11 Wednesday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
Tags
We worry about too many things. God wants us to focus on the things we can control and realize He can handle all of it. What is done is done and can never be changed. All we can do is move on. Luke 20:38, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive. Let us all focus on the things in front of us and stop looking back at what we have left behind.
10 Tuesday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
Tags
God sent many warnings to the nation of Israel in the form of prophets, and yet, in the end the Jews chose to ignore the warnings and true understanding of the scriptures. In Matthew 23:37 Jesus makes mention of the religious leaders throughout their history of hypocrisy, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Jesus was extremely disappointed in these Jewish leaders, just as I feel He is disappointed in the way many of our present day church leaders are today. We need to focus more on building a strong relationship with Christ, rather than how we behave in the eyes of everyone around us. God will shape us through relationship. It does not come from the judgment of others.
09 Monday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
Tags
While Jesus was rejected by the Jews as the capstone of their faith, He was ultimately accepted as the cornerstone of our Christian church. Mark 12:10-11 Haven’t you read the scripture: ” ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ “ Jesus was and is the foundation of our faith.
08 Sunday Mar 2015
Posted in Reflection
Tags
So… I watched this video yesterday and I was fascinated by what they were trying to prove. It showed different couples, each of which had known each other for various lengths of time, and how their levels of intimacy were affected by staring into each other’s eyes for four minutes straight. While this was a silly experiment, it got me thinking about what it would be like to focus our attention on our relationship with God for extended periods of time. We are often distracted when we talk to God and focused on what we need. Imagine what would happen if we focused on our relationship with Him instead of just our wants and needs.
If you ever come across anything you’d like me to post on this blog, please feel free to contact me at dino.evangelista@gmail.com.
07 Saturday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
No matter how smart we think we are, we will never outsmart the Creator of the Universe. While the religious leaders never accepted that Jesus was who He claimed to be, they instead chose to give up trying and simply reject Him. At the end of the chapter, in Matthew 22:46, it says, No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. Jesus made it clear back then, as He does today, and yet people still choose to reject the truth.
06 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
When Jesus came to earth, He made it clear that He did not come to judge it, but to bring salvation to those who believed. John 12:47 says, “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” Judgement comes from the Father. Jesus came to save by covering all our sin through His sacrifice on the cross. But if Jesus is rejected, then the Father has no choice but to judge those who do not believe by their own merits. Ultimately, the choice is ours.
05 Thursday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
Our prayers are often motivated by our own interests. Yet Jesus tells us to ask anyway. Mark 11:24 says, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Notice that it says that you should believe it will be yours, not that it will be yours. Our faith needs to be that all things are possible through God, but in the end it must be according to His will, not our own selfish desires.
04 Wednesday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
God loves to use His creation to testify of His existence and love. While we humans are at the top of the food-chain, it is still God’s choice to use us, though he does not require our testimony to express His love to others. In Luke 19:40 Jesus says, “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” We should feel privileged that God wants to use us because the reality is He does not need us. God loves us so much He wants us to be a part of the His story through our witness of Christ’s sacrifice changing us for eternity. Let us never forget the honor it is to be loved and used by God for His Kingdom.
03 Tuesday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
We tend to have faith that is limited by what we think is possible. But with God all things are possible. Luke 18:27, Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” While God is not in the business of writing blank checks, He is capable of doing anything. We must have faith that He is capable of doing everything even if He does not will it. Trust, obedience, and faith are all part of the equation in our relationship with God.
02 Monday Mar 2015
Posted in Daily Reading
Sometimes it is the simplest things that make the most sense. Jesus’ plan is simple and yet it is hard to do because we want to make it something complex and difficult. Matthew 21:16 says, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise?” Jesus simply wants us to listen and obey to His guidance in our lives through the leading of the Holy Spirit. It’s that simple.
Daily Devotion 