Day 240: Recap!

Day 233: What About Us

Today we talked about checking in with ourselves and also checking ourselves. We talked about looking into our own lives and making sure we a good before we go trying to tell someone else how to live their life. We talked about how we often overlook ourselves in favor of someone else. We focused on Luke 6:42.

" Take care of your soul before you take care of someone else’s. We can’t talk to anyone else about their relationship with God when ours is either non-existent, complicated or on the rocks."

Day 234: Merely Vessels

Today we basically talked about humility and how we are merely vessels God uses for His. We talked about how we are not to get into our heads that we are the ones doing God's work. Rather it is God working through us. We focused on 1 Corinthians 3:5-7.

"No matter how much we plant or how much we water, until God does the increase, nothing will happen."

Day 235: God is Building Us

Today we talked about growing in Christ and how God is building us every day of our lives that we are committed to him. We talked about how the word for our spirit is like milk for a baby. It is what we need to grow in Christ. We focused on 1 Peter 2:2-5.

"Sometimes we don’t understand why He’s doing certain things in our lives, we don’t understand why things are going the way they are. We don’t understand what’s going on at that moment in time. But just hold on, keep longing for that pure spiritual milk, keep going and keep growing and when it’s all said and done, we will realize that He was building us. He was shaping us and moulding us."

Day 236: Foundation in Christ

Today we took it back to the basics and talked about building a solid foundation in the Lord. We talked about how a foundation in Christ gives us stability and the ability to build without falling down, no matter what comes our way. We focused on 1 Corinthians 3:10-13.

"Everything we are is in Him, we must find our identity in christ and follow Him all the days of our life. We must learn to depend on Him and trust Him in every area and moment of our lives, A life without a solid foundation is not a life that will get us anywhere. Lay your foundation in Christ and build on that, trust me, whatever you build will stand."

Day 237: God's Temple

Today we talked about how we are God's temple and we must learn to take care of that. We asked ourselves a lo too questions, one being is our temple a place where God dwells. We talked about the condition of our temple and keeping it "clean". We talked about how sometimes we can allow things to corrupt our temple. We focused on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.

"Sometimes we try to get around the parts of the bible we think don’t apply to us or shouldn’t apply to us. That’s not how it works, it’s all or nothing."

Day 238: Spirit Filled Life

Today was a bit of an expansion on what we talked about yesterday. We talked about the dangers of allowing sin to remain in our lives, no matter how small or no that big of a deal we think it is. We talked about how we must rid every sin in our lives that we know is there and not hang on the little things we try to let slide. We talked about getting rid of anything that will taint or put a hole in our spirit. We focused on 1 Corinthians 5: 5-8.

"Life isn’t just about “not sinning”. What kind of life would it be if it were. It’s about living for something and someone far greater than ourselves. Let’s not allow sin to take root in us, but weed it out and allow our spirits to dwell in Christ and the Holy Spirit in us.:

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 ay 241!

Day 239: Spirit Filled Life

1 Corinthians 5:5-8

Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?  Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.

Today I want to talk about the dangers of allowing sin to remain in our lives no matter how small we think it is. I want to talk about how it can spread and eventually lead to our spiritual death. But let’s talk about it by attacking what it is to have a spiritual life. When our spirits are alive in us, we have eternity right there in our hearts. If we want a spirit filled life we must get rid of anything and everything that will taint or put a hole in our spirit. Our sinful nature must be destroyed. We hinted on this a bit bit yesterday, but we cannot live for Christ while also serving the world. We serve one master and He is the living God. God cannot come in contact with sin, that’s why His Son had to first die on our behalf before we could have a personal relationship with Him.

I love the analogy of sin being yeast in a batch of dough, All it takes is a little yeast for the dough to rise. It spreads throughout the whole batch. In the same way that is how sin can easily take over our life if we do not get rid of it. All it takes is something “small”, all it takes is a little thing, that we think we can get away with and eventually it has turned into something that we have lost control over. We all have that one thing that we struggle with the most, and we are constantly praying against our flesh and doing all we can not to fall into the trap. However some of us have been in places where we let some things slide. I’m talking about the things we think are not so bad, or the things we know aren’t as bad as something else. Then we try to justify it by comparing sin. You all know what I’m talking about, in order to get the heat off of ourselves or make an excuse for what we are doing we try to make someone else’s sin look worse than our, so ours doesn’t seem that bad. You ever notice that we explain ourselves the most when we know what we’re doing is wrong. It’s like our spirit having an allergic reaction to the sin we are trying to force onto it.  

This is not how we are supposed to live. We are live in Christ, with Christ all the days of our lives and throughout eternity. How can we do that if we are letting things slide because we think it’s not that bad. God doesn’t overlook sin because we think it’s not that bad. No, that’s not how it works. When we take a step back we’ll see that it is less about, “not sinning” and more about living for Christ. It’s about loving Him with all our heart, soul, and strength. When we love God that way, and we focus on having a real relationship with Him. Not becoming a Christian just to save our souls from eternal damnation. But when we really fall in love with God and love Him more than anything or anyone, our desire for sin fades. We are so caught up in God that all  we want to do is live a life that will draw us closer to Him.

All this to say, life isn’t just about “not sinning”. What kind of life would it be if it were. It’s about living for something and someone far greater than ourselves. Let’s not allow sin to take root in us, but weed it out and allow our spirits to dwell in Christ and the Holy Spirit in us. Sometimes weeding out sin also means removing certain people from our lives as well.

Reflection

1. What are some things in your life that you let slide?
2. Do you live you life for life or for the sake of not going to hell?
3. What do you think is your biggest struggle?

Prayer time

Allow the answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about what it is to live a life free of sin by being devoted and committed to Him at every moment.

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 240!

Day 90: Never Forsaken

Psalms 37:25

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

I grew up hearing this scripture, I could quote for as long as I could remember because it is one of the key scriptures in the bible that we all call on. It was until recently that I really understood the depth of these words, and how encouraging they were. This scripture does more than encourage us by telling us everything is going to be alright, no David is stating facts. He is saying what he has known to be true. God is faithful. I believe that this is something we can all attest to, as for me I can say that God has come through for me every time, even in the times where I had only a drop of faith. He never left me and He never will.

To encapsulate this scripture, or break it down a bit more, David starts by talking about His age. He says I have been young and now I’m old, and never have I seen the righteous forsaken, never. All his life, from when he was a little boy to the old man he is now, never has God forsaken His righteous people. As long as we are committed to the Lord and doing right by Him we will be okay. We don’t have to worry about a thing because He has us. He won’t abandon us, He won’t forget about us, because we are His people. We live our lives committed to Him and He provides everything we need and gives us the desires of our hearts.

It may seem like God has forgotten about us or He’s taking His time to get to us. But trust me He’s coming! He will come through, every single time.

The keyword in this sentence is righteous,the righteous will not be forsaken. See sometimes we think we can live any kind of way, and use God only when we need Him We must commit our lives to Him, if we want to be near God and near the cross we can’t be dipping and dabbing into the world. We have to choose our Master. I know the right choice but it's not mine to make, we each must choose for ourselves to live a righteous life committed to God.

David continues this scripture by saying, “...Or his children begging for bread.” this reminds of the prayers of my grandmother. Many of us credit the prayers of our mothers and grandmothers as the reason we are here today. When we live a righteous life, others in our lives will benefit from it. Not only will we for nothing but our children, and our family and the people connected with us will be taken care of.  God will take care of us, He will never forsake us, no matter what. He is faith, and we must be faithful to Him.

Reflection

1. Do you trust God?
2. Are you willing to let go of everything of this world in order to serve and live for Christ?
3. Have you ever had a moment when you thought the Lord forgot about you?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide you prayer today. Thank God that He is faithful and has never forsaken us. Just take the time to thank God for all the wonderful things He has done in your life.

Day 36: Slaves to Our Desires

We all have that one thing that trips us up, and it can be anything but whatever it is, whenever we encounter it, we have to pray long and hard so we do not give in to it. This one thing is usually bad for us, it’s our guilty pleasure, it’s so wrong but it feels so right.

One of the biggest challenges we face when we become Christians is giving up our desire to do whatever we want, and giving up the things we used to do. Why does the wrong thing feel so right and why is it so hard to do what is right? I think Paul said it best in Romans 7:14-15:

So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

Paul hits the nail right on the head in this scripture, we all know what this feels like, we all know the feeling of fighting our desires, I think he is speaking to the entire human race here, everyone can identify and understand this scripture. We know what is right, so why don’t we do it? We know what is wrong, so why do we do it? We are sinners saved by grace, we live in a fallen world, we were born into sin, But there is a way out, sin can no longer control us, it cannot overtake us, sin has no power over us, because Jesus holds the power over sin. Jesus defeated sin, and due to His sacrifice we can live a full, pure, and righteous life. We know this, we know all about it. We know that sin can’t control us, But it’s that one thing that always seems to get the best of us, there's that one battle that we continue to fight everyday. Just because we give our lives to Christ, doesn’t mean our sinful desires will cease immediately.  We are human, we have unholy desires, we make mistakes we screw up a lot, but we don't have to be slaves to our own desires. We’re not perfect by no means, but when Jesus died on that cross He broke the bondage of sin. We no longer have to live that life, we will face temptation but Christ gives us the strength to get through it.

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

We have to resist, resist that devil, don’t give in, not even a little. Resist! Sometimes we get to points where we kind of give in to our flesh but not all at once. We start to compromise saying, ‘oh it’s okay if I do this’ ‘Technically I’m not sinning.’ ‘It’s just a small sin’. Somehow we have learned how to convince ourselves that what we are doing is right when we know it’s wrong. I remember growing up and my mom would say two things to us: 1. “A lie is a lie, no matter how big or small, because you have to keep lying to keep the original lie going and eventually that small lie will turn into a big lie.” 2. “I gave you an inch and you took a mile.”

Eventually those small things, and small sins we give in to will become bigger and bigger. If we keep taking inches eventually we’re going to get to a mile. We have to resist, a moment of pleasure or satisfaction is not worth it, it’s so not worth it. Pray, resist and repeat, until the devil flees. God has given us the strength to do it. Stand firm, don’t give in. I know it’s hard but it is so worth it.

Luke 12:34

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

What do we treasure most? Is it what we have here on earth or are our treasures stored up in heaven. The synonym to treasure is cherish. Something we hold on to tighter than anything else, what is it? Is what we cherish or desire more important than God. Is it worth the trouble and the sacrifice. I know we all have things that we cherish and that is okay, but Christ should be number one on that list. When Christ becomes what we desire most we will find ourselves falling into temptation and giving in less. Because we don’t like putting the things and people we love in place where we can possibly lose them. When we learn to treasure Christ above all, that is where our heart will remain.  

Reflection/ Prayer Time

As you reflect on the passages today and answer the questions proposed, begin to talk to God about your desires. Talk to Him about the things you know are making you slip, ask God to help you and give you the strength to resist the temptation. It is imperative that we are completely honest with God, show Him every part of your heart, especially the parts you tend to hide. Rest in His love, and strength.

Have an amazing day, I Love You! Share this with someone. Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 37! Enjoy this song