January Day 22

Genesis 46-47 - I think one thing this story reminds me is that my faithfulness to God doesn't only affect me.  It affects those around me and has the potential to make an impact for generations to come.  Joseph was faithful, even when he didn't understand and things were not fair and God blessed his faithfulness.  His family was spared and taken care of when the world around them was in chaos due to the famine. 

Psalm 21 - God is the one who gives victory.  Trust in him with all that you are and he will keep you from stumbling.

Matthew 9:1-13 - The passage has the phrase, "...seeing their faith...".  Their faith was demonstrated by their bold action.  This continues in the theme that God is saying to me this year that faith stories follow faith steps.  Faith steps seem crazy until God turns them into faith stories.  Take the faith steps and let God write the stories!
- I love Matthew's response to Jesus' invitation.  He left everything behind and followed, then invited his friends from his previous life to meet Jesus as well.  As a tax collector, Matthew was normally treated as a traitor by other Jews because he was employed by the Roman government to collect taxes from his own people.  Most tax collectors would collect a little extra to keep for themselves.  Jesus' call to Matthew reminds us that his call isn't for us to work harder and act better so we can follow him. His call is to follow him and let him change our lives.  He came for those who know they are sick and need a doctor.  Our church is a place where the sick can find that doctor!

Acts 13:1-25 - In this passage, again it refers to Paul being filled with the Holy Spirit.  His filling enabled him to deal properly with the spiritual battle in the moment.  We must be continually filled with the Holy Spirit because there is a spiritual battle going on every day, and we need the Holy Spirit's help to fight that battle. 
- Here he refers to David as a man after God's own heart, then explains what he means by saying that David was willing to do everything God asked him to do.  A man after God's own heart is fully surrendered to God!