May 30, 2017 It was a run by Fruitting!!

Reading: Matthew 7 and 1 Samuel 13-14

Scripture: Matthew 7:16-18, You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Observation: There have been times in my walk with the Lord that I wondered about my fruit, I don’t think I have bad fruit, or that I'm a thistle or a thorn bush that are worth nothing more than being thrown into the fire. I think and wonder how healthy am I do I bear fruit at all. Our pastor a few weeks ago put at this statistic that about 90% of Christians today have never personally lead someone to the Lord. I wonder am I going to be apart of that statistic my entire life. Im not saying that souls lead to Christ are our fruit, I believe our fruit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control when we are in the word and seeking God’s will for each day we are given more opportunities to practice these fruit.

Through the Holy spirit we are given these fruit and our hearts are open to them but this is not just a fix all. There is work involved, if you are like me and have a history of being quick to anger and wanting everything now, these are some very difficult things to do and have in your life. As I spend more time in the word and more time with God in my life and listening to him the more opportunities I have to practice and with the help of God and the Holy Spirit to grow each of the fruit. Having children has definitely opened my eyes on how much further I have to go.

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful your creation in magnificent and I enjoy being in it each day. I thank you for the provisions and blessings you have for me each and every day. I come before you broken and needing your help, I ask that you help me to grow your fruit and become the light of your world, a beacon that points to you and your love joy and peace. 

May 26, 2017 Blessings and cursings

Reading: Matthew 3 and 1 Samuel 1-3

Scripture: 1 Samuel 1:19-20, They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, "I have asked for him from the Lord."

Observation: In todays reading God reminded me on how faithful he is both in blessings and cursings. In the first chapter of 1 Samuel when Hannah prayed and weeped for a son and even offering him to God. Later God remembers her and she conceives and has Samuel. Later God sends Eli a messenger telling him that his family will be cursed, then later confirms it through establishing Samuel as a profit and telling him of the curse.

Application: There are of many doctrines of faith out there in the Christian world and some of them ignore the curse that God lay our before us and only look at the blessings. We have to be carful to not only look at the blessings but to understand that there are curses that can afflict us. 

Prayer: Father you are so faithful I stand humbly before your. I thank you for all the provisions and blessings you choose to pour out on us. All I have is yours and I am only a steward of it. Lord I ask that you help us to see your blessings and understand that there are cursing that can happen. 

May 25, 2017 Im not listening

Reading: Matthew 2, Ruth 3-4 and Psalm 68

Scripture: Ruth 3:18, She replied, "Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today."

Observation: Today what stuck out to me was once God’s plan was known to Boaz he didn’t say as so many christians do “I need to pray about it,” as soon as the next day dawned he went to do what needed to be done. 

Application: How often do we hear God telling us to do something and we put it off or ignore is completely. What we can lear from Boaz is when we hear from God we need to get right to it and not put it off. I know that God can use us when we finally come around to listening but the blessings that come when we listen the first time is so much better then when we just get around to it. 

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful. I thank you for the blessings and provisions you give us each day. I ask that you help me to hear your voice more and have the fortitude to act upon in the first time. 

May 24, 2017 Where have all the Good Men Gone

I have missed so much of the reading plan and without taking the time to be in the word and seek God’s plan each day, I have found myself falling into old habits and letting things get me down. I want to hear what God has for me this morning. Father open my eye and ears to what you have for me and help me to hear your voice. 

Reading: Matthew 1, Judges 21 and Ruth 1-2

Scripture: Ruth 2:15-16, When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her."

Observation: My sister in law just returned from a trip to Africa and one of the things she talked about was the community that the people had there, in these villages that she stayed at everyone would support everyone else. Just at Boaz made sure that Ruth had what she needed for her and Naomi, these people will fill a need of those in their community when it is seen or made know. 

Application: Christ tells us to love our neighbors (Mark 12:31) so often we look at this and like the people around him we ask who is our neighbor and because just like everyone out there we have family members we don’t even like we think how can we love them. I think this comes from the wrong definition of love. Love in the minds of most people in western society we think of love as this feeling for some one you want to be with or even as the act of sex “we made Love.” God’s definition of Love (I think he would know being that he is love) first off DC Talk had it correct when they sang Love is a verb. Love is choosing to place the needs of others before your own and wanting the best for someone even if you don’t like them or maybe especially if you don’t like them.

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful giving us your love even when we don’t deserve it. I stand in awe of your great love that even before you formed us in our mothers wombs you had a plan for us. I thank you for your love and your provision in my life. I ask that you help us to have your heart of love and help us to love our neighbors as you would love our neighbors. Help us to be your hands and feet to the world around us. 

May 15, 2017 It's not mine

Reading: Colossians 1, Joshua 23-24 and Psalm 99

Scripture: Joshua 24:14-15, "Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Observation: Growing up every time I heard about “God’s chosen people” I imagined that the nation of Israel was so Holy and so good. Now as I have learned better and spend more time in the word and seek the knowledge that God has for me though the Holy Spirit I see that Israel is just as stubborn and pig headed as I am. 

Application: I would have thought that after what they have seen as God has given the land into their hands and all the stories they heard form their parents of how God brought them out of Egypt and gave them mana, that these people would have had such great faith and would have had no need for other gods and look to other things. I know that I will from time to time place things above God by worrying and focusing on other things like money. We need to keep things in the proper perspective.

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful and forgiving. I thank you for your provisions and blessing you pour out on us each day. I lay my fiancees at your feet this is your money this your debt this is your house and car we are only stewards of this. I ask that you place on my heart what to pay and how much to pay each day and each bill and each place to give. it is all yours and I ask for your leading.

May 12, 2017 Why are you so important.

Reading Philippians 2 and Joshua 16-18

Scripture: Philippians 2:3, Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Observation: As of late I feel that God has been talking to me about money and humility. Today the message about selfish ambition rand out to me and the other night at a mens Bible study we talked about our purpose and in that work and money. As I try to keep my focus on God, seek after him and continue to look for his plan for each day and what me next step is going to be, I find myself looking at my finances and going how am I going to pay this bill or that bill and in that I start thinking of human ways of adjusting thing to make them work. At times I feel like I'm walking a fine line between where I'm being a good steward of what God has given me and saying I don’t care God will take care of us. 

Application: An image was told to me I one of my college classes, my teacher had bought an oil lamp like what would have been used in biblical days. After placing oil and a wick in it he went out of town where there was not city lights turned off all lights and lit the lamp. This little lamp cast a light only enough to see one or two steps. After telling us this story he brings up when Jesus said, “I am the lamp unto your feet and the light unto your path.” We so often want to see the entire path but God wants us to have faith that he will direct us and only shows us enough for the next step or two. 

Prayer: Father I thank you for your light and your path even though I long to see it all you give me enough to fallow. I thank you for your provision and your blessings. I ask that you help me to think more of others and not focus on my own needs. 

May 11th, 2017 We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster.

Reading: Philippians 1 and Joshua 14-15

Scripture: Joshua 14:11, I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 

Observation: Caleb after wondering in the desert for forty years and serving in the Lords army and coming into the promised land comes to Joshua and said hey you remember the promises that God and Moses gave us after we went into the promised land and spied it out. These two guys we in their 80’s and in todays thinking most people look at people of that age and say they are used up and useless. God not only kept these guys alive but according to Caleb he was as strong then as he was in his 40’s. He was also ready to head into war to take the cities that were promised to him and has clan. 

Application: Not only did God keep the promises of giving him the land he walked on when spying out the land God gave him strength and abilities to take those lands when they were given and it was time to take them. I know I get scared when I feel like I should go do something for God but it’s not something I'm good at or something I don’t want to do. When we step out into the calling we have no matter if its just something in the moment or if its a call into a ministry God will give us the tools to do it. I have heard many times this in many different ways and I have a tendency to get them jumbled in my head but, God will equip those who are willing and available to go. How often do we look at a situation and say I can’t do that because I don’t have the the skills or can’t speak well. Look at how that worked out for Moses. When God calls us he knows what we can do and what is needed do to what we were called to. Stop thinking I can’t do this or that and start being like Isaiah and when God asked whom shall I send say here am I send me. 

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful your creation being only a glimpse of the glory you have and wonders there are in heaven I just stand in awe. I thank you Lord for your word and the new revelations you give us each day through your Holy Spirit. I thank you for the provisions and blessings you pour out on us each day and the opportunities that you lay before us. Lord I ask the you help us to be like Isaiah and we can say I'm here send me and know that we can do anything you call us to. May your power and knowledge guides us in all we do. 

May 10, 2017 Speak Up we can't hear you in the back

Reading: Ephesians 6 and Joshua 12-13

Scripture: Ephesians 6:19-20, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Observation: Paul was writing to encourage the believers in Ephesus and with the great reminder that we have God’s armor to help us when we are in battle, but that is where most people stop reading or paying attention I know I had. Just after all that encouragement he puts in there is says, “also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” In church we always hear about these heavy weights in faith such as Paul, Peter and John we often forget they are just as human and susceptible to feeling down as we are. 

Application: Paul was not only encouraging those in Ephesus and us 2000 years later but he was encouraging himself. Reading this portion makes me thing that he may have been battling with some sort of depression in that he was maybe not wanting to talk to people. We have all been given the great commission to go and tell others, the simple Gospel and our own story of who we were before and what God has done in our lives. 

Prayer: Father I stand in awe of how you have made words written 2000 years ago come alive and speak to us anew each day. I thank you for your Holy Spirit who helps us to see and hear your voice. I thank you for the provisions and blessings you pour out on us each and very day. I ask that as Paul said that the words be given to me and my mouth opened to speak boldly. 

May 8th 2017, I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.

Reading: Ephesians 4 and Joshua 8-9

Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-13, And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 

Observation: We all have different gifting and abilities that God has given us, we need to seek God’s wisdom and ask what our direction is. Paul named off several of the gifts that God pours out on us. These ones are gifts that help raise up and equip others for ministry. God may have a ministry waiting for you to be equipped for or he my be grooming you to be one of those who helps to raise up the next generation. 

There are many ways to start the process of finding God’s direction for your life, but all start with seeking him and being in is word. After spending time in his word and listening to him there are many spiritual gifting quizzes or tests that can give you a direction of what God’s has put in you as a gift. But also I would talk to people who know you and will be honest with you and your pastor. I went to school and after graduating with a Biblical degree I thought I would be called into some sort of full-time professional ministry where I would be  paid to use my schooling. 

I have sense discovered at this time I am a teacher and I help Kids to grow and seek God. This is never would have been a place I would have seen myself going and being a part of God’s plan or work. I still struggle with the temptations in my life the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. The devil has not developed new tricks in 5000 years, as we grow in the Lord he seeks out opportune times to attack us. Lately he has been attacking my time causing me to let myself get busy or to sleep longer and not take my time with God in the morning then when I'm not looking to God so much he will start putting thoughts into my head or bringing things or people into my vision that will get distracted from God’s call for my life or that day.

Prayer: Father I thank you for the gift of your son and the opportunities that you place before me each day. I know I struggle with keeping your word in my heart and keeping myself focused you the things you have for me. I thank you that you provide for all my needs and bless us more then we know. I ask that you help me to continually seek you and seek your direction for my life as I can be distracted 

May 3, 2017 Snip the Tip

Reading: Galatians 5 and Deuteronomy 31-32

Scripture: Galatians 5:14, For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Observation: As Paul was talking to the Galatian church they were having an argument about if the gentile (non Jewish) believers needed to be circumcised, Most of us who are Christians today are gentile and as a man I appreciate that fact that when I came to know Christ as my savior I didn’t have to got to a priest to be circumcised. Not only in the fact that I don’t want surgery down there, Paul was saying that if we accept the Covenant of circumcision then we have to be held to the standard of the law.

Application: If we are held to the law just as the Jewish people were we will never measure up to the standards that God has set for us. Paul was only restating what Jesus told us that all the other commandments are wrapped up in one and that is to love your neighbor as yourself. Love is not a feeling or a emotion that we so often think of it now days, Love is a choice and an action, Love is putting the needs of others before your own needs. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus not by works or sacrifices given to cover our mistakes.

Prayer: Father you are so amazing and I am so in awe of your love for us. I thank you that you have sent us your son that we may have the opportunity to draw close to you. I thank you for your daily provisions and blessings you pour out on us each and every day. I ask that you help us to see every opportunity to love as you love and help us to share your love with those around us. 

May 2, 2017 Choose Life

Reading: Galatians 4, Deuteronomy 29-30 and Psalm 15

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:19, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 

Observation: Back as the nation of Israel was coming into the promised land this was another portion of the covenant that told them what would happen if they didn’t fallow the law and implored them to choose life by following the law. As the generations passed history and the Bible show how Israel ebed and flowed in and out of God’s will at times being taken into exile again.

Application: Looking at this passage through the eyes of the new testament in John 14:6 Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life. Not only is this passage imploring the nation of Israel to fallow the law but it encourages us to choose the life that is in Christ Jesus. I have found in my life that even knowing that I have been saved by what Jesus has done for us I still have to make a point every day to choose Life and choose to follow Jesus. It is easy to go back to my ways of doing things that I did them before coming to Christ. 

Prayer: Father I am so in awe of how you can love us anew each day and we have the opportunity to choose life each day. I thank you for choosing me for the plans you have and the provisions and blessings that you have for us each day. I ask that you help us to see where we are falling back into our old ways and seek you on a daily basis. 

May 1, 2017 Mayday mayday.

I know I have not written anything for a over a week now and I feel the difference when I’m not connected to God. After my Church Men’s retreat the evil one has been working overtime to get us distracted and not moving forward in God’s plan for our lives. We all came back energized and ready. There have been many of us who have gotten sick others who have deal with relational issues, and I’m sure there are men who are having issues with job stuff. 

Reading: Galatians 3 and Deuteronomy 28

Scripture: Galatians 3:28-29, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Observation: Going through the topic of the Men’s retreat of Reset and what reseting different parts of our lives look like this passage written nearly 2000 year ago talks about the reset that happens in Christ Jesus. We have this tendency to look at our past or something we are going though and say God cant use me or I can't change this is who I am. but Paul was saying we are not who we were but we are one with Christ and heirs with him.  We are all part of the family of God though Jesus Christ and faith in him. 

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful that your son came and paid the price for me even though I have never deserved it. I thank you for your love and for the provisions and blessings you pour out on us each day. Lord help us to know you more each day and accept and grow in the reset life that you offer us though your son.