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







Sunday, July 31, 2011

7.31.11

Romans 14:13 So let's stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

My Thoughts
Wow... my first thought here was that I had not caused somebody to stumble... when would I have done that?  But anytime that I have talked about somebody else or encouraged somebody to talk about somebody else in any way but lovingly  and with concern I have caused somebody to stumble. Anytime that I have told somebody that was on a diet it was okay to eat desert I have caused them to stumble. Anytime I have encouraged somebody that was in financial trouble to spend money I have caused them to stumble. Anytime I have encouraged anger instead of forgiveness, I have caused somebody to stumble. Anytime I have encouraged somebody to do something that they thought might be wrong I have encouraged that person to stumble.  If I have told somebody that a white lie was okay I have caused somebody to stumble.  Verse 23 tells us if we have doubts about what we are doing, we are sinning if we go ahead and do it. So we should never encourage somebody to do something if they think it might be wrong, even if we think it is alright.  We should always encourage people in a positive manner.... we should always encourage what make a person feel right about their relationship with God.  After all wouldn't we want somebody to encourage us to do what would make God happy?  I sure don't want to be encouraged to make God sad.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

7.30.11

Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law.

My Thoughts

Love is a choice! It's can be an overwhelming feeling, like when you hold a baby for the first time but it is also a choice. It is easy to love a baby, your baby, some body else's new baby, most everybody loves a baby. I think ...that could be because we all know that a baby will do nothing to hurt us. In fact a new baby seems to look at every person that holds them with great love. A new baby is maybe the purest form of love. When we are most hurtful to others is when they have made us feel unloved... we move into that selfish mode of thinking of us... who loves me?... what has this person or that person done to show me they love me today? The devil fills our head with those thoughts, the "He/She don't love me because they didn't do ________ for me today." Once the devil tells us that we should say out loud what somebody that loves us does do for us. I should tell the devil "I know Robby loves me because he goes to work every day to provide for me. He never, ever forgets to kiss me goodbye. Robby calls me at least 3 times a day from work. The list goes one and on! Yet when I listen to the devil I get caught up in one thing Robby didn't even know that I wanted. We all do that .... the devil gets us caught up in not feeling loved so we forget to go about loving. We all learn as adults how fun it is to give.... how it can be way more exciting to give a gift than it is to get one. Oh sure getting gifts is great fun. But when we have gone all out to find a special gift for somebody, something we know they are going to love and be all excited about... well that is the best feeling. If we spend our days getting done what has to be done and then thinking of ways to show others that they are loved we would fill that joy that Jesus talks about. It would be whole days of being excited because we gave somebody something nice. It can be as simple as giving somebody a much needed smile. You could make your spouses favorite dinner. You could drop a note in the mail. What if we all got up each morning and said I will do something today to make each of my family members feel loved... then I will do something today to make a friend feel loved...and as I go about my day I make sure that my co workers feel loved...and the strangers I come in contact with will feel God's love through my actions. We would surly be filled with joy!! We would get so lost in the moments that we would forget to feel selfish. A warning comes with this way of life... the devil will attack, he will not like it at all that you are spreading love about!! He will start telling you how nobody does for you... and he will start this off just when you start thinking what you can do for others.... he starts in with your first thoughts so you won't get started, because he knows if you do this love thing long enough you will start reaping the rewards and you won't be able to stop! When you get started...when you ask God to help you along the way the opportunities to love...when you start choosing to love all the people around you.... life will become amazing. When the devil tells you somebody doesn't love you because... you tell the devil all the reasons you know you are loved...drown him out!! Today make an honest effort to love... love is a verb, and action word... what will you do today to show the people around you what love feels like?

Friday, July 29, 2011

7.29.11

Romans 12:21 Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

My Thoughts
It is so easy to be godly when life is going good!...It is!  Its when you feel attacked that it can see hard to be godly...it can be hard to be godly!! That is why we need to be close enough to God that we ask him to step in and take over...that is when we need his strength to do what we are not able. Imagine if we were to always repay evil with good!... So many times when we are in a situation where somebody for no good reason just doesn't like us, maybe its a personality thing. I have had people not like me for being too sweet, truly I have!!  Sometimes people just aren't going to like us and some of those people are going to be unkind.  What if we decided to go out of our way... way out of our way to be sweet ever time they were ugly?  What if we did something like give them a card to have a good day... the day after they showed themselves not so nice.  What if we were to leave them a gift certificate to lunch on their desk after they screamed at us? What if we brought them a candy bar...sweets for the not so sweet?  Kindness in the face of not so kind would have to turn a person around... it could turn them around for good reasons... or it could turn their actions around just because they didn't want to look bad to others after somebody had been so sweet to them. Either way things would get better. Why, because we choose kindness over and eye for an eye! God in all His wisdom...oh we should never ignore that wonderful wisdom of God!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

7.28.11

Romans 11:13-14 I (Paul) am saying all this especially for you Gentiles.  God has appointed me the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this, for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them.

My Thoughts
As Christians, as children of the Most High God we are so very blessed!  All that we have comes from God...we have so many reasons to feel joy and happiness...so many reasons to be thankful!  Yet we go about grumbling and complaining about so much.  How can we ever expect people to want God in their lives by what they see in us if all we do is complain? These verses are telling us that Paul wanted to make the Israelites that didn't believe in Jesus jealous of what Christians had so they would want it!! So that they would want Jesus living in their lives... Paul wanted to save the unbelievers!  We should live in a way that our joy in Christ shows!... If we aren't we need to figure out why and fix it.  We should live in such a way that we don't even have to seek out unbelievers.  We need to live in such a way that people are asking us why..why are we so happy?.... how do we get through our struggles without worry?... how can we be so loving to our enemies?.... why would we give that away? ..... where does our joy come from? ... why do we work so hard for a company that doesn't really care about us?.... why do we love everybody?..... people should be asking us why!  They should be asking because they see God in us.  How can you make somebody jealous of your relationship with God?

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

7.21.11

Romans 10:15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!"

My Thoughts
When we tell people about how much God loves them God thinks even our feet are beautiful!! Oh to be beautiful in the sight of God!... God in all his splendor and all his glory, surrounded by beauty that we could not even fathom thinks we are beautiful when we tell others how much he loves them!! How much Jesus loves them!! I think it must be  like the feeling a mother has when she sees her husband hold her child for the first time.  My husband, Robby was never more handsome, more sweet, more vulnerable than when He held our babies for the first time... the love in his face changed him forever in my eyes...I wanted to take them in my arms and keep them there forever...I could not take my eyes off of them!  When we tell others about God we are saying God loves you, I love you!... and you know that God has to love that you are loving one of the people He made enough to tell them the most important thing they will ever know.  I so hope that God sees me even for one second the way I say Robby as he held our new babies in his hands. Oh for God to see me as beautiful!! The thought just makes my heart feel like bursting, it brings a smile across my face..that thought truly feels me with joy!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

7.26.11

Romans 9:23 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, "I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trust in him (Jesus) will never be disgraced."

My Thoughts
This verse use to would have tripped me up... and the devil would have loved that!... I would have thought that it was unfair for God to place a stumbling block in our way.  But so often we feel like we have faith in God and then something big happens and we forget to turn to God.  We need those stumbling blocks to make us aware that we are not trusting in Jesus so that we can fix our untrust and do better.... God puts the stumbling block in our way for our own good... trusting Jesus is so important for our future.... for our forever that we are better off to stumble now. When God makes us aware that we don't have our trust in Jesus we can fix it.... but if life is going along so perfect that we are not aware we would be so surprised to find out that we had not trusted Jesus at all.  God does not test us to see if we are good or bad... God already knows what we will do.... God test us to make us aware of where we need improvement. 

We all understand as adults that test for children are to let them see what they know... a good teacher hands those test back so the child can learn what they didn't know.   A good student uses that test as a learning tool and finds the right answers so they will know the answers in the future.  The test is to help us learn and improve... to help us be aware of what we have not learned.

Gods test are to help us know where we need to grow... what areas we don't have trust in.  God test us because he wants us to have an A + 100 ... God wants us to learn all that we can so that our life here on earth can be good but most importantly so that we can live with Him in Heaven and experience all that He has to give us!.

Monday, July 25, 2011

7.25.11

2 Chronicles 16:11-13 In the thirty-ninth  year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease.  Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord's help but turned only to his physicians. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

My Thoughts
This made me think of how many times we depend on man and leave God out of the equation. We do it with little things and big things... King Asa did it with a disease that would end up killing him!... This verse says because Asa didn't seek God along with his physicians he died. I have often gone to the doctor without prayer ... I should always pray first.  In November of this past year I was praying and the Holy Spirit inside of me told me to call the doctor...I did.... then I even got an appointment that same day even though I said I didn't have to come in any time soon....and after telling the doctor just two of my symptoms, a constant tummy ache, and being really hot all the time, the doctor said I believe it is your gal bladder...that quickly!... He sent me to have test and the very next week I had surgery.  God's hand was in that!  I have no doubt. How sick would I have gotten had I not been seeking after God?  This happened to me...and I know without a doubt it was God... yet I often forget to pray when I know I am sick.  This verse reminds me to seek God in everything! When I head to the doctor I need to make sure that I have invited God to be there with me! When I head anywhere I need to invite God to be there with me!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

7.24.11

Romans 8:26 And the Holy Spirit helps us with our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

My Thoughts
To me this is such a comforting verse.  God sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us to intercede for us.  To take care of what we need even when we don't know what that is!! How amazing is that!!  So when you find yourself in a situation where you just don't know how to pray or what to say to God...let Him know that you  need him and you want him. When you just don't know what to ask for all you have to do is call out and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. I am comforted in the fact that I can sit on my couch and close my eyes and say "I need you God please help me!" and then just sit in silence in the presence of God while the Holy Spirit talks to God on my behalf. What a wonderful blessing God has given us...His Spirit inside of us to make sure we are well taken care of! 

Saturday, July 23, 2011

7.23.11

Psalms 18:30 God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

My Thoughts
I thought about how we look to God for protection and the best way I could apply it in my mind was this.  We teach our children how to be safe...we go about telling them what is dangerous... we protect them all we can.... when they are smaller it is much easier we are there all the time.  When they are bigger and have more free will to do what they want it is much harder to protect them....our protection extends when they do what they have learned...but when they go about on their own without regard to what we tell them they become less safe. 

As children of God we have free will, we make choices all the time.  It is important to put what God teaches us in our hearts and in our memory so that we can call on that wisdom of God when we make decisions....doing what God has ask us to do keeps us safe.  Staying in communication with God keeps us safe. But the minute we start doing contrary to God's teaching we have chosen, because we have free will to not be protected.  This verse says that we need to look to God for protection.  Praying for God to keep us safe as we walk willing straight into sin is like a child looking at their parents in the eyes when they are out of reach and walk straight into traffic.  The freely and willing walked into traffic against all they were taught and no matter what their parents did  to make them safe they made a choice and suffered horrible consequences. God is always preparing us to make the right choices.... to stay near him.... God wants to keep us safe and make us strong and  we are safe when we make the choice to do what God has told us to do...but when we run off on our own we make choices that make us unsafe.  But God is right there beside us, close enough that we can always cry out and God can reach us....but when we cry out we have to do what God ask so that He can keep us safe.

Friday, July 22, 2011

7.22.11

Psalms 18:6 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to God for help.  He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.

My Thoughts
God hears us!!...Our cries reach his ears...all the way to heaven.  God listens...when we feel like nobody in the world hears us... our words reach God. So next time you are having a day where you feel like nobody hears a word you say, pause take a deep breath and talk to God. You will actually feel a calm come over your body.  God is good all the time.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

7.21.11

Proverbs 19:23 Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm.

My Thoughts
Fear is defined in a several ways to be afraid of is one...and awe and revere is the other... I got to thinking about this verse in those terms... and I thought of how sometimes in our life we find somebody to hero worship... teenagers do this with their friends so often..... when we do this we just are so afraid that we won't please that person that we find ourselves doing something we wouldn't usually do just to please them...to get their attention... we can't help to notice them when they walk into the room and it can actually feel like the son rose in a room when they enter.  That is the kind of feeling of worship we need to have for God.... the complete desire to do what ever He says.... when we feel His presence is should overwhelm us with a good feeling.  The wonderful thing about hero worshiping God is that God is a real hero...and doing anything God tells us to do is good...God will keep us secure and protect us from harm... God is amazing that way!  I think we can get carried away with that "hero worship" feeling because our bodies were made to worship God and when we aren't that feeling of worship gets directed somewhere.  We are intended for worship and when we worship God, when we are in awe of God...when we are afraid to disappoint God because we love him our lives can only improve.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

7.20.11

2 Chronicles 1:11-12  God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people—I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”

My Thoughts
Did you ever wonder what God wants from you?... We know that God wants us to love Him!! We know that God wants us to love others and treat people the way we want to be treated.  But God also wants us to seek wisdom... to learn all that we can about what God can do... what God has planned.... God wants us to keep gaining knowledge... the rest will follow!!  God blessed Solomon with so much because the only thing Solomon asked for was wisdom...wisdom is that important.  God blessed Solomon just because he asked to be wise.  God will change your life is you seek wisdom... Gods kind of wisdom.... There is such proof that God set the world up to prosper when we seek wisdom... in countries where people have no education poverty prevails.  In countries where people want to dictate and control they only educate a select few...the people in control surround their selves with wise people but the keep the people under their complete control by keeping the uneducated.  The devil has more power to control us when we are not educated in what God can do... in what we can do to draw God close to us.  The devil would love nothing more than to keep us uneducated about God and his ability within us. Grace is Gods ability in us to help us accomplish things we could never do alone.  We have such power when we let God work though us...but the devil wants us to stay uneducated about that power. Jesus said if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can do anything (Matthew 17:20) The devil is full of "you can't".... God teaches us that "you can." It should always be in our prayers as we start our day to ask God for wisdom... everything else will follow.  We will never be as wise as Solomon....but God has Solomon write down so much that we can learn from and we can show God how much we want wisdom by learning from Solomon.




Tuesday, July 19, 2011

7.19.11

Romans 5:11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

My Thoughts
I love this!!..Friends of God.  When we think a friend, a true friend... it is a person that we can tell anything to...that will understand us...that will forgive us when we mess up... the person that we run to when we are happy and that we run to when we are sad. The person that listens and gets us even when we say the wrong thing. The person that knows us inside and out. The person that we call call on day or night.  The person we want so spend time with.  God is our friend...we should always treat God like He is.

Monday, July 18, 2011

7.18.11

Romans 5:3-5  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

My Thoughts
God so prepares us for all that we will have to go through here on this earth. That is why we should never think God has been unfair.  God needs to prepare us all in different ways... It is like a wood carver who builds a chair for strength .... some wood takes more effort to carve... some wood can be carved very gently.... but both pieces need to be shaped into something strong...it takes more effort to make one chair stronger than it does the other. But the strenth of both chairs is necessary  We even get the concept that children learn about death from pets... and that prepares them for the death of people later in their lives. The most important thing we do in life is have faith in God and his existence... faith that Jesus died for our sins....for my sins, for your sins. So that we can live forever in heaven with God and Jesus.  So sometimes when bad things are happening... God does not rescue us until we call our so that our faith in Him will not waver...and so that when we face much larger things in life we will be able to ask God for help ... to have the faith in God that we need.  I would have never gotten through the death of my mom had I not had God's presence so strong in my life.... I would have crashed...had a mental breakdown.... but God put me in places where my faith in Him would be strongest when I needed Him the most.... and if that took me enduring a few much smaller hardships along the way...I am so blessed that God cared enough for me to get me ready for what I had to face in the future. This verse...and the things I have been through make me know that next time a hardship comes along that I need to bow down to God and say... "Dear God I don't know what is comming up in my futrue..but thank you for preparing me... be with me and help me learn the lessons that I need to learn today to get through tomorrow. Thank you for careing for me so much that you prepare me for the things of this world." We know we have grown so much when we can cry out to God with thanks no matter what the circumstances are.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

7.17.11

Romans 4:2 If his (Abraham) good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about.  But that was not God's way.  For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith."

My Thoughts
I was trying to put this in my head in a way that I could totally understand it.  Kind of get it in human terms so that I could wrap my brain around putting my faith in God. The way I thought about is was this...

Can't you imagine that God sees us so often like we see a small child that won't let us help.  You know the scene.  A child is trying to open a jar that has never been open...the task is way to big for the child...but until the child lets his dad have the jar the jar will stay unopened.... then the child give the jar to Mom and Mom can't open the jar...but Dad is standing there all along with the strength and the ability and until the child gives dad the jar the lid is not going anywhere!  We go about taking on life without asking God for help...without letting God help.... we give our problems to our friends and our family..... and all the while God is standing there looking on just waiting for us to give Him the task at hand.... after all God can take care of anything that is in front of us... we just keep holding on or passing around and we never reach up to God and give him what needs to be handled.

We are only limited by our faith because when we don't believe we don't stop and let God take over. We can work and work and work...doing everything right but no matter what we do we don't have the ability to do what God can do. We have to have faith enough to say "Here God you do it." We cant make ourselves right with God only God can do that! We just have to have the faith to let Him.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

7.16.11

Romans 3:23-24  For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

My Thoughts
I love this... God knows us all. God knows we have all sinned and even though we don't deserve it God makes us right with him.  Sometimes we have such a hard time going to God with some of our sins because we feel we can't be forgiven... but God forgives everything!  We just have to earnestly ask.  I think that we sometimes have a hard time truly knowing that God will forgive us anything because man is not so good to do that.  Man puts a value on sins... 1-10.... one is gossip and that is okay everybody does it...and 10 is murder and that is just unforgivable! When we do anything above a 5 we get afraid God will never forgive us and we try and hide.... What we need to remember is God  doesn't put numbers on sin... he forgives us everything,  all we have to do is ask. In John 8:7 Jesus told the people "he who is without sin cast the first stone." Everybody, everybody walked away... Jesus was standing with a woman that man had thought did what man might call a #8 sin. But, Jesus didn't say let anybody that has not done a #8 sin cast the first stone...he said anybody without sin cast the first stone.  God didn't say anybody that has done sins 1-5 are forgiven... God said we all sin some kind of sin... some are a 1 some are a 10 and there are all those in between  they are all sin to me and I will forgive you any of your sins...I love you all, you are all my children and if you come to me and believe what I ask you to believe..and tell me what you have done I will forgive you... I want to forgive you...I sent my son, Jesus to die for your sins to make things all better.  Now go out and do better so you won't hurt yourself or others because I love you all and I want all of you to be okay!!  God loves us way more than man has the capacity to love....and he forgive us because he loves us...all of us. God loves us no matter.

Friday, July 15, 2011

7.15.11

Romans 2:29b And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

My Thoughts
I am a people pleaser!!... and a rule follower.... but I have broken  rules to please people....I just never wanted somebody to be disappointed in me.... or mad at me... or sad with me ... it hurt my heart.  It also made life hard so many times, so many people to please!! When we seek praise from God and not people it is amazing how much simpler life can be.... it reduces the choices you have in a good way!  The people that are not pleased with you when you do what God wants will truly get over it.  Then there are the people that "get it" when you choose to make God happy over them.......then the rest of the world won't care one way or the other. But most importantly God will smile.  So many times when I choose to please a person when I wasn't comfortable with they ask of me I just didn't know how to say no.  Now I can say "I can't do that it would not make God happy with me."  What can somebody say to that??? Now I am even strong enough, because of God to just say "No I can't." because I know it won't make God happy with me.  Have you ever said yes in the moment to please somebody now...  and even know at that moment, that later you would so hate what you had committed yourself to?... I have!!  Now I stop and weigh out the future I think "If I say yes.... will this be  something that will make me resentful in the future?" ... I know that God would not be happy with the resentment I would feel in my heart and I am able to say no. More times than not I still say yes...God loves when we do for others.... but now I do for others with a clear conscious and a right heart....not to please them...but to please God.  God will never ask us to do something that is wrong! When we say yes to God we are choosing the absolute right thing to do.  All of God's motives are pure, loving and good. God always cares about my life and what will happen to me when He ask me to do for Him. And God is a forgiving God if I am trying my best to please Him... and I still mess up.... I can go to God and confess and ask forgiveness without fear and God will forgive me. A changed heart is full of wonderful rewards that make life so much easier and so much better. We can never go wrong by seeking praise from God.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

7.14.11

Romans 2:13 For merely listening to the law doesn't make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.


My Thoughts
God expects us to make an effort to do good, to be good. We are not good people just because we know what is good..... God wants us to do what is good.... God wants us to learn what is good and apply it. Verse 23 says that we are so proud of knowing the law, but we dishonor God by breaking it. Have you ever know somebody that wanted you to do something... got mad at you for not doing it but never told you what they wanted? Women do this all the time (men say). This has happened to all of us and it can be so frustrating not to know how to please somebody that you want to please...because they won't tell you what they need from you. God is not like that... God tells us all the time... God gave us the Bible, He gives us preachers and Sunday School teachers who study the word and explain it to us to the best of their understanding.... God puts the Holy Spirit inside us to guide us....and before we even ask God to live in our heart He has given us our very own conscience (verse 15) to help us know right from wrong. God tells us what He wants and to be right in God's sight we need to act on the knowledge God has given us. We need to listen to our conscience, we need to listen to the Holy Spirit inside us, we need to study God's word. We don't need to reason with ourselves that a white lie is ok..... that not paying our taxes is not stealing... that it is ok to do something to somebody just because they did it to us first...the list goes on.... we know when we are trying to convince ourselves that doing wrong is not so wrong... God tells us that that is still not ok...we need to make an effort... to always do our very best...we need to not make excuses... we need to pay attention to what God tells us to do and do it so that we will be right in God's sight. God only tells us what is good! Even when it doesn't feel like it we are always, always better off when we do the good God prompts us to do!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

7.13.11

1 Chronicles 16:11 Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.

My Thoughts
Continually seek him.  We tend to just go about our days, so much to do so little time.  We get our minds our our to do list, our what to do list, what others are doing, what we are going to say next and we forget to "continually seek him." We forget when we are trying... how much more do we forget when we don't try at all? God gives us strength for all things when we ask. But we have to ask. We need to get up in the morning ans spend time with God... and then we need to keep God there beside us all day long by talking to him constantly.  We need to say things like "God, please help me with this conversation." "God, please help me as I make choices in my day to make the right choices." When the phone rings we need to ask for God to help us with what we hear and what we say... when we get in the car we need to thank God for transportation and ask God to keep us safe. When we are tempted to eat more than we should we should ask God to help us.  When we sit down at night to watch TV we should ask God to help us choose what to watch.  We should constantly thank God for our blessings.  When we are frustrated we should tell God and not the world. God is the one who can help.  It makes perfect sense that life would be better if we kept God at our side all the time.... talking to God constantly. It can only make our life better!! When we go to learn something new we should ask God to help us... how much better could we learn and do with God there!  We need to learn to thank God for the things he hasn't even given us yet.  We need to tell God our dreams and the desires of our heart... nobody cares more than God.  Continually is defined as:  Not interrupted; steady.... as my son put it we should never say amen because we should never stop our conversation with God.  The next time you are feeling lonely ask yourself  "Have I talked to God today?" If we want today to be better...if we want our life to be better... if we want our relationships to be better we need to talk to God about it all, all the time!  God has the power to make all of our life...each part of our life stronger!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

7.12.11

Romans 1:12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also what to be encouraged by yours.

My Thoughts
Someone to encourage you in your faith is so important!... that is why we need to surround ourselves with other Christians.... we need somebody to lift us up when life gets hard... somebody to remind us  how wonderful God is and what God can do.  We need to be there for others when life gets hard.  In Exodus things got hard for Moses and his friends helped.....

11 As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. 12 Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. 13 As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle

..... Sometimes we are just not strong enough in body....and sometimes in heart to do what we need to do...sometimes we get to tired to even recognize the  faith inside of us, the world can be so hard.... but, if we surround ourselves with Godly people they can be there to remind us how good God is, how faithful God is.  They can help us hold our faith up just like Aaron and Hur helped Moses hold his arms up. Then in turn we can do the same for others.  We need somebody in our lives that we trust enough to say.... "Today it is hard for me to believe." somebody that knows our heart and won't judge our moment of weakness. We all need help sometimes even in our faith. And we need to work to be the kind of person others can trust with their moments of weakness. God always cares, God always loves.... sometimes we just need to be reminded.

Monday, July 11, 2011

7.11.11

Psalms 9:2a I will be filled with joy because of you (God).

My Thoughts
This verse of all my verses today just really stood out.  Maybe it is because my birthday is coming up.... but I though of how much joy we feel when somebody thinks of us and gives us a gift.  We feel so loved ... so cared about... we feel joy! A moment of "Wow! How special is this!!" God gives us all we have! Everything we have is a gift from God. Our families.... our abilities... our health.... our homes... our jobs.... flowers... rainbows...... the list goes on forever...... all those things that we forget to be thankful for.... sometimes they are gifts for the whole world....and sometimes they are gifts just for us!! Have you ever seen a rainbow and felt so blessed by it that it felt like it was just for you?... well it God may just have made it just for you! If we could learn to stop and really count our blessings each day... each morning it could change our lives.... we tend to get up and think "I have so much to do today!" and start out overwhelmed and stressed.  But what if we started out with "God has given me so much, today he has given me _______"  ........Today God gave me a dear husband that always kisses me bye in the morning...never forgets to tell me he loves me. God gave me this dear man! God gave me my children... and my son-in-law....and my son's girlfriend...they belong to me... a gift from God.... and they are a gift to each other.  When I stop and think of them....truly think of them as the gift they are, I feel joy. I love peaceful mornings...today I have a peaceful morning...the crickets are chirping...my sweet animals are laying in the room with me...I love that!  It is a gift from God!..I live in a country where it is ok to write about God's word..that is a gift from God. So often I don't stop and feel the joy of this moment.  Robby, my husband falls off to sleep better if he puts his hand where he can feel that I am there next to him...that always makes me smile, always. But I don't always stop and soak in the joy of the moment... a moment that God gave to me.  It is my choice to notice the moments, the things God gives me.  If I would take the time to notice, to be thankful of all my gifts I would be more mindful of living in a way that would make God want to give me more of them.  I love giving gifts to somebody when I see the joy in their face when I do.  Don't you bet God feels the same way about our reactions to what He gives us?  We need to take the time to be filled with joy because of God.  It is your choice, will you see the joy in your day? Will you choose to make God glad the He gave you the gifts He choose to give to you? I will be better at choosing joy.  Today one of God's gifts to me was making me aware that I need to stop and notice all my gifts.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

7.10.11

Psalms 8:6 You gave man charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority.

My Thoughts
Charge means having the care or supervision of.... God trusted us enough to put us in charge of the earth and everything in it. If we are the manager of a store or business when the owner comes back he expects to find everything in good order... well taken care of.  Hopefully better off, but not worse off than it was when he left. When a doctor leaves a nurse in charge of a patient he expect that patient to be well taken care of. When we are in charge of something it is not to be better than it is to be more responsible than.... We are greater for a purpose. We are greater than so we can take care of. Luke 12:48 tells us: When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. God expects us to take care! To take care of each other...of the animals ... of our jobs... of the plants....  of the water .... the air.... the earth and everything in it.  God made us to be responsible, we need to take that responsibility seriously. When we give a child a car we expect them to take care of it.... when somebody gives us a job the expect us to take care of that job. God gave us the earth..and everything in it....we are expected to take care of it.

When we take care of our jobs, our jobs take care of us.... when we take care of our children one day they take care of us.... when we take care of our cars our cars take care of us getting us where we need to be.... God set it up that way...when we take care of the earth the earth will take care of us... When we take care of others...they will in return take care of us when we need them. What can we each do today to take care of what God has given us?

Saturday, July 9, 2011

7.9.11

Proverbs 18:27 The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord.

My Thoughts
I love this....women if you ever wonder if you matter.... if there is a reason for your life. This verse makes us know what God thinks of women... God believes we are treasures.... God made us to be a treasure.  This alone should make us feel special!

Friday, July 8, 2011

1.8.11

Acts 26:20 (Paul said) I preach first first to those in Damascus then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God -- and prove they have changed by the good things they do.

My Thoughts
There are so many verses we are taught as a child..... so many we just begin to know as an adult that we hear over and over again.  I believe that the last part of this verse should be one that we put into our remembrance. It is so, so important but so often not practiced by Christians today. We need to prove that we are changed by the good things we do.  We should go about doing good in such a way that people know that we are Christians. People should be able to see the love of God in our heart by our actions.  Not just at Church but at home, work, play... while we shop, play golf.  While we are on vacation...by the way we celebrate...we should go about doing good things...saying kind things... we should go about showing love to everyone one we come in contact with!  We should be like the song "And they will know that we are Christians by our love, by our love." It is not enough to say we are Christians and show up at Church on Sunday morning... We need to show up as Christians in our everyday life! We need to go about proving we have changed by the good things we do. These are not Paul's commandments..these are from Jesus himself... in verse 16 Paul tells how Jesus told him to "Get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You Are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future." Jesus wants us to prove we have changed. Lets get busy and go about doing good! What we do for others we are doing for God.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

7.7.11

Proverbs 18:19 An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.

My Thoughts
I wounder how often we offend someone when our thought before we opened our mouth was "I don't need to say this but....."  No matter what the but is...unless it is "But, this will save my friends life or soul"... you might as well be saying "I don't need to say this but, my need to open my mouth is  more important than my friendship with this person." So often we offend people by our need to express our opinion and be heard...sometimes over  unimportant matters...we just what to be heard.  Our need to be heard should never override making a person feel loved. All to often our words make people feel unloved when our silence would pass over any hurt feeling.  We should never underestimate the power of saying nothing at all. So many times the most powerful feeling of love comes in the silence. Comes in a nod of understanding... comes in a hug.... it seldom comes in a "but," ... you heart is usually saying I don't need to say that...and the devil adds the "but" in your thoughts.  Are you going to listen to your heart?  The heart will chose love every time.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

6.6.11

Proverbs 18:18 Flipping a coin can end arguments; it settles disputes between powerful opponents.

My Thoughts
Oh this made me smile... almost laugh out loud.  God know how silly our arguments can be... He knows that everybody can be right and nobody can be right. God knows that what we say in anger can be so hurtful. God knows that sometimes nobody is going to give in. God knows that even when you win an argument that you have lost so much more in the process of winning. Arguments are so pointless that God made sure we knew to just flip a coin!


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

6.5.11

Proverbs 18:14 A man's spirit can endure sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit? (NlT) The Good New Translation says this verse this way, "Your will to live can sustain you when you are sick, but if you lose it, your last hope is gone."

My Thoughts
This made me think of how God sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of us when we are saved. Our spirit is so important to our well being, to our ability to withstand that God puts a spirit, the Holy Spirit inside of us so that we can be strong enough to endure all that satin brings against us! A spirit to help our spirit! We hear the Holy Spirit all the time!! We talk about when the Holy Spirit prompts us to do good...we talk about when the Holy Spirit warns us that we are about to do something wrong.  There is another thing we can feel the Holy Spirit doing. The Holy Spirit is always telling us we can!!  Even when the devil is telling us we can't.  Have you ever felt like you were arguing with yourself about what you were afraid to try about what you can and can't get through? Sure you have..we all have... The devil is telling you one things...trying to break your spirit....The Holy Spirit is telling you that you can!! Building you up.  If you stop to notice...to really listen and feel that argument going on inside you this is what it feels like... The can't are all in your head... the can's are in your gut...from your middle, the core of your body... you can feel the can's deep inside of you!! When you believe the can's you can feel your spirit grow... you can feel the strength inside you grown!! And it grows from your spirit! We can even feed our spirit..with God's word, with prayer...by surrounding ourselves with Godly people.  Since our spirit is so important to our ability...so important that God sends us the Holy Spirit... we should never neglect it. A strong spirit can get us through anything when it is filled with the hope of God!

Monday, July 4, 2011

6.4.11

Acts 23:5 "I'm sorry, brothers. I didn't realize he was the high priest," Paul replied, "for the Scriptures say, 'you must not speak evil of any of your rulers.'"

My Thoughts
Oh this is such a fitting scripture for the 4th of July. As citizens it is our duty to elect a president...to go out and vote!  We get the opportunity to vote this person out of office in four years if we do not like what he/she is doing.  But while any person is president of our wonderful United States we need to pray for them, we need to speak highly of them and we need to support them. The Scriptures tell us to do this. God tells us what is best.  With such mass media that we can all be a part of... blogs, facebook etc. people from all over the world can see how we feel.  We need to present ourselves as a united front.  We don't do that when we trash our president. If we don't like what our president stands for we need to pray and pray some more... but we still need to support him/her. We became a strong nation because we are United... we can become weak by being divided.  The enemy looks for the cracks in our armor.  Thumpers mother, from Bambi,  put it well when she said "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all." God knew when He put these words in the Scriptures how to keep a nation strong.  We need to listen.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

6.3.11

Psalms 1:6 For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

My Thoughts
Verses 1 and 2 tells says that we will have joy if we don't join in with people doing bad things and we delight in the law of the Lord...  thinking about it day and night.  It tells us God watches over us when we try!! When we think about what God wants us to do... when we spend our time with people that try to do what God wants....It doesn't say God watches over the people that are perfect!! King David did a lot of things wrong...but David always went to God and asked forgiveness when he messed up... David always sought after God.... David was always talking to God... David was not perfect but was considered godly because he tried!... because he spent time with God.... because he surrounded himself with Godly people. All we have to do for God to watch over us is to love God...and to try our best to do what God ask... We have to know what God ask..that is our responsibility.... when we take time for God, God takes time for us! 

I picture it kind of like this.  You are walking about your day talking to God, and listening... God says lets go down this road...and you listen to what God says.... now this road is a safe road.... it is full of things to enjoy... you might have to cross some pretty strong water....but God is there holding your hand and gets you across the waters... then a storm may come up...but God shelters you from the storm...things around you might get destroyed...but God has kept you safe.   But if you are walking along without talking to God... you can so easily go down the wrong path ...the one that looks like a lot of fun, the one you know you shouldn't go down from the feeling in the pit of your tummy but you go anyway... God has been there all along...but you weren't talking to Him or listening.... that feeling in the pit of your tummy is God saying don't go!!... but you are not hearing... you go anyway.... God has to stay at the cross roads and wait for you to come back....it all seems OK... and there are fun things on this road..but then you come to the same rough waters....and God is not there to hold your hand... you get swept away.... surviving seems just so hard.... you get through that and the storm comes .... what happens then?  But it is never too late to walk on the path God wanted us to walk on... we call out to Him and he says... "come this way"... and if you do,  you can get on the protected path!!

We need God with us to watch over our path...and to have God there we have to invite Him.... we have to  spend time with Him to know how to be godly... walking in God's protection is our choice. When we mess up and make a mistake... God is still there with us if we go to Him and say "God please forgive me I really messed up."  That is what David did!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

7.1.11

2 Kings 20:4-6 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

My Thoughts
I love this!!... In verse 1 ...God had told Isaiah to tell  Hezekiah that God said  he was going to die.  Then Hezekiah prayed to God.  Hezekiah had always been faithful to God. This story tells us that God does answer our prayers.  That our prayers can change God's mind. We we are faithful to God, God is faithful to us.  It is important to remember that part where Hezekiah is faithful to God.  It is important to remember that we need to forgive others and that we need to confess our sins.  We need to do our best to do what God ask of us.  God know when we are trying!! God hears our prayers.  I love the stories where God hears our prayers!






Friday, July 1, 2011

7.1.11

Proverbs 18:8 Rumors are  dainty morsels that sink deep into one's heart.

My Thoughts
Matthew 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. Have you every thought of a rumor as a part of your heart? I really never have... I know rumors can be dangerous... and hurtful...but I never thought of them as part of my heart. But rumors come from our mouths...not even our actions... just from our mouth. And Matthew tells us that what comes our of our mouth comes from our heart.  Do we really want God to see us as dangerous or hurtful.  Rumors can destroy lives... or destroy someones day. Do you want your heart to be seen as a heart that likes destruction...that doesn't care about others? I don't!... Yet I have repeated rumors before... I am not sure why... maybe to be a person "in the know". Who knows why repeat rumors yet, we do it all the time. Now that I know, and get that rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into my heart...which means that they will come out of my mouth....I will walk away!  If hearing a rumor changes my heart I need to make the choice not to listen to rumors.  To change my heart I have to chance what I place in my heart.  Rumors don't need to take up space where love can grow instead.