September 21st---Laying Down the Law about Love

Deuteronomy 28:1-6 tells us that if we follow the commandments God will bless us. Remember Mark 12:30-31? (I challenge you to memorize this verse) Mark 12:30-31 tells us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God. If we obey this one commandment we will obey the other ten commandments. Look at the verse Genesis 3:14-19. In genesis 3 Adam and Eve were being cursed by God because they disobeyed the only commandment God had given them. These two passages go well together and they speak very clearly of what will happen to us when we obey and disobey God.

We live out the law (commandments) because we Love God. Our relationship with God should not be just obeying rules because that is not the relationship our God desires to have with us. It is no good to obey if it is not obeying out of love.

God's law is one thing that shows us that he loves us. God loves us so much he gave us laws to live by because he knows they are the best thing for us. It is for our own good that we follow God's commandments.


Discussion Questions:

Does the way you obey the commandments express the love you have for your Lord?

Do you have the right intention in following the commandment (for love or for obedience)?

What's your favorite animal noise?

What can you change to better follow God's commandments?

BROKEN COMPUTER

I need to apologize for the lack of my devotion updates. The hard drive in my computer is fried, and I do not have a computer to work on. I will try to get it all updated as soon as possible. Keep reading from the book though! Also, here's a good verse to look up today. Psalms 66!

GO CYCLONES! BEAT IOWA!

September 11th---Sex Isn't a Dirty Word

God loves us so much that He gave us rules to live our lifes by. Isn't that AMAZING!!! We should stop thinking of the ten commandments as a list of rules, and rather just ways that God gives us to live our lives happier, healthier, and for the Lord.

Discussion Questions:

Any questions?

September 10th---"Everybody" Isn't Always Everybody

Everywhere we go we receive pressure to be just like everybody else in this world. God doesn't want us to be everybody. God want us to be our own unique person. The pressures of the world aren't always good pressures. There will always be the temptation of sin. Every human feels temptation. When we feel temptation to sin we should be filled with hope because that means we are God's children. The devil wouldn't tempt us if we were doing bad. Because we are doing good the devil tries to tempt us. Since we are tempted we are doing good things, so don't let the devil use his sneaky games to get you! I was recently reading another christian book that was explaining temptation better. The book said that the devil has a four step process in tempting us to sin. Satan identifies a desire inside of us, then he wants us to doubt God, then he lies to make sin look good, and this all leads to acting out the sin. The closer we are to God the more satan will tempt us, unfortunatly. But, if we cling to God in our time of tempting we will defeat evil and stand strong in good. So relying on God is what will pull us through the tough times of evil desire. Resisting sin is not as easy done as it is said but with strength from God it is possible. Pray daily that God can give you courage to overcome the world and the sin within it.

Discussion Questions

What are some ways you can actively rely on God daily?

How can we resist the "everybody's doing it" line?

September 9th---It's What's Inside That Counts

God did not give us our clothes and our hair do. He gave us our heart and mind. The world tells us what we should be like, but all these things are just worldly and not pure. God does not see us as what brand we are wearing...(thank goodness). Even though people at school, work, or maybe even at church pay attention to these pathetic stereotypes, God doesn't. God wants to see our inner beauty. The attitude we have should reflect what God has given us. God finds our attitudes to be beautiful when we are worshiping Him (loving Him). Whatever haircut we have doesn't display our relationship with Christ, but our heart and attitude does, so show that off and represent Christ. Although our clothes don't represent Christ, what our clothes say about our attitude is shown. When girls wear low cut shirts and tight pants, it is not sending a good message. When guys are wearing t-shirts advertising rude comments it is not a good reflection of Christ either. Even though our outward apperance doesn't matter, it does send a message on what is important to us. If Christ is important in our lives, we will wear coservative clothing. (that doesn't mean we can't be fashionable and sweet :) ) So whatever God has given you wear it with pride and you will be seen as beautiful to God, and if your confident in God others around will see the beauty of Christ as well.

Discussion Questions

How can you better show off your inner personality given to you by God?

Do you judge people on their outward apperance? How can we fix this?

September 8th---Who's Number One?

So..Here's how this goes. We will read the little story and the bible passage from the book each day. There will be a reflection on each reading and a prayer to go along with it. I will post my thoughts on the passage for the day, I will also post questions for discussion each day. I would love if you guys could respond with your comments and thoughts on each day's readings. My goal for this devotion is that we will love God more and more each day. I hope you enjoy it and learn from it as much as I will!

Matthew 20:20-28 says that whoever wants to become great with rewards must become a servant. What is a servant? The bible's definition of being a servant is a person who works for another persons good. We are God's servants. To be a servant we must not think of ourselves all of the time. Why should we be selfless?

God is our Loving Creator. See Acts 17:24
God is the Supreme Authority.
God is the Final Judge. He judges our eternal life. Will we be sent to heaven or hell?

We are disobedient to God. We sin. Romans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
We are sent to death without God in our life. See Romans 2:5

(this may all be confusing but we will study it more in depth in the coming weeks)

Because of who God is and because of who we are we have two choices. One choice is to refuse God's love, or we can accept God's love and confess our sins and live our life for the Lord. I choose to confess my sin!!! Because I choose to believe that God sent his son Jesus Christ to free me from my sin, I will live my life in obedience to God. My life of obedience does not mean just following rules it means a RELATIONSHIP with the Lord. My overflow of love for the Lord makes me want to be obedient in my ways.

God's greatest commandment is to love others. Matthew 22:37 says "the first and greatest commandment is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second greatest commandment is love your neighbor as yourself."

God wants us to love him most of all. Because we love God we should love others around us. Loving others is not always easy but with God's help and through prayer we are able to love those around us.

Discussion Questions:

What questions do you have about the reading today?

What makes you want to love others around you?

Why do you think God is displeased with our selfishness?

In what ways do you think you are selfish?

What can you do to not be selfish?