Here is this week's Bible Verse.

VERSE:                   Romans 3:23-24

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

REFLECTION:

The other day I was listening to the radio, and the song "Good" by Matthew West came on, and it really got me thinking about these verses in Romans. The whole book of Romans is about sin and God's unfailing grace.

There are a lot of people out there today, I was one of them, who believes that if you are just a good person you will go to heaven. Follow those 10 commandments and that is your ticket to the promised land. That is absolutely not true. These verses tell us that every one of us have sinned and are destined to die but we can be justified and saved by the grace of God. What must we do?

Humble Ourselves to God:

Admit that we are sinners:

Turn away from our sins:

Accept the free gift of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins.

 Think of the Old Testament Israelites and their inability to enter the promised land. The reason they weren't allowed to enter was their disobedience to God and their continual living in sin. They wandered around in the desert for years because they refused to humble themselves and be obedient to God.

We are the Israelites. Until we admit we are sinners, turn from our ways and accept that Jesus Christ is our Savior we will continue to wander in the desert of sin and be away from the promised land forever.

Don't be like the Israelites. Come into the promised land by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior. 

PRAYER:

Father in heaven you are worthy of our praise. Thank you for your grace and the free gift of Jesus Christ. I humble myself to you and recognize that I am a sinner I accept Jesus as my Savior and Lord and look forward to a life out of the hot desert of sin and into the glorious beauty of the Promised Land. Amen.

Here is a link to the Video by Matthew West. Good

Hope you enjoyed today's verse. 

Don't Be Deceived

 Here is this week's Bible Verse.

VERSE:                   1 Timothy 4:1-2

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.

REFLECTION:

In today's world we are surrounded by so many different voices, and opinions that sometimes we don't always know what to believe and what not to believe. Each of us has a moral compass that has shaped who we are and what we believe and oftentimes that is challenged through what we watch, hear or read. 

In today's verse it says that in latter days some will depart from the faith. We see that happening today from people who claim to be Christian but have renounced their faith. Maybe you know someone who has walked away or renounced the faith. Those who are renouncing their faith are giving heed to those deceiving spirits. So how can we prevent ourselves from falling prey to those deceiving spirits?

Here are some things to help you stay focused and grounded in the Christian faith.

Plug in:

Make sure you are plugged in to a bible believing church. There are a lot of denominations and Christian churches out there so be sure to do your due diligence on what church you go to. Make sure they are preaching the gospel and they aren't telling you things that aren't in the bible. 

Read:

With that in mind make sure you have daily devotions and you are reading your bible every day. Make sure if you hear something at church, you should check its validity in the bible. Especially if it doesn't seem correct. 

Pray:

Make sure you have a daily prayer life and conversations with God. This way the Holy Spirit can nudge you and give you insight into the things you hear. God wants you to stay focused on Him so communicating with Him daily will give you the guidance you need.

Unplug:

If you are inundating yourself with social media, and all you read or hear are contrary voices, then unplug from worldly social media. Turn the TV off, listen to praise music, and read posts and blogs from reputable Christian sources.

Listen to the capital Spirit and avoid the lowercase spirit. Stay focused on Jesus; stay strong in your faith. 

PRAYER:

Father in heaven you are worthy of our praise. Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to help and guide us. Help us to remain strong in the faith and give us a discerning heart so we listen to the Holy Spirit. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Hope you enjoyed today's verse. 

Seek The Lord

 Here is this week's Bible Verse.

VERSE:                   Isaiah 55:6

Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

REFLECTION:

When I was growing up in Minneapolis my friends and I had a call that we would do when we would go outside. This call could be heard by any of us if we were nearby. That way we could then connect with each other and play.

God wants to connect with each of us and He is always nearby. However, you don't need a special call and you don't need to be outside to connect with God. All it takes is a daily devotional and prayer life. If we want to seek God and call on Him, we need to open up our Bibles to what He has to say to us. We also need to have a steady prayer life. Included in that prayer life should be these three things.

Praise and Worship: Acknowledge that He is God and humble yourself to Him and praise and worship Him for who He is. Psalm 103:1 "Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!"

Repentance and Forgiveness: Repent of the sins that have been committed and ask Him for Forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Petitions: Bring your requests to God and he will grant them make sure they fit with his purpose and will for your life. Asking Him for a million dollars probably not going to happen. But asking for healing or the salvation of others may happen. Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

Just like when I was a kid and I wanted to hang out with my friends I could walk around looking for them or use the call that we had and connect with them that way. Likewise, seek God, call on Him through prayer and the word and He will hang out with you forever.

PRAYER:

Father in heaven you are worthy of our praise. I seek to hang out with you. As I dig deeper into your Word please share with me new insights and your will for my life. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Next week look for another verse. Please subscribe and follow this blog. In the meantime I'd love to hear from you. Comment on this verse, let me know what your favorite verse is

Reading Daily

I've decided to resurrect my Bible Verse Blog. Each week, I will post a Bible verse, my reflections on it, and a short prayer. 

However don't rely solely on this as your bible knowledge and nutrients. You should be reading your bible daily, reflecting on what God is speaking to you through those verses and pray daily as it says in James 5:16 KJV "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"

Also take to heart what it says in Psalm 119:105 KJV "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." God will speak to you through his word, but He can't do that if the Bible is never opened. We need to have our path illuminated daily by reading God's Word and applying it to our daily life. 

Read, Pray, Enjoy!!

The Tabernacle

VERSE:                          Psalm 15:1‑2

    Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?  Who may dwell in Your holy hill?  He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.

REFLECTION:

     Can you abide in the Lord's tabernacle, or dwell in His holy hill? Perhaps you are wondering what the requirements are.  This verse gives us some guidelines to follow so that we may truly abide in God's

tabernacle. A tabernacle is a temporary sanctuary such as a tent, and was used if there was no temple available.  The Israelites used one in the wilderness up until the time that Solomon had the temple built.

    Let's examine the three requirements for dwelling in the tabernacle:

    Walk uprightly ‑  Walk with pride in Christ, don't slouch over. Don't be proud of your own self, but boast of Jesus.  Stand firm on your moral beliefs.  Let others know by the way that you live that you will

stand by the precepts set forth in God's word.  Try not to stumble and hold on to the promises that God has given you.

    Work righteousness ‑ We are saved by grace alone but it is by our works that others will know that we love God.  Our works need to be done not with the motivation of getting to heaven but because of our undying love for Jesus.  That is what righteousness is all about. When we work, it should be done with righteousness in mind.

    Speak the truth in your heart ‑ Truth is not always what we say but how we feel when we make our statement.  What really is truth?  In this age of moral relativism, truth is perceived as being what seems right to you.  We need to focus on the truth of God.  What does His word tell us?  Truth is following His precepts and knowing in your heart that it is absolute truth.  For example, you drive your car and follow the speed

limits but in your heart you disagree with the speed limits.  You are only following them so you don't get a ticket not because you believe them.  We may follow God's laws because we think if we don't, we will go

to hell.  This is not speaking the truth in our hearts. We need to follow God's precepts because we love Him and know the truth!

    Tomorrow we will look at some more aspects about the tabernacle.

PRAYER:

    Pray for the truth to dwell in your heart.  Pray for righteousness to abound in your life and pray that you will walk upright and just.

Prayer, Share and Pure

VERSE:               1 Timothy 5:22

    Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins, keep yourself pure.

REFLECTION:

    This verse has three important suggestions for Christians.  First, the laying on of hands is something that should not be taken lightly. You cannot go around just laying hands on people, expecting God to move in their lives.  The laying on of hands needs to be done only when a person comes to you and asks for help, i.e. healing.  God also wants Christians to have the right mindset when laying hands, and this is where the next two components of this verse come in.

    Don't share in other people's sin.  For example, compromising your faith and going to a bar with people just to make them happy is like enabling them to sin.  You cannot profess to have true faith in God if you willingly participate in sinning with others.  Drinking just to make them happy is wrong.  Using foul language just because your friends do is wrong.  Stand firm on your faith, let God guide your heart, and then you will be able to follow the third key, keeping yourself pure.  The only way to do that is to flee from sin and keep your eyes on Jesus.

    If you can keep yourself pure and avoid sharing in other people's sins, God will give you the ability to lay hands on someone.  That is the perfect time for that person to need it, for God will have compelled

them to ask.

PRAYER:

    Pray for God to lead you not into temptation, so you can avoid other's sins.  Pray for discernment when you are asked to lay hands on someone.

Working for Wind

VERSE:                                                            Ecclesiastes 2:17

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

REFLECTION:                                        

Do you ever find yourself wondering if the job you do is worth anything? Many of us spend 40 hours a week doing a job for someone else that has no significance in the world. We sit there clicking away on the computer or writing on paper all to earn money. But to what end is the job? Our true work should be to serve God and glorify His name in all that we do.

It is important to have a job and earn money. It is the only way we will survive but that shouldn’t be all that we do in life. It shouldn’t be just to earn money. We all have a higher calling whether our job is in the ministry or not we all have a purpose to further the Kingdom of God.

If all we do is chase after the all mighty dollar and look for jobs that will satisfy only us it will be like chasing the wind. You can chase it into eternity and never ever catch it. It becomes frustrating because we can see it and if we reach for it we can almost touch it but it is always slightly out of our grasp. So we work harder and longer and try to make more money thinking we will get closer. We never do get closer but instead we get further from God.

Regardless of what you do for a living find a way to glorify and honor God in your job. Also look for the ministry with your job. Maybe you make friends with someone and are able to tell them about Jesus. Maybe someone needs your prayers or your help in a time of need. Look for those opportunities in your job and glorify and honor God with the job you do.

PRAYER:

Thank God for the gift of the job that you have. It doesn’t have to be stressful, pray for a relief in the stress and pray for opportunities to lead others to Jesus. Ask God for a servant heart so you may work and serve God joyfully.