Category Archives: God

Bible Reading Fun Fact Day 4:

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Reading the Bible Is NOT Just For the Professionals.
Many people see the importance of the Bible as God’s Word, but feel like they are not qualified or “spiritual” enough to understand it. It seems important that the professionals (pastors) study the Word because it is necessary that it is preached in a church service. But studying it on our own may be more optional for a regular Christian.
This mindset will stunt your spiritual growth!
The Apostle Peter presents an analogy on spiritual growth that occurs when we read and study the Word as new Christians or simply as the ones who are not “the professionals.”

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Word of God is like the pure milk of a mother to her nursing child. It is exactly what we need to grow. Out of a Mother’s life she yields food for her baby. The Word of God is living. It is life to us! And there is nothing more tender than a baby, held close to its mother receiving exactly what that baby needs. Our God is tender towards us! He wants to hold us close to Him and will feed us tenderly with the pure milk of His Word!
Here’s the most beautiful thing about this illustration, Peter, says we are to CRAVE the Word of God! When Aaron was born, He wanted to nurse every 2 hours. He was wearing me out! Lol. He CRAVED the milk that would make him grow strong!

All of us come to God as Babies. We need to grow in our love for Him. We need to experience His love and tenderness! We need to CRAVE His Word! And like a nursing baby, once we figure out how to latch on, or receive the Word from God, by reading the Bible for ourselves, we will get a taste of just how Good it is! We will see how satisfying a daily, moment by moment relationship with Him is! We will CRAVE it! We were created to experience that kind of desire for God and His Word and we will not be fulfilled in our lives— living in joy, peace and love— until we truly taste and see how good our God is!

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Based on “The New Life”- Andrew Murray

Bible Reading Fun Fact Day 3:

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According to the Guinness Book of World Records the Bible is the best selling book of all time.
Statistically speaking, most Americans own Bibles 85% of American homes have Bibles. The average number of Bibles that are in US homes is 4.3 per household. And the popular Bible App YouVersion celebrated 500 million installs on electronic devices
in 2021.
But this does not mean that our nation as a whole is reading the Bible. Research showed that on 2021 only 11 percent of Americans read their Bible daily.

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We have been having a drought in Missouri. My grass in my yard was dying and dry. But the past week we have had rain. This morning I noticed as I went out on my deck to pray how GREEN the yard is. What a difference a few days of rain has made!
Most of us live in a SELF IMPOSED spiritual drought! Our lives are DEAD to God in many ways. He seems distant and so we struggle with fear, anxiety, anger, jealousy, etc. We go from one bad day to the next. Notice I said “SELF IMPOSED”. We have access to the living water of the Word of God! (John 4:10) Yet we refuse to engage with it in our lives!
Psalms 1 states that a person whose life is connected to the Word of God/ the Bible is like a tree that has ample supply of water. That tree is vibrant!
Are you in a spiritual drought and dead inside? Or are you fully alive in God? Check your connection to the living Water of the Word of God!

https://www.statista.com/statistics/299433/bible-readership-in-the-usa/#:~:text=A%20survey%20from%202021%20found,to%2029%20percent%20of%20respondents.

Bible Reading Fun Facts Day 2:

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“Reading the Bible four or more days a week decreases your “odds” of giving in to temptations such as lashing out in anger, gossiping, lying, addictions to drugs, pornography, gambling, etc., significantly decrease.”

Sin destroys! God provided a way for us to live free from sin. The power of His Word in our lives can break any chain the enemy wants to keep us bound with. Jesus Himself said, 

“”Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””John‬ ‭8‬:‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What is truth you may ask? The Word of God.

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John‬ ‭17‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If you need freedom from the chains of sin, the Word of God is the chain breaker! But we will not be free if we do not engage the Word in our lives regularly. Reading the Word of God, the Bible,and allowing it to work in our lives is imperative not optional if we want to live free and victorious!

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭

Quote from the article “Capturing the Power of Four.” Based on the findings from this study by the Center for Bible Engagement.

https://bttbfiles.com/web/docs/cbe/Scientific_Evidence_for_the_Power_of_4.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0XA7ovQEk8C_XY3sONIt9HWEH8-w0cZO7DwQ_Paw6PL1-ZiDxm4hq40Cc_aem_AY-ePaHaJT1QAze66c_7ObpKLT3-DoNNeUn63n95hfCSyARqscq_wPPF-rghD8ipl6Y&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Bible Reading Fun Facts Day 1:

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Reading the Bible four or more days a week will decrease the impact and power of emotional struggles in your life!

For more than eight years the Center for Bible Engagement has researched the spiritual lives of more than 100,000 people from around the world. Engaging in the Bible most days of the week is critical to grow in the Christian faith.
Their findings include:
Receiving reflecting on and responding to God’s Word four or more times a week decreases a persons “odds” of struggling with issues such as bitterness, critical thinking towards self and others, depression , discouragement, loneliness, and unforgiveness.

“The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Based on the findings from the study “Understanding the Bible Engagement Challenge: Scientific Evidence for the Power of 4” by the Center for Bible Engagement

https://bttbfiles.com/web/docs/cbe/Scientific_Evidence_for_the_Power_of_4.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2ybX_LGpMZ5fyOadIwUa2u1VqKgxD1Pi3u4CcH9qxjIvFSX8HYfvmVVXs_aem_ATVyHcBRxif3TviDv0WuJF-rIwRulbz-M_z-2qbG_65xxntWD-2LKtYv2iKqXQEtjQM&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Where is My Faith Placed? Is He King? – Mark 6:1-28

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This morning as I have been praying I was thinking about how God has changed my heart. When I read our passage today there were a couple of things that stuck out to me that I could have related to when I lived with a heart that was divided and not fully given to Jesus.

One… the unbelief of Jesus’s home town. They heard Jesus speak and they were amazed, but they couldn’t get over the fact that they had watched Him grow up. They lacked faith and wouldn’t believe. I’ve thought I had Jesus figured out and I wanted Him to fit into my image of Him. But He is God and He is beyond what I want to make Him into. That is why I need to totally submit myself to Him, totally obey Him, and totally depend on Him.

Two… King Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist, who he ordered killed, raised from the dead. He was intimidated by the thought. Jesus didn’t fit into Herod’s lifestyle. Herod was used to having his own way. When you are king and you are faced with the King of Kings you have a choice get rid of that king or submit to Him. I have been “King” of my heart. If it had a throne in it, I was sitting on it. But there can only be one King on the throne, me or Jesus. I cannot make Jesus fit into my lifestyle. I have to fit into His ways through giving my whole heart to Him. That is the only way to be at peace when you see Jesus before you.

May we live with Jesus as King of our hearts and faith fully in Him!

One in a Billion Yet He Sees Me: Mark 5:21-43

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““You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭5‬:‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus was surrounded by crowds of people, but He still saw the needs of the one. One man in a crowd needed Jesus to heal his dying daughter. Jesus’s response is to head towards that man’s, Jairus, home to pray for his little girl.

As they walk through the crowd where people were pressing up against Jesus on all sides, one woman was healed in a very personal way. Jesus stopped to address her individually.

You and I are only one in 8 billion on this planet. There are so many others pressing in around Jesus. Yet He stops for the one, you/ me.

So many around us but He comes to our home of our hearts and raises the dead within us.

Jesus is personal. He is for each of us one on one. He wants intimate relationship with each of us. He went to the cross, died and rose again to extend the invitation for us to come. Will we respond to His invitation for our time to be one on one with Him?

Free and In My Right Mind! Mark 5:1-10

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I love this account of Jesus setting the man free from many demons that tormented him. This man lived away from his family in a graveyard and was deeply tormented. The people tried to subdue him but he broke the chains they used and was violent.

But NO Mental torment by the demonic is too big for Jesus. With a word Jesus cast them out. This is what I love about the story: 

“When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.” Mark 5:15 NIV

This man had a reputation for being CRAZY! But when Jesus stepped in he was freed from the demonic spirits that tormented him. He was in his right mind!

Around three years ago I was living a life tormented by anxiety and fear. I had been for years. I tried everything I could think of to fix it until I came to the end of me and my ways letting God do it. Jesus stepped in and He has set me free! Although I haven’t ran around a graveyard naked and cut myself with stones like this man(For that we can all thank God), I know what it felt like to have my mind out of control. Now I testify to you I know what it is like to sit at the feet of Jesus free from that torment and in my right mind! Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He still changes us and sets us free from torment when we come to Him!

That is Good News!!!

“Hell lost another one! I am free!!”

Reflections on Mark: Mark 3:1-19 The Ones He Wants!

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Three groups of people are mentioned in this passage: The Pharisees who hated Jesus. The large crowds who followed Him wanting His healing touch and to see miracles. The inner circle of Jesus, His disciples.

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” Mark 3:13-15 NIV

The disciples, the ones closest to Him, His friends are described as the ones “he wanted”. He appointed them “that they might be with him and that he might send them out…”. What a privilege to be one of the ones to walk and talk with Jesus to learn from Him and to be used by Him! The disciples were blessed!

We are blessed!! When we follow Jesus and have the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are His disciples too. We are the ones He wants! We are the ones He is with and He sends out!

Good News!

Reflections on Mark 2:18-27: The New Wine

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Jesus rocked the world of the religious elite of His time. They could not wrap their minds around His teachings and the miracles that followed Him. They were shocked when He didn’t follow all their traditions and man made rules. They wanted Him and His disciples with Him to fast.

Jesus explained that what He was proclaiming to them was “New Wine”. It could not be put in the constricted old wine skins. In other words. What God wanted to do in their lives could not be confined by the old ways of the law. It was New.

God wants to do the same within us! Where we have been with God is only the surface of where He desires to take us! His relationship to us is New and it is living!

We don’t have to be stuck in the ways of the past! Jesus gives us New Wine and changes our hearts so that it is put into New Wine skins that can receive the New He wants to do in us!!

This is Good News!

““No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”” Mark 2:21-22 NIV

Reflections on Mark: Mark 2:1–17 The Cure!

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“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The teachers of the law could not stomach the idea of Jesus forgiving sins. Only God could do that! This would mean Jesus claimed to be God! And it would upset all their traditions and ways. But the Good News is that Jesus is the One who forgives sins!

Jesus went to eat at Levi’s house. He was a horrible and hated sinner, a Jewish tax collector working for the Romans.

“When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Good News is once again proclaimed! Jesus came to bring healing to those sick with sin! He came to call to sinners that He could set them free!

Jesus has not changed! He is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be the same tomorrow. He has come to forgive our sins and to bring healing from its horrible effects on our life. What made the difference in the man paralyzed and the tax collector’s lives? They came to Jesus! He invites us to come too!
Good News!!