Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
TAKE A MARCH JOURNEY, Week 3 DAY 16… March 16 SUNDAY was your DAY 15. READ: Psalm 62:8 Thoughts to Help You Think About the Scripture The book of Psalms can be overwhelming. It’s so big. Where do I start to read? When you want intimate talk with God about the cries of your soul, Psalms 61, 62, and 63, are great places to go. Take, for example, Psalm 62:8. Here David talks to us intimately to point us to God when we need help. How can we trust these words? Look at David’s testimony in Psalm 62:1-2. Why can David find rest only in the Lord? What 3 things does David say that God is to him? What is the importance of something that is rock solid when you need someone to lean on? Why is it so valuable to know that through Jesus Christ God promises to keep delivering you and me out of guilt and shame from sin? 2 Corinthians 5:17. When you have a treacherous path to walk in life with great potential for falling, how is the picture of Psalm 46:1 so valuable? David says that he has found out that the Lord is totally dependable. What strength do you see in the repeat of vs. 1-2 in vs. 5-6 of Psalm 62? David’s confident invitation to us is just like Paul’s in Philippians 4:6-7. Check it. So, in v. 8, we are invited to “pour out our hearts” before the Lord. To pour out our heart can make a person feel vulnerable or confident. Which do you feel when you pour out to the Lord? What do you need to pour out to Him today? We know He will do what’s best for us because of His love for us in Jesus. Maybe you’re like the people in Psalm42:4— it’s been a while since you poured out your soul before the Lord. Don’t let that stop you. Start new right now, as Psalm 42:5 says. God wants to help. WHAT WILL YOU ASK GOD FOR TODAY? WHO WILL YOU BRING TO GOD TODAY? WHAT CAN YOU THANK GOD FOR TODAY? DAY 17… March 17 READ: Matthew 8:1-4 Thoughts to Help You Think About the Scripture “Ability” and “Willingness.” Think carefully about those two concepts. Ability has to do with “can someone do something.” Willingness has to do with “do they will or desire to do it.” As a man with leprosy comes before Jesus asking the Lord to heal his disease of leprosy, which of the above two does he ask Jesus about? We also learn something else about the man from how he comes to Jesus in v. 2. Check how Mark puts it in Mark 1:40. Is this man a believer in Jesus? Does he at least have some kind of faith in the Lord? Some might think that the man’s statement in 8:2 is a little unusual—“Lord, if you are WILLING you can heal me.” Isn’t it God’s will for everybody to be healed? Isn’t it God’s will for all bad or painful things to be removed from our lives? 1 Timothy 2:4 gives one picture of God’s will that we can count on. Yet, what about God’s will that all are healed or that all pain is taken away? Turn to 2 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul was a man that was every blessed and gifted by the Lord. In fact, according to 12:2-4, what special experience had God allowed Paul? It would have been easy for Paul to have gotten a spiritually prideful attitude after such an experience and all of Paul’s gifts. But God had a plan to keep Paul “in balance.” Look at 12:7. We don’t know what this “painful thorn in Paul’s physical life was,” but who does the verse say sent it? For what purpose? According to v. 8, what did Paul ask of God? According to vs. 9-10, what was God’s response to Paul? Paul’s pain was NOT taken away. Paul needed it to stay in a dependent relationship with the Lord. What illnesses or diseases or pains has God allowed in your life and given you to live with? Like with Paul, what might be the Lord’s motive in these for you? Note the promise of 2 Corinthians 12:9. While in the pain or the challenge, what is God’s promise to you and me? Do you understand? It is God’s first priority will for you and I to be right with Him, before us being comfortable or “problem free” in this life. WHAT WILL YOU ASK GOD FOR TODAY? WHO WILL YOU BRING TO GOD TODAY? WHAT CAN YOU THANK GOD FOR TODAY? DAY 18… March 18 READ: Philippians 4:4-7 Thoughts to Help You Think About the Scripture I hope it is first thing in the morning as you begin this study. It can set the tone for your day. So what does today look like? Or what was it like? Stressful, painful, frustrating… that’s no “front page news.” The big question is, “How are you facing it?” You know that you DO have a CHOICE. As Paul writes the book of Philippians, he is a prisoner. Yet, look what he says in v. 4. How might you and I handle imprisonment? What are the complaints that we might focus on? What does Paul say our spirit toward others should be in v. 5? On the other hand how do we often treat others when we are overstressed and overwhelmed with pain? Then Paul points us to how we can choose to have joy even in the midst of hard and difficult times. What do we need to remember according to v. 5? What does Paul tell us to do in v. 6 with our stresses? What does v. 7 promise that God will do? What will you choose to do if today the guilt of sin has got you really upset? I suggest Psalm 32:5. What will you choose to do if today the uncertainty of the future is really worrying you? I suggest Joshua 1:9. What will you choose to do if today it your financial and material needs that are causing you panic? I suggest Philippians 4:19. What will you choose to do if today you are feeling the pressure of other people who are out to harm you? I suggest God’s promise in Isaiah 54:17. What will you choose to do if today there are hard decisions before you? I suggest Proverbs 16:3… of course according to God’s will, not ours. If you’ve chosen to believe God and what He will do, move forward in life with joy, having left things in God’s hands. It’s your choice! WHAT WILL YOU ASK GOD FOR TODAY? WHO WILL YOU BRING TO GOD TODAY? WHAT CAN YOU THANK GOD FOR TODAY? DAY 19… March 19 READ: 2 Timothy 6:9-10 Thoughts to Help You Think About the Scripture It’s a good idea to have a doctor give you a regular check-up. In it, your doctor can sometimes see harmful directions before they become significant. With today’s Bible reading I invite you to submit to a life check-up. The life check-up is about money, but also about all the things that money can secure. In this Scripture, Paul says to a young man named Timothy that there are: a) TRAPS to the pursuit of money… it can become contagious, there never is an “enough” level of money or the things that it can buy. b) MANY FOOLISH AND HARMFUL DESIRES… when money and the things it can bring us grow, they can affect our desires in harmful ways… ex. we want more for ourselves and look less to others… we become insatiable about having the next or more advanced this or that (think especially about technology). c) RUIN AND DESTRUCTION can follow as our desires go out of control… we’ve got to have more and more, something newer, something better, and the passion to have that controls us to make unwise choices. d) ENCOURAGES WANDERING FROM THE FAITH… yep, it even gets to a point where it starts to affect our spiritual life… our goals are not focused on the Lord but ourselves, God doesn’t get our BEST gift, but just the BEST gift that we can give without sacrificing the taking care of our own passions. Look what happened in Matthew 26:14-16. Take your own temperature about money and the things that it buys. Are you obeying the “firstfruits” principle of Proverbs 3:9? Do you need the word of Jesus in Luke 16:13 right now? Have you been getting a little caught up in things like Luke 12:16-20 talks about? Who are you trying to be rich toward (Luke 16:21)? Ask God to change you right now. He forgives you and me because of Jesus’ death. Then start fresh to keep things in proper perspective. WHAT WILL YOU ASK GOD FOR TODAY? WHO WILL YOU BRING TO GOD TODAY? WHAT CAN YOU THANK GOD FOR TODAY? DAY 20… March 20 READ: 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 Thoughts to Help You Think About the Scripture No matter who you are, every one of us has a spiritually unattractive history. That is, sinful stuff we’re not proud of. By history, I don’t mean just many years ago, but even in the “now” of our lives. Who are you still trying to fully forgive? Are you still “paying the price” of some earlier unwise sinful moves in your life? What struggles with temptation do you still confront every day—an out of control tongue? a lustful heart? impatience that leads you to do short term things that are unwise? still often an unselfish life of putting yourself ahead of others? can’t even remember the last time that you consistently sacrificed for someone else? Every one of us can identify with the man named Paul in v. 9. He used to be named Saul in Acts 8:3. What was he doing back then? Before any of us go to the “well, I’m pretty good most of the time/ I’m not so bad, so this word really isn’t for me,” kind of thinking, remember the piercing truth that James reminds us of in James 2:10. Can any of us rest on the concept that we’re “not that bad”? What guilt does even just one itsy bitsy sin bring to our lives? There is a way to stand with hope and confidence. What is it according to 1 Corinthians 15:10? What is GRACE? 2 Corinthians 8:9 gives us a pretty good definition. What is grace? What does grace makes possible for us with God the Father? Whose work is grace because of? How is grace undeserved favor for Paul and for you and me? Now what hope does this bring to you and me about our unattractive history which is still being added to? If we repent of our sins, what is true according to Psalm 103:11-12? What Good News! WHAT WILL YOU ASK GOD FOR TODAY? WHO WILL YOU BRING TO GOD TODAY? WHAT CAN YOU THANK GOD FOR TODAY? DAY 21… March 21 READ: Matthew 7:13-14 Thoughts to Help You Think About the Scripture Even though it has been all the way back since 1958 that he came on to the scene, most people today know who Yogi Bear is. The cartoon character is one of the most beloved cartoon characters of all time. One of his signature lines was that he referred to himself as “smarter than the average bear.” What Yogi meant by that was that while he was not brilliant smart, comparing himself to others bears, he was smart. “Comparing himself to others… comparing ourselves to others,” let’s think about that today. It is so easy to do. When are the times that you and I especially compare ourselves to others and what they’ve done? Isn’t it often when we’ve fallen short of what we should do or be? We use the comparison as sort of an ointment or a drug for our failure… sort of like, “Well, I may not be this, but I’m better than they are.” What comparisons do you make about yourself? Beware, spiritual comparisons, while they come just as easy, are very dangerous. What are some spiritual comparisons? Who do you “out serve” or “out give” in the church? Who have you lived a more holy life than (at least what is seen on the outside)? What evil have others done that you have avoided? Please be careful of this spirit for these reasons: 1) you and I are part of the “all” of Romans 3:23. 2) To just be “morally better” than MOST people isn’t that much of an accomplishment when you realize what happens to “many” according to Matthew 7:13. 3) See how things turned out for a Pharisee who was focused on how he measured up with others. See Luke 18:9-12. How did things turn out for him according to Luke 18:13-14? Instead, what does Jesus say is the only entrance to life according to Matthew 7:14? The entrance to heaven is not about how we are measured with others. The entrance is not even about us and what we’ve done. Rather, it is about Christ, and this one truth found in Romans 10:9. Is that you? WHAT WILL YOU ASK GOD FOR TODAY? WHO WILL YOU BRING TO GOD TODAY? WHAT CAN YOU THANK GOD FOR TODAY?