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 66: The Character of God

This week we will dive into the character of God. We often have this image in our heads that God is some unapproachable, angry, commanding being. But that is not true, He is quite the opposite there is so much to Him that we need to learn and understand but first we have to get past our assumptions of who he is, so that we get to know Him.

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

First thing to know: God is love. His character is love.

The scriptures tells us that God is love, then goes on to explain what love is. Knowing that God is love we can take all those attributes and know that they come from a God who is kind, patient and loving. The love of God is so sweet, and beautiful. We must look at God that same way. Knowing that even though He does get angry, it is never permanent, His love for us is greater than anger. God is the most loving being in the universe. How did we get from that to viewing Him as an angry old guy who doesn’t want us to enjoy life. We have it all wrong, He is anything but resentful, and judgemental, He is compassionate, kind, merciful, full of grace. God is our father, we have to treat Him like one. Everything He does, He does out of love. We have to stop listening to people tell us that if we don’t obey a set of rules God will be angry at us.

We as Christians tend to talk a lot about sin and punishment. But we forget about grace and mercy.

I went to a church where the pastor always told us to either do something a certain way or we are going to hell. Being new to my faith I believed it. I started to view God as a being that I should fear. And I did, I thought God to constantly be judging me and waiting for me to sin so that He could punish me. Everything I did was so that I would not be punished or go to hell. I was so wrong.  

-Dyamond

Fear- reverential awe, especially toward God:

We talk about the fear of God, as if we are to really fear Him in a sense of what He will do to us. This causes us to not give our all to Him. We cannot have a relationship with God is we are afraid to speak to Him. It’s hard to genuinely love someone when you are constantly afraid of what they will do to you. When the bible speaks of the fear of God, it is to mean, respect, gratitude, standing in awe of who He is. It is rooted in love. The fear of God isn’t about worrying about what God will do to us if we don’t obey, it is more about loving Him so much, and having so much gratitude and respect for Him that we don’t want to disobey Him. Or we don’t want to sin against Him because we know it will separate us from Him. Fear rooted in love, it sounds crazy but when we think about it in a biblical sense it makes sense.

God loves us so much that He is in constant pursuit of our heart, He went through drastic measures to have us near HIm again, we are His children, His babies. He holds us in His arms like a father holds his newborn child. We have to break down that wall that we put between ourselves and God, and dive into who He really is. Dive into intimacy with Him. Dive into a relationship with Him, so that we can understand His character, and see past our own assumptions and get to know God for who He really is.

Reflection

1. How do you view God?
2. Is God a scary being to you?
3. How have you been told to view God?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide you prayer. Remembering that God is love and knowing the characteristics of love. Ask God to show you His character, to show you who He truly is. Ask HIm to take away the assumptions and see Him for who He is.

I love you, and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 67!