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Acts 9

12/25/2011

Acts 9:31 “The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.”

This was after Saul (Paul) was converted and was preaching the Good News about Jesus. I love what it says because we see reverence for God and encouragement from the Holy Spirit so we can know He loves us. When we are praying and reading daily, asking God to fill our hearts, we get stronger and the Holy Spirit gets louder. There is such peace with that and we can see joy even in this crazy world. What I have realized in my almost 7 years of truly seeking the Lord it’s that buildup of reverent fear that makes me want to not disappoint and work to glorify Him more. Life hasn’t stopped and the bad news still comes but I feel better in my heart and I want to look to Him more. Today is the day of Jesus birth and I sit here wanting to thank Him more than ever because of what He did to show His love for the Father. If we all sat back and thought of God as our Father (because He is) then sought after wisdom from Him totally, the Spirit would encourage us and we would shine that light of Christ. I saw a video the other day and these two guys were doing a skit about God chiseling the sin from the other. After a couple things were knocked off the one guy says that’s enough you can stop. Then the man playing God says, when you look in the mirror what do you see? And the other guy answered me; then God started chiseling again and said you should see Christ.

In Galatians chapter 6 verse 15 Paul says, “It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.”

We need to realize that we all need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and die to ourselves living differently as people that mirror Christ. We grow and change daily and it doesn’t stop until we are home with the Father in Heaven. I pray that God the creator of Heaven and earth can see our change and continue to see it as long as we live because we have a healthy fear and are following the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Happy Birthday Jesus, thank you.

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John 16

12/16/2011

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John 16:13-14 “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me.”

We need to know that felling in our heart is the Spirit and it is in us helping us live a life that is glorifying the Father. It is so important to realize that voice is there to help and guide. I truly believe when we are in God’s word and praying that voice is loud and clear, giving us our direction. When we get caught up in the world and what is going on we don’t slow down enough to hear it clearly. It says, “…He will guide you into all truth.” So I say pray to hear Him and open your heart to listen and don’t just use your ears. To me it is nice to realize the Spirit is the little voice I hear and not just my conscience or me trying to figure out each situation.

In verse 15 it says, “All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me.”

It is clearly sent from God and we need to work on slowing down and listening to Him. I have noticed that usually when I slow down the very first feeling I get is the Spirit guiding me to truth. But sometimes I say “no” or I try and hear something that I think is right. I want to learn and I think it’s important that we all learn to pray, hear and then follow the Spirit even when we are not happy with what we hear. As we see and grow in our relationship with Him we truly fall into place of servant and we start to follow Him instead of trying to lead asking Him to come along.

In the final verse of John chapter 16 Jesus says, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

All I want to do is say thank you and then do all I can to grow and learn to be like Him. Amen

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John 12

12/12/2011

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John 12:25-26 “Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.”

As I read this I just had the desire to open my heart and share. We are called to die to self and live a new transformed life for God. When we realize how important it is to learn to live according to the standard Jesus set we will understand that we lost our lives when we accepted Jesus into ours. Jesus is not making suggestions He is telling us “Those who love their life in this world will lose it…” We must take what He did seriously and open our hearts when we read so we can feel the change.

In John chapter 12 verse 36 Jesus says, “Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”

Our trust is important also because when we trust in something we believe that it is true and when we believe it is true we have a chance to obey and desire that change in our lives is real. I saw a pastor talk about the verse “Many are called but a few are chosen.” He mentioned how this was because not many say “yes” and are not willing to give up self and live for God. When we can see how important it is for us to actually live out our faith and quit making excuses for why we can’t, our lives will be better. Our only desire should be to learn and grow to be more like Christ and to glorify the Father in everything we do.

In John chapter 12 verses 47-48 Jesus says, “I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the Day of Judgment by the truth I have spoken.”

I say let’s strive to be the best we can and be a light so people know we are different because of our love for the Lord. Seek a different life; one that is for the Lord and be someone that says no to the world and yes to all that God requires. Amen

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John 9

12/9/2011

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John 9:39 “Then Jesus told him, ‘I entered this world to render judgment-to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

It is so important for us to open our hearts and change, this is what will open our eyes to see and we will be able to truly know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

In chapter 8 verse 51 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”

When we accept Jesus into our hearts and we realize that we have to change we begin to grow then our sight is through our hearts and the things of this world don’t cloud our vision.

In chapter 9 verse 40 it says, “Some of the Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, ‘Are you saying we’re blind?” Then in verse 41 He says, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty, Jesus replied. But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.”

How many of us claim we can see, but are so clouded by what we love in this world? There is so much more to our walk with Jesus than just knowing Him. He asks us if we love Him why, don’t we obey Him. We are told not to love this world, yet we struggle every day to satisfy our own pleasures. When we truly accept Him and there is a change of our hearts we can begin to see and feel what Jesus is talking about in God’s word. We will desire to learn and grow to be like Him and we will be consumed with wanting more wisdom. Nothing will be more important than doing God’s will and learning all we can to be a true disciple, which takes effort on our part.

John chapter 15 verse 8 says, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”

Our walk is not for ourselves it’s for others, we need to learn, grow and share opening our hearts and eyes so we can see. Amen

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John 8

12/7/2011

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John 8:28-30 “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I Am He. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught Me. And the one who sent Me is with Me-He has not deserted Me. For I always do what pleases Him. Then many who heard Him say these things believed in Him.”

In His example we see how important surrender is and living to honor the Father. We are called to follow Christ and God has given us His word and the Spirit so we can listen and learn. The part that stood out to me the most was in verse 29, “And the one who sent Me is with Me…” We are never alone, the Spirit always guides us. Are we willing to listen and let Him lead?

Jesus shares with us earlier in this chapter in verses 23-24, “Jesus continued, ‘you are from below; I am from above. You belong to the world; I do not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”

When we believe in Him we must grow so we will do nothing without the Spirit telling us. This is what Jesus did and we are called to do the same. This is why God’s grace is enough, the fact that Jesus went to the cross even when we did not deserve is what we need to be thankful for. When we read His word and pray we must understand that it is guiding us to life and the word is our own example to live by.

In John chapter 8 verses 31-32 Jesus says, “…you are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Do we know the truth? Are we willing to learn and not assume anything? We need to surrender our lives and continue to grow and develop our hearts so we can say as Jesus did; “…I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught Me.”

We should pray and read so we can learn and our hearts are changed and the Spirit is always leading us. Amen

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John 6

12/5/2011

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John 6:27 “But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of His approval.”

I love this; right from Jesus’ mouth we see what is important. It is not about anything we can get from this world, we must spend our time seeking and living our lives to be just like Christ. This world will throw all sorts of appealing things our way; we must be willing to check everything to God’s word and let the Spirit lead us to what is right and true. Surrender is the key for our walk with the Lord because it can’t be in our own strength; we must turn to Jesus and seek the light.

We are called in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4-6 to, “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.”

Moses is clear on how important it is to surrender and obey so as we read we must say; I am yours, teach me and mold me. I have been looking at a study by Francis Chan and David Platt on disciple making and in the first chapter they share something that just hit home. They said, “Faith in Jesus Christ means believing that He is Lord (according to Romans 10:9 which says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe it in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”) Have you ever thought about what the word “Lord” means? We sometimes think of it as another name for God, but it’s actually a title. It refers to a master, owner, or a person who is in a position of authority.” Do we think of Him that way or do we just out of ritual or obligation believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior? I really like to think of Him as Lord and with that I want to die to myself and surrender my life trying to give Him my all wholeheartedly. We need to shake this lackadaisical no responsibility attitude and work hard to learn and grow, giving our lives to Christ because He died for us to be different and set apart. Thank you Lord, help me give you all my heart, mind, spirit and strength. Amen

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John 2

12/1/2011

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John 2:16 says, “…Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” In verse 17 it says, “Then the disciples remembered this prophecy from Scriptures: ‘Passion for God’s house will consume me.”

That verse really stood out today because of the words passion and consume. Jesus was consumed by God’s love and would do nothing without the Father’s approval and He was passionate to share why and live so the people could see His passion. I love that because that is how we should be living. We should be consumed by what we can learn from Jesus and we should have the passion to open the word and follow everything in it. We are called to action as believers and we are given easy directions on how we should live, we just need to take the time to learn and grow.

At the end of chapter 2 in verses 22-25 it says, “Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust Him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because He knew human nature. No one needed to tell Him what mankind is really like.”

That just makes me think and want to show Jesus I am different. I want to work and learn to be faithful by living out what I read. I want the Spirit to consume me and lead me so my decisions are not my own but the Lords. I want to do what we are told in the great commission and make disciples and teach them to obey all that God requires. I want to be passionate so that there is no doubt that Christ lives in me and I am always ready to give my witness about Christ. We all fall short of the glory of God but we can all die to self and give our lives to the Father because we know what Jesus did by the word and we have the Holy Spirit in us to guide us.

In the first chapter of John verses 12-13 it says, “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn-not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plans, but a birth that comes from God.”

I pray this: Dear God, I thank you for giving me so much to strengthen me and guide me, forgive me when I fall short of your glory and give me the passion and desire to be consumed by your word and Spirit. I love you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Acts 9

John 16

John 12

John 9

John 8

John 6

John 2

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