Daily Bible Reading - Tuesday - Jan. 5th

You know, the more I get into the word of God the more things keep jumping out and hitting me square between my eyes.  Yesterday the word seemed to go from being disciplined to being faithful, giving up everything we have known and following him.  When I read that and re-read that it hit me hard, I know He was talking about Andrew and Peter giving up everything they had and following Him.  That’s basically what the Lord has asked us all to do in a way,  give up our former lives of being overweight, all our habits and such that lead us to get there,  this surgery was kind of like the sacrifice and now we have to take up the cross and follow Him,  wow!  Now that may not make sense to ya but it really hit me right on my head,  I still have old habits I took back up after surgery and I’ve got to get rid of them take up the cross again and get on my way.

In today’s reading again He goes on about following Him.  This time he’s told Abram to leave his country and fathers family and go where God shows him and He will make him a great nation.  You know for me that would be scary, going to the unknown, not knowing what was in store where we were going.  If you look at it, Abram did not seem to hesitate, he packed his things, got his wife and lot his nephew and they went where God told them too,  again that hits me in the head that I need to finish giving up my former life as an overweight person and follow Him, wow.

Then in Matthew today’s reading goes into teaching us the beatitudes and goes into teaching about anger, (ut oh).  I just want to hide.  Reading today in Matthew made me want to just hide my head.  He says “If you are angry with someone you are subject to judgment, if you call someone and idiot you are in danger of being brought before the court" oh man, how many times have I called someone an idiot when I felt angry, sure I’ve asked God for forgiveness for being angry but I sure never read the part about calling someone an idiot. Praise God for His faithfulness in forgiving us.

If you go back up to verse 13 in chapter 5 of Matthew it talks about being the salt of the earth, letting our light shine, when we light a lamp we don’t put it under a basket but we let it shine in the whole house for everyone to see, that makes me think that’s sort of what we do here, those that have had the surgery letting their light shine so others can see that need help that are going to have surgery.  Thank you all for being so faithful in helping others, I know that’s such a blessing to those that are scared and not sure what to expect or do, your faithfulness will be rewarded big time.

 

Today’s Reading

Genesis 11:1-13:4
Matthew 5:1-26
Psalm 5:1-12
Proverbs 1:24-28

Daily Devotional

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline"
(II Timothy 1:7, NLT)

God's desire is that we continually progress, that we reach higher heights and go to new levels. Oftentimes, as soon as we make the decision to step out in faith and obey God, the enemy brings in fear to try to stop us. He'll bring thoughts like, "What if you fail? What are other people going to think? You don't have what it takes." He'll do his best to use fear to try to convince us to shrink back and stay where we are.

The Bible says that fear is a spirit. It plays on our emotions and holds us back. But the good news is that we have power over fear! The Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear. When we receive God's perfect love, we will have confidence about the future because we know His plans are for our good. I've heard it said that fear is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. Understand that fear is a lie. Today, choose to believe God's Word and receive His love so that you can overcome fear and move forward into the good life He has prepared for you in 2010!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

"Father in heaven, thank You for giving me power, love, and a sound mind. I open my heart to You and receive Your perfect love. Fill me with Your confidence and assurance to embrace everything You have for me. In Jesus' Name. Amen. "

Calling someone an idiot is something I do a lot when I'm driving!!  Guess I better quit that.

I'm up to date with my Bible reading for this year.

Jo I did that alot to myself, esp while driving until I started reading the bible last year.  It's something how the small things make a big difference.

You'll  be so blessed by reading the bible this year!

im one day behind and dont know how that happened lol./guess i will catch up this evening. 

Jan I did that a couple weeks ago, I had finally got all caught up and then read the same reading two days in a row  LOL I thought it was familar.