July 28, 2016 I am so smart...S.M.R.T

I have been struggling with finding my routine each day and doing my devotions and spending time with God has been the thing that has suffered. I have found in my life and observing others that this is how it is, we get ourselves busy and the first thing that goes is almost always time spent with God. First I want to apologize to God that I placed him on a back burner thinking "It will be there when I have time or when I really need it." Second I want to apologize to you my readers because I have made a commitment to write this each day, I had felt a calling to share this with you and I put my wants before my commitment to God and you. I will do my best to stay on top of this and if I'm going to be away I will let you know.

Reading: 2 Peter 2, Proverbs 26-27 and Psalm 98

Scripture: Proverbs 26:12, Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Observation: Over the last few months I have started new jobs and worked with people that have more experience then I do at those given jobs. I have found myself when working with people who are trying to train me thinking, “The people are talking to me like I'm a moron who can’t rub two brain cells together.” Some times I even think I have more education and a higher IQ then they do. 

Application: I have fallen into this trap of being a man who is wise in his own eyes, I may have schooling and a high IQ but intelligence is not wisdom. I want to be wise and develop true wisdom, but I also don’t want to become the know it all. For me to not be the man who is wise in his own eyes I need to keep myself open to others ideas and not be so closed minded on how to do things but also know that there is always more to learn and to focus on God and what he would do in that situation.

Prayer: Father I thank you for this day and the reminder that I’m not wise and that I need to look to the wisest of all for directions. I thank you for the provisions you have given us and the blessings you pour out on us each day. I ask that you help me to have proper discernment in all situations and help me to accept the help and directions of others even if (especially if) I think I know what I’m doing. Lord you are the giver of wisdom and life and I thank you for the portion you have give me thus far and ask for more.

July 19, 2016 Did I say that?!?!?

Reading: James 3, Proverbs 7-8, and Psalm 123

Scripture: James 3:5, So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 

Observation: I’m glad that this passage came up today. With starting a new job I have been trying to assimilate myself into the workplace and befriend the men that I will be working with on a daily basis. Having people around me that use language that I would prefer not using is hard. I try to dwell on God and Godly things.

Application: I the sense of Garbage in Garbage out Matthew 12:34b, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” so with these two passages in mind if we are pouring into ourselves all sorts of bad influences and foul language that is how we will start to speak and if we start to speak that way the rudder of our tongue will start guiding us into places we don’t want to be. Be mindful of what you let in and speak God’s loving kindness into every situation. 

Prayer: Father I thank you for your reminder to speak your love into every situation. I thank you that you provide all things and I know that your timing is perfect. Help us to continually seek you and keep your words always on our tongue. 

July 18, 2016 Look Look See What I Did!!!!

Reading: James 2 and Proverbs 5-6

Scripture: James 2:18, But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Observation: There are so many different groups out there that have this list of dos and don’ts, with this list if you do all the dos and keep from the don’ts then you can get to what ever their next stage of life be. There are even parts of church that act that way. It is easy to say you don’t measure up because you did this or didn’t do that, But the truth is we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 

Application: Though the free gift of God though the death and resurrection of his son we have been made his righteousness. What the author of James is saying here is not that we have this list of dos and don’ts that we must abide by but because of our faith in that free gift and in God we should have fruit. If you are young in the faith that is ok grow and learn but also serve, it does not need to be big, it can be as simple as handing out bulletins before service or putting them together. Our Faith is not just our words but also how we live out our lives. 

Prayer: Father I thank you for reminding us to serve, help us to see the opportunities to serve. I thank you for your provisions and your blessings. Open our eyes to see and our ears to hear you each and every day. 

July 14, 2016 Hey I think I got off somewhere?!?!

Reading: Hebrews 11, 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 8

Scripture: Hebrews 11:9, By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

Observation: I love this chapter of Hebrews because they are talking about so many of the fathers if Israel. This passage itself is talking about what Abraham did and what he thought he was going to do or get.

Application: As in so many situations we see it one way with our blinders on saying “this is the only way it can happen” when God has a completely different plan and way a promise is going to look. Taking Abraham as an example God promised him decedents as numerous as the stars and sand, and he was promised the land of Canaan. Abraham being 100 years old when his son Isaac was born whom God had ordained to be who Israel would be born. I’m sure that Abraham was thinking that I will get cities and a country and lots of kids this will be awesome, but in reality he had two kids and he lived and died in a tent. We need to remember that what we heir God speaking to us will come true it may not look like what you think it should look like. 

Prayer: Father I stand in awe of you and how you work all things together for the good of your children. I thank you for the blessings and provisions that you give us. I thank you for having a plan and an end game for us. I ask that you help us to continually strive for that end game even though we think the way we are getting there is the wrong way. 

July 13, 2016 I want a Quiver full!!!

Reading: Hebrews 10, 2 Chronicles 6-7, and Psalm 127

Scripture: Psalm 127:4, Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

Observation: Solomon the wisest man in the world wrote these words. So not only are they God’s words because they are scripture they are the words of the wisest man in the wold. I love analogies like this where they compare these two seemingly unrelated things to make a point. I also love this because it talk not just about kids but from my perspective my kids and as you read it you can insert your kids. 

Application: So fist I want to look at the Arrows in the hand of a warrior. As I see it Arrows are a weapon that is sent into the mist of the enemy to do damage. Archers are not the front line they are the ones on the concord ground firing those arrows in. Therefore if our children are like arrows we are to be the warrior. We were the arrows once and our parents (whether birth parents or spiritual parents) groomed us to do the damage we have done and may still be doing. Now that we have been sent behind enemy lines we are to stand our ground and move the front further claiming more of the enemies hold and one day we will send our arrows out just as we were sent. We are to train up out children in the ways of the Lord so that they will be prepared for the day the Lord calls us to let them fly.

Prayer: Father I thank you for the provisions for each day and the blessings that are poured out upon us. I thank you for my family and my arrows that you have given me. I ask that you help me to raise up might warriors for you that will dive deep into the enemies stronghold and tear them down. 

July 12, 2016 What a Bloody mess!!

Reading: Hebrews 9, 1 Kings 8, and 2 Chronicles 5

Scripture: Hebrews 9:13-14, For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Observation: The Hebrew people would once a year go up to the temple to sacrifice to have their sins covered by the blood and ash of the sacrifice. I many times don’t think about the what the sacrifice process looked like or what it cost those who participated in it. With this being an agricultural society the cost of taking an animal and some grain to the temple and giving it to the priests to sacrifice. 

Application: We have been blessed in that we were born in a time that Jesus has already fulfilled the requirements where we don’t have to every year take a large portion of our livelihood and hope that it is worthy of being a sacrifice. Let us always remember God’s great gift of sending his son to shed his blood as a perfect sacrifice that we don’t have to continue to go to the priests and ask them to sacrifice for us so that we can be covered. 

Prayer: I thank you lord for sending your son, for providing us with a direct connection to you though the Holy Spirit. I thank you for the Blessings and provisions that you give us each day.

July 11, 2016 Give me my wages

I thank you all for bearing with me I have been sick and a little distracted by starting a new job and I let this fall by the wayside. So I am back and I hope to continue to bring you my thoughts each day. God bless and have a Great day.

Reading: Hebrews 8, 1 Kings 7, and 2 Chronicles 4

Scripture: Hebrews 8:12, For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

Observation: Sometimes the idea that God will not remember our sins is hard, especially when I can remember and I get reminders from the devil what I did wrong. I know I have the tendencies to pick up old chains that have held me down in the past and put them back on. Not that I want to be held captive by it but because it was what I always did. 

Application: Being merciful is not giving to someone what they deserve. According to Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death and I have sinned therefore I deserve to die. God is so wonderful that though the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus he is able to show us Mercy and not remember our sins.

Prayer: Father I thank you for all the great blessings that you pour out on us each and every day. I thank you that you are Merciful and it is sufficient enough to even cover me. I ask you to help us to remember what you have done for us and give you the praise you deserve. 

July 4, 2016 The blood on my hands.

Reading: Hebrews 1 and 1 Chronicles 22-24

Scripture: 1 Chronicles 22:8, But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth.

Observation: The Bible over and over calls David “A man after God’s own heart” but here we have God telling David no you can’t do something because there is too much blood on his hands. As much as we try to do God’s will and seek to be the person we think we need to be that may not be that plan that God has.

Application: I don’t know how many times I have started doing something and was thinking, “Yes this is got to be what God wants for me I'm enjoying myself and I think I'm doing his work” to be later pulled from that situation and plopped into something else. Or even thinking, “I will never do that, that is not who I am” just to find that later you may not be doing exactly what you said but you are so close that you have even though about doing that thing you said you would never do. David had a great plan to build a house (The Temple) for God, and God said “No you can’t, but your son can because he will not have so much blood on his hands.” So we can expect that there will be times we will be called to do things bigger then we ever thought we could (like David vs. Goliath) and there will be times where we will be told no that is for someone else. Learn to listen to God and the Holy Spirit on what we are called to do.

Prayer: Father I thank you for you blessings and your plan for each of our lives. I ask that you help us to see the directions you have for us and have the discernment to know what we are to do and what we are to allow others to take up the mantle of. 

July 3, 2016 I will pay for that.

Reading: Philemon, 2 Samuel 23-24, and 1 Chronicles 21

Scripture: Philemon 18-19a, If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it

Observation: Who doesn’t like hearing that someone else is picking up the bill? As Christians we have accepted God’s gift of picking up our bill (for our sin) though the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. Here after Onesimus runs away from his master and meets Paul learned of Jesus and became a believer and has spent some time with Paul and through some turn of events Paul finds out or figures out the Onesimus belongs to Philemon and sends him back with this letter asking Philemon to now treat Onesimus as if he was Paul.

Application: There are a couple things that come to mind fist is if I was Philemon I would be thinking this guy is my slave I can do to him as I please, and second was what use could a run away slave be to Paul. But here I feel the think we most need to get out of this First no matter who our fellow believer once was they are now a brother or sister in Christ and we need to treat them as family, and second if someone says I’ve got the bill don’t continue to try to charge the other person. 

Prayer: Father, Thank you for your great mercy, I also thank you for the provisions and blessings that you pour out upon us. As we walk each day in the mercies we ask you to help us to extend those same mercies to those around us, especially those who wrong us. 

July 2, 2016 Don't be like me!!!!!

Reading: Titus 3, 2 Samuel 22, and Psalm 18

Scripture: Titus 3:3, For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Observation: Just before this verse Paul was telling Titus to remind people not to be a certain way and then says like we were. I know I'm guilty of doing many of those foolish things. Even growing up in the church I walked away and was a fool and did so many stupid things and even coming back to God and spending time with him I will fall back into doing things the way the world does it, by speaking evil and quarreling. 

Application: This was a reminder to me that I need to just let it go, I don’t always have to be right (although I always think I am even if I'm not), I don’t need to tear people down to get to where God wants me, God is the one that promotes and places me where he knows I need to be. I’m not saying that I don’t do anything, I always do my Job the best I can and strive to be the best at whatever it is I'm doing, therefore doing it unto the Lord. 

Prayer: Father, I thank you for all you do and the direction and guidance you give to us though your Holy Spirit. I thank you for all the blessings that you pour out on us and this nation. I ask that you are constantly on the heart of whoever makes it into the hight house after this election and you help them to see your will for this nation and not a notion of a political party. 

July 1, 2016 You did what?!?!?

Reading: Titus 2 and 2 Samuel 19-21

Scripture: 2 Samuel 19:21-22, Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, "Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord's anointed?" But David said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?"

Observation: Just a short time before this same man Shimei had been cursing david as David left was leaving Jerusalem to avoid being killed by his son. Now as david returns he asks for forgiveness. I don’t know how many times I have felt like Abishai asking for permission to take vengeance upon someone who had wronged me.  

Application: Just as David said, “Shall anyone be put to death…this day” We all need the heart of David, we need to know that as God in the one who judges man’s heart and we are to forgive. Forgiveness is not a release of guilt of what someone has done but the release of you dwelling one it. Just as we can not release the man who killed so many at the Bible study and prayer, but the family and church members when too his arraignment and forgave him. This was an extreme example but we all have things in our lives where we need to stop asking for revenge and start offering forgiveness.

Prayer: Father, I thank you for forgiving us and giving us the ability to forgive others. I also thank you for your provisions and blessings you pour out on us each day. I ask that you help us each to open up our hearts and offer forgiveness to those who have wronged us and show them your love.