Category Archives: Daily Reading

Post with each day’s reading.

2012 Day 147 – Galatians 6

26 Saturday May 2012

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Verse 7 and 8 hit me between the eyes today, 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. No matter how mature we become in our faith, there is a constant struggle. This verse helps me remember that I should be sowing to please the Spirit and in turn please the Father. When I try to sow to gain some sort of reward, I do it for the wrong reasons. More importantly, my desire for immediate satisfaction always takes precedence somehow. When I remember it is about pleasing God because I love Him and our relationship, it makes it much easier.

2012 Day 146 – Galatians 5

25 Friday May 2012

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In today’s reading you would think I would write about the “Fruits of the Spirit”, and you would be right. In verses 22-23 Paul describes the Fruits as, 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self‑control. Against such things there is no law. The fruits are something that should spontaneously be present in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. They should be part of our new nature because they are a reflection of the nature of Christ. Salvation is why Christ came to earth to be sacrificed. We are also blessed to inherit his nature as well.

2012 Day 145 – Galatians 4

24 Thursday May 2012

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While we started off as slaves, we have become actual heirs through Christ’s sacrifice. Verse 7 puts it very simply, So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. According to the notes in my Bible, under Roman law, an adopted child was guaranteed all legal rights to his Father’s property, even if he was a former slave, he was equal to the other sons. By being adopted by God through His son we are full heirs.

2012 Day 144 – Galatians 3

23 Wednesday May 2012

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There is a lot of talk about the “law” in today’s reading and I always wonder how much of the law still applies to us. Don’t get me wrong, I know we are not justified by the law, but by faith. Just read verse 14 and we see that, He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. However, we still love to throw out a bunch of rules governing our Christian lives. Again, don’t get me wrong, we should have changed lives because of God’s grace, but what is the purpose of the law now? Verse 24 does a pretty good job of revealing it to us, So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. The law is what draws the distinction between who we are and who God is. It is in place to draw us to God to show us how far we are from Him and how much we need His grace through Christ’s sacrifice to have a relationship with Him.

2012 Day 143 – Galatians 2

22 Tuesday May 2012

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Today we read another one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Verse 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Because Christ died for our sins, we are no longer condemned. Our life, as a believer, began when in unity with Christ, we died to our sins. We can not take this for granted. Regardless of how we choose to live our lives, we must remember that this is the foundational truth of what makes us believers in Christ.

2012 Day 142 – Galatians 1

21 Monday May 2012

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Who do I really care about in my life? When it comes to pleasing one person over another or please a group of people over another we usually pick a favorite. For example, if I choose between my work and family I will always choose family. If I choose between my wife and my kids I will always choose my wife. The same thing is true with God and the things of this world; I will always choose God… Or do I? The truth is I really need to consciously remember what is the most important thing in my life (or should be) and that is my relationship with God. In verse 10 Paul makes the statement Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Pleasing God and having a relationship with Him should take precedence over anything else in my life. I need to remember this daily, which is why spending time in the Bible is so crucial to building and maintaining that relationship.

2012 Day 141 – Psalm 1, 132

20 Sunday May 2012

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It wasn’t until later in my life that I realized the importance of the company I keep. I always figured as long as I went to church and most of my friends were believers, it would be enough. What I’ve found as I’ve grown older is I need people who lift me up and, more importantly, are positive influences in my life and in the lives of others. Psalm 1:1 starts the Psalms with a powerful description; Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. This is one of those verses that cause me to weigh different influences in my life. For example, you may think this is funny, but I use Twitter on a daily basis (that’s not the funny part). One of the things that has caused me to stop following people on Twitter who I consider personal friends is negativity. While I know there is little to no weight in a tweet, I simply don’t enjoy listening to people, who are believers and who have experience God’s love and grace in their lives, choose to use a public forum to tear other people down(even public figures who do stupid things). It bothers me down to my soul and breaks my heart. I don’t make it a public spectacle and announce to the world that I’ve stopped following someone, but I consciously choose to not participate in their shenanigans and not sit in the seat of mockers.

2012 Day 140 – Acts 16

19 Saturday May 2012

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Lately I have been trying to think more in terms of eternity when it comes to the circumstances of my life. It is easy for me to be frustrated with a lot of things in my life whether it’s work, family, or even friends. But when I allow myself to digest the individual issues of my life and I try to weigh it against eternity, I realize that most things in this life are temporary and have no impact on the things that God really cares about. When we get hung up on the things that frustrate us, we lose site of the bigger picture. With Paul, he didn’t take the opportunity to run when the prison doors broke open. He saw it as an opportunity to be used by God and in the end he was able to reach the jailer and his family. I hope and pray I look past my present circumstances and allow God to use me for a bigger impact though the circumstances of my life.

2012 Day 139 – Acts 15

18 Friday May 2012

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Working our way into heaven does not work, but somehow we feel compelled to continue to put obstacles in front of people prior to allowing them into relationship with God. Paul ran into this very thing in this chapter and he questions the wisdom of attempting to allow it to continue. Verses 10 and 11 says, 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” It is only through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved. We need to be careful to not confuse growing in Christ Jesus and striving toward perfection with making Jesus the perfecter of our lives.

2012 Day 138 – Psalm 38, 51

17 Thursday May 2012

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A few years ago I was struggling with what my relationship with God was supposed to be. I had a hard time believing that a perfect God could ever want to look at me, much less have a relationship with me. Then one day I decided to take the time and read the Bible cover to cover. Once I got through the tedious task of reading through books like Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, I was excited to read about amazing characters like Joshua, Saul, and David. But it wasn’t until I got to the stories of David, a man after God’s own heart, that I realized there really are no perfect men in the Bible. In fact, I realized God doesn’t even expect us to be perfect. Actually, He does expect perfection, but He knows we cannot attain it on our own. This is where David’s life spoke to me so powerfully. David, a man after God’s own heart, made mistakes… he made a lot of mistakes. Sometimes he made multiple mistakes in a single try (when he committed adultery with Bathsheba he committed murder in an attempt to cover it up). But what made David a man after God’s own heart was he realized he needed God to make him clean and presentable for His presence. Psalm 51:10 and 11 says, 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Even David, a man after God’s own heart, wasn’t perfect and needed God to renew him and purify him. It was the first time in my life I realized that God doesn’t expect perfection. He expects obedience and a real relationship with Him that acknowledges our 100% reliance on Him. Yes, God is perfect, but He is also merciful and His plan is perfect!