Who Do I Love?

God's Word is so alive! There are days when we can actually hear Him speak. Sometimes it is an uplifting, reassuring message and other times it is a convicting, humiliating message. His Word is alive and should be changing us, purifying us. Today's verses are the convicting ones. How can we claim to love God when we can't love our neighbor or our fellow Christian? Most all of us are guilty of judging and condemning those who do what we don't like or rub us the wrong way, we just don't like them.  God doesn't say we have to like everyone, He says we must love them. Show respect, kindness, compassion even during disagreements. To love someone means to look past their faults and show them the love that Christ has shown us, people who are full of faults too! Who are you failing to love, ask God to help you love them the way Christ does.

1 John 4:20-21 NIV

20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Is It My Best?

I was reading about the first woman Quaker preacher, she lived during the 1600s. She was imprisoned often and public beaten even in her old age, yet she never stopped preaching about Christ. She gave her best all the time and didn't let discomfort stop her. Reading about her caused me to ask myself, "Am I giving my best?" Or am I giving what doesn't cost me too much? God wasn't pleased with the Israelites who were giving left-over or defected offerings. How often do we give Him our left-overs, poor efforts, or complain that we are just too busy? God wants and deserves our best all the time. What are we holding back, where is our best going? Take a moment today and Google Elizabeth Hooton. Let's start today to work to give our best to God each and every moment of the day, because He does the same for us!

Malachi 1:8 NIV

8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

Who Are My Teachers?

There are days when all you want to do is pull the covers over your head and stay in bed! There are also days when you cry out, "will this ever end!" When you are having one of those days or moments, open your Bible and read Isaiah 30:20-21. We may have adversity or affliction, but our guide through it is not hidden! We have the Holy Spirit, we have church family, we have the words of Christ to guide us in the right path, to get us out of bed and on our way! Listen for that voice guiding your way, open your eyes to the teachers around you. They may not get you out of the adversity immediately, but they will get you through it if you just listen and look.

Isaiah 30:20-21 NIV

20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

What must I do!

In today's verses, the jailer saw the Lord at work as the cell doors were opened, but the prisoners didn't leave. He recognized a wonderful thing and asked how to be saved, the disciples' response was, "believe!" As soon as the jailer heard the words they spoke to him about the Lord, he immediately started serving. He washed their wounds, he didn't wait to be trained, he didn't wait to know more, he started serving right away. Often times we think we need to be more prepared to serve God, but really all it takes is for is to say, "what must I do?" Each morning ask God what he wants you to do that day and be ready to do whatever it maybe! Remember, what He asks of us may not make sense to us or others, but it is always the right thing if God is sending us.

Acts 16:31-34 NIV

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.