Do You Have Your Own Faith?

2 Chronicles 24:2,17-19

Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest...After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God's anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem. Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.

Andy's part:

Are you living someone else's faith? If you are, once that person leaves, so will your faith. That's a dangerous place to be.

Catherine's part:

If you have a weak faith, you will be easily swayed by whoever is close to you, and woe unto you if that person has evil intent! The best way to avoid such a path is to read God's word daily, and draw close to Him.

'Don't be Afraid, Just Believe!'

2 Chronicles 20:15-21

He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”

Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with very loud voice.

Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

“Give thanks to the Lord,

for his love endures forever.”

Mark 5:36

Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don't be afraid; just believe.”

Andy's part:

Trust God and give up your fear, doubt, and worry. Nothing is too big for God to handle. Will you give your challenges up to Him?

Catherine's part:

It seems to me that we have a hard time trusting God with our problems. It's not that we don't believe that He can handle it, or anything. It's just such a human reaction to want to be in control of every situation. Sometimes I think 95% of the battle is learning to trust God and place every situation into His hands. After that, it's amazing what He can and will do!

Do you have any stories about when you trusted God, and how He did things you never could've imagined in that situation?

Repetition

2 Chronicles 18:7

'The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say that,” Jehoshaphat replied.'

Andy's part:

If you keep getting the same message from God wherever you go, definitely heed it. If He consistently tells you you're not right, you're wrong.

Catherine's part:

Don't be so quick to assume that what someone else has to say about you is proof of their bad character. If they are a man or woman of God their reprimand could be from Him. The King of Israel decided to hate Micaiah for prophesying against him, instead of looking to God to help him correct his ways.

Later in the chapter we read more about Micaiah the prophet of the Lord. He is the only prophet who speaks the truth, and is punished for it. Following God can be hard. Sometimes we are reprimanded for doing wrong, like Andy said, and some are punished for doing right, like Micaiah. But God is always with us, and that makes the hard times bearable.

What do you think of this verse?

Fool For You

Matthew 26:10-13

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Andy's part:

This woman showed Jesus her love and obedience by sacrificing her time, money, and dignity. Are you willing to do the same?

Catherine's part:

This passage makes me think of the Nichole Nordeman song 'Fool For You'. It's about losing our worldy dignity in order to show our love for God.

'Unaware of popularity,
And unconcerned with dignity
You made me free.
That's proof enough for me.

I would be a fool for You,
Only if You asked me to,
A simpleton who's only thinking of
The cause of love.'

God First

2 Chronicles 13:10-12

“As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him. God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. Men of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

Andy's part:

Turn to God, rely on Him, put Him as your leader, & follow His commands. With God, you'll succeed in whatever is His will. Without Him you won't.

Catherine's part:

Always remember to put God first in your life. Give Him honor and glory and praise, for He is our Leader. If you forget God, and turn to other things, He will oppose you. It is always best to do God's will, and honor Him above all.

Whitewashed Tombs

Matthew 23:25-26

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."

Andy's part:

If you are stuck in sin, simply stopping the action is not enough. To fix the problem, address the problem. You need to change your heart.

Catherine's part:

The entire 23rd chapter of Matthew is interesting. Jesus' speech to the Pharisees about being legalistic hypocrites (which is the modern day definition of a Pharisee, interestingly enough), makes them sound like the type of people we would all hate to meet. And yet we all have it within us to become this type of person. How do we avoid it? Like Andy said, address the root of the problem, what's in our hearts. Only God can change our hearts, and He wants to! Look at His words at the very end of this chapter:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (vs 37-39)

I really reflected on those verses. What an interesting chapter!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on any or all of Matthew 23!

Double Header

Sorry for not posting the verse yesterday, guys! I'm posting both yesterday's and today's verse together to make up for it.
Blessings!
Catherine

2 Chronicles 6:4

Then he [Soloman] said:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David...

Andy's part:

God does not make empty promises. He follows through on what He says He will do. You can trust God & hold onto the hopes and promises He gives you.

Catherine's part:

Isn't it great how God fulfills His promises? We don't necessarily know how He will do it, or when, but when He has promised something we can trust that He will do it. It doesn't matter who or what is in opposition, God is stronger than men and demons, and He will always win!

Romans 13:3, 7

For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Andy's part:

Do right. Even if you are not commended by your ruler, God will commend you. Do wrong and you will be punished now or in eternity.

Catherine's part:

Doing the right thing can be one of he hardest things to do, especially if we don't like the person or people in charge of us. God can change our hearts so we want to do right. When we love God doing right comes easier, and in pleasing Him we will be free from fear of those in authority.

Faith, Not Works

Matthew 19:16-22

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

“Which ones?” the man inquired.

Jesus replied, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Andy's part:

You can never justify yourself through works. Only through Christ can you be made righteous.

Catherine's part:

We have to love and trust God more than things. We can ask Him to help us make Him the center of our life. There's no way we can do this on our own merit. We need to love the Creator above the created. Like Andy said, only through Christ is this possible.

God's Plan

1 Chronicles 28:2-3

King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’

Andy's part:

David essentially said: "This was my plan, but God's was different."

God doesn't always do what you want Him to do, but He has a reason. Trust and rely on Him and His plan even when you don't know His reasons.

Catherine's part:

Even though God didn't use David for the actual building of the temple, He revealed the plans to him. God can use many people to achieve one goal. And God had other plans for David. David set a great example by following God's plan instead of His own.

Following God

Matthew 15:3, 8-9

Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' "


Andy's part:
Following God isn't about religion, it's about a relationship. Religion is no substitute for knowing God. Draw close to God and get to know Him.

Catherine's part:

'All religion ever made of me with a stone tied to my feet.' (Jason Gray, More Like Falling in Love)

God wants to be our friend. He loves us enough to have that personal relationship, which is pretty incredible. Religion just ties us to rules and regulations, and takes us farther from God.

Impossible

Matthew 14:16-17, 21

Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
... The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Don’t avoid the impossible; embrace it! “Impossible” is the perfect opportunity for God to display His power, and for You to be part of it.

Drawing Close to God

Matthew 13:29-30 NIV84

” ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”

Andy's part:
If God got rid of evil, He might also hurt His children. Without the bad you would not be drawn to Him and would be tempted to rely on yourself.

Catherine's part:
God is really showing His love to us by allowing us to suffer hardships, therefore, like James says, we should: 'Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.' (1:2-3)

Our First Post!

Andy and I have been attempting to start a blog for many months. After several well intentioned talks of starting, we have finally officialy begun. We will (hopefully) be posting a new Bible verse devotional once a day, at least several times per week. We will also be posting longer blogs, (once again, hopefully), once a month.
We hope you enjoy, and here is our first daily verse:

               Andy's part:

               1 Chronicles 13:10: 'The Lord's anger burned against Uzziah, and 

               He struck him down because he                         

               had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.'

               Being "good" is not enough. You need to do God's will. Are your 

               intentions and your heart in line with God's will?

               

               Catherine's part:

               Even if we do something 'good', like Uzziah did, by attempting to steady 

               the Ark of the Covenant, if your heart and intentions are not right, 

               God will not be pleased.