Who am i

Reading: Numbers 34-36 and 2 Corinthians 3

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:1,Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

Thoughts: How often do we loose perspective on who God called us to be and who he sees. It is just as easy to get puffed up as it is to think we are no good. We need to keep our perspective and listen to the voice of God speaking through Holy Spirit and His word. Who are we listening to, those who speak hurt pain and condemnation into our lives or those who speak love, joy, and encouragement? On the other hand who are we being the one who speaks life or death?

Prayer: Father God you are the one who knows us better than we know ourselves and yet you sent your son to die for us anyway, I thank you for all you have done and all you are doing. I ask that you help me to keep your perspective on who I am and not who I think I am or who the world tells me I am. 

That lot shall be his!!

Reading: Numbers 33, Psalm 65, and 2 Corinthians 2

Scripture: Numbers 33:54, You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. 

Thoughts: I was drawn to the second to last sentence of this passage in Numbers, it is easy to look at the abundance of others, or our perception of abundance. In the USA we typically view abundance as more than we have, many nations view the poor here as rich. We each have a different perspective on where that abundance line is, but we each have a lot that was granted to us large or small. God has given it to us and he can adjust what he gave us. 

Prayer: Lord God, you own it all, you lead us and guide us, you pour out you peace and joy on us. I thank you for that which you gave me to steward. I thank you that you are molding me and growing me, I ask that you continue to refine me help me of remove the dross in my life and be purified. 

Light and dark, hate and love

Reading: Nehemiah 9-10 and 1 John 2

 

Scripture: 1 John 2:9-11, Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

 

Thoughts: In a world of extreme connection we see many of the things in this world that were once a local issue. Yes, we all have biases that were taught to us by those around us. Over the last several years we have empowered the victims to the point that nothing is wrong and if I don’t accept everything thing someone thinks makes me a bigot. John is reminding us that we need to not only be the light but live in the light, where we will love those whom we disagree with. We are allowed to disagree and we are given the word of God and Holy Spirit to recognize and discern sin. Not to condemn or judge because the is not our job that is God’s job. Are we walking in the light or because of biases or racist tendency are we walking in the dark. No matter who you are or what you have done you are loved but if there is unrepented sin in your life that will cause separation from God. 

 

Prayer: Father God, you know me, you know my victories and my failures, you know the hairs on my head and the days of my life. I thank you that you are pouring your love and peace over us, I thank you that you are always molding and refining me. Put me through the fire to remove the impurities in my life help me to grow in my relationship with you and be the father and husband I am called to be. Open the doors that need to be opened and close those that will distract from your plan. 

A people scattered

Reading: Esther 3-6, Psalm 126, and Hebrews 13

 

Scripture: Esther 3:8, Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 

 

Thoughts: As I was reading this portion of Esther, that book of the Bible does not mention God but you watch Him move throughout it. Haman a man of great power who has the signet ring of the King developed a hatred for Mordecai and by extension his people. Haman brings before the king this group of people who live and worship differently and tells the know not to tolerate them. Even within the church there are differing opinions on things. I see it we are to present the Gospel and God’s love and speak where the word of God speaks and be silent what it is silent. Holy Spirit will work in the lives who diligently seek God and through Holy Spirit will mold us and make us into the men and women we are called to be. God it the final judge and the only question is will he see your scarlet robes or have you been washed clean by Christ Jesus? We are set apart for such a time as this.

 

Prayer: Father God, you lead us and guide us every day, we are a people who are scared all over this world. I thank you that you are leading and guiding us, you are modeling and refining us into those you call us to be. Father help us to have the boldness to walk in your will, to seek your path even if it will cost us our lives or livelihoods. You are our provider and our deliverance. I ask that you fill us with your love, joy, and peace, as we seek to bear your fruit.  

Called for such a time

Reading: Zachariah 7-9, Psalm 25, Hebrews 8, and 1 Peter 2

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:21, For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Thoughts: Peter here was talking about the call that each of us are called to, the great commission. We are called to do good and spread the Gospel yet there will be those who will suffer for it. Just like in Ester we are each called to such a time as this were we are to stand for something. When we are not willing to stand and not willing to take the suffering that may come for standing for what the Bible teaches where else are we going to compromise. I would like to say there is nothing anyone could do or threaten that would cause me to step back from my stance on who God is and my belief in Him and His Son Jesus the Christ and Messiah. I stand with my Savior and in the teachings of His word, read the Bible every day and meditate on it. 

Prayer: Father God, you are the beginning and the end, you know what is to come and the strife that is coming for us. I thank you that you give us a discerning spirit that leads us and guides us as we walk in this world and strive to not be of this world. I thank you that you are leading and guiding me, that you are molding and refining me to be the man you have called me to. I ask for your strength and perseverance to overcome my own fears and trepidations as I strive to walk out your will. Give me the strength to stand firm in the face of great suffering. 

What Rights?!?

Reading: Daniel 9-10, Psalm 50, and Hebrews 2

Scripture: Psalm 50:16-17, But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.

Thoughts: We are Matthew 7:20 that we will know a tree by its fruit, just like being able to know apple, pear, and orange trees apart by the appearance of their fruit, by what we produce and what those around us produce we will see where their hearts are. Then in the Psalm today I was reminded of all those whom we see claiming the benefits and the covenants and yet we watch them produce fruit that does not reflect that what they are claiming. There are those in all stages of their walks with God and we are all saved by grace, but we are also all called to bear fruit in accordance with the gifts and calling on our lives. When we are walking in the Lord and striving to be more like him, the fruit will reflect those of Galatians 5:22-23 and less like the works of the flesh in verse 19-21 of the same chapter. We need to be aware and decerning of the fruit that we are being tossed into a salad with, when some ones rotten stuff gets in with the fruit God is working in me the hole things gets contaminated. Just because some one knows the Bible does not mean that they are doing God’s work. Let us seek not to just recite the statutes and covenants but to seek after God in a way that we can be a part of those statutes and covenants. 

Prayer: Father God, you are above all things, you own the cattle on a thousand hills and you know the hairs on my head. I thank you that you are leading me and guiding me. I thank you that you are molding and refining me that my fruit is more of you and less of me. help, me to reflect who you are and grow into the man you have called me to be. Open my eyes and pour your discerning spirit upon us that we can walk in the light and not be distracted by the darkness around us. 

Dry bone Army

Reading: Ezekiel 37-38, Psalm 44, and 1 Timothy 4

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:10, So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Thoughts: We are called into spiritual warfare, as Christians we are going to be fighting against the principalities and powers that come against us. As a Christian in the United States, it is very easy to allow the world to influence us until the beliefs of the church mirror the beliefs of the world around us. We are becoming the dry bones that may make it into heaven by the grace and mercy of God but may not hear that fraise we all want to hear when we get to heaven “Well done good and faithful servant.” We get focused on the “do nots” and the “live at peace with everyone” we forget the things we are called to do Jesus told us that we are going to do these signs and greater signs, We are told to go to all the nations and bring the Gospel. Yet we sit at home and doing our 9-5 and worrying about our 401k and our bank accounts. An army is not just an invasion force, they are Ambassadors in that they may be the only face of a nation that the locals will ever see. They are protectors protecting the innocent from the enemy, no matter if it is in a foreign land where they are protecting people from an evil there or if it is from home protecting those around them and their nation. Are we going to rise up letting God bring these dry bones back to life and breath into us as an army to protect our heavenly citizenship? 

Prayer: Lord God, you are the one true king, you are gracious and merciful and Just. Your creations should of your glory and a long to linger in your presence. I thank you for the calling you have placed on me and the molding and refining you are working in my life. I ask that you knit this dry bones together and breath a new life into this warrior. 

Rebuilt that nations know God!!!

Reading: Ezekiel 35-36, Psalm 77, 1 Timothy 3, and 2 Thessalonians 3

Scripture: Ezekiel 36:36, Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

Thoughts: As I was reading Ezekiel today and he was talking about God destroying and rebuilding Israel and how God said that the others nations will know that He is God because of the rebuilding. It is the same with us, no matter if we have come from a broken home and walked in the brokenness of the world all our lives when we fully seek God every day we will start reflecting God in our lives and we will be rebuild. Not everyone had the dramatic testimony of I was the violent gang member doing drugs and now I am this strait-laced Christian story. After growing up in the church I found myself getting into bad relationships and even being a contribution to the bad in the relationships including two divorces and living with someone. God used those situations and times where I tossed my relationship with God not just to the back burner but completely off the stove. I was obsessed with being needed and wanted in a relationship. When God got back ahold of me and with the help of a wonderful woman and a church community that helped me to find what I was looking for in God has helped me grow and move from the desolate and ruined man that I was to someone who seeks God as much as he can. Our lives like Israel will show the nations around us the He is Lord. 

Prayer: Father God, you are so wonderful, you know the grains of sand and the stars above, you hold us in the palm of your hand and yet you care about us and our lives. Your creation shouts of your glory. I thank you that you are a God that rebuilds and calls up. I thank you that you don’t count us unworthy you call us all and you seek a relationship with us all. I thank you that you are working in my life, I have come a long way yet there is still more to do. I thank you that you do rebuild and you mold and refine each and every one of us if we let you. I ask that you help me to be moldable and softened that you can work in me. 

Standing up

Reading: Daniel 3-4, 1 Timothy 1, and 2 Thessalonians 1

Scripture: Daniel 3:16-17, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.”

Thoughts: We are always needing the reminders in our lives that we need to stand up for what we believe. In western society and with the ever-widening divide that is being created by the narratives of one side verses the other and are being exacerbated by the echo chambers created on the internet. Are we getting into the Word of God every day seeking Him and asking to be led by Holy Spirit? We need the discernment to walk in this world and be willing to take whatever persecution will come our way. Here in the United States, we have been granted the freedom to speak and worship as we will, but there are those who are working to remove those freedoms. Even the freedoms we once enjoyed are being taken from us, we like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego need to be willing to stand up and say no more. We each need to listen to Holy Spirt and seek the path we are to take, there are some called to stand, there are those called to support. We may not be currently persecuted like those in other countries but if we don’t stand for God now that persecution will come here. Get in the Word every day and seek your place in Gods plan for this world. 

Prayer: Lord God you are in control, you lead and guide us. Your plan has been set in place since the beginning of time. I am blessed to be apart of what you are doing and the work you have for me to do. I ask that you continue to work in me, mold me and refine me into the spiritual warrior you have called me to be. 

Walking in inconvenience

Reading: 2 Kings 25, 2 Chronicles 36, Ephesians 4, and 1 Thessalonians 5

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16, Rejoice always

Thoughts: Over the last few weeks, I have been struggling, I interviewed for a position on October 10 offered the position and told that I would hear something withing 3-4 weeks I thought that was a little long but went with it. When reaching the end of the time I had not heard anything I contacted them and was told there was a hiccup and that I should hear from someone by November 29, luckily it didn’t take that long. It had its how hiccups like me being given one date for a phone call and the person calling me another. Finally I got the official offer and a start date of January 10 a full 3 months after my interview. In going though all things I got away from journaling and missing some of my time with God letting myself get distracted with things on social media. Then in reading I came across the shortest verse in the Bible, probably not the one you are thing of, Jesus wept (ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς) may be the shortest in English but in the original language the shortest is a command that we should all want to and strive to keep and have as part of our daily lives. Rejoice always (Πάντοτε χαίρετε) is a short and powerful command that will change our outlook on life dramatically, when we spend our time focusing on the bad and the inconvenient that is going on, Like being told that because of a hiccup that you have a month and a half left at a current position, or if you were someone with out work that you had that much more time without income. What would happen if we found reasons to rejoice even in the middle of disappointment and inconvenience? Even though we may be having struggles and disappointments there are wondrous reasons to rejoice. 

Prayer: Father God, you are so wonderful, you own the cattle on a thousand hills, you created all things and yet you still know the hairs on my head. You know what I need before I do and you set things in motions to take care of all things. You work all things for the good of those who are called according to his purpose. You are with us as we walk through hardships and trials, you are our comfort and shield. I thank you for all that you are doing in me, I thank you that you are molding me and guiding me, that you are refining me and forging me into that witch you call me to be. I ask that you pour your peace and mercy on me as I continue in the place I am ready to leave. Lord I ask that you bless those who are loosing me as a worker and those who are gaining me. May your timing for the move be a blessing to all. 

Presented

Reading: Ezekiel 27-28, Ephesians 1, and 1 Thessalonians 2

Scripture: Ephesians 1:11, In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Thoughts: When reading this verse I was going to look into the word for counsel but ended up accidently pulling up the word for purpose, the Greek word was prothesis and eight times it was translated as purpose but also it has been translated four time as Shewbread or setting fourth of things or to place in view. The Shewbread or Showbread were the twelve loaves that were offered every sabbath in the temple. This bread was offered regularly to God placing it in view of God. Paul is taking this practice that these Jews would have known and saying we are as the showbread Christ has taken us into the temple of Heaven and laid us out like the show bread before God. We have been washed clean by the Blood of Christ but we still have a tendency to pick up that we have been told to lay down. So, what are we holding onto in our lives that is being shown to God?

Prayer: Father God, we are unworthy to me in your presence, yet you sent your Son to come and be the payment that I may be in your presence. I thank you that you are working in my life cleaning the spots and blemishes that I have put on over the years. I thank you that you call me to be your son and that I get to walk with you. I ask again this day to be cleaned the washed again as things creep into my life I ask that you help me to focus on you and seek your guidance for my life. 

Rejoice and be glad

Reading: Ezekiel 25-26, Psalm 118, Galatians 6, and 1 Thessalonians 1

Scripture: Psalm 118:24, This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Thoughts: We so often get wrapped up in the little things of day-to-day life let us stop and rejoice and be glad in what God has done in our lives. 

Prayer: Father God, you are so wonderful, your creation shouts of your glory, I rejoice in the work you are doing in my life the pleasures and joy pour out on me. I thank you and praise you. 

Are we institutionalized?

Reading: Ezekiel 21-22 and Galatians 4

Scripture: Galatians 4:31, So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Thoughts: Paul is reminding us of the freedom that Christ redeemed us from. Through the adoption into God’s family, we are made to free even though we tend to walk back into our slavery. There is a term for those who have been released from prison and don’t know how to cope with the freedom they have been granted, they are institutionalized, there are those that it is such an issue for them they will do a new crime to go back. Many Christians can find themselves in the same boat, we have spent so much time in the clutches of sin and taking the chains of our past with us we don’t know what to do with the freedom that we receive in Christ. Not that we are to sin more, but we are free from the guilt and condemnation of the chain we have caried with us for so long. Are we institutionalized by the sins of this world or are we striving forward into the calling The Father has placed in our lives? 

Prayer: Father God, creator of all things, almighty God, you are so wondrous. I thank you that you have called me and that you are leading me every day. I thank you that you are molding me into the man you call me to be, helping me to put down the chains of my past and walk in your grace and mercy. I ask that you help me to continue to strive after you every day.

November 4 Setting your mind????

Reading: Jeremiah 32-33 and Romans 8

Scripture: Romans 8:6, For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Thoughts: We all have fleshly desires, some are created by God for survival and procreation, others are tools that have been twisted into desires by the evil one. The most common one of these is money, it is a tool for commers, money allows us to convert the works of our hands and mind into other thing we need for survival. When we get to the point where we are seeking money for the sake of having more, or that old phrase “keeping up with the Jones.” Are we living to work or are we working to live? For me there was a time where I think I was living to work, in the fact I was working as many hours as I could to get as much money as I could to get more things, as well as living on credit. Today I am fighting to not work too much but needing to pay my bills and take care of a family I still work more then I would like and I’m tired when I am home. When I started focusing on God and looking at my spiritual life I started to see even in the tight budget and crazy world swirling around me I found all the provision and peace I needed. Our flesh is always going to want more and always change what it wants when we get what we thought we wanted, but the peace of God is always there always filling us we just need to learn to tap into it.

Prayer: Father God, you are the creator of all things, you are the great provider and you pour your peace over us. I thank you for all that you are doing in my life, the molding and refining to grow who you have called me to be, I thank you for the provision that you pour out upon us. Giving us what we need when we need it and even at times the things we want. I thank you that you are always with us pouring your love into your lives that we may pour it out to others. Help me to keep my focus on you and seek your spirit and turn from the fleshly desires that only fulfill for a time. 

Molding nations

Reading: Jeremiah 17-18, Acts 18, and 2 Corinthians 10

Scripture: Jeremiah 18:6, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Thoughts: Jeremiah just watched a potter working and reworking a lump of clay when God tells him that He (God) can do it with a nation. He does not tell us how he forms and reforms the nations. When we look at the history of Israel, how many times were they taken into captivity or nearly obliterated as a people. The nation of Israel was reestablished in 1948 after many conflicts. God’s hand had to be on this people nation who were able to retain their identity without a land to call their own. If God can mold nation like a potter molds clay, what can he do in your life if you let him? Open your heart to the change and molding He has for you.

Prayer: Father God, you are the potter and the refiner, you mold people and states and countries. I thank you that you are working ion my life, I thank you that you are leading and guiding your people. I thank you that you are molding and refining my life that I may walk in your ways. I ask that you open my heart and mind to the leading of your molding and that I may be your vessel.