Day 72: Recap

Day 65: The Character of God

We kicked the week off by talking about the character of God. We focused on the scriptures, 1 John 4:8, and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

We often view God as some approachable being, or some mean old guy in the sky. But that is not true, the scriptures tell us that God is love, and shows us what it is to love. Listing the characteristics of love, therefore listing the characteristics of God. God's character is love.

Day 66:  The Kindness of God

Today we continued by talking about the kindness of God. We focused on quite a few scriptures today: Titus 3:4-6, Galatians 4:6, Matthew 18:13, and Psalms 30:5.

There is a sweetness in our relationship with God. We are His children, It is said that the Hebrew meaning of the word abba is, daddy or papa. Also that it is the sound a child makes when trying to say daddy. There is a sweetness there that breaks the barrier of punisher, servant or slave master, and turns it into daddy daughter, daddy son. These words are more intimate that father child. It establishes a relationship, and we start to see God as a dad. We do not fear Him in a sense that we afraid of what he will do to us, but we are in awe of Him, respecting Him.

Day 67: Pure Joy

Today we talked about what it means to really have the joy of the Lord in our hearts, even when life is turning upside down. The scriptures we focused on today were, Psalms 4:7 and Nehemiah 8:10.

God is better than the world's best thing.  We can have everything we ever wanted but there is nothing like the joy of God in our hearts. No matter what we have we can only get that pure permanent joy from Christ. They can give me everything, but it will never add up to what I get from God, what I have from serving Him. There is nothing better, it does not get any better than this.

Day 68: Being Honest with God

Today we talked about honesty with God and how sometimes we have to get brutally honest with Him. The scriptures we focused on today were: Psalms 62:8, 142:1-2, and Genesis 3:7-10.

We are allowed to pour our hearts out to God even when they don’t “look” like a Christian heart, to us. We are allowed to have feelings, we are allowed to be angry, we are allowed to ask questions, and we are allowed to have sexual feelings, we’re human. Most importantly, we are allowed to talk to God about what is really going on in our hearts and in our minds. That’s what having a relationship with God is, we have to be brutally honest sometimes. God knows our hearts, He knows what they look like, He created them. He knows the struggles we go through, the pain, the temptation, Jesus went through it. God wants all of that.

Day 69: God Knows Better

Today we talked about how God knows better than us, He knows more than we could ever wrap our small brains around. The scriptures we focused on today were: Revelation 22:13, Isaiah 46:9-10, and Isaiah 55:8-9.

God knows what’s going to happen, even when we don’t. He sees the bigger picture because He painted it. We just have to trust in His sight, and His vision so that even when we don’t know what to do even when our plans hit a wall we can know that whatever God has planned is better than anything we could have dreamed up ourselves. We must accept the fact the no matter how smart we are, what we know does not compare to the knowledge of God.

Day 70: Thriving Under Pressure

Today we spoke about thriving under pressure, and not giving in to it. We focused on a few scriptures today: James 1:12, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:23-24, and Isaiah 40:31

We go through a lot, with our friends pulling on us, our parents expectations of us, the pressures and temptations of the world. Sometimes the pressure is too great that we just need some release. We can get temporarily relief, or we can thrive. We can stress drink, have sex, get high, give in to what the world is telling us to do. We can get temporary relief we need at the moment, or we can find the strength in Christ to stand on His word and not let our lives be altered by the pressures coming from the outside.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing Day or Evening. Enjoy you Sunday and make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 73!

Day 69: Being Honest with God

Why are we afraid to show God our hearts? Why are we afraid to be brutally honest with Him? We’ve been told by pastors and elders and religious traditions not to complain, don’t talk to God this way. Basically only use “Christianese” when speaking with God. But what about when we’re hurting, what about when we want to do the wrong things, can we talk to Him about that? Can we talk to Him when sex is on our brain and we’re saving ourselves for marriage? Can we be honest about that? What about when we don’t understand why life is going the way it is? What about when we want to curse someone out, or better yet when we want to hit someone? These are the thing we don’t really talk about in church anymore, the forbidden subjects. If I mention sex I just might get splashed with holy water. We tend to shy away from these things because they are not flattering to the Christian community. They don’t scream holiness. But this is real, it’s real life, we are real people who face real problems. Jesus isn’t on our mind twenty four hours a day seven days a week, and that is okay. But when those unholy thoughts creep up when no one is around, we had better call on Jesus, or find ourselves in a tough situation.

I say, why not talk to God about these things? I mean if there’s anyone to help us through it, it’s our heavenly father. Why hide these things from Him? Why put up a facade, as if He doesn’t already know? There's no reason to put up a front with Him. be real.

Psalms 62:8

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

Psalms 142:1-2

1 With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.

We are allowed to pour our hearts out to God even when they don’t “look” like a Christian heart, to us. We are allowed to have feelings, we are allowed to be angry, we are allowed to ask questions, and we are allowed to have sexual feelings, we’re human. Most importantly, we are allowed to talk to God about what is really going on in our hearts and in our minds. That’s what having a relationship with God is, we have to be brutally honest sometimes. God knows our hearts, He knows what they look like, He created them. He knows the struggles we go through, the pain, the temptation, Jesus went through it. God wants all of that. Turning to God in every instance shows trust, it shows that we love Him so much that we are willing to give Him even the embarrassing parts of our hearts. We don’t have to hide it, we can’t hide it from Him anyways, no matter how hard we try. So why not pour it out on Him. There is no judgements, so there should be no shame. God is not going to love us less, and He loves us so much that He couldn’t love us more.

This subject brings me back to Genesis 3:7-10

7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool[c] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”[d] 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

After they had eaten the fruit their eyes were opened and immediately they wanted to cover their nakedness. They wanted to cover up because they were exposed. They started sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves up and then hid from God when He came looking for them.  We tend to cover up when we are bare before God. We don’t like being exposed or exposing ourselves. When we bare everything to God that is when we are truly free. If there is anyone to be exposed and open before, it is God. There’s no use of sewing fig leaves to hide our shame, instead bare to all to God. There’s no use of trying to lie to Him.

See, the thing about being honest with God is that He works through it. The Holy Spirit is working always. When we bring to light the things that we have been trying to hide from Him, that is when we will know what it is to trust God wholeheartedly. We will enter a new level of relationship, knowing that God can handle my humanity, but He can’t handle my sin. Being human isn’t a sin.  

Reflection

1. What are some things you need to be honest with God about?

Prayer time

Talk to God about these things, whatever is on your heart, pour it out to Him, no matter what it is. Just be as honest as possible. If you're hurting tell HIm, if you’re tired, angry or frustrated, tell Him. The beauty in that is, God can pull us through anything, He can work through everything.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 70!