Day 113     I Am God!

Exodus 6:2 (The Message)

 God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, "I am God.

In the very beginning of this journey I talked about how David “encouraged himself in the Lord.”  (I Samuel 30:6b KJV)The NIV says, “David found strength in the Lord his God.”

When we go through difficult times, God wants us to know that He is not a far off God but One who desires to be as personal as you need Him to be.  God is “reassuring” Moses in our scripture today. In The Message it says, “God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, ‘I am God.” If He did that for Moses(under the old covenant), He will certainly keep His promise to us under the new covenant.

I went to www.biblegateway.com and put in “I am God.”  As you can imagine there were way too many scriptures to go through in one sitting, so here are just a few:

            Exodus 15: 26  I AM  your healing.

            Exodus 19:25  I AM your provision.

            Exodus 20:24  I AM  your protection.

            Exodus 16:12  I AM your peace.

            Leviticus 23: 43  I AM your deliverance.

Yes, in this world adverse circumstances come but because God is our God, we go through those things.  We don’t stay in them.  Oh we can, but God wants to be our personal God.   He wants to give us instructions.  He wants to help us.  He has provided so much for us and He wants us to know and understand and take hold of his provision for us.  Then we will have a testimony of His greatness and His goodness to give to a discouraged, dying world that has no hope.

It’s so reassuring to know that God knows right where we are and what we are facing today.  He wants to take us by the hand as His child and take us to the other side of our situations.  That’s the reason for these daily “meetings with God” that we started 112 days ago.  That’s the reason the name of this blog is, “YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE.”  It’s because you can!!!

And God is going to show you how!  Are you ready to go?  Are you ready to keep going----until you get there?  Are you ready to let God reassure you on a daily basis

GPS  (Directions)

·         Go to a concordance and look up “I am God.”  Pick out five scriptures and write the references in your journal.

·         Make each one personal for your situation.

·         Read Isaiah 53: 4-5  Amplified Bible and spend time thinking about it.

Prayer Focus:

Thank God for all that He did for you as stated in Isaiah 53:4-5.

Day 111 and 112  Love Never Fails

1 Corinthians 13:8-10 (The Message)

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

Three little words…..love never fails.  Love is a powerful force that changed our lives when we accepted Jesus’ love for us.  And love is a powerful force that will change the lives of those around us.  We love—God does the rest!

On Day 108 we read Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit (of God) is love….”

We are to be full of the love of God so we can give it to those around us.  What inhibits us from being full?  Unforgiveness….flesh….legalism and a judgmental attitude to name a few.  As we surrender our attitudes and our flesh before God, He will fill us with His love so we have something to give.

As we begin to practice God’s love on a daily basis, we will develop a “love cares more for others than for self” attitude.  Only then will we be truly happy.  “Self” has never made us happy or satisfied us.  It only made us miserable.  Think about that for a few minutes.

If you spent some time in the last few days in the GPS section of my blog, you should be feeling lighter and freer and as a result—more joyful!

As a review read I Corinthians 13: 1-13 in the Amplified Bible.  There is some vocabulary there that will give you even more insight.

Note:  You can get the Amplified Bible by going to:

www.biblegateway.com

Prayer Focus:

Talk to God as you read today……and let Him talk to you.

God bless you and I would dearly love if you would comment and let me know your thoughts today!

Love, Karol

Day 110   Love Always Looks For The Best

1 Corinthians 13:5-7 (The Message)

LOVE…….

   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

And our list goes on!!  (See Days 108 and 109) 

These are some pretty powerful words!!  We learned that we are “nothing” without love.  And today’s scripture says that love “always looks for the best” in others.  I don’t know about you but I have some things to work on!!

As soon as our feet hit the floor in the morning we have opportunities to make judgments.  We may not say them out loud but in our minds we form opinions.

One day I was driving to work and I heard the Holy Spirit, (the Spirit of Truth --John 14:17 AMP….the Counselor, Helper  -- John 14:26 AMP)…. speak into my heart, “You don’t have to have an opinion about that.”

Those plain and simple words were so freeing to me!!  All of a sudden, life became so much similar.  It’s not my job to form an opinion.  It’s not might job to think about it and it certainly is not my job to tell someone else what I think.

That took care of about one half of my daily thought processes right there!!  Without that responsibility (of thinking all those judgmental thoughts), I was free to enjoy thinking about good things—even good thoughts about that person!

In today’s title, you will see the word “Always.”  Always probably means always, all the time, at all times….you get the picture.

GPS  (Directions)

·         Evaluate your thoughts as you go through your day today.  How many times do you form opinions that are not the “best” about a person?

·         If you can, jot them down quickly, or at least be aware of them.

·         Ask God to forgive you of what you were thinking.

·         On purpose begin to think of all the good things about that person.  Assign yourself that task until you have formed enough good things about them to see the good in them.

·         Some of us need to “believe the best” in ourselves.  I don’t mean to the point of being in pride, but realize that God made you, He loves you and He believes the best in you, even when you are not very loveable.  Ask God to forgive you of your bad thoughts about yourself.

Prayer Focus:

Spend some time with God forming good thoughts about others (and even yourself) and ask God to forgive you for allowing your “opinions” to take over your thought life.

Day 109  Love Isn’t Always “Me First”

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 (The Message)

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"  

Oh my!!  Does the Bible really get that specific??  Take a minute and read the lines slowly, thinking about what you are reading.  That’s quite a list and I don’t know about you, but I have a lot to work on!!

Even if we are in a place of leadership like being a parent or a group leader of some organization, and have to administer tough love, we are always to do it to benefit the person.  As a parent, we still believe the best for our children.  As a group leader, our prayer should be that the person would learn from this experience so his or her life will be more productive.  If we find ourselves still “crucifying” them in our thoughts and comments, it is not the love of God operating in us.

Now in regards to the line which says, “(Love) isn’t always “me first.”  Several years back I had to listen to my own voice talking all about me.  When I heard it for the first time,  I was mortified!!  Did I really sound so self absorbed??  I was so astounded that I went to God right away and asked His forgiveness.  In doing so, God helped me to see others and their needs more clearly.

GPS  (Directions)

·         Go through each line of our verse and think about your life and how it aligns with what God is saying.

·         Ask yourself if you have ever given up on someone…..ever thrown them in the “trash heap” because they frustrated you or done something to you.  Write in your journal.

·         Evaluate the areas where you “think of yourself more highly than you ought.”  (Romans 12:3)

·         Take several days if necessary, to think on these things.

Prayer Focus:

As God begins to reveal those “self” areas to you, ask Him to forgive you.  Then let it go and don’t dwell on it because God is quick to forgive us and we know when He forgives, He forgets.

 (Read Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 3:12 and Psalms 103:12) 

Perhaps it is time to do a spiritual “housecleaning.”  That always feels good when it is done!!

I would love to hear from you today.  Feel free to post a comment on something I have written over the last few days!

God bless your day!

Karol

Day 108   I’m Bankrupt Without Love

1 Corinthians 13:2-7 (The Message)

If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

This makes me want to fall to my knees and say, “Teach me to love, God!”  Nothing means nothing!!  If I can’t love, I am nothing!!

Sometimes we are afraid to love because that means we will have to invest ourselves in someone else’s life.   What if we have been disappointed before?  We put ourselves out there and it backfired.  They ended up disliking us and worse than that, talking against us to others.

In typing this I am thinking,  “How trivial!”  Jesus loved and put Himself out there and look what they did to Him!  That makes my little “betrayal” look pretty pitiful.

In the above verse, we are called to overcome our flesh and love those God puts us in touch with.  As we see the people through the eyes of Jesus, we can love.

Galatians 5:22 (New International Version, ©2011)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

As Christians we should be producing the fruit of love.  People need to know that they are loved so they can receive the love of the Father.  We are to reach out to them and put them in touch with the Father’s love.  That’s our purpose in life.

God wants us to bear fruit.  We are carriers of the love of God in this earth.  That means we need to get rid of our “self” so that we have the room to carry His love.

GPS  (Directions)

·         For the next 24 hours take note of the times when “self” in you rises to the top and takes precedence over your thoughts, behavior and choices.

·         When thoughts of “self” do surface, surrender them before God and think about what your purpose is in that particular situation.

·         Write in your journal those choices that you ended up making in each situation.  In doing so, you will find that you are training yourself in “selflessness.”  You will then have more capacity to carry the love of God to those who so desperately need it.

Prayer Focus:

Father, show me those areas where I put myself, my thoughts and my will before Yours.  Forgive me for those times, Lord, and help me to be more sensitive to what You want me to do in each circumstance.

Day 107   We Are God’s Own Handiwork

Ephesians 2:10 (Amplified Bible)

For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

The Bible tells us in the above verse that God designed us for a specific plan.  Like we said on Day 106, we were born at this particular time, live in this particular place, work at this particular job, etc. so we can share the love of God with the people there.  For example:  I live at this address so I can fellowship with my neighbors.  My prayer is that God would make my life a testimony of His goodness and His greatness.

In the foundation of all of our “doing,” we must have love.  Here’s what the Bible says about love:

1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

 ¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

I don’t want to sound like “rusty gate,” do you??  “Teach us how to love like You love, God.”

Not only did He design for us to be where we are at this particular time, He also gave us our personalities and our unique ways of relating to the people around us.  The Bible says, “We are God’s own handiwork.”  We are uniquely designed by God Himself.

Ephesians 2:10 goes on to say that in walking out God’s plan for our lives, we will be “living the good life.”  For Christians that is the satisfaction that we are doing the work of God with the ability He has given us.  In doing so, we are fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for us.  And oh what joy that brings.  That is the Christian’s definition of “the good life.”

GPS  (Directions)

·         What do these scriptures mean to you?

I Corinthians 12:15

Ephesians 4:1

Ephesians 5:2

Prayer Focus:

Ask God to make your life a testimony of His goodness and greatness.  Ask Him to give you warning signs should you deviate from the love walk.  If you should leave the path of love, ask God to forgive you because He surely will.  We are all learning how to love like He loves and we are not perfect.