Daily Bible Reading - Sunday August 23rd

In chapter 8 of Job Bildad explained his idea’s to Job through 3 stories.  The first story he told was about plants that grow near the river, withou****er such plants die quickly.  The plants are like people who do not obey God, without God we are hopeless.  We sometimes forget that our lives are God’s gifts, John 1:4.  The second story is about a spiders web.  A web might seem to be strong but really it is weak.  People who forget God may seem to be strong but they have no security so their lives are weak.  Jesus said in Matt. 7:24-27 that people like this, their lives are like buildings without a good foundation.  The third story is about a plant in a garden, this plant has everything it needs so it grows well but the gardener removes the plant and leaves it to die.  This story is sort of like Jobs life, he was doing so well but now he is dieing.  I think Bildad told this story because he did not want Jobs life to be like the plant that was dieing.  Because of Jobs prayer Bildad thought Job was turning away from God so he warned his friend not to.  As we keep reading in Job, there are some valuable lessons to learn that we can apply to our lives today.

Today’s Reading

Job 8:1-11:20
1 Corinthians 15:1-28
Psalm 38:1-22
Proverbs 21:28-29

Daily Devotional

Practical Steps You Can Take

As singles, couples, moms or dads, we all face the temptation to be anxious about cir****tances, loved ones and the future. But the Bible teaches that we can walk in God’s supernatural peace because we are in Christ Jesus. Jesus Himself is our Peace. We can resist the temptation to give in to worry. We can choose, instead, to abide in God’s wonderful peace.

Peter the apostle wrote, "[Cast] the whole of your care–all you anxieties, all your worries, all you concerns, once and for all-on Him; for He cares for you affectionately, and cares about you watchfully." There are three truths we can glean out of this one verse:

God never intended for you to carry your own burdens.

He wants to carry them for you.

You have to do something when it comes to worry.

You have to cast worry off of yourself and trust God with your problems. It takes humility to say, God, I give this problem to You because You can take care of it much better that I can.

You need to understand the Father’s loving care for you as His child.

Only then will you fully release the weight of each problem to Him. Worry, like other negative thoughts, is actually a thief-stealing our peace, energy, time and joy.

Many years ago, after a tragic situation, I was bombarded by negative thoughts almost 24 hours a day. But then I came to my senses and realized that I needed to take control of those thoughts. It seemed like such an impossibility at first, but I decided to do it one thought at a time.

Each time I had a negative thought, I pulled it down through prayer. I said, I pull that thought down, make it obedient to Jesus and refuse to dwell on it. I will believe what the Word of God says about me instead. I will come out of this situation in victory!

When I first started this, there was a storm in my mind constantly, but after a while, my mind became calmer. Every day it got better, until one day I realized that I was completely free in my thought life concerning that situation.

The same can be true for you. Determine today that you are not going to allow worry to control your life, but that you will believe God for His victory so that you can walk in His supernatural peace.