Sunflower Faith

My Daily Bible Reading

Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

2 Peter 1,2,3; John 1

Scripture:

   
⁵ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
(2 Peter 1:5-9, New King James Version)

Observation:

The passage alone speaks volumes….want to know how to grow and mature as a follower of Christ? A post it note of this verse serves as a great reminder,but then again, isn’t there a lot of great passages from the Bible, from His word, that we can keep close to heart to remind us?

Reading it, it reads like a ladder, do one thing and on another, build another and from that another and from that is a tumbling effect that happens throughout our lives and our walk.

My words seem so inadequate to share the gentle reminder and love that comes from this passage….if we wish to grow deeper and more mature in our walk..wow…this is a good start.

Application:

Remember what it took to start walking? I don’t personally, lol, but it is a remind that there is a step that leads to another step that leads to another, and this is a reminder that everything has a process.

We would like to get from point A to point C in a hurry, but we have to remember that this is not our time, it’s His and everything has a step and a process and the trick is, to persevere through those processes.

For me, it’s a reminder that we have weaknesses, but they are not to be excuses (and I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that myself), but we do have the free-will to choose, for ourselves, to follow and learn from our Heavenly Father or not.

No one else can do that or do that for us. We could go to church all we want, but it doesn’t make us a mechanic (referencing just because we go to a garage….lol).

It’s up to us,you, me, everyone,to lay claim to His word, to open it, to read it, to keep it close to heart and walk in His steps and listen to Him.

No one can do that other than what we allow it and when we open our hearts, humble our souls and say, “Lord, I am here in Thy will not mine, and what do I have to learn from You”, oh the blessings that He lays on our hearts and souls.

Prayer:

Lord, Thank You Father for Your word and your lessons and though there are times that are hard, though there are times that are good, through good and bad, Lord, lead me, Lord, humble me, give me strength for when I am weak and teach me,Heavenly Father to be Your humble servant.

Amen.

****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2009All Rights Reserved

My Daily Bible Reading

Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

1 Peter 1,2,3,4,5

Scripture

¹⁷ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; ¹⁸ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ²⁰ He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you ²¹ who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:17-21, New King James Version)

Observation:

This past year has been a year where our Heavenly Father has called on and convicted and begun a work of refinement that He has laid heavily on my  heart and that I accepted with just submission, praise and gratitude.

It’s funny how something as simple as just reading your bible, is a difficult task to do in today’s world, when we have so much going on and keeping ourselves, so busy, that we overlook, something as life giving and vital as working on our always growing and developing relationship with our Heavenly Father.

I am a huge advocate of that, because as I really begin to dig into reading His word, taking the challenge at church to read our bible, every day and finding the time to read our bible, I began to realize, that there was so much more in my growth that I needed to do that I welcome with open arms and a desire to submit myself to His will be done, not mine.

Using the life journal method and the S.O.A.P. help, for me, develop a discipline to read His word every day that it’s reach the point, I honestly feel incomplete if I don’t spend time reading His word so I incorporate that with our homeschool routine.

Biggest reason, is it helps the kids learn by example and not by words, how to pursue that active and living relationship with our Heavenly Father and if we don’t do that ourselves, how can we expect them to.

Application:

I’m learning to really look at my life and decide, how important is this over this and that over that. I am also learning that just because I volunteer at church, go to bible study, it’s not really “having a relationship”, but for me, it just felt more like doing everything, but going directly to Him and learning from Him, and growing in and through Him.

I started to say “no” to many activities and began to carve more time for Him and what I discovered, what a deeper conviction and desire in my heart to really follow Him, to learn from Him and that nothing in the world can truly replace or justify having that one on one relationship with our Heavenly Father and reading His Word.

Now…I read His word, before I read everything and it helps set that mental mindpath and that’s not to say, I still don’t slip and make mistakes.

I’m still human but I also learn not to use my mistakes as excuses but as growing markers in my life and to learn from them and strive not to repeat them.

My love and worship with our Heavenly Father is growing and maybe not rapidly, but that’s okay, it’s growing and I know that He is and always have been and will be more my center and focus of my life.

There is nothing on this earth that can replace Him and there is nothing on this earth He craves more than just to have that personal relationship, with you, with me, with everyone.

Prayer:

****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2009All Rights Reserved

My Daily Bible Reading

Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

James 1,2,3,4,5

Scripture

 ¹ My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. ² For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. ³ Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. ⁴ Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. ⁵ Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.   
¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:1-18, New King James Version)

Observation:

*****Updated****

A friend just posted this great quote that I wanted to share; I think it goes well with today’s reading:

While we are never to put God to the test, we should certainly ask Him to test us. In surrendering to this examination, we are tried and often refined during the process.

` “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” ~ Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV) quoted by Laurie of “A Magnolia Heartbeats”.

James is a great book to read but it’s also a humbling book to read, because it seems to focus a lot on how we interact with others and how we use our words.

Honestly, whenever I read James, it makes me stop and do a major evaluation of how I use my words, be it here on the blog, on Twitter, on Facebook and in real life and how we present ourselves can make or break our testimony.

We live in a world that well, seems to be anything goes and sometimes prey on the exploitation of others for the rising of oneself. This is just a personal observation, and just a personal thought, but it sometimes, feel like, we revel in hurting or using our words to tear down others to build ourselves up, versus working on encouraging and lifting each other up.

When we speak, how does our words reflect ourselves, our spouses, our friends and more than anything our Heavenly Father?

Does the words and actions we portray, lift them up to the greater gloryof our Heavenly Father, or are they designed to just lift ourselves up?

I pray and hope that the words I speak and write would be in worship and praise our Heavenly Father and serve to lift His name up and to glorify only Him and not me, because me…well…I’m just really a small dot in the bigger picture of things.

Him; He is the beginning and He is the constant foundation that never changes and it’s always with prayers and hopes that this blog is in service always to Him.

Application:

James 3: 9-16,stays with me and will be something I will mull about over the day:

⁹ With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.   
¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. ¹⁷

It’s a good reminder to take throughout the day, to remember and to ask oneself, where-ever we speak and where-ever we speak our words…who are we speaking about and for and how?

We can speak in such a way that even in gentle love and constructive encouragement, it can still glorify our Heavenly Father, but we can also speak in a way, that doesn’t show us to be followers of Christ, but follower’s of self or of  other.

A fine line to walk and something to remember throughout the day, when people see us, are they seeing us, or can they see our Heavenly Father in us?

My prayer and hope that when we speak, we speak in a way that will encourage and challenge and give strength and righteous conviction to refine not to judge and to condemn.

This is both an easy and a difficult passage to go over, but then again, if we seek to grow and mature, don’t we tell our children that sometimes it means having to face what is not easy and to persist through and from those lessons, we can grow and mature?

Yes, I will be hitting the commentary and re-reading this passage and well, just these chapters more later today, but it’s a welcome encouragement to understand and to apply further our Heavenly Father’s words and ask the difficult questions.

When people see me, will they see Him or do they see just me?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your loving strength and Your loving guidance and I pray and hope You keep challenging, encouraging and convicting what needs to be challenged or refined or matured as I follow You,Heavenly Father.

I pray You will guide my heart and words as I seek You and that I reflect You in and through me, so it’s always about You, never about me.

Lord, I thank You for Your welcoming hands for the days that I stumble or stray and Your gentle reminder to go back on the path that I was on and not off into the wilderness, far from You and Your word.

Help keep my heart open and willing, teach me discernment and taming the tongue that it may always speak words that reflect Your work and love.

Thank You Father, Thank You.

Amen

****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2009All Rights Reserved

My Daily Bible Reading

Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

Hebrews 12,13; Jude

Scripture

³ Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.(Jude 1:3, New King James Version)

Observation:

There’s never a “good time” to share our faith, or so we tell ourselves.

We don’t want to offend, it’s a bad time, we don’t know what to say.

Imagine if our Heavenly Father said the same to us.  But He found time and didn’t pay mind to those who were offended because sometimes when people get offended, it’s because they don’t want to hear the truth or want to feel that nagging suspicion to rethink what they spent so much time, convincing themselves they want to believe.

His truth is a sunshine that lights up and reveals everything, the good, the bad, the ugly. We don’t like it, but  there comes to a point either our hearts hardened to the truth or we awaken to the truth and strive to change.

Reading “Voice of the Martyrs” it’s a reminder that there are people in other countries, fellow brothers and sisters, who unlike us in the States, don’t have the freedom at all, to practice thier faith. Being a Christian is considered being the enemy.

Yet they pursue under worse challenges in a modern day reminder of the older days of Christian persecution.

We speak for those who have gone before us and for those who can not speak with us now.

If we had a stain on our shirt, we would want someone to let us know before we head out the door wouldn’t we?

If we had spiniach stuck between our teeth, wouldn’t it be nice someone tells us before we head into the office to meet the big boss?

Sharing our faith is not an easy thing but it’s not a hard thing to do either.

It’s by just our common day actions to each others and to those who are non-believers; It’s by living out our faith and not just speaking about our faith; It’s about not being afraid to share what our Heavenly Father has and will do with our lives and for those around us.

It’s taking the time to pray for others, even when it’s inconvenient for us, and just a simple note of encouragement.

We don’t have to have loud speakers to proclaim who we are or what we believe in, but we shouldn’t hide away our faith as if it’s something to be ashamed of either.

Application:

Truthfully, there have been days, I thought twice about pulling out my bible to read while at a doctor’s office without thinking “what will other people think” or sending a Christmas card with scripture for “fear of offending”, but as God laid it on my heart, I realize that by being more concerned what the world thought and not what He thought, I was choosing, by my actions, the world over Him.

I soon, stopped worrying and when I wait for the doctor, or whomever, I open my bible and read it, and send out cards with scripture in it, with a “Merry Christmas” and “God Bless You” in it.

There was a time, that no one said “God Bless You” to me or share His word with me. It was a time before I became a Christian and I can’t help but wonder, “What difference would it have made, had someone said that to me”.

Maybe I would have been offended, but it would have planted a seed, that you and I wouldn’t have seen, but later in the future it might have come to fruit.

We don’t have to share His word, by just pulling out a bible and quoting Scripture. We can share His word, by just simple actions, living His word and letting that speak for itself, rather than we speak for Him. It’s His job to save, but it’s our job to share His word and often not by verbalizing, but just by our very existance and letting that bear testament to His word.

Don’t feel like you can “show your faith” only around fellow believers and don’t think, you have to share your faith by standing on a corner.

Just sometimes, the simple act of extending a hand and saying” Hi” and letting your life speak for itself, can speak volumes for itself.

Don’t be afraid to say “God bless You” or  “Merry Christmas”, after all…doesn’t He bless us all rather we know it or not?

Prayer:

Lord, Thank You for standing up for us and seeking us even in the faces of those who had seek to silence Your Son and the work that He did; We don’t face the same as our fellow brothers and sisters, but we shouldn’t feel that we need to modify our faith to fit in a broken world that seeks to conform You to what it desires versus to allow You to change it for the better.

Lord, give us strength and words to speak and live in Your truth and not ours or that of the world.

Amen

****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2009All Rights Reserved