Monday, February 28, 2011

Love God Completely - 40 Days Of Love

I need to give him all of my love.


Mark 12:29  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

Jesus was very clear about how much we are supposed to love God, he told us to love God with everything that we have, every part of our being.

What a difficult concept for us to understand since we hardly ever love with great sacrifice and completely without any selfishness.

We are to love him with a heart felt emotional love. Don't be afraid to love God passionately, King David was very passionate about his love for God, but don't forget that it isn't all about emotions either.

We are also supposed to love him with all our soul, a love that decides to continue loving even when we don't feel like it. It is a love that keeps on going even when we feel that we have not been treated fairly, remember that God is good and deserves your love no matter what happens to you.

I need to love God with my thoughts, my thoughts should be God's thoughts, I should be focused on what is "true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable." (Phil 4:8)

Loving God with all my strength is where love becomes a verb. My love for God will affect how I live, the way that I interact with the world around me and it will show God's love to people that need to know real love.

I love you Lord with everything that I have, help me to show your love in the way that I treat the people around me.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Don't Hate Me Because I Am Blessed.

God's blessings on your life can make others jealous.


Genesis 26:12-14   When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him. 13 He became a very rich man, and his wealth continued to grow. 14 He acquired so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him.

Issac was blessed with a great abundance of wealth, just like the Lord had promised, his herds and his harvest multiplied greatly. Sounds like a good thing right?

Sometimes God's blessings in your life are a cause for contention with those around you. If we are faithful to our Lord he will bless us. It may be with wealth and fame, it could be with unexplainable peace or joy,whatever it is somebody will wish that they could have it.

After all everybody wants to be loved and to have somebody take care of them and to always be looking out for their best interest, for the child of God it doesn't get any better than this, what an awesome feeling to know that our creator wants to be our Father and give us good things.

Everybody has the potential to get jealous, the world wants what we have but sometimes other Christ followers can be the ones that get jealous. Sometimes we look at how the Lord is using somebody else and how well they are doing and we can wish that we could get the exact same blessing as they are getting.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the work that you have called me to do. Help me to always serve you and to be thankful for every blessing that you have given to me.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Fluctuating Faith Levels

Don't feel so bad if your faith meter isn't always maxed out.


Genesis 22:1-5  Some time later, God tested Abraham's faith. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am."

2 "Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you." 

3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 

5 "Stay here with the donkey," Abraham told the servants. "The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back."

Wouldn't it be awesome to live with such a high degree of faith at all times? But who could even think of being as full of faith as Abraham was at the moment that he raised the knife to sacrifice his son?

We like to think of the successful faith stories of Abraham but you don't have to look too far to see his faith go fickle. His faith wavered many times, when he met kings that he thought may want to take his wife, when there was a delay in providing him with an heir and I am sure that there were many other day to day situations were his faith was found to be lacking.

Psalm 107:1  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

God used Abraham despite his fluctuating faith and I know that he can use all of us even if we have faith the size of a mustard seed. I will waver in my faith for as long as I am here on earth, but God can still use me to do his work. It is wise to stay in the word everyday so that my faith can grow and get stronger everyday.

You are an awesome God who is always faithful, I am so thankful that you are faithful to me despite my failures.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Promises You Can Count On

When life is hard remember God's promises are a sure thing.


Genesis 16:7-12  The angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai," she replied.

9 The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority." 10 Then he added, "I will give you more descendants than you can count."

11 And the angel also said, "You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means 'God hears'), for the LORD has heard your cry of distress. 12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives."

Genesis 21:14-21  So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar's shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. 16 Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. "I don't want to watch the boy die," she said, as she burst into tears.

17 But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, "Hagar, what's wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants."

19 Then God opened Hagar's eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink.

20 And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer, 21 and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt.

We have all been the victim of broken promises, people that didn't come through when we expected them to have caused all of us disappointment.

Sarah's servant was forced into a precarious situation when she was given to Abram so that he could have a child through her, a child that they were hoping would be a boy. Hagar was probably a good servant that was highly regarded, that is probably the reason that she was picked out of all of the servants that hey had to choose from. But soon after she became pregnant Hagar was being mistreated, all of a sudden her service to her master didn't matter and her future wasn't very bright as far as she could tell.

Hagar received a promise from God that she forgot about not too long after it as given. God told her that her son would not die but not too long after she is sent off into the wilderness she starts to prepare for the end.
God's promise was meant to give her hope but it doesn't work too well if you don't keep the promises in mind. We treat God's promises like that, we know that there is a book full of them but we neglect to keep them fresh in our head so that we can get through the tough times.

Hebrews 10:23  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Thank you Lord for your promises that have never been broken, help me to stay in your word everyday and keep them fresh in my mind.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Love Is the Greatest

The greatest is love.


If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record 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.

 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Mercy Is Available To All

Abraham lied to Abimelech, God had mercy on both of them.



Genesis 20:1-6, 14-16 Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner, 2 Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, "She is my sister." So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.

3 But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, "You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!"

4 But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Didn't Abraham tell me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'Yes, he is my brother.' I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean."

6 In the dream God responded, "Yes, I know you are innocent. That's why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don't return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die."

14 Then Abimelech took some of his sheep and goats, cattle, and male and female servants, and he presented them to Abraham. He also returned his wife, Sarah, to him.15 Then Abimelech said, "Look over my land and choose any place where you would like to live."16 And he said to Sarah, "Look, I am giving your 'brother' 1,000 pieces of silver in the presence of all these witnesses. This is to compensate you for any wrong I may have done to you. This will settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared."

Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

It wasn't fair to Abimelech that Abraham put Sarah out there for him to consider as an addition to his harem. The Philistine king of Gerar was deceived into believing that Sarah was only Abraham's sister and so after he saw her good looks he decided that he wanted her.

Abraham wasn't being authentic that day, he was being as phony as a Pharisee, you know how deceptive the Pharisees were. Abraham was hiding the facts from the king for his own gain.

It would have been a disgrace if Abimelech had decided to sleep with the newest member of his harem on her first night. God intervened in this situation and kept Abimelech from being with Sarah and God gave him the truth about who Sarah was. God's mercy stopped the messy chain of events that could have occurred. Mercy was given to Abimelech as well as Abraham.

God shares his mercy with everybody, the "good" and the "bad", we all benefit from his goodness. The question that we have to ask ourselves is "Will the Lord show me mercy on judgement day?" I hope that you know the answer is yes.

On that final judgement day there will not be mercy for everybody as there was in this story, it will only be for those of us that believe that Jesus paid the death penalty for sin. The ultimate day to receive mercy is on the way, are you ready?

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Mercy, I Didn't Deserve That!

The first real estate deal recorded in the Bible was a complete loss.



Genesis 14:11-16   The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies. 12 They also captured Lot—Abram's nephew who lived in Sodom—and carried off everything he owned.

13 But one of Lot's men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram's allies.

14 When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer's army until he caught up with them at Dan. 15 There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlaomer's army fled, but Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives.

Genesis 19:15-16  At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. "Hurry," they said to Lot. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!"

When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful.

You remember Lot and the choice he made to make Sodom his home town, he and Abram were having trouble keeping their stuff and their people all together without fighting, so they decided that they would have to separate.

Lot seemed to get the deal of the century when Abram told him to make his decision where he was going to live. Lot's decision set up a chain of events that put him in need of a rescue.  

The first rescue came after a local political battle happened and Lot was carried away by the victor and his uncle Abram had to go save him. Lot didn't leave his hometown and before long he had to be rescued from Sodom just before it's complete destruction.

Just like Lot I have experienced God's mercy and I have been spared from the full impact of some of my poor choices. I do not deserve the extreme kindness and the "do overs" that I have received in my lifetime. God is so good at not giving us what we deserve.

Thank you Lord for your awesome mercy that you give out so freely!

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Helping God When He Needs It

Waiting on God can be worse than the doctor's office.


Genesis 16:1   Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)

 4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

 6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

So God has made a promise to you that he didn't come through on yet, why not give him a hand? If you can find a way to make it happen and he already said that it would happen, then whats the problem?

Abram fell for the "easy" solution to the problem instead of waiting for God to provide the break through that was needed to give him a heir to inherit God's promise. Stepping out of God's will to get things done for God is a trait that Abram had a problem dealing with.

Staying in God's will can be hard to do, especially when bending the rules a little bit can seem to be so beneficial. That's when real faith has to kick in, when you are so close to God's promise and yet you're not there yet, we have to resist the urge to jump ahead and give him some help.

I have to be careful to stay on God's schedule, the human desire is instant reward and one minute solutions to life's problems. I have to remember that he has my best interest in mind and that he has a big picture point of view that I can not see from where I am.

Help me to trust you enough Lord to rely on your provision and your timing.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Choices, They Will Make Us Or Break Us

Which way will you go?


Genesis 13:8-13 Then Abram talked it over with Lot. "This arguing between our herdsmen has got to stop," he said. "After all, we are close relatives! 9 I'll tell you what we'll do. Take your choice of any section of the land you want, and we will separate. If you want that area over there, then I'll stay here. If you want to stay in this area, then I'll move on to another place."

10 Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the LORD or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 Lot chose that land for himself -- the Jordan Valley to the east of them. He went there with his flocks and servants and parted company with his uncle Abram.
12 So while Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom, among the cities of the plain. 13 The people of this area were unusually wicked and sinned greatly against the LORD

It is a wise man who insist on living peacefully, even if it means giving up something that should be yours and allowing somebody else to have preferential treatment. Since Abram was the oldest he could have told his nephew Lot to hit the road and find a new place to live, he could have told him where he was going to be and he could have said you go over there. Instead Abram relinquishes his rights as the eldest and allows Lot to have first choice.

The choices that we make will make us or break us, the beauty and glamor of the world can trick us into making a bad decision so fast that we will wonder what happened. Lot could have given his uncle the best land so that there wouldn't be any chance of animosity between them, instead he took what he thought was the best and ran.

The scriptures tell us that Abram moved his tents to the leftovers of the land and when he arrived there he built an altar and worshiped. Lot on the other hand moved in and settled down next to the most immoral neighborhood he could find, as big as this planet is Lot could have choose anywhere he wanted to be, perhaps he would have been okay in that neighborhood if he had moved there and built an altar and attempted to influence the area where he lived.

Lord help me to make good choices and even if I am in a bad area, help me to influence the culture and stay close to you as a witness for you.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

God Is In Charge

God decides who to favor and God decides when to do it.


Genesis 12:1-7 Then the LORD told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarah, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth, his livestock and all the people who had joined his household at Haran -- and finally arrived in Canaan. 6 Traveling through Canaan, they came to a place near Shechem and set up camp beside the oak at Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I am going to give this land to your offspring. " And Abram built an altar there to commemorate the Lord's visit.

Abram isn't noted as being anybody really good, unlike his ancestor Noah who was said to be a righteous man and he found favor with God. Abram may have been an average Joe for all we know, nobody that had done anything to deserve any attention, but God still chose to "favor" him. If Abram had a Facebook page I am pretty sure that God would have clicked on the "Like" button.

God is in charge and he decides for himself who to show favor to, he is in complete control and he can use whoever he wants, no matter how good or bad we think they are. God has used the righteous and the wicked to accomplish his plans.

God is also in charge of the timing, we all know that Abram got impatient with God and decided to "help" God make the favor come to pass, we just like to be in control don't we?

I must wait upon the Lord and allow him to be in control.

I pray that you will smile upon me today Lord and be pleased with your servant. Help me to wait on you and to allow you to use me on your timetable.