I decided to start this blog (2010) because my son, John-Robert gave me a One Year Bible for Christmas, the New Living Translation... reading it has changed my life... I post a daily Bible verse on my Facebook page every day and it has been well received... I thought that this would be a wonderful way to share part of what I read each day!... I hope that you enjoy it.



This Year 2012 I am going to do things a little different... not much...just a little. I am again reading through my One Year Bible (for the 3rd time). But I am also using "The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word" by Joyce Meyer. This book is divided by putting scriptures under different categories so they can be used to speak over our life situations. Each day I will read a category of scripture and pick a scripture in that category to write about.



Hugs

Jeannie







Tuesday, May 31, 2011

5.31.11

Psalms 119:129 Your laws are wonderful. No wonder I obey them.

My Thoughts
In the last 17 months I have so learned this wonderful fact.  The more I know about what God wants in my life the better my life gets!..... I could listen to preachers and I could listen to Sunday school teachers, but until I got into the word of God for myself and begin to understand it the way God wanted me to understand it I didn't know enough to truly change my life. When I spend time alone with God is when I learn the most!  This journey is priceless...and the exciting part is that I can keep reading until the end of my life and learn something new every day.  I challenge you today if you have not read the Bible through to take the time to do so!  Your life will never be the same!

Monday, May 30, 2011

5.30.11

Proverbs 16:11 The Lord demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the starndard for fairness.

My Thoughts
Have you ever noticed how fair seems to be different when we are doing something for somebody, or somebody is doing something for us.  It seems you can learn a lot about somebody by watching how they talk about what is fair. We have all seen people be angry because somebody didn't pay them on time and in the same conversation be upset because somebody didn't understand why they themselves couldn't pay on time. We have all seen that person at work that complained about somebody not working hard as they themselves were avoiding work.  We have seen bosses that expected something from their employees that they didn't do themselves.  An accurate scale and balance is when we expect from ourselves the same as we expect from others.  And to be on the safe side we should expect a little  more of ourselves than we do others.  We all respect a boss who follows their own rules, who never ask anything of us that we have not seen them do.  We respect friends who would never ask us to do something for them that they wouldn't do for us.  God sees us when no one is looking and God expects us to be fair even when nobody else sees.  A good way to keep ourselves in check..to make sure our scales are in balance ....is to ask ourselves would I want somebody else to do this to me? If I were the boss would I want my employee to ask like I am acting to do what I am doing... If I were the employee would I want my boss to act like I am acting or do what I am doing...  Would I want  my spouse to do this to me or for me?.... Would I want my friend to do this to me or for me? Our answers don't need to include a but... if we hear ourselves saying No, but... we need to examine if we are really being fair. The key to an accurate scale in life is "treat others as we want to be treated." without any "buts." Treat your spouse like you want our spouse like we want our spouse to treat us. Treat our friends  like you want our friends to treat us. Treat our bosses like we want our bosses to treat us. Treat our employees like we want want to be treated.  Treat the people at the checkout like we would want to be treated if we were standing on the other side of the counter. It is so easy to be a bit selfish, especially in this busy, busy world.... but it is so much easier to get a good nights sleep when we are selfless. People tend to treat us like we treat them, yes there are always exception, if we treat others fairly, we in turn will get our fair share. We should live our lives in a way that makes God smile, being fair, truly fair.. that will make God smile.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

5.29.11

Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

My Thoughts
I got so excited when I read this today!!... Recently my son, John-Robert and I had a conversations about how they use to light paths... he is a Secondary Ed major with a concentration in History.  He and I were in Gatlinburg and we went down a path with these gas lanterns...he explained to me how these didn't put off much light...when they were used years ago their purpose was to mark the path at night so you could know which way to go....these lights didn't light the path at all...they just directed your way.  So to be able to see where you were stepping you would need your own lantern.  Still you would not know what was very far in front of you...only just a few steps at a time...and what the right directions was. 

This information so changed what this verse means to me.... God's word directs our way, the lights on the path.....and it shows us a clear path for the things right in front of us, the lamp for our feet.  We can't see what is in front of us, but when we read our Bible and stay in God's work we know what direction to go to get us to the right place... we have to trust the light and follow it... as we come upon things in our path that we can see we can also depend on God's word to help us through that situation. Just like the travelers depending on the lights on the paths to get them to the right place... we need to depend on God's word, totally trusting that it will lead us to safe places...it will lead us to where we need to go... we don't have to know all the details along the way before we set out.. we just have to trust the "light."  As we go along we can see the step we need to take that are right in front of us because God's word is a lamp unto our feet!!... When we trust God we don't have to know all the details of the trip...we just have to know the direction... God has taken the time to light the path.  If we were a traveler long ago we would never ever go out into the darkness...we would always, always be walking toward the next light... each person may take different steps to get to the next light but they would stay in the directions of the light....using their lamp for safe footing... we should in our lives stay in God's word for our save arrival and safe footing just as if we were following the lights in the darkness.  God's word is as important in our journey in life as the lights were in the people journey in the night. 

Saturday, May 28, 2011

5.28.11

Proverbs 16:7 When people's lives please the Lord, even their enemies are at peace with them.

My Thoughts
I love this!!...When we love God...and live lives pleasing to God even our enemies are at peace with us!... Here is the answer to so many of our problems... strife with family members, strife with co-workers. If we go about our day pleasing God... God will take care of the people in our lives that are being unkind to us...God will put peace in their hearts about us.  We don't have to fix them.. or make them see our side... we just have to please God and everything else will fall into place!  Isn't this much easier than dealing with people!!.. Trying to please all the people around us just so they will like us!  We can just go about pleasing God and all that other stuff will fall into place! 

Friday, May 27, 2011

5.27.11

John 16:15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I say, 'The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.'

My Thoughts
When Jesus left this world he sent the Holy Spirit down to live inside of us, to teach us and to guide us.  Right here is says that the Holy Spirit tells us whatever he receives from Jesus.  We hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit all the time! Yet so often we don't listen. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is quite so quite, he is this faint nudging to do good.  Sometime he is much louder. We need to be tuned in to the Holy Spirit so that we know what Jesus wants for us... whats us to do for him.  If Jesus himself were standing beside us in body, and we knew it was him... we would go about doing what he ask!!  If a co-worker had been ugly to us and Jesus said "Turn the other cheek and go be good to your co-worker." We would, don't you think? We would go our of our way to do what Jesus ask us to do.  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit so he could be with us all the time, just as if here were standing right beside us.  We need to listen!  We need to ask and be still and hear what Jesus is telling us.  The thing about listening to the Holy Spirit is that Jesus would never ask us to do something that was not good for us, never!!  Jesus has only our best interest at heart.  We can only benefit from that small, still voice. Often we wish we had an instruction book to life... we do!  And we have with us all the time a voice that tells us just how to use it.  We need to take advantage of that wonderful resource!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

5.26.11

Proverbs 16:3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

My Thoughts
The Bible, God's instruction book for our lives! Right here it is, how to be successful.  We all want to be successful in something, in some way.  Some of us want huge success, some of us just want a series of small successes. God gives us the ability to be successful...we just have to do our part. Our part is to commit our actions to God. Commit our words to God. Commit our thoughts to God...then God will take care of our success.

We tend to make life so hard... we keep doing things our way..trying hard to be good at this thing and then that thing... we keep trying to figure out the answers... we make life such a struggle.  We go about making life harder than it has to be. Oh yes even when we do everything right there are going to be struggles.  But if we commit our actions to the Lord, He will make sure our plans succeed. So even if there is struggle before the success you can know success is coming when you commit your actions to God.

I need control in my life... a product of my childhood.  So I have had to learn to give things over to God little bits at a time... and that is okay!... I keep giving God more... I may have done it with baby steps but I am so learning that God takes care of me when I spend my time loving Him...and loving others because I want them to feel the love of God. My steps aren't baby steps any more.. they get bigger all the time...and sometimes I find myself running toward what God wants for me.  Now to commit my day each day to God....every day, the good days and the bad day... At night when I lay down I want to feel successful...the key to this success is starting my day committing my actions to God.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

5.25.11

John 14:11 "I (Jesus) am leaving you with a gift -- Peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give you is a gift the world cannot give.  So don't be troubled or afraid."

My Thoughts
Imagine if we went about spreading peace of mind. Imagine if we all recognized peace of mind as the wonderful blessing that it is? Jesus himself said that peace of mind and heart is a gift... a gift the world cannot give.  Just think how our anger at one another destroys somebody's peace of mind.  I know when somebody is angry with me I don't feel at peace.  When we withhold praise of the people we love we often take away their peace of mind. We take away our own peace of mind too when we do things that are directly against what God teaches us. When we break God's commandments...when we don't listen to the Holy Spirit inside us prompting us to do good. Jesus made it simple "Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself." (Matthew 22:37-38) When we love somebody we do what they ask... what makes them happy... to show our love to God we should do the same.  We should go about showing love to others too... we should give the person at the check out at the store peace of mind.  How can we do this? Easy be nice, be patient... leave earlier to shop if we have to so we won't be in a hurry.  Give the people that cross our path that smile of approval and love. Be kind and loving to our friends and family.. guard our words... speak words of love and praise and kindness. Never act in a way that makes somebody dread seeing you.  Jesus wants us to love ourselves too, after all how can we love others if we don't love us!  How do we love ourselves??? One, we forgive ourselves...once we ask God to forgive us we forgive ourselves... we can't be the best we can be if we are living with guilt all the time. God tells us to forgive others.. God wants us to forgive ourselves too. Another way to love ourselves is to be honest with ourselves...totally honest.  An example of this is when we spend money we know we don't have... we convince ourselves that what we buy will make us feel better...when in fact it robs us of our peace of mind...we get home and don't even enjoy the what we thought we had to have for worrying about spending money we didn't have.  We have to be honest with ourselves about everything...when we are honest with ourselves we can fix what needs to be fixed... we can do what needs to be done..and we can go about with peace of mind.

The things of this world don't bring peace... God's love, the love of Jesus, the love of others.. loving ourselves is where we find peace.  We all go about looking for love... but as the song says ... in all the wrong places.  God is love!  We need to look to God for love... and to get love we have to love... when we love others... love comes back to us every time. It may not come back from the person we are loving, maybe because they don't know how to love themselves...but it always comes back in some form. When we go about spreading love and happiness and joy we just feel better about ourselves... we feel better about others.

What better gift can we give others than love, than peace of mind and heart? There is no better gift.  Jesus in all His wisdom understood this way beyond what our minds are even capable of.  Jesus knew it was important enough to label it as a gift.  When we go about our day we don't need to spread anxiety, anger, despair.  We need to spread love and peace of mind.  Anger and impatience and unkindness takes from people... but when we spread the fruits of the spirit which are  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) we spread the gift of peace of mind and heart.  We show love in its purest form. These are gifts we can give to every path we cross. Imagine going about our day giving out gifts to everyone we meet!  We can!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

5.24.11

John 13:34-35 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

My Thoughts
Do you want people to see you as a child of God?  Do you want people to know that you are a Christian? The way to do that is by loving one another!  Even loving people that we don't always like.  We might ask how do you love somebody that you don't like?? We do that all the time with family...maybe that is why God gave us families, so we could have a lesson in loving.  So when we became Christians we know how to love even the people that are hard to love.  I have an uncle that is a little on the crazy side, he can't see past himself and he can be rather annoying... but I love my uncle in-spite of himself...I can't help it!  I can actually see him as adorable in the mist of being annoyed by him.  Because he is family and I am suppose to love him I do.  If we would stop and see the world as family, God's family, wouldn't we treat others with love?  Wouldn't we be more tolerant of peoples differences, peoples little annoyances and love them anyway?  I love my uncle anyway... but I admit there are people I have worked with that I didn't love anyway.  I treat my uncle kindly and with great love even when he is annoying... I should treat all people that annoy me with that same kind of love.  My uncle can snap out of himself and be loving back and I love those moments with him... wouldn't I find moments with others in the world if I loved them just because too.  How can we teach the world about Jesus' amazing love by being unloving? We want Jesus to love us in spite of ourselves, in spite of how ugly we can act. In spite of our annoyences. We want Jesus to forgive us in spite of ourselves.  We need to treat the world like family you love anyway and the world will see Jesus in us. There is no better way to be a witness than love.






Monday, May 23, 2011

5.23.11

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

My Thoughts
The more I read my Bible the more I understand this verse... and it is a very important verse. The more we know God's word...the more we know what God wants in our lives the more able we are to live a life that is pleasing to God... pleasing to others... good for us! Have you ever felt overwhelming guilt and not know why? I have!...I think that is because even when my heart doesn't know it, when my brain doesn't know it.. my soul knows when I have sinned...and my body reacts to my soul. The more we know God's word, when we hide God's word in our hearts we are aware of how we are suppose to act. When we are aware of what is good and what is evil... when the devil tempts us we have ammunition. Then we  don't randomly sin and suffer the consequences for sins that we are just unaware of.  Sin is sin even when we don't know it! Our souls react to evil... our souls  react to good and our bodies react to our souls. When we know even if we mess up, we can ask forgiveness and get rid of the guilt... we can cleanse our souls.  Our souls know even when our hearts are unaware.  Our lives are much better when we hide God's word in our hearts because then we are able to nourish our souls with good.  You have to know what is good to do what is good.  God gives us the instructions, we just have to take the time to read them and hide them away so they are there, always there for us to use.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

5.22.11

John 12:49 (Jesus said) I don't speak on my own authority.  The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.

My Thoughts
We are suppose to strive to be like Jesus. Jesus was able to walk this earth as a man and not sin, because he always listened to God. I read this and thought of how many times our words get us in trouble! More often than not the trouble most of us get into starts with the words that come out of out mouth. Just think how much our lives would change it we were in the habit of asking God to help us with our words every single time we spoke. When we spoke to our spouse, to our children, to our friends, to our co workers, to strangers. For some of us just taking the time to ask God each time we before we spoke would be less time we were talking. :0) When I have been wise enough to do this I find that I am sometimes surprised by the words that do actually come out of my mouth...they make me smile. But, sometimes the words that come out of my mouth, when I have not talked to God about my words, I want to suck them right back in as if I have never said them..but it is too late.  I imagine Jesus walking about quietly a big part of the time... taking in all that God had to say to him...I imagine when someone ask Him a question that he didn't jump right in with the answer...Jesus consulted God first...and this took a few minutes. The minutes the people had to wait were well spent minutes because what came out of Jesus' mouth, well that was wonderful amazing stuff... and you wouldn't have wanted to miss a word. It was worth the wait. We are so use to speaking without even thinking, much less consulting God first.  A good place to start is in the morning, in our morning prayers, ask God to help us with our words...then we can add a prayer at lunch time...then again before we walk through the door to great our family.  That would be a good start... but oh to get to the point of always asking before we open our mouth.  Not only would we stay out of trouble this way... our words would be such a blessing to others.  If we are suppose to give God ten percent of what he gives us... then at the least we could do is make sure that ten percent of what we say should come from seeking God first... Jesus gave 100 percent of His words to God.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

5.21.11

John 12:3-4 &7-8 Then Mary took a 12oz. jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair.  The house was filled with the fragrance. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, "that perfume was worth a year's wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor." Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.

My Thoughts
Each person honors God and Jesus in their own way.  We were all made different.  We were all made to be who we are.  We all have the same purpose, to love and worship and honor God.  But how we go about that will be as different.  In doing so each of us will reach different people for the Lord our God. God knows when we are doing things to honor him and He accepts our gifts, our love when it comes from our heart. We think of gifts to God in terms of money or our tithes (these are important).  But our gifts to God come in so many other ways.  When we do for others, we are doing for God's children.  As a parent we can truly understand how this would make God smile.  When somebody does something for our own children we love that person automatically.  They love our child, we love them.  We don't measure what they do by what others do.  We just love them because they did their thing and it made our child happy.  We all have different gifts. All those gifts came from God.  The things we do for God is not what is important. Doing for God is what is important.  The choice needs to be honoring God with our actions and our gifts and in the way we treat others. God knows what is in our hearts, just as Jesus knew what was in Mary's heart. God accepts our gifts to him as a treasure. 

Friday, May 20, 2011

5.20.11

Proverbs 15:23 Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!

My Thoughts
How do we say the right thing at the right time?  We fill our heart with God's word ... we seek God's counsel... we are careful with our words... we choose them wisely.  We pray and ask to to guide our heart and our words so that they build people up.  Proverbs 3:5-6 tell us "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."  God will show us which words to speak. The right words are not only wonderful for the person hearing them.... they are wonderful for the person saying them.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

5.19.11

Psalms 116:6a The Lord protects those of childlike faith.

My Thoughts
What God can do in our lives is only limited by our faith in what God can do.  If we have the faith in God, He can do amazing things in our lives.  I thought about "childlike faith" when I read this verse.  My dad is a big man!!... 6'3" I am thinking...and when he weighed 250 lbs he had not an oz of fat... he was all mussel.  I have had people that he worked with tell me how he could pick up a grown man with one arm. My uncle, George says that when he was just a little, little boy he could pick up things a grown man could pick up... This is true!!...Imagine how big and strong he looked to me when I was just a little girl... I knew, didn't think, knew my daddy could protect me from anything..I knew he could do anything.  I remember winning a 1st place trophy when I was 6 years old...I had worked hard, really hard to win this trophy.... and when they called my name I ran and got my trophy...and ran as hard as my 6 year old legs could carry me... and leaped from far away into my daddy's arms... I never hesitated one minute when I jumped!  My daddy would catch me...and he did!  There was not a ride that I wouldn't ride at the fair when I was little as long as I could ride it with my daddy.  No matter how scary it looked if I was on there with my daddy he would protect me!! My  daddy's  strong presence was all I needed to feel safe.  Even when I got hurt I knew my daddy could make it better.  When he reached down and picked me up I could feel his strength...I somehow knew I didn't weight anything in his strong hands. So much so that I can almost feel that feeling of him lifting me up in the air when I think about it. That faith I had in my daddy was "childlike" faith.

As we grow and get older we know our daddy's have limitations.... But God, God is different, God can do anything.  We are the ones that limit God's power in our lives when we don't try because we don't believe.  Oh the things we see God do in our lives when we have faith... just think of the things God could do in our lives if we had the faith of a child!  So much of what we think God doesn't do in our lives is because we didn't try, we didn't try because we didn't have faith that God would step in and do what we couldn't do on our own.  Sometime we speak the faith without truly believing deep down in our heart. I didn't even have to think about leaping into my daddy's arms..I knew he would catch me...I would have so missed that moment if I had thought he couldn't catch me...and my memory of that moment with my daddy is bigger than that memory of my trophy!!  I would have so missed out if I had not had faith in my daddy.  What things do we miss out on life because we don't have faith in God?  I am going to work on jumping into life the way I jumped into my daddy's arms... God is stronger than even my daddy.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

5.18.11

John 10:10 The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

My Thoughts
We are such visual people... this would be an easy choice if there were two people standing in front of us...one looking all evil, with weapons in their hand, drugs or alcohol ...maybe a criminal record posted behind them. Then on the other side a kind, gentle looking man with a nice save home... nice food cooking on the stove... news paper articles posted behind him of all the kind things he has done. There you are in the middle with a choice to make... you can live with this person... or that person.  Most of us would choose the safe place.. the place where somebody was going to nurture us... help us grow strong.. love us... make the right choices for us.  Look at this picture it is a no brain-er!!

Yet daily in our heads and our hearts we have the same thing going on.. we just feel it...we don't see it.  We are more confused... we shouldn't be but we are.  The devil is filling our heads with the wrong choices...telling us that we are useless... that people don't love and care about us.. telling us that alcohol and drugs will make us feel better. The Holy Spirit is telling us to do things that are good for us... Jesus tells us if we make the right choices and do what is good and kind and loving.. if we look to Him... he will take care of everything else.  We hear the Holy Spirit...then we often listen to the "but" of the thief, the devil himself.  If we could get a visual in our head of which voice was talking to us most all of us would choose to listen to the Holy Spirit. After all who in their right mind would not choose a rich and satisfying life??

There is a way to get that visual in our mind.. to know the difference in the voices inside our heads. God's word... when we read God's word daily... put it in our heart... when we know what God wants for us in our lives, we  better recognize the Holy Spirit talking to us.. we better understand the big  picture.  We can hear the "but" ...and know that the thief adds the "but's" in our lives so he can steal away our riches...our satisfaction that Jesus wants us to have. When we learn to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit... we become stronger and wiser... more and more able to protect ourselves from the thief and more and more able to stay in the safety of God's loving arms.  We always make better choices with the right information.. the right information comes from God's word.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

5.17.11

Proverbs 15:16 Better to have a little, with fear for the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil.

My Thoughts
First we have to know that here fear is defined as To be in awe of; revere... God gives us peace of mind and heart... that is priceless!... when we love God with all our heart and mind we have peace of mind.. peace of mind is amazing... most people would give up most anything if the knew without a doubt they could have peace of mind.. and the Bible tells us right here that peace of mind with God is worth more than all the treasures of the world.  

Here is how I could put this verse in my head to understand it more.  When we get paid.. we can do one of two things with our money...we can go buy ourselves all kinds of goodies... or we can pay our bills and  put our money in the bank and buy peace of mind.  It may feel  to buy ourselves some goodies... some treasures... and for a while we may have a blast...but when we go to bed at night and can't sleep... or when we go to the mail box and have anxiety because we don't know how we will pay the bills we don't really enjoy those goodies anymore.... If instead we had put the money in the bank we could pay the bills... not worry about an unexpected thing coming up and enjoyed, truly enjoyed the company of our family... then when were were able to truly afford a treasure it would be a treasure we would never have to resent when we looked at it... what we buy when we put money in the bank is peace of mind.. peace of mind is worth so much more than toys.

When we do what is right...and choose to do what God ask us to do...when we are in awe of God we have a wonderful peace.. a peace that passes all understanding. A calmness about us.  No matter where we are in life we can know that God will take care of us.  When we go about doing what the world wants...being underhanded and dishonest...taking advantage of people to have "treasures"... we may be able to amass much...but how can we really enjoy all that stuff if we are always upset in our soul? Nobody lives in peace that does wrong...that ignores God to have "stuff."  We were made to be children of the Most High God...we were made to love God with all our heart and soul...as long as we ignore that we can never have inner peace.  Loving God gives us peace beyond understanding...when we have that God gives us treasures, treasures that we can enjoy without turmoil.  When we learn that peace of heart and peace of mind are the treasures we seek after we will be a much happier people! The Bible tells us we won't be happy without God... The world tells us we won't be happy without stuff... which one are we going to believe?

Monday, May 16, 2011

5.16.11

1 Samuel 18:14 David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him.

My Thoughts
We tend to go about seeking success in so many ways... we think if I do this... if I study that...if I work hard enough... those things are important! But the first and most important step to success is God.  If we spent as much effort studying what God wants from us... if we spent as much time talking to God as we do talking to people... we would keep God with us... and just as God made David successful in everything he did, God will make us successful in all that we do.  God always wants to be with us... He just gives us the choice. When we choose God above all else everything else follows.  Psalm 37:4  tells us Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  David did just that... David spent time with God... David talked to God all the time... David depended on God... David succeeded in everything he did.  We don't have to spend time seeking after the desires of our heart to have them... we just have to spend time seeking after God, then everything else will fall into place.  We make life and success complicated... God makes it simple. Trust and love God.  Just don't get discouraged by confusing simple with easy.  Our job is to keep our eyes and our hearts on God... then  we are in the right place for God to keep his eyes and his heart on us.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

5.15.11

1 Samuel 17:37 "The Lord rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear and will rescue me from this Philistine!"

My Thoughts
I love this!... David drew from what God had done for him in the past to know what God would do for him in the future.  So many times when we face difficult situations we only see the "I cant's" we forget to go see the "God cans." David remembered what God had done for him.  He put these things in his heart. The were a part of who he would become if he depended on what God could do, not on what he could do. David became a King. The more we get to know God... the more we are able to give to God...and the more we aware we become of the things God does in our lives.  We need to place those things in our remembrance... because when we remember what God gets us through, what God does through us, what God accomplishes in our lives the more we are able to face.  When we become aware of what God can do through us we are more able to "Let go and let God." David was a Shepard who became King! ... what amazing thing could God do with us? We will never know if we don't take time to learn just what God can do.  Each day we need to give that day to God...and each night we need to put in our heart the things God did through us that day, the things God did for us that day. Then when we face our giant we can go into battle as confident as David.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

5.14.11

John 8:10-11 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't Even one of them condemn you?" "No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."

My Thoughts
The towns people had drug this woman in to the square... to have her stoned to death for committing adultery. Jesus said (verse 7)" Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" Everyone had to walk away, everyone except Jesus.  Jesus didn't condemn this woman, Jesus forgave this woman.  When we mess up... when we don't listen and we feel the whole world is against us, we don't have to give up!.. we can go to Jesus.  Jesus forgives!... Jesus loves us so much!  So much that he died on the cross willingly for our sins. People tend to judge our sins in some kind of order...this sin is worse than that sin... or bigger... this sin is smaller.  I think people do this because they want to feel better about their own sin. Jesus didn't say to the people "If you have done a smaller sin than this woman, cast the first stone!" .... Jesus said "He who is without sin, cast the first stone!"... Jesus was without sin and still He didn't cast a stone at all... Jesus said I don't condemn you!... When we mess up...when the world takes us over...and then isn't willing to forgive us... Jesus is willing to forgive! We can be forgiven!

There is a second lesson in this story... Jesus had no sin and didn't condemn the woman.... the rest of us... we are full of sin and have no right to condemn anybody.  So when we fill the desire to judge somebody to make ourselves feel better... we need to remember that if we have the need to feel better because of our sins... we don't have the right to judge others because of their sins.  We never have the right to judge and condemn.  Jesus came to the world to love all of us and Jesus ask us to do the same...to love others as we love ourselves (Luke 10:27).  We don't want others judging us... we want others to forgive us...we want others to love us... To love others as we love ourselves we need to do for others what we want them to do for us.

I am so thankful that Jesus saved this woman... because that means that Jesus would save me if I was taken to the town square for my sins.  If I truly love my neighbor as I love myself...I should also be thankful that my neighbor, no matter who he is or what he has done, would be saved by Jesus if he were taken to the town square. To love our neighbor is to be happy that Jesus does for them what Jesus does for us.  I am so happy and thankful that Jesus forgives.  I want to be like Jesus.

Friday, May 13, 2011

5.13.11

1 Samuel 14:6b “Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!”

My Thoughts

God can always, always, always defeat the enemy. Whether the enemy is many or few. When God sends us out to face the enemy He is with us every step of the way. When we wake up in the morning with that “I have already been defeated” feeling, that is the enemy attacking us. God is there… we just have to call out to God, give our day to Him, ask Him to help us accomplish what we need to accomplish. Actually we need to ask God what He wants us to accomplish that day. Then we need to trust in God that He has everything under control. When we give our day to God…and we live inside God’s will we put ourselves under the protection of God.

I picture like those old army formations where the soldiers get in the square… the shields out in front and on all sides… even on top with me right, slap, dab in the middles… we can move in all directions and I can stay all safe and secure even with arrows coming in my direction. But if I refuse to stay where I am told… if I move outside the protection…if I squeeze through all the people put in place to protect me… even for a moment I am in great danger of being hurt or even killed. But when I stay in the center of all those layers of soldiers I am tucked away safely.

Living in the will of God is like having layers of soldiers around us… When we read the Bible that puts one layer of safety around us…then when we pray that puts another layer of safety around us…. When we surround ourselves with godly people that adds another to our cube of safety…when we love others that puts another layer of safety around us. When God tells us to do something and we listen those layers of safety move with us, keeping out the danger. Even when we get close to the danger…even if we have to do battle that cube of safety keeps us, protects us. But if we decide to go on out on our own.. Even as we hear the holy spirit nudging us not to do so we leave the safety of that protection and risk so much. God is strong enough to win our battles!… even when it is just God and one person, God can always win. We just have to remember to put God in charge…to give it all to God. Then even when we find ourselves in a battle we can come out on the other side in victory.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

5.12.11

Proverbs 108:1 My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!

My Thoughts
I really didn't know how to be confident in God before I started reading my Bible every day.  I wanted to be confident in God...but I only had a vague idea of what God's promised were... those were from what I learned in Sunday School as a child...things that I heard preachers talk about as an adult... and of course those few Bible verses that we all kind of know.  But I have to admit that I had not taken time to read my Bible... I had not learned all that God can do... all that God promises.  How could I be confident in a god that I knew so little about.  Now I am on my second time around reading my Bible through in a year... and this time it makes so much more sense... I know God better and better...I know what he has promised me... I can better hear God talking to me...I recognize the Holy Spirit leading my steps and keeping me from trouble and danger... I can recognize when God is helping me... rewarding me... I can look back on my day and see where God helped me... the more I read, the more I pray, the more I surround myself with Godly people the more confident I become in God and what God wants to do and will do for me.  Now when I sing the songs at church I feel the praise for God just rising up in me... when I sing the old hymns that we all remember from childhood I "get" their meaning.  An old hymn came to me just this morning and I went to myself  "Oh, I get that now!!" God was always there for me...I could have always been confident in Him...I just didn't understand how.  If you feel like you are missing something with God.. just pick up your Bible and start reading it!!..I so urge you to do this...I started with a One Year Bible that my son gave me... it has some Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs for each day. I admit at first I didn't get a lot of what I was reading...but I kept at it ...and each day I understood more and more...and each day still I understand more and more... now I can say "My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart." and I am confident too that in a year from now...and a year from then I will know more about God and I will be more confident then than I am today.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

5.11.11

John 6:44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. As it is written in the Scriptures

My Thoughts
Oh Oh Oh!!!.. I love this...this will just warm your heart if you think about it!!... If you feel the need to seek after God that is because he is seeking after you!!... He is wanting you to want to know Him!!... When we feel the need for God in our lives he is drawing us to Him!!... This scripture means that if we feel the need for God...no matter what we have done we can know that God is not rejecting us...that God won't reject us because God is the one drawing to Him!!  So if we ever have that thought that "I want to be closer to God but He will never, ever forgive me for how I have acted, for what I have done." This verse right here tells  us that He will... He is putting the desire in our hearts for Him...and if he is putting that desire in our hearts for Him... He wants us... God wants us...no matter what we have done wrong!...This verse is something to get very excited about!!  When we seek Jesus, when we seek God...when we just desire to seek Jesus...when we just desire to seek God it is because God wants us...God has put that desire in our hearts!  This is something to get excited about!!  This verse just brings me great joy!!  If you are reading this God has put the desire in your heart!!!...If somebody chooses to tell you about God it is because God put the desire there!!... God has picked out you!!.. You... Me... God is telling you specifically..I love you!... I am seeking you!!.. I want you to seek me!!..There is nothing you can't do because I will help you!! How wonderful to know that every time that I feel the desire for God, God is who is drawing near. Every time you feel the desire for God, God is drawing you near... He has singled you out, he wants you!!... Wow!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

5.10.11

Proverbs 14:34 Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

My Thoughts
When the first immigrants fled to America they did so to worship God.  The did so so that they could worship God not follow the letter of the law of the church...they wanted freedom to serve God and worship God. And that is what the people did...they put God first....they thanked God for what they had...and our nation grew strong and big....our nation grew fast...our nation became the leader among all nations.  Why because we loved God...we put God first.  Each person loved God... each person put God first... each person thanked God and praised God.... As we grew we begin to forget why people fled to America...we begin to enjoy the wonderful things God blessed us with and forgot that God is why we were blessed in the first place. My mother put it best once when she said "There has always been sin, but now people are so proud of their sin." We celebrate everything in America, but God. We celebrate sports of all kinds... we celebrate celebrities. In fact we call them celebrities because we thought they were people to be celebrated.  Our media is used to promote sin... commercials use sin to sell their products. All the wile our nation becomes weaker and weaker...our dollar worth less and less... we owe more and more to other countries making them stronger and stronger. And we wonder what is happening to America... America is moving outside the protection of God by not making God a central part of our lives...we use the laws that were to protect our right to worship God as a means not to honor God at all... we twist and turn the meaning and take God out...when our laws were set up to make God central. We ask ourselves what difference can "I" make?... You CAN make a difference!!..."I" CAN make a difference!! We CAN make a difference..and it's simple.  We can put God back as the center of our lives... we can worship God with more energy than we use to worship football or basketball.... we can refuse to buy products that use sin to sell... we can turn off the stuff  on TV that promotes sin... We can love our neighbors as much in the good times as we have in times of disaster. When America puts God on top... God will put America back on top.... and not one minute sooner.  No we can't make everybody do right... and yes there are always going to be people committing sins... but we can't use that as excuse not to do our very best to be the person God wants us to be... and if we have more people loving God and doing good than we have doing evil and ignoring God...we will grow and prosper again. If we seek first the Kingdom of God everything else will fall right into place.

Monday, May 9, 2011

5.9.11

Psalms 106:13 Yet how quickly they forgot what God had done! The wouldn't wait for his counsel!

My Thoughts
The wouldn't wait for God's counsel... how often we do that... we ask  God what to do... but then we  rush about on our way without waiting for an answer.  We are always in a hurry... I think the devil likes it that way.. when we hurry about in such a rush we don't take time to think...we don't take time to listen to what God has to tell us.  Even when we know God answers. It is important that we spend time with God...enough time that we have time to hear God's counsel.  We are so much better off when we do it God's way!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

5.8.11

Proverbs 14:30 A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

My Thoughts
When we praise God we draw Him near.  When we draw God near we feel His peace. His amazing peace! When we spend time praising God we don't have time to dwell on others...on what they have that we don't have...on what they can do that we can't do..the list goes one and on.  The stress can go on and on too. But, we have a chance to choose health over jealousy and anxiety... simply by praising God, by keeping God near to us, by pleasing God by living like God wants us to live. My grandmother lived to be 96 years old... I never remember her being sick until she was 90..then she had Colon Cancer... made it through surgery successfully...and lived 6 more years.  She gave everything to God... and left it with Him once she gave it to him.  She talked to God all the time...she kept God near.  She is my personal example of a peaceful heart leading to a healthy body. I strive to be more like her, keeping God always near.

Dear God,
Please tell my mom how much I love and miss her...tell her Happy Mother's day for me.
In Jesus Name
Love,
Jeannie

Saturday, May 7, 2011

5.7.11

Psalms 105:42 For the Lord remembered his sacred promise to his servant Abraham.

My Thoughts
God remembers all his promises to us too!... God honors those promises.  A lot of God's promises are "if and then" promises... if you do this then I will give you this.  If we find that we are not getting some of the promises of God then we need to examine where in our lives we are not doing the "if's".... when we do the "if's" God always does the "then's". (Thank You Tammy Harvey)

Friday, May 6, 2011

5.6.11

Psalms 105:19 Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.

My Thoughts
Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery....and through it all he remained of good character... all the time trusting in God..... in the end he became a leader... trusted by Pharaoh to make decisions... trusted with Pharaoh's seal. Joseph became a great man after great tragedy! Alabama, and the surrounding states have been hit by great tragedy.  We are called the Bible Belt.  I pray that we are like Joseph and show great character all the time trusting in God.....and  in the mist of great tragedy we come out strong... I pray that people look to us and see God in us....I pray that they what what we have and that like Joseph became a trusted servant ..... we become a trusted state of people... leaders in a country that need to look back to God.  I ask that you pray this prayer too!! Not just today...but over the coming days, weeks, months... even  years.  Nature is testing our character, God is watching,  we want to come out strong like Joseph!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

5.5.11

John 4:14. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

My Thoughts
I love the part about a fresh bubbling spring within us!!... When we have Jesus He is always there...His love never dries up, His strength never dries up, His power never dries up.  All of what Jesus has to offer us is there bubbling up inside us.  When we need it all we have to do is draw from it. Once again God gives us our part to do... we have to go to the spring and get the water.  We have to go to Jesus to get his strength, his power, his love...we have to want it... but it is there!! Inside of us. When we read our Bibles we learn all the things God has for us...all the things we can get from that spring... the more knowledge we have the more we know to ask for... the stronger and stronger we become.  A person can lay by a bubbling spring for days and if they don't drink from it even tho it is there they could die...just lay there and die... or they could drink from that bubbling spring...and drink from it and drink from it... and it never runs out. Jesus never ever runs our of what we need... we just have to ask.






Wednesday, May 4, 2011

5.4.11

John 3:27 John replied, "No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven."

My Thoughts
As I look around at all I have... and look inside of me at all I can do and all that I have learned in my lifetime...then I read this verse I have to say to myself  Wow! We tend to look around and say look at what I have accomplished... when the truth is that without God giving us the knowledge and ability we would not have accomplished anything... and to accomplish more we need to seek God's wisdom...to accomplish more we need to be thankful for all that God has given us.  I know when I do something for somebody when they are thankful I want to do more...when they take me for granted I don't enjoy it near as much.  We don't need to take all that we have for granted.. we don't ever need to think that we could do all this on our own... we need to be aware to be thankful for all that we have and all that we can do at all times. It is amazing all that we have just to entertain us...to keep us comfortable... God cares about all of that... God cares that we feel loved... He cares if we are educated... He cares when we want to learn something new... He cares if we are comfortable... He cares if we feel safe... God gives us all of these wonderful things because he loves us. We need to take the time our of each and every day to say "Thank you God for all that I have." it all comes from Him.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

5.3.11

John 3:17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world though him.

My Thoughts
Jesus, perfect Jesus didn't judge anybody He just loved them.  Just loved them.  He didn't say "I am dieing on the cross for these people, but not these because they don't act the way I want them to." He died on the cross for all of us. Every single one of us. I am thankful that Jesus doesn't judge me like people judge me, like I judge myself.  What I have noticed during the storm that hit my state of Alabama is that people in tragedy act more like Jesus...they rush out and help others...they feel compassion and love for each and every person on the streets of destruction...they don't judge who they want to help...they just want to help!!  What if we could be like this all the time... helping others... giving... pitching in.... not judging why a person got into a mess... just pulling up our sleeves and helping them get out of the mess.  It is wonderful that we are more like Jesus in a disaster...now if we can just be more like Jesus when the disaster is over.

Monday, May 2, 2011

5.2.11

Psalms 103:11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

My Thoughts
It is hard to fathom how much God loves us... the best understandable comparison is when we become a parent and hold that helpless baby in our arms... we are filled with the overwhelming love for somebody else that we didn't before that moment realize existed... We go from this self centered human to somebody that would do anything humanly possible to protect that little life in our hands.  Yet as great as that love is.... it does not even compare to the love that God has for each of us!!.. We have been told  how far the moon is from the earth and we can't really even wrap our minds around that number... we have been told how far Pluto is from earth and can't comprehend that number... we don't even know how far heaven is above the earth to even begin to fathom how much God loves us.....but you know what we don't have to know... God knows and He loves us as great as the height of the heavens above the earth... how vast that love must be.... how all encompassing.  Just the thought makes me want to stand with my arms stretched out looking up to heaven and take the time to feel God's love being poured out over me...it is amazing when we take the time to bask in the love that God has for us how we can feel His presence... his power washing over us like water from a water fall. I love that God loves me so much!!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

5.1.11

Proverbs 14:15 Only simpletons believe everything they are told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.

My Thoughts
Prudent: 1. Wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense. 2. Careful in regard to one's own interests; provident. 3. Careful about one's conduct; circumspect. The Bible tells us to seek wisdom... here we are told to be wise in handling things, to exercise good judgment... to use common sense.  Jesus tells us to love our neighbors... and here it tells us not to be stupid.... just because we love our neighbors doesn't mean that we have to be a push over, we don't have to be taken advantage of. In fact we are to be wise in these matters...we are to use discretion.... we are to listen to the Holy Spirit inside of us telling us when things are not what they seem.  We are to be loving and good, sweet and kind and we are to carefully consider our steps.  We are to take responsibility for our actions and make wise choices. God loves us He doesn't want us to be taken advantage of.