Day 279: Hold On to What is Good

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.  Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.

Something that I’ve been thinking about this past week is, the things we remember. It’s very interesting when you think about it. We as people have certain memories that are locked in, things we will never forget. The advice, the moments, the quotes, the smells, the melodies, the feelings, the things that stick with us for the rest of our lives. It’s crazy how everything we’ve ever been told or heard or seen throughout our entire lives, there’s that one thing that stays with us forever. Something our parents told us when we were fourteen stuck with us and will still resonate with us at thirty. It seems like many times we remember the things forever that had a good impact on us, sometimes we remember the bad. But the quotes and advice continues to help us through life. It’s like we unconsciously choose what to remember and can call upon those memories at different points in our lives to help us through certain moments.  I think Paul is getting at something similar to this in the above scripture.

Paul tells the people of Thessalonica to hold on what is good and stay away from every kind of evil. But before he says that, he tells them not to stifle the holy spirit, or scoff at prophecies but to test everything that is said. Everything should line up with the word of God. Test the things that people say to you. Sometimes we are Christians can be naive, and believe what people say, just because they say it in the name of Jesus. As it says in Matthew 7:21-23,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

We must test the words of people because their are many  who claim to serve God but their hearts are far from it. At one point or another we might have been one of those people. We cannot be swayed by the words of liars and deceivers.

When we do find what is true when we know what is good. Hold on to it. Hold on to the things that are good. In doing so we are to stay away from from anything that is evil. I don’t know if you know but good and evil cannot cohabitate. It’s not a good mixture. But I talk about memories and the things we hold onto throughout our lives because we hold on to the things that are good for us. Even if we do hold on to things that are bad for us, or the things people have done to us to hurt us, we eventually come to the realization that it is not good for us. So  we let those things go. However the things that are good tend to stick with us forever, and that’s the beautiful thing about life. We are so often under the impression that we as humans remember the bad things over the good, however that is not always true. No matter how angry we are at someone, and we may not want to admit it, there is so much good we see in them.

For a long time I was angry at my father, because I felt like he walked out on us. So I harbored anger towards him, or I tried. I wanted to be angry at him and I wanted him to know I was angry. However whenever I talked about him I could only talk about the good things. The things he taught me as a child, how he raised me, the great impact he had on my life, how I am a spitting image of him. And every time I saw him and had a plan to tell him off, my love for him always overpowered my anger towards him. That’s my dad, no amount of anger could ever stop me from loving him no matter how hard I tried to put on the mask of anger, only love came through. Because I remembered the good times, which were so much greater than the bad.

-Dyamond

All this to say, hold on to what is good and let it stick with you. Test the words of people, and do away with all evil. Remember the good things. It’s easier than we think.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Whatever resonated with you today, allow it to guide your prayer. Pray about whatever is on your heart. Remember that prayer is just a conversation with 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 280!

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 277: Less Talk More Prayer

Psalms 34:13

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

1 Thessalonians 5:25

Brethren, pray for us

1 Timothy 2:1-2

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we made lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity

Galatians 6:1

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Let’s talk about gossip. How many of you have ever been talked about or talked about someone? All of us should raise our hands because we have been on both sides of the spectrum, I know I have. We tend to gossip about the things that don’t sit right with us or the things that we don’t agree with. Far too much gossip happens in the church, whether it’s about the way someone is dressed or living. The sin someone has committed and has openly confessed. Gossip is toxic, and it does nothing but spread like a wildfire. But what if we replaced gossip with prayer? What if we decided to pray for people instead of talking about them? Something I noticed is that whenever Paul was writing his letters to the people he always talked about how he was praying to God for them, and asking them for prayer in return. It’s easy to gossip and talk about people but how much better would it be if we talked to God about them. If we prayed for them. We can easily go to a friend and talk about how bad someone is doing and have it change nothing but what about when we talk to God about it. That’s when things begin to change. We have to want better for people, and pray for it. It’s easy to point out someone’s downfall but let’s lift them up and rejoice in their blessings.

I know we have all seen this before, when something bad happens we always see tweets and posts like #PrayFor… but are we really praying? It becomes a trending topic on twitter, instagram, and facebook. One thing I had to start asking myself is, am I really praying or do I just want to be part of the conversation? Am I doing it for the likes or retweets? See while we are exploiting these moments for our own gain there are people out there who really need our prayer. They really need us to being praying for them, but we sometimes treat it as if a like, or retweet or just being part of the conversation is enough. It’s not. Prayer is where things begin to change.

Lastly, have you ever heard someone talke about how badly our world needs prayer? How it is all about to go up in flames and we need to start praying? We talk about how bad the world is and how it needs prayer, but are we praying? Can that sequence of prayer start with us. Let’s pray for our country, pray for our leaders, pray for the people. We talk about issues and go around in circles we’ve seen it from the media. All the news  outlets talk about the same things, and nothing changes. Let’s try a different tactic and start praying.

All this to say is that gossip and talk can do little but prayer changes things. The power of prayer is amazing. Let’s learn to talk less and pray more,

Reflection

1. Do you find yourself talking more about situations as opposed to praying for or about them?
2. Has prayer ever been your last resort?
3. What can be the outcome when you pray about something or for someone as opposed to talking about it or gossiping about someone?

Prayer Time

Allow the answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. As a big theme of today was prayer, just begin to pray and allow God to take you wherever He wants you to go. Just pray!

I love you and I hope have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 278!

Day 276: Good to Everyone!

1 Thessalonians 5:15

See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.

Paul is urging us to do good to people, not just certain people, but all people. Sometimes we pick and choose who deserves our kindness and who doesn’t. But Jesus was good to all, and if we are living our lives like Him then we must do the same.

He starts this scripture by saying pay no one back evil for evil. Meaning no playing tit for tat. Do not be out here seeking to get revenge on the people that have done you wrong or hurt you. One it’s not what Jesus would do and second, it’s not as satisfying as one would think. I know many of us knows what it’s like to want to get back at someone, to make them feel how they made you feel. Or even if we don’t get them back ourselves, we want someone to do it. Sometimes we even find ourselves praying for that revenge, like asking God to get the people that got us. I know it sucks when people hurt us, or when they do us wrong in whatever way possible, but honestly the best “revenge” you can get on someone is to love them. Kill them with kindness, do good to them. They’ll never see it coming. See people expect revenge, we sometimes expect people to get back at us for the things we’ve done, it would make us feel a whole lot better, but what makes us feel even better is grace. When people decide to love us, and do good to us instead. So when we decide to forgive and treat people well it helps them too. I know we’ve been told forgiveness is about us not the other person, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes people cannot move on until they know they are forgiven. So be good to even the people that have hurt you repay evil with good. That’s what Jesus did and by doing so He saved the entire world.  

Always try to do good to each other, and to all people. Now we must love our neighbors, love everyone. Try our best to be good to everyone so that we will not hurt someone or offend them. When Paul said everyone, he meant everyone! The people we disagree with, the ones we don’t vibe with, the ones who are pretty much jerks all the time, the ones who seem lower than us (if you view yourself as above anyone we need to have a talk). Do good to all people not just the ones you like or get along with. I mean with all the evil and craziness going on in the world we can use a little good and love.

All this to say, honor people. Treat others how you want to be treated not how they treat you, There is something so freeing and beautiful about not seeking revenge but loving people through the pain and doing good in evil situations.

Reflections

1. Have you ever been hurt by someone and wanted to get revenge on them?
2. If you did, did it really satisfy you or stop the pain?
3. HAve you ever prayed for karma to hit someone?
4. What has been the outcome when you decide to love through the pain and do good in an evil or bad situation?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. HAve a conversation with God about forgiveness and revenge, and pray for the state of our world!

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 277!

Day 275: More than Exist

John 10:10

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Ecclesiastes 8:15

So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.

I have heard so many young people describe their life as, “getting by” or “staying afloat”. When asked how we are doing we often say something along the lines of, “I’m here.” There’s so much more to life that just getting by or being present. I mean our lives are meant to be lived and enjoyed. I know we have so much going on, from school to bills and family. However we should not be slaves to these things. Sometimes we are so busy trying to make a living for ourselves that we forget to live. I understand it, I get it completely, trust me I’m in the same boat. But Jesus didn’t come and set us free just so we can be slaves to our own lives. I won’t believe that He has. It is okay to enjoy life, and take the time to have fun and do something for ourselves. Yes, we have a million things to worry about, our generation wasn’t handed the best economy or the best minimum wage, so we have to work very hard to sometimes make ends meet, but we also have to enjoy to fruits of our labor.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

Ecclesiastes 11:9

You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

We’re not going to be young forever, one day we’re going to wake up and be old. So we have to experience life in our youth so we won’t regret it when we’re old. The biggest regret to have is never having lived while we had the chance to do it. Now is the time to experience life, we should not be worried every minute of everyday about how we are going to live. Worrying about living isn’t going to change anything we we might as we live instead. Life isn’t going to be perfect, it doesn’t start out perfect, but if we wait until it is to start living we will die never having experienced anything in this beautiful life God has given us. What I’m saying is, life is beautiful, enjoy it, be happy. Don’t get stuck in going through the motions. THere’s more than just getting by. Why only stay afloat when we can swim.

All this to say, don’t miss out on life while trying to make a life worthy of living. Live through every moment, enjoy. God wants so much more for us than just to pay bills and die. Jesus came and gave us life and life more abundantly. Before we were set free we were just getting by, but Jesus opened the door to so many new and beautiful possibilities. Explore as man as you can, while you can do it. I learned that a bit late but I’m learning to enjoy and experience this beautiful life God has blessed me with. I want you to do the same.

Reflection

1. Are you just existing, or getting by?
2. Do you believe there is more to life?
3. Do you believe that God wants more for you?
4. Are you so busy trying to make a living that you are forgetting to live?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about what we discussed, whatever is on your heart pour it out to Him. Ask HIm to open your eyes to begin to see how beautiful this life is and that you will start to live, enjoy, and experience 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 276!

Day 274: The One He Left the 99 to Find

Luke 15:3-7

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’  Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

This is one of my favorite stories in the bible. This story is followed up by a lost coin and the prodigal son. I love these stories so much because I can relate. I don’t like losing things, even if I have a thousand more, I will tear my room apart looking for that one, because it’s just as important to me as the other thousand, and when one is lost, I have to find it. There’s no other choice. I think that’s what Jesus was getting at here, when He told this story. When He talked about leaving the hundred sheep to find the one that had strayed away. Now many would ask, why would you do that seeing you have ninety-nine more. Count the one as loss and move on. I mean it seems to make logical sense to look at the ninety-nine and be satisfied even if one is missing. I mean you still have ninety-nine sheep, but not to Jesus, ninety-nine wasn’t the same as one hundred. Jesus had a different understanding of this story. Jesus didn’t come to leave any man behind, we see that in verse 7 when He says, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Jesus came to save those who are sinners, not those who were already saved. He could have spent His time with those who were already saved and living a righteous life, but what would that have done? Jesus was willing to come down and search for the lost hearts, the lost souls and bring them back. Jesus loves us all the same, but when He came He came seeking those who needed salvation, healing, freedom. That meant He has to leave the sheep that never left Him in order to go after the ones that strayed, because He loves us that much. He came for His lost children, and rejoiced when they repented. It’s almost as if Jesus came and said, ‘I need to go find my lost children. I need to go find the one that has strayed away and tried to go on without me. I cannot let them die, knowing they need me.’ He came with the intention of finding those who were lost. Jesus says even though we willingly turn away from Him, He’s still gonna come find us to bring us back. Even though we walk away, He’s always there to bring us back. Jesus knows that we cannot survive without Him, if we could He would have stayed on that throne in heaven.

When we put it in perspective we must come to the realization that we are that one. We are the one He left the ninety-nine to find. At one point in our lives we were the sheep that strayed, and Jesus came and found us. I don’t know if this is true for you but God never left me get too far when I strayed away from Him. He came and found me. He didn’t let me walk away and count it lost, because He loves me. He cares enough to come and find us even when people think we can be replaced. See the thing about God is, we cannot be replaced in His heart. If we could, do you think Jesus would leave the ninety-nine to find us. We are so special to Him that He had to come and find us. We have to understand that we as God’s people as His children, when we come into this life we complete the body of Christ. We cannot have parts of the body leaving and walking away and never being found. He will come and find us. Sometimes He will wait for us to return like the father of the prodigal son. He’s waiting with open arms to bring us back into His house, and throws a party when we return.

All this to say, we are so important to God. He loves us so much. He loves us so much that instead of replacing us, which He can do if He wanted, He leaves the ninety-nine to find us. To God we are worth it, to God we were worth sending His son.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the  time to respond to what what we discussed today in whatever way you feel led. Allow that to guide your prayer today. Take the time to thank God that He is so loving, caring, and gracious. Thank Him for salvation and repentance. If you are someone who needs to repent now is the time to do it. If you have not accepted Christ into your life and you want to, now is the time to do it.  

If that’s you, if you want to make that decision today, pray this prayer with me.

“Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sins and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10, If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! If you made the decision to follow Christ today, congratulations! Please do not hesitate to reach out (to me or anyone else) and get plugged into a church. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 275!

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!