Wednesday February 15, 2017 Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. 

Nick-

Here lately I have been convicted of putting things before God and him being second in my life. There are a lot of distractions here even though we are in a ministry. Things that I haven’t been around since being saved. And these things or distractions, though they seem very harmless, drag me away from my relationship and union with the lord. And when God is second, I start to be a slave to sin not God. My heart begins to fill with things that will never satisfy and desires something to fill it. Im so blessed and thankful to the Lord for bringing to this point in my walk with him. Our time with Pastor Donathan yesterday really ministered to me in a huge way. He said something that I have forgotten over the past year and a half. He said that we are designed and were created to worship God and its pleasing to him when we do. That is what my heart has being craving for a few months now and I could not figure out what it was. I couldn’t figure out where or why I seemed to becoming lukewarm in my walk with him. I somehow had become a slave to these small sins that were dragging me away from the Lord. Praise be to God for showing me where I have fallen from and where he desires me to be. Revelation 2:5 "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the the works you did at first. If not I will come and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent.” This verse has been coming to mind for a couple of months now, but I just couldn’t seem to get myself to the place to be obedient to what it was saying. Thank you God for your gentle and loving touch to help me get back to a heart of worship.

Julie-

I am so prone to wonder.  I am like a child.  I need perameters and boundaries.  I need a master.  I have to lay my pride down every day to accept this and remember, but I have to be a slave to something bigger and more powerful than myself.  The Lord is my Master and I am His slave.  And if I do not wake up every morning and say "God, I am yours.  Help me to be who it is that you've called me to be and not who I want to be", then I am stepping out of His yoke and becoming a slave the enemy.  Fortunately, there is no gray area to misinterperate this.  If I am not following God as my Master, then I am a slave the enemy.  There is no argument to that.  The enemy tries to disguise himself as the law so we recognize him as the old religion.  When I don't pray for God's help, I fall into that old law and become a slave to it so easily, because I am like a child.  I see something shiny and get up from my Father's feet to chase it.  But it only leads me down the path of distruction.  It sounds like from what I'm saying and what all of chapter six is saying, we actually have a choice to be slaves to death or life.  How gracious is our God that he doesn't make us sit at His feet.  I remember when I was little and if I got in trouble my Dad would make me sit next to his chair as a punishment.  I was miserable.  All I wanted to do was run away.  But many times when I wasn't in trouble, I would come and sit in his lap out of my own will and enjoy whatever it was that he wanted to say or teach me.  Praise God that he knows how prideful we are, and that if we are controlled and tied down to Him, then we will not appreciate or listen to Him.  Every day I want to crawl up in the Lord's lap and ask him to be my Master.  I want to humbly ask to be his slave, because when I stop being a slave to sin I am actually a child and heir through God (Galations 4:7).  What a precious gift to recieve just by being obedient to Him.  The choice is mine to follow death or life.  Of course, I choose life.  But with that choice, I must be obey my Master and step in line as His slave, His warrior and His child.  This requires not letting the world distract me, but instead staying focused on my life example - Jesus.

Tuesday February 13, 2017 Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than man.”

Nick-

Peter and his apostles have been filled with the holy spirit at this point. And when they were freed form prison, the angel of the lord commanded them to go speak all the words of this life. So compelled by the spirit they obeyed rather than thinking of the consequences. They just escaped prison and the Lord is telling them to go right out into the open where the people who had them locked up can see them. Not only that, but they are going to preach the word of God which they were strictly prohibited not to do by the chief priests. So they went, obeying Gods commands over mans regardless of the circumstances. They didn’t question what God was asking of them and they didn’t fear what man would do to them. Hebrews 13:6 says, So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear, what can man do to me.” When God asks something of me or doesn’t, I must trust in his decision. I am empowered by the holy spirit within me and I must walk in it to be guided by the Lord. Sometimes he may prompt me to speak boldly. Other times it may ask me to kindly go to someone and give them encouragement. It may even ask me to go places I’ve never thought I would go. Verse 32 says, And we are his witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to who obey him. We are Witnesses of Jesus Christ not to him. Oswald Chambers said, “Not witnesses to what he can do but that we are to be witnesses who satisfy him in what ever circumstances he puts us in.” If we are going to be his witnesses, we must obey him and trust him to work through our circumstances regardless of the oppression man might try and bring against us.

Julie

Peter, "Put Your Foot In Your Mouth Peter", is the one who stands up to the high priest.  He shows no fear in this man to prove the very point of what he is saying:  Obey God rather than men.  It has taken me up until four months ago to even open up to this idea.  The fear of not obeying man scared me, but not because I wanted to please man.  I didn't obey man out of a good heart.  I obeyed for acceptance.  I was so selfish both to man and God.  The enemy always had a a foothold of me being alone, which led to my desperation of man's approval.  But as I am learning, the Lord will never leave me alone.  And the Lord is so much greater than man anyway.  So why the struggle?  It is not my struggle anymore.  It's not between God and the enemy.  All I have to do is walk in obedience to my Father.  This is still easier said than done, as all I can see around me is the darkness of the world.  But as I've put my hands on man's arms to guide me, I've ended up getting hurt or falling.  Man was just the first thing I could grab.  Man is effortless to obtain.  I think all men (and women) are just as desperate to not be alone in this world, which is why they let other people cling to them instead of directing them to God.  But God has called me to a deeper level than acceptance.  He has called me to obey His voice in the darkness to teach me edurance.  The reason I always end up alone is because I let go of man who leads me atsray, but that aloneness teaches me to focus on Him.  In doing that, he guides me.  Who am I to not obey the Father that never left me and who knows what's best for me?  Peter was walking in the darkness of not knowing what was going on.  He actually had a thought of being stoned to death, but still obeyed God because man is no longer a threat to him.  Death was no longer a fear of his.  He watched Jesus die in the hands of man, and he rose again!  Why should Peter have obeyed the high priests and Sadducees over God.  Why do I?  Peter and I are known and loved by the same God who wants protection for us.  Just like I want Trent to obey because I know what's best for him, so does my Father who is soviergn.  Lord, I say that I am learning to obey.  Please let that never be a lesson I stray away from.  Thank you for knowing whats best for me.  I admit I do not.  I am walking round in darkness and cannot see, and You know I need your hand to guide me.  I pray that I am so focused on You always, that I can hear You when you give me a command.  I pray that I do not fill Your guidance with man's.  Thank you for Your patience with me, Father.

Monday February 13, 2017 Hebrews 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

Nick-

This is an encouraging area of scripture for me. It really sheds light on another side of Jesus that you don’t get so much in the Gospels. It says in this verse that he learned obedience though what he suffered. He learned obedience by going through what our father in heaven put him through. He says in Philippians that he was obedient till the point of death on a cross. I so easily find myself complaining about how difficult and frustrating things can be here. Our family and marriage open for all to see. As soon as I open my front door I’m faced with having to put out some sort of hello or engage into conversation. I can find so many things that in my mind are things I suffer. But I look at the life of Jesus, and they don’t even hold a flame to things he suffered for me. I know that he has me going through these things to prepare me for the next season in my life. And like Jesus, I will learn obedience to our father through the things I suffer through. In verse 7, it says that Jesus offered up prayers and supplications to him who was able to save him from death. In my times of distress, instead of complaining inwardly, I should be expressing outwardly to God and giving it all to him to handle. Hebrews 4:15 says “for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are.” Jesus understands where I am in those times of suffering. He brought them about in my life so that I would learn obedience through them.

Julie-

God, I praise You!  I have learned to praise You in all circumstances.  I have learned to praise You in my joy, and I have learned to praise You in my pain.  I am learning the key to not losing You when life is painful and I am suffering.  It is obedience.  Lord, when my life is full of chaos and the storm is so bad that I cannot see or hear You, I know that You are still there.  You have not left me.  You will never leave me, although I cannot see or hear You,  but sometimes seeing and hearing You are more like instant gratification instead of just believing and knowing. It does not take the same act of obedience.  The thing is, that in my storms, my obedience chooses whether or not You're in the storm with me.  Many times in my life as the storm gets thicker and I lose sight of You, I run to a cave to stay dry and build a fire to stay warm.  Then I curse You for  still not feeling You with me.  But, God, I've learned that You are the storm.  I'm called to the storm of harships, not the cave of rest.  Although, I do have seasons of rest, and in them is where You taught me how to hear and see You through the storm.  You have been equipping me for this time of suffering.  Again, Lord, you called me into this storm.  So out of obedience, I walk out to the middle of the field with nothing to shelter me and I endure.  Your word has taught me to stand on your rock so I am not shaken by the strong winds.  Faith is my sight in the darkness.  With my arms held high in obedient surrender and a smile on my face, the storm continues to pursue me, but I know that I am called to this storm and show You my obedience.  And as You see me growing in obedience and not running or resisting You, You whisper "Just like my son was obedient to me till death, so will you be, and I'm proud of you, daughter." 

Friday February 10, 2017 Psalm 17:15 As for me I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

Nick-

David was contrasting himself to the people who were after him, who’s portion is this life. These were men of the world who were wicked in there ways. Arrogant in there speech and without God. These were people who wanted to kill David. It sounds like it could have been King Saul’s men who were after him. David is scared and terrified for his life. The enemy is out prowling like a lion looking to devour him. But David always knew where he could find refuge. He took shelter in Gods righteousness. David was known for being a man after Gods own heart and I think he saw his Righteousness and his character on a whole different level. He knew the things of this world would never give security. It was only God who could deliver him from the hands of his enemies. David doubted at times but trusted that God was going to deliver him. He trusted his life into Gods hands. In yesterdays devotional, I mentioned how when I woke up, i felt overwhelmed with all that is going on. Whether or not I could handle everything that God is asking of me. And knowing that if Im faithful with what I have now he will give me more and thats overwhelming. On top of that, the enemy tries to have me doubt all of this. I love how David, even though people are literally out to kill him, said that when he awakens he shall be satisfied with the likeness of God, Wow! For me this is such an encouragement. Like David, I can look at the likeness of God in my life and be satisfied. I can look back remember where I was without him and how big of a mess I was. I can think of all the victories God has given. All the chains he has broken. All the bondages I have been freed from, and all the strength he has given me. All this because God is making me more like his son everyday. Even though I am so far from looking like Jesus, I can reflect on where he has brought me from and rejoice in the likeness of him in my life.

Julie-

Lord, please do not let the eyes of my heart turn to the right or the left, but instead be focused on You and Your goodness in my life. I admit, I am easily swayed by the treasures of this world. They shine and dance in front of my face. I impulsely grab them and hold them so close to my heart that I'm not sure where You are. I admit, I hold things of the world too closely at times. I am like David's accuser in this Psalm. So often I find myself on the latter end of this contrast between David and his accuser. But I am asking You, Lord, to help me lay down my worldly idols that so often creep on to Your throne in my heart. Whether I have to learn like Abraham or not, so be it. Whether you uproot it from my heart or gently prune it, please let Your will be done to dwell on the throne of my heart. This is my plea for Your help. I want the idols in my heart to be nothing more than a poured out offering to You. Lord, bring me to my knees, touch my hands and loosen my grip. Let my worldy treasures fall to your feet. I want my eyes fixed on you, Jesus. I want to be like You, to meditate all day and night on your face and to remind me that literally nothing in this world can measure up to the blessings that You have in store for me. This includes what I think is best for me. I want to stay focused on your cross to remember that I deserve literally nothing other than eternal hell. So please, Lord, remove the idols and earthly treasures of my heart. Turn my eyes to You so I can experience real satisfaction that only Your Holy Spirirt can give. Stir in my heart and change the way I feel about any portions this world has to offer me, but instead rejoice in the abundance I will have in heaven. The gifts from You are to remind me that You are Lord of all. Please, help my heart from idolizing your gifts, but instead let those gifts be a vehicle that brings me back to Your feet to lay it down and glorify You.

 

 

Thursday February 9, 2017 Philippians 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

Nick-

Paul says he learned how to be content in whatever situation. This is something we learn through our relationship with God. This isn’t something I can just think up in my head. This is something learned through trials and testing. When God puts me in circumstances that are challenging, I need to be able to rest in the fact that he placed me there. God is trying to teach me and prepare me for heaven every day of my new life in Christ. So instead of me getting impatient and discontent, I should take the mindset of a student and ask God what he is trying to teach me. Just about every morning that I wake up, I have this sense of discontentment. The feeling of what am I doing here, I can’t keep up with all this. This is too much for me and its not going to stop. The only way for me to end the thoughts is remembering all the things God did for me to even be here and that he is sovereign over all things. He is the one who brought me here to go through all this cause he has things to teach me for the next season in me life. If I look back on the last season, those times of discontentment did nothing but cause me grief. But I can also look back and see that he was teaching me in that season to prepare me for this season. Therefore I can know that this season of learning is for the next and I think there is contentment in that. It becomes more difficult when Im given much from God. To think I have to measure up to what God has given me and not want even more than I have been given. For me those are the times that seem to drag me the furthest from the lord. But I’m learning that these are the times that I need to find contentment in him the most and not the blessings. I think to myself, God why would you send something my way to entangle me. But its not him who is entangling me its myself.

 

Julie-

 

Where do I find my contentment? In the valleys, mountains, or flat ground? The flat groud has to be the worst place for a Christian stand as it feels like lukewarm stagnant water. Luckily God has not called us to live lukewarm, so I can rest assure that if I am every there, I'm probably not in His will and need to reevaluate quickly. What about the low seasons? To be honest, I feel closer to God in the harder seasons. That insecurity and lonliness brings me closer to knowing heaven, and the humility causes me to invest and make deposits into heaven. When I look back on the roughest times of my Christian life, I was closest to God then and as bad as the season hurt, I found a Comfort that noone else could fill in my Savior. In my valleys, when I'm too weak to get out, I can feel God alone lift me up and give me strength to keep running. Jesus was a man who left the thrown of heaven, was born, lived his life, and died in the lowest valleys. Jesus was born in a manger, swaddled in rags, sought for death by age two, left by his parents at a temple, was a carpenter, befriended thugs and prostitutes, was mocked by his family, mocked by the town, became a target for persecution, was whipped, beaten, carried his own cross to die on, and was crucified. That outways any valley I have ever been through. And as he hung to die, he says "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." He didn't ask to be saved from this torture. He didn't seek revenge for God to smite the romans. He was content to die. Jesus Christ, the man who once dwelled in heaven, came down to die on a cross contently - for me! Why would I ever think that I could not be content in my troubles when I deserve to already be dead in hell. On the contrast, I also have mountains. Again, when I should be dead in hell, why does God still give me happiness and blessings. He does this to remind us that He is God. Moses and Aaron did not bring manna and quail to the earth from the sky, God did, as a blessing to the Isrealites. He did it to remind them that He is Lord of all. I am content with my abundance when I can remember that Jesus Christ died for me so I could expierence it, and I am content in my need because I am so deserving of it that Jesus Christ died for it to not bury me but draw me closer to Him.

Wednesday February 8, 2017 Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Nick-

"Be content with what you have” in other words be content with what “I”, God your father, have given to you. Everything that I will ever have in my life, whether it be much or little, is there because god placed it there. When its little, or when things are coming down to the last minute, he always comes through with the provision that I need. The only things he asks of me is to wait on him to provide it. There have been so many times when I thought I should take things into my own hands but I could here God telling me to wait on him. Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage, wait for the lord!” David was an incredible good at waiting. He waited many years to take the throne that was promised to him. He trusted god and was content with the cards that God dealt him. I can attribute the reason why I am here to me waiting on the Lord on not trying to make things happen on my own because of discontentment. I stayed content on where God had me and what I had at that time because I trusted in his sovereignty. When I realized that everything I had in my life was a gift from God and was only there because of him, it really gave me the content heart I’ve been longing for. It was hard at first to trust and believe that he would never leave me or forsake me. That he would provide for my every need. But the more I let go of things the more he came through. I came to the conclusion early on that I would rather have my hands off  completely so that I could look back and say God did that not me. Now that God sits at the Wheel in my life, I can confidently say and believe that he will never leave me or forsake me.

Julie-

This whole section reminds us of the "do nots" of Christianity.  Do not neglect a brother, do not forget those in prison, do not defile marriage, do not lust money.  All of these "do nots" are backed up with a strong point. Do not neglect a brother = some are angels, do not forget those in prison = they are part of the body, do not defile marriage = God will judge, do not lust over money.... wait there is no point, just a sweet message from God "I will never leave you nor forsake you".  Through my time here, I've really struggled with accepting God's love.  I guess I never forgave myself for my former life or maybe because of my past I thought I was unable to be loved without conditions.  As I said yesterday, my comfort was found in money.  It was something I had control over, but really it had control over me.  I was not obsessed with having lots of money, but I was obsessed with organizing it, checking and rechecking, managing, manipulating.  My money is not what's bad, it is the love and obsession I had over it.  But slowly God has been breaking me of the obsession.  All that was left was the security that money gave me.  God was not on the throne of my heart. Why though? Because I didn't trust him !!! I didn't trust him with my life, much less our family.  He wasnt the comfort and security I wanted, which always confused me because the Word says otherwise.  So how come God overlooked me? He didn't.  He has never forgotten.  I was the problem.  I was looking for security in money, in my marriage and in my status.  I was looking to the world for comfort and it all comes up short once we have expierenced God.  Verse 6 says "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do for me?" What can man do for me that God cannot? What can the world offer me that is better?  The world is fake and phony.  It bails when times get hard.  It's demanding.  It merits.  It decieves and it kills.  The world is the enemy's home.  Why would I continue to look for love, comfort, and security in his den? I want my Father.  The Father that, I now recognize, has shown me love, comfort and security my whole life.  He has never left me.  He will not forsake me.  I used to not believe this, but now I do.  Praise God that he never gave up on me for now I can honestly rest in contentment that he has prepared for my life.  And I pray that He continues to strip me of my worldly desires and continues to make me rely soley on Him.

Tuesday February 7, 2017 Luke 3:14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do? And he said to them, “Do not exhort money from anyone by threats or false accusations and be content with your “wages”.

Nick-

 In this verse John the baptist seems to be trying to lead this guy into repentance. So this man has not received the Lord in his life yet and does not rely on Gods sovereign provision yet. This man, like me, has to make the decision to turn from his sin, to “prepare the way.” Once he has excepted Christ into his heart and believes in him he can then be a partaker in his promises. When I gave Jesus my life and committed everything to following him, I was telling him that I trust and rely on his sovereignty for my provision(wages) for the rest of my life. Whether it be be money, food, work, or even our call on our lives. I have to be ok with what ever god decides is best for me. Philippians 4:11-12 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for i have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing hunger, abundance and need.” My life is not my own anymore, it belongs to Christ. Living in Gods will for my life, that he predestined before the foundations of the earth, will have lots of ups and downs, hunger and plenty, rich and poor. He for sure will be asking me to do things I never would have done before coming to him. Things uncomfortable and inconvenient. Things I never thought I was capable or deserving of. There will be times of prospering and times of suffering. Its not about what we think we need or want, its knowing that God knows what we need and when we need it. II Timothy 2:3-4 "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in the civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him."

Julie-

John has come out of the wilderness like a beast preparing the way for Jesus.  The people thought they were already in good standing with God because they were children of Abraham, but like John says "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.".  The people thought they were saved by Abraham's blood, but in that settlement they casually did wrong and did not repent.  As many people gathered around John, they begin questioning.  A roman soldier recognizes his sin, which is significant, and he asks what he should do moving forward.  John answers him with this Luke 3:14.  Coming from someone whose household income was based off of the sales quota, this verse still makes me uneasy to hear.  I was no roman soldier slaying people and bribing them for money, but my was heart was distorted in my efforts to sell.  It's not have a lust for money but a desire for security.  And ironically, what I sold, was peace of mind or insurance.  I thought I was building security for myself and our family, but really we were in a dark pit with the lights off feeling around for whatever we could grab to feel secure.  This false sense of security or contentment didn't satisfy for long.  I say the roman soldier is significant because of who he was and his status and he still humbled himself down to recognize that he was a sinner in front of this crowd.  The Word doesn't mention this, but I can imagine that he repented of his sins, got baptized and changed his ways.  He was no longer content with throwing his weight around to steal from people.  God is continuing to strip me of this mindset that money equals contentment of security.  Slowly he is filling my valleys with hope and knocking down my mountains of self sufficency.  He is straightening out my crooked motives and leveling my heart.