january - Day 9

Here are a few of my thought from my journal as I read today - 

Genesis 24 - This is a great story and speaks of the way that God works.  First of all, Abraham was committed to making sure his son was prepared to carry on the mission of the family.  He knew who his son married would make a difference, so he established a standard that was aligned with God's plan.  As parents, it is our job to prepare our kids to be great adults, but their success spiritually is of utmost importance.  We must work to equip them to carry out God's mission for their life, not our human desires.  We tend to give more effort to the academic and athletic development of our kids, than their spiritual development and when we do this, we set them up for failure.  I know the challenge I feel is to ensure I am intentional about preparing my boys spiritually to carry out God's plan and purpose for their lives.  

Then I love how God answered the servants prayer specifically.  But what the servant prayed for shows us what is truly important.  She had outer beauty, but that wasn't what was most important.  Her inner beauty, displayed through her servants heart, is what was most important.  It reminds me of the verse that says that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.  What is on the inside matters more than the outside.

Psalm 9 - 15-17 - the wicked will eventually destroy themselves.  Death and destruction is the destiny for those who ignore God

Matt. 4 - 18-22 - When Peter, Andrew, James and John were called - the scripture indicates that they left immediately.  I wonder what caused them to be so quick to respond? While I don't know the answer for sure, I do know that their response positioned them to get to share in the story of Jesus.  We must not hesitate when God  calls.  Who knows what we could miss out on if we do. 

Acts 5 - There is nothing impossible for God.  If he can deliver these guys from a prison that was being watched by guards, he can rescue us from anything in our lives.  The thing that sticks out in this chapter the most is what is said in verse 39.  There had been other false messiahs who had come before but those movements failed after those false messiahs died.  The reason - none of those false messiahs rose from the dead.  The leader who spoke up said - if this movement isn't from God, it will fail too, but if it is from God, you better watch out because you will find yourself fighting against God.  The fact that we are still following Jesus today is evidence to the truth of who Jesus was.  And the reason these guys went from hiding for their lives to being willing to suffer for preaching the gospel is because they saw Jesus risen from the grave.  They were witnesses to the truth of who Jesus was and they counted it a privilege to suffer for the gospel.  

Feel free to share any thoughts you had!