hearts for long days of ministry. There are kids like that all over the planet, and they give me hope for this generation. That's what we're going to pass out toda—dollops of hope for hearts that are burdened for the next generation.

Erin: I hope I'm raising four of them. I hope Portia’s raising one of them. I hope your grandchildren will be among them. God is working in that generation. We can affirm that. 

Dannah, you had to sleep on the tour bus with those twenty-somethings. Does your body hold up as well as they do on that tour bus?

Dannah: Hey listen, the word “sleep” has many different definitions.

Erin: Okay spectrum, spectrum of sleep.

So, I'm glad they have the enthusiasm to carry on God's Word to the next generation. 

Speaking of next generation, David Arthur is with us. He is the son of Kay Arthur. He's a respected business leader who left the corporate world to become the president of Precept Ministries. I gotta tell you, when I travel and teach in churches, I can tell without anyone telling me if that church has a Precept Ministries in their location, because the women have deep roots. So, Precept has been helping women get into the Word for a long time. But God's still doing something new and exciting for the next generation through Precept Ministries. And David is just the guy to tell us about it. You're gonna love him.

Dannah: You know, one of my earliest adult Bible studies was a Precept study. I still read it.

Erin: I didn’t know that.

Dannah: I mean . . .

Erin: You had the colored pencils and everything, huh?

Dannah: Exactly. I'm still fanatical about those. 

Well, David and others from Precept, including Kay Arthur, have led frequent trips to Israel to study God's Word in the very place where things they read about happened. 

So, we want to take some time today to talk with him about that very special place. And we want to pray for the peace of Israel because that's something we're instructed to do in Psalm 122. And what's happened for those who aren't following, on Saturday, Hamas a terrorist group who's troubled both Israeli and Palestinians launched an unprecedented attack against the nation of Israel. It's being compared to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. One media outlet said it's “the darkest day in Jewish history, since the end of the Holocaust, nearly 1,000 have been killed— both Jews and innocent Palestinians. And Israel has officially declared war.”

Erin: You know, part of Grounded was born in a time of global crisis. We wanted to hold high the banner of hope, which is only found in Jesus. That crisis, the global pandemic has passed. But here's a new wave. And we're still here to do the same thing, which is to offer hope and perspective. 

It’s the same thing David and PreceptMinistry is endeavoring to do to hold up hope and perspective from this book, God's Word. So, we're going to do that together this morning. 

In the comments, we'd love for you to leave any specific prayer requests you have related to this crisis related to Israel. We know that many people have loved ones, they're our own Joy McClain, who leads the Grounded prayer team. She just got back from a dream trip to Israel. We know many Christians go there for that purpose. And so if you've got a specific burden on your heart related to this, we would ask you to drop it there. So that that prayer team can pray for you. Do you have a family member there? Is there a missionary you support that's on the ground there? David's gonna tell some stories like that here in a minute. But we're gonna dedicate some time at the end of this episode to praying and we want to pray specifically. And so, if you've got some prayer requests related to this, we're going to ask you to drop it there. 

Normally, this is the part where Portia would burst in with that megawatt smile of hers. Give it to us, P, and deliver us some good news. But you know what, it just felt a little bit tone deaf this morning. We understand that the world is hurting the world is scared. And there's a lot of question marks. And that doesn't mean there's not good news. There's always good news because God is good, and He does good. But we wanted to just be sensitive to what is happening. 

So, we get Portia's smile, we get our heart for Jesus and for His Word. Your prayers here in a little bit. But we want to jump right into that conversation with David. So Dannah, let's take it away.

Dannah: You know, speaking of good news, I was so blessed over the weekend. I put on my Facebook page, “Hey, do you know someone specifically that we should be praying for in Israel?” And wow, there's one family whose friend has recently decided the Lord was calling him to work in Israel. He quit his job, was applying for jobs in Israel, then the war happened, and he's still going. He's like, “I know this, the Lord put on my heart to be there.” 

Another family, they're missionaries. They had children and raised them in Israel. And now the daughter who's an Israeli-American is being called into the war. They're like, “The Lord has put her there; the Lord will protect her.” 

The faith of the people on the frontlines is so big. And I bet you know about that. Can't wait to hear more of your good news as you leave those comments and we pray.

18:20 - Grounded with God's People (David Arthur)

But first, we're going to welcome somebody that I think is going to stir our hearts to pray for Israel and the next generation. He'll help us consider how to stir the hearts of the up and coming generation to love God's Word. David Arthur has got a passion to see the next generation love the Word, and it began in his childhood when his own mama, Kay Arthur, of course, taught him the importance of inductive Bible study. 

David now runs Precept Ministries, the global outreach his parents started, and they're up to something exciting just for the next generation. So lean in if you've got a burden for someone born between the year 1996 and 2010, that's when Gen Z was born. David, welcome to Grounded.

David Arthur: Hey, thanks, Dannah. It's great to be here.

Dannah: I am going to be the first to lean in to hear what you have to say, because I have a few people born between those years at the top of my prayer list. And I want to start with this though. How is Kay? She joined us at our national conference last year and shared transparently about her battle with Parkinson's, as so many of us have been praying for her. So how can we keep praying for your mom?

David: Well, thanks for asking. Yeah, she hits ninety years old this November. 

Dannah: Wow.

David: We're actually going to be celebrating at the Museum of the Bible in D.C. They're going to be giving her a Legacy Impact Award. My wife and I are gonna go with her and celebrate. She's doing good. She's weaker, and she's got some memory issues. So, she's not really teaching and writing anymore. But I take her with me when we go speak. We just got back from the Billy Graham training center, The Cove. You know, if you just give her a prop, she goes and the Scripture just flows out of her.

Dannah: It’s in there. 

David: Yeah. 

Dannah: I always say what's in you is what comes out of you. And what we saw last year was that Kay Arthur has the word in her, what a blessing. Good to hear and happy early birthday to Kay Arthur, if you're listening. 

How did growing up in the Arthur home field your love for God's Word?

David: Yeah, you can imagine, this is back in the seventies. And so, it's kind of like the Jesus people days. We have a thirty-two-acre campus. It was a chicken farm that we turned into a youth center. And then became adults as well. 

And so, I grew up around all that. My family dinners were with twenty-five young people sitting around a table, who had been studying the Bible all day, working on the farm, working in the ministry. I never can remember a time of my life where I did not see God's Word held up high and lived out genuinely and authentically. So, it was a great, great childhood.

Dannah: Well, I want to know, are you one of those kids that embraced it? You never strayed from it, you always love the Bible? Or did you ever wander? 

David: No, praise God. He captured my heart when I was thirteen. And it wasn't a matter of information for me. I knew the information; it really was an unveiling. The Lord just gave me eyes to see Him. And so, from age thirteen on, my life verse comes out of Psalm 119 30, where the psalmist says, “I run in the path of your commands for you. I've set my heart free.”

I've been running since then full of joy. Passionate doesn't mean I don't have struggles and trials and things that I wrestle with. But yeah, it's been by God's grace alone.

Dannah: Wow. I love to hear testimonies of God's grace. And so many people who have them think, Oh, I don't really have a testimony. Oh, yes, you do. You have a testimony of great grace. 

David: That’s right. 

Dannah: What advice do you have for the mom or the grandma listening, who's young adult child is not interested in the truth of the Bible?

David: Yeah, I mean, there's a sense in which it's like parenting and a grandparent like you, Dannah, now. So, there's a sense in which you want them so desperately to have the same kind of connection to Jesus that you have. 

Dannah: Yeah. 

David: And the temptation can be that you try to structure that in such a way that there's no real flexibility. And so, my encouragement lately has been, and this has come out of a lot of research that we've done. But this is a generation that is confused. And I think one of the things that we've got to be careful of is trying to take our experience and force it into their experience. 

One of the values this generation has is authenticity. And so, I think living out your faith, instead of preaching your faith to them nonstop, you know, in their face, because we're desperate to see them follow Jesus. I think there's a sense of which just opening up your life as a book and saying, “You know, here's something I learned today, or something I was really convicted over. And here's what I feel like God is saying to me.” Be an open book for them; they'll read you. 

Dannah: Yeah. 

David: They're watching very carefully. I would encourage my generation and the generation above me to really let them fall in love with us because they see what Jesus is currently doing with you right now.

Dannah: That is good. Well, you've done a bunch of research. And that's probably because you're launching something new, a new discipleship tool for the next generation. Tell us about that.

David: Yeah, so during COVID 2020, you know, of course, the whole world shut down. We had just launched a new brand with Precept. And what a great time right? A website and a brand and everything for Precept. I remember my peer ministry leaders were saying, “Really, now's the time you're gonna do this?” 

This was our 50th anniversary as a ministry. And so, we took some time, and started doing just some deep dive analysis of who we're actually serving. And what we discovered is we were missing an entire generation. And so, we started to look into that. We actually partnered up with Barna Christian Research Group and did a nationwide survey of what we call active faith adults. That means they pray regularly. They go to church on some kind of a consistent basis. There's some kind of testimony that they are followers of Jesus. 

We asked them, what are you looking for when it comes to Scripture, when it comes to the Bible? What do you want? What are you really looking for? 

We were pleased to find out over 70 percent specifically want to know, what does God have to say about the issues I'm dealing with today? 

Not Sunday school issues from the past, but I'm talking about my friend committed suicide. My other friend has transgendered. Depression seems to be in my friend group. Does God speak to that? 

But only 35% of them came back and said the Church is actually talking about that. 

Dannah: Wow. 

David: And so, we saw a hunger, but we saw a gap. And we saw what we need to because the Bible does speak to those things. 

Dannah: Yeah. 

David: The number one issue that came out of their survey was they're looking for help with mental health. There seems to be nobody really talking about that from the Bible. What does God have to say about mental health? 

And so, the third statistic I'll share with you is that when they go to the Bible, 66 percent say, “We're lost. I don't understand what I just read.” We at Precept said, “Great, that's what we do. We love to help people discover truth for ourselves. So, let's figure out how to translate what we've been doing for fifty years into a vernacular and a context of these young folks who are hungry. They're curious. They are skeptical, but that's okay. That's alright. We can handle that. Let's meet them where they are. And so, let's build a Bible study series just for them.”

Dannah: Yeah. It's called Yarrow. Is that correct? 

David: That's right. Yeah. 

Dannah: Yeah. So, it's interesting to me that you went with an entirely different name. You really want this to feel fresh and different.

David: Right, right. The joke around Precept is this is not your mama's Bible study. Of course, I tell them, it actually is mine. Yeah, we chose Yarrow as a website, as a brand because we realized we needed to speak to them. 

And so, the brand, you probably wondering, Yarrow,what is that? Well, it's actually a flower. It's grown all over the world. It's this real organic flower that's in the thistle family. It has a real kind of a bark to it. So, it's got this real strong bark to it. But at the top, it's got this beautiful, sometimes yellow, sometimes white flour. But the cool thing about yarrow is, it's used for healing. So, you can make teas out of it. It heals things like pain and stomach issues. I actually saw it used on an episode of Alone, where they drop people off in the wilderness. It's also used for anxiety. And so, we saw this as a great symbol of saying it's organic, it's beautiful, and it brings healing, just like God's Word.

Dannah: Yeah. Is there a specific study or scripture that is the entry passage for someone who wants to get started with Yarrow?

David: Well, we started off with a series if you go to Yarrow.org, the first series is on identity. We have four studies in identity. Why identity? Because that's what this generation is wrestling with. 

Dannah: Big topic. 

David: Yeah, Gallup poll came out and said, one out of five Gen Zs are struggling with their sexuality, whether that be who they're attracted to, or who they identify as—one out of five. 

Dannah: Wow.

David: That's 20%. If you go a generation above, it's one out of 10 in the Millennials, so there's real confusion about who am I?

Dannah: And what Scripture do you point someone to? For someone listening who maybe is feeling confused about that? Or has a granddaughter or grandson, what Scriptures would you start to point them to for that?

David: We don't believe in a pat answer, theology answer, a here's your one verse and go with it, and that fixes everything. We really value jumping into a text and ruminating on it, chewing on it, wrestling with it. 

And so, our identity study, we're obviously going to start in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. We're going to go from there into some of the Psalms like Psalm 139, which is just this beautiful psalm of God knows me. He knew me before. He knows my thoughts, and He loves me and cherishes me. 

I remember we tested this out. I remember one young lady. They do a video testimony. She came back and said, “I was tracking along, then I got to Psalm 139 and I was undone.” She's crying as she's talking on the video, “That God knows me that well and that He formed me and made me so exactly who I am, His design.” 

And then we end up that study in Ephesians, you know, 1 and 2. We see the dramatic identity that's given to us in Christ. 

And so, we're not targeting a generation that is anti-God. We're actually targeting a generation that wants to know God, that does know God. We're really focused on helping them understand what does the Bible teach about that. And so, all throughout, we have this voice of a guide. We're not preaching at them. We're not just giving them questions and hoping they get it. We're literally walking alongside, and we're doing that, Dannah, because the research came back and said, “We don't want to be spoon fed.” No surprise there. We don't want to be told what to believe. But they are asking for help.

Dannah: That’s great. 

David: They want the role of a God in their life. And so we're writing that whole study with a voice of an empathetic, compassionate guide, as they walk through Scripture, learning who they are.

Dannah: That's wonderful. They do want help. That's our good news of the day. Praise the Lord. Amen. 

Well, David, before we got started today, you were mentioning that you have a team in Israel. We’re going to pray for Israel just a little bit. You've taken many trips to Israel. I wonder, before we talk about what needs prayer, just fill our hearts with a little love for that place by giving us a memory of your time in Israel.

David: Precept has been leading Bible study teaching tours for forty years in Israel. It stopped in 2020, with COVID and with mom's health. 

So, it's like a second home for us. Actually, mom and dad had an apartment in Jerusalem that overlooks the whole city wall. She wrote several of the studies literally right there in the Old City. Her most favorite was Israel, My Beloved, which is a historical novel built on the history of Israel. 

We actually have some former staff members that are continuing that tour agency, and they literally had landed in Tel Aviv last Friday. And so, most of them are back. I would ask for prayer for my friend, Carol, and a couple others who are stuck in the airport at Tel Aviv. But as we were talking about before the show, there's a sense in which these are opportunities for God's Word to shine bright in a dark place. 

We're in 190 countries now and ninety different languages, and Hebrew is one of them. We actually have our inductive study Bible in Hebrew, and several of our materials and courses over there. And so, my prayer would be that this would be yet another opportunity for people to find what they're looking for, that hope that comes from God. 

God says His Word is a light to our path. Right? And so, this is a time when they're going to need that light. We can pray, not only we should pray for the safety of Israel, we should pray for the confusion of those terrorists who are trying to destroy life. But let's also pray with a kingdom eternal perspective in mind, that God would, as He's done so many times with that nation over thousands of years, that He would step in and show His strong sovereign arm, and that He would draw people even in darkness to Himself through His Word. 

Dannah: Amen. 

David: So that's kind of on my heart for them.

Dannah: A good word. Thank you, David Arthur, for being with us today. And you can learn more again about that wonderful new initiative from Precepts Ministries at Yarrow.org, 

Erin, get us grounded in God's Word.

30:28 - Grounded in God's Word (with Erin)

Erin: Well, I love that encouragement that what the next generation needs to see is God's Word in our life. We are open books, and what we're doing with this book will impact what they see in our lives. They want to know where hope is, and it's found in God's Word. “Tell your children have it and let your children tell their children and their children to another generation.” That's from Joel chapter 1, verse 3, straight out of Scripture. 

As David was talking, I was reminded once again that that's always been the game plan. It's always been the game plan that the things of faith, of hope, of who God is and the answers that we're looking for, that we would pass those like a baton from one generation to the next. 

I think of Genesis 1 which David mentioned, and God's design long before we were barred by sin was that every living thing would reproduce according to its kind: lions would reproduce lions, pear trees would reproduce pear trees, and disciples would reproduce disciples. 

So, what is it exactly that we're supposed to pass on? I had something else totally in mind to share with you today. But as I was reading the headlines late into last night, and again this morning . . . I actually am not with my children. Right now, I'm at our Revive Our Hearts headquarters, and they’re back home in Missouri. And as I think about what do I want them to know as they hear about what's happening at school? How do I want to encourage them?

And my heart just naturally gravitates to 1 Thessalonians 5. It's a passage of Scripture that I've been parked in a lot lately. And of course, there are many things we want to pass on to our children, about God, and who He is. But for me, the paramount thing I want them to know comes right out of 1 Thessalonians 5. I'm going to read you just the first few verses of that chapter. They seem really timely, which is a miracle, right? This was written a long time ago, and yet it could have been written for today's headlines. 

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness brothers . . . (vv. 1–4) 

I would say to you Grounded sisters, but you are not in darkness, Grounded sisters, 

. . . for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are all children of the light children of the day, we are not of the day or of the darkness.

And verse six is where Paul does really brings it home. 

So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (vv. 5–6)

You know, there's going to be a lot of conversation today and in the weeks to come about what all of this means for biblical prophecy. And I'll tell you, I don't know the answer. I'll also tell you that there's really wise Jesus loving people grounded in God's Word who might land differently on that. But what is really, really clear to me is that Jesus is coming back. There will be a day of the Lord. And it will be a great and glorious day for those of us who are in Christ. And it'll be such a terrible, dark, horrific day for those who aren't. And that day is coming. 

Paul's describing it like a woman in labor pains. I've experienced that four times. I know what that's like, the contractions start and you think, Okay, I can walk through this, I can talk through this. And then they intensify. And we don't know how many more contractions there are on this broken world before Jesus comes back. We don't know where we are in that story. It's not for us to know. 

But we do know that these contractions, this labor, pains of war and conflict and death, and bombs and people in bomb shelters and fear and wars and rumors of wars, we do know that contractions move us towards the moment when Jesus returns. 

So, what do I want to pass on to the next generation? What do I want my sons to know today? There's a lot from Scripture I want them to know. But I want them to know that Jesus is coming back. He's coming back for them. He's coming back for me. He's coming back for all of us who claim Him as our King. And today, if they feel any anxiety at all, or tomorrow, or ten years from now, I want them to put their hope in the fact that things will not always be this way. God is coming back to set the world right to bring the shalom, He intended those in Israel would know that word. Of course, that's God's perfect peace to all of us those He loves. And so that's what I want to pass. 

We were in the car not too long ago. And their daddy, it was his turn to be out of town. Jason was out of town and one of my boys said, “Mama, what happens if Jesus comes back while, Daddy's out of town?” And the other boy didn't miss a beat. He said, “We'll meet him in the sky.”

And I thought, you know what, I'm not doing everything right. As a mom, I don't parent them perfectly. But my sons know that Jesus is coming back. And my sons know no matter what is happening in the world that day, whether their daddy is in town or out of town, whether their mommy is in town or out of town, no matter what the headlines say, my sons know that there is a day. They're expecting it. They're longing for it like am. And where does that come from? It comes straight out of God's Word. 

And so that would be my encouragement to us today. First, the reason Grounded exists is so that we can anchor our heart week after week after week in the hope of Jesus. Hope has a name. His name is Jesus. And the perspective that gives us, it puts on new glasses for everything else we see. And then, we pass that hope to the next generation. 

So, I hope your heart is stirred as I am on so many levels today. I hope your heart is stirred for Israel. I hope you don't default to despair. But to pray and to hope in Jesus. I hope your heart is stirred for His Word. Really, the answers are there. And I hope you're wide awake. That's what Paul wrote there in verse 6. I'll read it to you again. “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” 

Are you awake this morning? Are you awake to the fact that no headline can undo the sovereignty of God? And no plan of man can dissuade Jesus from returning. He is coming back. Are you awake to that reality? I hope today's headlines will wake you up to that fact. I hope you'll take the time to share that with somebody younger than you. Maybe you don't have kids, or maybe you don't have grandchildren. But you're going to encounter someone in the next generation and David's right, they are consumed with anxiety. And you know the answer, His name is Jesus. And He is a hope that they can hang on to. I hope you'll take the time to share that today. Portia.

Portia: You know, I'm ready. I've got my baton. Do you like my baton, Dannah?

Dannah: Yeah, it’s a good one. 

Portia: I am ready to pass that baton. How about you Dannah?

Dannah: Me too. I'm actively doing it. In fact, on Monday nights, every Monday night, I offer an online Bible study for tween girls and their moms. I like to say give me six weeks, and I'll give your favorite seven to twelve year-old girl a love for the Bible. And tonight is the first night of a Bible study on the topic of faithfulness.

And we're doing that because in a live your own truth world, we're pushing back on that mantra to teach girls the biblical quality of faithfulness. We're going to dive into the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it's not too late to join. We have lots of moms, grandmas, and girls joining us in the first week. We do encourage girls to have a disciple, mentor Bible study friend with her. If you register right now at MyTrueGirl.com, I'll send you a PDF of the homework. You can get rolling while we ship your study book to you this week. 

Portia: I love that. Keep them ready. You know, my baby girl, Emery, she's growing up in a world she's very aware of so much. She's only five. But she's so aware. And you know, she's grown up in a world where she wakes up on a Monday morning and the headlines are filled with fear and death and bombing and war. I know that what she really needs is to be anchored in God's Word. And so, we've been doing catechisms lately, and just I'm loving to see her understanding who God is and her love for the Lord. I'm just grateful to be able to have a front row seat to that.

Dannah: I love that. Well, it's time for us to pray for Israel. Erin, come on in here. Let's just go before the throne of God and lift up the people that are being impacted. And boy, people really loved what David said about that this is an opportunity for the light of the word to shine forth.

Erin: Yeah, I got my paper baton too Portia, and what I want to pass on to the next generation is that hope. I want to pray for them.

You guys have been sharing prayer requests with us and I want to share some of those. I can't share all of them here. But so good praying for Christian couple that you know. Many of you know people there. Several of you have said this, that Jewish people will have their eyes unblinded and see that Jesus is coming back. And that's so important. Jenny A, you said that that God would activate a passion in Messianic Jews to share the gospel. 

You're sharing the names of people that you know, so I don't have to announce all of those for you to pray for them. You can pray for each other. Here's some other things just pulled from the headlines that I would encourage you to write down and pray for us today. There are people locked down in bomb shelters right now. Many are without food or electricity. Imagine that being your family and how much you'd want somebody praying for you. There's a lot of uncertainty throughout that region. There's a lot of fear and anxiety. 

Speaking of the next generation, there are children there that are experiencing horrific trauma that even if the bombing stopped right now, there would be consequences in their little hearts. We want to pray for that. 

But our biggest prayer request is that people will turn to Christ, that's what the birth pains are for, so our eyes would be open to hearing our need for Jesus. And so that we want to ask, many to come to Christ throughout this crisis. 

So, wherever you are, I would encourage you to pray with us. If you can drop to your knees, I'd encourage you to drop your knees, if you can, plop the dishes in the sink, I would encourage you to do that. And something we love to do on Grounded is just reach towards each other. We're all around the world. We can't actually touch each other, but we can reach towards each other. So, I'm reaching towards you sisters, and we're gonna pray for Israel right now.

Jesus, we love You. I feel so grateful that You've revealed Yourself to me that I know who You are, and that Your Word has anchored my life to hope. I don't feel panicked today, God, but I know I'm also not living in Israel right now. But God, You are at work. We declare it: You are at work. 

You love people of every tongue, tribe, and nation, and you love every human being on whatever side of this conflict they are. They're made in Your image. They're precious to You. They're the apple of Your eye, God. I know Your heart is so broken by the loss of life. I pray that You would break our hearts. I feel a numbness at times towards these kinds of things. And already it's become so polarizing, Lord. Help us to be in line with Your Spirit in this God. 

We do pray that many would come to Christ. We pray for those who are hunkered down right now that Your Spirit would be palpable to them, Lord. Help us to declare hope today, tomorrow, and until You come. Lord, we need You. We're so dependent on You, God. We want to see You move. It's in Your name I pray, amen.

Dannah: Lord, we just pray for the Messianic Jews in Israel right now that know who You are, that know Your name, that call You Savior, that call You Lord. I pray Father for their hearts to be bold and filled with the truth of Your love. 

And I pray, Father, for these friends that they share Your hope, that their eyes would be open to see who You truly are. Father, many of them there are still waiting, they're still waiting for Messiah. But You've been here. You've come, and You've done the work of dying for them so that they can live eternally. I pray, Jesus, that their eyes will be open to see that.

Portia: Father, this morning I saw a picture of a mama holding her baby, probably about the age of Emery, running in fear, protecting her child. Lord, I just think of all the mamas and the dads and the little ones who are traumatized by this, whose lives will essentially never be the same. Lord, I pray that You will take this very bad thing and use it for good, use this as a catalyst to drive them to You, to the feet of Jesus. 

I pray protection over the lives of these little ones and their parents. Lord, I just pray that Your glory will be seen and known even through this. I am just reminded in the book of Genesis of how Joseph recounts that what was intended for evil God used for good. So even the intentions of the evil, they cannot thwart the plans of God and they cannot diminish the goodness of God. 

And so, Lord, we just pray right now, make Yourself known. Be near to people. It's in Your Son Jesus Christ's name I pray, amen. 

Dannah: Amen.

Erin: Amen.

Dannah: Thank you, friends, for joining us and praying for Israel. Continue to pray for the people there and continue to share your prayer requests because we love to lift you up specifically as often as we can. 

I hope you'll join us next week. Christopher Yuan will be with us. Dr. Yuan believes our families are the best place for us to teach and learn holy sexuality, and I agree with him on that. He's going to help us on next week's Grounded. So, let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded.

Erin: Grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

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