Scripture to read today:

Job 33; 1 Corinthians 1; 1 Corinthians 2; 1 Corinthians 3

Scripture that spoke to me:
1 Corinthians 2:11
No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

Observation:
I’m seeing two different things in this- 1) that we can’t really know another person, in their innermost thoughts, and 2) we can only know God through the Holy Spirit.

Application:
The first thought leads me down the road of gossip. I really like knowing what is going on, but try to stay away from gossip, or at least treat it as a theory and not a fact. Because you truly never know exactly what motivated a person to do something unless they tell you. I don’t know why the Ft. Hood shooter shot all those people- and there sure have been a lot of guesses- but unless he tells us, that is all we have. Likewise, unless we know God, we don’t understand what motivates Him to do the things He does. We can guess, but without the understanding that only His Spirit can provide, we will never truly know.

Prayer:
Lord, help me to remember that we really don’t know people unless they want us to. Likewise, we only know what You have revealed to us. Help us not to take our guesses- our gossip- as fact. Amen.

Scripture to read today:

Job 28; Job 29; Galatians 1; Galatians 2

Scripture that spoke to me:
Galatians 1:6-7
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ.You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

Observation:
There is a lot of misunderstanding, and a lot of truth-twisting, by those who profess to know Christ. I’m sure some of it is unintentional- misinterpretation on the part of the teacher- but some is meant to make you take your eyes from Jesus. Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders have an important job that should be taken seriously. God is found in the Bible, and the truths that are included in the Bible should be the ones that come through in teachings.

Application:
I was speaking with a friend last night who is hesitant to return to a Bible study because of some things the leader was saying. Things that were her own opinion of God and heaven, not anything that she learned by reading the Bible. This teacher needs to recognize that she is twisting the truth, perhaps leading people away from the Good News instead of to it.

Prayer:
Lord, please help me to not be like this teacher. I know there are things that I don’t understand, but let me acknowledge these as unknowns instead of making up my own explanations for these hard concepts. Let me lead no one astray from Your Word. Amen.

Scripture to read today:

Job 26; Job 27; Mark 15; Mark 16

Scripture that spoke to me:
Mark 16:15
And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

Observation:
This is the Great Commission. Go and make disciples. This is what we are called to do even today. Spread the Good News!

Application:
I get complacent at times. I pray to God and wait for an answer. What am I to do with my life? Where does He want me? I forget that He has already told us to GO! I may need to wait on going to a new place, but that shouldn’t mean that I can’t go right here. Speak about Him- spread the Good News.

Prayer:
Lord, forgive me when I forget that You already gave me my orders- to go. Help me to know when, where, and how, but never let me forget that I am to go. Amen.

Scripture to read today:

Job 25; Mark 13; Mark 14

Scripture that spoke to me:
Mark 14:36
“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Observation:
Jesus knows that he has a job to do. We see here that he doesn’t really want to do it, but is faithful to God and His plan. He acknowledges that everything is possible for God, but not always in the plan.

Application:
Savannah had a bad experience last week- she didn’t make the school basketball team after she had made the team last year- and has always made whatever team she wanted to be on. I let her grieve, rant and rave, cry, and then we talked. We talked about how God has plans that we don’t see, don’t understand, and sometimes don’t like very much. But looking back on them, they were great! They caused lots more good in our life than any plan we had in mind. It is really hard when things don’t go the way we want them to, but God has a plan and I trust Him to turn up with something great!

Prayer:
Lord, thank You for being a faithful God and having an awesome plan. Help me understand when things don’t go my way, that Your plan will be even better than what I can conceive of. Thank you for blessing me and caring for me. Amen.

Scripture to read today:

ob 23; Job 24; Mark 11; Mark 12

Scripture that spoke to me:
Mark 12:43-44
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

Observation:
This lady gave all she had to God. Jesus knew that her tiny offering represented a greater portion than those larger gifts from the others. He knew her, what was in her heart, and what was in her bank account.

Application:
I read something the other day that bothered me a little. Francis Chan, in his book Crazy Love, points out that God never told us to save money in the bank. We are to store up our riches in heaven, but on earth, sell all we have and give it to the poor. As I have been reading around the Bible, I haven’t found one place that says we must save for retirement. There is a lot about not borrowing money, about not lending money, about giving, but not about saving. This is contrary to all I was taught- get a good job, save money for retirement. And then I read this story. God wants us to do good things with our money, not hoard it. And that is really hard.

Prayer:
Lord, help me want to do good things with my money, for You. Help me not be greedy or selfish with what You have given me. Amen.

Scripture to read today:

Psalm 121; Mark 9; Mark 10

Scripture that spoke to me:
Mark 9:23-24
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

Observation:
This father has watched his son suffer his entire life. Now he turns to Jesus, who he knows can heal his son, for help. Jesus says that of course he can heal the boy- anything is possible if you believe.

Application:
I believe with my heart but my head says something else. I know that all things are possible with God. I get it. He can do whatever He wants. I also know we don’t always get everything we ask for. So where is the line in there- between believing that God can do anything and knowing that sometimes our prayers are answered with a “no” or a “wait awhile?” I feel a lot like this father- who believes that Jesus can heal his son, but isn’t sure that He will.

Prayer:
Lord, I do believe that all things are possible with You. Help me to have faith. Help my unbelief. Amen.

Random verse of the day:

Ezekiel 12:2- You are living among a rebellious people- they have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear.

I know that I have eyes and ears that work well, but still there are things that I do not understand. Or maybe more accurately, there are things that I only understand from my human point of view. I would like to understand much, but I’m afraid that I’d be one of those people Jack Nicholson was talking about in A Few Good Men when he said “You can’t handle the truth.” There’s just a lot about the spiritual world that is scary and spooky and I’m not sure that I want to understand. I do want to know what God has planned for me, what He wants for my life, and how best to live my life for Him.

Dear Lord, open my eyes to see the things You want me to see and understand, and  help me not be frightened by what I see and hear, but be able to walk in that direction knowing that it is what You want for my life. Amen.

I’ve not felt good this week- and with some time off from work and crazy things going on, I’ve taken a break from this daily routine. It has also begun to feel more like work than pleasure. So, to try to recapture some of my earlier enthusiasm, today I grabbed a Bible, closed my eyes, and opened it and pointed. Here’s what I read:

Matthew 5:44 – Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Hmm…. I struggle with this. Love your enemies? What does that mean. Paul defines love in 1 Corinthians 13 as something that is patient, kind, and DOESN”T KEEP A RECORD OF WRONGS. Yikes! So if you love your enemies, and you’re not keeping a record of wrongs, they’re not really your enemies after all, are they? I think that was Jesus’ idea all along.

So I thought maybe I’d go in search of a “better” verse- can’t I have something that will give me the warm fuzzies today? So, I turned blindly again and pointed to:

John 15: 18- If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.

Thanks a lot! This one just kept the thoughts going. So if I have no enemies (because I’m not keeping score, and I’m loving) that doesn’t mean that others are doing the same for me. So there will be people out there who don’t like me. Who will laugh at me, talk bad about me, and maybe even worse things than that. So here’s Jesus again, reminding me that he was hated, scorned, persecuted, and crucified long before someone made a remark about me. In other words, he totally knows what I’m going through when someone is mean to me. So we have a loving Savior, who understands what it is to love, to love those who don’t treat you well, and is compassionate and knows that it hurts us to do this.

Prayer: Dear Lord, you have so much to teach us about how to treat each other. Help me be the person that you want me to be- one that shows the love you have for us to others. Amen.

Scripture to read today:

Job 15; Acts 19; Acts 20

Scripture that spoke to me:
Acts 20:9-10
As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!”

Observation:
I love this story! Maybe because I can picture it in my mind- the dim room, flickering candles,and Paul droning on and on. I imagine Eutychus wasn’t the only one who fell asleep- just the only one to suffer for it!

Application:
What happens when we fall asleep? Jesus cautioned the disciples several times to stay awake and pray, not to fall asleep. I don’t know if he was talking literally or spiritually. It was because the disciples were awake at the transfiguration that they were able to see Jesus with Moses and Elijah. Jesus cautioned the disciples to not fall asleep in their faith, and we should be mindful to always be awake, not slumber in our faith.

Prayer:
Lord, help me to always be awake and open to You and Your teachings around me. Do not let me slumber and fall to my death. Amen.

Scripture to read today:

Job 13; Job 14; Acts 17; Acts 18

Scripture that spoke to me:
Acts 17:23
for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

Observation:
Paul is in Athens, concerned about the many gods he sees on display around the city. But this one altar catches his attention, and he begins to tell the people about this “unknown God.”

Application:
I’m glad we don’t have an “unknown” God! He has made Himself known to us. There are many things I don’t know, and many I’ll never understand, but God is faithful, merciful, forgiving and full of grace. That is all I really need to know.

Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank You for being close to me, for revealing Yourself to me through the scriptures. Let me know You better, Lord. Amen.