This Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Genesis 20:1-32:12
Matthew 7:15-11:6
Psalm 9:1-13:6
Proverbs 2:16-3:18
Next Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Genesis 32:13-45:28
Matthew 11:7-14:36
Psalm 14:1-13:6
Proverbs 3:19-4:13
Focus Verse(s) for this week's thoughts: Psalm 9:11 "And let those who know Your name put their hope in You; For You, O Lord, do not forsake those who seek You." (The Orthodox Study Bible) {If reading NIV please refer to Psalm 9:10}
Lot's of people know the name "god" but how many of them truly know God on a personal level? How many truly put their hope in Him? Do I, do you? These are the kinds of questions that ran through my head as I was reading this week's verses. It is usually my cue that "this one is the focus verse" when I start being drawn to meditate on one particualr verse or another. I have learned (and relearned and relearned...) that when we do set our hope in God and fully trust Him for all our needs than He truly does not forsake us. God tells us in this week's verse's from Matthew that not even a sparrow, worth merely half a penny in chapter 10, will fall to the ground apart from His will and we are worth more than many sparrows. We are so priceless to God that He sent His one and only Son to die a painful and humble death that we might live eternally with Him in heaven. Truly He will not forsake us, He will never let us down but we must hold up our end of the deal here. We cannot truly know God without fully loving Him for all He has already done...and through fully loving God we will want to strive to seek Him in all that we do. Let us seek God in everything we do this week, in every moment of our daily lives. Please join me in praying:
Dear Lord, We are thankful to You that You do not forsake us when we seek You and set our hope in You. Please send Your Spirit to guide us to live a life that seeks You in all things. We also thank You, Father, for the many blessings you have granted to us and we praise Your holy name for Your grace is more than we deserve. Lord, we know there are so many people in need of Your healing touch; spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. We ask that as our great Healer You please grant Your grace, mercy and divine healing and comfort to those most in need of it and especially to Lee, Pam, Helen, Larry, George, Karen, Gary, Tim, Jeff, Mark & Lynn. We thank You that You never leave us and are always with us until the end of days, especially through our valleys. We ask Your guidance to our leaders, both political and theological. Grant them Your wisdom that they may lead us all in the right direction, towards You. Father, we especially thank You for those who serve You and us in every arm of the military. Please grant Your extraordinary favor, protection and deliverance to all the soldiers and their families. We thank You for the blessing of prayer and the connection to You that it brings. We ask that this prayer please be carried out not according to our will but to thine. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
I pray you each have a blessed and awesome week!!!
Love through Christ,
Niki
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Serving God Wholeheartedly
This Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Genesis 1:1-19:38
Matthew 1:1-7:14
Psalm 1:1-8:9
Proverbs 1:1-2:15
Next Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Genesis 20:1-32:12
Matthew 7:15-11:6
Psalm 9:1-13:6
Proverbs 2:16-3:18
Focus Verse(s) for this week's thoughts: Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches)."
It is a very personal and spiritual decision to want to serve God through our daily lives. I know for myself it is one I must prayerfully reaffirm every morning or I fall away a little at a time. If we choose to serve God then we must decide to make this a wholehearted decision. Jesus warns in Matthew 6:24 that we cannot serve both God and money. We cannot fully love God and love earthly posessions. We must realign our perspective to focus soley on God and all else needs to fall under the category of blessings we are thankful for rather than treasures we are striving for. God has blessed us all in different ways, with different talents, families, friends and material things and when we are serving God wholly we will not be looking to our neighbor to see what they have that we do not or what we have that they do not. Rather, we will fall to our knees in humble prayer and thank God for all He has blessed us with through His grace that we do not deserve. We have to let go of the media hype for "more, better, different" things that "everyone must have" and we need to place our lives in God's hands asking Him that His great and perfect will be done in our lives and through us. The more we focus on serving God and on praising and thanking Him for what we do have, then the more we will step toward true peace and happiness. I tell you from experience that it is difficult to praise God through your tears, fears and pain but I can also tell you it is worth it because then you can truly feel His presence through all of life's storms. Please join me in prayer:
Heavenly Father,
We ask You to open our hearts to Your Spirit that You may dwell within us and we may serve You and You alone. Please help us keep You as our daily focus as we strive to serve You in all that we do. We thank You for the many blessings you have granted to us and we praise Your holy name for Your grace is more than we deserve. Lord, we know many need Your healing touch, spiritually, mentally and physically. We ask that as our great Healer You please grant Your grace, mercy and divine healing comfort to those most in need of it and especially to Lee, Pam, Helen, Larry, George, Karen, Mark & Lynn. We thank You that You never leave us and are always with us until the end of days even through our valleys. We ask Your guidance to our leaders, both political and theological. Grant them You wisdom that they may lead us all in the right direction, towards You. Father, we especially thank You for those who serve You and us in every arm of the military. Please grant Your extraordinary favor, protection and deliverance to all the soldiers and their families. We thank You for the blessing of prayer and the connection to You that it brings. We ask that this prayer please be carried out not according to our will but to thine. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
I pray you each have a blessed and awesome week!!!
Love through Christ,
Niki
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Genesis 1:1-19:38
Matthew 1:1-7:14
Psalm 1:1-8:9
Proverbs 1:1-2:15
Next Week's Combined Readings
from "The One Year Devotional Guide":
Genesis 20:1-32:12
Matthew 7:15-11:6
Psalm 9:1-13:6
Proverbs 2:16-3:18
Focus Verse(s) for this week's thoughts: Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches)."
It is a very personal and spiritual decision to want to serve God through our daily lives. I know for myself it is one I must prayerfully reaffirm every morning or I fall away a little at a time. If we choose to serve God then we must decide to make this a wholehearted decision. Jesus warns in Matthew 6:24 that we cannot serve both God and money. We cannot fully love God and love earthly posessions. We must realign our perspective to focus soley on God and all else needs to fall under the category of blessings we are thankful for rather than treasures we are striving for. God has blessed us all in different ways, with different talents, families, friends and material things and when we are serving God wholly we will not be looking to our neighbor to see what they have that we do not or what we have that they do not. Rather, we will fall to our knees in humble prayer and thank God for all He has blessed us with through His grace that we do not deserve. We have to let go of the media hype for "more, better, different" things that "everyone must have" and we need to place our lives in God's hands asking Him that His great and perfect will be done in our lives and through us. The more we focus on serving God and on praising and thanking Him for what we do have, then the more we will step toward true peace and happiness. I tell you from experience that it is difficult to praise God through your tears, fears and pain but I can also tell you it is worth it because then you can truly feel His presence through all of life's storms. Please join me in prayer:
Heavenly Father,
We ask You to open our hearts to Your Spirit that You may dwell within us and we may serve You and You alone. Please help us keep You as our daily focus as we strive to serve You in all that we do. We thank You for the many blessings you have granted to us and we praise Your holy name for Your grace is more than we deserve. Lord, we know many need Your healing touch, spiritually, mentally and physically. We ask that as our great Healer You please grant Your grace, mercy and divine healing comfort to those most in need of it and especially to Lee, Pam, Helen, Larry, George, Karen, Mark & Lynn. We thank You that You never leave us and are always with us until the end of days even through our valleys. We ask Your guidance to our leaders, both political and theological. Grant them You wisdom that they may lead us all in the right direction, towards You. Father, we especially thank You for those who serve You and us in every arm of the military. Please grant Your extraordinary favor, protection and deliverance to all the soldiers and their families. We thank You for the blessing of prayer and the connection to You that it brings. We ask that this prayer please be carried out not according to our will but to thine. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
I pray you each have a blessed and awesome week!!!
Love through Christ,
Niki
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Niki's Thoughts Update!
To my beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I can't believe that it has been 4 months since I have typed a "Niki's Thoughts" email. A lot has happened to my family since then as I am sure has in each of your as well. I have kept you all in my thoughts and prayers and have been continuing to ask God how He will use me to serve Him and do His will. I feel His prompting to begin the weekly emails again...with a "new" format. I'm going to explore a Bible in a Year reading plan and each week's message will come from the passages explored throughout that week's planned reading. With Saturday just two short days away there is not much time to do any pre-reading however at the end of each message I plan to give the following week's reading plan in case anyone would like to read along throughout the week. If you no longer have an interest in receiving "Niki's Thoughts" please reply to this email so I may remove you from the list. Otherwise, I look forward to beginning this journey with you again.
Love through Christ,
Niki
I can't believe that it has been 4 months since I have typed a "Niki's Thoughts" email. A lot has happened to my family since then as I am sure has in each of your as well. I have kept you all in my thoughts and prayers and have been continuing to ask God how He will use me to serve Him and do His will. I feel His prompting to begin the weekly emails again...with a "new" format. I'm going to explore a Bible in a Year reading plan and each week's message will come from the passages explored throughout that week's planned reading. With Saturday just two short days away there is not much time to do any pre-reading however at the end of each message I plan to give the following week's reading plan in case anyone would like to read along throughout the week. If you no longer have an interest in receiving "Niki's Thoughts" please reply to this email so I may remove you from the list. Otherwise, I look forward to beginning this journey with you again.
Love through Christ,
Niki
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
