Finding our way through the Wilderness

1 Chronicles 16:12

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹² Remember the wonders he has done,
   his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

Day Thirty- Four

Reflection

Today let us take a moment to reflect all that the Lord has done for us. If you are like me you have so much to be thankful for that even if you had a thousand tongues you would not be able to say thank you enough. Thank Him for the seen and the unseen blessing that He has bestowed on you, your family, and your friends.

Remember what Jesus done for us so that we would have the ability to talk to God and give Him thanks and praise. As we near the end of our journey, only six more days left, we are getting ready to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. Think about how life would be if Jesus hadn't died on the cross for our sins. Jesus gave Himself as a ransom, just so we could be free. That is something to be thankful about!

Let us commit to setting aside a portion of the day to show praise and adoration to our Lord and Savior. It will help us realize that whatever our situation is, He has delivered us before and He will deliver us again!

Join us on Monday as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless

 

Finding our way through the Wilderness

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Day Thirty-Three

Momentary Pain, Everlasting Joy

Pain and discomfort are among the first emotions that we feel when we enter this life. They are also often the last emotions that we feel when we exit this life. And in between life and death, pain can constantly greet us like an old acquaintance who we wish we could forget. This pain can be physical, emotional, or psychological. We live our whole lives trying to avoid it, yet just as the sun rises each morning, we know that at any time pain can rear its ugly head again.

The good news for us is that pain is only momentary. It can bother you for years and years, but it is still only temporary. We know this to be true because God's word says it is so, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

So the pain that we feel on earth will cease to be in heaven, for these bodies that were made of dust were designed to expire. However our heavenly bodies have no expiration date on them because they are eternal. So even when we are in pain we should rejoice because we know what is to come. Like the scripture from above says we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is only temporary and what is unseen is eternal. I would gladly go through pain to get to the glory that is on the other side.

Does this make the pain that we go through more bearable? No, only God can do that, this is why we pray to Him to help ease the burden of pain. However what it does do is take away the importance of pain. When we think of pain like this we will find joy, not sadness, even when we have long term pain because we know that it is not everlasting. In fact out of the eight basic emotions, fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, trust, anticipation, and surprise, that we carry here on earth the only everlasting emotion is joy.

There will be no need to fear because we are going to be in the presence of God, Jehovah-Jireh (our provider) Jehovah-Nissi (our protector). Anger and sadness are technically everlasting emotions but they are only going to be felt by those Outside of the Gates, so I don't count them (Luke 13:27-28). There will be no disgust because everything will be pure and holy (Revelation 21). There will be no need to trust because everyone will know the Truth! (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10) No anticipation because what we were waiting for has happen (John 14:1-4). And there will be no one in heaven will be surprise because we knew that the only way to the kingdom was through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). That leaves only joy, which we have for eternity (John 16:22)

So whatever pain you have be it physical, emotional, or psychological remember that pain is only temporary but the joy that you have in God is everlasting. Just like our text says though our bodies are getting weaker inside we are renewed day by day. That is something to hold on too.

Please join tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then, God Bless

Finding our way through the wilderness

Galatians 6:9-10

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Day Thirty- Two

Good Deeds

Treat others like you want to be treated. This is a phrase that all of us have heard before. However God wants us to add on to that saying, Treat others how you want to be treated even if they don’t treat us the same way. This can sometimes be a tough pill to shallow. There are so many negative people in this world that only want to used, abused and destroy you that it is hard to be kind to them. However this is exactly what our Lord wants us to do.

There is a blessing in keeping this commandment given by Jesus for both the giver and the recipient. When we do good for everyone, even the ones that will not repay our kindness, we are blessed. The text from above tells us not to become weary in doing good because in time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. God is going to bless us because we kept His word by treating our fellow man like we would treat Him.

Secondly, the person that you are being kind to is blessed also. Nine out ten times if someone is rude, obnoxious, or mean to you it is not because they are a bad person. Sometimes life gets people down to a point where they become miserable and the saying misery loves company is true. So though they are not necessary mad at you, they will take it out on you because they need someone to unload on. Now where they receive a blessing, even if they don’t recognize it, is from you remaining kind through their cruelness. They will see the light shining through you and they will want to know why you are so happy. Though the darkness can sometimes be more flattering than the light, once you become accustom to the light it’s hard to go back into the shadows again. So if we keep letting God’s light shine through us they are bound to become intrigue.

Lastly, God put us here to be a beacon of hope to a lost world so we must let our light shine at every opportunity. Helping and being kind to everyone that we come in contact with while spreading the Good News. Jesus told us to let our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven. We let our light shine through our attitudes, our words, our actions, and by the way we treat others. Just think you positive attitude, your smile, your kindness, or your joy could cause someone to turn their life over to Jesus Christ.

Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?

Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless

Find our way thought the Wilderness

New International Version (NIV)

Matthew 13

The Parable of the Sower

 ¹ That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear."

Day Thirty-One

Become rooted in the good soil

I am not a farmer however I do know that their livelihood depends on the quantity and quality of the crops they produce. Also a large part of their results are based on how good the soil is where they planted their seeds. That is about as far as my agricultural knowledge goes, however it is all that we need to translate this to our spiritual lives.

In the text above Jesus is talking to a crowd of people and He is speaking in a parable, which is what He usually did when he spoke to a crowd. He told them a parable about a farmer that went out to sow (plant) his seeds. To the crowd Jesus only said that some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Later on after the crowd had dispersed He explained to his disciples that this seed were people that hears the message of the kingdom and do not understand it, the enemy then comes and snatches it away from them before it a can take root.

Then Jesus said to the crowd that some of the seeds fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil and those seeds sprang up plants quickly, however when the sun came up they were scorched and they withered because they had no root. To His disciples explain that this was about people who hear the word and instantly receive it with joy. However since they are not rooted in word when trouble and hard times comes they quickly fall away.

Jesus continued telling the crowd that some of the farmer's seed fell among the thorns which grow up and choked the plants. Later He explained to His disciples that these were people who hear the word and receive it but the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth chokes it out of them.

Let us take a look at that verse for a moment. First understand that here unfruitful means not being able to produce more of what was giving. So when Jesus said that the worries of this life can make us unfruitful was He telling us that when we worry we can't produce for God? Yes and no. Worrying is a natural human emotion that we all have. The more we try to fight worrying the more we will, for lack of a better word, worry about it. What Jesus is saying that we should cast our worries to the Lord whenever they come so that we can focus on being a good plant and produce. Like we said on day four, Don't Worry, when we worry we are separating ourselves from God.

Secondly, notice that Jesus said the deceitfulness of wealth. This confirms that our true wealth awaits us in heaven so we distance ourselves from the kingdom when we are preoccupied with chasing wealth here on earth. Yes God wants you to live an abundant life but we need to understand that we can live that life with or without riches and wealth.

Jesus finished His story to the crowd by telling them of the seeds that fell on good soil. These seeds produced a good crop a hundred sixty or thirty times what was originally sown. He later told his disciples that these were people that heard the word and understood it. They were rooted in the word enough that when storms came they were able to withstand it. When the enemy came and tried to snatch the word away by causing destruction and confusion; he could not take it because the word was rooted in their hearts. These people did not let the cares or worries of this world cause them to falter because they know that though they had to endure pain and grieve in this world, joy and eternal comfort was waiting for them on the other side.

    We need to take a look at ourselves and asked this question, if God were to come today and cultivate the seeds that He sown in us what would He find? Would He find that His seeds had hit the pavement, rocky ground, thorns, or good soil?

Having good soils is the only way we are able to produce for Him. And the only way that we can have good soil is if we are rooted in the Word of the Lord.

Each day that we spend study, reading, and absorbing the word of God, the more we move out of our wilderness and closer to our Promised Land!

Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless.

Finding our way through the Wilderness

John 14:25-27

New International Version (NIV)

25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Day Thirty

Peace & Serenity

No matter who we are, what our backgrounds are, what we believe in, or our emotional state we all strive for peace. We all know the uncertainties that this life can bring so we are constantly praying for the next moment to bring some peace. However the peace that some of us seek, is rarely found.

Peace stands for everything that the enemy opposes tranquility, harmony, and serenity. The enemy relishes in chaos, conflict, confusion, disorder, and disarray. This is why peace and the enemy cannot coexist in one's soul. For this reason alone we should always actively pursue peace for our souls. However in order to find true peace we must know where to look, or better yet, who to look for.

In the text Jesus tells us that true peace lies within Him, and He has already left this peace with us! He says that He will not give us the peace that the world gives us, which is a false sense of peace. His peace is everlasting.

In John 16:33 Jesus tells us that we will always have trouble in this world, so we must know that we will struggle, we will have pitfalls, and we will have hard times while we are walking this earth. However, Jesus goes on to tell us to have joy because He has already conquered the world. What He is saying is that since we are in Him and He is in us we can overcome anything that will happen to us in this world. Just the thought of that gives me peace in my soul because I know that no matter what I face it will not beat me. No matter how difficult it may seems, no matter how impossible it may look, or how grim the outcome may seems I can rejoice and have peace through it all.

This is the true peace that God wants us to have. Will we get nervous, anxious, and worried when the enemy tries to attack? Yes, this is human nature and this is how our brains work. However, all we have to do is remember His words and His peace will settle over us like a white cloud on a sunny day, and then we will be comforted. Because the bible tells us that God gives strength to His people and He also blessed them with Peace. (Psalm 29:11)

If you are feeling relentless and if there isn't any serenity in your soul or life, all you have to do is pray to God for Peace. I can guarantee you that He will listen to and answer your prayers. No matter where you are in your journey with Him, He loves you and He will provide for you. All you have to do is ask.

Once you have experience true peace you will want to walk closer with the Lord just to feel that feeling again. No one on this earth can grant you rest and assurance like He can, for he is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, The Everlasting, and The Prince of Peace! (Isaiah 9:6)

Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless

Finding our way through the Wilderness

Luke 6:20-21

New International Version (NIV)

 ²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said:  "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
   for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
   for you will laugh.

Day Twenty-Nine

Hope for the Hopeless

Hope gives us life. Hope gives us joy. Through hope smiles and laughter are born. In times of despair hope is sometimes the only thing that we have to hang onto. With hope our journey through this life is a little less treacherous. But what happens when we are hopeless.

Without hope our lives will be filled with sadness and sorrow. Without hope there is no laughter or smiles, only desolation and frustration. Without hope we will give up during times of despair because we have nothing to look forward to. Without hope our journey through this life can be agonizing and we will never find any solace. Knowing these things is the reason why we strive to keep our hope alive. In order to do that we must find out what hope is and we must understand who we should place our hope in.

Some people believe that faith and hope are the same things, but I would beg to differ. Using both words definitions we will see the difference between the two. Faith is to believe in things not seen. Has we said on Day Twenty-Five, Trust Issues, we walk by faith not sight. Faith is also defined as when you put your belief in and devotion to God.

When you look up the word hope it is defined has a feeling that what is wanted can be had or that certain events will turn out for the best. Hope can also be a person or thing in which all expectations are centered on; i.e.
this is our last hope.

So using both definitions one can see that we can have faith and yet have no hope. We can have faith in God, trust in His word, and believe in His promises but still not have any hope because of our current circumstances. That is to say that sometimes we have faith and believe in God but sometimes we can't see past our present situation, which causes us to lose hope.

So if hope gives us life and joy then what good is it for us to have our faith but to lose our hope and become lifeless and joyless? This isn't the way that God wants us to live. For in His word He says that He wants us to live an abundant life. (Jeremiah 33:6)

There is someone out there that is reading these words and feeling that very way. You are trying to hold on to your faith, but you have already lost your hope. Let me comfort your soul by telling you that there is always hope in Jesus!

Jesus Christ in all His majesty and glory should have been a king on earth. He should have lived in a mansion or a palace. He should have worn the finest linens known to man. He should have feast on the best cuisine while dining with His rich and powerful friends. His body should have been adorned with the rarest and most luxurious jewels. Instead Jesus Christ was born in a manger. (Luke 2:7) He lived amongst the everyday common people. He wore ordinary clothes just like everyone else. He dined on fish and bread with the poor, sick, hungry, and the social outcast. (Matthew 14:13-18) He had no home to call His own. (Luke 9:58). He did not care about the riches of this world. (Matthew 6:19). The only crown He ever worn was made of thorns. (Matthew 27:29). He had to endure pain and suffering. (Mark 15)

Jesus chose to live this way to teach us about hope. His hope was based on not what was happen but what was to come. He taught us that our treasures do not lie here in this world. Rather we are rich or poor, our true treasures await us in heaven. This is why the Apostle Paul could say that he could live full or hungry, with or without, or happy or suffering because he knew that his treasures were in heaven. So in any situation he could maintain his hope! (Philippians 4:12-13)

We can do the same thing. Whatever life throws our way be it good or bad we can maintain our hope because we know that this isn't the end. After this life we will transition to our True home where we will be with Jesus Christ for eternity. All of our hope lies within Him.

So hope nothing of this world, which can only bring you fleeing joy and disappointment. If you place your hope in this world you will be easily moved during times of despair. However, when you place you hope upon the Rock you will be immoveable.

Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless

Finding our way through the wilderness

Day 28

Find your purpose

Have you ever asked yourself what is my purpose? Have you ever wondered why you are here at this particular moment in time? Has life ever become mundane because you feel like you are not fulfilling your purpose? At some point in all of our lives we have asked ourselves these questions. These questions haunt some of us until our dying days. While others quickly find their and actively pursue their and they do not let anything or anyone get in the way of them fulfilling it. I wished that I could say that I am grouped with the latter however I am not. The question of my purpose still troubles me even has I write this. That is why I am writing this because I want to know how can we, those that are puzzled about our purpose, joined the group that knows and understand their purpose?

The one and only way that we can find our purpose in this life is through God. Like I have written many times before, both our spiritual lives and our daily lives are intertwined. If we don't know what our purpose is in our spiritual life than we will not know what our purpose is in our daily life. In order to find and understand our purpose we must consult with the only person that really knows, God. We do so by praying and reading His words for the answer to the questions that we seek.

We must first understand that our primary reason for being here is for Him. Revelations 4:11 says, "Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." By pleasure the author is saying we were put here to praise and worship Him. This is why He created Adam and Eve and it was this way until sin separated us for God. This is why Jesus died for our sins, to connect us back to our original purpose for living.

Secondly, we are here at this moment in time to spread the Good News to a dying world. Matthew 28: 19-20 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you." We are here to help those that don't know the Lord find Him. He not only has commissioned all of us to tell people about His goodness and tell people about His grace, but to also to save people for an eternity of damnation. We are commissioned because our hearts have been softened and we know the Truth.

Lastly, we are here to follow God's will and to keep his commandments. This is the one that most coincides with our daily life. When we toss away our own will and follow God's will we can understand our purpose in life much better. We are not to conform to the patterns of this world (Romans 12:2) so when we do things the Lord's way His will becomes clearer. Also when we are doing things in accordance to His will, the sky is the limit. This is true because the word of God tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthen us. (Philippians 4:13)

We can find our purpose in life through His will. We can be anything that we want to be because Jesus said ask it, claim it, and we shall receive it. (Matthew 7:7)

I may not fully understand my purpose right now, but each day that I grow closer and closer to God, the more I follow His will and not my own, and the more that I stay in His word the clearer it becomes. God knows your purpose too, just seek and you shall find.

Join us Monday as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless

Finding our way through the wilderness

Matthew 18:20

King James Version (KJV)

 ²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Day Twenty-Seven

Fellowship

This journey that we are on called life, can be a very hard to endure. This is especially true when you are trying to leave out of the shadows and walk in the Light. Our walk can become very lonely, particularly when we don't act the way we used to act, when we don't talk the way that we used talk, and when we don't go the places that we used to go. Lifelong friendships and relationship can dissipate because we have chosen to follow Jesus. These things are bound to happen because if we are to move forward we must leave some things and some people behind, still sometimes the route that we have chosen can become a lonely one.

The good news is the God wants us to know that we are not alone. We have our Christian brothers and sister to confide in, support, and encourage each other when this journey becomes hard to bear. This is why it is so important for us to fellowship with one another every chance that we get.

While having a personal relationship with our Lord brings us closer to Him, fellowshipping with a fellow believer can have an even greater impact to our relationship with God. For as the text above states, Jesus said that whenever two or more are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them. Think about how much stronger our relationship with our Lord will be if we added fellowshipping to our daily routine. Our spiritual growth would increase at a rate much faster than if we attempted to only have solitary relationship with God.

Fellowship is defined as a group of like-minded who share the common interest, goals, experiences, and/or views. While attending weekly worship services is considered a form of fellowshipping, this is not the type of fellowship that I am referring to in this topic. Please note that we should regularly attend our worship services, for this is the time of the week that we sat aside to praise and worship God as a whole body (congregation). It's just that the type of fellowship that we are going to discuss is one that is more personal and more intimate.

The type fellowship that I am talking about can range from many different things but here are a few examples. Weekly or daily bible study, daily prayer partners, or even someone that we can call or someone who knows they can call us just to talk.

Having weekly or daily bible studies with another person or a group can strengthen our knowledge of the word, thus it helps us walk closer and more according to the Lord. Having a prayer partner can be a great weapon against keeping temptations at bay. It can also help us if we have problems with remembering to pray every day, with a prayer partner we can hold each other accountable. Having someone to call and talk to is just that. As we stated a fellowship is born out of having a group of people that share the same interest, goals, and experiences. How great is it to discuss our journey with someone who is experiencing the same success, trial, and setbacks that we are experiencing.

Before we continue let us discuss what kinds of fellowship that are not approved by God. Anything that involves slandering another person, gossiping, backbiting, or anything expressing malicious feeling about someone or something is not a fellowship of God. This is true even when such meetings are held within the church house. The bible tells us not to slander one another (James 4:11, 1 Peter 2:1) so we are to consider this before we judge someone, even if we feel we are doing it out of love. The bible also says that we should be encouraging one another not discouraging each other. (Hebrews 10:19-25).This form of fellowship allows room for the enemy to come into our churches and influence us negatively.

Lastly, we can fellowship with nonbelievers as long as we follow the example set by Jesus. Jesus was notoriously known for fellowshipping with so called sinners. Though He always pointed out that He had come to help the sick (spiritually) not the healthy and He called us to do the same. However, whenever we are fellowshipping with someone outside of our faith the kingdom of God must shine through us just as it did through Jesus. If we think about we know that people respond to actions better than words, so when we show much we have change, as in our speech, actions, reactions, and mannerisms, since we have been walking in the light it will make others what to change as well. So we become a witness to them as we fellowship with them.

Fellowshipping is something that I struggle with because I am a naturally introverted person. However, I knew that if I want to continue to grow in the Lord I must commune with others in His name sake. So this is something that I am working on daily and I do so by starting with someone close to me, my wife. Each day we try and fellowship with one another and try to encourage each other. The result of this have been twofold, because it has help me become more comfort with expressing my feeling about the Lord and it has also strengthen the bonds of our marriage. If you are struggling with fellowshipping with others like me, I encourage you to start doing so with someone that is close to you and who you are comfortable with. God will give you strength in this as with everything else. All you have to do is ask

Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless

Finding our way through the wilderness

Luke 18:9-14

New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

 ⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

   ¹³ "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

   ¹⁴ "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Day Twenty-Six

Humility

When we think of humility or being humble, we think of someone that is insignificant, or someone who has low self-esteem, or someone who gets pushed around, and someone who does not take up from themselves. In fact the Oxford English Dictionary defines humble as, "having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance. Other definitions include not being assertive and ranking low in a hierarchy or scale. The last definition is what we most likely think of when we think of someone that is humble. So in the world's view having humility is a disadvantage or a limitation that can only hinder us.

While the world views humility as a weakness, the bible tells us that this is our greatest strength. Jesus also told us that to humble ourselves by saying those who are first will be last and those are last will be first.(Matthew 20:16) Also the bible tells us that we must humble ourselves before God and pray(2 Chronicles 7:14). So as Christians one of the most important qualities for us to have is humility.

However, being humble is this world is often a hard thing to do because the way the world treats you when you humble yourself. For if we are to humble ourselves before God we must also humble ourselves to others, believers and nonbelievers, that we see daily. This can be hard because like we said before the world view this as a weakness and will try and take advantage of us at every opportunity. Humility is also hard because the enemy's most significant characteristic is pride. Pride got Satan cast down from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:17) and this is a characteristic that he wants to instill in us as well, so that we to can rebel against God.

The good news is that if we are having trouble humbling ourselves, we can look to the bible for direction. In our scripture above Jesus talks of two men of different backgrounds that are praying. The first is a Pharisee, one of the religious leaders during Jesus' time, and he thanks God for making him better than sinners like robbers, murderers, evildoer, adulterers, and even the tax collector that was beside him. He knew was better because he fasted twice a week and tithed a tenth of all that he received which was required by law. The other man which was a tax collector, who were despised at the time because most were cheaters and corrupted, pray a simple prayer for the Lord to have mercy on him because he was a sinner. Jesus said that the tax collector, not the law abiding Pharisee, went home justified before the Lord.

What can we take from this? One thing is that all of our good deeds are not from our own doing. It is by the grace of the Holy Spirit that we do all of the good that we do. Left on our own accord, if we all were to tell the truth, we would follow our own rules; not those set by God.

Secondly, we are no better than sinners and evildoers. Like we talk about back on day twenty, the only difference between us and them is that we are saved by grace. Instead of judging them or talking down to or about them, we should pray for people that are still held captive by sin. And when we pray we should not pray like we are condemning them for their sins but we should pray that God will open the hearts like He did ours.

Lastly, when we acknowledge the fact that we are sinners and pray for mercy we are humbling ourselves before God. This pleases God more than all of our good deeds, because it lets Him know that we know that totally reliant on Him. When we humble ourselves before the Lord everything else will start to fall in to place.

Jesus then went on to say that those who exalted themselves will be humbled and those that humbled themselves would be exalted. Reading these words we see that God rejoices in the humble and opposes the proud (James 4:6) so if we want to live a spirituality successful life and reach our promised land we must learn how to humble ourselves.

We need to know that when we humble ourselves that does in no way make us insignificant in the eyes of God. For His words tells us that we are Always valuable in His sight (Matthew 6:26). So we should not like this be a hindrance in us humbling ourselves, though the enemy will try and trick us into thinking this way.

Humility can be a hard thing to achieve, but like anything else it can be achieved all it takes is practice. The more you practice being humble the more humble you will become. And we need to apply this to our daily and spiritual lives. Because again the two correlate with one another, you cannot have two different mindsets. The way you act in one the same way you will act in the other.

For all of us that are having trouble humbling ourselves here is a wonderful prayer of Humility that I found on the internet. http://www.ramshornstudio.com/humility.htm

Finally, let me share what is my great lesson in humility. When I was young a teacher once told me that I needed to take pride in my work while not being proud. This statement confused me until I came to realized that I can strive to do my best but I'm humbled by the fact that I know that my talents are a gift from God and not of my own doing.

Join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless.

Finding our way through the wilderness

Proverbs 3:5-6

New International Version (NIV)

 ⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart 
   and lean not on your own understanding; 
⁶ in all your ways submit to him, 
   and he will make your paths straight.

Day Twenty-Five

Trust Issues

As humans it is in our natural not to want to fully put our trust in anyone, especially if we have been hurt before. Most of us have been hurt and/or deceived by someone that we thought that we could trust. After this happens to us it is hard to think that anyone else could truly have our best interest at heart. So we become hard-hearted and reject helping hands even in our times of need. We began to feel the need to prove that we can make it without anyone else's help, turning a blind eye when someone who is really sincere wants to assistance us. We do all of this not because we are arrogant or because we don't want the help, but we do this out of the fear of being hurt again.

When we have trust issues in our daily lives they can directly correlate to our spiritual lives as well. Having trust issues can diminish our faith, for it is impossible to have faith without trust and vice versa. So though we proclaim our faith by our mouths, if we have trust issues we will not feel the same way in our hearts. Thus we cause a rift between God and ourselves, because God commands us to trust in Him and His ways.

First let us clarify what trust is. Trust is defined has an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or Truth or someone or something. Trust can also mean to place confidence in or to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of someone or something. These definitions show us that trust is the foundation of our Faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) So we place our confidence the Lord's words and we rely on its truthfulness and accuracy. And we do so because we have an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, and Truth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So again this shows us if we have trust issues we have no faith.

So how do we solve our trust issues so that we can have a closer and more fulfilling relationship with our Lord?

Look at the scripture from above. It says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart." Notice it said trust in the Lord not in man or woman. Does this mean that we should not have any trust in our fellow brothers and sisters? No, however there is no perfect man or woman so they may let us down. The only person that we should Trust in with all of our heart is our Lord. When we trust in the Lord fully with all of your heart you don't have to worry about trusting in a anyone because we will be in tune with God's will and He will let us know who is trustworthy and who isn't.

The second part of this verse says, "…and lean not to you own understanding…" This verse is telling us not to trust even in ourselves. Contrary to popular beliefs our way is not the right way. We should not trust ourselves because when we make decisions it is based on the flesh not the spirit. And the flesh is filled with corrupt desires and it is selfish. (2 Peter 2:10) However when our will is aligned with God's will, He will provide wisdom and understanding.

The last part of this scripture is very important. If we take nothing else from this scripture we must understand this. "…in all of your ways submit to the Him, and He will make your paths straight." We cannot fully trust in the Lord without fully submitting to Him. We can't say that we trust him if we continuing live the opposite from His word, because if we trust that His word is true then why can't we abide by it?

If we do submit to Him the scripture says that He will make our paths straight. In other words He will lead us out of the wilderness and straight to our promise land. All we have to do is have faith and Trust Him and do so by relinquishing control over our life and in turn submit totally to His will and His ways.

Trust can be a hard issue to overcome, because it is our inclination to want to be in control of our own lives. However, impossible for us is but a small feat for our Lord. For he said Let not you heart be trouble, trust in God and also trust in me. (John 14:1) Give Him a chance, He will not disappoint you!

Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then, God Bless.

 

 

 

Finding our way through the wilderness

Luke 11:9-13

New International Version (NIV)

   ⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

   ¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[a] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Day Twenty- Four

The Power of Prayer

   Usually when we think of praying we associate it with what can only be term selfishness. We pray will we want and/or need something. We pray when we are hurt or in trouble and need to help. We even pray when we are lost, spirituality, and want to be found or save.  All of these prayers are selfish because they are gear towards our own desires.

   Before I go any further let me state that there is nothing wrong with any of the prayers above. Jesus himself tells us in the text above tells us ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks shall find; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. So Jesus is telling us to pray will we want and /or need something; pray when we are hurt or in trouble, and to pray when we are lost and need to be saved. He says that God will answer our every need. So being selfish in prayer is not a bad thing like being selfish in the world. God wants us to ask so He can answer our prayers.

   However just as we learn yesterday about the different types of love, to walk closer with God we must learn that there are also different types of prayers. Knowing these different forms of prayers us mature spirituality and make our relationship with God grow closer. For the better we understand how to talk to God the more we stay in His presence. And as 1 Chronicles 16:27 says, Glory and honor are in His presence; strength and gladness are in His place.

   There are five different types of pray that we will talk about today. They are Prayer of Praise and Adoration, Prayer of Penitence, Prayer of Supplication or Petition, Prayer of Thanksgiving and Prayer of Intercession. We relate with God in different ways through each of these forms of prayer.

   The prayer of praise and adoration is just what it sounds like, this centered completely upon the goodness of God and His holy characteristics like his power, His Grace, His mercy, His faithfulness, His everlasting Love, His Glory, His strength, and everything about Him. This should be a prayer that we pray when we are having a daily devotion with the Lord. We exalt Him not only in our public praise and worship services but also in our private prayers as well. Prayers of adoration and praise bring us closer to God because we are acknowledging that without Him we are nothing.

  

   The Prayer of Penitence is another daily prayer that we should have with God. With this prayer we are asking for forgiveness of our sins and shortcoming. Though we pray this prayer when we invite the Lord into our hearts, this is not a onetime only prayer. For we fall short of the glory of God daily even after we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.  When we pray for penitence daily we do so not only asking God to forgive our sins,  but it tells Him that we are grateful that His only begotten Son died on the cross so we could have the opportunity forgiven of our sins.

   The Prayer of Supplication is the pray when we petition God with our wants, needs, and desires. This is the selfish pray that we talked about above.  This is the most use prayer when the prayer of praise and adoration should be first. As previously stated there is nothing wrong with this prayer when we pray it correctly. First we must remember that when we petition God for things, especially material things, we must do so with His will in my and not our own. This can be a very difficult thing to decipher and it even more difficult when we are only communicating with God through a prayer of petition. This is because we do not have a relationship with Him we only talk to Him when we need something. I’m pretty sure that we all know someone like that. They are the ones that never just call or come by to see you without having an underlying motive. We don’t consider our relationship with them to be close and personal; God feels the same way when we only talk to him when we need something. Think of it this way if we only make withdrawals from our bank account sooner or later it is going to be empty, however the more money that we continuously put into the account, the more that is going to be available for us in times of need.

   The prayer of thanksgiving is another daily and powerful prayer. This is when we thank God for all of His wonderful blessings seen and unseen. Constantly praying this prayer can help fight feelings of depression and self-pity, because when you are repetitively reflecting on how blessed you are focus on the positive and eliminating the negative. The enemy gets confuse when you pray a prayer of thanksgiving in the middle of him trying to ruin our lives, this what makes this prayer so powerful. We also need to know that this prayer is more than about material things. We can give thanks about anything that is going on in our lives.

The last form of prayer is the prayer of intercession. This is the prayer for others and this prayer perhaps brings us the closest to God, because God cares for us all and He wants us to do the same to. When we intercede for others we are mirroring His heart. Jesus gave the most powerful intercession prayer for us when He cried out on the cross Father forgive them for they know not want they do. (Luke 23:34) Though He was unjustly dying for our sins, Jesus still cried out to the Father on our behalf and He is in paradise today still doing the same thing. When we pray others we are making His ways our own.

   Please note that these prayers do not have to be separated. They can all go together in a singular prayer. When praying please note that it doesn’t matter whether we are standing, kneeling, laying down, sitting, or if we have our eyes open or close, because God cares more about what is in your heart when you pray. We don’t have to use eloquent words when we are talking to God, for He is more our honestly rather than our vocabulary. There is also no time limit when you are praying to God, whether the prayer lasts one minute or one hour just make it heartfelt and the Spirit will move you.

   No matter what happens, Always Pray!

   Please join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless.

   

Finding our way through the wilderness

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

New International Version (NIV)

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Day Twenty-Three

How do you Love?

   Love can be one of the easiest and hardest emotions give. It is easy for us to love someone that loves us back. It is easy for us to love someone who has our best interest in heart. It is easy for us to love someone who we feel deserves our love. However, it is hard for us to love someone who hates us. It is hard for us to love someone who attacks or stabs us in the back every chance they get. It is even hard for us to love someone when we don’t think they have earned our love. It is hard to love under these circumstances; however this is what Jesus told us to do. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Still this is one of the hardest of His, Jesus, commandments to keep.

   Many of us struggle with this commandment because we don’t truly understand love. Most of the times we think of love having only one definition, which is to say we think that there is only one form of love. However, contrary to popular belief, this is not a true statement. There are different forms of love and we can become confused and frustrated due to our lack of knowledge about them. When we use only one form of love and try to use it in several different scenarios then it becomes hard to do. For example we can’t love our enemy as we love our parents, because when we try to give that same true love that we have for our parent to a person that opposes us we will fail most of the time. Thus in order to love the way that God wants us to love we must learn the different forms of love.

   The Greeks had four terms that can be related to the English word love. They were eros, phileo, storge, and agape. Three of these were used in the original text of the bible. To understand love we need to know what each mean and how they differ.

   Eros means a sexual or passionate type of love. From eros we get terms like erotic. This type of love is not in the bible but it is important for us to know it, because so often we mistake this type of love with true love when we are looking for our husbands or wives. The enemy can make us think that this love, eros, is the love that will bring us happiness and as we continue we will see that this love doesn’t even compare to the others.

   Phileo means to have a special interest in someone or something, with a focus on a close relationship. Phileo form of love is the kind of love that you have with a close and dear friend. This form of love requires a strong emotional connection between two people. However, if we are not careful this form of love can distract of from our walk with God. Phileo love can also be used to describe our love for materials things. When we apply this form of love to our money, cars, house, or any other material thing God becomes secondary. Remember what Jesus told us in Matthew 6:24, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. So we must be careful to not associate this form of love with anything other than God and our close friends and family.

   The third form of love is storge and this type of love means affection. This type of love is the kind of love that is naturally between parent and children, it can exist being siblings, and it is the type of love that a good marriage is built on. Marriages that are built only on eros love will most likely fail, however when we have storge love for our spouses our marriages can stand the test of time.

    In Romans 12:10 the author talks about a mixture of both phileo and storge love when he says “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love…” In the Greek version the author uses the word, philostrogos, which is a compound word made up of philos (the noun form of phileo) and storge. In this verse the author is telling us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ with the same love and affection that we have for our families.

   The last and most important form of love is agape. Most of us have heard the word agape love before but few of us understand the true meaning of the words. I was taught that it meant only unconditional love. God has agape love for us because He gave His one and only begotten son so we shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16). While agape love does mean unconditional love, it also has another important meaning to go along with that. Agape is a selfless love. Agape love is not just a feeling but it is an action as well.  Agape love is an exercise of free will, it is a deliberate choice. The ultimate example of agape love comes from our Savior Jesus Christ. On the night He was betrayed He cry out to God, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus knew of the pain and suffering that lied ahead for Him, but He continued on because of His agape love for us.

   We can mimic Jesus by using the same attitude when it comes to following His commandments. So when He says love you enemies we can do so without any second thought, because we can have agape love for them. While it may be difficult to have phileo love for them we can show them agape love, for this is what our Lord commanded us to do and when we do what He commanded we show Him agape love in the form of unconditionally following His commandments.

   Lastly, agape love is the love that the writer is speaking about in our text from above. For us to truly show agape love we must be patient and kind. We must not be envious, boastful, or proud. We must not dishonor others, seek glory for ourselves, be easily angered, or remember any wrong that has been done to us. Agape love is accepting justice while always seeking the truth.

   Knowing these forms of love we can better follow the Lord’s commandment which will cause us to walk closer with Him, which should be our ultimate goal, because just as the writer said; We can speak in the tongues of men or of angels, we can have the gift of prophecy, we can have faith that can move mountains, we can give all that we possess to the poor, and we can even give our bodies over to hardships in the name of Christ but if we do not have love we gain nothing.

   Please join us tomorrow as we continue our Journey. Until then God Bless.