Day 165: We Don't Have Forver

Psalms 146: 2

I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Psalms 146:4

When His breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Some of the best advice I have ever received was to live every day like it’s your last. Live like today is the last day or the last chance you have. We have to make sure we live in the moment and live it to the fullest, not putting things off because we don’t have forever, and we don’t want to leave this earth not completing the thing we set out to do because we put it off for tomorrow. While at the same time not worrying about what tomorrow will bring.

There is a thing called procrastination and it’s plaguing college students, especially myself, everywhere. We say what we’re going to do but wait until the last minute to get it done. Like fifteen-page research papers. Time is very interesting, it stops for no one, it slows down for nothing, and no matter what every day we are growing older. It seems like there is no time to do anything, but it also seems there is time to everything. One thing for sure is that we don’t have forever here on earth, so while we’re here, make it matter.

Our generation is great at making plans, and eventually, we get to them. I’m a firm believer that if you want something you go out and get it, make it happen. We must realize that yes, we’re young now but one day we will get old and it’s creeping up on us. The 90’s baby reign is over. Now I’m not telling you to speed up or rush through life, just don’t waste the time you have. It’s precious.

This scripture is also a reminder that not everything lasts forever, and not everything is meant to last forever. We must enjoy what we have while we have it. This happens a lot in our twenties as we grow older and start to mature. We start to grow apart from people we thought we would spend forever with. We start to find ourselves and we start to realize that a lot of things are coming to an end. But that doesn’t mean the end of the world, it means that there is more room for a new beginning. We don’t have to look at the end as something bad, it’s not always a bad thing, or at least it doesn’t have to be. As we grow as people in this world and as people of faith we will start to change and we will start to grow apart from things and people. Our mindset and opinions with start to change. We transform into a completely new person. This isn’t something to be feared or pushed away but rather embraced.   

Everything has an end, nothing lasts forever. I believe that God places us where we are for a reason. Where we are is exactly where He wants us to be. He has us where we are whether it’s for a season or a lifetime. It’s his plan. While we’re there we must make the most of it. Cherish the time we have because like I said, and I can’t stress enough, it doesn’t last forever. Don’t let that get in the way of you living life to the fullest. Sometimes we anticipate that things in our life won’t last so we refrain from engaging. Even if it’s not for forever, at the moment it’s worth hanging on to.

Reflection/Prayer Time

How do you relate to what we talked about today? Do you have things in your life worth holding on to? What are they? Write it down and pray about it, talk to God about the changes in your life and learning to live in the moment but also embrace the things that don’t last forever.

I love you and I hope you have a great day or evening, be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 166, and hit the follow button on the blog.

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 70: God Knows Better

If someone were to ask me to list the many reasons why I am a christian, somewhere along that line I would say, “God knows better than me”. I find comfort in serving a God who is definite. He knows far more about this life, about this world, and even about me than I will ever know. I’m smart but I have the brain of a fruit fly compared to Him. God has given us knowledge and the ability to learn but we will never know more than Him. He is omniscient, all knowing, omnipresent, He is everywhere at one time. There isn’t a thing He does not see or know. There is no one like Him.

Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

God knows everything there is to know about everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. We are talking about the man that created the universe, He created life, He created biology, chemistry, sciences. The organs in our body, every nerve, and cell was created by Him. This is the God we serve.

He knew from the moment He created us how our lives were going to turn out, That’s someone I can have faith in, He holds the future in His hands, He’s already planned it, and day by day He is leading us to the place He has for us. He’s planned out even the smallest moments in our lives. He knew the exact moment we would meet our best friends. He knows the exact moment we will meet the person we will spend the rest of our lives with. He knows when that phone call we’ve been waiting for will come through. He knows everything.

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.  Overtime as we look back over our lives we will see that God’s hand was in it all along. We will understand that He had to take us some places we weren't planning on going to get us to where we are. But overall God always knew where we would end up, because He is God. His ways are better than ours, His thoughts are greater than ours. His plans outshine ours.

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Just know that as long as we trust God, as long as we are in His will, we are part of a grand picture that was completed before we were even born.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

Take the time to think about how amazing it is that God knows better than us. To think about how great He is, and how He already knows what will happen in our lives. Let it sink in that we are part of God’s bigger picture. Just talk to Him about it all. However you feel led to pray today, do it.