Colossians 1:28-29 "Our Goal"

          “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me.”  

          These two sentences sum up our goal as followers of Christ after we have accepted Him into our lives. We are to be praising His great and holy name, teaching and advising others so that we might be able to stand before God with every single person who has, is, or will live on this earth, all of us redeemed by the gift of salvation. We should be struggling day by day to make this a reality, at the same time remembering that it is only through Christ that we are able to continue this great work.

Isaiah 36:18-20, 37:5-7, & 36-38 "Who Will Protect You"

          This story is such a wonderful testament to the truth and the power of the Lord our God. The Assyrians said it themselves –“Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hands of the king of Assyria?” No other god was able to protect their lands from the Assyrian army because they were not real! Only the One True God was able to keep His people safe. The Lord kept His promise about the death of the Assyrians too –an angel of the Lord put to death one hundred and eighty-five THOUSAND men and when Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians returned to Nineveh, his sons murdered him.

Proverbs 28:22, Matthew 6:19-21 "Treasures"

          “A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him.” It is so easy, especially in a culture such as America, to remember that godliness, not wealth or possessions, is what truly matters. When we die, we will not be judged by our wealth and status, but whether or not we were following after the Lord with our whole hearts and treating our fellow human beings with compassion. When we reach eternity, our earthly possessions will mean nothing –they do not come with us. So, do not place too much importance on earthly treasures –instead, “store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jeremiah 1:4-8 "The Plan"

          God has a plan for us even before we are born. He knows everything we will do before we do it. So why is it that we are scared of the tasks he appoints for us? One very big reason is that Satan also has a plan for our lives, one not pleasing to God. Our sinful nature is warring against God’s plan every single day of our lives. We have to be in constant conversation with God in order to block the attacks of Satan. If you are anything like me, at this point you are probably asking, “Okay, so basically you are saying that we are fighting a losing battle, because I’m just human, right?” Well, that’s exactly the point. By ourselves, we will fail; but everything is possible with God.

Exodus 34: 29-35 "This Little Light of Mine"

            When Moses returned to the Israelites after speaking with God, his face was radiant. That’s right –it glowed. While our faces may not light up after we spend time with God, we are supposed to let Christ’s light shine through us. We are supposed to an example to those around us, whether they are believers or not. The love of God should be radiating from us in everything we do, in every conversation we have. Every part of our lives should be so full of God that it cannot help but attract attention. And truthfully, with the kind of gift we have been given –the gift of eternal life in heaven with God, where there will be no more tears, or pain, or fear—how could we possibly stay silent?

Psalm 33:3-5 "Hardened Hearts"

Every day we commit an uncountable number of sins. Unless our heart is hardened toward our sins, the Holy Spirit will prompt us to acknowledge our sin. Why is it important that our sins be acknowledged and confessed? Did Jesus not die on the cross so that His blood may atone for our sins? He did, and there is no sin that can keep us from God’s free gift of salvation after we have accepted it. However, it is important for us to acknowledge our sins because if we do not accept the fact that what we are doing is wrong, we will continue to live in that sin until our hearts are hardened to it.

Matthew 5:6, Philippians 3:7-11 "Blessed"

            “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” We can never achieve righteousness by ourselves or through anything we can do. However, we are given the amazing promise that, while nothing on earth can be complete until we reach Heaven, when we get there, we will be filled. Until then, it is important, in our hunger and thirst for righteousness, to remember that we should be found in Christ. Any righteousness we receive is not by our works, but it from God and it is faith by which we receive it. All of our gain is as nothing because without God we could do nothing truly worthwhile.

Psalms 101:3a "The Slippery Slope"

            In culture today, it seems like more and more “vile” things are becoming normal –foul language, extreme violence, and sexual immorality. These things are in the media, in our books, television shows, movies, schools, jobs… the list goes on and on, but in each place they are becoming a more normal thing. We are supposed to keep ourselves pure and godly and, in order to do that, we have to watch what we read, see on TV, and hear from others carefully. It is a slippery slope, a gradual thing. You do not just wake up one day and decide to start cursing profusely. We must shield ourselves well so that we do not fall down that slope.

Proverbs 24:17-20 "In His Image"

            Though our sinful human nature may attempt to deceive us into believing that just because we do not come right out and attack those who attack us, the Lord says to take that idea even further.  He tells us not only to, “pray for those who persecute us,” but also that we should, “not gloat when your enemy falls.” God has extended His free gift of salvation to everyone regardless of their background, social status, or faults. We are all created in His image and therefore it is important to treat everyone we come in contact as such, even our enemies, and the ones who persecute us.

Colossians 1:21-22 "Alienation"

            Our sinful nature by its very definition creates a barrier between us and God. God is so holy, so righteous that He cannot look upon our sin. Every single time we sin, we are taking a step further down the wide path that leads to destruction. Our sin alienates us from God, clouding our vision so that soon we can no longer see Him through the fog. But because He loves us, God sent His son, Jesus, to atone for the sin that was keeping us from Him. Jesus is our bridge to God, saving us from the endless cycle of sin we cannot break on our own.

1 Peter 5:7, John 3:16 "A Beautiful Thing"

            “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Is that not a truly amazing thing? None of us have to worry about what the future may bring or whether or not we will be taken care of because God cares for us. He loves us unconditionally; He cares about what happens to us. Nobody on earth can ever come anywhere close to the love God displayed by sending His son to die on the cross for us. “For God so loved the world…” With someone like that, who we can put our trust in completely, we should not ever have to worry again. God is in control and He cares for you. Isn’t that just a beautiful thing?

Jeremiah 5:49-56 "Vengence is the Lord's"

            The Babylonian Empire was incredibly powerful and strong. Its walls were heavily fortified, its warriors well-trained; but the Lord says He will send an army to destroy Babylon because of Israel’s slain. “For the Lord is a God of retribution; He will repay in full.” In Deuteronomy 32:35 the Lord says, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” God will not let evil go unpunished. Thought we may not see the retribution that we may think is well-earned, revenge is the Lord’s, and we can know with certainty that God will always be right beside us. It is not right for us to harbor such thoughts –we are told to, “pray for those who persecute us.”

1 Chronicles 1 "Ancestry"

            Ah yes; the infamous first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles. Many of us have heard of, or have plowed our way through, the first nine chapters full of the strange sounding names of the ancestors of the Jewish people. But while you are wondering how in the world these names were pronounced, just stop for a second and remember. Remember that these are people who God knew even before they were formed in their mother’s womb. Remember that all Scripture is God breathed, so each of those crazy names has a right and a reason to be there. And also remember that, as a child of the Most High God, these are your people too.

1 Samuel 15:1-11 "To the Letter"

            Time and again in the Old Testament we see that when the Lord commands the Israelites to wipe out another nation completely, even down to the livestock, and to take none of the plunder for themselves, it is only very rarely that they obey His commands to the letter. How many times are we also commanded to do something by God that we take all the glory for ourselves and give none of it to God? The Israelites always learned that obedience to God was their key to success the hard way –this king they spared, Agag, was the ancestor of Haman, the royal advisor to King Xerxes, who tried to have the Israelites wiped out. But God stayed faithful and used Esther to deliver His people.

Joel 2:23-27 "Living With Our Eyes Wide Open"

            No matter how hopeless a situation may seem to be while it is happening, God never leaves us. We cry out in our darkest hour, just to find that God has already been preparing a way to bring us out of our pit of despair to see the glorious light of day once again. But, in our newfound prosperity, do we remember to thank him? After the years of drought, do we thank him for the rain? It is so easy for us to forget that we can do nothing without God. He is in control, but sometimes our eyes just are not open wide enough to see that.

            A woman was driving her car, circling around the parking lot looking for a spot, late for an important meeting. She prayed, “Lord, please help me find a spot.” The words were barely out of her mouth before she saw a car pull out of a spot in front of her. “Never mind,” She said, “I found one.”

Luke 13:10-17 "Miracles"

            Imagine for a moment the joy you would feel if someone you had been praying for —for eighteen years—had suddenly and miraculously been healed. You would be rejoicing alongside them, right? So why did the synagogue ruler have a problem rejoicing instead of rebuking Jesus when He freed the woman from the evil spirit that had crippled her for years? The synagogue ruler was so caught up in the rules they were told by God to follow that he missed their point. He could not appreciate the miracle that Jesus preformed because he was so fixated on the actual rules themselves.

Hosea 2:2-7 "Other 'gods'"

            Again and again throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites turn from God and attribute the things God has blessed them with to other “gods” or their own hands.  We can shake our heads and wonder how the Israelites could forget the one true God, but in truth, we are no better than the Israelites. Their Asserah poles are our lives of wealth and possession, their other “gods” our celebrities. And when these earthly things fail us, as they failed the Israelites, we come crawling back to God and the cycle begins again with something else to take the last “idol’s” place. But the one truth that never wavers is that God always accepts us back again.

John 12:1-8, Matthew 6:24 "Radical Faith"

            In an act of worship, Mary pours a pint of expensive perfume, wiping His feet with her hair. She poured perfume worth a whole year’s wages on His feet to humble herself and honor Him, yet not all of the disciples saw it that way. They were shocked at the radicalness of her actions, but the most vocal of all was Judas Iscariot. He protested that she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor, but in reality he was hiding behind false words to try to get what he wanted. Judas was a thief, and where the other disciples had merely been shocked, he had been dismayed at the thought of the money HE could have gained should she have given them the money.

Jonah 1 "Running From God"

                The story of Jonah is a familiar one to most people. If you ever attended Sunday School or children’s Bible study, you were probably told about how Jonah was told by God to go and preach repentance to the Ninevites. The end of the story finds all the Ninevites repenting and turning to God even though Jonah tries to run from God’s call on his life. Take a peek at verse 16 though, and you see the Ninevites are not the only ones who find God. Though Jonah tries to run and hide, he finds that it is impossible to run so far that God cannot bring us back again. We don’t have to be perfect –though we should be striving for perfection—to be used by God. He takes us as we are.

John 15:1-8 "No Matter How Small..."

                Every time we go to church, or pick up a Christian magazine or book, we hear about people doing great things for God. People like Paul and Peter, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa –we are constantly comparing what we have done for God to what they have done and coming up short. The truth that we so often forget however, is that it is not what we are doing for God, but what God is doing through us. God doesn’t call all of us to be great leaders and teachers, but whatever it is that is done by God through us advances the kingdom of heaven. No task is too small to bring Him glory when we are doing His will.

Revelation 12:11, Matthew 5:17, 1 Corinthians 15:55, John 1:1, Revelation 1:5, John 21:25 "All He Truly Is"

                We say so many times that Jesus is our Savior and our Lord, but the truth is, while that is important, He should also be so much more than that. He is the Lamb whose blood overcame Satan and covered our sins forever. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. He is the One who overcame death so that the fear of death, Satan’s greatest weapon, may have no hold over us, no sting. He is the One, the Word, who was with God in the beginning, at the creation of the world. He is the one in power and dominion over this earth, whose power Satan can only try to mimic. John even says that all of the works Jesus did in the three years of His ministry were not written down. Yet, when asked, our reply is that He is our “Savior and Lord”. Do not let the repetition of those words make you forget to remember all He truly is.

Proverbs 7:20-29 "Forget Not Your Parent's Teachings"

                Though this passage speaks about using your parent’s teachings to safeguard you from falling into the sin of sexual immorality, do not dismiss it as just that. Though some of us may not commit this sin in particular, Christ said that to hate someone was to commit murder in your heart. No sin is any more pleasing –or less ugly—than another sin when put before God. God gave us parents and other spiritual mentors to, “Teach us the way we should go, so when we are old we should not turn from it.” Just because you may have left the house, do not just discard what your parents have taught you.

Isaiah 30:1-5 "The Plans of the Lord"

                “Woe…to those who carry out plans that are not mine,” says the Lord. Well then, we are all doomed, right? Every single day we fall into the trap of doing something just because we want to do it. We are sinners and because we are sinners we are selfish and impatient. We want the best for us, but we forget that only God know what is best for us. So, day after day we sin in this way, and because God is completely righteous, this sin creates a barrier between us so that He cannot look at us. But, because He loves us so much, He gives us the Way to be right with Him. Without Christ –the Way, the Truth, and the Life—we would be doomed to a life of sin with no hope of reconciliation.

1 Samuel 12 "God is Love"

                The Israelites begged God for a king to rule over them, someone to take care of them and lead them even though God was supposed to be the one they looked to for these things. Though God showed His faithfulness to the Israelites time and time again, they did not trust Him to be able to take care of them. Yet, not only does God give them a king, but He still says He will continue to take care of them as long as they and their king follow Him. The unfailing love God displays to us is unbelievable. We had done absolutely nothing to deserve it and yet He shows us more love than we could ever fathom. God is truly love.

Philippians 1:12-30 "My Loss is HIS Gain"

                Paul has been imprisoned. He is bound by chains and living under the watchful eye of Roman soldiers, yet he still continues to praise the Lord despite his circumstances. He says in verse twelve that, “What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel”. Paul knows that God uses every situation we find ourselves in, and every problem we face, to further the gospel. “To live is Christ and to die is gain”. Christ can and will be glorified in everything situation, however far down the road it may be, even though we may not see how in this lifetime.

Isaiah 38:17-19 "The Power of Prayer"

Hezekiah is a beautiful example of the power of prayer. He was lying at the brink of death, even being told by the prophet Isaiah that he was going to die, yet he cried out to the Lord anyway. For his devotion to the Lord, he was given fifteen more years. Hezekiah does not forget what the Lord had done for him either –he gave thanks not only for his deliverance from death, but also his deliverance from sin. He sings praises to God‘s great love and His great faithfulness. 

Ecclesiastes 2:10&11, Matthew 16:24 "In Light of the Cross"

Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless! is Solomon’s conclusion in the book of Ecclesiastes. While his constant reiteration that the whole world is meaningless may seem a little overdramatic, it is true that on this earth, everything is meaningless when put in the light of the importance of a strong relationship with our Lord. Jesus says we are to deny ourselves and follow him, no matter what that entails, no matter how crazy it makes us look in front of other people. Our job is not to please ourselves or others, but Him alone.

Ezekiel 16 "Our God Given Talents"

God gives us beautiful gifts and talents for us to use for His glory, but so often we use them for our glory, or the glory of someone we put before God (i.e. an idol), or for our own advantage. Just like the Israelites who forgot who gave them their “jewelry made of [His] gold and silver”, we often forget to give God the glory when we are praised for the talents He gave us. We need to constantly fix our eyes on Him and give all glory and honor and power to the one and only God who is worthy of our praise.