​24 January 2019
Embrace It
Genesis 5:1-2 NLT
When God created human beings, he made them to be like himself. He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.”

There is so much information in this little passage.
First of all, God made people and gave us a distinct name from the name of animal or creature. Fish and birds were created on day 5, but we still call them animals. Then he made different animals on day 6, and they are called animals too. The idea that humans evolved from animals is impossible, because humans are not animals. Whether a person believes in Creation or not, the fact is that humans create, feel, understand, and have free will. Very un-animal. People who do believe in Creation, though, understand why humans are not animals. It is because God made us “to be like himself.” Creative, industrious, intelligent, spiritual.

He created them male and female... This is the best part! He didn’t create only males. He created them both. BOTH in his own image, not just male for females to imitate, copy and compete. Two creations necessary that express himself to the world. The Elderidges point this fact out in their book, Captivating, and the gist is this: Women have specific, unique qualities men do not have and vice versa. Embrace it.

Why on earth have women decided to compete with men over the last 50 years? And more recently, why do we now have men competing to be womanish? Why can’t each love and embrace what God created. Our prayer should be that God shows us how to show the world his goodness, faithfulness and strength through the gender he gave us. Are you strong? Work hard. Are you sympathetic? Encourage somebody. Do you know God? Embrace the Creation he established and be blessed.
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Dear God,
We have so many confused and disappointed people out there deceiving society and even the church. You can have everything is not a biblical concept. So many women I know are crushed with guilt for one or the other - working or staying home with their kids. I pray for the ladies I know with this dread to determine what is important and live in that freedom and possible sacrifice instead of falling for a lie of the Enemy that they can have it all. I pray for the ladies I know that have to do both; please give them strength, endurance, insight and relief. What you have established is good, and I am thankful for it all, and I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

23 January 2019
Crouching at the Door
Genesis 4:7 NLT
You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.

Romans 7:21-23 explains why sin is always “crouching” at the door of my heart.
 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. (NLT)

God spoke to Cain before he punished him. He warned Cain that his anger would lead to sin, and he was right. Cain chose not to listen to God. He chose a hard heart over a repentant one. God wouldn’t have given him the option to control his anger if it couldn’t be done. But all we have to go on is our own will-power, and that runs out fast. I don’t know how much time went by before Abel’s murder happened, but it seems like Cain didn’t exert much will-power at all.

Thankfully, Romans 7 goes on to say that Jesus frees us from the control sin has on me (v.25), so my limited amount of will power is not what I have to rely on for the practice of subduing sin. I have Jesus! Sin may be crouching at the door of my heart, but Jesus already came through the door! Regardless of the war being waged daily in my heart and mind, God desires to help me, and my desire is to let him.

Dear God,
Thank you for today, for your Word, and for your help. Thank you that I have real options and do not ever HAVE to give in to my sinful nature. Thank you that even though sin may be crouching at the door of my heart, Jesus is actually IN my heart making it good again. I love you and I love your Son, and I pray in his name, amen.  

​22 January 2019
No Understanding
Jude 10 NLT
But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction.

We do not understand everything. That’s just a fact that is true for the one who believes in God and follows Jesus and also for the one who doesn’t. But, there is a big difference between not understanding everything and having no understanding.

Not understanding everything involves humility and asking for help. No understanding relies on the small world of only what a person can conceive and results in blatant disregard for what is outside of their personal preferences.

But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
(Matthew 6:23 NLT)

I don’t get why some people do not want God to even be a possibility. All good things come from him (James 1:17). Furthermore, he promises to give understanding to those who ask him for it (James 1:5). Scoffing at what you don’t understand means you have no understanding, and those who don’t seek God’s understanding won’t get it; they’ll receive the opposite.

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32 NIV)
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Dear God,
Thank you for offering all who ask insight and understanding through your Son, your Word, and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for not leaving me to my own devices and my own destruction. Thank you for thinking of saving me, for I never would have thought I needed that. I pray for my unsaved friends and family this morning, especially the ones with no regard for you at all. Thank you for loving them too, and I pray for their hearts to grow humble and seek real truth and real understanding and enjoy a restored relationship with you. I love you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
  

​18 January 2019
Just Like Adam

1 Corinthians 15:22
Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.
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Rob was teaching on Wednesday night and he said “Adam’s sin is our sin.”

Some people mistakenly think that they would not have sinned like Adam. But not only did Adam disobey God, he passed the blame for his own actions. That’s pretty gutsy considering no one had ever sinned before and the result was for a moment completely unknown. What if the result were a direct hit from a lightening bolt. Zap! Bye, Eve. Sin is not only no regard for God, but also no regard for those who bear his image. We all naturally excuse or blame our sin away even at the expense of others; we inherited that from Adam because that is what we are like.

God isn’t punishing us for Adam’s sin. If he were, he wouldn’t have sent Jesus to offer us new life. Who would  reward and relieve those being punished? God offers rescue for us through his Son because our sins are more than a mess we can clean up for ourselves.

The man, Adam, used his free will to sin. Jesus, also a man, always had free will since the beginning and never sinned. We are like the first man, but thankfully, God decided we can be like the second. Simply because God is kind and full of mercy. There is no other reason, no other explanation, and no other way.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Dear God,
I like thinking about you and what you’ve done for me. I like knowing that you did not doom me because of one man and because of my free will to sin. You saved me through your Son and do the same for any who believe in him. Thank you for taking something complicated and scary and making it good. Really Good. I love you and thank you and pray in your Son’s name, amen.

​17 January 2019
Privileged Access
Psalm 139:15 NLT
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  
  
God has privileged access to everywhere. When a baby is born, the parents or hospital dictates who gets to be in the room, but long before that day, God has already watched the new little life grow in secret, and he knows everything there is to know about him too.

My heart is also a quiet, secret place no one has access to but God. My brave face, my sarcasm, my confident look & my flattery doesn’t fool him ever. He knows the real me – and he has since my beginning.

He has laid out my days (v.16), including the ones reserved for eternal life, and he has made my heart good again through his Son, Jesus.

Ezekiel 11:19-20
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God. NLT 
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Dear God,
Thank you for new life! Thank you for a new heart! Thank you for knowing all my secrets and loving, helping and saving me anyway. I love you and I am so thankful for you amazing insight into every area of my life since my beginning, and I pray in your Son’s name, amen.

​16 January 2019
Everyone Can Get God’s Grace
Romans 5:21
So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I like knowing that God’s grace is bigger than sin. If it were the other way around, then there’d be something I’ve done that wouldn’t be forgiven, and there would be no making up for it, no hope, no reason to move forward. Thankfully, God’s forgiveness isn’t limited.

I can live without sin (that would be nice, actually), but I can’t live without God’s grace. No person can. How foolish for someone to live thinking they don’t need God’s grace. They’re horribly mistaken and live a sad existence where sin is excused and grace ignored when they don’t have to live like that. Forgiveness, hope, and moving forward are limitless realities; it would be just awful to live any other way.

Dear God,
I thank you for your limitless grace. I live by it, I count on it, and I appreciate it so much. Thank you that you just keep forgiving and correcting and helping and showing and loving every day. If sin were bigger than your grace, I would be miserable. Thank you for your big, giant heapfulls of grace in my life. I love you so much and thank you in your Son’s name, amen.
       

​15 January 2019
Ignoring the Obvious
Romans 1:20
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Isn’t the simplest and obvious explanation correct?
Why is there debate over the existence of God? It defies logic and common sense to see creation, giant and obvious as it is, right outside the window and imagine this all happened some other way. God said he made it obvious; it is obvious, yet lots of people ignore the obvious.

Verse 21 in Romans 1 goes on to say that people who don’t acknowledge the obvious have “dark minds” and are foolish. Who would ever go to a doctor or seek an expert who discounted the obvious. Wouldn’t it be foolish to go to a surgeon with an obviously broken leg, and I let him talk me into having my gall bladder removed instead of fixing the leg? That is ignoring the obvious. And ignoring the obvious leads to peril.
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Dear God,
Thank you for making it obvious. I know you exist, I know you do amazing things based on what I see. Thank you for simply revealing yourself so that even I can believe and understand. Thank you for your amazing goodness. Amen.

14 January 2019
Bandaging My Wounds
Psalm 147:3-4 NLT
He heals the brokenhearted
    and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
    and calls them all by name.

Does it get any more personal than this? God is most definitely paying attention to me. Everyone at some point in life experiences a broken heart and devastating disappointment, and God himself lends himself to personally assist and comfort with his presence, his Word, and his timing. The one who keeps track of inanimate objects in the sky surely notices spiritual humans.

Adam and Eve had many children together, probably the human’s limit for personal attention and care for other individuals. I used to be an elementary school teacher and could loving give personal care and attention for 30 first graders per year. But it was for only 6 hours a day and not on weekends. But the stars are numerous, people are numerous, and God doesn’t forget, leave out, or neglect a single one. This is God whom Believers celebrate. The One, True, Living God doesn’t just look down on what we’re doing, he interacts with his personal care and attention.
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Dear God,
I know first hand of your personal care and attention towards me. I have never been disappointed for putting all of my hope and trust in you. You always fill the holes in my heart when I am devastatingly disappointed, and I just can’t thank you enough. I love you and pray in your Son’s name, amen.

11 January 2019
He Deserves It
Psalm 104:24 NLT
O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
    In wisdom you have made them all.
    The earth is full of your creatures.

I love passages of scripture that reveal things about God’s character. He loves variety! There isn’t just one land animal, one sea creature and one bug. He not only made many different things, but each thing is extremely complex in design too. The same God who made plants, made zebras and humans. No other company can do that; they have to contract work out to other sources. Doctors have to specialize in one area, and professors have one thesis. Humans cannot produce variety like God at all.

So what does that mean? For me, this morning, God’s variety in Creation is reminding me of his superiority. I am not his peer. I should not treat God with casualness. He doesn’t need my advice or my permission. In wisdom he has made them all. All my knowledge, wisdom, common sense and education doesn’t even come close. I worship and praise him, serve, trust & believe him because he deserves it!
    
Romans 1:19-20 NIV
What may be known about God is plain to (me), because God has made it plain to (me). For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Psalm 145:3 NIV
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    his greatness no one can fathom.
      
Dear God,
I love to obey you and trust you because your wisdom is obvious, and I see it with my own eyes in Creation. Thank you for Creation that proves I’m not a sucker who believes in fairy tales. I believe in the One, True, Living God. Thank you for loving variety and complexity not only for my benefit but also for just pure enjoyment. Amen.

10 January 2019
Skeptics

Psalm 100:3 NLT
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
    He made us, and we are his.
     
That’s what’s wrong with the skeptics. They don’t want to acknowledge God for anything. Things like hope, freedom, and security are found in knowing to whom one belongs.

Ever heard of a secure, confident, free orphan full of hope? No. Their world is small and full of fear and wishful thinking.  The simple truth of knowing, acknowledging, and believing that God made me and I belong to him changes everything.  I am not alone and left to my own devices. Hope stems from relying on something, and relying on God because I belong to him results in confident hope not wishful thinking.

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
(Romans 12:12)

Honestly, what do God skeptics have to rejoice about?

Dear God,
YOU are MY confident hope. I belong to you. I love knowing this! You make safety, hope, joy, comfort and freedom a real reality for me everyday and I am so thankful. I love you and pray in your Son’s name, amen.