Day X – Deuteronomy 11
01 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
Well, I don’t even know what day number it is, but the first quarter of school just ended, which in turn made me look at the goals I have set for myself this school year. Most aren’t doing so hot, especially blogging everyday. Therefore I want to get this started back up again, even if only once in awhile.
This entire chapter has a lot of meaning in it. It can, however, be summed up by some lines towards the end of the conclusion.
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. (NIV)
Throughout the chapter it is made clear many times that we are to follow the Lord and the laws He has put forth. We are to “serve him with all your heart and with all your soul”. Being Christian isn’t enough. You need works to evidence your salvation. Thankfully we have a source of forgiveness because we can never live up to His laws.
If you take anything from this chapter, it is that we are to follow what God has said. But there is more to it. Although not said here, we are not to follow these laws plainly because we are commanded to do them, fear punishment, etc, but we are to follow them out of love and fear of the Lord.
Day 41 – “Rehab” Review, “Be Holy Because I Am Holy”, & Update
05 Oct 2010 1 Comment
in Plan 1
Well, lately I haven’t been posting for a variety of reasons. I’ve been really busy, I am currently in Leviticus (hard to get much out of that), and nothing is really sticking out in My Utmost For His Highest today. However, I have some time so I want to talk about two things. First, Lecrae dropped his album “Rehab” and I strongly suggest you get it. I’ve written a review for it so check it out on my other blog. Besides that, I would like to talk about a command I see in Scripture a lot lately, one that I need to talk about. “Be holy, because I am holy”. As imitators of Christ and followers of God, we are to act as He would. Since the Lord is only, we ought to conduct ourselves in the same way. This is extremely difficult to do, but we are commanded to so it should be sought after. So follow this command and enter into Rehab!
Day 34 – “Rehab”
28 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
Sorry that I haven’t been blogging as of late. I would just like to quickly say something though, get the album “Rehab” by Lecrae! It is great from what I’ve heard.
So what exactly is “rehab”? Well, as Christians we are separated from God by our sin. Rehab is all about putting that to death and returning to the state before sin. It is really a Biblical concept and I am excited to listen to the rest of the album. Hopefully I will get to an album review as well. So cop the album now!
Day 29 – Exodus 32
23 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
I am pretty busy, but I would like to go over parallel I see in Exodus to our own lives.
[4] And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
While Moses was with God, Israel turned to making an idol, a golden calf, who they claim to have taken them up out of Egypt. There are a few big ideas I see here.
1) The Lord took them up out of Egypt.
2) Israel fails to recognize who took them up.
3) They turned to an idol and served it.
I think this speaks a lot in all of our lives at times. Jesus has taken us up out of sin, but at times we don’t look at Him and go and serve someone else (sin). If this is so, why don’t we just stay in sin? Sin will always be in our lives, but I’ve seen throughout Scripture that sin is defeated by fear of the Lord (Israel had a lack of it because they didn’t take the plagues in Egypt to heart) and keeping your eyes on God (also lacked by Israel, as they forgot about God and then in turn looked to an idol). Anyone who is struggling, look at these two things.
Day 28 – MUFHH 1/28
22 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
More laws in the Bible, so I am just going to talk a bit about My Utmost For His Highest today.
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? —Acts 26:14
This is a question Jesus asks Saul (Paul) when he persecuted the Church. But, whatever shock it may bring to you, we all do this at times. Oswald Chambers personally points us to doing what we want and not doing what God wants to do. Aren’t there times where we just try to control our own lives and not do what God wants us to do? Isn’t this like persecuting God in a way? As difficult as it may be, we always need to submit and do the will of the Lord.
Day 25 – Exodus 20:20; MUFHH 1/25
19 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
Its getting that time where genealogies and laws are beginning to be presented Scripture. These certainly do have their place, but its hard to reflect on them and get a lot out of it, so therefore I will start to only comment on My Utmost For His Highest every once in a while. However, I forgot to comment on something I was going to do yesterday so I’ll post about that today.
[20] Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”
This holds two tremendous truths that people really need today. First, God tests us in order that we may fear Him. It seems that we are all tested so much, but doesn’t it bring comfort to know that it is so we may fear the Lord? The other great truth is that in order to defeat the sin in our lives, we must fear Him. This slips our minds all of the time when we are struggling with sin, but the answer is right there: we need to fear the Lord to defeat sin. It’s as simple as that.
If memory serves me correctly, today in MUFHH is similar to a different day. Basically God works in ways we don’t expect. You except Him to do one thing, and He does it a way you couldn’t even have imagined. God is always present and we should expect Him to work in us, but we need to make sure we don’t decide what we expect Him to do. As Chambers puts it, we need to give God elbow room.
Day 24 – Exodus 15-20; MUFHH 1/23-24
18 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
I am back for tonight and I’m just about caught up with everything. Without further ado, let’s dig into Scripture.
[11] “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Since last time I posted about the Scripture I’ve been reading, a lot has happened. Exodus 15 is filled with a great song to the Lord. Consider all he has done for Israel. He took them out of Egypt, he feeds them with manna from heaven, and gives them drink from a rock. Later on, God is with them in battle and gives them the victory. God is continually faithful to Israel and now to His Church, and He is deserving of all praise.
Another notable part in today’s reading are the ten commandments, which we are all familiar with. However, I think the ten commandments have sort of become a phrase without meaning. What I am saying is, people always say you need to follow them, but its really lost its meaning and we don’t even focus on what they are.
Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through.
In today’s Christianity, this is a radical thought. In the early church, people lived solely for Him. This has really been a struggle as of late. But its important that even in a busy day, if just 5 minutes, I can get alone with God. I’d love to give every second to Him, but the world unfortunately cannot stop for us. So even if we have limited time, making some is extremely important.
Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s. He saw nothing else and he lived for nothing else. “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
Aww, I just love this first in 1 Corinthians. Jesus is so powerful and did (and continues to do) so much for us, that I share in this feeling. How I long to only know Jesus and Him crucified. He paid it all for us and we need to give our lives back in response.
Day 22 – MUFHH 1/20-22
16 Sep 2010 1 Comment
in Plan 1
Well, I’ve learned something just a short while into my high school experience: I’m busy. I’ve literally been finishing all my work and other stuff I need to do then go to bad for the last week. So no, I didn’t forget about this blog. Its just that my homework is frankly more important. Even though I am not posting, most days I get around to the reading anyways. So if I’m gone for a few days from this blog in the future, which I sure I will be a lot, just know I’m probably just too busy.
As I am pretty busy today, I haven’t even done my Bible reading, so I’m keeping that for the weekend. Today’s post will be about the last three days of My Utmost For His Highest which I haven’t posted on yet. They all share a pretty common theme. Basically all three are just very general things about being a Christian.
First point I would like to make is that we need to always be “fresh”. I see far too often that Christians, myself included, just start to do things out of habit. For example, there are times where I read the Bible, pray, even read this very devotional just because I feel its my duty or something. As Christians, we shouldn’t do things this way. We should do what we do because we are close to Christ. Think of when you first became Christian. You did these types of things out of love, but they eventually are done just to do them. Day 21 says this:
Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him?
The other point I would like to make is one that is constantly presented in Scripture. Its that we need to keep our eyes on Him. How are we to grow and persevere if we don’t look to God and see what He’s done for us? How do we do these things if we don’t have our eyes fixed on Him? Similar to my previous point, we eventually do stuff like Bible reading without even keeping our eyes on Jesus. But this is no way to do things. As Christians, we need to be “fresh” and keep our eyes on Him.
Day 18 – Genesis 48-50; Exodus 1-3; 9/11
12 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
Well, I missed yesterday’s because my internet was down. So I am only going to cover the most important stuff. Well, Israel and His descendants move to Egypt, and they prosper. The new Pharaoh in Egypt did not know Joseph, and treated the Hebrews poorly. They become slaves and have to do tough work. Moses, who is raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter, is chosen by God in the burning bush to free them from this slavery and depart from the land. I love the burning bush account because it is another one of those examples of Jesus before the New Testament.
For the rest of the entry I would just like to talk about September 11, 2001. I was only 6 and I turned 7 the next day, but it is something that will forever be a fresh memory. I, along with the rest of America, know where they .were and what they were doing when it happened. I just ask that we all keep the people who died in our hearts and pray for those who lost a loved one. This was a dreaded event, but the response to it couldn’t have been better. We came together as a country and it just makes me so proud to be an American.
Day 16 – Genesis 46-47
10 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Plan 1
I still need to do other stuff tonight so I’ll but this Scripture as short as possible. Jacob’s descendants move to Egypt and possess the land. Jacob feels like he can now die and that is how the reading ends.
SocialVibe