Day 12

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your middle point to the week.

Today's verses are Genesis 24:1-54; Psalm 8:1-9; Proverbs 2:1-5; Matthew 8:28-9:17

Truthfully, I have little to say about these verses so instead of giving you all this long interpretation of what I thought (mostly because I really don't have one today) I'd much rather hear your interpretations of the verses. But I would like to leave you all with a few questions that I'm curious about: Why do you think it's so hard to forgive someone? When we ask for forgiveness and get it, why is it so hard for us to forgive ourselves?

Since the some of the verses pertained to forgiveness, I figured I would ask these questions because over the past few months I have struggled with forgiving myself for some of the things that I have done to those I cared about most and it has kind of gotten to the point where it eats me up inside because I feel so guilty about how I treated them, especially since I know I can't go back and change any of it. However, I am learning to let that stuff go and even though I do still bad about it, I'm so glad God can forgive me.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, not only have You forgiven me, but You keep on forgiving me. Help me realize, however, that though Your forgiveness is free, it is not cheap. For You had to die in order to bring me forgiveness. Help me never forget that. Amen.

Further Study

Matthew 26:17-30; Acts 2:38 & 13:38; Hebrew 9:22

Why is forgiveness available?

Seek forgiveness for your sin today.

Stay warm and blessed everyone :)

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(Both the prayer and further study have come from the Everyday with Jesus Bible: A One-Year Reading Bible by Holman Bible Publishers with Devotions by Selwyn Hughes)

Day 11

Happy 1-11-11 everyone :) Hope that your days was fabulous and that you stay warm.

Our verses today can be found in Genesis 21:22-23:20; Psalm 7:9-17; Proverbs 1:32-33 and Matthew 8:5-27.

Faith is a really powerful thing, yet at times I find it hard to have faith in things that seem like they will never change. It's hard to believe something that you're not sure about. In chapter 22 of Genesis, Abraham was told by God to sacrifice his only son. Now, God had already promised Abraham that his children would be as numerous as the stars yet, He was telling Abraham to kill his only son. But Abraham never questioned God and did as he was told.

How many of us can honestly say we would just go along with a task like that? I don't have any children but I can imagine how difficult it would be for me if God were to ask me to do something like that to a relative or even a friend that I cared deeply about. This is something that may often get us into trouble though, thinking that we know better than God so we try to find out ways to do it the way we see fit when we really need to have an attitude like Abraham and say "God Himself will provide.."(Genesis 22:8). God does test us with hard times just to see if we will fully trust in Him and lean on Him for everything. As I've said before God will give us what we need if we just trust the plan that He has for us and not try to force the plans that we have for ourselves.

Prayer

Father, I see that again You are about to face me with a strong and serious challenge. Forgive me if I draw back when Your lance plunges deep. I have lived with demandingness for so long that I might not even be able to recognize it. Help me, Lord. Amen.

Further Study

Galatians 2:15-21; Isaiah 29:15 and 30:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:24

How did Paul describe "demandingness"?

What were the children of Israel doing?

I pray for miracles for you all. Be blessed everyone :)

(Both the prayer and further study have come from the Everyday with Jesus Bible: A One-Year Reading Bible by Holman Bible Publishers with Devotions by Selwyn Hughes)

Day 10

Greetings everyone hope you all have had a blessed day today.

The wonderful word has for us today Genesis 19:23-21:21; Psalm 7:1-8; Proverbs 1:28-31 and Matthew 7:13-8:4.

I enjoyed reading these verses because it showed how God can use certain people around you to help you get a relationship with Him. Sometimes we fall on hard times and think that God has forgotten about us, but in fact He is using the hard times so that we will appreciate and understand the full extent of the blessings He has for us when we receive them. I feel that sometimes He allows us to witness some of the struggles so that once we gain victory we can be able to tell others about the goodness of Jesus.

Just today, I had a conversation with a good friend and we discussed how we both had fallen on hard times and how it seemed like so many doors had been closed to us and how down we would get and not understand why these things were happening. He had to remind that everything we go through is a test and that we can't lose our faith because everything happens in God's will we have to remain strong despite our situations. Later, this evening I was having a conversation with another friend and we got into a disagreement and I just felt so upset about it that I called my friend to discuss it with him. After I told him how I felt about the situation and he just calmly reassured me that I shouldn't worry about and to just give it God and remain strong in our faith....I was so shocked by how easily he could just give this issue to God, but this is also why I love this friend so much because he turns it all over to God and I mean all.

I almost felt ashamed because I even though I felt that the issue was big I felt it was just too small to give to God. My friend quickly put those thoughts out of my head telling me that nothing is too big or small for God. That really made a huge difference for me because just like in the verses you never know how anyone will be able to strengthen your bond with God or even bring you to God for the first time. I truly thank God for using my friend to make the relationship between God and myself stronger while at the same time renewing the friendship between my friend and I. Thank you Lord :)

Prayer

O God, I am so thankful for the experience of my own conversion. May the wonder of it never dim within me. It began in a miracle and its sustained by a miracle. Blessed be your wonderful Name forever. Amen

Further Study

Acts 9:1-31; John 1:12

What suddenly happened to Saul?

How did he respond?

I want to thank all my readers for reading this and even if no one ever does read this God's glory will still be lifted up through His use of me and I am very glad that He chose me to reach all of you :) Be blessed, stay warm and I love you all.

(Both the prayer and further study have come from the Everyday with Jesus Bible: A One-Year Reading Bible by Holman Bible Publishers with Devotions by Selwyn Hughes)

Day 9

Happy Sunday wonderful children of God! Hope your day went well.

Today's lesson is from Genesis 18:1-19:22, Psalm 6:6-10, Proverbs 1:24-27, Matthew 6:25-7:12

How often do we stress and worry about the things of this world? I imagine that there are a few things that we worry about in our daily lives such as how bills will get paid, what we will eat or even what we will wear. These things come with living a human life, but God doesn't want us to rely on the stresses of the world and depend on Him.

The word says "but seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6: 33-34). Now isn't this the truth? Believe me, I have spent a lot of time worrying and wondering about certain situations that I knew I couldn't handle on my own and was worried about how they were going to get solved, but as the verses say God will provide for us. No matter what it is He will. First hand experience tells me this, but how many times have we witnessed God work things out in our lives just when things seemed like they weren't going to get any better but then, when another situation arises, we freak out and have a 'woe is me' moment like it's the end of everything? Guilty!

I have been guilty of this a few times. Yet, after I calm down and think back to how God worked it out for me I realize that He hasn't let me fall so far so why in the world would He stop now. Also, there are times when things happen that we just don't understand and because they don't fit into our "life plan" we try to fix something that God has no intention for us to have our hands in at all and then we get so worked up about instead of leaving it to the Lord to sort out. Sometimes we just need to take a step back for our situations, stop worrying about it and let God handle it. If we do that we feel a whole lot better and the situation will be solved. It's a win-win situation :)

Prayer

Gracious Father, I begin to see that there is something here that demands my thoughts and attention, and I don't want to miss it. Prepare me in mind and spirit for what You want to teach me in the days ahead. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Further Study

Luke 9:51-62; Matthew 5:3; John 3:3; James 2:5

What did Jesus teach about the kingdom?

What did Jesus say to His would-be followers?

I hope you all have a wonderful week and again bundle up and stay warm. Be blessed everyone

(Both the prayer and further study have come from the Everyday with Jesus Bible: A One-Year Reading Bible by Holman Bible Publishers with Devotions by Selwyn Hughes)

Day 8

Hello everyone. Hope you all are alright and everything is going well, if not I will be sure to lift you all up in prayer :)

The verses for today are Genesis 15:7-17:27, Psalm 6:1-5, Proverbs 1:20-23 and Matthew 6:5-24.

I really don't have too much to say on these verses but it discusses the value of prayer and how to be sure that you do it just to be seen but when you pray make sure that it is a personal conversation with the Lord and to go in your secret place when you pray. It also talks about how the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) and how your prayers should model after it.

I felt that this song went well the verses for today as well so enjoy :)

Prayer

O God, as I begin this quest for a deeper and more effective prayer life, my heart cries out: "Lord teach me how to pray." For I know that when I learn to pray, I learn to live---vitally and victoriously. Amen.

Further Study

1 Timothy 2:1-8, 1 Chronicles 16:11, Luke 18:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:17

What was Christ's injunction?

What is Paul's desire?

Be blessed everyone :)

(Both the prayer and further study have come from the Everyday with Jesus Bible: A One-Year Reading Bible by Holman Bible Publishers with Devotions by Selwyn Hughes)

A Sacrifice Like No Other

I discovered this short film entitled Most (The Bridge) when someone on Facebook mentioned it so I decided to check it out. I was very touched by this and it is an excellent example of John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever lasting life." I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did as reminder of what God did for us when He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Enjoy :)

The Bridge

(I do not own this content and it is for viewing purposes only!)

Day 7

Hey everyone! Today was a snowy Friday for me which I see as just another blessing from the Lord.

Today's verses are Genesis 13:1-15:6, Psalm 5:7-12, Proverbs 1:17-19 and Matthew 5:33-6:4

What all these verse had in common is that the Lord will protect those that are righteous for Him and give them great rewards. It also advices those who try to be righteous and do good things just to gain praises from those on this earth because if that is what you're after then you've already gotten your reward here and will not be rewarded in Heaven.

This was nice to read because far too often do people do things claiming them to be "out of the goodness of their heart," but when no one acknowledges what they have done they make a big deal about it. Personally when people do this it makes me so mad because if you truly are doing something out of kindness then seeing the other person happy whether they know you did it or not should be enough, but when you make a big deal about how much you spent on something or all you did to make sure so and so had this, it takes away from the action and puts the focus on you. So it is important to remember when we praise the Lord that we do it for the glory of Him and not for the glory of ourselves.

Prayer

O God, how grateful I am for the sureness and certainty of Your Word. Once again I feel it entering into the core of my being. Help me to put these truths into practice the very moment I come under satanic attack. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Further Study

Proverbs 30:1-5, Deuteronomy 33:29, Psalm 33:20, 59:11, 84:9

Why was Israel blessed?

What was the psalmist's continual testimony?

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and try to stay warm :) Be blessed!

(Both the prayer and further study have come from the Everyday with Jesus Bible: A One-Year Reading Bible by Holman Bible Publishers with Devotions by Selwyn Hughes)