Week 1 Devotions, Thoughts and Comments

Feel free to comment using the comment feature. If you would like your email added to get daily devotions written by us and our peers, please email highley07@missouristate.edu

This is the first daily little devotional. Hope it focuses your day on God in the morning or whenever you read it.

Sunday 1/23/11
Philippians 4:6
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Basketball games can be tense times if you are a big fan. One seems to live and die with every made or missed shot. Its certainly easy to get anxious and nervous watching some games. In watching basketball this seems to be okay, as its part of the fan experience. In life it is not.

We have a God who Himself bore every burden we could ever have to the cross on calvary. We truly have nothing left to be anxious about that he hasn't already borne for us. The solution and alternative is to pray and talk to God about that with which we are worried..

in sports, when worries and hardship overwhelm, one must sometimes rely on a "Hail Mary" pass or basket. In life, we can always rely on Christ.

Prayer: Lord, when we want to set our sights on the problems we face, let us instead fix eyes on your only begotten Son who died for each of us. Amen

Monday 1/24/2011

Dan's Post

Isaiah 61:1a

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. “

The sermon yesterday was all about darkness and who to shine your light to, and where Jesus set up shop (so to speak). The pastor continued to remind us that Christ set up shop in a dark spot because those in darkness are the ones who need to be reached.

The pastor was from our sister congregation in the city and he was telling us all about the location of the church and the drug deals that go on down the street and the homeless and how they were put there for a reason, and how each of us is put where we are for a reason.

The book of Isaiah tells us to “proclaim the good news to the poor”. Not just those lacking income, but poor meaning those living in the darkness. I pray that each of us strives to shine as a light to all individuals, but especially to those who remain in the darkness.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are the Light of the World, help us to walk in your light and to shine as a light to those we come into contact with. Amen.

Tuesday 1/25/11

Written through Jason Highley

The God of Beginnings

Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.”

Many people want to label Genesis as a tale about our origins. I prefer to think of it as a story of beginnings. After all, Genesis is no canonized Origin of Species. It won’t put to rest the evolution argument, it doesn’t have much to say about geology or astronomy, and it certainly treads non-politically-correct ground when it comes to sexes. But those who would attempt to vivisect Genesis as a tale of origins focus too much on our own significance, and lose sight of the cosmic nature of our God.

On December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 transmitted video from their lunar orbit to the earth. In that transmission, the world saw it’s first “earthrise” (with accompanying audio from the first 10 verses of Genesis) and realized just how small we really are. Astronaut Jim Lovell tried to put thoughts into words and remarked, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." I don’t know that any of us have felt as alone as Jim Lovell did, seeing the only world he knew as a small blue sphere rolling through the void. But awe-inspiring it certainly was, because it reminds us of that basic truth that is more and more frequently neglected – God is really, really powerful.

I often feel that we as a society have lost touch with this God - the God of Genesis. After all, we “created” iPods, Android phones, the Motorola Xoom, and Xbox Kinect. The whole question of us - as affluent Americans - getting anything we truly “need” from scripture can start to feel laughable as we exercise our power to order anything from Amazon with two touches. It seems sometimes that what we really want is for God to acknowledge that we are the creators now. Just give us Jesus and all his feel-good talk about love and redemption, and leave the crazy, unpredictable pillar of fire from Exodus at home with our Palm Pilots. But our God is not tame, not watered-down, not packaged up inside our comfort zones. He is wild and miraculous. Next time you start to doubt God’s power to accomplish his will in your life, look up at the moon and ask yourself, “Who imagined that this whole world would be, and made it just so?”

Prayer: Lord, you are mighty and awesome. I trust you with everything that I am and everything that I will do. As your breath moved over the surface of the waters in Genesis, so let it move over the waters of my life, that you can create in me a clean and powerful heart, capable of doing your will. Amen.

Wednesday 1/26/11

Written through Liz Marler

This may be a girl thing, but I know EVERY single clothing item that I own. When I turned 13, I began to purchase my own clothing with my own money and became much more possessive over my belongings. Right now, I have a beautiful black cardigan with pearly white buttons from Old Navy that is missing. I wore it literally two times and then it disappeared. It was one of my favorite sweaters to wear! And now, it's GONE. If any of you happen to know where it is, please tell me...although, this WAS three years ago......:)

This situation may seem not to apply to most of you (who are men) and it may seem extremely dramatic for something so unimportant, but it relates to your very own life. Lucky for you, you are the classy Old Navy cardigan! :) We are specifically chosen by God to be his children (you feel free to substitute cardigan for children if that would make it better). God sent his most precious gift, his son, Jesus, as a price to pay for our sins so we could be God's belongings and His children! And He knows us all and never forgets even one. What a promising thought to "hang out" in God's closet/Kingdom!

Unfortunately, sin and the devil (or a night out on the town) draws us away from the secure hand of God. We tend to get lost very easily due to many worldly distractions and temptations. Unlike myself, God does NOT give up on his lost children. Just as in the story of the lost sheep in Luke, our Shepard would leave his 99 sheep to come and look for the one, lonely sheep.

Luke 15:4 (KJV)
"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doth not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it?"

"I once was lost, but now I'm found..." <--Amazing Grace may never have been sung by my cardigan, but it is sung daily by Christians around the world, who give thanks to their heavenly father for finding them in a world of darkness. I know I would most certainly wear and use my cardigan as much as Mr. Rogers did if I had it back. Similarly, God uses all of our talents and gifts to spread his Word in this lost world. We are FOUND! Praise God! Prayer: My gracious Shepard, thank you for choosing and finding me in this dark and fallen world. Forgive me for all the times I have hidden from you or your Word. Please give me the energy and strength to use my gifts and talents to praise you all the days of my life. Amen. AUTHOR'S NOTE: {I began to think of Lost and Found after seeing the concert at River of Life on Sunday. The men stress that the most important word in their name is "AND". They did an excellent job by the way...}

Thursday1/27/11

Devotion 1/27/11
Through Neil Harrington

Good morning everyone!

I don't know about you all, but it has been a long week that won't seem to end. I am definitely looking forward to the weekend that's for sure! ( and hopefully a Bears victory over UNI! :) One thing that has got me through this week is staying in the word and praying daily. I'm going to focus on the aspect of prayer for today. A lot of times it's hard to know how to pray or even what order to pray. The bible is clear that we need to pray in all that we do. Paul says in his letter to the church in Ephesus, "Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere." Clearly Paul says to pray at all times and on every occasion. So that means not just your "morning prayer" or evening prayer before you get tucked in! He means throughout the day we should be in constant contact with our Lord. The second part of that verse is where fall short at, including myself at times. Paul says stay alert and persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. What Paul is to pray for others and not just yourself. It is definitely important to pray for yourself and give your needs to the Lord, but the focus of praying shouldn't be "ME". Jesus gives us the perfect example on how to pray. "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." Matthew 6:9-13. What does all that mean exactly?! Does that mean we are to pray those exact words every time we pray? No, that is not the case. Jesus was giving us an outline of how to approach praying and that we should pray for all things according to His will. There was a great way to approach prayer that my pastor taught me and easy to remember and to understand. A wonderful acronym for prayer that I learned from my pastor is ACTS. So four basic aspects of prayer:



Adoration (is to adore God, to worship Him and to fulfill the commandment to love Him with all of our heart, mind and soul. As we spend time in adoration, we praise God for who He is - our Creator, our Sustainer and our Redeemer.)



Confession ( allows us to clear away the things in the relationship between you and God which are displeasing to Him. All of us have sinned.The Apostle John writes in his epistle "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:8,9)



Thanksgiving( From childhood we are brought up to say "Thank You" when someone does something for us, or gives us a gift. Each moment God is blessing us, every minute we can recall the wonderful things that God has done for us, and the gifts that we have been given. And so, we need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings. In writing to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that we also need to be giving thanks for everyday, worldly things.



Submission( Finally we come to ask God for our needs and the needs of others. There are many demands on our prayer time - many topics and issues that we could pray for, so we need to choose, and to be specific).



I guarantee if we follow this way of prayer then it will make a huge difference in our lives.



Prayer for the day: Heavenly Father, thank you for all of your continued blessings and all that you do for us. Most importantly thank You for who You are and for what you have done for us. Guide us the rest of the week as we go in our daily lives and to shine the light of Jesus in all we do. Help us to be more caring for others and not to be selfish in things we do, including prayer. We love You and praise You and we do this the name of Christ Jesus, Amen.



As always, please visit twomenandabible.blogspot.com to comment on this or any other devotion

Devotion Friday 1/28/11

Through Colten Highley

Like Neil, I also chose to write about prayer. Neil covered the topic very well, but hopefully I can explain it a little further. Mine is more of an example of how not to pray, and why we don’t always get what we want.

“You do not have, because you do not ask God. And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask for the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. “- James 4:3

When I was in 4^th grade, I received my first pair of glasses. At the time, I hated it and thought it was the worst thing in my life. I prayed and prayed that I wouldn’t have to wear them. It seems ridiculously silly now, but I tried to rationalize my thoughts with God-

Just think, if I woke up tomorrow and had 20/20 vision, how great of a miracle that would be! I would tell everyone how I was healed, and it would lead more people to Jesus!

Looking back now, I understand why those prayers weren’t answered, or haven’t been answered yet. God had better plans in mind for me. As the Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) God chose not to restore my sight, so that I might learn to rely on grace. I look forward to being in heaven where I shall see with clarity- “And I- in righteousness I will see your face, when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” (Psalm 17:15)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for your many blessings. Great is your faithfulness; your mercies are new every morning. Help us to make your motives our motives. Help us to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Thy will be done. Amen.

As always, please visit twomenandabible.blogspot.com to comment on the devotionals. Coming to you tomorrow is Cody Seidel

Saturday 1/29/11

Through Cody Seidel

I was listening to a song on the radio on Wednesday. This song is by Carrie Underwood, a country singer. I have put this last verse and refrain here which I have always found very interesting.

Old man, hospital bed / The room is filled with people he loves / And he whispers, “Don’t cry for me, I’ll see you all someday / He looks up and says, “I can see God’s face” / “This is my temporary home, it’s not where I belong/ Windows and rooms that I am passing through/ This was just a stop on the way to where I’m going/ I’m not afraid because I know this was my temporary home.” This is our temporary home.

An old man understands that our lives here on this Earth are just temporary. We are all living in His creation, using everything that He has given us. Even though we do not thank him for every single thing that has been given to us, he knows what is truly on our hearts. I believe we all appreciate the lives God has given us, and we should thank him for that by living our lives the way that He wants us to. We should be ready for that day because it can come at any time. A question you can ask yourself is, “If I were to die tomorrow, would I be ready?” The old man was ready to die because he knew that this place, our bodies, and everything in general is just a temporary place. John 14: 2-3 says “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. The absolute best place is awaiting us in heaven, and our names are written in the Book of Life. Yes, it can be scary, but I take great comfort in knowing that our names are written in the book, and God has loved has since before we were even born. He will continue to love us always!!! Oh how I cannot wait to be there, and be in His glory until the end of time.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for everything you have given us, from the most complex things to the simplest ones. You are truly great and awesome!! You have cared for us, and done so much for us. Help us to be better missionaries for you, and tell the world what you have done. Keep us safe through the weekend, and be with us always. In your holy name, Amen.

"Child of the Light"

A couple Sundays ago we sang a hymn titled, “I want to walk as a child of the Light.” I didn’t think too much of it that Sunday morning, I knew I hadn’t heard it before but I liked it. Then as I arrived at work today it hit me why. Let me explain:

Most days at work I do the same things, spend time on the floor helping customers, managing to ensure the store runs smoothly, ordering product and adhering to any other tasks the director asks of (just to name a few things). Today was different though, the boss asked everyone to review the Crisis Management binder. As you can imagine the binder has all the information to help you out if any sort of a disaster were to strike. We looked at everything from shoplifters, to injured customers to bad weather and the results of it. At that time I remembered how a few months back I was walking the store and all of a sudden the power was out, and the back-up generator didn’t kick on. I was standing in unfamiliar territory, no power, which means no lights to guide our way. I had to find a flashlight. That’s when the song hit me. “I want to walk as a child of the Light,” I was walking around the unlit store, with merely one little light leading my path, directing me so I didn’t run into things.

“I want to walk as a child of the Light, I want to follow Jesus.” Life brings all sorts of interesting situations, some good and some bad, but in all of them we need to follow Jesus. In all times, we need to shine as a light and in the good times, thank God for all He does for us. In the bad we need to trust His Word and know that when we don’t know where we are or what to do or where we are going (much like being in a store without power and only a flashlight) that He will guide us. We know that he has a plan for us, and that His plan is not to harm us and not to lead us astray, but rather a plan to lead us through life (Jeremiah 29). Through the thick and thin He is there for us.

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” is how Jesus responds in the book of John. The world is a big place and not everyone knows him as the Way, Truth and Life. So my question for you is, are you walking as a child of the Light so that others can see God’s work in you? And are you using the Word as your Crisis Management book, not only in the bad times but in the good times as well?

Sojourn

According to dictionary.com, sojourn means, "a temporary stay"

The word "sojourn" appeared in several of the daily verses that I got the other day. was

One of these verses was 1 Peter 2:11 "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul."

Another instance was Psalm 15 "O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?..."

Now certainly there were many good points and thoughts in these verses and the other verses I got that day. The thing that stood out to me was the sojourn part. A familiar hymn that I love comes to mind, "I am but a stranger here, heaven is my home." We are all exile, travelers, wanders, on this earth. In the first verse that I particularly like that we are then urged to abstain from passions of the flesh.

Not only are we wanders, we are in a war against the forces of this world. Just because we are wandering and lost in this world, it doesn't mean we should give in to it and live for its pleasure.

The great message then from Psalms, is taht we will get to spend time and live in God's house, not as visitors or wanderers, but as sons and daughters coming home eto live with the Father.

Blessing, peace and joy

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

"7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."

To me, this passage has many messages, but one also very simple one: live life. Enjoy the simple things. Enjoy the complex things. Enjoy the blessings that are physically present. Have a glass of wine, and drink it joyfully (don't mind if I do), chew your food with a smile on your face (and your mouth hopefully closed). No we don't have to be clothed literally in white, or put oil on our heads, particularly car oil, you might be viewed a bit oddly if you do that.

I think what it is saying there though, is that we should do our daily tasks, we should enjoy life, but we should do so with a pure heart and a pure lifestyle, hence the always being clothed in white. Always remaining spiritually clean, and keeping an upward reminder on our heads and minds.

We are also told to enjoy life with our wives, or for you wives, your husbands. For someone like me with no wife or girl friend or significant other to speak of, I think it means to enjoy our lives with our family and friends.

Put simply, this is life, there is not more to this life. We are living this life to prepare ourselves for our eternal life hopefully with God. Thankfully that is so, I cannot imagine my depression if I knew that this life was all there was and nothing more. In this life though, we are born, we grow, we work, we meet people, we grow old, and we die. That is life. How many people can you name from 100 years ago? How many people can you name from 500 years ago? How about 1,000? How about 3,000? Even our most significant actions in this world are but a speck on the world at large.

If this is all life is then, we are told to take joy in it. The daily mundane tasks we do, and the people we see every day that we maybe take for granted for just being there on a consistent basis. Take joy and gladness in this. And my favorite verse from this, "whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might." We only have a little while on this earth, when we are dead it is too late to do anything here, so whatever it is that is your calling, the millions of things that could possibly be, do it with all your might. Don't be afraid to try, to "fail."

Find what you enjoy, find what you are good at, and do it with all your might. Put a smile on your face, and praise God for each day, because one day, there will be no more days left for you.

2 Corinthians 4:6-10

We are young,
No one can tell us we're wrong
Searching our hearts for so lo-o-o-o-ng
Both of us knowing
Love is battlefield

The timeless song from Pat Benatar, love truly is a battlefield. Life truly is a battlefield. Sometimes us younger generation can be looked down upon because we are young. Paul says, "let no one look down upon you because you are young." The young and the old both know though, that love and life is a battlefield. It doesn't take much to see that.

"6For God who said, "let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry aroudn in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

In this fight, we are hard pressed. At times it really seems like we are losing. Though it seems like we are knocked out, we aren't. God is on our side, and if He is for us, who can be against us? We may seem weak, tired, and heavy laden, but we have not lost the fight. Nay, we have already won, for we are more than conquerers! We are soldiers in a spiritual and physical war. Alone or together we would be lost, rejected, overcome. But we have a powerful God who fights on our side, and we equips us with weapons of the Spirit.

He gives us His light, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. He gives us the breastplate of righteousness, and the sword of truth. For those of you familiar with the Lord of the Rings, especially the book, all are in fear of the Nazgul, the Nine Riders. One of the hobbits however makes the comment, that although they have the Nine, we have the One, the White Rider, who is better than any Nine. So Christ is our White Rider. He leads us forth into battle, the battle against darkness of all kinds.

It doesn't have to be epic darkness either, though that is certainly the kind I enjoy reading and thinking about. It can also be daily darkness, the darkness of a continuing doubt. The darkness of an illness in the family. The darkness of a continuing sin. The darkness of confusion and worry. Christ's light penetrates all these darknesses though. "for the light shines through the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:4)

In the end though, epic or not, it is a struggle, a daily struggle, and an eternal struggle until Christ comes again. We already know who wins though, so we may fight with a smile on our faces and love in our hearts towards our fellow man, woman and child, knowing that Christ's is a love that conquers all battle fields. I leave you with these lyrics:

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God,
A sword and shield victorious;
He breaks teh cruel oppressor's rod
And wins salvaton glorious.
The old satanic foe
Has sworn to work us woe.
With craft and dreadful might
He arms himself to fight.
On earth he has no equal.

No strenght of ours can match his might.
We would be lost rejected.
But now a champion comes to fight,
Whom God himself elected.
You ask who this may be?
The Lord of hosts is he,
Christ Jesus, mighty Lord,
God's only Son, adored.
He holds the field victorious.

Though hordes of devils fill the land
All threat'ning to devour us,
We tremble not, unmoved we stand;
They cannot overpow'r us.
Let this worlds tryant rage;
In battle we'll engage.
His might is doomed to fail;
God's judgment must prevail!
One little word subdues him.

God's Word forever shall abide,
No thanks to foes who fear it;
For God himself fights by our side
With weapons of the Spirit.
Were they to take our house,
Goods, honor, child, or spouse,
Though life be wrenched away,
They cannot win the day.
The Kingdom's ours forever!

Amen.

John 16:33

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

It has been a long time since I have written on this. I will admit, I don't have anything particularly epic or profound to say. I also don't feel any specific urging to write a specific piece like I would normally feel to write a blog post or whatnot. Instead, I just feel like it would be good for me to write something, and maybe something that I need to hear myself. In essence, I am the intended audience of this piece. Maybe you can get something out of it too.

Christ died for our sins. That much I believe. Those who believe that are promised eternal life. This too do I believe. Where does that leave us in this life though. What about right now? For right now, Christ promises us trouble. It is not that we might have trouble, we WILL have trouble.

Most of the time when I think about this I think of external trouble, someone dying, being faced with a tough decision, being hurt by someone, etc. Over the past little while in my life though, I am beginning to look at it as not just external trouble, but also internal trouble. Not just for the trouble that others cause us, and circumstances cause us, but the trouble that we cause ourselves.

We are all sinful and unclean and all fall short of the glory of God, so we are told many times in the Bible. I think what Jesus is also telling us here, is not only will we face persecution and struggle from the outside, but we will also face it on account of our own sin. Think of 3 mistakes you've made, not just in your life, but in the past month, the past week, even the past day. How did these mistakes negatively affect your life? Did they get you into a difficult situation? Did they cause you heartache and pain? Did they harm you in any way?

I feel like in this passage, Christ is offering us peace. We will not always have this peace, because sometimes we reject it. But when we allow Christ to put himself into our lives, and when we take the focus off of ourselves and place it on Christ, he can fill us with His peace in any situation we create for ourselves. Any situation. Any situation. I feel like I need to just keep saying that to myself over and over....

Not only do we have peace though, we can take heart, that Christ has overcome the world! We are baptized into death with him, and so also experience new life with him and we too overcome the world! We conquer the world. In fact, we more than conquer the world! "In all things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Rom 8:37) (video coming soon, check back)

Grace, and PEACE to each of you through Christ our Lord, regardless of what you face, of what you do, of how bad it is, Christ loves you, and His is a love that really does triumph over all.

Matthew 10:32

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”

I have had many opportunities lately to speak with friends and others about my faith. I seem to get many questions regarding Biblical topics and verses and how they are related to today. Thankfully I have contact with some great pastors who help me out when I don’t know the answer. There is another set of opportunities that I have had lately as well. I have been blessed with the opportunity to follow Pastor Maas around on a few occasions as well as just speaking with both he and Pastor Sippy. They have given me great insights as well as suggestions. The best though has been a question. We were talking about how I am not very outgoing and that is something that I believe I need to work on. But more specifically I want to work on being more open to sharing the Gospel message. That is where the question was asked of me. It hit me and I really didn’t have an answer that made any sense what so ever. The question was:

What have you got to lose?

. . . Think about that question for a minute.

There are many ways that the question can apply to you. Everything from possessions to attributes, but I want to look at it in a different way, and at the end I will pose the question to you.

Out of many of the things I have taken away from the pastors one that continually sticks in my mind is this. The only way for those who don’t know about Jesus to find out about Him is to hear about Jesus. After thinking on the question for quite some time, I realized that if I continue to pass up opportunities to share the Word I am not giving everyone the opportunity to know Jesus. I wish we were capable of sharing with every individual we come into contact with. Unfortunately the way the world is with all its hustle and bustle that just isn’t the case. But when the opportunity does present itself why not seize it?

Going back to the opportunities I have had with both pastors. I got to go on visitations with Pastor Maas to the nursing homes (which I mentioned before). And one of the individuals we visited shared with us how God has granted him the opportunity to share with those around him even in the home. I saw a news story of a little girl who drew pictures when she was younger of helping the less fortunate and now, God has led her to open facilities and fundraisers to help these people. Everyone is capable of sharing at any age. From little kids, to the retired in nursing homes. That’s what brings me to the verse I first mentioned. Matthew 10:32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” This passage in Matthew states it pretty clearly. If you acknowledge Christ here on Earth, so will Christ do the same for you in heaven. So let me pose the question once again:

What have you got to lose?

I realized the answer is nothing. Sharing the Word of God with someone is a privilege and can’t be taken away from us. Just because someone is not open to coming to Christ doesn’t mean that we will lose our faith because they don’t want to join us. It doesn’t mean that our faith struggles because we don’t bring each individual to our family of brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s not easy to share the Word. It can be difficult and nerve wrecking, but one thing it is, is satisfying. Sharing the Word of God is a blessing. It is your faith, and you have nothing to lose by sharing it. I pray that each of you will strive to share with others more, knowing that it can help you build your faith, and hopefully spark the faith of another.

Psalm 139

“O Lord, you have searched me, and you know me.”

A few items came across my desk, so to speak, this past week. Two of which I would like to look at. The first was on the internet, via facebook. The newsfeed said “How well do you know _______?” then listed various people’s names. I took a quiz or two and found that some people I knew better than others, and some, well, I really didn’t know well at all. Some friends I have known for years and barely know, others I have only recently met and know tons about. Family is the same way, some you know better than others. What about yourself? How well do others know you? Most importantly how well do you know you? I bet you are thinking that you know more about yourself than anyone else. I’m sorry but that most certainly is NOT the case. I’ll explain a bit later.

The other item was a book given to me at confirmation, which I unfortunately forgot I ever received. The book is entitled “Friends” and is written by a Christian singer, Michael Smith. The book talks about some of his good and bad times in life, and gives many Scriptural references throughout filling most of its pages. Seeing as I had forgotten about the book and really didn’t know that I had it, I began reading. In the first few minutes of reading Psalm 139 came about and according to Smith this particular Psalm is a great handful of verses to memorize if that is something you are striving to do. In his book he speaks of friends and relationships in general. As the book continues to unfold he talks about Colossians 1 and its vivid picture of Christ. I encourage you to check these verses out. But then he talks about his “Friends” tour and speaks of Psalm 139. When he quoted it he said that at times, you could hear pins drop. After going through and reading the Psalm a few times I can really see why.

The Psalm begins, “O LORD, you have searched me, and you know me.” Wow. It only gets better though. Let me show you how well Christ knows you. Verse 2 says that He knows when you sit, and stand. He also knows your thoughts far in advance. Verse 3 He knows when you go out, and when you lay down. Christ is familiar with all your ways. The list goes on and on. He knows when you will say things before you say them. In verse 6 the psalmist actually admits that the amount of knowledge that Christ has for us is too lofty to attain. There is absolutely no way that we can hide from God. In fact, it is His eyes that are leading us in life. Are you looking to Him for guidance and direction in all of your decisions?

Take a look at verses 9 and 10. No matter where you go, Christ will continue to hold fast to you. When you are in your highest of highs and your lowest of lows Christ is always there. Friends and family come and go. Sometimes when times get tough you feel alone, I tell you, you’re not. Someone who knows you better and listens to your every word is always there for you. It is someone who knew you before you were even born, who formed you in your mothers womb. So when you feel alone, sad, depressed, frustrated, happy, jubilant, who is it that you go to talk to? Do you go to your best friend, your brother or sister, your mom, dad, friend or other family member? I pray that each and every one of us can look to these people, but more importantly be in constant conversation with God. He knows you best; He knows your ways, your thoughts, and what you will say. Let Him guide you in all your ways.

So back to those things that came across my desk. The book has been beneficial and has helped me to get into the Word even more so, and focus more on my relationships with people here on Earth. And the quizzes online, well it has reminded me that no one knows me better than Christ. So even though I may not know everything about some of my friends, how about I do make one thing perfectly clear with them all, and that is my Savior knows me best, and I strive to know Him better every day. I hope that each and every one of us can look to Christ more for guidance, especially in our relationships, that we may build them upon His firm foundation.