Day 36

Jn. 15-18

John 15:8 - "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples."

I need to take a look at my life. No fruit means not abiding in Him and not glorifying Him. But check. Am I even in season?

John 16:7 - "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you."

We complain that we cannot see God, that we do not have the advantage the disciples had in having Jesus in His fleshly form. But look! We are the ones with the advantage.

Catch-up:

Ps. 125; Mt. 26

Day 35

I do devotions. Look at me go.

Jn. 9-11

John 9:25 - "He therefore answered, 'Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.'"

Sometimes experience is not such a bad thing to base faith on. Would this man ever have believed had he not been healed? We'll never know. But Jesus didn't do signs and wonders for fun, but to bring hope and faith and glory to God. This man knew he would be thrown out of the synagogue and society for such a statement, but the evidence of his healing compelled him. It is not so bad to ask for miracles.

John 11:35 - "Jesus wept."

Not quaint, not funny. He was real. He had a heart and emotions and compassion. His friend died and He mourned with everyone else, even while knowing He was about to raise Lazarus. This makes me believe that even knowing the good that will come of hard situations, He feels my pain with me. He may not be rocked by emotions or situations, but He is a relational, living God.

Catch-up:

Mt. 4

Matthew 4:17 - "From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

These were Jesus' first words that He taught. He did not ask them to love or say that He loved or anything of the sort...He told them to repent. He asked for them to turn from themselves and the world so that they were facing Him with open hearts.

Day 34

I have been the worst. But hello! Christmas break. It'll happen.

And even if I mess up, I will not get down on myself for it.

The end.

Jn. 7, 8

John 7:18 - "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."

Jesus sought the Father's glory in all actions and deeds. If there be any selfish way in me then it is for my own glory, even if the words are true and noble; it is the heart behind them that counts.

John 7:30 - "They were seeking therefore to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come."

God's perfect provision and timing are so evident here. Jesus went up to a festival He knew He shouldn't be at because they were seeking to kill Him and there were lots of men there who were angry enough to kill Him for His teachings, yet they could do nothing because His time had not yet come. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that is not just a figure of speech.

John 8:11 - "And she said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.'"

This passage touches me so much it's unbelievable. Things to notice:

1. She did not ask forgiveness. She did not beg from what we can see, she only awaited judgment knowing she was in the wrong.
2. So many people put stock in what He wrote in the sand that we will never know, but most important are His words. It says that they heard Him and left. Heard.
3. He simply told her to go on and stop sinning. There was no condemnation or guilt trips or probationary periods. He wanted her heart to change.

He forgives, then forgets. What a God.

Catch-up:

Mt. 3

Day 33

Really quick! Almost done all work, but must put in some time before I am too tired!!!

Isa. 40

Isaiah 40:28a - "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired."

What relief. I am exhausted and nearly at the end of myself, but He has not changed. He is still vibrant and alive and awake and all things new. He is not going to fall asleep on me.

Day 32

I am making this happen! I have studying to do, but this is more important. It has to be.

Jas. 1-5

James 1:4 - "And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Ah, to endure! The bane of my existence lately. But I need to. And imagine, at the end, being perfect, complete, mature, not lacking. It will be worth it in the end.

James 1:20 - "For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."

Big lesson. My anger accomplishes nothing for His righteousness. That's a hard one to swallow.

James 4:3 - "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."

We like to quote "Ask and you will receive...", but this one is not as popular. My motives are rarely completely pure. I would love to change that.

James 4:17 - "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin."

Wow. Harsh. Difficult to digest. Now that I am aware of certain things in my life I have to abstain from, they become sin for me to take part in. I do not know how to fight that...God, I am sorry.

Day 31

Sleepy. Must...go...on.

Heb. 9-11

Hebrews 10:14 - "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."

How amazingly glorious is it that I have been perfected? No matter what I do wrong or mess up or excel in, He already sees me perfect. Wow.

Hebrews 10:22 - "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

This, to me, is the epitome of refreshment. It reminds me of when I was working up in Merrit and Adam and I needed to shower, so we went to this crazy fast and shallow mountain stream. It was ice cold, and when we sat down it was up to our waists, so to wash our hair we had to lay back under the water. Refreshment, especially in that kind of dry, ridiculously hot weather. The heart is sprinkled clean, the body is doused. Beautiful.

Hebrews 10:29 - "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?"

Wow. I wrote however long ago above this passage: "This brings it down to a choice, and shames us for ever considering the alternative." How true! We uphold Him, or trample Him. We acknowledge Him, or we ask Him not to acknowledge us. We glorify Him, or glorify ourselves. What's it going to be?

Hebrews 11:15 - "And indeed if they had been thinking about that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return."

If I wanted to go back to the old life, the old country, I could have at any moment over the last few months. But my eyes have been somewhere else. I don't want to get down on where I am and take my eyes off God in the process. Those men and women of faith were truly incredible.

Hebrews 11:37-38a - "They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy)."

That last bit always gets me...the world was not worthy of these men. They saw God and therefore did not need to see everything around them. It made them too good for this world. I want to be far too good for this world.

Day 30

I am getting really bad at this. And by bad at this, I mean I am getting lazier and coming up with worse excuses. Ugh.

Heb. 5-8

Hebrews 5:12 - "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food."

This jumped out at me like crazy! Why? Not necessarily because I cannot handle His words, but because the elementary stuff is still so big for me. He is big! Wow! He is holy! Wow! Milk.

Hebrews 7:28 - "For th Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever."

This struck me because it counts Jesus as strong; He is the very opposite of weak men who attempted to stand between God and man. He was anything but weak. He threw Himself on the altar because He knew it was the only way...that is strength.

Catch-up:

Matthew 1, 2