Daily Bible Reading - Friday Jan. 16

How many times have we wrestled with thoughts and ideas of who we are and what we want to be?  Has God in the past given you ideas and asked you to do something that you really didn’t want to do or felt you could not do?  When I read Genesis this morning the passage where Jacob wrestles with God really stuck out to me.  I got to thinking how many times have I wrestled with God over losing weight.  How many times has He asked me to do something and I just felt I could not do it for one reason or another.  So many times I’ve used the excuse of being overweight to get out of doing something, how lame is that?  When I look back I see how God really wanted to use me right where I was, overweight and all.  There have been so many opportunities for me to do the work of God and yet I turned it down or just refused to do it thinking I was to big and could not be used by God.  God uses us where we are no matter how big or small we are at the time. It saddens me to think of all the times I said no to God with my stinking thinking.  But, how wonderful of a God we serve that he is faithful and just to forgive us, help us get up and even points us in the right direction and helps us walk one step at a time, and He is always there for us to lean on when we get weary.  When I think about it, He’s been there the whole time all I had to do was say “Help me God" and He would of jumped right in.  This really didn’t have anything to do with the way Jacob wrestled with God but it just really hit me when I read the word wrestle.  It’s amazing how God can take one word and really speak to your heart.  I just love it how He does that and how He can take one passage of scripture and speak to several different people and they all get something different out of it, like y’all have said  God always comes down to our level and speaks to us, what a mighty God we serve.

 

***Peggy*** You are so right, in the past I always thought I was not perfect enough for God to use, what an excuse huh?  If he can use Jacob like he did then he can sure use anyone, as sinful as Jacob was God still blessed him and prospered him greatly, wow what a God we have. 

 

***Sugar*** Well said, I just love it how God wants to use us right where we are, no matter what we’ve done or where we are.  If He can use the messed up people in the bible He can sure use us and boy does He want to use us, doesn’t He ?  Thank you so much for all your encouraging words on here, you don’t know much that means to me and others, thank you!!

 

***Bec*** We can get upset at the craziest things sometimes can’t we?  I know there’s been times I’ve gotten upset at someone over the smallest thing and when I look back on it you just gotta laugh at yourself, how silly we can be.  That ole devil likes to get his foot in the door in the smallest places, I’ve sure learned to shut the door on his foot. 

 

 

Today’s Readings

Genesis 32:13-34:31
Matthew 11:7-30
Psalm 14:1-7
Proverbs 3:19-20

 

Daily Devotional for Dieters

John 12:46
'I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.'

When we feel bad about ourselves, we tend to dwell under a dark cloud of depression. Sometimes we can't think of anything else but how much weight we've gained and how much we would like to lose. The good news is that darkness always is replaced by light. We can get out from under the burden of our weight. We can change for the better. Our Lord is a liberator. He frees us from anything that oppresses us. Obesity is oppressing, and God is ready and willing to free us. No darkness is too great for God to dispel. No matter how dark and dismal our physical condition may be, in the light of Christ, we can trim down.

Today's thought: We always look better in God's light than in our own darkness.

Ahhh there is that blessed verse that generations have been drawing comfort and strength from for years and years...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest! Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls!  For my yoke is easy and my burden light."

Here is the study notes from my bible on this verse...

Come To Me.  Jesus' gracious invitation comes to all "who are weary and burdened" with the troubles of life and the sins of their own human nature.  By coming to Jesus, becoming His servant and obeying His direction, He will free you from your insurmountable burdens and give you rest, peace and His Holy Spirit to lead you through life.  What trials and cares you carry will be borne with His help and grace! 

Wow such words of encouragement!

Bec

It truely is amazing how God talks to us, if we could just listen, and thats where the problem is with me, self gets in the way..
on Sunday morning sometimes I get up  and I dont want to get ready to go to church, and I love the Lord with all my heart, and maybe it is because I dont feel like seeing a crowd, this is something I am dealing with now, I have always dealth with , when I was heavy I used my weight as an excuse, I wasnt that way when I was younger but as I get older it bothers me,.I am rambling on now..
But Andy your devotions is the first thing I do of a morning, thank you so much....vesta

Oh my what words today! God is so good and faithful to deliver unto us exactly what we need when we need it if only we listen and open our hearts to hear him.

I had to laugh about the brothers who attacked the men who had been circumcised...not only on the 3rd day were they 'sore', but you know they were thinking why in the world did we do this and probably were wishing they were dead! Well Levi and Simeon granted thier wishes...(sorry) but that just begged to be said.

I wondered tho, do you think they were so mad about thier sister or that Shechem had the nerve to do such a horrible thing which was really a slap in the face of Jacob and his entire clan? Women didnt have much worth back then to the men so it seems possible that they were reacting to something other than their sister's pain and shame...

And..on in Matthew, I just thought of something when I read v29. "Take my yoke unpon you, and learn of me;"   A yoke is a tool of sorts or an implement by which to get a job done. When Jesus told us to take his yoke on ourselves, is he wanting us to take on the WORD (which is him) like a tool so we can get to know him?   JUST A THOUGHT from a feeble mind! lol

And in Proverbs today....Hummmmmmmm! So it wasn't the Big Bang theory huh?  You mean it was all from GOD??? lol

I dont know how anyone can ever read his word and not want to know more and beleive in HIM!!!!  Thank you Jesus that I learned to read...

God bless you all today as you face everyday life...may you touch someone's life with HIS grace today.