Time To Get Serious: A True Know-It-All

Psalm 139:1-6, Omniscience, all-knowing, this one attribute of God the I know that I acknowledge but haven’t given it much thought in how it affects my day-to-day actions. The Psalms say that He knows our words before they are even spoken. It would be nice to think that just like a parent keeping and eye on a child, and the child being good until the parent looks away, that we would easily choose the do and think about good things only as God is always watching us. It kind of blows me away to see how much control sin can have over us and this world. What is even more amazing is that God knows all the junk we’ve done, are doing, and will do,…

Time To Get Serious: Week One Reflection

To recap the studies of the week, let God be God, practice His presence, seek to live a holy life. As I was thinking about it, it seems like whenever we learn something new about God we go and stick Him in a box again. When we get to know God we start to think we know God. The reality of it is we only get glimpses of what God is and until we go to be with Him we will never really know God here on earth. For me, keeping the thought of worshiping God daily is a very hard one. It gets to be too easy to just go about the things of the day without giving thanks to God through out it….

Time To Get Serious: Encountering a Holy God

Psalm 11:4-7 – The scripture for today talks about God’s Holiness and our sinfulness. I think it becomes so easy, and wrongfully so, for Christians to begin to rank sin. The reality of it is that in God’s eyes there is no one that is more sinful than another. I know we can think that as Christian were better, and not nescesarily boasting in that, but we think those that maybe aren’t Christians are so much worse than we are. Boy are we deceived. God is Holy and perfect and can’t stand the hint of sin. As Christians the difference for us, as compared to someone that isn’t a Christian, is that we have Christ standing in place for us. The decision we make to…

Time To Get Serious: God Can Handle It

Ephesians 1:1-6, today’s study talks mostly of how great and self-sufficient God is. It is pointed out that just by the very complexity and detail of nature, God shows his power and greatness. God didn’t have to create us, but it pleased Him to do so, this is also what gives us hope. God didn’t have to make a way for salvation, but He did because of his love for us. Well, the thoughts for this morning are not very long but our response to God’s grace and self-sufficient power ought to be one of praise and thanksgiving. Amen!

Time To Get Serious: The God Who Is Spirit

How fitting that today’s topic is worship, with having the first youth praise team practice yesterday. The scripture passage for this study is John 4:19-26, Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman. They have a conversation of where the Jews & the Samaritans disagree on where to worship God. Jesus made it very clear that after His coming He was going to clarify this. Worshiping God is not about the place, it is about us meeting with God individually and worshiping Him “in spirit and in truth”. When we come to Him in time of worship it is about an internal connect between God and us, where all worldly and material things are put aside. I understand that during Sunday morning gatherings that the leaders goal,…

Time To Get Serious: Telling The Truth

Isaiah 6:1-7, this morning I’m feeling very OK with my openness on my blog. I’m also once again thankful for Bruce’s comments to me yesterday. Today’s topic of truth talked about how as people we tend to sugar-coat the truth or complete lie with people. It is so easy for us to be shallow, and “nice Christians” that would do say the hard things that count. God of course is nothing like that and shares with us the complete honest truth, whether hard to hear or not. This devotional also does a little convicting, as it should, as I know that I stay pretty quite many times and don’t open up and be honest with people. How many times have we all, when being asked…