Matthew6:25-27--I tell you not to worry about everyday life--whether you have enough food or enough drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for your Heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
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Worry is probably about as useless and harmful to us as anger. Worry stresses us and hurts our body just like being angry does. But it's also another pretty common thing we do.
I'm guilty of this. When I read this scripture, I had the urge to raise both hands and say, "YES! That's me!!!!" Not that I'm proud of it, but because of the HOPE Jesus gives us in that scripture.
Can you imagine? Can you picture it?
I couldn't until I read that....
God loves the birds. He made them so of course he loves them. He takes care of them. He provides stick and twigs for a nest. He provides worms for their food and to feed their little babies. At our house, God provided a rather ugly bush that I wanted cut down that is taking over the front porch. It is now the home to 3 cute little birds who live right at eye level. My girls love watching them growing each day. God took the time to provide everything that Mama bird needed...
So WHY should I worry that he won't take care of me?
I'll tell you why... because (unlike the bird)... I want God to take care of me the way *I* want him too. I want a certain job... a certain answer to a prayer... a certain lifestyle. I don't think the bird cares if the worm she's getting for her baby is generic or name brand.
God provides for the birds... he WILL provide for us. We have to believe that. Because sitting and worrying about something never did anybody (including me) any good. We need to take what he gives us... and be grateful for it. Just like those baby birds are.
God loves you! Give your worries to him :)
God Bless You!
Kelly
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Day 16: No Law Against Good Things
Galatians 5: 22-23-- But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfullness, gentleness, and self control. There is no law against these things.
*************
First, I wanted to talk about my oldest daughter. She's 5 and loves talking about God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit, however, scares her. "You mean you have a Ghost living inside you!?!"
That ended up being a long, hard, and awkard conversation lol, but I think she finally got it. She was alright after that, but before then, she thought it was the weirdest thing ever.
I guess it does sound that way, but the Holy Spirit is as important as God and Jesus in our lives. He lives in our heart and helps us in our daily lives.
I just love what this verse says. There is no law against being good. What a novel concept!
But its still something we have to work on. For most of us, being "good" doesn't come naturally. Now, some people you see-- you wonder if they've ever even known what a sin is-- but those people are few and far between. Most of us have to work on it. That's why we have the Holy Spirit helping us.. guiding us.
Patience doesn't come easily for me. I think I leave it in the bed sometimes. It's something I have to pray about daily because my girls deserve a patient Mama (and my husband a patient wife).
Which of the Holy Spirit fruits do you need help with in your life? Pray about it and ask God to help you. A willing heart is all He needs.
God Bless You!
Kelly
*************
First, I wanted to talk about my oldest daughter. She's 5 and loves talking about God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit, however, scares her. "You mean you have a Ghost living inside you!?!"
That ended up being a long, hard, and awkard conversation lol, but I think she finally got it. She was alright after that, but before then, she thought it was the weirdest thing ever.
I guess it does sound that way, but the Holy Spirit is as important as God and Jesus in our lives. He lives in our heart and helps us in our daily lives.
I just love what this verse says. There is no law against being good. What a novel concept!
But its still something we have to work on. For most of us, being "good" doesn't come naturally. Now, some people you see-- you wonder if they've ever even known what a sin is-- but those people are few and far between. Most of us have to work on it. That's why we have the Holy Spirit helping us.. guiding us.
Patience doesn't come easily for me. I think I leave it in the bed sometimes. It's something I have to pray about daily because my girls deserve a patient Mama (and my husband a patient wife).
Which of the Holy Spirit fruits do you need help with in your life? Pray about it and ask God to help you. A willing heart is all He needs.
God Bless You!
Kelly
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day 15: Harvest what you plant
Galatians 6:7-- Don't be misled-- you cannot mock the justice of God. You will harvest what you plant.
************************
We've all heard the expression "You reap what you sow."
I've always thought of it in a negative way. If I sow anger, I get anger. If I sow hatred, I reap hatred. You wouldn't plant a watermelon and get a tomato (unless you were a really bad farmer). So if you sow (or plant) a bad attitude, then that's what you will get in return.
However,
We can flip that... (HALLELUJAH!)
What if we sowed something POSITIVE? Of course, we get something positive back :)
A smile reaps a smile.
A joyous heart reaps a joyous heart.
Happiness reaps happiness.
Enthusiasm reaps enthusiam.
Amens reap amens (ever been to a church when someone finally says Amen?... it gets contagious!)
The world has enough negatives. Between the TV, the Internet, Daily unhappy people you meet at the store, it can be a pretty negative place. Lets sow some positive seeds and watch them grow.
God Bless You!
Kelly
************************
We've all heard the expression "You reap what you sow."
I've always thought of it in a negative way. If I sow anger, I get anger. If I sow hatred, I reap hatred. You wouldn't plant a watermelon and get a tomato (unless you were a really bad farmer). So if you sow (or plant) a bad attitude, then that's what you will get in return.
However,
We can flip that... (HALLELUJAH!)
What if we sowed something POSITIVE? Of course, we get something positive back :)
A smile reaps a smile.
A joyous heart reaps a joyous heart.
Happiness reaps happiness.
Enthusiasm reaps enthusiam.
Amens reap amens (ever been to a church when someone finally says Amen?... it gets contagious!)
The world has enough negatives. Between the TV, the Internet, Daily unhappy people you meet at the store, it can be a pretty negative place. Lets sow some positive seeds and watch them grow.
God Bless You!
Kelly
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Day 14: Don't be Selfish
Philippians 2:3-- Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
********************
At first, that verse sounds intimidating-- depressing even. Not really 'encouraging' in our 365 days of biblical Encouragement. But lets look deeper...
We all know that it is important to not be selfish. That you should think of others first--- BUT this does NOT include your health. When that is concerned, you need to be as 'selfish' as you need to be. (I've dealt with that some this summer..... and I really needed to know that. Did you?)
What this verse means is if you DON'T put others first (in non-health related issues), it will hurt them. Examples of this is:
*Not paying a tip (you selfishly kept your money)
*Not helping your elderly neighbor mow their yard (your time was more important)
*Refusing to take someone somewhere 'because you didn't feel like it (and it wasn't a major illness).
All of those things hurts others and therefore God. It also hurts our testimony if people see us as selfish.
Also, we aren't supposed to try to impress others. When my oldest girl started Kindergarten, I felt bad about not having fancy/expensive clothes for her to wear. I wanted to impress, and I was scared that she'd be teased because her "Mama" couldn't afford better clothes for her.
It was all in my mind. Probably the Devil playing with me. No one teased her, and she looked cute-- and confident (in fact, I've had several teachers come up to me and tell me how confident that little girl is!)
"Keeping up with the Jones" only hurts yourself in the long run. "The Jones'" are probably so into themselves that they don't even notice-- or care-- that we are trying to be like them if we want to be frank. Don't try to impress anyone. God likes you just the way you are :)
Be humble-- think of others first.
Now that doesn't meant to neglect yourself completely. You should try to look your best, but not to the point of conceit or being overly prideful. It's NOT selfish to take care of yourself. You can't take care of anyone if you don't take care of yourself. But we shouldn't take SO MUCH care in ourselves that it hurts others (ie spending all of our money on OUR clothes, thinking more of our money than giving tips, taking so much time to get ready in the morning to "look our best" that we make others wait for us.. therefore making it clear that OUR time is more important). There is a fine line there that we all need to pray about finding.
Challenge yourself to do something for others. Give extra tip money. Give to Goodwill. Pay for the meal of the car behind you at McDonalds (I did that once..... the look on his face was worth the extra $5.00). Help a neighbor. Pray for others. A small gesture can go a long, long way.
Doing so will make you feel so much better on the inside-- and nothing is more beautiful than that! :)
God Bless You!
Kelly
********************
At first, that verse sounds intimidating-- depressing even. Not really 'encouraging' in our 365 days of biblical Encouragement. But lets look deeper...
We all know that it is important to not be selfish. That you should think of others first--- BUT this does NOT include your health. When that is concerned, you need to be as 'selfish' as you need to be. (I've dealt with that some this summer..... and I really needed to know that. Did you?)
What this verse means is if you DON'T put others first (in non-health related issues), it will hurt them. Examples of this is:
*Not paying a tip (you selfishly kept your money)
*Not helping your elderly neighbor mow their yard (your time was more important)
*Refusing to take someone somewhere 'because you didn't feel like it (and it wasn't a major illness).
All of those things hurts others and therefore God. It also hurts our testimony if people see us as selfish.
Also, we aren't supposed to try to impress others. When my oldest girl started Kindergarten, I felt bad about not having fancy/expensive clothes for her to wear. I wanted to impress, and I was scared that she'd be teased because her "Mama" couldn't afford better clothes for her.
It was all in my mind. Probably the Devil playing with me. No one teased her, and she looked cute-- and confident (in fact, I've had several teachers come up to me and tell me how confident that little girl is!)
"Keeping up with the Jones" only hurts yourself in the long run. "The Jones'" are probably so into themselves that they don't even notice-- or care-- that we are trying to be like them if we want to be frank. Don't try to impress anyone. God likes you just the way you are :)
Be humble-- think of others first.
Now that doesn't meant to neglect yourself completely. You should try to look your best, but not to the point of conceit or being overly prideful. It's NOT selfish to take care of yourself. You can't take care of anyone if you don't take care of yourself. But we shouldn't take SO MUCH care in ourselves that it hurts others (ie spending all of our money on OUR clothes, thinking more of our money than giving tips, taking so much time to get ready in the morning to "look our best" that we make others wait for us.. therefore making it clear that OUR time is more important). There is a fine line there that we all need to pray about finding.
Challenge yourself to do something for others. Give extra tip money. Give to Goodwill. Pay for the meal of the car behind you at McDonalds (I did that once..... the look on his face was worth the extra $5.00). Help a neighbor. Pray for others. A small gesture can go a long, long way.
Doing so will make you feel so much better on the inside-- and nothing is more beautiful than that! :)
God Bless You!
Kelly
Friday, July 1, 2011
Day 13: Worry Less By Praying More
Philippians 4:6: Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.
*****************
Whoa there, Kelly!! Back that horse up.... Didn't we do this yesterday???
Yes, yes we did. It appears we are going to do a mini study on this certain verse in Philippians. God wouldn't let me leave it alone. It needed another day to be studied further.
Yesterday, we talked about Thanking God for answering prayers. Today, we are going to talk about worry.
Oh.My.Word. I'm going to admit it (might as well). I'm horrible at this... worry is one thing I'm pretty good at.
I used to think worry was my middle name. I honestly used to think that if I didn't 'worry' about something that it meant I didn't care. Twisted thinking? Yes!
Now that I have started studying the Bible, I KNOW to give my worries over to God. I'm actually much better at it than I used to be.
The notes in my Bible said, "If you want to worry less, pray more." Wow, that's a novel idea! And I truly mean that. That's great advice. Matthew 6:27 says, "Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?"
That is so true.
Why do I worry? Well, I worry because I want to control things... control the outcome, but I can't. No one can, but God. When I feel worry coming on, I need to pray and give it to God. Worry will not do me any good.
Why do you worry?
In all honesty, worry probably shortens our life more than lengthens it because of stress related medical problems it can cause.
That doesn't mean that we shouldn't use common sense. Not worrying that a car will hit you and not looking both ways before crossing the street is foolish. But for everything else, give it to God. He doesn't want you... me...US... to worry.
This is hard for me too-- But how awesome is it that we don't HAVE to worry! That we can give things to God to take care of. That is our Job. To pray for things.... not to worry about them.
Lets all remember: Worry LESS by praying MORE!
God Bless you!!!!
Kelly
Linked with: Brag on God Friday
*****************
Whoa there, Kelly!! Back that horse up.... Didn't we do this yesterday???
Yes, yes we did. It appears we are going to do a mini study on this certain verse in Philippians. God wouldn't let me leave it alone. It needed another day to be studied further.
Yesterday, we talked about Thanking God for answering prayers. Today, we are going to talk about worry.
Oh.My.Word. I'm going to admit it (might as well). I'm horrible at this... worry is one thing I'm pretty good at.
I used to think worry was my middle name. I honestly used to think that if I didn't 'worry' about something that it meant I didn't care. Twisted thinking? Yes!
Now that I have started studying the Bible, I KNOW to give my worries over to God. I'm actually much better at it than I used to be.
The notes in my Bible said, "If you want to worry less, pray more." Wow, that's a novel idea! And I truly mean that. That's great advice. Matthew 6:27 says, "Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?"
That is so true.
Why do I worry? Well, I worry because I want to control things... control the outcome, but I can't. No one can, but God. When I feel worry coming on, I need to pray and give it to God. Worry will not do me any good.
Why do you worry?
In all honesty, worry probably shortens our life more than lengthens it because of stress related medical problems it can cause.
That doesn't mean that we shouldn't use common sense. Not worrying that a car will hit you and not looking both ways before crossing the street is foolish. But for everything else, give it to God. He doesn't want you... me...US... to worry.
This is hard for me too-- But how awesome is it that we don't HAVE to worry! That we can give things to God to take care of. That is our Job. To pray for things.... not to worry about them.
Lets all remember: Worry LESS by praying MORE!
God Bless you!!!!
Kelly
Linked with: Brag on God Friday
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