Day 258: The Language of Our Heart

Luke 6:45

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

We are known by the fruit we bear. We all know this scripture and many of us have grasped the meaning of it. However, sometimes we can know who people are or at least who they are pretending to be by their language. The way in which someone speaks tells a lot about who someone is, how they are perceived and it tells what is really in someone’s heart. It’s like the language of our heart, we know you by the way you speak. We know how someone feels because of the way they are speaking. Like we can know where someone is from based on their accent or the language they are speaking. If you’re speaking spanish, I know you’re either from South or North America, if you speak with a british accent I am sure I know you are from the UK, Britain, or somewhere in europe. The way we speak about people says a great deal about who we are and how we feel. Sometimes our words cannot hide our feelings we will often be deceived by what we say.

What I’m getting at here is, how do our words, the way we speak, and what we say reveal who we are. How we speak about ourselves, others, God, says a great deal about where our hearts truly are. I’m not talking about profanity, swearing, or cursing, that’s another conversation, but I’m talking about the contents of our heart. Whatever is on our lips reveals what is in our hearts. What I’m saying is, is the word of God on our lips, and furthermore is it in our hearts? See when we have the word of God in our lives, and it written on our hearts, the condition of our hearts are in great shape. When the word of God is on our heart, speaking truly from our hearts will not be problematic. In fact our wrds will be beautiful. Our language tells who we are, and if our language is wrapped in the word of God, and the love of God, it will be pure. However we must check the condition of our hearts.

The Scripture states, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.” What is stored up in our hearts? Before we come to Christ our hearts are full of anger, pain, sin, mistakes, grief, guilt, shame, the list goes on. Which is why we could not seem to get it right before we came to Christ because the contents of our heart did not match the lifestyle we were attempting to live.  I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the statement or the theory that hurt people hurt people, or that we as humans tend to project our feelings and views on other. So if our heart is full of evil and pain, and if it is broken. How are we going to speak to others, how are we going to speak about life, and what will we bring into this world? We bring into the world out of whatever is stored up in our hearts. However on the flip side, when we allow Christ into our lives and God begins to take away the blocks shielding our heart. When He begins to pick up the pieces and put them back together, When He begins to wipe away the sin. Shame, and guilt. When He begins to change and pour His word into us. Our lives begin to change because God works from the inside out. The contents of our hearts become like Christ and we begin to speak differently. We begin to view the world differently, view ourselves differently, and the way we speak changes.

All this to say, that the language of our hearts reveal and powerful message about what is in our hearts. Check your heart, and pay attention to the things you say and the things you want to say but stop yourself from doing so.

Reflection

1. Have you ever had a moment where you said something and didn’t realize you were feeling that way?

Prayer Time

Take the time to further respond in whatever way you feel led. Have a conversation with God about the contents of your heart and ask him to search you and heal you. Ask Him to take away everything that is unlike Him.

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 259!

Day 249: When We Make Life Hard

1 Peter 4:8

...They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

Sometimes we make our own lives hard. We choose to learn the hard way when we really don’t have to. Sometimes we go through things and it’s our own fault because we didn’t want to listen. We have to touch fire to see that it burns, we have to bump our heads to see that it hurts. That’s what my mom used to tell us growing up, after us not listening time and time again she would say, “okay, I see you like to learn the hard way. Go ahead and touch the fire, you’ll see that it burns.”  I’m not sure why it is, but we often think that the hard way is the right way, when it’s not. We think that life isn’t worth loving if it’s not hard. No, that’s not true, why would we want to live a life that is a struggle every moment? Stop telling yourself that. The hard way means that we’ve chosen to be disobedient and not listen and made it hard on ourselves. I’m not overlooking the fact that sometimes our path is going to get hard, but often times we do not choose the hard times in our lives, they just happen. It’s part of life. But what about the times when we opt to take every path but the right one, when we choose to make life hard. Sometimes we do it because it make for a better story, we’ll have a longer and more captivating testimony when we talk about how we had to bump our head fifty times before we actually go it. However the most captivating stories are the ones like Paul, a man who decided to obey the word of God and at that moment his life changed. God didn’t have to call him ten times before he listened, God got his attention and he went. When Jesus called the disciples, they dropped everything and went. Moses even though he was afraid that he wasn’t good enough, he went. We have a great example of what happens when we try to disobey God from Jonah. He tried to run but at the end of the day ended up doing exactly what God wanted, he just made his life hard when it didn’t have to be.

In the scripture above it’s telling us plainly, we stumble because we don’t obey God’s word, We are falling because we refuse to obey, therefore we will have accept the fate of that. We get what we give, If we want to continue to live a disobedient life then we will have to deal with the consequences of that.  However there is something called grace and we can thank God for that. We are so blessed to serve a gracious God, that even in the midst of us not doing what we are supposed to do, He still loves and delivers us.

All this to say, life isn’t as hard as it seems. It shouldn’t be as hard as we make it out to be, there are hard times, but not every moment of our lives is hard. We make our lives hard, when we decide to live our own way and disobey God. There are some things we do not have to experience to know that it’s wrong, because the word of God tells us so. This ties into knowing and trusting the word of God. When we trust in the word of God, we believe every word in that sixty six book love letter. God isn’t telling us to abstain from a certain way of living because he doesn’t want us to “live” or be happy. In fact it is quite the opposite, meaning He loves us enough to warn us against a certain way of living and even try to protect us from it because He knows the outcome. He is showing us a way of life that is free from bondage. He knows what true living is, and He is showing us what it is through His word and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior. He won’t guide us down a road that is dark. He will not tell us to live a depressed and unfruitful life. We have to learn to trust that the way He has shown us is the way to truly fruitful living. It is the way to true happiness.

It all falls back on His word; knowing and trusting in Him and his word.

Reflection

1. Can you agree that we make our lives hard sometimes?
2. Are you the type that has to take the hard way to learn?
3. If answered yes to the above question, explain why.
4. Do you trust in God and His word?
5. How’s your day going?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today. Talk to him about whatever is on 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 250!

Day 228: All Summed Up

Romans 13:8-10

Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.  For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

This scripture had me shook when I read it, it 👏had 👏me 👏shooketh👏. The shookness came from the revelation in this scripture that can answer a theological question that has been burning in me and many others for  a very  long time. Romans has the answers to many questions. But before we get there let’s break these scriptures down a bit.

The scripture starts off by telling us that we owe nothing to anyone. The only thing we owe to anyone is love. The only thing we are obligated to do as people and followers of Christ is love one another. We’re not obligated to please people, or bend over backwards trying to make someone happy, no all we have to do is love them. The crazy thing about that is, this is the most simple, yet profound and complex command ever, but it’s so beautiful when you think about it and put it into perspective As humans we love naturally, whether we want to admit it or not we all want to be loved and we all want to love. It’s who we are, and it’s astounding the measures love can go. However, sometimes we make love complicated by adding conditions to it, and using it to get what we want. We often find ourselves hearing or saying, “If you really love me, you will…”. But love is not manipulative. Or we “mistake” love for something else, like empty words, or lustful eyes, and sex. Love is not that either. This scripture is so profound because even when we decide to give up on love or stop trying, someone is still out there obeying the command of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to love us. If we don’t deserve anything else, we deserve love. When we uncomplicate things we will realize that love is a basic part of living. It makes for a much happier life as well, life is just more enjoyable and fruitful when you choose love… Moving on…

The next part of the scripture is the part that had me shooketh. It says, as you can read above but I have to repeat it for emphasis, “If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” Crazy right?! Now before I move on, one of the many questions that many Christians have is, if Jesus came to die for us, then why do we still live by the ten commandments which are in the old testament? It’s always been this kind of debate, or seeking an answer of if the New Testament is the way in which we supposed to live as opposed to the old testament, because you know Jesus, He’s the way, the truth, and the life. The question lingers, do we still have to live by the laws of the old testament? The answer to that question is summed up in the next part of this scripture. Where is says…

“ For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.”

Meaning every command is summed up in the two commands Jesus gave us,

Matthew 22”37-40

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

By obeying these two commands we obey all ten commandments. We do not ignore the law in the name of Jesus instead we honor it by following His path. What I mean is that Jesus gave us these two great commands to love God and love people. Now if we love God, ourselves, and others these commandments are fulfilled. Simply because love is the foundation of it all. We don’t hurt the people we love, we won’t steal from them, kill them, covet what have, sow discord, because love won’t allow us to do it. It’s almost as if love obeys the commands for us. When we love God we won’t put anything before Him or use His name in vain. Love won’t allow it.

We’ve been to this scripture so many times to talk about love, but this time I actually recognized and understood verse 40, The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. This has been the goal from the beginning. Love has always been the foundation of it all. We know that from reading Deuteronomy 6:5,  “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength”.

All this to say, Love has been and will always be the foundation of who we are. If we love God, ourselves, and others, in that order than we are fulfilling the commands of our Father in heaven.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Take the time to share and discuss what we talked about today. Go back over the scriptures and even read the full passages. Pray and ask God for clarity and revelation of His word.

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 229!

👏👏

Day 184: Recap

Day 177: The Bright Side

Today we talked about looking on the bright side of a situation and being content with where we are. We focused on 1 Timothy 6:6-7 and Philippians 4:12-13.

"If we continue to look on the brighter side one day we will get up and the darkness will no longer hover over us, one day the clouds will clear up, the rain will stop. "

Day 178: #LoveYourself Part 2

Today we took it all the way back to day to the beginning, Day 7, when we talked about loving yourself. Today we talked about loving the skin we are in and knowing that God made us beautiful and perfect just the way we are. Today was about who you are on the outside as much as you do on the inside. We focused on Mark 12:31, Ephesians 5:29. and Psalms 139:14.

"We project ourselves onto other people. How we treat ourselves is often how we treat others. So just imagine, if we are loving ourselves and feeling confident and beautiful, and good about the skin we are in. Thankful for who we are, and the life we live. How do you think we are going to treat others?"

Day 179: Gotta Have Faith

Today we talked about faith and how we must exercise our faith if we want it to grow. We talked about trusting God and having the faith of a mustard seed. We also talked about choosing to have faith in God and not using it as a last resort. We focused on Hebrews 11:1, Mark 11:24, and Matthew 21:22.

"Faith isn’t just for the moments when we’ve lost all hope. Faith in God is what gives us hope."

Day 180: Don't Trade Your Integrity

Today we talked about holding on to our integrity and our belief and morals. We talked about having something that is not worth giving up for anything. We focused on Proverbs 11:3.

"What I’m saying is, getting to the top doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice or trade in your integrity, just to get there a bit quicker. We can do that to get to where we are going quick but as fast as we go up we’ll come down even quicker. There is something beautiful about holding on to your beliefs, even if it means it takes a bit longer, and it’s a little harder. But you know that once you get there, wherever ‘there’ is, once you’re there, you’ll know that you didn’t have to trade anything or compromise at any point."

Day 181: Back to Our Roots

Today we talked about our roots and where they are planted. We talked about how we are standing on the prayers of our grandmothers, mothers, and elders. We focused on Mark 4:14-20 and 1 Corinthians 3:6.

"We cannot survive if our roots are not planted in God’s word, it is the good soil we need to be planted in in order for our roots to be strong and healthy, It is through Christ that we are able to have a relationship with God, and he is feeding us, and stabilizing us, and making sure our spirits are healthy and growing. That is when we start to grow in Christ. We get everything we need from Him."

Day 182: Not Today

Today we talked about having a good day. We talked about choosing to have a great day and not let anything stop us. We focused on Psalms 118:24.

" Have you ever noticed that these are the days you are tried the most, I mean the most, when all you want to do is have a good day it like all the forces for ruining your day come at you like the paparazzi comes after Justin Bieber. But the thing about it is, there is so much joy in the Lord that nothing can stop you, nothing can get to you because you’re already covered. You just smile for the cameras and keep it moving. So in the words of Hillsong United, 'Tell the devil, no not today.'"


I love you and I hope you have an amazing day. Enjoy your Sunday have some fun today. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 185!

Day 183: Not Today

Psalms 118:24

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

You ever have one of those specific days where you wake up and you can feel it in your bones. You wake up smiling and singing, and you just know, so you say to yourself, “Today is going to be a great day.” You don’t really know what’s going to happen today but you know that today is going to be great. I love those, because it’s one of those days where you aren’t going to let anything bother you, the things that would usually make you mad or upset don’t have any effect today. You’re walking around like Spider-Man when he finally decided to let loose and put the black costume on (I am in no way telling you to go to the dark side). You get up and dress nice, put an extra little pep in your step because you feel good about today. You just feel motivated to do something. Even when something does try to get in your way you curve it by saying, “Not today Satan, not today.”

These are some of my favorite days because while a huge miracle might not happen these days are always marked in my calendar because something good happens, whether it be spiritual, emotional, physical, whatever it may be. Have you ever noticed that these are the days you are tried the most, I mean the most, when all you want to do is have a good day it like all the forces for ruining your day come at you like the paparazzi comes after Justin Bieber. But the thing about it is, there is so much joy in the Lord that nothing can stop you, nothing can get to you because you’re already covered. You just smile for the cameras and keep it moving. So in the words of Hillsong United, “Tell the devil, no not today.”

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. One day I finally understood this scripture. It is a scripture that I would hear my mom say in church every time she got the chance to speak. Every day is great day because the Lord has given it to us, so even on our worst days we can find comfort in knowing that God decided to wake us up this morning, so let’s enjoy it as much as possible.

Wouldn’t it be great if we woke up everyday with the attitude that today is going to be a great day? If we were motivated and feeling good about ourselves every day of our lives. I truly believe that every day can be great, if we choose for it to be. We won’t wake up everyday saying that today will be a great day, some days we have to make that choice. We have to choose to have a good day even when everything is going wrong. We have to choose not to be bothered and let things roll off our shoulders. God made it, it’s a great day, rejoice and be glad in it.

Response/Prayer Time

 

Take the time to respond to what we talked about today, pray and talk to God, then go and have a great day!

I love you, have an amazing day, really enjoy your day. Share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 184!

Day 147: Misconceptions (Part 5)- Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

Micah 6:8

But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously - take God seriously.

Hillsong United recently released a song called ‘Wonder” and when Joel Houston was speaking about writing the song, he said,

“Everyone’s so serious all the time, and the paradox of that is, we have the most serious message there is.”

Have you ever met people who take themselves too seriously, or need to lighten up a bit? I go to an art school, and with the political climate the way it is, it gets very interesting in those hallways and classes. We are artist so we are already a bunch of emotional and passionate people. People can become so uptight about what to say and what not to say or do. I almost feel like I cannot say anything without having someone come at me with political correctness. This idea of always being politically correct and taking ourselves too seriously has taken away comedy, it has taken away joy and replaced it with fear. The fear of offending someone for stating what we believe. It has created this wave of sugar coating due to hypersensitivity.  It has taken humility to arrogance and people who take themselves too seriously think so highly of themselves above others.

We are probably all shaking our heads thinking of someone we know who is like this. Take the time to make sure it’s not you.

I remember when I first became a Christian I took myself soooooooo serious, and anyone who knows me knows that I am a goofy person. I’m like a little kid, I love to make people smile and laugh, I love playing pranks on my friends and family. I was never a serious person all around, I always knew when to turn it on and off. When I became a Christian, for a while that all stopped because I had to take myself serious. I could not be joking around and looking like a sinner. I’m a Christian I have to act as such. I have to grow in my faith there are not time for games and laughing, this is serious. It didn’t make me a better Christian, it just made me a jerk.

-Dyamond

This is the idea that many people have about Christians, we are a serious group of people. We can take ourselves too seriously as we push our faith and want to be known as me and women of God. But the scripture above states, “Don’t take yourself too seriously, take God seriously.”, and that’s what we often miss. We are so busy taking ourselves seriously and trying to prove our Christianity that we forget, it is not about us. It is about God, He is to be taken seriously, His word is to be taken seriously, who are we?

Even Jesus had a sense of humor and didn’t take himself too serious.

In the article, ‘Reclaiming Jesus’ Sense of Humor’, James Martin states:

“For someone in first-century Palestine, the premise (or “setup” as a comic would say) was probably more amusing than the punch line. "The parables were amusing in their exaggeration or hyperbole," Amy-Jill Levine, a New Testament scholar at Vanderbilt University, said in an interview. “The idea that a mustard seed would have sprouted into a big bush that birds would build their nests in would be humorous. People in Jesus’ day would probably have laughed at many of his intentionally funny illustrations: for example, the idea that someone would have lit a lamp and put it under a basket, or that a person would have built a house on sand or that a father would give a child stones instead of bread.”

One of my favorite things about the contemporary church, and it’s pastor’s from Judah Smith, to Carl Lentz, Rich Wilkerson Jr., Robert Madu, Chad Veach, John Gray, Matthew edgar, Ben Houston, Chelsea Smith, Lucille Houston,and so many more is their sense of humor. These are men and women of God who take the word of God so seriously but do not think of themselves as serious as the message of Christ. They tell stories that are often funny that engage us, make us laugh, and get the message across simultaneously. These men and women will make us laugh and also preach a message that will change our lives at the same time. They know that while God has given us the most serious message ever, He also gave us a sense of humor and He has one as well. Everything isn’t all serious all the time. There does not have to be a disconnect. Humor is a part of who we are as humans.

When we take ourselves too seriously we create a disconnect from humanity. We create a divide that separates us from them. We have to lighten up and regain our sense of humor. Sit down our pride and ideas of who we think we are.

Don’t take yourself too seriously it’s not a good look. Plus there’s way too much tension built up in people who take themselves seriously,  Tension and stress cause wrinkles, weight gain, and early aging and I know you don’t want that. At least not yet, let them come when it’s time not a second before. Relax, get you chakras in line and be goofy.

Reflection/Response

1. Are you a person who takes yourself too seriously?
2. How can you change that?
3. Do you take God more serious than you take yourself?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer, talk to God about whatever you discovered about yourself today, and remember that God has a sense of humor too.  

Day 144: Misconceptions Part Two- The Joy of the Lord

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Psalm 28:7 “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

There is a common misconception that Christians are not joyous or happy people. One of the reasons being is that as Christians and people of faith, we go through a lot. We struggle through many things and it makes it seem as if there is nothing else to this life we live than struggle and pain. That is so not true. I think another reason we are commonly perceived as unhappy people is that we, this generation specifically, capitalize on the wrong things. For some reason, we find more ‘joy’ in sorrow and pity parties than we do the moments of pure happiness or joy. We have our moment and we’ll post a nice picture with a sunny day but that’s about it but when we truly find our joy in the Lord, it isn’t so fleeting.

As Christians, we tend to talk more about how life is a struggle than how much joy there is to every day that we are alive. We hear sermons about how to get through the hard times, and telling us that the struggle won’t last always. But what about the moments in our lives when we are on the mountaintop? What about the times when we aren’t struggling or going to pure hell. They are not as far apart as one would think. There are many days when we are okay when things are going well and we have no complaints, but we don’t start talking about how our life is going until it’s going bad. That’s when we start to talk about faith in God. We must learn to praise God in every season of our lives. We must know that God intended for us to live a good life, He took our battles and our struggles. We don’t have to deal with them, we just have to live the life He has chosen for us, and every moment is not bad.

Serving Christ is not about struggling or fighting for our lives all the time. There are moments when we have to relax and enjoy His presence. We can find a moment in each day to smile. There is always something to be happy or joyous about. God has given us joy beyond what we can imagine, why do we suppress it in exchange for this idea that Christian are always unhappy. It’s like a battle of the testimonies, everyone wants their sad story to be heard. No one can truly say that they are doing good anymore, there’s always something wrong, something they’re fighting, fending off the enemy and His army. Sometimes the testimony is in professing how good God has been or basking in the joy He has given us.  

We find our joy in the Lord so that no matter where we are in life or what we are going through we will have peace through Jesus Christ. We may struggle but we do not have to walk around defeated. We may have bad days but those bad days do not dictate our entire lives. No one and nothing can take our joy away from us, one of the only ways to lose it is to give it away.

We are children of God, born again through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We should be some of the joyous and happiest people on the planet.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to think about what we talked about today and respond. Then have a conversation with God, ask Him to give you joy, to restore your joy if you've lost it.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 145!

Day 126: On the Detour

We all know the story of Jonah and how he ran from God. I want to break it down a bit and talk about how we encounter God on the detour.

Jonah was a prophet of God, meaning he was God’s mouthpiece. Chosen to speak the words God told him directly. So God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, and tell the people that if they don’t repent destruction is coming. Instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah was like nope, I’m out. He tried to go to Tarshish. He went to Joppa, hopped on a ship and was on his way to Tarshish. He never even made it there, God sent a storm when he got on the boat and the people staring praying to their gods, and throwing cargo over, but Jonah was the cargo that really needed to be thrown over. They go to Jonah, who was sleep. He was sleeping, he has brought havoc on these people's lives because he don’t want to list and now he’s down there sleeping while they are dealing with the storm caused by him.  So they go to him and ask him what he did, and he tells them he was fleeing from the presence of God. (Jonah 1:7) Then he tells them to cast him into the sea, and then the storm will be stopped. They tried to get back to dry land so they wouldn’t have to throw him overboard, but it was impossible. So they picked him up and threw him into the sea, and the scripture says, in the same sentence, “the sea ceased from its raging” Then it say God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah up. Hold up, okay so God appointed a great fish. He instructed a fish to go and swallow Jonah! That’s mind blowing! Okay back to the story. Jonah stays in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

Now when I’ve seen this story depicted in picture books and things of that sort, it made it look like Jonah was in a motel. But I don’t think it was that way at all, I’ve never been in the belly of a fish and I don’t plan on it. Most people in the belly of fishes are dead so no thank you. But Jonah wasn’t dead, that’s a miracle in itself, God allowed a fish to swallow him but not kill him. Leave to God to do something miraculous like that, that only He can do. But Jonah is in the belly of this fish, and I imagine it’s dark, probably slimy and wet, very uncomfortable. But Jonah is in the belly of the whale and it is there that he starts praying, and it was then that God ordered the fish to somit Jonah up. After that experience Jonah then goes to Nineveh to do what God told him to do from the very beginning.

I think many of us know what it’s like to not only run from God but encounter Him in the midst of our running. We, like Jonah, often have to go through the hard times in order to learn. Growing up my parents would often let us make mistakes fr ourselves so that we can learn from them because telling us wasn’t enough we had to experience it in order to take their word for it. This is a common thing within humanity. Why is that so, why do we have to bump our heads to see that it hurts. Why do we have to take a detour before we realize that the straight path was there all along. Some people may disagree with me when I say this, but experience produces growth in many cases. Sometimes we have to fall to know that we can get back up. Sometimes we have to experience bad things in order to know what is good. I think God use the very disobedience of Jonah to have an encounter with him, to get his attention. There was no one else he could talk to but God while in the belly of the fish, No one else. We sometimes cause detours and bring certain things upon ourselves, we run away from God, but He will not let us get too far, even if that means taking drastic measure like causing a whole person to be swallowed by a fish. When we read the scripture we will see that Jonah never made it to Tarshish, he set out to go to a place God told him not to but his plan was intercepted. We might try to run away from God but He sees us and HE sees what we are trying to do and He will step right in and block it because He knows that his plan is better than whatever it is we are trying to do.

Response

Today I want you to read the book of Jonah or at least the first three chapters, and read what was talked about today, and responds. There is no prompt today. After that, have a conversation with god, talk to him about whatever is on your heart.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Share this with someone and be sure to come back tomorrow for day 127!

Day 105: Make Some Noise

Psalms 98:4

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.

Psalms 33:3

Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

Psalms 47: 1

O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy.

Psalms 5:11

But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.

Psalms 66:1-2

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious.

By definition a psalm is a song of praise or a hymn. Throughout the book of Psalms we are told to praise God. Shout for joy, exult Him, worship Him, for He is worthy to be praised. There are so many things to praise God for, the list is neverending. Sometimes we just have to stop and vocalize it, we have to shout out to God in joy. We just cannot hold it in, we have to praise God. God has done so must for us that we should constantly praise Him, we can never praise Him enough or thank Him enough for all the things He has done.  The best thing is that, there doesn’t have to be a great event that takes place in our lives for us to praise God. Everyday we wake up, every breath we take, every moment is an opportunity to praise God. It’s the little things that count more than we think. Thanking and praising God for even the smallest thing because He is responsible even for that. There is always a reason, there will never not be a reason to praise God. (double negative, I know)

Another word that stands out in these scriptures is ‘joy’. Shout to God with a voice of joy. God is just so good that sometimes you just walk around smiling for the sole reason that God is just amazing. The joy of God is so deep within us that even our darkest moment can be turned into an opportunity to praise God. THere is so much joy in the Lord, sometime we have to just stop and say thank you. I do it all the time when I’m walking down the street, sometimes I just have to stop and take in everything God is doing, or has done. I take in the beauty of His creation and I just have to say thank you. I can’t hold it in or wait, I just have to say thank you.

I think we sometimes save our praise for the moments when something happens that is ‘worthy to be praised’. But we serve a God that is worthy to be praised every second of everyday. We don’t have to wait until He’s done something, we can praise Him in advance. We don’t have to wait until we are out of the valley, we can praise Him while we’re down there. We can cry out, in our moment of despair and God will hear us.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is of Paul and Silas singing and praying in prison.

Acts 16: 25-26

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.

There’s a miracle in the praise. Paul and Silas had been thrown in prison for spreading the message of Christ. They get in prison, and start to pray and sing to God in the midnight hour. They continue to lift their voices to Him in praise, despite their situation. The people who threw them in prison were hoping it would shut them up, but it did more than that. It led them to prayer, and songs of praise.  Prayer is a way in which we praise God as well. God heard their cries, he heard their prayers, he heard them in the midst of that prison. They did not care who was around, they lifted their voices and praised God anyway. And He lifted those prison gates and freed not only them but gave the rest of the prisoners an opportunity to be free. Not only did that happen but the guard gave His life to Christ that night.

GOd is so good and we don’t have to wait to praise, we can priase HIm wherever we are, physically, mentally, or emotionally, He hears our voices and He responds.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

Take the time to praise and thank God for any and everything. No matter what you are going through lift your voice to God, even if it’s hard right now. Shout out to God in praise. This may look different to everyone, but whatever that means to you, it is between you and God. Just lift Him up today. He is worthy.

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 106!

Day 99: God Brought Me This Far...

Philippians 1:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, this is a fact and it is something we have come to know and learn through experience. We know that everything God starts He will finish, we know that He will see us through whatever it is we are going through. He guides us through this crazy yet beautiful life. As Paul says, ‘I am sure of this..’ God doesn’t start something that He won’t finish, that’s not how He works. We know that He will complete every good work He has started in us, in this nation, in the world. It will all be completed, and His promises will be fulfilled.

1 Timothy 6:6

But Godliness with contentment is great gain.

A lot of times I thank God for where He is taking me. Especially when I feel the pressure to worry about how my life will turn out and how it will all work out. I find myself saying all the time, “God got me here, He will take me all the way.” “He didn’t bring me this far to leave me.” I say these words as a declaration of faith and trust in my Lord and Savior. I say that out of pure belief knowing that if He did it before He can do it again. Knowing that He holds to His word and it will be fulfilled in my life. While this is beautiful and something that I will stand on all the days of my life, I believe that something changed in me when I learned how to be thankful for where I am in this present moment. When I took my eyes off of where I’m going and focused on where I am. I had to learn to thank God for the present as much, if not more than I thank Him for my future. I had to learn to have faith in where God is taking me but also being content with where I am. Because He brought me this far. God brought me here for a reason and I’m not just passing through, I am here. I think our generation believes that we can't be happy until we are where we want to be. We base our happiness on our “success” We aren’t content with the present, we are constantly moving and rushing towards the future because that’s where we want to be, and we miss the adventures and the beauty of where we are. If we are constantly running for the future and what is ahead of us, we will never have time to stop and enjoy the present because we are constantly moving. It won’t allow us to stop, because at one point the past and the present were the future, and if we keep rushing through them because we want something more, we will miss what God is doing right in front of our eyes. We must understand that God has us here for a reason. This might be a stepping stone to where He is taking us but it matters just as much as the destination. The future is bright the destination is beautiful but can we be happy with where we are before we get there? Can we be faithful with the little things, and appreciate the little steps?

Reflection

1. Are you content with where you are?
2. Do you find yourself constantly running towards the future?
3. Can you stop and thank God for where you are?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Take the time today to thank God for where you are in this time on your life. Thank God for the very moment.

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 100!