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







Friday, January 31, 2014

1.31.14

Exodus 12:42 On this night The Lord kept his promise to bring his people out of the land of Egypt. So this night belongs to him, and it must be commemorated every year by all the Israelites, from generation to generation. 

My Thoughts
God always keeps His promises! Always! The question is do we always stop and take time to realize just that ?God has done and give. Him the credit?  I know I don't....I need to take time to commemorate all that God does in my life. I know that I have thanked God on occasion for Robby's job which provides us with so much. But I have never picked up his check in Friday and looked up to Heaven and said, "Thank you God!"  I know that in big moments, like Madison finally getting home safe from the snow storm on Tuesday after hours upon hours in traffic, climbing over a concrete median, riding with strangers , and a neighbor then picking her up at a gas station...after prayers going up all day from me and her dad, and from my friends and their friends....I thanked God! But there are so many times I just go about, too often taking the credit myself instead of giving God the credit. I must do better...all victory, no matter how small it may seem in our day, belongs to God.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

1.30.14

Psalm 25:8 The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray.

My Thoughts
To me these words were so comforting today. To know that God will get me back in the right path. I just have to call after Him. He will not trick me, He will not lie to me, He will not lead me down the wrong path. He will do what is right, always! He will show me the way back to Him! Wow!


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

1.29.14

Exodus 9:20-21 Some of Pharaoh's officials were afraid because of what The Lord had said. They quickly brought their servants and livestock in from the fields. But those who paid no attention to the word of The Lord left theirs out in the open. 

Then The Lord said to Moses, "Lift your had toward the sky so hail may fall on the people, the livestock and the plants throughout the land of Egypt."

My Thoughts
How often have I been in a bad situation because I didn't know God's word, didn't listen to the Holy Spirit...or just did what I wanted in spit of what I knew that God says. Our lives are so much safer....easier...less stressful when we listen to God.... When we stop and talk to the Holy Spirit then listen our lives are better.

Monday, January 27, 2014

1.27.14

Exodus 3:21 And I (God) will cause the Egyptians to look favorably upon you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. 

My Thoughts
Colossians 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. When I read about the Israelites leaving Egypt loaded down I thought if this verse. Later we learn that every Israelite, man, woman and child was loaded down with treasure, yet they did not even stumble under the weight of it. See that worked hard,as if they were working for The Lord eaten as slaves and God made sure that they were rewarded. 

Each job that we do in our lives can be made successful, even if it doesn't feel so at the time, if we work as of we are working for God. God always blesses our hi set efforts when we keep our eyes on Him! Any time we wonder if someone is noticing our efforts, or that we think that nobody is noticing...we need to stop and remember that God sees and He cares. Take a second to commit that effort we are making to Him. We need to do our best. Putting the story of the Israelites in our hearts...and know that God sees and His blessings are far beyond anything man can provide! 

Sunday, January 26, 2014

1.26.14

Matthew 16:15-17 Then Jesus asked them, "But who do you say I am?" 
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." 
Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in Heaven has revealed this to you. You didn't learn this from a human being.

My Thoughts
Simon Peter was blessed simply because he believed, not what man had said, but that God had told him. I wonder how often we miss God's blessings because we believe what man has said about God instead of believing what God tells us about Himself? This verse really stood out to me when I stopped and looked back at my own walk with God. I spent years wanting to understand God more, all the time waiting on some preacher or teacher to tell me what I needed to know. Once I picked up God's word for myself, let God teach me about Him, my life started to change in amazing ways. I began to experience God's blessings everywhere I looked.

We can surround ourselves with believers who help us grow. We can listen and learn from our pastors and our teachers. But we must never overlook what God says about Himself. When we get into God's word God makes sure we understand. If we seek wisdom, God will make sure that wisdom finds us. God will reveal Himself to is. We can't seek what the preacher says, or our teachers say, we can lean from them and grow with them.  But when we seek we must seek what God says. I know in my life that has made all the difference.

Friday, January 24, 2014

1.24.11

Psalm 19:10b-11 The laws of The Lord are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even dripping from the cone.

My Thoughts
We lose out on so much in life when we miss this, when we search the world for truth overlooking God's word. The world is so busy busy...striving to have it all, yet missing out in so much. We just keep looking in the wrong places. I wish that I had only knew this sooner in my life. The more I learn God's word the better my life becomes. What God teaches us only makes our life richer. The more I follow  God's will for. Y life the better my life gets! I have so many earthly habits to break, things I have done all my life...but the more I read God's word and put those words in my heart the better I get at following God's law...the better my life becomes. Each day I am filled with more joy! more peace! more love! more of everything that is good in life???all because I am learning how to live under the protection of God. What a blessing that God gives us instructions... God gives us truth. He loves us so! 


Thursday, January 23, 2014

1.23.14

Matthew 14:29-30 "Yes come,"Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and begin to sink. "Save me lord he shouted. 

My Thoughts
Peter was walking on water, actually walking in water until, until he thought about what was around him instead of thinking about what Jesus said he could do. How much do we thin we can't do? 2 Timothy 1:7 says this "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."  How often do we say, "I can't." When God says we can. We can't believe what the world says about us, or what people say about us, OR what we tell ourselves...we must believe what God says about us. Then all things are possible...God says so! 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

1.22.14

Psalms 18:16&19 16. He (the Lord) reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. 16. He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.

My Thoughts
Wow... "This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long." This is so what God did for me. Lupus had put me in a bad place, the pain of it the worry of it...I was stuck at home, not hardly leaving the house without Robby...then God put that One Year Bible in my hand through my son, John-Robert and I begin to read... only a couple of months later God placed me next to a sweet, sweet lady at the doctors office that invited me to Bible Study. I will never be the same... God reached down from heaven and rescued me from deep waters...and he deposited me in a place of safety, in the middle of God loving, God fearing people in a Church I would have never chosen to go to on my own. God made sure I was surrounded in love. And now these added words, "because He delights in me!"
What is so wonderful about our great God is how much that He delights in all of us. He is waiting to bless all of us. We just have to move to a place of obedience so that He can. I stumbled into obedience and God was able to bless me. He was just waiting, watching for a chance to do something for me. And He hasn't stopped blessing me since!
He waited until I was ready to know and understand and share His love for me when He healed me of Lupus and Fybromylgia. Four years ago I could not leave my house because Lupus had inflicted me with pain and sickness, then taken my self-esteem so much so that I couldn't leave the house. Three days ago I stood up in front of 180 people and shared what God has done in my life! My eyes fill with happy tears. And you know what? God has lots more growing of me to do!

Will you let God grow you? His word is like yeast, Jesus tells us this in Matthew. Just a little of God's word each day will make a huge difference in our lives!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

1.21.14

Matthew 13:22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but the message is crowded the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.

My Thoughts
I believe that this is where I was stuck for years and years... on a merry-go-round of learning about God then loosing what I learned because I couldn't stay focused on it because my focus was on what to worry about next. My grandmother taught my mom, and my mom taught me that if you are not worried about something that you must not care.  If I had a bad report card, and I had lots of those, my mom would say, "Did you not worry about your grades?" So I would worry about them. So then you take that into adulthood and you worry about all that you care about, you husband, your marriage, your kids, your money... anything that you needed, anything that mattered you worried about...that meant you cared. If I didn't worry my world would fall apart! Duh me! I worried about my grades and they didn't change.  Worry didn't change anything in my life... it just got in the way. In fact it made life harder which produced more worry.  

When I learned to spend my time in God's word, in prayer, in pondering what I read that day in my Bible reading...I started crowding out worry with thoughts of God. And as I learned to trust God I learned to give Him the left over worry that I still had time for.  That is when my life began to change in amazing ways!  That is when I begin to grown in God.  That is when I really started to know who God is and just how much God loves me!  When I started spending my time with God, on God, knowing God my growing roots began to choke out the worry in my life... there was no room for worry because I was using it to spend time with God. 

Knowing God has done so much more for me than I could have ever imagined...but if all it did for me was help me not worry, that alone would have been enough to change my life!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

1.10.14

Psalm 16:2 I said to The Lord, "You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you."

My Thoughts
The more I realize this fact that David knew, the better my life gets. James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from above. When I get these thoughts in my head and look around at all the good things in my life, I can't help but feel loved. I am loved beyond what I could ever imagine ... How could I not know that when I open my eyes with this face in my head. We deny ourselves so much when we think that we are the ones responsible for what we have in our lives. We miss out on the joy of feeling loved, we are unable to feel secure if we are not busy, busy, busy being successful, we forget to notice others around us because we get so lost in ourselves. The more I wrap my mind around all that God does for me... The more loved I feel, the less stress I feel. The more I recognize ?God in my life the mor I know how much hpHe takes care of me, the more secure I am in the fact He will take care of me. I pray that as my days pass I become even more aware of God and His goodness in my life. I feel so thankful, so blessed, so loved.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

1.16.14

Matthew 11:23-30 then Jesus said, "Come to me all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, because I am humble and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light." 

My Thoughts
Oh! Wow! This made me smile! I look back at the me that thought she knew God and see confusion at this verse...and sit with me now, the person that takes time with, almost every day getting to know Him. What a difference time in God's word makes. I use to see the things God ask of me as something else to add to my list of so much. Now I see the things that God ask me to do as yet another way to make my life easier and better! 

Satan lies all the time...he tells us so thing will be fun and exciting with an oh this is gong to make your life so much better at the end to entice us further. The best example of this is addiction ... Look this will make you high and happy, it will make you forget all your troubles...but we all know addiction just adds to our burdens... It promises so much, but takes instead if giving. All sin does that... It is just easy to see in addiction. 

Jesus on the other hand tells us.. This won't be easy to do, but it will be worth it. If you do this your life will be happier in the end. I do ask stuff of you, but the burden is not hard, there is a burden though... But it isn't hard and if you will choose to Cary it... I will makes sir you have rest. 

Jesus lays it all out there... Satan hides all the ugly parts. Satan is the master of if it is too good to be true promises. 

Since I have come to really know Jesus, to really know and understand just how much Gid loves me I know the rewards that God offers us always make my life better in the end. If He tells me to be careful with my money, then I always have enough. If He tells me to take each day and spend time with Him, He rewards that by making my day go smoother and stretching my time. If He tells me to keep my mouth shut, I get to sleep better at night. The list goes on and on. God never tricks me and He always rewards my true efforts. I am constantly amazed. So glad I was blessed wth my alone Year Bible and that I started reading it. It is my path to knowing God better! 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

1.15.14

Psalm 13:1 O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? 


My Thoughts
In verse 5, David says, "But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me."  I could not help but notice that David felt like God was gone nowhere to be found yet David still talked to God...sharing all his thoughts even his frustration. Even though David felt that God was not there he knew in his heart of hearts that God loved him and would rescue him. David did many things wring, but he always, always trusted God. Because of that God vaunted David as righteous.

These verses teach me that even when I wonder where God is that I need to keep on talking to God. Even if all I can say to Him is, "God, where are you?" Those words show that I know, that I still believe in God whether I feel Him near or not. Those words will show me that I still believe...and if I still believe that I, like David, will have to believe that God in His unfailing love will rescue me.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

1.14.14

Matthew 10:16 "Look, I am sending you out as sheep amog wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and as harmless as doves.

My Thoughts
Shrewd...I wanted to thin about this verse...I really needed to understand shrewd.... The synomons were


Astute, sharp-wittedsharpsmartacuteintelligentclevercannyperceptive,perspicacioussagaciouswise

informalon the ball, savvyheads-up
formalsapient

"a shrewd businessman would never have been so careless about keeping appointments"

I liked this...To me it said that as Christians out in this world we need to be kind and gentle with people...but we are not to be stupid about people either. We don't have to be trampled on, deceived, taken advantage of. We can make judgments about people's actions without judging. That is our duty  to protect ourselves from harm that can come at us in many forms. We can stop back and assess the situation we are in or the people we are with and make wise choices. It tells me that being kind and loving towards others does not include being stupid about how we are being treated. I can be kind and gentle as I walk away from a bad situation. 

This is just good to know! 




Monday, January 13, 2014

1.13.14

Proverbs 3:7-8 Don't be impressed with your own wisdom.  Instead fear the Lord and turn away from evil.  Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

My Thoughts
Wow!  "Don't be impressed with your own wisdom!" Wow!  I think this really struck me because of a conversation I had with a  young lady this weekend who grew up with parents who were missionaries.  I peppered her with questions. One of the things that I learned from her is that in America, where we have so much, people are much harder to reach because they rely so much on themselves.  So when I read this I thought of how much knowledge is at our fingertips. We think we know, or if we don't know we can find out.  We ask everybody, we seek every place then if we are still at a loss for answers we ask God.  We are so impressed with our own wisdom, or our ability to get the answers that we miss out on what the true answers really are. We can also go about making life so complicated, when really life is very simple.  We have questions, God has the answers.  We have needs, God wants to meet those needs.  We have knowledge, we need to seek God on that knowledge and make sure that what we think we know is what God teaches. We go about seeking after everything, making our lives crazy busy when we could make life simple by seeking after God in all matters of our lives.  God knows all... we get so lost in thinking that we know that we become prisoners of what we think is good for us. 

I remember at time when my kids were young, I was busy getting them here and there... getting them to places that I was sure was good for them.  Doing my best be a good mom and do what was right for my kids.  I didn't ask God. I thought I knew.  I knew so much that we were so busy that we didn't have time for anything except all the things that were "good" for my kids.  I know that God would have given me a different answer.. I am not sure what the answer would have been because I didn't ask.  But now that I ask more often, not often enough, but more... God would have given me more balance than I had at the time.  See I was so busy being impressed with what I thought was right, that I forgot to ask the One who knew what was right.

I have got to stop thinking that I know what is right... in fact when I think I know what is right that is when I should stop and say, "This is where trouble begins, stop and ask God."

Sunday, January 12, 2014

1.12.13

Proverbs 3:1b-2 Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will love many years, and your life will be satisfying. 

My Thoughts
I love this! The more I know God's word the more I see this happening in my life. I look forward to the day when I have even more of God's word in my heart. Each day that I know God better, the more content and satisfied I become. Before I started learning, really learning God's word I thought the only way to make life better was if things or people around me changed. But we all know we can't  change most things or any person. We can only change the way we think about things. Learning God's word helps us see the world differently. It helps us see people differently, it helps us see ourselves differently. Because God's word changes us so deeply that we can not help but grow as we learn. I feel so very blessed, so very thankful that God loves me enough that he would change me in such an awesome way...a way that would make my every moment in life so much better. 

Thursday, January 9, 2014

1.9.14

Psalm 9:1 I will praise you Lord, with all my heart; I will tell you of all the marvelous things you have done.
My Thoughts
Just last night I asked God to help me learn how to pray better. Psalm 104 tells us to enter God's gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Here I am told just how to praise God. I am to tell Him of the marvelous things He has done. I praise God by noticing what He does, what He does for me, for my family, for my Church family, for my friends, for my country, for our earth.
I thought about being told about all that you have done. Could you imagine your spouse walking in and saying, "Look what you did today!! You ran to Walmart, you put the things away that you picked up. You emptied the dishwasher!! Look you washed off the cabinets and wash, dried, and folded a load of clothes, then you put them away. I see that you made the bed too! And on that quilt must have taken you forever to make... all that cutting and stacking the squares. Sewing them together...then laying it all out. You did all that and then you made this wonderful dinner for me. It must have taken you a while to peel the potatoes and carrots for the soup...when did you have time to shop for this dinner? Thank you!" Tomorrow I would be trying to do more that is for sure! God likes to know that we have noticed all of our wonderful gifts He has showered us with. It is also good for us to notice...then we become so aware of God that we learn to depend on Him even more.

God taught me so much in 2013.. I am so excited to see what I will learn in 2914!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

1.8.14

Matthew 6:31-33 So don't worry about these things, saying, "what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we ware? These thing dominate the thoughts if unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 

My Thoughts
My Study notes, today, for the Old Testament said, "We are most likely to sin when we are desperate-feeling that we must have something. Then I read this right after. The world teaches us to want and want and want, then to want more. When I was a little girl I got new toys two times a year in my birthday and at Christmas. I got new clothes when school started and toward the end of the school year when weather started to warm up. I learned not to "want" except at these times if the year. I must admit that now I want something almost all the time. I can get pretty focused on buying stuff  for my next craft/art project. It is hard to buy things for people at Christmas because people tend to go out and by pretty much what they want. We get so focused on our next want, that we forget to stay focused on God. We can tend to feel a little desperate for things we want when we have all that we need. The more "things" that are created the more "things" we put in the necessary pile...we can have all that we really actually "need," in fact we can have an abundance of what we "need" Then still think we need more. We get so focused on seeking the next new gadget that we forget to focus on God. We forget to notice that God has already supplied all that we do "need" and he has even given us so many of the desires of our hearts. Yet we forget to keep our eyes in Him.

This has been a good lesson to me! A very good lesson. There are some things I am about to change in my life.  I need to focus more on God and less on my wants. Then I need to be very aware of how God is supplying all of my needs. Evey single one of them! 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

1.7.14

Proverbs 2:1-5 My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.
My Thoughts

Right here it tells us that it is our responsibility to seek the wisdom of God. We have a duty to do all that we can to understand what God is telling us in His word. It tells us too that if we seek understanding and cry out for out that we will gain knowledge. It does not however say that we will gain knowledge without seeking.
If we run a red light we will still get a ticket even if we say, "I didn't know!" What will they say at the gates of Heaven if we say, "I didn't know?" I for years had Bibles in my house that collected dust, or looked pretty on my arm when I went off to Church. I didn't know! Know when I read God's word, I am shocked at the things that I didn't know!! I didn't know because I didn't take the time, or make the effort to know. There is so much more that I have to learn...I just pray that I live long enough to learn all that God requires of me. I feel so blessed by God's grace that will help me understand and make me strong. Before I started reading my Bible I didn't understand what grace was at all.

I am in no way saying, "I do this right!" I fall so shot all the time! I should have been seeking knowledge for years and years instead of the last 4 years. I shutter to think about how far behind I am now. I just share my experience because I what other people that have not thought to pick up their Bibles to do so... this process has changed my life in the most amazing ways. Each day that I pick up my Bible and read it I become more dependent on God and less dependent on me and my life just gets better. God takes so much better care of me than I was ever or could ever take of myself. The more I learn to give over to God the better my life becomes. I am amazed by that fact alone. The more that I understand, truly understand, that all I have comes from God, the more amazed I am at how much that God loves me.

Reading our Bibles, seeking knowledge does not increase the burdens on our lives. It does not give us more to do. It give us a better way to live. God's word is full of covenants that God has made for us. A covenant is a promise based on an action. If we don't know what those covenants we can not benefit from them by choosing to do our part. The more of God's covenant promises I learn the more my life changes for the better.

If we leave the learning of these wonderful blessings up to others, we may just miss out on blessings that best fit our personal lives. Bible Info.com tells me that there are 3573 promises in the Bible... What if the people teaching me focus on 30 of those... there may be another 30 there that would benefit my personal life more. The fact is the more of those promises I know the better my life will be...and 52 Sunday mornings are just not enough to learn them all. So for my life to be the best it can be I have to pick up God's word and seek His wisdom for my life.

What I have learned to love about God is that everything that He ask me to do for Him, benefits me in amazing ways...now that is love people! That is love!



Monday, January 6, 2014

1.6.14

Psalm 5:12 O Lord, hear me as I pray, pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you.

My Thoughts
I looked up groanings.. it means To voice a deep, inarticulate sound, as of pain, grief, or displeasure. This really got me to thinking.  We so often go to God for help and for forgiveness or when we are worried about a sick loved one...but we tend to go to people for our pain and displeasure. We moan and groan to people.  When we do this are we asking them to solve our problems.  I never really thought of moaning and groaning to people as a prayer to them, but what if God sees it that way?  When I do go to God with my moaning and groaning He gives me an answer, maybe not one I always want to hear.  But it is always the right answer. How much better would our lives be if we, like David, would learn to go to God with our goraning instead of groaning to the people around us?  I think it would be life changing.  I must do better!

Friday, January 3, 2014

1.3.14

Matthew 3:10-11 "Get out if here Satan," Jesus told him, "for the Scriptures say, 'You must worship The Lord your God and serve him only.'" 

Then the devil went away, and the angels came and took care of Jesus.

My Thoughts
This was the third time that Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, every time Jesus replied, "The Scriptures say." Jesus used the scriptures to fight, to resist what Satan offered. Jesus knew how important the Scriptures were when dealing with the devil! If perfect Jesus needed Scripture, don't we?

I am learning every day, the power of Scripture. I still have a long way to go before I am using Scripture in every part of my life...but I am getting there...little by little. Thank God that He honors our efforts and allows us time to grow.

I am so thankful that when I have used scripture in my life it works so wonderfully! I have used it to quiet my fears, give me strength, heal my body, quiet anxiety, keep depression at bay, to help me fall asleep.  The more Scripture I learn the better able I am to fight off Satan and the moe successful I am at living life.


Thursday, January 2, 2014

1.2.14

Genesis 4:7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is waiting at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be it's master. 

My Thoughts
We have a choice, we can control sin or we can let sin control us. The first step in controlling sin is to do what is right. When we do that we keep the door to sin shut. Some choices me make open the door a little, some open the door wide, really wide and sin takes over. Even when we do our best, sin can slither in through the crack in the bottom. We must stay on our toes and be constantly aware.

I know when I have let sin in that all control escapes me. My kind runs wild, what seemed right seems all wrong.  It seems impossible to take my thoughts captive. Anxiety takes hold, it is next to impossible to control my emotions. When I let sin in and it takes control of me, Satan has me where he wants me, unable to function. Then I am more open to suggestion.

When I take control enough to give God control, I am peaceful, filled with joy, able to take my thoughts captive with God's word. I am open to suggestion, but not so relieved by it that I make unwise choices. I am able to discern good from bad. I am best able to take control when I renew my mind daily with God's word then I have wisdom that helps me take control with wise choices.

Satan loves to make us think he is giving us control, then have our lives spiral out of control. God tells us the truth up front. God tells us that at times life will be hard. God tells us that there are things we will have to give up. God tells us what He will reward us with when we make right choices. God even tells us that He will send down His grace to make us able. God stays with us all the way. God loves us and acts in that love.  Satan lures us in with lies then let's us fall after he says it's okay to jump.

We have a choice, we can take control of sin, or we can let sin control us. Taking control of sin takes effort, but it is an effort that God rewards. How amazing is God that he gives us rules that make our lives better,then He rewards us for following those rules!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

1.1.14

Matthew 2:1-3 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the regin of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him."

King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem.

My Thoughts
Pride! Finally I understand pride! I have sort of got "pride" but somehow I would get so completely confused. We teach our children to be proud of their achievements. We learn to be proud of ourselves when we accomplish something. Yet we are not suppose to be prideful! I just somehow could not wrap my mind around this. It bothered me greatly, because I knew that I should not be prideful and I didn't want to be. But I also knew that pride in my accomplishments was a good thing, it helped me want to accomplish more and we are suppose to be fruitful.

As I read this my thought about King Herod being deeply disturbed by the birth of Jesus was because he was prideful! I almost jumped out of my seat because I finally "got it".... I finally understood pride. Herod thought he was best suited to be King, Herod thought he knew more than anybody what was best for Jerusalem. All the people that loved King Herod were disturbed too, because they liked what King Herod was doing for them, they liked having what they had and they didn't want to give it up. They didn't want change. They didn't want a new king because they had a king that suited what they wanted in life. They didn't want someone to tell them to do things differently. King Herod didn't want someone to be king over him. Pride is thinking that we know better. Pride is not listening to others. Pride is not accepting change because we are happy with what we have now. Pride is not falling under the will of God because we think we know better or because we like things they way they are even if things could be better. Pride is thinking we are better than the next person. Pride is being too proud of where we are in life to allow change. Pride is thinking we do things all on our own and not giving God the credit for all that we have. Pride is thinking that we deserve more than somebody else. Pride is forgetting that all that we have belongs to God.

I am so relieved to finally "get" the meaning of pride as it is talked about in the Bible. Knowledge is power... knowing what God means makes us more powerful Christians because it makes us more able to fall under the will of God. I pray that God gives me more and more understanding of His word so that I can be a better follower of His instruction.