Jan 28

Proverbs 23:26
Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.

I think back to what my dad told my mom, "I gave you my heart, I didn't give you my eyes". And what a wow for me to hear this verse this morning. I can see why it is important for us to give our eyes to God too. There is alot of evil before us and we need to be careful of what we see. Sometimes we may not be able to help the image that comes before us, but we can control what happens after that look. We can remember Whose we are and Who we represent and turn our eyes away from that very appearance of evil. God wants to protect our hearts and our minds but it is up to us, to make sure we are protected. Don't entertain those evil sights! Always remember, garbage in - garbage out. Delight yourself in the ways of the the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 34:4.

Jan. 27

Amos 6:2
Go over to Calneh and look, and go from there to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, or is their territory greater than yours?

In the midst of trying to find out how many times go is used in the Bible, I got to thinking more about this verse than the word go. Go is used thousands of time and I really believe it is an important word, it is a command for us to get out of our complacent lives and get busy doing what God wants us to do. But going further, it makes you stop and think. There is a reason that the question "is their territory greater than yours?" is ask. Even today we have that tendency to want to pick and choose who we share with or even speak to. Aren't we caught up in the "if they don't look like us or act like us, we don't want anything to do with them" syndrome? We all do answer yes if we are honest. We don't like leaving our comfort zone - or is it just me? Maybe you do and for that I applaud you! I think we were told this to remind us that in God's eyes, there are no greater or lesser - we are all the same and we must remember that ALWAYS! Just go, it doesn't matter where they come from or where they have been, they all need Jesus, just like we did. Did you ever think that somebody may have thought the same thing before they shared Jesus with us, they wondered if it would really be worth it. Remember - it is worth it!

Jan 26

Hebrews 13:25
Grace be with you all.

When looking up the word grace you find lots of meaning. When you get down the list you find the word theology before giving the meaning - the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.
Now to go another step in understanding:
freely -costing us nothing
given - put in our care
unmerited - not deserved
favor - state of being approved
love - a feeling of deep affection or concern.

It is hard to understand sometimes why in the world He could love us, we definately don't derserve it, we so often hurt him, reject him and don't show often enough how thankful we are or should be to Him. But He looks beyond our faults and looks way inside of us and He believes in us, He has Hope for us. Take time today to Thank Him, if for nothing else, just for loving you enough to send His Son just to die for you. You do realize that if you were the only one here on earth that He still would have sent Jesus to die for you. Makes me feel that much more unworthy! Thank you God for loving me, for giving me love when I don't derserve it, for beleiving in me, when I can't even beleive in myself. May we feel your presence today and realize that your Grace is with us!

Jan. 25

Hebrews 2:4
God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

I know I have a tendency to repeat, but this is because I think it is important. I often ask if we are taking time to see what God is showing us, He reveals Himself to us in so many ways, but I think we close our minds and our eyes to it. We see what is in front of us, but we do not realize the wonders and miracles that lay before us. Take that time to seek God out, not just in the Bible but in life everyday. I share so often about how He shows off with His amazing sunrises and sunsets. He is there waiting for someone to realize that He truly is sharing with us. When you get the opportunity to witness a birth, you see the miracle that is right before you, you realize just how awesome God is, that He can create something so wonderful!
When I see "God also testifying with them", makes me realize that it is not just Him doing something spectacular, it is somebody else that is part of what He is doing. We have all been a part of what He is sharing, but do we realize this? Our waking up in the morning is a miracle in itself. God has chosen one more day to let us see and enjoy life. Take time today to enjoy all that God has created for you, let Him show you how He can also use you to be a part of His signs and wonders!

Jan. 24

Matthew 6:11
Give us this day our daily bread.

So many times we do ask for this daily bread, but do we do all we can to prepare to take it? Do we come to the table expecting to eat or just get a snack? Are we looking forward to the whole meal, to take time and really enjoy each bite or do we have our minds set on getting up and getting on to the next part of our day? God has a meal prepared for us that will nourish us and sustain us. Don't just pick the good stuff, go ahead and try something new. Enjoy all that He has set before you. It's time to get excited about coming to the table of the Lord and receiving all that He has for you and me. Enjoy, don't walk away from the table still hungry. If you do, it's your own fault, not the Lords.

Jan. 23

Luke 6:30.
Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

Thank you Lord for this reminder to me! I think this is a reminder to us to let it go when we feel we have been wronged. Maybe they did not physically take something from us, but it could have been emotionally or some other form. God says to let it go! Don't ask for it back. Remember that God can replace what is taken and you will be amazed at how He can replace that void. Don't put your guard so high because you will be ask to give again. You can do it, God believes in you and He has great plans for you. So give when you are asked and know that blessings are there to be received.

Jan 22

Proverbs 6:6.
Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise,

Do you ever picture yourself just watching an ant? I think at some point we have watched them. I have never seen one just stop. An ant is always busy and yes I know that we should be too, but what are we busy doing? Why are we being called a sluggard? I think that we get busy about life and we do get slack in doing what God has called us to do, we should be spending more time with Him and sharing His word with those who don't know Him. I know that we should watch and learn from the ant, but we have to go one step beyond and be busy doing the right things.

Okay, when searching for an ant pictures I realized there are many ants and my thoughts are now going even deeper.

Ants
* There are more than 12,000 species of ants all over the world.
Much like us, we all look alike but we are very different.
* An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight. If a second grader was as strong as an ant, she would be able to pick up a car!
It's probably a good thing that we are not that strong
* Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies!
This makes me tired, Just give me the first part of the statement.
* Ants don’t have ears. Ants "hear" by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet.
Maybe we should be a little more observant in what is going on around us. Think beyond what we hear.
* When ants fight, it is usually to the death!
Stand for what you believe!
* When foraging, ants leave a pheromone trail so that they know where they’ve been,
I guess these we should learn from where we have been and think about going back there!
* Queen ants have wings, which they shed when they start a new nest.
Glad we don't have to start over when our dead skin leaves us!
* Ants don’t have lungs. Oxygen enters through tiny holes all over the body and carbon dioxide leaves through the same holes.
Just goes to show how awesome God is and how creation is amazing!
* When the queen of the colony dies, the colony can only survive a few months. Queens are rarely replaced and the workers are not able to reproduce.
Don't we think of ourselves as the queen? But we are hopeful that this won't happen to our family if we do die. We want them to go on and maybe not our husbands reproduce but it's okay for the kids too.

After looking at the different types of Ants maybe we need to think about what kind we are:

Argentine Ant: Argentine ants do not pose a health threat, but they can contaminate food by leaving their bodily waste behind.
Now we are technically leaving bodily waste, but do we contaminate what we come in contact with, we can spew awful things from our mouth - what do we cover when it flows from us?
Red Imported Fire Ant: The sting of a Red Imported Fire Ant is painful and often results in a raised welt that becomes a white blister. Persons allergic to insect stings will react more severely. They are frustrating, not only because of the physical pain they can inflict, but because their mound-building activity can damage plant roots and lead to loss of crops.
Are we guilty of stinging others? This goes back to our words that we say. Always remember you can say you are sorry, but the damage is done when those words come out of your mouth! Don't destroy people, you may not think you are doing it but you can!
Carpenter Ants: When they are ready, those workers then get the job of gathering food to feed the next generation. Once mature, this first generation of worker ants work to increase the food supply for the colony.
What are we doing for the next generation. Are we sharing God's food (His word)? Are we preparing the next generation for what is to
Odorous House Plant: This ant gets its name from the strong, rotten coconut-like smells it gives off when crushed and the fact that they commonly nest in or around houses. come, helping them to be ready?
When we are crushed, do we put out that bad odor, always negative, making others want to run from us? Think about what we go through, we are all there, but we must realize that we don't have to be bitter from circumstances, we can be better, give off a sweet aroma that that has Jesus as the fragrance!
Carpenter Ant: Carpenter ants clean their nesting sites, and their galleries are not lined with mud or moist soil as termite galleries typically are. Carpenter ant workers keep their galleries as smooth as sandpapered wood.
We should want this for ourselves, a home for our family, a place where they can come and spend time and feel protected! Give them an enviroment that is healthy, full of love and full of Jesus!

Just want to give you something to think about today! I pray it's a great day for you!