Monday, March 19, 2012

March 19-25

Monday - Genesis 11
Tuesday - Judges 7
Wednesday- Psalm 36
Thursday- Isaiah 40
Friday- Nahum 2
Saturday- Acts 3
Sunday- 2 Thess 2

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Genesis 11 "Let's make a name for ourself."

Isn't that the crux of our problem? We think about making a name for ourselves... greatness, or at least pretty darn cool-ness, or even just cool enough-ness. But we are called to live lives glorifying the Greatness of the God of Glory. It's all about Him. We know that, but how quickly we forget and get caught up in ourselves.

Unknown said...

From The Great House of God; "Your achievements, however noble they may be, are not important. Your credentials, as starry as they may be, are of no concern. The key question in life is not "How strong am I?" but "How strong is God?" Focus on His strength, not yours. Occupy yourself with the nature of God, not the size of your own biceps. In Moses experience at the burning bush no time was spent convincing Moses what Moses could do but much time was spent explaining to Moses what God can do. You and I tend to do the opposite. We would explain to Moses how is ideally suited to return to Egypt. Who better understands the culture than a former prince? Then we'd remind Moses how perfect he is for wilderness travel. Who knows the desert better than a shepherd? We'd spend time with Moses reviewing his resume and his strengths. Come on Moses, you can do it, give it a try! But God doesn't. The strength of Moses is never considered. No pep talk is given, no pats on the back are offered, not one word is spoken to recruit Moses. But many words are used to reveal the power of God."

Max Lucado

Unknown said...

Judges 2. I am just seeing this everywhere. This theme of it being the power of God at work to do the redeeming. It was not about Moses, it was not about Gideon. It was about God having a plan, God inviting participants to move forward in faith alone as He unfolds it, as He works to redeem, restore and refresh.

Unknown said...

Psalm 35:5-6

"God's love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, His verdicts oceanic. Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost; not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks."

I used to cringe when I read the Message. It just seemed so.... common and irreverant in some way. Like it was turning God's Word into common vernacular. How silly, really, because it was written in common vernacular. I am realizing as I read it now that it really holds my attention and helps me to relate to old and familiar scriptures in fresh and inspiring ways. I loved those verses above.

Annette said...

Those words, meteoric, astronomic, oceanic, titanic, struck me as well. Thanks for sharing, PC.

Unknown said...

Isaiah 40

The first first 11 verses just squeezed my heart. Poor Israel. They read this and were believing all of this for the Messiah's birth and earthly life. It is things like this that tripped them up to not be able to see how the suffering Messiah could possibly be the triumphant Messiah that scripture announced. Because that looked that all that scripture foretold and didn't understand that it wasn't an all at once story. That He would come, die, redeem, rise, leave, come back, restore, and rule. We are in danger of doing the same things when we look at NT prophecy.

Unknown said...

Nahum 2. It's been one week since God spoke to me so powerfully and personally through Nahum 1. It was not just a Thursday high followed by a "normal" week. Almost daily I have seen God at work confirming this promise in my life in little ways. Affirming me, encouraging me, challenging me. I am very excited for the way He is at work in me.

"you are out of war work for ever". v13

I love that. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. God comes to bring peace and hope and to restore broken lives.

Unknown said...

"We typically say our prayers as casually as we'd order a burger at the drive-through: 'Ill have one solved problem and two blessings, cut the hassles please."...

"When you pray... you are inviting the Messiah himself to walk into your world. 'come, my King. Take your throne in our land. Be present in my heart. Be present in my office. Come into my marriage. Be Lord of my family, my fears and my doubts."

Max Lucado, The Great House of God

Unknown said...

Acts 3

3 o clock in the afternoon. prayer meeting. Makes you wonder what their culture was like. What their days looked like. Was this on a normal weekday? A weekend? a "special" church day or was this a daily part of Jewish life as it is for the Muslims? I know that we are to cultivate a "lifestyle" of prayer and that that is more important than a "three o'clock show up for meeting" spirit of legalism, the question is, do we? Like that Max Lucado quote earlier this week I do feel that I often only "go to" God when I have requests. although our morning devotions and meal times are usually reserved expressly for "giving thanks" and commissioning ourselves to spirit filled living, so I guess that could be our "three o'clock". It's a question that bears asking. Should we have three o'clocks? Or should we just pray and worship as the spirit moves? In my own life I can see how having set "3 o'clocks" (even if that is at 8 am and 10:00 pm) helps me to refocus and consequently be more prone to be in the "place" that results in spirit led communion through the other hours of my day.

Unknown said...

"those who hate the truth that could save them."

You know, even as a child of God, I feel for so many years I resisted and I'm sure still resist the "truths" that cost me laying myself on the altar. Giving up the "me" mentality. Giving up control and choosing a life of surrender. We hate the things that will require major changes of us and sacrifice of the choices we have made or the paradigms we have of life. Things that will cost us being willing to put our own personal Isaacs on the altar and raise the knife.