Day 89: Receptive to Him

Reading: Psalm 38:13-22

Through David, we are able to see someone who suffered through all kinds of trial and hardship. It can be quite easy to relate to David when we are facing troubles of our own. Maybe you can even relate with how he cries out to God in overwhelming emotion. David shows us a certain pattern of crying out to God when he is in need of rescue. He:

A- Asks: He cries out to God in the first place, asking for His help and rescue. This is an important first step in waiting for God's rescue. I think a lot of Christians especially assume that God will just come, and that is a great act of faith, but remember that faith without actions is dead. Asking God for help is an act of humility we all need to take.

C- Confess: We need to come humble before God, confessing our downfall and the traps we fall into. 

T-Trust: Finally, we need to put our trust in The Lord to get us through the trials. 

An example of this was when I was trying to decide if I should go to the Dominican Republic this year on missions, and it had become an agonizing decision for me, as the human mind can't grasp the greatness of God and His work. I finally asked God to make it clear what I should do, and prayed fervently over it, as well as had some close friends and relatives pray for me too. I confessed to God that I was scared and didn't know what would happen if I did go, especially now that I'm leaving my husband at home. Finally, after much prayer and advice, I decided to take the leap and go. It was a tough decision for me but I told God, "alright, I trust in You to take care of the things I'm worried about and to do Your work through me." I am so glad I went as I got to experience God in new ways. Just be sure to go to Him in times of hardship and direction.

Reading: Luke 8:1-18

Jesus compared His ministry a lot to the sowing of seeds and harvesting. In this reading, we see the different types of hearts that the Word encounters. The seeds are the Word and the ground it lands on is the heart. We see what happens when the seeds fall on different types of soil. 

People who hear the Word, but quickly write it off as fiction or nonsense are like the seeds that land on the pavement or the road. The fruit will never have a chance to grow.

People who hear the Word and are excited about it for a little while, but it wears away from their lives are like the seeds that land among rocks. They might begin to grow, but never have that deep enough root to maintain fruit. The people here may just move on to the next fad and find something new to excite them.

People who hear the Word, but are too busy with life's agendas and worries to consistently stay in it, are like the seeds among thorns. The seeds grow, but they are chocked out by thorns and weeds. I feel as if this is the most common form of seed in America, as we are a land of busyness and worry. 

But then there are people who are like the seeds who land in good soil. The Word is receptor by a willing, open heart that casts it's worries on God and sets proper priorities. They stay with it through all of life's trials, and they begin to produce fruit. 

Which type of ground are your seeds of God's Word getting sown onto? Be receptive and open to God's Word, and make sure you make it a priority. 

Reading: Numbers 27:12-29:11

Celebration of holiness and sacredness of The Lord was indeed a form of worship in Moses' time, and it shows how worshipful we should be towards our God today. Many of our Christian holidays have become so commercialized and seem to have lost their original meaning. Leaving Christ in Christmas and Jesus in Easter is a way of worshiping what He has done for us. When we start making it about ourselves, we lose the sacredness of of what it's truly about. Don't let the commercialism take over the true meaning of the celebration meant for Christ and what He's done for us.

So where are you in the faith? Where do you turn in times of trouble? What kind of heart do you have when you take in God's Word? What does He mean to you during worshipful celebration? Allow Him to work in you by turning to Him.

Day 88: Practices of a Follower

Reading: Proverbs 8:12-21

Follow with Wisdom

Everyday we make a choice to follow God or not in different ways. Wisdom is one of those ways. There are many traits to wisdom that make it so valuable. Wisdom helps you to be a good leader, as you make good decisions and do what is best for the people you lead. Wisdom is pure. It hates perverseness, arrogance and evil behavior. When your life is full of these things, you don't have wisdom. Wisdom comes from God. Respecting God is a way to get wisdom. And wisdom is there for all who seek it. Search hard for wisdom, as it is valuable to you and your life. 

Reading: Luke 7:36-50

Follow with Love

We see an incredible outpouring of love in this reading. When a woman, considered immoral and shameful by society because of her past, comes and pours expensive perfume over Jesus' feet, we can see the outpouring of love she has for Jesus. Though her past is dark, she knows she needs the forgiveness of God. The irony of it is that she is criticized for her actions by a Pharisee, a religious man. There are so many examples of how our knowledge of religion means nothing compared to the actions of our faith. We are all sinners in need of a Savior, not saints in need of rituals. When we show a deep, overwhelming love for God, we show the humility of ourselves and show our need for forgiveness. Our outpouring of love to God and others shows our commitment to Him. When we are followers of God, our love will show it. As the song goes, "they'll know we are Christians by our love..." This woman in the reading gets it and shows her love deeply, no matter what the religious men say. Showing your love no matter how much criticism you receive will show the world Who you serve indeed.

Reading: Numbers 26:12-27:11

Follow with Consultation 

The people of Moses' time had their share of arguing and issues to resolve. Luckily for them, they had Moses to seek out the advise of God. He always turned to The Lord when He was in need of sorting through the various situations that came up among the people. We see in this reading yet another example of Moses consulting with God on the rights of the women at the time in carrying on the family property. Moses had a very open mind when dealing with the requests and issues of the people. He sought out council from God, listening only to Him.

As we learn and strive to follow Him, we need to learn this practice from Moses in listening to God's advice instead of worldly advice. When we face troubles and issues, we need to learn to bring them to God and wait for His direction before taking matters into our own hands. 

Following God takes work and commitment. We can follow Him with wisdom, with love and with consulting with Him when issues come our way. Learning to rely on these characteristics of a follower of Christ will help you to grow in Him. Take some lessons from the examples today. 

Day 87: Tests

Reading: Psalm 38:1-12

Maybe you have felt like David at some point in your life. I'm sure we've all experienced a low that we felt like we'd never get out of, whether it was in health, relationships, sin, etc. maybe you've had to feel consequences of a sin you fell into. Though you may not have gotten ill like David, you may have damaged a relationship, ruined an opportunity or hurt yourself in the process. We see how David suffers in guilt and sickness, feeling the wrath of God. Many times our sin causes us to deal with the aftermath of it. God may not just reach down and curse you for swearing or lying, but we form our own consequences to doing these things. Even if we get away with it now and then, we can't say we have a clean conscious. Cry out to God in these times of suffering in sin and traps that come up in life. He's listening, and He is always ready to welcome you back with open arms. 

Reading: Luke 7:11-35

We will face tests in life. Not only ones like David had to face, but ones like Jesus had to face in this reading. Jesus saw a need as a mourning widow stood beside the coffin of her last son. Jesus felt strong compassion on the woman and He raised her son from the dead. When you see a need, what do you do? Certainly you can't raise someone from the dead, but what do you do when you see someone poor and in need on the street? Or someone needing help carrying something? Are you a spectator or someone that takes action and problem solves? Jesus tells us to take action and be available for those in need. 

Another aspect to this reading is criticism. Jesus is criticized for who He eats with. This could be similar to a school bullying scenario. We see how Jesus handles it, though. He doesn't care what people think. What does this tell us about how we reach out? Especially in school towards kids who may not be accepted by others? This is certainly a test, and takes faith. Outreach isn't just intended for people we are comfortable with serving, but one of the main points is to get out of your comfort zone and help. Not only will it be a blessing to the ones you serve, but it will be a huge blessing to you.

Reading: Numbers 23:27-26:11

We see another kind of test in this reading in that of temptation. Balaam, who is quite a wild card when it comes to following the ways of The Lord, refuses to curse Israel, and doesn't give into the temptation of the reward Balak offers him for cursing them. He does what The Lord tells him. 

But then we see how the men of Israel give into the ways of the Moabites, having sex with their women and worshiping their gods. This, obviously, makes God livid, and many are killed as a result of the wrath He poured out on the people. 

We have read again and again just how dangerous temptation is. Though in today's world, we may not get struck by lightning when we anger God, we still have to live with the consequences of our actions, as we talked about in the Psalm passage today. 

In life, we face all sorts of tests. We face the tests of sin and temptation. We face the test of faith and taking action. We face the test of criticism when trying to do right. How will you deal with the tests that come your way? 

Day 86: Messengers

Reading: Psalm 37:32-40

When we are messengers for God, we need to remember what God is about. Sounds pretty obvious, but how many leaders actually have time for a daily quiet time? How many actually get into His Word on a daily basis? I bet there are quite a few, but I can also bet that there are some who don't. One of the keys of being a messenger of God is staying on His path, and knowing the difference between His values and the world's. Keeping in the Word and in quiet time with Him are ways to do this.

Messengers of God also do everything to promote peace. They strive to bring unity through Christ. All their messages are out of love, and never hate. When we as messengers promote peace among people, we gain trust and understanding about who God is. People don't care what you think until the can see how much you care. Care for people and where they are at before cramming the gospel down their throat. You can show them Christ no matter what the language barrier is by simply loving. You don't have to agree with their lifestyle, but you still need to love. Bring peace, don't cause division.

Reading: Luke 6:37-7:10

Another major aspect of being a good messenger of God is to check your faults before pointing out others' faults. When you are trying to bring the love of God to someone, but jump all over them about something bad in their life, I highly doubt they will listen to you past the blame. Judge and you will be judged by an even greater Judge. When you experience the ultimate patience God gives you as you work through your own faults, you can only then begin to help others with their's. 

Forgive. Forgive even when the other end isn't sorry. This will save you from wasted time on anger and sadness. When you forgive the other person, that then is on them, and no longer your worry. Truly forgive. Don't just say it and not mean it. If you do this, you'll be drinking your own poison anyway.

Give your life away. Don't live for the here and now, or for what the world is offering you. Invest in something a little more with Christ and His mission. When you pour into your own personal gain, you might be happy in the moment, but when you pour into something eternal, you'll be happy eternally.

Look to your Godly examples and mentors. When striving to be a teacher and messenger for Christ, pay attention to what the people you looked up to did. Notice their gifts and how they used them. Ultimately, look to what Jesus did, as He is the example for all.

Guard your heart. Whatever you put in is what will come our, so guard what you listen to, what you watch, what you read and who you hang out with. If you're striving to live a life running after God, you really need to be set apart from what the rest of this world does. Be in the world, but not of it.

Obey the Word. We see what happens to foundations that don't apply the Word. When storms come, you will either be firm in the faith and get through it just fine, or you'll write off everything you heard and read in the Word and crumble when storms come. True wisdom comes from application of the Word. 

Be in Authority. We are all called and authorized as Christians to be messengers. God promises the Holy Spirit to His followers. When we are authorized by God, we will be led and guided. Remember who you are in Christ and know He is with you each step of the way. 

Reading: Numbers 22:21-23:26

As followers and messengers of Christ, we need to pay attention to His guidance, as the Holy Spirit does for Balaam here. It took three attempts for Balaam to finally realize he wasn't to go where he was going. And beyond that, it took a talking donkey! Balaam tries to make it right by only speaking what The Lord tells him to speak. Instead of cursing Israel, he blesses them, doing only as The Lord tells him to as he speaks. There is something to be learned when we don't listen to God's instruction and try to do our own thing. Though He may not put an angel in our path and make a donkey talk to us, He will get His message out. The question is will you follow Him, or do your own thing? Messengers of Christ should strive to follow Him and His instructions, or they might find themselves down a disastrous path.

Being a messenger for Christ takes discipline and steady following of Him. You need to carry traits and tools that a messenger of Christ would carry, such as forgiveness, love, obedience and others we reviewed today. Will you choose to follow and serve Him, or do your own thing and serve yourself?

Day 85: Givers and Takers

Reading: Psalm 37:21-31

There is a strong difference between the righteous and the godly according to this passage. Givers and takers. In life, it is inevitable that you will come across both at some point. There are those who may approach you and you know you can expect good to come out of your time together. You will be poured into by that person, and you may feel mutual about pouring into them. Then there are people you may know who will want to get together who take. They might demean the way you do something, stretch you thin on time, or drain you financially, but you never quite feel as confident about meeting with them.
The question that remains then is, which person are you? When you see yourself through the eyes of others, do you encourage them, or drain them? What evidence do you have to tell you either way? I'm sure we all have moments of being both types of people at some points, but overall, where do you fall on the scale?


Reading: Luke 6:12-36

Being generous to those we love and even like is one thing, but being generous and giving to those we may despise and who may despise us is a whole other concept to grasp. When Jesus begins His sermon on the mount here, we read it began with being generous. This is so important to God, no matter who we feel like being generous to or not. Jesus offers up some pretty crazy-sounding words when He talks about giving someone who steals from you more, or turning your cheek to someone who slaps the other one. This could be very hard for people to grasp. When we come from a society of moving ourselves up the ladder and trying to get all we can to achieve success, it may seem near impossible to be generous to the people who try to get on our way of doing that. Jesus says to reach out to the people who we feel take away from us. Give them more. This is an absolute insane concept to our society. Why would we ever help our enemies achieve? However, when we look back at the passage in Psalms we read today, we are reminded of the people we need to be. And Jesus reiterate this here.


Reading: Numbers 21:4-22:20

The people of Israel had still not learned their lesson about complaining. God once again punishes them for their lack of faith, this time with poisonous snakes. Once the people admit their wrongdoing, the snakes are taken away and God gives the people who were bitten a chance to live by looking at a bronze snake up on a pole. This symbol is very similar to that of looking to Jesus on the cross to save us from the poison in our lives. We can spend our lives as takers, and God may teach us a lesson here and there, but in the end, we can repent and look to Him, the Giver of life. When we turn to Him, that is the beginning of a new life of giving. Giving to others, giving to Him. Living a life in Him is living a life of giving back. The people of Israel had to struggle with this over and over again, even after seeing God's greatness many times. We as Christians will struggle with this over and over. But much like the Israelites were continued to be led by God, and never left by Him, God will never leave us, no matter how many times we fail.


We quickly learn in life that there are two types of people- the givers and the takers. We can be either of those at any given time, but when we fail, we can see that God is always there to pick us up again and lead us in a life of giving. May we strive to be the givers of the world, and keep giving to even those who may continue to take.

Day 84: Mind Games

Reading: Proverbs 8:1-11

When we read of how important wisdom is (and we know it is, because Proverbs is devoted to it), we need to realize that striving for wisdom is much more important than striving for the gratifications of this world. It is called "more precious than silver, gold or jewels." Wisdom is making good choices throughout life. It is setting yourself up with healthy goals and ambitions. Jesus is how we get wisdom, according to the New Testament. Just as Wisdom competes for attention of a seductress in Proverbs, Jesus competes for our attention against the world and it'd deception. Know what you're chasing after in this life, and consider how long it will keep you happy.


Reading: Luke 5:33-6:11

We can see from this reading how knowledge can go to our heads. Knowing Jesus is a renewing of our minds. We must become new and realize that the way Jesus did things was different, thus the way Christians do things is different. When we give our lives to Him, it's like putting new wine into new wine skins. New wine would burst old wine skins, so new must go into new. A new life, committed to Jesus must be put into a renewed person. Saying you're a Christian, but still living in the same old sin doesn't mean anything. But saying you're a Christian and living it out day to day means everything.
We also see how the religious leaders called out Jesus and His disciples for harvesting and healing on the Sabbath day, as the Old Testament law speaks out against these things. The bottom line here is motive of the heart, however. The religious leaders hate what Jesus is doing. They can't stand the authority He has and the movement He makes. They are looking for any opportunity to get rid of Him. Jesus, came to change the face of law. He doesn't want us to be burdened by laws that don't promote compassion and truth. When Jesus fed the hungry and healed on the Sabbath, He makes a statement that doing good and changing a life is more lawful than doing evil and ruining a life. So many times we are guilty of this. We worry about technicalities of a Sunday morning, rather than the needs around us. We focus on the things in the church, the policies, the statements, the rules, the traditions, the rituals...but in the blur behind all that, are lives. There are people who are literally and figuratively hungry and hurting. Yet we are those religious leaders. Take this example from Jesus and heed it carefully.
Don't let knowledge go to your head, but grow in wisdom, as Jesus did.


Reading: Numbers 19:1-21:3

Trusting has been an issue for mankind since Moses' time and before. We have come quite a ways with the people of Israel, and we have experiences many of their highs and lows. But complaining seems to have also been a trait carried on from generation to generation. For some reason, our heads can play games on us and we completely forget the amazing things God has done for us in a matter of days. Though God led these people out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea, provided for them, guided them, established their people- they still find times to complain. This, understandably, makes God angry. The human head can't seem to always grasp that God will take care of them, no matter how many times He's proven Himself. Though the cross alone would seem like enough for us, we always need reassurance of His love and His provision. Let us try to keep our logic out of those situations that scare us, and focus on what God has done in our lives.


Wisdom is a huge asset to life. When we get wisdom, we have something way more valuable than jewels. As humans, temptations and our own logic can get in the way of wisdom. We need to cling to wisdom and what to what Jesus displayed for us when rituals and traditions tried to take precedence over compassion.

Day 83: God's Type of People

Reading: Psalm 37:10-20

There is clear evidence as to the type of people God chooses to do His work in this passage. This passage talks about the good and the wicked. God takes care of those He chooses. Here, we read about the meek, the lowly, the poor, and the innocent. We read that those who plot evil God laughs at, because He will have ultimate judgement on them. God uses the weak to put the strong to shame. This goes to show that God's plan and work isn't like that of the world, who put the strong, the wealthy, the high-up, and even the wicked on a pedestal. Remember who God uses in His work. Remember what is most important in this life. Remember who the ultimate judge is in the end.


Reading: Luke 5:17-32

Jesus chose some unexpected people to do His work and display His power. Here we read of a sick man on a may who had great faith - something that is hard to come by in a take-charge society today. But Jesus used this man to show both His power of forgiveness and of healing. Because of this fragile, sick man, Jesus could display His authority. He used not only the sick, but the sinners too.
Also in this reading, we see that He chooses Levi (Matthew) to follow Him as His disciple. He also eats with him at his home. Much ridicule was fired at Jesus for hanging out with such a person as Levi, who was a tax collector. But Jesus says something very key to ministry, both then and for today. "I have not come for those who think they are righteous, but for those who know they are sinners and need to repent." This is a huge deal for churches today. If we focus on the people inside who know God, and already follow Him, we will eventually run out of people in the church. But if we exist as a church for those on the outside who need to know Jesus and who are seeking that relationship with Him, then our mission is laid out for us. Jesus displays this well here. He created ministry, and He is our prime example for it.


Reading: Numbers 16:36-18:32

Moses, being the great leader and communicator he was, led his people through thick and thin, and as a leader, showed them what God taught about forgiveness. We read the extent of rituals that needed to take place for atoning sin back in Moses' time. Though forgiveness seems so easy when we're on the receiving end of God's forgiveness, we need to remember it is a big deal. When we practice the act of forgiveness, God can use us to move hearts in powerful ways. When we treat our sin as more than something God will just forgive anyway, we can being our hearts to humility and our lives to service for Him. When we stand in awe of His ultimate forgiveness, and begin to realize that we could never begin to know the depth of the cost of our sin, we can lead a life in complete, humble service to Him. God loves to use those kind of people for His work.


God's type of people aren't what the world's type of people are. In a world that glorifies wealth, success and living for yourself, it is hard to grasp that God actually uses the poor, the sick, the sinners, the humble to do His powerful work. Will you be the world's type of person, or God's type? Each come with rewards, but one is far greater and more satisfying.