Daily Scripture Reading: Joshua 22-24
Focal Passage: Joshua 24:15
Our world seems to take pride in how many choices it can offer to consumers. You can find a multitude of different types and colors of cars on the same dealership lot. Attending church services one can find different venues of worship and different types of Bible study classes to attend. Sometimes the amount of choices can be overwhelming! I recall eating at the Cheesecake Factory once and they gave me a book (it was their menu) to choose what I would order for lunch! I believe the waitor had to ask me on three different occassions if I was ready to order...I told him I had not even finished reading the book he had given me.
Choices are nice but they can also be very distracting. Joshua ends his life challenging God's people to keep their focus on serving God. He spends part of this chapter explaining to them that they are going to be offered many other choices and Joshua told them in 24:15 "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve". We must choose to serve God, but I also want you to see that he said, "this day." The reality is just because we choose to serve Him today, doesn't automatically mean we will serve Him tomorrow. We are bombarded with things that will distract us from our relationship with God: family relationships, sports, entertainment, job or career responsibilities, school, health issues, financial obligations, fitness activities, church traditions, and the list goes on and on.
What can help us make the ONLY satisfying choice (serving the Lord)? Our Sunday School class talked about this very issue this past Sunday. We came up with the ABC's of helping us evaluate whether or not we have gotten "off track" in our relationship with God. What kind of questions can help us keep Jesus the main thing in our life? These are the three questions we came up with: A - Attitude - Is my attitude toward others, God, and His church God-honoring? B - Behavior - Is my behavior toward others God-honoring? C - Consistency - Is my time with God consistent? All three of these questions are intended to be used to remind us that everyday is a day to serve God. How will you choose to serve God today?
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Coloring Outside the Lines
Daily Scripture Reading: Joshua 1-4
Focal Passage: Joshua 2:8-11
Last Sunday, my pastor used the example of how kids are always given the rules about coloring their pictures. The teacher or parent tries to teach them about the necessity to stay inside the lines. Staying inside the lines creates a nice and neat picture and it also teaches to live within a box or boundary. The reality is that God doesn't always operate in our neat little boxes, and aren't we all glad! Most of life does not work out the way we intended or planned anyway. There are many examples in Scripture where God used people out of the ordinary to do His extraordinary work. I read about one such example this morning in Joshua 2.
Joshua sent spies into Jericho to check out the city so the people of God would be better informed as to what they were facing when they attacked the city. The woman that took these spies in was named Rahab, a known prostitute in the city. This known prostitute not only hides these two spies and keeps them safe from the king of Jericho, but she also helps them escape from the city. As incredible as those two things are, nothing compares to the declarative statement of faith in verses 8-11. Rahab knows God's people will have victory over the city of Jericho because they serve the one and only God. God uses this prostitute woman to affirm to these two spies who He is and what He is going to do. By the way Rahab is also mentioned in the great Hall of Faith chapter (Hebrews 11:31).
Coloring inside the lines may be what is often taught when learning to color, but it is not the way God operates. He uses people in all kinds of life circumstances to do His great work. Do you find yourself discouraged because your life has not been "colored inside the lines"? You did not always make the right choices or you have done things that you wish you could take back. I think we all have. Don't be discouraged! Take heart, God uses people that have lives "colored outside the lines". If God used Rahab, He can use any of us with the heart of faith to believe in Him, and the heart that wants to please Him. Take courage, seek God with your entire being, forget the past, and look forward to how God will use you to encourage others!
As always, feel free to add your own comments or observations...I'll be waiting to read from you!
Focal Passage: Joshua 2:8-11
Last Sunday, my pastor used the example of how kids are always given the rules about coloring their pictures. The teacher or parent tries to teach them about the necessity to stay inside the lines. Staying inside the lines creates a nice and neat picture and it also teaches to live within a box or boundary. The reality is that God doesn't always operate in our neat little boxes, and aren't we all glad! Most of life does not work out the way we intended or planned anyway. There are many examples in Scripture where God used people out of the ordinary to do His extraordinary work. I read about one such example this morning in Joshua 2.
Joshua sent spies into Jericho to check out the city so the people of God would be better informed as to what they were facing when they attacked the city. The woman that took these spies in was named Rahab, a known prostitute in the city. This known prostitute not only hides these two spies and keeps them safe from the king of Jericho, but she also helps them escape from the city. As incredible as those two things are, nothing compares to the declarative statement of faith in verses 8-11. Rahab knows God's people will have victory over the city of Jericho because they serve the one and only God. God uses this prostitute woman to affirm to these two spies who He is and what He is going to do. By the way Rahab is also mentioned in the great Hall of Faith chapter (Hebrews 11:31).
Coloring inside the lines may be what is often taught when learning to color, but it is not the way God operates. He uses people in all kinds of life circumstances to do His great work. Do you find yourself discouraged because your life has not been "colored inside the lines"? You did not always make the right choices or you have done things that you wish you could take back. I think we all have. Don't be discouraged! Take heart, God uses people that have lives "colored outside the lines". If God used Rahab, He can use any of us with the heart of faith to believe in Him, and the heart that wants to please Him. Take courage, seek God with your entire being, forget the past, and look forward to how God will use you to encourage others!
As always, feel free to add your own comments or observations...I'll be waiting to read from you!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Watching the Garden
Daily Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 24-27
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 26:2
About a month ago Terri planted a garden in our backyard. It took the work of all of our kids to get the land prepared, the rows created, and the seed planted. We are now seeing the results of that hard work and are anticipating the fruits of our labor. We can see buds or blooms on every row of the garden and can even see some small tomotoes on one of the tomotoe plants. However, I long for the day in which we can actually eat some of the fresh onions, zuchinni, cantelope, tomotoes, or lettuce.
One of the God-ordained feasts in the Old Testament was First Fruits. In Deuteronomy 26:2, God commanded His people to bring the first of all the soil's produce from their land to the priest to give back to the Lord. This was done so that God's people would never forget that God took them from a place a slavery and gave them a land of their own, and this land provided for them daily and richly. God had done marvelous and miracleous things to bring them into the promised land. The people's actions to give God back the firstfruits was an acknowledgement that all the good they experienced was because God had blessed them as His people.
Deuteronomy 26:9-10 says, "He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. I have now brought the first of the land's produce that You, LORD, have given me." Everything good comes from the Lord. It is easy to replace the priority God should have in our lives with other things. Our children become a big priority for us, our careers are a big priority for us, our entertainment becomes what is most important to us, and our relationships with other people become what we are concentrated on. However, we must never forget that the idea of the firstfruits was to say to God, "I recognize You, Lord, as number one in my life and all that I do will be to, First: glorify You! The apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:31 that he did everything for God's glory.
What is the first thing people see in your life? What fruit are you producing? If you claim to believe in God, then ultimately other people should see His love through you. You should be telling other people about how good God is to you, and they should see evidence of the fruit God is producing through your life. Tell me what God is doing in your life. Post your comments after this blog entry and proclaim God's goodness! I will keep you updated on the progress of our family garden as well.
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 26:2
About a month ago Terri planted a garden in our backyard. It took the work of all of our kids to get the land prepared, the rows created, and the seed planted. We are now seeing the results of that hard work and are anticipating the fruits of our labor. We can see buds or blooms on every row of the garden and can even see some small tomotoes on one of the tomotoe plants. However, I long for the day in which we can actually eat some of the fresh onions, zuchinni, cantelope, tomotoes, or lettuce.
One of the God-ordained feasts in the Old Testament was First Fruits. In Deuteronomy 26:2, God commanded His people to bring the first of all the soil's produce from their land to the priest to give back to the Lord. This was done so that God's people would never forget that God took them from a place a slavery and gave them a land of their own, and this land provided for them daily and richly. God had done marvelous and miracleous things to bring them into the promised land. The people's actions to give God back the firstfruits was an acknowledgement that all the good they experienced was because God had blessed them as His people.
Deuteronomy 26:9-10 says, "He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. I have now brought the first of the land's produce that You, LORD, have given me." Everything good comes from the Lord. It is easy to replace the priority God should have in our lives with other things. Our children become a big priority for us, our careers are a big priority for us, our entertainment becomes what is most important to us, and our relationships with other people become what we are concentrated on. However, we must never forget that the idea of the firstfruits was to say to God, "I recognize You, Lord, as number one in my life and all that I do will be to, First: glorify You! The apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:31 that he did everything for God's glory.
What is the first thing people see in your life? What fruit are you producing? If you claim to believe in God, then ultimately other people should see His love through you. You should be telling other people about how good God is to you, and they should see evidence of the fruit God is producing through your life. Tell me what God is doing in your life. Post your comments after this blog entry and proclaim God's goodness! I will keep you updated on the progress of our family garden as well.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Being the Underdog
Daily Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 17-20
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 20:1
Several nights ago I attended a first round NIT basketball game between Arizona State University and Jacksonville University. I checked the statistics on both teams, and noticed that ASU seemed to be the dominant team in every single category. I watched both teams warm up before the game and it appeared as though ASU had more height and certainly more talent as regard to percentage of shots made. All of that said, the first half played out and ASU had a very small lead. Throughout the game, I noticed the underdog Jacksonsville Dolphins did not consider themselves as underdogs and their confidence grew with every minute that ticked by. You probably read about or saw the highlights on ESPN as to how the game ended. Jacksonville's point guard hit a game winning 3-pointer with a couple of seconds left in the game. The Dolphins had many things stacked against them, but still won the game. What did they have stacked against them? They had to travel across the country and play in a hostile environment. They had huge height disadvantages. They were playing what appeared to be a superior opponent. However, someone forgot to tell the JU players these "facts."
In Deuteronomy 20:1 God tells His people that when they face armies that are much larger than them, and have superior weapons, they are not to be afraid. The reason for having no fear is the "Lord your God" is with you. This is the same God who brought His people out of Egypt, He took them from being slaves to being free and destroying an Egyptian army while the superior army pursued God's people. In our world today it may appear as though God is far away. We see evil and the results of sin everyday and how it creeps into our homes, our schools, our governments, our workplaces and yes, even our churches. Believers in Christ can feel as though they are losing ground and can also feel inferior to the worldly influences.
However, take heart, God is with us! Romans 8:31: "If God is for us, who is against us?" In some ways, on some days, it may appear that God's team is losing or at best at a huge disadvantage, but just like the JU Dolphins, the only thing that matters is what God's team believes about themselves, and Scripture tells us that we are the winners! Scripture doesn't tell us we will someday win, but the Bible tells us we have already won! I John 5:4: "This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith." Take heart today from God's Word, you may feel like an underdog, but you deserve and should know and claim God's victory!
I forgot to mention that as soon as that shot went in to win the game for JU their entire team rushed the court in celebration. That's what we should do as God's team, celebrate the fact that we belong to a winning team, and the fact that our victory comes by way of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! Thank you God for your great victory we have in Christ!
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 20:1
Several nights ago I attended a first round NIT basketball game between Arizona State University and Jacksonville University. I checked the statistics on both teams, and noticed that ASU seemed to be the dominant team in every single category. I watched both teams warm up before the game and it appeared as though ASU had more height and certainly more talent as regard to percentage of shots made. All of that said, the first half played out and ASU had a very small lead. Throughout the game, I noticed the underdog Jacksonsville Dolphins did not consider themselves as underdogs and their confidence grew with every minute that ticked by. You probably read about or saw the highlights on ESPN as to how the game ended. Jacksonville's point guard hit a game winning 3-pointer with a couple of seconds left in the game. The Dolphins had many things stacked against them, but still won the game. What did they have stacked against them? They had to travel across the country and play in a hostile environment. They had huge height disadvantages. They were playing what appeared to be a superior opponent. However, someone forgot to tell the JU players these "facts."
In Deuteronomy 20:1 God tells His people that when they face armies that are much larger than them, and have superior weapons, they are not to be afraid. The reason for having no fear is the "Lord your God" is with you. This is the same God who brought His people out of Egypt, He took them from being slaves to being free and destroying an Egyptian army while the superior army pursued God's people. In our world today it may appear as though God is far away. We see evil and the results of sin everyday and how it creeps into our homes, our schools, our governments, our workplaces and yes, even our churches. Believers in Christ can feel as though they are losing ground and can also feel inferior to the worldly influences.
However, take heart, God is with us! Romans 8:31: "If God is for us, who is against us?" In some ways, on some days, it may appear that God's team is losing or at best at a huge disadvantage, but just like the JU Dolphins, the only thing that matters is what God's team believes about themselves, and Scripture tells us that we are the winners! Scripture doesn't tell us we will someday win, but the Bible tells us we have already won! I John 5:4: "This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith." Take heart today from God's Word, you may feel like an underdog, but you deserve and should know and claim God's victory!
I forgot to mention that as soon as that shot went in to win the game for JU their entire team rushed the court in celebration. That's what we should do as God's team, celebrate the fact that we belong to a winning team, and the fact that our victory comes by way of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! Thank you God for your great victory we have in Christ!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Enticing Adventures
March 16, 2010
Daily Scriptural Reading: Deuteronomy 11-13
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 13:3,4,6-8
Yesterday my son texted me to ask me to attend the ASU basketball game with him tonight. He informed me that he had found some tickets for the game that were in our affordable price range. You must know I love basketball. I could literally hang out in a game all day long and be quite content (as long as someone brought me 3 meals during the day). I also enjoy spending time with my kids. Those two things put together, his offer was very enticing to me, however, untimely. I had finished paying bills early that morning and I did not want to spend any extra money for a few days. I was facing a huge dilemma, an internal struggle: do I attend the game with my son (and invetiably spend money) or tell him no and save the money? So...what did I choose? Let's just say Go, Devils!
In the focal passage today, God tells his people to beware of enticing people (and some of these people will be prophets, family members, spouses) that will try to lead us astray from God Himself. These people could mean well, but God says He will use these opportunities to "test" our true desire to know Him. We are instructed to follow the Lord with all our heart and all our soul. As this passage relates to us today, we can see that the world offers us Christian books to read, movies to attend, television programming with 100+ channels, sports activities and games to keep all of us entertained and physically active, not to mention the secular humanist worldview on topics such as politics, education, law, ethics, religion, history, science...and the list goes on and on. This things seem enticing and draw us into a web of deception. This web of deception leads us away from spending time with God and to gently accept the things that our society tells us are desirable. I encourage you to set aside a time in your day to read your Bible, to pray, and to reflect upon what God has taught you about what should be important in your life. Ask God at the end of the day if you have been enticed to follow Him or to follow someone different.
The enticing adventure God wants us to join Him in is so much more valuable than a $15.00 ticket to some basketball game. Don't trade away the adventure and life of John 10:10 for something fleeting that the world offers to you for a moment.
Daily Scriptural Reading: Deuteronomy 11-13
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 13:3,4,6-8
Yesterday my son texted me to ask me to attend the ASU basketball game with him tonight. He informed me that he had found some tickets for the game that were in our affordable price range. You must know I love basketball. I could literally hang out in a game all day long and be quite content (as long as someone brought me 3 meals during the day). I also enjoy spending time with my kids. Those two things put together, his offer was very enticing to me, however, untimely. I had finished paying bills early that morning and I did not want to spend any extra money for a few days. I was facing a huge dilemma, an internal struggle: do I attend the game with my son (and invetiably spend money) or tell him no and save the money? So...what did I choose? Let's just say Go, Devils!
In the focal passage today, God tells his people to beware of enticing people (and some of these people will be prophets, family members, spouses) that will try to lead us astray from God Himself. These people could mean well, but God says He will use these opportunities to "test" our true desire to know Him. We are instructed to follow the Lord with all our heart and all our soul. As this passage relates to us today, we can see that the world offers us Christian books to read, movies to attend, television programming with 100+ channels, sports activities and games to keep all of us entertained and physically active, not to mention the secular humanist worldview on topics such as politics, education, law, ethics, religion, history, science...and the list goes on and on. This things seem enticing and draw us into a web of deception. This web of deception leads us away from spending time with God and to gently accept the things that our society tells us are desirable. I encourage you to set aside a time in your day to read your Bible, to pray, and to reflect upon what God has taught you about what should be important in your life. Ask God at the end of the day if you have been enticed to follow Him or to follow someone different.
The enticing adventure God wants us to join Him in is so much more valuable than a $15.00 ticket to some basketball game. Don't trade away the adventure and life of John 10:10 for something fleeting that the world offers to you for a moment.
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