4.9.14

Deuteronomy 33:1 This is the blessing that Moses the Man of God, gave to the people of Israel just before his death.

My Thoughts
God tells us that our words are important. Jesus told his deciples tha they needed to have faith. He told them that we could move mountains with our word coupled with faith. Moses left blessing for each tribe of the Isrealites just before he died.  This all made me wonder how many blessings that we miss each day because we don't have the faith to call down blessings over the lives of the people we love, that we meet, that we cross paths with. I pray that God reminds me that I can use my words to call down blessing in the lives of the people around me. How exciting it will be to watch God's blessings come down from Heaven as we learn to use our words in faith! 

4.7.14

Deuteronomy 30:19 "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on Heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving The Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your  ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

My Thoughts

I could not help but notice that the earth would be witness to the choice we make of blessings or curses. In Deuteronomy 11 God tells us that if we live under his blessings that we will get rain in the right times so that the crops will grow and can be gathered. So that the earth will yield its crops. Yield  means to produce or provide. The earth knows when to provide for us, because it has been given the authority to be witness to our choices of blessing or our choices of curses. When we choose blessings, we we obey Gods commands .... The things of the earth work together for the good ... The earth produces blessings for is. 

I believe that when we do not live our lives in praise to God by following His commands the earth knows this and rises up itself to praise God in mighty ways. But when we praise God ourselves the earth does not have to rise up, it can work in perfect balance, bringing us blessings for loving our wonderful creator it's wonderful creator God. 

2 Chronicles 7:14 says that, "Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."  It is God's people that have to make the choice to choose blessings. We have to be honest with ourselves, truly honest and ask ourselves where we are making the choices of blessings in our lives and where we are making the choices of curses in our lives...then we have to ask forgiveness of our sins so that we are right with God and move forward and do better. Then the earth will rejoice with us...fruit and veggies will rise up from the ground because the rain will come in the right season...flowers will blanket the earth making us feel great joy. blessing will abound. The earth will be able to do its wonderful things because it won't have to be busy sending up the praises to .god that we have not. 

3.27.14

Deuteronomy 8:18 Remember The Lord your God is the one that gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.

My Thoughts

God makes us successful. When we become a child of God we get the promises God gave to his chosen people. When God tugs at our heart to love Him, He has chosen us too. When we accomplish anything in our lives we need to remember our accomplishments, our power to succeed, have come from God. We need to send up praise and thanks to Him for loving us so much. And we need to use these gifts for Him. 

The more we give thanks, the more we use our gifts for God...the more He entrust us with. I love that about God...he gives us just enough until we grow enough  to handle more. How amazing is that. 

8.20.13

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind, Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand it's own way.  It is not irritable, and it keeps no records of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

My Thoughts

Notice that this says love is... it does not say love feels!!  Loving others is a choice not a feeling.  We can feel that we love somebody but not show it at all in our actions and they will not feel loved at all.  On the other hand we can not feel love at all and acting in a loving way and somebody will feel loved.  The thing is if we act in love, the feeling will follow.  Too often we wait to feel love before we act in love. God does not call us to feel love for everybody, God calls us to love everybody... love is an action word.  When God tells us to love our enemies He surley does not think we should wait on our feelings of love before we do so, they are after all our enemies.  What God knows is that if we act in love...the feelings will come.  

We need to commit these love is actions to our memory so that we can check ourselves and know if we are acting in love!!  Toward the people we feel love for...and toward others.  Even towards our enemies.  If we are not acting in love toward the people we feel love for, will we ever be able to act in love toward the people we see as our enemies?  This is our check list of what our actions should be.  And we should be checking them off daily.   

4.10.13

Joshua 1:8-9 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night and you be sure to obey everything in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.  This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged.  For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

 

My Thoughts

Just before this in Deuteronomy 34:9 the Bible tells us, "Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses and laid his hands on him."   Joshua was full of wisdom yet God told him to study the Bible as it was written so far. He was to meditate on it day and night.  His wisdom, mighty as it was, still needed to be supplemented by God's word!!! We are never so smart that we don't need to keep reading and studying what God has to tell us.  His word will keep us strong. 

 

It is no wonder that in countries where they want their people powerless that they take away their Bibles!!  That act in itself tells us how powerful God's word is. 

 

Joshua walked with  Moses, Joshua say God's miracles first hand, Joshua was given the spirit or wisdom...yet Joshua still needed to read and know God's word!!  I think we do too!

4.6.13

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 "Today I have given you a choice between life and death, between blessings and curses.  Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.  Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him.  This is the key to your life.  And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

 

My Thoughts

First we have a choice...but we have to make that choice.  When we make the choice to love God and follow his way we not only choose God, we choose blessings.  We have this choice as individuals... but we also have this choice as a whole, as a country.  If our country makes the wrong choice, everybody suffers the curses of not living a life that is pleasing to God.  Our sins effect the lives of others.  

 

Look at this part of the verse, now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.  We had a visiting pastor once that said the earth itself is effected by our sins, that it morns when we life outside of God's will. This verse tells us that the earth knows when we choose blessings or when we choose curses. 

 

We as a country have the opportunity to choose the blessings of God.  But we have to make choices that please God.  That is why it is so very important to put godly men, men that love God with all their hearts in office, so that they will make good choices. So that they will make good laws, so that they will make decisions based on the word of God.  When we do this, when our leaders do this our country will prosper, and out earth will quit having mourning pains... our whole land, our whole country will reap the benefits of the blessings of God. 

 

 

3.31.13

Deuteronomy 16:15 For seven days you must celebrate this festival to honor the Lord your God a the place he chooses, for it is he who blesses you with bountiful harvest and gives you success in all your work. for this festival will be a time of great joy for all.

 

My Thoughts

For it is He who blesses you with bountiful harvest and gives you success in all your work!!  I love this, it is so true... I knew it but I loved reading it gave me peace to know that because we love God, He will bless us with a bountiful harvest and success in all of our work.  When we keep our heart and our eyes on God... God takes care of the rest!! 

3.30.13

Deuteronomy 14:22-23 You must set aside a tithe of your crops -- one tenth of all the crops you harvest each year.  Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship -- the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored -- and eat it there in his presence.  This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds.  Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God.

 

My Thoughts

First we have to understand what fear of the Lord actually means... wiki.answers.com says this:

 

The word 'fear' as used, especially in the Authorised version (King James version) of the Bible is a perfect example of how words have changed over time and now have a slightly different meaning.

 

The word 'fear' as in 'we should fear God' does not mean that we should be scared of him, as the modern meaning of the word should suggest. Instead, the word 'fear' means 'a healthy respect for', or to 'stand in awe of' him - or, even more accurately, a mixture of the two.

 

Notice that the people took their best to God..then they ate what they took.  God gave it back to them...He gave them back the best that they gave to God!!  This was not food they could sell ... it was a gift to God... a gift that He gives back to them.  So God, when the people gave Him their best, gave the people back their best.  He actually made sure that the people had the best of what the raised for themselves!!  That is so special.  When we give to God our tithe, our ten percent... God gives us back the best that that ten percent could get us!!  God protects that ten percent for us!!

 

Then notice what happens after that, "Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God." If we used the definition in place of fear this verse would say, "Doing this will teach you to always have respect for and stand in awe of God." When we tithe.. give our first ten percent... God will bless us so much that we stand in awe of Him!! 

 

Micah 3:10 tell us this, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!"  Look here it says put me to the test and I will show you what giving to me will do for you!! 

 

God does not, can not go back on His word... I challenge you to tithe your ten percent and see what amazing things happen in your life!! 

3.29.13

Deuteronomy 11:13-15 If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, then he will send the rains in the proper seasons--the early and the late rains--so you can bring in your harvest of grain, new wine, and olive oil.  He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.

 

My Thoughts

When we love God, and obey his commands...when we walk in what God teaches... God takes care of us!!  God will supply our needs when we love and obey Him!!  I think of the Great Depression and how people had to depend on God in those years to get by... and when our nation turned to God, God made our nation prosper!!  Just after the Great Depression there was a great turn around, jobs were created, people were buying homes, bank accounts grew, industry changed.  This was not by accident..it was because a whole country of people had learned to depend on God for their needs.

 

We must not... we can not forget God if we want a prosperous country!! We must not, we can not forget God if we want to be prosperous as individuals... if we want our families to prosper.  God honors  us when we honor God!! 

 

We have a choice! Deuteronomy 11:26-28 says Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!  You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.  But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before. ... If we follow God, God will bless us, he will make what we do prosper.  If we choose not to honor God we move right out from under His protection...we step into a lake of curses brought on by the devil himself. We have a choice. 

 

Worship other gods?... I myself do not know of anybody that worships another God. But I am coming to understand that when I spend time doing something that would make God sad with me, I am choosing other things over God.  This week my son and I had a chance to visit New Orleans... it was a fascinating place!! There were some really grand people there that we so sweet I just had to hug them.  There were so much interesting to see.  But there were things there too that I could not imagine ever seeing ... I thought they were things of movies... not things of real life. We were there with two other young men, one was showing us all around. The young men stepped into a voodoo shop (There were many!!), they were curious, I could not go inside so I stayed outside, I knew that my presence in that store would make God sad. I felt very strongly that if I stepped inside, even just to see, that I was in essence worshiping Satin himself for a second in time.   It made me think, how many other things do I choose to do that makes God sad.  What things do I bring in my house via the TV that would make God unhappy.  How often do I do something that God would see as me stepping into Satin's church for a moment in time?  How many times in a day do I choose to walk just outside the protection of God?? 

 

I have a choice, I can choose God and my life will prosper...I will always have enough to eat. I can choose blessings!  The choice is always ours, we can always choose God.  And we can be aware that if life is getting hard, really hard it is time to take inventory of our lives and where we are choosing to walk. Are we walking in the blessings or are we walking in the curses?  

 

Sometimes life will just be hard, we do live on this earth!!  If we are in one of those moments and we have taken inventory and we are walking with God, under the protection of God, we can rest in the fact that God is in control and there will be a blessing to follow the hard time!! 

 

 

Deuteronomy 1:32-33 But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God, who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

 

My Thoughts

The Israelites didn't trust God.  God had brought them to the Promise Land where bunch of grapes had to be carried on a pole.  God had parted the sea before them and they still didn't trust God.  They looked at the giants of that land and measured those giants against their own strength and not God's strength. So they refused to go in!!  A whole generation of people lost out because they didn't trust in God. 

 

We don't have a pillar of fire by night or a pillar of cloud by day, but we do have our Bibles and we have the Holy Spirit inside of us guiding us.  What do we miss out on when we don't trust God? How many people do our decisions effect when we don't trust God? We can read the story of how the Israelites didn't trust God and wonder why...then miss out on opportunities to trust God ourselves because we size up a situation on our abilities instead of God's abilities. 

10.16.12

1 Timothy 1:8-9a We know that the law is good when used correctly.  For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy.

 

My Thoughts

This verse got me to thinking about how as we move further from God the more policemen we need... the more laws that have to be made.  Each day a new laws go on the books in cities and towns across our nation....because we have become a people that does not love or care for his neighbor. We see it everywhere people who consider nothing sacred.  Selfishness abounds. 

 

I have been watching a lot of old television shows The Walton's, Andy Griffith... those towns had a sheriff...not a fleet of policemen.  I know, I know you can say, "That is TV."  But TV reflects how we live.  My sweet husband, Robby remembers when Southside had two policemen, his mom remembered when there was one part-time policeman. Now I am not sure how many we have...I sure don't know them all. 

 

We have more policeman because we have a need for more policeman.  It is an clear sign that we are moving away from Godly values. 

 

When my mother was a child, my grandmother thought everything was a sin (the way my mother would tell the stories). She was really strict about things like playing cards and going to the movies on Sundays. My mom would say, "What is the difference in going to the movie on Monday or Friday and going on Sunday?" I tended to agree with her. 

 

Now I think erring on the side of  being a little "out there" might be the best way to go.  My grandmother's rules were like a box inside a box.  So if you stepped out of her box... you were still safe from sin.  Today we live more like if it might be okay to do something then "why not!" So we are constantly walking in the "little sins" and when we step outside of that box we are stepping into something that could lead us down a path we might never return from. 

 

When we learn to love and trust God and all that He says... we begin to live more like my grandmother, we choose not to take a chance that something might be bad. If it is questionable we just choose not to do it. I think my grandmother had the right idea.

 

If as a nation, as individual people would choose to cry out to God, to live like He ask us to live it is possible to life in a day like Mayberry.  But it is only possible with God.  We always have a choice between blessing and curses (Deuteronomy 11:26). When we choose God we get the blessing of His protection.

6.28.12

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

My Thoughts

God gives us free will...He gives us the choice to choose blessing... or we can choose curses.  All that we have to do to have the blessings of God is to obey Him...commit ourselves to Him. Loving God is our key to life.

The more I read God's word...the more it settles down into my heart.. the more I understand just how much God loves me.  What is amazing is that if we obey God our life will just be better... God only wants the best for us!!... But God does not stop at our lives being better... He rewards us for our good behavior!! 

God tells us all the time how to have a good life!!... He tells us if we give to others, He will give back to us pressed down and overflowing.  My visual on that is this... Take a glass and fill it with cotton balls... just put them in there to the top... that is what God ask us to give....now take that same glass... fill it with cotton balls and press them down... keep adding ... press some more...now let go and see how many more cotton balls you have... that is how much God give back...just because we give!! 

If God honors our giving so generously how much more will he honor our loving?!?! 

God is waiting to bless us... He is up in Heaven rooting us on!!  Cheering us on!!... Jesus is constantly praying on our behalf.... God even puts the Holy Spirit inside us to tell us what to do...He gives us His word...and He tells us that if we seek wisdom that wisdom will find us. We don't have to be smart about it...we just have to seek after it.  He puts all this in place for us...then He promises us blessings to go along with being good... It is a privilege just to get to love God...and if we do He is going to add blessing to it!! 

When I was 9 and asked Jesus into my heart... when I believed that He was the Son of God...I got my place in heaven... but my life changed in the most amazing ways when I picked up my Bible and started seeking after God two and a half years ago.   I learned how to truly love God...I have learned how much God truly loves me!  My body actually tingles with joy!...My face glows.... I have peace that I never knew could exist!... Do I have bad days...sure I do ...I am living on this earth where evil is at every corner...and sometimes I get lost in the wrong things...but as soon as I turn my eyes, my heart back to God, his blessing start pouring down from heaven and all is good again!!  And each time I see that change ... I get better and better and going to God sooner when I mess up!  I tell myself you can be miserable or you can praise God!.. Praising God works every time! 

If you are reading this wondering if this really works... imagine me sitting in front of you with your sweet face in my hands... I am looking at you with loving eyes...with tears of joy and a deep sense of wanting you to understand what I am saying!  I am saying "God loves YOU, YOU so much!  He wants nothing but the very best for you!!  There is nothing that God will ask you to do that will not make your life better...even when the world does not see what you have done, God does and He stores up blessing for you!!  God cares! God will make your life better!!  Just pick up that Bible and start reading it!! You may not understand it at first, I didn't!!  But if you seek after God, He will make sure that it comes...He will make sure that you feel His love, that you feel joy, that you feel peace... He will walk with you and be beside you! Choose blessing!!" 

4.4.12

Deuteronomy 7:22 And the Lord your God will clear out the nations before you, little by little; you may not consume them quickly, lest the beast of the field increase among you.

My Thoughts

Here God was talking about the Israelites taking over the Promise Land. This tells me that God knows that things take time... that we grow in steps...that when we grow, little by little... it is a change that can't be taken away from us by the devil.  When we grow one step at a time...we are able to put that step into practice in our lives in a way that becomes a part of who we are... not something we know now and forget next week. God does not expect us to be perfect.... he expects us to try. When God sees us making an effort to please Him, and we are get better and better, little by little He is so proud of us!!  So we don't need to get discouraged at our self!  We just need to keep trying!  Picking ourselves up when we fall, asking God for His forgiveness.  Accepting that forgiveness and forgiving ourselves in the process. Then we move forward... knowing that the fact that we know we messed up IS a step forward..then pressing on to do better and better and better as a Child of God. We need to remember that when we don't forgive ourselves we don't grow...we get stuck. If God forgives us, the Almighty, Spotless God...then we can forgive ourselves... forgiveness or ourselves is one of the first steps in moving forward and becoming what God wants us to be!

3.31.12

Deuteronomy 17:18-20 “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees.  This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.

My Thoughts

God expected the kings of Israel to read, every day, what He expected of them.  So that it would be in their hearts... it would be formost in their minds when they made desisions.  It would keep them humble. These readings would keep the kings of Israel on the right path.... Reading these instructions would make them great Kings!

If reading daily, the instructions of God, would make these men great kings... wouldn't reading daily God's word and instructions for our lives make us much better people? God tells us that He has given us instructions for our lives, that we should learn it... that we should write God's word on our hearts. We are told this in Proverbs 3 and 7...and in many other places in the Bible.  God says here that it will make a difference in the kings of Isreal...and knowing what God ask of us in our lives will make a difference in how we live too! We do have an instruction book for life... the Bible.

3.29.12

Deuteronomy 11:13-15 If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, the he will send the rains in their proper season, - the early and late rains- so you can bring in your harvest of train, new wine, and olive oil.  He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.

My Thoughts

Look what God promises us if we put Him first... he was talking to all the Israelites as they were about to enter the land he was giving them. When our forefathers came to America it was so that they could worship God the way they wanted to worship God.  Look how far we have come since 1776... that is not a long time at all for a nation to grow and prosper like we have... God made us great because we loved and worshiped Him!! 

Have you ever built a tower with blocks...they fall so much faster than you can stack them... As a country we can fall so much faster than we were built.  We have taken God out of our schools.... our of our work place...we have moved Him over and let other people who worship other gods move in... our country actually welcome them as we push God aside. Yet we wonder what is happening...we blame it on congress, and the president...but it is the responsibility of each one of us as individual to put God first...and to stand up when others try to push God out.  One person took prayer out of school while a host of Christians stood aside and watched it happen. Prayer from a nation of people that believe in God... prayers putting their faith in God are stronger than any congress or any president. We can't keep passing the buck...we have to do our part and get on our knees...we have to do our part and be in protest lines when somebody is pushing God out. We have to love God and make choices that God would have us make if we want to see change! We have moved our country outside the protection of God when we got off our knees ... when we chose politically correct over God. Politically correct would have never had a wedge to open a gap if we had been living under God's law and treating people the way God ask us to. Politically Correct started with the treatment of people...and evolved into including removing God from everything!

In these verses God tells us that if we love God with all our hearts and are careful to obey His commands that our land will prosper!!  God will protect us!  The change doesn't start in the White House...that is passing the buck.. it starts with me and it starts with you... loving God and obeying his commands then standing up for what God would want in our country!

3,28.12

Deuteronomy 9:1-3 “Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky!  The people are strong and tall—descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’  But recognize today that the Lord your God is the one who will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the Lord has promised.

My Thoughts

In the next verses it goes on to say... God is not doing this because they did something to deserve this... God did the for these people because they were His people...and they were going up against evil.... God was going to drive out the evil for His people!  The moment we accept Jesus into our hearts we become God's! We become God's special possession... God goes to work fighting evil for us!!  There are so many things in this world that are too big for us...but, NOTHING is too big for God!   When we us the scripture to call out to God, God hears us... and God sends down His angles to protect us from evil!  We may have battles that we are fighting...and we may feel down for the count... but we can have faith that in the end God will have His victory.

Several times the Israelites went into battle without God's blessings and they were defeated...but each time they went into battle with God's blessings God always won the battle. There will be battles to fight...they may seem too big to win...but when we remember nothing is too big for God... and when we give God control..because he loves us, He will defeat evil. God is bigger and stronger than anything we face!!



3.27.12

Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God.  Of all the people on the earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.

My Thoughts

I love this!!  "The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure." What a thing to read this beautiful morning!!  I have been really down for the last three days ... everything has made me cry... I felt myself falling into a deep depression... I have been sick and have not felt good at all... last night I was suffering from a scary tummy ache, a headache and such despair.... I called out to God and said please take this pain away!  I was talking about my tummy and my head... God knew that depression was a pain too... this morning I woke up to a beautiful day that made me feel like singing!.. I stopped and thought I am not hurting or sad anymore! I thanked God! Then I read this morning that I, me, I am chosen by God to be his own special treasure.

You might want to argue that this verse is in Deuteronomy... that God was talking to the Israelites...and here he was. But as soon as God made sure you knew...or I knew about Jesus...and about His great love for us... that is the moment God was choosing us to be His own special treasure. 

I hope to put this verse to my memory...so that next time I begin to feel useless...and unimportant to the world I can just repeat over and over out loud...so the devil can hear me!... so I can hear me... "God has chosen me, ME to be His own special treasure!"

3.26.12

Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all my commands! If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever!

My Thoughts

If we don't love ourselves enough to do what God ask...we could start by doing if for our children and our grandchildren..... in the end we will find that we are loving ourselves!

1.12.12

Proverbs 3:9-10 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything  you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain and your vats will overflow with good wine.

Romans 13:8a Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another.

My Thoughts

This year along with reading my One Year Bible through I am reading sections of The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word (Joyce Meyer) over my life, my family and the lives of my friends. There are some sections that I have marked that I am reading over my family weekly. I am loving this book!!  It divides scripture under sections.  Today I remembered a verse under the Prosperity, Finances and Giving section when I read this verse from Proverbs. Put together in my mind they got me thinking.

God's word tells us to honor God with our wealth, the best part of everything we produce.  We are told in Deuteronomy 26:2 to give the first part of what we harvest to God. Here in Romans we are told to owe nothing to anyone...except love.   When we get so lost in our wants, our desires of having we often put our selves in the position to not be able to give back to God the first part of what God has given to us. When we get ourselves so in debt, when we owe we become slaves to our debtors and often end up working so much that not only are we not able to give to God we are not around to give love to our families .. to love our friends... it is a vicious cycle! One that the devil loves to get us in.

God will give back to us more when we put Him first... if we want to make sure that we have what we need.. we must first give back to God his part of what He has given us.  When we choose not to do that we are choosing not to live under God's protection as far as our finances go!  You may feel like you don't have a choice...but at some point we all had the choice to put God at the top of our list above our bills.  One way to keep God at the top is to stay out of debt... to delay what we get by saving for it first.

The good thing is that if we have gotten ourselves in a place where we are totally unable to honor God with the first tenth of our income... God honors our efforts our earnest efforts... we can start out with what we can do...and work up to our tenth. With each bill we pay off we can add that to our giving to God... as we increase our giving...as we make the effort to get to our tenth... God will increase our provisions..in  Malachi 3:6-12 God talks about our tithes... and God even says that we can test Him and see if he protects our provisions when we give our tithes. God will take care of our money and what it will do for us... if we first acknowledge that our money comes straight from God.  When we give back to God the first part of what God has given to us.. that is us saying God I understand that all I have is from you! When God knows that we know that and we show that we know it by our actions... God will pour out his blessings on us so much that we won't have room to store it.. (Malachi 3:10).

We miss out on so much when we don't acknowledge God in all that we have... but on the other hand we are given so much when we stop and realize, and give God the credit for all he has given us. Our lives become more and more abundent when we understand that everything, every single thing we have is a gift straight from God. Our part is to show God that we we know, that we know, that we know, that what we have is all His... given as a gift to us!

1.2.12

Psalms 2:1-3 Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Let us break the chains,"they cry, "and free ourselves from the slavery to God."

My Thoughts

We go about wondering why our economy is so bad. Why gas prices and grocery prices are so high. Why unemployment is high.  Why our country falls further and further behind. It is because we have failed to worship God, to put God first in our lives!  Deuteronomy 28:1-13 tells us that if we obey God's commands he will set us above all the nations of the earth! He will bless our towns, fields, crops, our children, our fruit baskets and our bread baskets that we will prosper wherever we go! God will establish us and give us prosperity if we obey His commands.

We keep putting our hope into our government to save us... to make rules that will protect us. We need to all get on our knees to God... we need to learn his commands so that we know what it is we are to be keeping. When we put God first our nation, our cities, our children, our land, our works will prosper... when we put God first he won't let us fail! When we put God first we don't even have to do things smart... God will take care of us. When we think we are so smart that we don't need God then it doesn't even matter how smart we become all our plans will be futile!

If we want unemployment to be smaller, gas prices to drop, groceries to be lower... if we want prosperity in our homes and in our land...in our country we as a nation have to turn back to God. The healing of the United States starts with Christians setting our hearts and minds on God... it starts with us getting on our knees... the rest God will take care of! America was built on the right to worship God, people flocked here and our nation grew by leaps and bound... America became great overnight because we loved God and kept his commands... We can be that great nation again...we can grow strong again! We can grow stronger than before... it is in our hands to put our country in God's hands...in God's hands everything prospers!