This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Reformed Free Publishing Association, who also sponsored the blog this week with their article Ignited by the Word: A Christian Magazine for Children. They are offering a free, 1-year subscription to Ignited by the Word to each of ten winners.

Every issue of Ignited by the Word, our Christian children’s magazine for children and young teens, has a theme. Past themes include:

Heaven-Bound Citizens
God’s Goodness and Mercy
The Protestant Reformation

Our January issue, “Prayer,” will be mailed out soon! Below is a sneak peak of some of the exciting content that subscribers will be enjoying in this issue.
From PreK-2nd Grade – Devotions 
Closing Our Eyes
Have you ever prayed in a closet? That might seem like a strange place to pray to God! But in Matthew 6:6, Jesus tells us that a closet is a good place to pray. Why? Because a closet is a quiet, dark place without very many distractions. We are easily distracted by people or sounds or other things around us. That is why we almost always close our eyes when we pray. When we close our eyes, we suddenly create a dark, quiet place where we can pray without many distractions. Just like the closet Jesus was talking about! Closing our eyes helps our hearts and minds to focus so we are ready to pray to God reverently. Can you close your eyes and fold your hands in your prayers today?

From 3rd-5th Grade – Church History
One Who Sings, Prays Twice
…Singing is a form of prayer, but also something more. Singing helps move us to greater zeal in prayer, as we approach God with joy and gladness, love and devotion. That idea, if not the saying, goes all the way back to Augustine, a great church leader who lived over 1,700 years ago…
After years of neglect, the Reformation restored congregational singing in the church. Martin Luther, a gifted musician, believed music was essential to worship. He required students preparing for the ministry to study music. He wrote that music was given to us so we remember that “God has created us for the express purpose of praising and extolling God…

From 6th-8th Grade – Devotions
Read Jonah 2:1-10
Jonah’s Prayer of Repentance
Jonah prayed to God out of the belly of the fish when God chastised him for his sin of disobedience. In this beautiful prayer, Jonah confesses that God is right and just in His chastisement. But the beauty of Jonah’s prayer is that God doesn’t leave him in the “belly of hell” or at the “bottoms of the mountains.” Jonah confesses that salvation is of the Lord and that God delivered his life from corruption. He recommits his way unto the Lord. He promises to keep his vow to serve the Lord. With this prayer of repentance, God forgave Jonah and the fish spit him out upon dry land. This prayer reminds God’s people that we must confess our sins before God and commit our ways unto Him.
Would you like a copy of the January issue of Ignited by the Word to share with your children? How about the January issue and the next three issues, too? Enter our giveaway below for a chance to win one of ten 1-year subscriptions for free!
TO ENTER
Giveaway Rules: You may enter one time. When you enter, you agree to be placed on Reformed Free Publishing Association’s email list. The winner will be notified by email. The giveaway closes on January 19, 2023 at midnight.

It has been my observation that churches tend to invest a fair bit of effort in preparing couples to begin a healthy marriage, but perhaps a little less in helping couples sustain a healthy marriage. We offer pre-marriage seminars designed to deliberately help a couple better understand the challenges that will come their way in the years ahead, but don’t offer as many seminars deliberately designed to help couples through the middle and later years of marriage and, thus, through issues like sorrow, loss, declining sexuality, empty-nesting, unmet expectations, unresolved conflict, and so on.

I wanted to address this in my church (and in my own marriage, for that), so decided to lead a marriage seminar that would appeal specifically to couples who have been married for at least a decade and perhaps even several. I built it around Dave Harvey’s I Still Do: Growing Closer and Stronger through Life’s Defining Moments—a book that is meant to foster a marriage that is lasting and durable. With Dave doing the heavy lifting, I put a good deal of effort into creating questions that would prompt conversation and prayer between the couples and also lead to helpful group discussions.
Because I expect others may benefit from such a course, I thought I’d share the material and make it freely available for you to download for your own purposes, whether that’s to lead a course with others or just go through the material with your spouse. You are free to download it, use it, edit it, and so on. You need give no credit to me.
I would recommend having an experienced and credible individual or couple lead the course and would also recommend keeping the group size relatively small as a means of fostering openness and vulnerability in times of corporate discussion. The six sessions are structured in such a way that each couple will read two chapters together, answer a number of questions, then meet with the group for further learning and discussion. Group meetings should be scheduled for about 90 minutes. For each session there is a Question sheet which is sent to the couples in advance and a Discussion sheet which is for the leader to use at the seminar. Those who wish to extend the course to 12 weeks can easily split each session in half. Each couple will need to have a copy of I Still Do (Amazon, Westminster Books) and the leader should purchase a copy of the Study Guide (Amazon, Westminster Books) since a few of the questions are drawn from it.
Here are all the files in a variety of formats:

Introduction, Information, and Expectations: PDF, Pages, Word
Session 1 (Questions: PDF, Pages, Word | Discussion: PDF, Pages, Word)
Session 2 (Questions: PDF, Pages, Word | Discussion: PDF, Pages, Word)
Session 3 (Questions: PDF, Pages, Word | Discussion: PDF, Pages, Word)
Session 4 (Questions: PDF, Pages, Word | Discussion: PDF, Pages, Word)
Session 5 (Questions: PDF, Pages, Word | Discussion: PDF, Pages, Word)
Session 6 (Questions: PDF, Pages, Word | Discussion: PDF, Pages, Word)
Or: Download everything in one zip file

I was so sorry to hear of the sudden death of Rev. Harry Reeder on Thursday. (See also this news story) Also in the realm of sad news, Tim Keller’s family just shared the news that he has been discharged from the hospital to receive hospice care at home. I’m sure we will all be in prayer for both families and churches.

Today you’ll find a good discount at Westminster Books on a resource meant as a systematic theology for beginners.
I’m So Glad It’s You
This is such an encouraging article for those who are suffering.
Don’t Give Up Too Quickly
Erik Raymond reminds us that we cannot give up too quickly when we pray.
Get Acquainted with a Forgotten Treasure
Although William Burkitt is not well-known in our day, he was known and acclaimed in days past as an especially brilliant expositor and commentator. His Expository Notes, with Practical Observations, on the New Testament is being reprinted and Derek Thomas says, “Generations to come will now profit from his exceptionally good comments.” (Sponsored)
Did Hannah Manipulate God?
“‘God, if You get me out of this alive, I swear I’ll turn my life around. No more drinking. No more women. I’ll fly straight from now on, I promise.’ Meanwhile, bombs and grenades explode all around this terrified soldier, terrified for his life. You’re probably familiar with this movie trope in which the desperate protagonist tries to cut a deal with God in return for sparing his life. But it doesn’t happen just on the big screen…”
Is the NIV Missing Verses? (Video)
I enjoy Mark Ward’s growing collection of videos that take on common issues related to KJV-onlyism (which is not to be confused with a simple honor, respect, or preference for the KJV).
Abortion to Prevent Premature Death
Should it be morally permissible to abort your child if that child will die shortly after birth? That’s the question at the heart of this article.
Flashback: In the Name of Jesus
…when we obey him by uttering the precious phrase “In Jesus’ name,” far be it from us to do so lightly, to do so tritely, to do so without due honor, due worship, due reverence.

Often our friends…can sympathize with us when we are in trouble, but they have no power to deliver us from it. But Christ is almighty. He is never in the position of wishing He could help but not having the power to do so. —J.C. Ryle