26 Wednesday Dec 2012
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Today’s standout passage is verse 20, Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down. One of the great things I’ve learned working for Dave Ramsey these past four years is the danger in allowing gossip to be a cancer around you. Nothing good can come from it and without it, the flame goes out.
23 Sunday Dec 2012
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Sometimes we forget who we are talking to when we pray. I love Psalm 94:9-10, 9 Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see? 10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge? God, who created the universe, gets it. We need not worry about explaining it to Him because He already has it under control. Trust in God that His plan is perfect and He has our best in mind for us.
08 Thursday Nov 2012
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God’s word is our only real source of truth. Verses 16-17 says, 16 All Scripture is God‑breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Because the Bible is the inspired and trustworthy word of God himself, we must read it and apply it to our lives on a daily basis. The Bible is our test for everything that claims to be truth. If it does not line up with Biblical truths then it must be discarded because it is our safeguard against false teaching and half-truths. The more we are familiar with Biblical truths the safer we become.
07 Sunday Oct 2012
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In today’s reading, Paul is talking about church leadership and who should, and should not, be leaders within the church. The verse that stood out to me today is verse 5, (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) It is important to have my own house in order before I can begin to help someone else with theirs. My family is one of the most important things in my life. I strive to make things right with them, but I am not perfect. God doesn’t ask for perfection, He asks us to lead with Him by our side. This is a good reminder to have Him at the center of my relationship with my wife and kids and in everything I do.
04 Thursday Oct 2012
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Do you ever read a verse that smacks you right between the eyes, or in this case, smacks you on the mouth? Psalm 141:3 did that to me today, Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. This is the strongest part of my body. It has the ability to lift people up or to tear them down. In one of the notes in my Bible it says on average a normal person opens up their mouth 700 times per day (for my 15 year old daughter this number could easily be double). When David wrote this Psalm he was very wise to ask God to help keep him from speaking evil. I would do well to ask God to guard my mouth as well.
24 Monday Sep 2012
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Chapter 4 of Ephesians talks extensively about unity in the body of Christ, meaning, unity with all of us as believers. It is easy to get caught up in our individualistic desires and our own sin, but God wants us to focus in on the greater good. We need to put away our struggles and sins in order to focus on being children of light for Christ. In the second half of the chapter, verses 26 and 27 were a bit convicting to me, 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. I’m a happy-go-lucky sort of guy, but when anger takes hold of me it is difficult for me to let it go. These verses have served me well (at times) in reminding me to let go of anger because it only gives the devil another means into my heart. Any time we allow sin to enter into our cracks of imperfection, it is like water running through cracks in a foundation; eventually the foundation will be ruined. We can not allow that to happen to the foundations of our lives.
17 Monday Sep 2012
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When we go through trials it is hard to look at the situation and see the good. However, once we come out of the hurt and gain some perspective, we can look back and see what we learned. In verse 71 it says, It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. It is unfortunate, but we learn our best lessons from some of our deepest pains. That’s not to say its the only way to learn, but it is effective. The key is to remember to be thankful to God for walking through it with us and giving us the grace and mercy to allow us to learn from it.
14 Friday Sep 2012
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In today’s reading verse 6 stood out to me, Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. As someone who has a very dominant personality, this verse hits me between the eyes. It reminds me that speaking the truth is important, but speaking the truth and coming across as a jerk, are two different things. I need to temper my thoughts to include love and grace so that others may know the heart behind the words. Ultimately, I must allow the Holy Spirit to speak through me to allow the right tone and message to come across.
12 Wednesday Sep 2012
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10 Monday Sep 2012
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I love the two final verses of this chapter, 33 and 34, 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. I never understood what these verses meant until I looked it up. If a ship’s captain is lax and is not constantly paying attention to the direction of the ship and making constant minor adjustments, the ship will be way off course once it has traveled it’s final distance. The same goes for our lives; if we are not constantly paying attention to the direction of our lives, we will end up somewhere we never intended to be.
Daily Devotion 