Day 267: All the Time #WasteTheirTime2017

Galatians 4:17-18

Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them. If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.

Have you ever known those people, or even experienced it in a relationship, that are only nice to you when others are around. When they want all of your attention, they don’t want your attention to be taken away from them and put on someone else. It’s like when you’ve dated someone and even though you’re no longer together they don’t want you to be with anyone else. They pretend like they still want to be with you because seeing you with someone else will mean that they are no longer the one who gets most of your attention or affection. It’s a bit crazy when you think about it but it seems like some people are into wasting people’s time. #WasteHerTime2017 #WaseHisTime2017.

I believe that this is what Paul is getting into in this scripture. He’s telling the people that these false teachers only want you to follow them, they only want you to turn away from the truth that I have taught you. They want to turn your attention from me so they can gain followers in their false doctrine and teachings. Paul says two things that I want to point out. He talks about how these false teachers do not have good intentions. They want to win you over but it is not in any way in good heart. They want you for their own gain, not for what they can do for you. What I’m saying is, not everyone who is nice to you is not for you. Not everyone who smiles in your face has your best interest at heart. Sometimes people are using you to elevate themselves. There are people that only want you by thee side because they see your potential to be great and fear that you will be greater than them. It’s sad but it is true. There are many false people walking around pretending and if we are rooted in Christ discerning in the spirit we will fall right into their trap. This is not how God wants us to live, we cannot live in fear of someone else’s potential because the same God that created them and gave them a purpose is the same God that created us and gave us a purpose.

Paul then goes on to say, “If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.” I want to speak to the friendships and relationships with this one. If you have someone in your life that is only good to you around certain people and could care less any other time, it’s time to start cutting people out your life. We all know those people, or maybe we are that person. But we have had experiences where people only want us in their lives not because they truly love us or like us but because they don’t want us to be in someone else’s life. That is not Godly, we are not things to be possessed and disposed of when we’re no longer useless to you. It goes the other way as well, we should not treat people this way. True friends, boyfriends, or girlfriends are there for you all the time, they don’t turn their friendship or relationship on and off. 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. Our lives are not a show to entertain people. I feel like we have all been here, whether we have been the person doing this to someone else or it’s been done to us. Sometimes people just want us in their lives to prove something to another person.

All this to say, some people are great at telling and making up stories to get you on their side. We are not put on earth for human gain whether we are here to glorify God and expand His Kingdom, Don’t use someone else’s life for your own personal gain. Don’t be out here wasting people’s time for no reason.  

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Talk to God about what we discussed. Ask Him for the spirit of discernment and ask Him to search your heart and purify 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 268!

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 265: The Split Personalities of Christianity

Galatians 2:11-13

But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Have you ever felt like you were living a double life? Meaning have you ever felt that because of your faith you had to act a certain way in front of certain people, and when they were gone you could go back to being yourself? I cannot speak for everyone but I have felt this way far too many times. Being a youth pastor and ordained at a very young age, I felt like I always had to be “on”. This caused me to separate my christian life from my personal life. Many of you can probably see the problem in this sentence before I go into any explanation. As Christians we sometimes fall into a lifestyle that has to be separated, we have these sort of split personalities where we act one way in from of certain people and another way in front of others. We feel like we cannot completely be ourselves as Christians. Why we feel this way may have something to do with the fact that we do not want to give up our old lifestyle completely, but that’s another subject for another day. Take Peter for example, he was a man of God, he shared the gospel and led many to Christ. However, Peter ate with the Gentiles when no one was around to judge him for it. When it was just him and the Gentiles, everything was fine and dandy. But when the people came who knew Him, the friends of James, when his Christians friends came around he acted like he never sat with the Gentiles. He refused to eat with them. He didn’t want to be judged for eating with people who were considered sinners, but he was okay to do it when no one was around. Because of this people started to act the same way. What I’m getting at here is simple, our lives as Christians is not and should not be separated from who we are as people. It’s almost like we go from human to robot mode. We sometimes forget how to be normal and human. We switch on our Christianity at certain times around certain people, but sometimes we can have it off. No that’s not how it works, being a Christian is who we are, we have an identity in Christ that is who we are. It is a lifestyle, the only way to live. There is nobody or nothing separate from that, we don’t get to choose when to switch it on or off. We are Christians followers of Christ at every moment. Everyday of our lives, this is a commitment, it’s a relationship, a lifestyle. It is a choice we made. We should not have two different ways of living.  We often do this because we are afraid to be judged.

Why do we often feel like our humanity is stripped from us when we give our lives to Christ? We turn into these bible robots who no longer know how to be human. We fear letting our humanity show because it will show that we are flawed human beings, sinners saved by grace. So we fall into this routine where we decide when and where to let our faith show and when we can “be ourselves”. When we are Christians, being Christlike is being ourselves. We are nothing outside of christ, so who are we or who are we pretending to be when we set our faith down to “be ourselves”?

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.

All this to say, do not have split personalities when it comes to being a Christian. You are not a robot, you do not have to strip yourself of your humanity. Don’t worry about what others will say about you, if you are in the will of God and you know you are living according to His word then you have nothing to worry about. The problem comes when we feel like we have to have a separate life outside of the life we live for Christ.

Reflection

1. Take the time to think about and respond to what we discussed today.
2. Have you ever felt like to had to be “on” in front of certain people?
3. Have you ever felt like you had to separate you life as a christian and you life as a normal person? If yes, why?
4. Have you ever felt the need to prove you Christianity?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer, talk to God and have an honest conversation with Him about what we discussed today.

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 266!

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!

Day 263: A Way Out

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

We all know what temptation feels like, and we know the struggle of resisting, but we also know the feeling of giving in. As Christians we are constantly tempted, there are always things calling us to sin, whether it be our past, someone asking to be told off or throat punched in a very non-christian way. We can only flip tables so many times when trying to go the, “What Would Jesus Do” method. Whether it be sins that we struggle with and people we are trying to let go of, or the big one, sex. Even those of us waiting for marriage know what the temptations of premarital sex look and feel like. However, I believe that in these moments, God is giving us a way out. Take a look that the scriptures above it literally tells us that God will show us a way out. He will not allow us to be tempted more than we can stand, even though it’s hard God knows we can stand it. I feel like He believes in us more than we do ourselves. He knows us more than we know ourselves, that’s why He’s God. While we’re battling with our flesh and going crazy, God is giving us a way out, looking at us a having faith that we will choose Him over our flesh. Many times we can choose Him because we are deeply rooted in Him and we know that He will always provide a way out, but for those moments of weakness. Those moments when we just decide to give in, when we let our fleshly desires, and urges take over. Those are the moments we tend to always be brought back to. We often find ourselves feeling like Paul when he said, in Romans 7:15, “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.” I have heard time and time again, “if God knows everything why does He allow us to sin?” I’ve even had that question before. Uhm, excuse me but God is not telling us to sin, nor is He leading us to sin, He has in fact provided a way out of it. When we sin it’s our own doing. We make a choice, not God, He gave us freewill so when we sin it is our choice. The same way it was Adam and Eve’s choice to eat the fruit from the tree. They made a choice on their own. God did not tempt them, He told them what not to do, they decided to go against what he said.

You ever try to blame your decision to sin on something or someone else? Like Adam and Eve, God deliberately told them not to eat from one specific tree, one tree they couldn’t eat from. Out of all the trees in the Garden of Eden there was one they were not allowed to eat of. The serpent came and tempted Eve, but the serpent did not force Eve to do anything, Eve decided to listen and decided to sin against God on her own, and so did Adam. But when God questioned them, they blamed everyone and everything but themselves, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the servant. I believe that even in the Garden of Eden God had a way out, there were countless other trees they could have eaten off of, why go to the forbidden one. Then blame anything or anyone else to take the heat off themselves.

*confession time* For a long time, since I was fifteen I have struggled with pornography. I was a seed that was planted at a very young age and took root around the age of fifteen and began to grow. It stopped when I became a Christian, but I always felt myself struggling with it, going back and forth with it. Wanting to let it go but sometimes finding myself going back whenever I had a moment of weakness, I tried to get help and the person I tried to confess to did nothing but judge me and throw it in my face every chance they got. However every time I found myself viewing pornography or something similar, I would find myself trying to justify it. ‘Well, I’m having a hard day’ or ‘I’m weak right now’. I realized that it was something that I never needed or had to do, it was something I chose to do. God always provided a way out, I just chose to ignore it. I had to learn to own up to my desire to please my flesh and when I learned to confess and be honest with myself that’s when things started to change. When I started being honest with God and saying, this is me, this is my flesh wanting to do the very thing I know I am not supposed to do. That’s when things started to change, because I began to realize that there is always a way out, no matter how hard it may be to take the road out, it’s so rewarding.

All this to say, there is always a way out. God will not allow us to be tempted pass what we can stand. I know it’s hard, this is something we can all agree on, but whatever you are struggling with, whatever is holding you back from God let it go. You are much stronger than you think, because your strength is found in the Lord. In those moments of weakness call on the Lord, stop and pray even when your flesh is telling you not to. Who you are in Christ is much stronger than you flesh and it’s worldly desires. Another thing, sometimes we fall, sometimes we are weak and we allow ourselves to fall into that temptation. But you get up, confess your sins to God, go to a brother or sister in Christ for prayer, trust that God has forgiven you and you move on. There’s no use of dwelling on it, or beating yourself up about it, move on. You can change the past but you can learn so you won’t make the same mistakes in the future. While you’re at it, make sure you forgive yourselves, A lot of times we condemn ourselves when God Himself doesn’t do it. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a just man falls seven times but he gets back up. So get back up and get walking, don’t dwell on your past or you shortcomings.

Reflection

1. Can you relate to anything that we discussed today?
2. Is there something that you have been struggling with that you need to confess to God and maybe a brother or sister in Christ?
3. Can you confess it to yourself first, meaning can you own up to it and be honest with yourself and God?
4. What is it? (this is not something you need to tell me, if you’d like to respond to me go ahead and I will pray with you, but confess to yourself, God, and someone you trust who can strengthen you spiritually).
5. This is very hard, I know it is, but if it is tugging on your heart and keeping you from fully giving yourself to God, release it, seek help, prayer and ask God to deliver you. This is serious.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers and responses to the above questions guide your prayer today. Just talk to God and confess everything to Him. Seek out someone to pray with and for you, if you’d like to reach out to me, please do not hesitate.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, b sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 264!

Day 262: What You Need Me to Be

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.  When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law.  When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.

This is one of my favorite passages in the bible, because Paul is explaining the lengths he goes to, just to share the message of Christ with someone. To make sure they have the same opportunity as everyone else, so that no one will be excluded from or not hear the word of God. It’s very clever, and so selfless. Paul could easily look past and walk over the people who seem unreachable, but he didn’t he became like them in order to reach them. He found common ground just to save souls and have the opportunity to share the gospel. He starts by declaring his freedom but then immediately saying that he has become a servant to all. To all people he has become a servant, in order to share the message of Jesus Christ with them. Paul is putting himself aside for the sake of God’s people. He was willing to do something that not many people were. He was willing to be looked at as less so that Jesus could be more. Meaning, he was willing to go places no one else would go, he was willing to associate with the people who had written off and given up on. Paul was willing to get his hands dirty. he was willing to put his pride aside for the sake of someone’s soul. He became who they needed him to be. He got on their level, whatever that was, and did whatever he could to make sure that everyone  had access to Christ. He made sure that everyone would be given a chance to experience the love of god and the truth of the Gospel. Even if that meant he had to become like the Jews, the servants, the Gentiles, whatever he had to do he did it. He did all of this and never lost who he was in Christ.

If someone was weak, he got down there with them and said, let's be weak together, you don’t have to do this alone, He took on the burdens of his brothers and sisters. He found ways to relate to the people. I think this is where we miss the mark sometimes. 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. The Scriptures say that when we find our brothers overtake in a fault, he that is spiritual restores him (Galatians 6:1) Sometimes we have to put ourselves of the line for someone else, We have to make sure they know that they are not alone. We cannot forget that at one point in our lives before we were high and mighty in our faith and too spiritual for the world we were right there where someone else is, and someone came and picked us up.

I think Paul knew this, I love the passages when Paul shares his testimony of how God brought Him to salvation and made him a man after God’s own heart. For those of you who don’t know Paul was one of the people who sought out and persecuted Christians. He was totally against the message of Christ, but on his way to persecute more Christians Jesus came to Paul and set him straight. Paul was saved by Jesus himself and turned away from the life of sin and brought into eternity. Now every chance Paul gets he shares what God has done for him. He does not stand ashamed of who he was yet he boasts in what God has done for him. Paul remembers the life he led before Christ and shares how God turned that around.

I share this because, too often we forget where we come from. No, we do not dwell on the past, that’s not what I’m saying at all. What I’m saying is at one point in our lives we were all leading a life that was not pleasing God. We were living a life that was against God and His word, so how dare we forget that once we decide we are too holy to associate with anyone who is not a believer. That’s why this passage is so important, because sometimes we have to sit our pride aside and whoever we think we are and become servants of God’s people. We are here to serve one another, that means that whatever people need us to be, God willing we will be it to make sure they are set free.

All this to say, don’t allow your pride to make you overlook someone. We must allow ourselves to be transparent, letting go of who we think we are in order to bring people to Christ. Let’s find a common ground with those who are suffering and find ways to bring the message of Christ to them, not wait for them to walk up to us.

Response

How do you respond to what we discussed today, can you relate? Maybe you know what it’s like to be overlooked because of who people perceive you as, or maybe you’ve overlooked someone. Whatever it may be, take the time to respond. Open your heart to God and pray about it. Whatever is on your heart talk to God about it. Have an honest 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 263!

Day 261: Recap!

Day 253: The Life you are Called to Love

So, this devo was originally titled "The Life you are Called to Live" but the typo ended up working out in our favor. However, today we talked about living the life God has called us to live. We talked about how God gave us the life we have for a reason. We also touched on how being a Christian does not strip us from who we are. We talked about living the story God is writing for us, He knows how it ends. We focused on 1 Corinthians 7:17-19.

"We cannot live someone else's life and if we try it's not called living it called imitating. More like plagiarizing life. No story is exactly the same. Live the story God is writing for you. I promise it's amazing"

Day 254: People's Opinions

Today we talked about not caring for people's opinions or their ideas of who you are. We talked about being comfortable with who we are and realizing that the only person we are here to please is God. We really talked about ignoring people's opinions and living for ourselves and being comfortable and confident with who we are. We focused on Proverbs 29:25.

" Don’t allow the opinions of others dictate who you are and how you view yourself. God made you who you are for a reason. People’s opinions either elevate you or tear you down, you have to choose which ones are meant for your life."

Day 255: Occupy Your Street

Today we talked about doing God's work from right where we are. We talked about how we often feel like we have to leave where we are and stop what we are doing to serve God. We basically talked about using the gifts God has given us in order to advance His kingdom from right where we are. Doing everything we do to the glory of God. We focused on 1 Corinthians 7:20-24 and Colossians 3:23.

" Wherever you are, whatever you do, glorify God, from right where you are. That’s what it means to occupy your street. You don’t always have to travel halfway across the world to do the Lord’s work, you can do it right here."

Day 256: The Language of the Heart

Today we talked about how we are sometimes deceived by our hearts how we speak what is in our heart. We talked about how we speak, how we speak to others, about ourselves, and about God. We talked about how the way we speak reveals who we are, or at least who we are pretending to be.

" 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."

Day 257: Know It All

Today we talked about how knowledge is good but love is great. We talked about how we can know everything we need to know about the bible but if we do not have a relationship with God it means nothing. There is a difference between knowing of God and knowing God. We focused on 1 Corinthians 8:1-3.

"We don’t know it all and that’s actually more than okay. It’s good. In our lack of knowledge we find that we draw closer to god because we want to know Him. Not because we want to boast about how much we know about Him."

Day 258: Our Brother's Keeper

Today we talked about the responsibility of being our brother's keeper. We talked about how we often think that we are not responsible for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Chenin fact we are, we talked about picking up those who are falling and making sure they have a way of we can provide that way for them. We focused on 1 Corinthians 8:13 and Galatians 6:1-2. 

"We are to carry one another’s burdens not make the weight heavier or say they can handle it. I think sometimes we are so consumed with not wanting to get in someone’s business or letting  them figure it out on their own that we are letting people drown that need our help. People are reaching for us and we are waiting for them to save themselves."

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 262!