Be still and know

Sometimes we get caught up in our busy lives and forget to stop and meet with God. He is the quiet and peace in our crazy world! It is when we leave behind the noise that we find peace with God. Psalms 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" To me this is a picture of a beautiful stillness, just me and God. A time to sit and look at God's creation, thank Him and exalt Him for all He has done and all He has promised to do in the future! Be still and know that He is God! 

Two things from Acts

Today while I was reading Acts I found two interesting things! I love it how you always find something new in what you read in the Bible! 

First, when Paul was arrested and taken before Festus, he appealed to Caesar. Paul had done nothing deserving of imprisonment but after they heard his testimony they had to send him to Caesar, because as King Agrippa told Festus, "This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar." (Acts 26:32) But this was all a part of God's plan! Nothing can be done outside of God's will! He had already appeared to Paul and said to him in Acts 23:11 “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.” God had planned for Paul to go and take His word to Rome and so Paul went to Rome. Paul was able to witness to the people on Malta and in Rome because of this journey. We need to remember that there is a reason for all that God does. It may not seem like such a good plan at first, I am sure Paul didn't want to go as a prisoner to Rome,but God works out everything for good! So trust in Him! 

Also, Paul was not alone on his journey! The book of Acts was written by Luke and many times he reverts to "us" and "we" instead of "them" or "they". This shows us that Luke was with Paul on many of his travels, the trip to Rome included. All through Acts 27 and 28, the account of the trip to Rome, he speaks of "we" and "us". I love that Luke was with Paul during his difficult journey! Having a friend and a traveling companion makes things brighter, and I am sure that Paul was encouraged by Luke being with him. We need to stand by our friends and encourage them through their hard times just as Luke did!

Thought provoking

I found another quote that has set me thinking! Its more of a thought than a quote, and I don't know who first thought of it. It is this, if someone hid your Bible, how long would it take you to realize it was missing? How many times a week do we pick up our Bible? how many times a month do we pick up our Bible? For me this really hit home. I leave my Bible in a special place and can usually see it every morning. But some days, although I can see it, I don't open it up. I don't think that counts. Seeing is not reading. Someone could replace my Bible with a blank book and I may not notice for a few days. We (me most of all) need to be making a habit out of opening our Bible every day. We need to be continually in God's word. God can't reveal Himself to you if you aren't in His word! If someone hid your Bible, how long would it take you to notice? If someone replaced your Bible with a blank book how long would it take you to notice?

Jesus + nothing = everything

I saw this quote yesterday and it really got me thinking! The quote was, "the math is simple: Jesus + nothing = everything..." -Joseph Stamper (member of the Christian band Anthem Lights). I think the quote speaks for itself. It is so true! If we add something to the equation, say "Jesus + Money", We aren't going to get everything! We are going to fall short of what we could really have! When we try to add something to Jesus we aren't going to have a strong relationship with Him and therefore we will end up loosing out on His blessings. We should be so focused on Jesus that our life is everything in Him. We live the fullest when Jesus is first in our life. We begin lacking when we put Him on the same level as something else. Think about this. Are you adding something to Jesus? If so, ask Him to help you take that away and you will receive His bountiful blessings!

A few things from my morning reading!

Adding to the number of believers

Acts 9:31b, "And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied." This verse is speaking of the churches throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. If we want to grow, if we want others to believe, if we want our church to expand, its only by walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit that we can do that. We have to be in tune with God before we can add believers to our numbers. We need to get closer in our walk with the Lord and follow Him in a deeper relationship. It is only when we are close to God that we can draw others close to Him. It is only when we are walking in Him that we can be multiplied. 

Who are we to be known by God?

Psalm 144:3, "Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?" We are nothing compared with God, and yet He still cares about us and loves us. We are a passing shadow, a fading vapor, God is so much bigger and better than we are. He is forever, we are but a moment. But He desires to know us and to be mindful of us. He wants what is best for us and takes care of us. It is an amazing reminder of just how great God's love for us is! Praise His name!

God's greatness

A beautiful Psalm to end it off, Psalm 145. So many reasons to praise the Lord, we can't begin to fully understand all He has done for us! His greatness is unsearchable! Romans 11:33 also says, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" He is great! He is marvelous and greatly deserving of praise! He is awesome and His works are past finding out! Read this psalm through, read it with your heart, praise the Lord through it! It is a song of God's majesty and love! 

Psalm 145 

I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.

⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵ I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
⁶ Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
⁷ They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
⁹ The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.

¹⁰ All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
¹² To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
²⁰ The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹ My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.

Thoughts on Jonah

At first glance, at least for me, it seemed that Jonah had run away from God and had fled towards Tarshish because he was scared of the people of Nineveh and his fear caused him to flee. However, when we get to chapter 4 we find the true reason Jonah ran away. In Jonah 4:2 he says to God, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” The reason he fled in the first place was because he didn’t want the people of Nineveh to turn to God, he knew that if they did God would save them. He wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. Israel and Nineveh were enemies and Jonah resented the fact that God would save them. The entire last chapter of Jonah is him complaining about God not destroying Nineveh. In fact, Jonah was so angry that God wasn’t going to destroy Nineveh that he wanted to die. He hated the people in Nineveh so greatly that he would rather die than see them live.  

Jonah doesn’t seem such a great prophet. His life almost seems to be a “what not to do” for Christians. Some of the things Jonah did that Christians should not do:  Run from God (Jonah 1:3), wait until God brings you down to pray to Him (Jonah 2), have to have God tell you a second time to do something (Jonah 3:1), be angry with God (Jonah 4), hate someone so badly that you would rather die than see them live (Jonah 4).

In all of Jonah, there is only one thing he did right: he preached the gospel in Nineveh. We should preach the gospel as well, but after they become saved don’t ask God to destroy them.

Even the end of Jonah leaves you hanging. The last verse in the whole book is “And should I [God speaking] not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11) In this verse God is telling Jonah why He has compassion for Nineveh, they don’t know the difference between right and wrong, God had love for the people in Nineveh. The curtain falls on Jonah displeased, angry, and pouting on the hot beach. It leaves you hanging, you wonder if Jonah’s heart was softened toward the people in Nineveh by what God said, or if he continued to be angry.

A few things I learned from studying the story of Jonah, never run from God (He will find you and bring you back!), don’t wait until you are in the depths to pray to God, preach the gospel so that people may be saved, don’t hate someone so badly that you don’t want them to be saved by God, God loves everyone and desires us to love everyone as well.

What is it to you? You follow Me!

After Jesus had risen from the dead and had been seen twice by His disciples, He met with them on the beach. He ate breakfast with them and then took Peter aside. He told Peter that if he truly loved Him, he would feed His sheep (John 21:15-19). He gave Peter a commission to serve Him and make disciples for Him. When He had given Peter this commission, He took Peter from the rest of the disciples and walked down the beach alone with him. As they walked down Peter looked back and saw Jesus’ beloved disciples, John, following them and he asked Jesus “But Lord, what about this man?” (John 21:21) Jesus replied, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” (John 21:22) Jesus wasn’t saying that this disciple would live forever (John 21:23), He was telling Peter not to worry about what other people were going to be doing, but rather to do what he was told to do, which was to follow Jesus.

Often times we have the same mindset as Peter. We wonder what everyone else has been given to do for Jesus, not what we have been given to do. Like Peter we ask God, “What about them?” Jesus will always reply, “Don’t worry about them, you follow Me.” Don’t look at the actions of others; look at your own actions. Are you following God and living your life for Him? It doesn’t matter what task your brother or sister was given to do, but what you were given to do.

This passage reminds me of what Aslan tells many of the characters in the books “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. If you have ever read “The Chronicles of Narnia” you would know that the Lion, Aslan, represents Jesus Christ. Several times in the books we see someone ask Aslan to tell them about someone else, what will happen to them, what they should be doing, etc., and Alsan always replies, “I am not telling you their story, I am telling you your story.” God doesn’t tell us what other people were created to do; He tells us what we were created to do. He gives us a special commission and doesn’t want us to worry about what everyone else is doing.

Next time you wonder if your brother or sister is doing the right thing, or serving God in the right way, remember that God gave you a commission, and you shouldn’t worry about everyone else’s job. What is it to us what they are doing? We follow God.

Good Christian music!

My favorite music is always Christian! Christian songs have depth and meaning! At the moment one of my favorite bands is Anthem Lights! A great group of Christian guys! Their music means so much in following God and living for Him and searching and longing for Him! Here is their music video for the song "Can't Shut up"! An amazing music video! Watch and enjoy!

Why memorize?

Why memorize the Bible when we have it all right at our fingertips? We can search bible verses on the internet, in concordances, online, using our cell phones, laptops, ipods, bible apps, and the list goes on! If you want to read the bible, the same applies! The bible is readily available to us. And because it is, does that mean we should still memorize it? Yes!
One reason we should memorize scripture is it helps us understand and know our bible better which in turn bring us closer in our relationship with God. A close walk with God is the most important part of our lives. And memorizing scripture is what helps us walk closer with Him!
The second reason is, how do we know that the bible will always be available for us? I recently read a book for school called Fahrenheit 451, it is a futuristic book written by Ray Bradbury. As a futuristic book it is a picture of what could happen in our future. In this future, books have been banned and are being burned. Those who knew how important books were began memorizing them and then burning them so that they could always have the books with them. They saved these books in their memories in case there would be a need for them later on. We also should be doing this with the Bible. We don't know how long we will have God's word available to us, so we need to store up the Bible in our hearts just in case we need them later on.
I am going to make it my goal to memorize a book of the Bible this year and have decided to start with 1 John. What book are you going to start with?

His mercy endures forever

          I love this Psalm! I love that the same phrase is repeated in each verse! It declares why the psalm was written, to praise God for His enduring mercy to His people! Praise the Lord, for His mercy does indeed endure forever! His mercy is everlasting! Thank Him and praise Him! Read it through and read it with conviction! In different translations mercy is changed to love. God's mercy is love! His mercy He shows toward us is a demonstration of the love He has for us!

 Psalm 136
1Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
    For His mercy endures forever.
² Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
    For His mercy endures forever.
³ Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
    For His mercy endures forever:

⁴ To Him who alone does great wonders,
    For His mercy endures forever;
⁵ To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
    For His mercy endures forever;
⁶ To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
    For His mercy endures forever;
⁷ To Him who made great lights,
    For His mercy endures forever—
⁸ The sun to rule by day,
    For His mercy endures forever;
⁹ The moon and stars to rule by night,
    For His mercy endures forever.

¹⁰ To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
    For His mercy endures forever;
¹¹ And brought out Israel from among them,
    For His mercy endures forever;
¹² With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
    For His mercy endures forever;
¹³ To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
    For His mercy endures forever;
¹⁴ And made Israel pass through the midst of it,

For His mercy endures forever;
¹⁵ But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
    For His mercy endures forever;
¹⁶ To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
    For His mercy endures forever;
¹⁷ To Him who struck down great kings,
    For His mercy endures forever;
¹⁸ And slew famous kings,
    For His mercy endures forever—
¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites,
    For His mercy endures forever;
²⁰ And Og king of Bashan,
    For His mercy endures forever—
²¹ And gave their land as a heritage,
    For His mercy endures forever;
²² A heritage to Israel His servant,
    For His mercy endures forever.

²³ Who remembered us in our lowly state,
    For His mercy endures forever;
²⁴ And rescued us from our enemies,
    For His mercy endures forever;
²⁵ Who gives food to all flesh,
    For His mercy endures forever.

²⁶ Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
    For His mercy endures forever.