Day 342: Lessons From Nature

1 Corinthians 2:9

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

Philippians 1:6

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Joshua 21:45

Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Today’s devo was inspired by the song Seasons by Hillsong worship, as I was listening to the song a couple of things stood out to me, but the biggest thing that stood out to me is how nature acquaints with not only patience but the promises of God. The lyrics are as follows:

“Oh how nature acquaints us

With the nature of patience...For Your promise is loyal From seed to sequoia”

I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a sequoia tree but they are huge. They are the largest, tallest, and longest living trees on the world. Some of the biggest trees you will ever see. The tallest one is 311 feet high, the oldest one has been living for 3500 years. These  trees are iconic and remarkable. But I am sure they did not end up this way overnight. They did not just sprout up to three hundred and eleven feet overnight. It took time, a long time. While they are the fastest growing trees due to how large they can be and how tall they get, it takes years for them to actually grow as high as they can. It can take thousands of years for them to grow as tall as they are. However, once they start growing they do not stop. The trunk gets wider and they tree gets taller. The foundation grows as the tree grows in order to support its growth.

I talk about these trees because in many ways they can represent us and also God’s promises to us. I love that the song says that God’s promise is loyal, “from seed to sequoia” as many times as I’ve listened to this song it took me a while to catch on the message of those lyrics. It’s interesting that they talk about the sequoia tree as it is the largest trees in the world. From a small seed grows this massive and beautiful creation. In the same way God helps us to grow from a small seed into something massive, something grand and beautiful. He makes us into something we never thought we would be. In the time that it takes to happen He remains loyal. His promises never fail. He remains who He is through it all. From the very beginning God has been there and He will be there for us to the very end, and when it’s all over we will be united with Him in heaven. He is there from the moment we are planted in Him, in the moments when the roots are growing, and we don’t see the growth. That first sprout He is there, as we grow taller and taller, He is there. The thing is He never stops being there and His promises for us and words towards us never change. It’s beautiful.

If you’ve ever seen a sequoia you will be taken by it’s beauty. These trees are so beautiful that you can make bridges out of them. You can drive through the arches of it’s trunk. It’s mindblowing how astounding they are. You never thought you would see something like that. This is how God’s promises are, so astounding that it blows us away. No eye has seen, no ear has heard the things that God will do for us. It will blow us away and leave us in awe.

There is a lesson that we can learn from nature. As the song says, “Oh how nature acquaints us, with the nature of patience.” There’s nothing that will teach you patience like watching a tree or a plant grow. There is nothing we can do to speed us the process we just have to trust the process of growth and wait. We can speed things up but the waiting makes everything so worth it. The waiting makes us want it even more, but if we are patient enough the waiting produces passion. Waiting on something makes you want it even more. My prayer is that the longer we wait on God the more passionate we grow for Him, the deeper we get with our relationship with Him. As we begin to see the value of who God is and the value of His promises. Sometimes waiting isn’t always a result of God “punishing” but it is the realization that God is working on something so great that we  have to wait a bit longer to see what it is.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Respond in whatever way you feel led and let that response guide your prayer. Pray in whatever way you feel led, just take the time to talk to God.

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 343!

Day 325: Patience My Love

Psalms 27:14
Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.
This past Sunday at church we talked about seasons, and sang a song called seasons. One of the main lyrics that stood out to me in this song was, “If you’re not done working, then God I’m not done waiting.” This struck a chord with me because it gave me a new perspective on waiting on God. When we are waiting on God we often wait as if we are waiting for our health. We wait because we sometimes think that God just wants to see how faithful we can be while we wait, and that is part of it. But sometimes we act as if God is only making us wait because He can, we act as of God is making us wait for no reason at all. But have we ever considered that the reason we are still waiting is because God is not done working? I must say that this never crossed my mind until this pat Sunday night when I heard this song. We often act as if we are only waiting on God to hand us a blessing when He is good and ready. But when God is done working that’s when it becomes ready.
I love the declaration that this song makes, “If you are not done working, then God I’m not done waiting.” That is to say, God as long as you are working on me and with me, I’ll be waiting. As long as you need to work I will be here patiently waiting for you to finish. Our problem is we want things prematurely, we want God to bless us when it’s not time or it not ready. We want God to use and send us before He’s done working on us. There is so much truth in the statement, “Good things come to those who wait.” I am taken back to the story of the prodigal son who did not want to wait for His inheritance but sought after and got it prematurely. He was not ready for such a blessing yet and we see that as he goes out and squanders all of his money. He comes back to His father with nothing but a lesson. He comes back knowing his mistakes. How many of us have tried to push God’s hand? How many times have we done something before we were ready. God is building us and molding us into the person He wants to be. He’s making us into the person He needs us to be in order to receive what He has for us. God loves us some much that even though He wants to bless us He wants to prepare us to be able to hold and sustain the blessings and riches He will hail upon our lives. It’s like He’s standing there saying, “Patience my love. I’m still working. Sometimes we're like little kids who want things that moment and we don’t want to wait but it’s like God is saying, “Patience, my child. I’m still working.” We just have to wait it out and receive what God is doing in us and for us in the meantime. We get so impatient with God sometimes because things don’t go how we think they should in the time frame we want them to be done. But I don’t know how many times I can say and stress that God’s timing is perfect! He has never been off, not even by a millisecond. He knows what He’s doing. Just trust the process.

All this to say, If God is not done working then we should not be done waiting!

Reflection
1. Have you ever been impatient with God?
2. Have you ever tried to push God’s hand?
3. Have you ever done something you weren’t ready for? If so what was the outcome?

Prayer Time
Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about patience and ask Him to help you with it.
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 326!

Day 323: All in a Day's Work

2 Peter 3:8

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.

I remember when I first heard and read this scripture I was so discouraged. I was discouraged because what I took from it was, that I would be waiting all my life to receive a blessing from God. I thought that I would have to wait until I was nearly dead. However that is not the case, yes we have to patiently wait for God and trust in His timing and sometimes that means waiting longer than expected. One thing we must know is that God’s plan and timing are perfect.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I grasps true clarity of this scripture.  When I took my eyes off myself and put them on Christ I gained an understanding that wa beyond me. God does so much in a day that it’s like a thousand years. That’s mind blowing when you think of it. God does so much in a day that it can be spread out over the span of a thousand years. Crazy! The saying, “God is working or God is busy.” has a new meaning. He is literally always working and doing things, He’s keeping the earth in it’s place. To start things off there’s approximately seven billion people on the Earth, 7,000,000,000. That’s a big number, He wakes us all up every morning. God wakes approximately seven billion people up every morning. Different regions, continents, time zones. It’s mind blowing! Let’s think about this, how many battles has God defeated before they even got to us. How many times has He spared us and we didn’t even know. Stopped attacks from reaching us that we never even knew about. God is fighting battles for us that we never see. His walking before us and defeating enemies we didn’t even know we had, and that’s just the supernatural.

God is constantly moving in our lives and we see that everyday, He is answering our prayers, listening to them, and blessing us all at the same time. He always has His eyes on us, God is always watching out for us.  He knows every move we will make before we make it. He knows where each of us are going at every moment.  

This is one of the most humbling scriptures I have ever read. Sometimes we can get so busy and so tired and exhausted and start to complain. Yes we are human and the more stress we put on ourselves and our bodies, the more exhausted we will be. Sometimes we have to just thank God for everything He’s done. Even in our exhaustion and even in our times of stress, we cannot automatically fall into this world of complaints because God is so much greater than it all. We also get to points in our lives when we are so proud and excited for the things that we do for ourselves that we tend to forget that it’s really God doing and the doing. It’s really God that’s giving us the means to take care of ourselves. We have to set ourselves aside to see and understand how the glory of God is constantly being played out in our lives. All of this goes to show just how great God is. We will never understand the magnitude of His greatness. We can never completely wrap our minds around His glory.

All of this to say, God does so much for us, more than we can ever imagine and it’s all explained to us in this small verse. God is great.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Rest with this scripture, meditate on it and just take the time to thank God for who He is and all He’s done, is doing, and will continue to do in our lives.

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 324!

Day 293: But Wait...There's More!

Ephesians 3:20

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Malachi 3:20

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

Recently I had a realization, that no matter how big I dream, no matter how grand my plan is for myself and my life, God will always top that. It’s mindblowing to think about. Most people who know me know that I’m a dreamer, and I dream big, not only that but somehow someway all of my dreams are going to come to pass. It’s crazy when I sit and think of all the things I want out of life, and I’m reaching for the stars, I get a revelation that even in those moments God is bigger. Meaning He has a bigger vision, and a grander plan. That makes me trust Him even more. It pushes me to lean into His will a little more. God can do far beyond what we can ever think, or ask. That’s just a testament of how great God is compared to us, He expand our dreams, expands our faith, and expands our expectations. Simply because He is that good. I mean we’re talking about the guy who created the entire universe and everything in it.

When God blesses us, He really blesses us. It’s like a proud parent showering their child with gifts. God will go above and beyond for us, because He loves us that much. Sometimes we are waiting for God to move in our lives, waiting on promises, and when they do come to pass God makes the wait so worth. It’s a beautiful thing when we expect things from God. When we are waiting for Him to move miraculously in our lives, because He goes beyond our expectations. Over the summer I was really struggling with how we were going to pay tuition this year. I have struggling with this my entire time in school, and this times it seemed close to impossible. My family was going through so much financially, I couldn’t find a job, no one was willing to give me a loan and no one was willing to cosign. I found one person to co-sign and it got denied. Everything got denied. So I just kept praying and kept trusting God. I did not know how it was going to happen but I knew it was going to happen. But here’s the thing, I was expecting God to provide a loan approval, or enough money to start the payments. I called financial aid to see what they could do and they all told me there was nothing they could do. So I prayed some more and emailed the president of the school. Three days later I got an email saying, they would increase one of my grants. But wait...there’s more, they gave me a scholarship that would cover the rest of my tuition for not one but both semesters! I started screaming and broke out into tears, I was not expecting that but God went beyond my expectations and did something I did not even think of. Then I got offered not one but two jobs. I didn’t know how I was going to take care of myself financially, but I have four on-campus jobs. But wait...there’s more, I didn’t think I would get a refund check, but I went to the financial aid office and they had one there waiting for me, so now I don’t have to worry financially. God just keeps on blessing me, and it’s beyond whatever I could think or imagine.

-Dyamond

I think many times  it depends on our faithfulness, God will bless those who are faithful. He is looking at the ones who are constantly faithful to Him, and obeying Him. God sees that and He rewards the ones whose hearts stay with Him. This is not to say that we should only serve God for a blessing, but that faithfulness definitely pays off. Yes it pays off in eternity but it also pays off while we’re still on earth. We all have something that we want from God, continue to be faithful and wait what He will do. I’m a living testimony of what happens when God is faithful to us and we are faithful to Him.

All this to say, don’t underestimate God. Keep dreaming big and expecting God to move in your life and He will do more than you could ever imagine.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Just take the time to thank God that He is faithful. Take the time to pray and be grateful for who He is and what He does. Reflect on the times where you have seen Him move in your life. Reflect on the times when maybe you weren’t as faithful to God but He remained faithful to you. Take that with you as you pray today and pray however you feel led. Have a conversation with Him, if you need something tell Him, tell Him your greatest hopes and dreams and watch what He does.

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 294!

Day 291: Waiting for "The One"

Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In our twenty’s we are coming to the age when we are either in long term relationships, dating, engaged, or married. The topic of relationships comes up a lot. Whether we are talking about the type of person we want to be with, the type of relationship we want, or even thinking about settling down and starting a family. Whatever it may be, I think it is time we have a mature conversation about this subject that seems to be glossed over so much. This is something that has constantly been coming up in my conversations recently. Everyone is looking for that one person we can spend the rest of our lives with, however when we are in Christ we are waiting for that person. We are waiting for whoever it is God has for us, and trust me there’s someone out there that God has chosen specifically for you, and you have been chosen specifically for someone else. God is great, on top of everything He does, He’s also the ultimate matchmaker. It’s great, it’s beautiful. There is so much peace in knowing that we do not have to go out looking for the right person because God already has them picked out, and whoever this person is will be far beyond what we ever expected. However there are a few questions I would like to pose and a few points to make.

Are we seeking a relationship with God more than we are seeking a earthly relationship with someone? We can get so caught up sometimes in wanting to be with someone, liking someone, or just wanting to be in a relationship that we forget about the first relationship we need to be in. In order for us to have a good and stable relationship with anybody else we must have a good and stable relationship with God. Sometimes we are going after people that are no good for us, we are going after people that we are not meant to be with, because we are more focused on them than we are on God. That presents a problem The scripture tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to us. There’s a pattern to life and it always involves keeping God first and then watching everything fall into place. So if we want a relationship if we want that person that God has for us, we cannot look outside of Him. We must be so wrapped up in Christ that our significant other has to find Christ to find us. What I’m saying is, Jesus is our first love and will always be our first love. Before we fall in love with anyone else we must fall in love with Him first.  

Genesis 2:18

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I love the scripture in genesis as it ends with the statement, “I will make him a helper fit for Him.”  Sometimes we settle for people that do not fit us, We settle for people not just because we’re lonely but because they have what we think we want. They have the whole package according to our standards. But what about God’s standards? What about His plan? We must get to a point where we are not willing to sacrifice our faith for pleasure. Where we are so rooted in our faith where we don’t want to be near anything that could jeopardize that. I was recently talking to a friend about what I want from a relationship, and the first thing is they have to love Jesus, I want someone that will love me, but love Jesus so much more, and that’s not something I am willing to sacrifice. No matter how attractive they are, or how many standards they meet, I am not willing to sacrifice my faith for a relationship with someone. I would rather wait and move on God’s timing. He knows the plan, He knows when we are going to meet that person. God knows the exact moment it will happen. But in the meantime, while we wait, let’s work on our relationship with Him. Let’s work on fitting into the will of God before trying to fit someone into our will.

While we wait god is molding and shaping us into the people He has called us to be. He is taking out the things that should be there, and teaching us to walk like Christ. Leading us down this road called life. God has work to do on us before He sends the person He has destined for us to spend the rest of our lives with. He isn’t going to send us into this relationship with baggage, He won’t allow us to ruin what He is putting together.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

One of my favorite things to talk about is love, Not just romantic love, but love in general, because it is so beautiful. Love is so powerful. I just love, love. I think it is the best thing we have. Because God is the best thing we have and God is love. With that being said, we are talking about love in a romantic way today. God teaches us how to love properly, He teaches us how to love people, and ultimately how to love our significant others. The scripture above is a definition of what love is, before we get into a relationship with anyone we must know what love is, we must know how to love. Love requires patience, kindness, forgiveness, it is not conceited, envious, or boastful. When we read the above scripture we see just how beautiful love is. This is the way God wants us to love our partners. The way He has called us to love any and everyone.

All this to say, God has a special someone out there for all of us. Let’s not let our loneliness or want to be in a relationship blind us from what God is doing. Some of us may have to wait longer, but no matter how long the wait is, it will be so worth it.

Reflection

1. Are you waiting for the person God has for you or are you settling for what you want?
2. What is your perfect person? Describe them, ideally what and who would they be?
3. Are you willing to sacrifice your faith to get that person?
4. Are you seeking a relationship with God more than you are seeking a relationship with someone else?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the aboves questions guide your prayer. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today. Then pray for your future spouse, whoever it is God has for you, pray for that person, even though you don’t know who they are yet. Trust me someone is out there praying for you too.

When you have the chance listen to the song Dear No One by Tori Kelly. It’s a beautiful song about waiting on who God has for you.

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 292!

Day 278: Patience with Everyone

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

I want to discuss patience today. Patience with our brothers and sisters in Christ, our peers. Sometimes it’s very hard to maintain our patience with God, and even harder to maintain it with everyone else. I think sometimes we are so quick to get impatient with our neighbor that we forget how much patience it took from others to get us where we are. When talking about dealing with our peers we must realize that at some point in our lives we were in their shoes, or maybe we are in there shoes. Sometimes all people need is for us to be patient with them. I know it’s easy to get frustrated with a lazy person who seems to not want to do anything. But we can all point out a time in our lives when we were uninspired, not motivated, or just as lazy as the next person and someone was patient with us. I know we’ve all met people who are timid and shy, (I was one of those people). When we see this in people we have to take the time to encourage them. It’s easy to tell them that they shouldn’t be shy, but that’s not really helping. Encourage them, work with them, be patient with them. Next the scripture tells us to take care of those who  are weak. Sometimes we have to be each other’s strength. Meaning we have to take care of someone else. We have to put ourselves aside in order to make sure that someone else is taken care of. And we must do it in good spirit. I point out all of these in the scripture because I believe that this is one of the ways in which God calls us to love one another.  

This is how we are to love our neighbors. Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit, and many times we translate that to only mean having patience when it comes to waiting on God. Yes, that is part of it but we have to take it a bit further and apply it in how we treat people in our everyday lives. Sometimes we are so quick to run out of patience with one another, and if we learned self-control there would be a lot more peace in the world. We are so quick to get angry and flip out when things don’t go our way, or things are not in the timing they planned. This is the human condition, everything is moving so fast around us and we have everything at our fingertips, we have forgotten how to be patient. We’ve forgotten what it is like to wait for something or someone. (With apps like Tindr we don’t even have to wait for the right person anymore, we can swipe to discover what it is we want and fit us, but that’s another subject for another day.)  In these moments it is important to remember the patience of God. He is the most patient. This is the man who has given us chance after chance, after chance, I could go on forever. Yet He never gave up on us. Even when we didn’t get it right. Even when it took us longer to submit to Him than He wanted. Even when we walked away and came back a million times. He never gave up on us. In fact He sent His son to die for us. God did all of this for us, yet we give up on people after two tries.

If we took the time to encourage and take care of one another, being patient would not be an issue. But the problem with that is taking time for someone else is taking time away from self. When we think about it,  impatience is a pretty selfish trait. It’s all about us, and our timing, and what we want, and the people we decide we have no patience for. It’s all about us, making our lives “easier”. The truth is, sometimes our lives will have to be hard, in order to benefit someone else. Jesus is a prime example. Sometimes patience means giving ourselves up for the sake of someone else.

All this to say be patient with people. Love one another. When we truly love our neighbor as the bible says we will have less of a problem being patient with our peers. Encourage one another, lift each other up, and warn one another in love.

Reflection

1. Are you a hot tempered person? Do you lose your patience quick?
2. Has has God’s patience with us translated to how patient we are with our peers?
3. Do you believe that there is a difference between waiting and being patient? If so what is it?

Prayer Time

Take the time to discuss what we talked about today. Have a conversation with God about patience, as Him to teach you patience.

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 279!

Day 273: Recap!

Day 267: Exposing Darkness

Today we talked about shining a light on the dark places in our lives and exposing them for what they are. We talked about how, although we try, there is nothing we can hide from God, He sees all. We talked about how in order to be fully devoted to Christ we have to walk in light and that means getting rid of all things dark in our lives. We focused on Ephesians 5:11-14.

"...walk in light and when I say walk in light I mean walk in Christ."

Day 268: He Humbled Himself

Today we talked about taking a big dose of humility! We talked about how Jesus humbled Himself when He gave up a throne in heaven in order to come to earth and save us from our sin. We talked about how we are seeking honor from man and not God, how we are seeking honor from God without a relationship, and also how we just want to be honored and glorified. We focused on Philippians 2:6-9.

"If we do not humble ourselves before Christ we cannot grow. How are we going to survive if we cannot grow in Christ?"

Day 269: All Loss for One Gain

This one was probably my fave of the week. We talked about how sometimes we have to lose everything to gain one thing, Christ. We talked about how Paul said he would count it all as lost if only to gain Christ. Christ is everything we need and if losing everything gets us there then we will have gained everything! We focused on Philippians 3:7-8.

"I can live without these worldly possessions, tangible, and even sometimes intangible things that make up my life here on Earth, but I cannot live without Christ."

Day 270: Why Worry?

Today we talked about worry and stress and anxiety. We talked about how even though we have a million things to we can think of to worry and stress about, when we think of who God is we really have nothing to worry about. God has it already figured out so we just have to trust His plan, go with it, and see what happens. We focused on Philippians 4:6-7 and Matthew 11:28.

"We see the beauty of life when we begin to understand that God is completely in control. He has it all figured out and He’s guided us through it all. There’s comfort and peace in that.  We may not know or understand what God is doing in that moment, but there is beauty in it all, even in the unknown."

Day 271: All You Know

Today we talked about God's everlasting and unchanging love! We talked about how even though He knows everything there is to know about us, everything we've ever done; the good, the bad, and the definite ugly, He still loves us. His feelings towards us never changes. We focused on 1 John 3:20, Psalms 139: 1-6, Hebrews 13:8, 2 Timothy 2:13, and Romans 8:38.

"In the midst of everything we do in our lives, and every place we’ve been; from the highest moments to the lowest, His love never changes. His love stays the same."

Day 272: Chains of Freedom

Today we talked about how we are constantly running to the very things that keep us in chains, even though we have been freed in Christ. We talked about how we tend to hold on to the very things that are killing us as if it were going to save us. Comfort can do that to us. We focused on Ephesians 2:8-9, 4:22-24, Romans 7:15-17, and Romans 6:23.

"... don’t be so afraid of change that you die never knowing the freedom you could have had in Christ."

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, be sure to share this with someone. Go back over your favorite discussion from this week and come back tomorrow for Day 274!

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 266: Our Set Time

Galatians 4:1-2

Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.

We all have a set time that God has set for us, and it’s perfect. One thing we all know is that God is constantly working in our lives and providing for us. We know that He has something great in store for each and every one of us and it’s only a matter of time before we get it. It’s a matter of time before He releases it upon us. You ever had a feeling that God is doing something in your life? Something great and big but you have no idea when it’s coming. He’s stirring the pot and eventually it’s going to boil over in the best way possible. But first, we have to wait, there’s patience involved. We have to learn to be patient and trust in His timing. I mean the very concept of time was created by Him. I love how the scripture states that the children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up. Even though they already own everything, they will not receive it until they’ve grown up. 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. I think the father in this passage knew something that the young children didn’t. He knew that there would be a time when they would be ready for the inheritance. The inheritance was ready for them they just weren’t ready for the inheritance. The father was like, you have to grow up, you have to mature some, you have to live life a little and when you finally get it, you will appreciate it so much more. You ever look back on your life and thank God for doing what He did when He did it? It’s in these moments that we find just how perfect God’s timing is. How He sets us right where we need to be exactly when we need to be there. It’s crazy. God has everything we ever dreamed or wanted, sitting in His hands; but first we have to grow, first we have to be moulded a bit more, first we have to go through life a little bit. It’s like He’s looking down and saying you’re not ready yet, I have a set time for you and when you get to the place I need you to be I will have everything you need. It’s like he has a map and only He knows the route to the destination and He’s guiding us through it. He knows where we have to go and what we have to do to get to the place He needs us to be. The route is preparing us, and sometimes it takes longer than others but there’s a guarantee that we’ll get there exactly when we’re supposed to be.   

I think sometimes we spend too much time comparing our journey to someone else’s. We look at how God has blessed others and we start to wonder why ours is taking so long. Don’t look at someone else’s blessings and say why I don't have mines yet. We don’t know how long that person has waited, how bloody the knees are from constant praying. Then it all goes back to the set time that God has for each of us. We may know know what that time is but we know for sure that’s it’s perfect.

All this to say, we each have a set time that God has set for us. We don’t know when this time is but we will know when we’ve arrived. However, in the meantime, let’s enjoy the journey. Let’s draw closer to Him as He draws us closer to our blessings. Let’s dig deeper into and take the time to grow while He is working on what cannot be seen.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Talk to God about what that inbetween time looks like, pray about trusting in His timing.

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 267!

Day 264: Our Way

Genesis 15:2-5

But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”

Genesis 16:1-5

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

Genesis 18:10-15

Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.”

Genesis 21:1-5

The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac. Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.

For some reason we sometimes think we know more than God. For whatever reason we think we know more than the all knowing, living God. We somehow think that we are smarter and that we know what’s best. You ever decide to do God’s job for Him because He’s not moving fast enough or He’s not doing what you want Him to do? I know I have, I can only speak for myself, but sometimes I can get impatient with God. Sometimes I decide that my way, my plan, and my ideas are better than His. I end up looking like an idiot in the end.

I feel like someone who can relate to this is Sarah, or Sarai, she was still Sarai when these passages started (God likes to change names). However in this familiar story, Abram is told by God that he would be the father of many nations. Abram was past childbearing age and so was Sarai, so his concern was, I don’t have a child who will be my heir? God then promised him that he will have an heir, and numerous descendants, countless descendants.

Stop right here, you ever worry about something and God is like, ‘don’t trip I got it handled’? That’s basically what God is doing here, He’s like Abram, you don't have any kids now, but you will have a plethora of descendants and they will outnumber the stars in the sky. God never told him when that heir would come, but He told him that it will. We may not know when God is going to do something but we must have faith that ‘s He’s doing it.

Moving on to the next passage when sarai decides that she’s tired of waiting on God to give her a child. In other words she takes matters into her own hands. Sarai is getting old, way past child bearing age, So she’s like Abram, sleep with my maid Hagar, so you can have a child, and we can have a child through her. Let’s stop right there. In her eyes Sarai was doing what was right, she was doing the only thing she thought possible. A common mistake we make when we exclude God from the equation. She didn’t want Abram to go on without an heir so she decided to find a way to give it to him. Most likely in her eyes she was being a good wife. Abram agreed with her, despite what God had already told Abram, he agreed with his wife, instead of standing on God’s word. It’s not stated how long it’s been since Abram received the promise from God, but I get the sense that he is tired of waiting. I think we all know what it’s like to be in both Abram and Sarai’s position. We try to do what right not realizing that it’s not what God wants. It doesn’t come from a place of malice or anything like that, we just want things to go right, but we do it our way, not God’s way and it never works out. We see that in the passage when Hagar begins to act towards Sarai with contempt because she is having and has had Abram’s child, Ishmael. His first child might I add. God is not a God of confusion.

When waiting on God, and looking at a situation that seems impossible we begin to doubt the power of God. Sarah, (her name has changed) hears that she will be pregnant within a year. This is a message from God sent through a visitor. When Sarah hears this she laughs, and she’s basically doubting what God is saying. Like, ‘yeah sure an old worn out woman and an old man are going to have a child. Yeah God, sure, you’re funny.’  But God proposes the question if there is anything too hard for Him. I’ve been in positions where I have felt like not even God could help this mess. Everytime He has proven me wrong. But when we think about it, no there is nothing too hard for God, nothing. He makes the impossible possible. We’re talking about the same man that created the entire universe.

Then God does exactly what He said He was going to do. He said Abraham and Sarah would have a child and his name will be Isaac. Isaac could only come from Sarah and Abraham, so no matter how many maids Sarah got to sleep with Abraham none of them would have been Isaac.

All this to say, we have a way that we think is right and there is a way that is even better than ours. God has a plan for all of us and it may take time to come to fruition but when it does, all the waiting will be worth it. 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. Trust God’s way, it’s so much better and easier in the long run.

Reflection

1. Have you ever had a moment when you decided that God is taking too long so you decide to take matters into your own hands?
2. Have you ever felt like something was too hard for God?
3. Have you ever tried to do God’s job for Him?
4. What have you found about trying to do things your way versus god’s way?

Prayer Time  

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about what we discussed today and have a conversation with 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 265!