Day 310: Proving Your Faithfulness

James 5:12

And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don’t add words like “I swear to God” to your own words. Don’t show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can’t be used against you.

1 Samuel 15:22

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Proverbs 21:3

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Have you ever felt the need to prove yourself to God? Prove your faithfulness. I feel like sometimes we try too hard to prove how faithful we are that we forget to actually be faithful. We have talked about how we are sometimes so concerned with how we look to other people that we forget to live. We are more concerned with looking like a Christian in front of others that we forget that being a christian and living the lifestyle of a christian is far more important. Have you noticed that sometimes we treat God the same way. We do extra stuff, we do more good deed, just to prove that we are good Christians. We spend our time making vows, and timing our prayers so they’re exactly an hour, trying to prove to God that we are good Christians. Now some will say that all this stuff is just a way to be in a relationship with God. But do we do these things because we love God with all our heart, mind, and soul? Or are we doing it because we want to look good in front of God. We can make a million vows to Him, and swear by His name all day but in our heart is not in it, it means nothing. If everything we do is not to bring glory to God, why are we doing it? Let's not be like the Pharisee's who worshipped God with their mouths but their hearts were far from Him. (Mark 7:6).

Why do we waste our time trying to prove ourselves to God, when He already knows us. He knows our heart, He knows who we are. He know what we struggle with, what our strengths are, He knows everything there is to know about us because He created us. Why not spend our time being in a relationship with the living God. Walking through life with Him. Let’s spend our time getting to know Him and diving into our word and loving Him with everything we have. See when we love God with all our heart, mind, body. And soul everything we do will be bred from our love for God, not our need our want to prove our devotion to Him.

I remember when I went to school for theology, a lot of it was to prove to people how good of a Christian I was, and also to show God how faithful I was. At no point in my life did I ever want to stop acting, but in order to prove myself to God I gave up doing the thing that He put me on this earth to do in order to “serve” in His kingdom. I gave up theatre school for bible school, and it made me feel like a great Christian. But that only lasted so long and before I knew it I am back in theatre school,graduating in a semester after dropping out of bible school. Now some might say this is backwards, but I know that I am exactly where God wants me to be. What I had to learn was, God is more concerned with my heart than my sacrifice. He wants me more than He wants my sacrifice, and I had to want my relationship with God more than I wanted the image of christianity plastered on my life. I’m not saying that any of this, going to bible school, was a mistake. What I’m saying is that I was too busy trying to prove my faithfulness to God that I never took the chance to look up and see what He was really doing in my life.

-Dyamond

All this to say, having a relationship with God is so much better than having on a mask of Christianity. Don’t try to prove yourself to God with clever promises vows, instead love Him with everything. Instead dive into Him, and trust in who He is, knowing that He care for you. He loves you. Knowing that God cares more about our hearts than He does about the things we try to do to prove our devotion. If we want to give anything to God to prove our devotion, we should consider giving Him our hearts. Surrendering our lives, and walking like Christ.

Reflection

1. Have you ever found yourself trying to prove your devotion to God?
2. How has that worked out for you?

Prayer Time

Take the time to pray about what we discussed today, ask god for clarity, and allow Him to speak to your heart.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 311!

Day 309: Don't Anticipate, Live

2 Kings 20:1-6

About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.” 2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly. 4 But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”

When I first read this story I was astounded, by the fact that God truly hears and honors the prayers of His people. I was also taken by Hezekiah's faith in God. But one thing I’d like to point out is that Hezekiah is one of the only people who had an idea of exactly when he was going to die. God told Hezekiah that He will add fifteen years to his life. Meaning that Hezekiah would die in fifteen years. Do you think he sat waiting for that day, he was going to die. Anticipating how he would die or having anxiety about not having more time? I do not think he did, while he loved his life I believe that he was in full knowledge that he would spend eternity with the Lord when his time here on earth was up.

Life is about so much more than living as long as possible it’s about living while we have it. Most of us have no clue of what is going to happen but we stress ourselves out worried about what could happen. Hezekiah knew what was going to happen and yet I’m sure that didn’t stop him from living His life that God had blessed him with. What a waste of time it would have been if Hezekiah sat anticipating what will happen after God has just given Him fifteen more years to live. What I’m getting at here is, we as people spend far too much time anticipating, and worrying, allowing our anxieties to stop us from living the life God has destined for us.  We stand there afraid to take a step because we don’t know what’s going to happen. We want to be in the know of everything before we do anything, but where is our faith. Where is the faith in God who knows everything so we don’t need all the info. God is greater and God is bigger. We cannot allow our fear of not being in control paralyze us. Living our lives this way is a waste of time. The beauty of living for God is that we don’t know what is going to happen we just have faith in whatever God is doing and wherever He is leading us. How many times have we professed our faith in God and asked Him to let His will be done in our lives yet we are afraid to take a step because we are not sure where our foot will land. When we truly have faith in God we will know and understand that He will not lead us anywhere that will harm us. We know that He will guide us to victory. We cannot sit trying to figure out what will happen, because while we’re doing that life is happening and passing us by. We’ve all sat at moments and watched life pass us by because we were afraid of what was going to happen next. If anything I know, the best moments in life are the spontaneous moments. The moments we just do something. God’s plan for us us very spontaneous, many things we never see coming but in the end we will understand why stepping out on faith is so important.

All this to say, live your life having faith in God, Walking every moment with Him, and not waiting until we know what is going to happen before we take a step. God reveals the plan as we go, so that way we cannot pick and choose and anticipate what is to come. Live life like we don't know what is going to happen because we don't and that's the beauty of it. Life is spontaneous, life is great but God is greater.

Reflection

1. How do you relate to what we discussed today?
2. Have you found yourself anticipating life?
3. How has this anticipation strained your relationship with God?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today. Pour your heart out to the Lord.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 310!

Day 307: Live as Free People

1 Peter 2:16

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Let’s address the elephant in the room. What a statement, amiright? This statement is such a crazy thing to say when we look at it. On one breath it’s saying we are free, but right after it says we’re servants. Now most people don’t equate freedom with being servants, some translation have translated that word to say slave. We are slaves of God, yet we are free. When we think of our definition of freedom it means that we are indebted to no one. So how are we free but we are still servants or slaves? What if we looked at it as owing the man who sacrificed His life for us our hearts or our lives. What if we realized that Jesus gave up His life so that we may be free from the bondage of sin a death. Freedom for us looks like being given the opportunity to serve God with our everything. As crazy as the scripture sounds we are only free in Christ. We are not bound in Christ in fact we are the exact opposite. Sin held us down, held us in bondage, but Jesus came to give us life. He came to free us from those chains and free us from a lifestyle was was leading us to the grave and nowhere else.

There’s a song that says, “I found my life when I laid it down...I touched the sky when my knees hit the ground.” Freedom in Christ is giving up what we think we know and acknowledging that God God is in control. It is understanding that there is a whole world God has for us, that we cannot see if we are still stuck in our sin. Freedom is being able to experience the beauty of this world that God has created for us, and living the life God has planned for us. The human mind can only go so far, and seeing how far the human mind can go is crazy, but to think that the mind of God is greater leaves me in awe.

We are not free because we get to do whatever we want, when we want to do it. Sometimes the choices we make while free are the ones that keep us in bondage, there are people in prison serving real time for real crimes that attest to that. Just because we know we can do something doesn’t mean we should do it. Free will gives us the right to choose who we want to be but we must understand that every choice has a consequence whether good or bad. Humans are capable of doing astounding things, while simultaneously capable of doing some of the most grotesque things. We are free to choose who we will be, but as for us who follow Christ and have submitted our lives to serving the Lord we know that true freedom lies within God. There is no limit to freedom in Christ.

All this to say, while we are free to choose who we want to be, when we decide to follow Christ we decide to be servants in the kingdom of God. That in itself is freedom, we will do things and go places we never thought we’d do or go. Serving Christ is less about what we can’t do and more about the kind of life we can lie in Him. Living in Christ is so peaceful, so free, there is nothing like it. Freedom looks like living like Christ. True freedom is in Christ.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Think about what we discussed today and how you view freedom. Think about what your personal definition of freedom is and what it is to be free in Christ. How to they relate or differ. Bring it all to God in prayer.

Maybe you’ve never had a chance to experience this freedom in Christ, if you haven’t I want to give you that opportunity. Make the decision to follow Christ and live a life of freedom.

If you’ve never made the decision to live for Christ, or you want to rededicate your life. If you want to be brought into this magnificent promise of eternity, now is the time to make that decision. If that’s you if you want to make that decision, pray this prayer with me,

“Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sins and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. I pray that you shine your  light on me and bring me out of the darkness and into your light. I love you Lord. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! If you made the decision to follow Christ today, congratulations! Do not hesitate to reach and get plugged into  a church. Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 308!

Day 268: Recap

Day 260: What You Need Me to Be

Today we talked about the lengths that Paul went to brag the message of Christ to all people. To make sure the everyone heard the gospel. We talked about how we as people often overlook people who are in need of help, and we must be willing to go to the places no one is willing to go, just to bring the message of Christ to someone. We focused on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.

" We are so concerned with containing our Christian composure and making sure that our spirits are not 'tainted' that we are not really doing all we can to make sure someone’s soul is set free."

 Day 261: A Way Out

Today we talked about how God always provides us with a way out. We talked about how He will not allow us to be tempted pass what we can stand. We talked about how we sometimes decide to sin and then blame everything but ourselves. We focused on 1 Corinthians 10:12-13.

"Who you are in Christ is much stronger than your flesh and it’s worldly desires."

Day 262: Our Way

Today we talked about a classic biblical story, we discussed Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. We discussed how sometimes we think or act like we know more than God. We act as if He does not know what He is doing therefore we must take matters into our own hands. We also talked about how we decide to move on our own when we get impatient with God. We focused on Genesis 15:2-5, 16:1-5: 18:10-15, and 21:1-5.

"We do not know more than God. It’s easy to take matters into our own hands because we think we know what we’re doing, but when we compare our knowledge to God’s we literally have no idea what He has in store for us."

Day 263: The Split Personalities of Christianity

Today we talked about how we often put our life as a Christian separate from our everyday living. We treat our lifestyle as a follower of Christ as something that can be turned on and off at will. We discussed how we are a Christian at all times, in front of all people, and our lives should not be separated into two categories. We also touched on how we often act as if our humanity is stripped from us because we are Christ followers. We focused on Galatians 2:11-13.

"We are so concerned with how people will see us and what they will think or say that we allow ourselves to put up a facade. It’s like putting on a mask that we remove from time to time to reveal and cover who we really are. We allow ourselves to create a separate identity that is only unleashed when “we don’t have to be Christian”. Once again, there is never a moment when we are not Christian."

Day 264: Our Set Time

Today we talked about how God has set a time for each and every one of us. We talked about how sometimes God is allowing us to grow and mature, he is moulding us into the people He needs us to be before He pours out His blessings upon us. We talked about how we must be patient and trust His timing because we will always to come the realization of how perfect His timing actually is. We focused on Galatians 4:1-2.

" I feel like sometimes God is telling us to wait a little longer so we can mature a little more. He’s teaching us as we go, He’s making us into the people He wants to be so that whenever we receive what God has for us, we will be ready."

Day 265: All the Time #WasteTheirTime2017

Today we touched on relationships a bit and talked about how sometimes people only want our attention so it's not given to someone else. We talked about how sometimes someone who doesn't really want us in their lives will do everything they can to keep us, just so we won't be a part of someone else's. You gotta read it. We focused on Galatians 4:17-18.

"Like Paul says, it’s alright if people want to do good things for you, but let them do it all the time. Let them be the same all the time. Let them do it in private just as in public."

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone, go back over what we discussed this week, and come back tomorrow for Day 269!

Day 260: Our Brother's Keeper

1 Corinthians 8:13

So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.

Galatians 6:1-2

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

I know many of us have had the conversation about being our brother’s keeper. Meaning, is it our responsibility to take care of someone else? Are we responsible to make sure that someone stays on the right path, that we are doing whatever we can to help take care of them. Are we here to look out for one another? Before I say yes, I’m going to say that it is written pretty clear in the bible when Jesus tell us to love God and love one another. When He says love your neighbor as yourself, I believe that it covered us being our brother’s keeper. Meaning, we’re not going to let someone we love stumble and fall. We are not going to watch our neighbors fall and not do anything to help them up. What I’m getting at here is that we are indeed  our brother’s keeper, just like Jesus is for us. He picked us up at our lowest points and put on the path to righteousness. He gave us eternal life. Never did He judge us or tell us we were at fault, but he took on our burdens. He put Himself on the line for us. It is our responsibility as God-fearing and spiritual people to help lift one another up. We are to carry one another’s burdens not make the weight heavier or say they can handle it. I think sometimes we are so consumed with not wanting to get in someone’s business or letting  them figure it out on their own that we are letting people drown that need our help. People are reaching for us and we are waiting for them to sae themselves. We cannot just walk pass people that we know are in need and not help them, especially if we call ourselves Christians. I have seen too many people condemn others who are falling or have fallen into sin and done nothing to help them. It’s easy to talk about someone but how about we get down there with them and bring them out, or lend a hand to pick them up. The scripture says that we are to humbly and gently help them up. That means that we do not judge them or we do not blame them, because Jesus did not do that to us. We do not tell them they got themselves into the position they are in, we are to help them get back to where they were, to lead them back to Christ.

I talk about this subject in regards to sin because it is the one thing that I see people being condemned for the most. However, this is every area of our lives. When we truly love one another they way that God intends us to love we are constantly willing to put ourselves on the line for our brothers and sisters. We are not to put ourselves in danger or cause ourselves to be tempted but we are to take on  a selfless attitude, Share the burdens of our brothers and sisters because that’s what Jesus did for us. We never know how heavy it is for someone. We never know when they will crack or when too much is enough. Even Simon helped Jesus carry the cross to calvary.

All this to say, everybody needs somebody and we are that somebody. We are our brothers keeper and it is our job to lift one another up.

Reflection

1. Do you believe that you are your brother’s keeper?
2. Have you ever thought about the responsibility of caring for others, and taking on and sharing their burdens?

Prayer Time

Allow your answer to the above questions guide your prayer. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today.

I love you and I hope you an amazing day or evening, be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 261!  

Day 194: When It's Too Much

Yesterday we talked not giving any excuses and throwing ourselves a pity party, but if I’m being completely honest, sometimes life seems to throw too much at you at the same time. I might sound like I’m contradicting myself here based on what I wrote yesterday and what today’s subject will be. But the truth is, life contradicts itself, it has ups and downs, flaws and all, but it’s worth living.

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Deuteronomy 31:6

“...He will not fail you or forsake you.”

You ever get tired of fighting? You’re not necessarily giving up or losing your faith in God, you’re just tired. Tired of fighting, and exhausted from how long the fight has been. It’s like an in between area, you don’t want to give up, you want to keep going, you’ve come too far to stop, but you just want a break. Just a little break, you want the opponent to ease up a bit so you can breathe and gather your thoughts. It’s a hard place to be in.

Sometimes life is hard, and sometimes we get to the point where we do know if we can keep going. There’s no doubt that we want to keep going but it’s hard, we’re tired, and sore, and exhausted. How do we keep pushing when the harder we push the bigger the battle gets, the more we press, the more pressure is applied. It is tiring.

I am not ashamed to say that life can get tiring and sometimes I just want to walk away and not even try anymore. But it’s in these moments that we have to keep going. We have to keep pushing. God didn’t bring us this far to leave us, and we didn’t come this far to give up. We get to a place where it’s too far to turn back and to close to stop. It’s been a journey of sacrifice, tears, blood, more tears, frustration, and anger but it’s worth it to keep going. My mom would always tell me when I was younger and even now, “the closer you are to the top, the harder it gets.”

All this to say, yes, I know you’re exhausted and it’s tiring, it’s frustrating, and sometime you don’t understand. Trust in God, trust in His plan, trust that He is going to come through for you. He hasn’t failed yet, and I don’t believe that He will start now. Keep going, keep pushing, fight a little harder. Trust me, it will all be worth it. You will reap and it will be glorious. Remember, a diamond is made with extreme amounts of pressure.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to talk to God about what we discussed today. Ask God to give you strength and endurance. Whenever you get into the mindset of being tired, you get three and a half minutes, that’s enough time for one sad song and then you get back to it.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 195!

Day 171: One Heart, One Soul, One Love- Day 1

Acts 4:32

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.  

I love that the first churches were so big on community. The community was the church, and they came together as one. They came and brought everything they had, they sold their possessions and brought the money to the church. This was so that no one in the community went without. They did this so that the widows would have food to eat. No one took anything for themself, if they had it, the community had it. If they were blessed so was the community. This was a place that thrived on helping others, being there and making sure the people had what they needed. They gave up what was rightfully theirs, denied it as a possession so that someone else could have whatever it was they stood in the need of.

I think it’s time for the church to step back into that. The world is in need of love, hope, peace. As Christians we will stand up and spread love and positivity throughout the nations. Helping one another, praying for another and doing whatever we can. Our world needs it, especially right now.

This week is all about spreading love and positivity. There is so much going on in the world and if there is anything people need, it’s a bit of love, kindness, and positivity. So this week we will spread love by supporting one another. Praying for every nation, praying for those that are oppressed and the oppressors. Educating ourselves on the issues facing the world right now. We are doing this because there is so much chaos, terrorism, and hate that the only thing we have to lean on is love. It is about being there for our brothers and sisters, and loving them, whether we agree with their lifestyle or not. Our job is to love not judge. This week we will put our differences aside and stand with our brothers and sisters who are hurting, because we are of one body, one heart, and one soul. When one of us is hurting, we are all there to lift them up, we are there hurting with them. We can’t thrive when our brother or sister is being oppressed or suffering as a result of what is going on in this world. We have to move as one body and heal whatever part is broken. The world is hurting, the world is falling apart, and as the body of Christ it is our duty to see that God’s people know that there is hope in Him. It is our duty to help those that have fallen, and those that are hurting. So that is what we will do.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond however you feel led. Read through the news, educate yourself on what’s going on and begin to pray for the world. Choose a cause to support, choose an area or a few  to pray for this week. Everything from terrorism, Gun Violence, Racism, the government, the environment, poverty, hunger, rape culture, police brutality, etc. Pray for the world and pray for whatever you choose throughout the week.

I love you so much, I want you to have an amazing day and evening. Tell someone you love them today. Put a smile on someone’s face. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 172!

Day 164: When Fear is Good...

Psalms 56:3

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Anybody have something that scares the crap out of you? Like one thing that you will just say no to and not look back or regret it? I know we all want to be brave and walk around like we aren’t afraid of anything, but we all have at least one fear. There’s something out there, besides God, that shakes us to our core. For me that thing is needles, I am terrified of needles, and I’m not talking about not liking needles. I mean it’s bad, I’m worse than a two-year-old. There are tears, kicking and screaming, bribing, running, multiple explanations, and eventually, my mom has to hold me down. All of this for a split second of pain, and it happens every time I go to the doctor. It got so bad to the point where I would send myself into an asthma attack and the doctors would have the machines ready because they knew that Dyamond was going to act a fool. And I never let them down. The thing about this it is that each time I went to the doctor I had to face and overcome this fear, and I knew that I would come out alright because my mom or dad would be there holding my hand through it. It took a couple of decades but I’m not as afraid as I used to be. Fear is a temporary thing, we won’t always be afraid. We won’t be scared forever.  sometimes we’re afraid to do something and then we realize that it’s not that bad after all. I truly believe that facing our fears head on is how we overcome them. The same way my mother and father was there holding my hand or holding me down is the same way God leads us to overcome our fears. God is there holding our hands and walking with us through these valleys of fear.

Fear turns us to God. Fear moves us to act. Fear does something to us that bravery can’t, it reveals our weakness, and therefore our need for God, in whom we get our strength and courage. When I’m scared the first thing I do is scream Jesus. You don’t even have to be Christian to understand me on this one. When we’re afraid, it doesn't matter if we haven’t talked to God in years, we start praying like we are trying to call down every angel in heaven. This is why I say fear can be a good thing and can be used to bring us closer to God. Fear is scary and uncomfortable and it pushes us to act. Recently my two-year-old nephew was choking on an apple. My sister was trying to get him-him to spit it up. His face started turning red and before I knew it I jumped out my seat like a superhero to save him. The fear that went through my body when I saw his little face turning red as he was trying to breathe is indescribable. It was almost as if I flew out of my seat to get to him. He’s fine now, we got him to spit it up. But it was my fear of losing him in those few moments that pushed me out of my seat to get that apple out of his mouth. This is the type of fear that drives us to trust God and lean on Him. Even when we are afraid of things, and life we can put our trust in Him and know that whatever happens, we will be okay.

We all want to be fearless but we don’t start out that way. We don’t come out the womb brave and taking on the world unless you’re Wonder Woman. We learn over time to be courageous, we are taught not to fear things as we get older. God gives us courage as we grow in Him every day. I know we all want to claim to be superhuman and unafraid but we’re just human and there are some scary things in this world. However, it is overcoming them through Christ that gives us courage. If we’re never afraid we will never know what it’s like to have courage. Now when I talk about fear in this context I’m not talking about the crippling fear that stops you, I’m talking about the type of fear that moves you. The type of fear that keeps you going. The type of fear that motivates you. This is fear that doesn’t stop your life or cause you to have panic attacks. No, this is godly fear. That’s how we fear God, this type of fear is driven by love, This type of fear is good. This is the type of fear that is birthed from love and respect. This is the type of fear that says, Lord, I love you so much I don’t want to lose you. I’m going to keep going in life because my fear of losing you is greater than my fear of anything else.

Fear can be a good thing, but don’t let it paralyze you or stop you. It’s okay to be afraid we’re human, it happens that that moment is when we turn to God. We cannot let fear stop us, let it motivate us and push us. Fear drives faith when you're afraid just lean on Him, turn to God.

Reflection

1. What are you afraid of?
2. Do you believe that God is bigger than your fears?
3. When is fear a good thing?
4. Can you tell the difference from when fear is good and when fear is bad?
5. What is it?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ask good to show you the difference between godly fear and worldly fear.

I love you, I hope you have a magnificent day or evening, be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 165, and follow the blog!

Day 141: Selfless Nature

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.

Selfless- concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own; unselfish.

Sometimes we have to push ourselves aside in order to give someone else a helping hand. Last week we talked about humility (Day 132), this week we are going to piggyback off of that message and talk about what it means to be selfless.

Many people mistake selflessness for neglecting oneself and not caring about ourselves, for the needs of someone else. That is not being selfless, it is being destructive. Some people even get scared when they hear the word selfless because all of sudden it means, we no longer matter. That is not what it means either, it simply means not being selfish. It means taking time away from ourselves and look towards someone else. It means we count others more important than ourselves, and that takes humility. As the scripture above tells us to count others more significant  

Than ourselves. But it first says, “in humility” before making such a bold and audacious statement. The nerve of Paul to write something like that right? Crazy, I know.

But what if...What if it wasn’t so crazy, what if we actually learned to put others before ourselves, and not have it be an ‘every once in awhile’ occurrence? We must come to the realization that there are things and people that are more important that our concerns. There are more people out there besides ourselves. We must live is a world where we take a stand for one another, where we are concerned about one another.

The thing about being selfless and putting others before ourselves is that it is like a chain reaction. Someone else is out there doing the same for the next person, and someone is out there putting themselves aside for our sake. I think many of us neglect the need or act of being selfless out of fear that we will be missing out. If we put ourselves on the line for someone else who is going to be there for us? If we sacrifice for someone else who will sacrifice for us? But we’re not missing out on anything if we are truly living like Christ than we do not have to worry about these things.

Christ walked this earth as a selfless man. We can take our example from Him, as we established on Day 132, Jesus was the most humble man to ever walk this earth and now we can go on and say that He was the most selfless man on the earth. Jesus gave up a throne to save us. Jesus was on the mount in agony, asking God for a way out. He was in so much agony that it says His sweat became like drops of blood. But He knew that the will of God must be fulfilled. He knew that He was sent to bring salvation to humanity.

There are two things I’d like to point out in this passage. Jesus says, “not my will, but yours be done.” We’ve talked about being selfless when it comes to other people. But can we put ourselves to the side for the will of God? Can we look past our own emotions and say, “Lord, let your will be done.”  That is the ultimate act of selflessness, to get out of ourselves.

Response/Prayer Time

What if we can forget about ourselves, if only for a minute and think about someone else?  Can we not be selfish and live our lives in a selfless way. Copying the example of Christ. What if we all did it? Talk to God about it.

I love you, hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 142!

Day 135: Recap!

First off Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there.  Happy Mother's day to all the Mothers that read this blog.

Dear Moms,
Thank you for bringing us into this world and threatening to take us out from time to time. We love you, even though sometimes we get on your nerves, make you mad, and have even made you cry. Despite all of that we love you and thank you for all you do for us. We love you, mom!

Day 128: If It Had Not Been for the Lord

Today we talked about what we really mean when we say, "If it had not been for the Lord..." We focused on Psalms 94:16-19, 22, and Psalms 94:22.

"When we look back over our lives and when we see where we came from we will see that God has had His hand on us all along."

Day 129: God is Not a Feeling

Today we talked about feelings and how we sometimes let our feelings dictate our faith. We focused on Jeremiah 17:9, 1 John 3:20, and Romans 10:9.
"Sometimes when it comes to our faith we have to ignore our feelings and not allow them to dictate what we believe to be true about God."

Day 130: No Picking and Choosing

Today we talked about how we sometimes pick and choose which parts of the bible we will live by, and what we agree with when it does not work that way. It's all or nothing. We focused on James 2:10-11, 2 Peter 2:21, and James 4:17.

"We have this ‘good enough’ attitude, that we aren’t doing everything we should or could be doing but what we are doing is ‘good enough’."

Day 131: The Idea of God

Today we talked about how we can be in love with the idea of something or someone rather than the thing itself. We often do this to God. We focused on Matthew 6:21, 1 John 4:19, and Isaiah 40:28.

"We find comfort in knowing of God, but it’s just enough so we do not have to entertain the actuality of having a relationship with Him."

Day 132: A Dose of Humility

Today we talked about humility and how our generation could use a huge dose of it. We talked about the need to be selfless in this day and age. We focused on quite a few scriptures today, Proverbs 11:2, Matthew 23:11-12, Matthew 18:4, James 4:10, Philippians 2:3, and 2 Chronicles 7:14.

"Sometimes we are so focused on ourselves that we don’t really see what’s right in front of us, we don’t see the world because we are too consumed with self."

Day 133: The Golden Rule

Today we talked about respect and how we treat others in comparison to how we not only treat ourselves but expect to be treated by others. We focused on Matthew 6:31 today.

"We all have standards of what we will allow and what we won’t. We all have lines that we draw that people are not allowed to cross. We have a basic understanding of how we should be treated, about how we expect to be treated by our peers. What if we take all those standards, those lines that are not to be crossed, that basic understanding of how we are to be treated; what if we take that and apply to how we treat others? "

I love you, I hope you have an amazing Day and even better Mother's Day. Enjoy your day and/ or evening, be sure to go over what we talked about this week and come back tomorrow for Day 136!