No Eye Has Seen

Luke 8:11-15 This is a parable I have heard many times; however, as I read Jesus’ explanation of this parable it really stuck out to me that we need to persevere, and let our hearts be the good soil, which receives, retains, and produces good fruit from the word of God. It can be so easy to simply set aside a half hour in the morning, pray, read a passage, and then go on about the day without really meditating on what was read. I know that while I am here in Guatemala I have an amazing opportunity to set aside almost every distraction and just get to know my heavenly Father. I want everything I think say and do here and for the rest of my life to reflect Him wholly and completely. I don’t want to just go through the motions as I have for so much of my life. I want a deeper relationship with my Father. This verse is very timely for me, I was sharing in the girl’s bible study yesterday on Psalms chapter 1 and as I was sharing I just kept going back to getting in God’s word. How ...

Luke 21:19 By standing firm you will gain life. By itself this is an amazing verse but put into context it becomes even more relevant, starting in verse 15 it says, “For I will give you words of wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair on your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.” (NIV) I am blown away. Words of wisdom it says, that my adversaries cannot refute. Wow. Just to ponder that my God would care about me, one of millions of people on this earth, enough to provide for me in this way. I honestly don’t care that man will hate me, my God loves me with an unconditional love that no one can take away from me. Not even death will separate me from His unending love. All I have to do is stand firm, and I am not even called to do that in my own strengt...

Luke 8:11-15 This is a parable I have heard many times; however, as I read Jesus’ explanation of this parable it really stuck out to me that we need to persevere, and let our hearts be the good soil, which receives, retains, and produces good fruit from the word of God. It can be so easy to simply set aside a half hour in the morning, pray, read a passage, and then go on about the day without really meditating on what was read. I know that while I am here in Guatemala I have an amazing opportunity to set aside almost every distraction and just get to know my heavenly Father. I want everything I think say and do here and for the rest of my life to reflect Him wholly and completely. I don’t want to just go through the motions as I have for so much of my life. I want a deeper relationship with my Father. This verse is very timely for me, I was sharing in the girl’s bible study yesterday on Psalms chapter 1 and as I was sharing I just kept going back to getting in God...

Ephesians 5:15-17 It is easy to just walk through life, go through the motions and never really try to get outside of the normal. Verse 16 says the days are evil. Therefor it is very important to use each one wisely. I know personally I tend to let days go by without a thought of what I could do to reach out and show God’s love the people around me. I simply walk from one day to the next as though in a daze, waiting for something to shock me out of it. The next verse goes on to say “Therefore do not bee foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” It is very important to seek God daily and to get into His word to understand His will so that I can understand what God’s will is and so be able to purposefully walk it out each day. Application My application for tomorrow is to purpose in the morning seek God and find one thing to purposefully work on.

2 Corinthians 1:12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace. This is our boast, our confidence in our Heavenly Father. That He has given us His wisdom to do what He would have us to do in His name. We have been given this wisdom with the express purpose of giving all the glory back to God. I know I don’t always do this. Sometimes I think I came up with a smart answer all on my own. When I look back I always see it was God and I feel so bad for taking the credit. It’s so easy to think well that wasn’t that profound, maybe I came up with that on my own. We have to remember without God there is no wisdom. It all came from Him. All He asks is that we give Him the glory when the answer comes, give Him the credit when we gain understanding. Application So...

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. I really like this verse, as it shows just how good our God is. He with holds no good thing from us. He doesn’t even specify who can have it! Anyone who asks shall receive according to this verse. I am so happy to be going through wisdom this week, it’s one of my favorite topics, as I said previously it’s something I’ve grown up praying for. I have already learned so much this week, and while I have heard this verse many times it still stuck out to me that my God withholds no good thing. I am in awe that he would choose to give me wisdom that I might use it in my daily walk. I also think it’s amazing that while anyone can ask for wisdom he must first realize he lacks it. This in itself requires, being humble, self aware, and open to the idea that we don’t know everything. My prayer is that God would continue to...

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom The fear or respect of the Lord is the beginning, only the beginning of wisdom. Wow So wisdom couldn’t have come unless someone first feared the Lord God almighty. In yesterday’s verse it talked about how the world thinks it has wisdom when in actuality it only has foolishness. I think the word fear gets miss represented all the time. Like we should be afraid of our Father in heaven. I don’t think this is the case. My Father in heaven demands my respect and reverence. In the English language “fear” is the only word that comes close to describing the depths of the awe we should hold for our Father. But we must remember this is only the beginning of wisdom. In (James 3) it says that the fruits of wisdom are. James 3:17“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” The word wisdom encompasses so m...

James 3:13-17 I love how this verse clearly explains the fruits of wisdom. It says speaking of the person who has wisdom “let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom” wisdom is not the same as knowledge, a person can know a lot of things yet still be foolish. Yet even a fool can appear wise if he can keep his mouth shut. It goes on to rebuke those with an earthly wisdom which is not founded in God but in man. I love verse 17 which says “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” This definition reminds me so much of the definition of love, that love is patient, and kind, doesn’t envy, doesn’t boast, love always believes the best, and it is not self seeking, and those are just a few. This kind of wisdom is so different then what the world calls wisdom, it is so backwards to popular culture, to make peace instead of...

Mark 10:47-49 We need to take hold and be persistent when asking for healing. Bartimaeus was not going to be swayed by the people around him. He knew, had faith, that if Jesus heard him he would be healed. How often do we let the people, noises, and demons around us distract us from fervently asking Jesus for healing or to save a brother, or simply for strength? I know for me it is very easy to get run off course by all the things going on in my life at any given time. I’ll be praying one minutes and thinking about breakfast the next. It is admirable how stedfast Bartimaeus is in this scripture. But the story doesn’t stop there after he was healed in verse 51, he stood and followed Jesus. Jesus told him his faith had healed him. I need only to have faith in Jesus Christ my Savior, and He will move mountains for me. Application Just as Bartimeaus was not deterred from his healing, I don’t want to be distracted, or made to think I don’t deserve what I’m believi...

Luke 8:22-25 My first impression was, wow it’s amazing how much can be told in so few words. After that I started to think about how this was one of the first signs Jesus gave that he was more than just a prophet. I found it sad that the disciples didn’t have faith but I also find myself on their side. Often I can’t see past the wind and the waves right in front of me. I call out to God to change my situation but I don’t realize He is waiting on me to put my faith in Him. Towards the end of last year several of my extended family members passed away within two months of each other. It was a serious blow to my faith and trust in God. I quickly found myself floundering in waves of grief, pain, and stress from myself and my family. I tried to face it on my own for about a day. I realized I wasn’t going to make it without God. I clung desperately to my savior, and He calmed the raging sea within me. I was able to have peace in the middle of the storm. My friends were a...

For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I say to you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” Matthew 8:9-10 I have read this verse and heard this verse many times and each time I am always amazed at the centurion’s faith. It is so simple, such a fact in his life that he doesn’t think twice about it. Having faith isn’t supposed to be hard, seriously, children have more faith than I do sometimes. It just gets so hard to look past whatever is going on in the moment. When really, the trick is not seeing it. Children don’t see the conflict, they don’t have reservations, they just trust. It saddens me deeply that Jesus didn’t find anyone with this kind of faith among His own people. I want to be the person God calls on becau...

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please God. wow. For myself I know I haven’t always put all my faith and trust in God. However after reading this verse it is very clear to me that above all else my faith should be in the Lord God. I want to please my Heavenly Father even more than I want to please my earthly dad. I happen to be very blessed with a loving earthly father who has been a wonderful example of some of God’s attributes. So it’s no stretch to say I felt horribly convicted when I read this verse the first time. I know what it feels like to let my dad down. Even when he wasn’t expecting anything from me. This makes me want to please my heavenly father so much more than I thought possible. According to this verse all I have to do, to please Him is have faith. It soun...

Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen Hebrews 11:1 ESV “Now faith”, that in itself is such a strong statement. It means that faith is now . That there is no waiting for faith. The verse goes on to say how faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. In the New King James Version the word “assurance” is replaced by the word “substance”, read this way faith is not only an idea, it is also tangible to us right now. It is so important to understand that faith was never meant to be blind, it is meant to be very clearly known. God wants me to know that my faith is not in vain. I am assured my hopes will come true if they are in accordance with the word of God. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows.” NIV He is a good Father, with my best interests in mind. He wants to r...