I'll be first! woot.

IN-SYNC.

Matthew 15:5-6; 8-9
But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ ⁶ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.

⁸ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
⁹ Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.

We must be careful that what we teach is directly from the Word of God – not our own interpretations or opinions about what we think God meant in His Word. How can we make sure that we are directly in-line with the Word? Our hearts. Part of the reason why the Pharisees were blinded to the truth was because their hearts were far from God.  We ought to always sync our hearts to God, then we can be sure that we are right on track.

How about everyone???? I wanna read your devotions! 

It's so funny… this week's Youth Jam is about this.  Awesome!  God's probably like “Let's work on you first, Belle!”

FIGURED OUT.

Matthew 6:30-33
And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Worry has a lot to do with how much faith we have – that God has everything figured out for us. He has all these things planned out for us before we were even born – our present and our future. How do we live a worry-free life? Boost up your faith. How? Romans 10:17 and Matthew 6:33. Unbelievers are plagued with worries. Why? No faith. However, as Christians, we have first-hand advantage. All we need to do is have faith. Cliche-ish? Nah, just do it!

Post edited 10:25 am – May 13, 2009 by bellecagas

OUT OF LOVE.

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 (NLT)
 ⁸ I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. ⁹ Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. ¹⁰ For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

It's funny how I just told one of my student regarding apologies.  She cussed out loud and I stared at her, making her think that I was offended by what she just said.  Then she immediately said “sorry”.  I told her that sorry means she will not do it again.  I've told this to many of students how sorry means to turn away from what was done wrong, and to never to do it again, otherwise, it won't be a real apology. 

In the same way, Paul was saying the same thing to the people of Corinth.  There are times that we have to literally be hurt by telling our loved ones what ought to be done.  When we rebuke someone or correct someone (in love) for what they did wrong, we get hurt because we know that they are hurt.  However, sometimes, it is necessary.  We can't love people all the way to hell (by allowing them to do wrong things over and over) – that won't be real love.

Post edited 5:21 pm – July 14, 2009 by bellecagas
Post edited 5:22 pm – July 14, 2009 by bellecagas

During my devotions today, I came across this little “difficulty” trying to get something out of what I was reading.  Later on, as I spent more time on it, I realized something cool despite all my questions:

Judges 18:5-6 (NLT)

⁵ Then they said, “Ask God whether or not our journey will be successful.”

⁶ “Go in peace,” the priest replied. “For the Lord is watching over your journey.”

I still have questions regarding this passage. Nevertheless, we can still draw out some facts and truths that can be applied in our lives:

Facts:

• Though the Danites may not have had God as their God, they still inquired of Him and His guidance through the hired Levite priest as they ventured through Laish.
• The priest assured them that God was going to be with them.
• Regardless of whether or not the Levite priest gave what was God-given guidance or not, the Danites settled in Laish – meaning, their journey was successful as the priest had told them.

Questions:
Since there was no king at that time, and the people did everything as they saw fit, would that priest would've been right in telling the Danites that the Lord was with them? Was it just through his own that he gave that advice to them? Or was the Lord with him in that advice?

Truth about God:
We may not be so in line with God (as the people mentioned in the book of Judges were), yet God in his gracious mercy, will still guide us through life. Remember the times when you were away from God… God never left his hand on you. He still has great and amazing plans for us. Despite our actions, God's nature still remains – that He is GOD.  His ways are always safe and secure. He is a God of blessings and enormous mercy. He still remains who HE IS.

Sigh.  God is awesome. 

woo woo. haha Amen Belle. I actually watched a scene like this in a movie. And reading the this verse took me back there to the story of Moses. Wow, The importance of this verse related to Moses when he returned from the Lord… many of the people turned their backs on their Leader which then was a direct insult to God coz thats who they were really leaving. They were all fearful focusing on the circumstance around them. Worshiping idols. Reading the chapter is awesome but watching it was even better coz it depicted all these different emotions. Some of which we can relate to in our own lives.

Then here comes this faithful leader expecting to share great things in his return. Only to find faithless people. The disappointment and the fear of God must of filled his heart. His love for the faithless people he shouts …”will you not obey the Lord and forsake these idols you have made for yourselves! All who is for the Lord come near…” I think the movie added some stuff but it had a great impact.

So we have a duty as leaders and as followers. And that is (RT@bellecagas) to honor God with our lives, God will fill our years with strength, provision, restoration, guidance, and all things we can think of. That is why Matthew 6:33 talks about being provided about everything else if we put God's kingdom first.,