Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY TUESDAY!

I pray all is well with everyone, and you're enjoying your day. I'm doing well; it's a beautiful day! I apologize for not sending the devotional yesterday; I rushed to the hospital to see my Grandmother, because she wasn't sounding very good on the phone. She's doing much better today. Please continue to pray for her healing. Today is my brother's 16th birthday, I can't believe he's 16 already. It's time to get a driver's license, so he could be my Chauffer, because I despise driving. Hey, isn't that what little brothers are for? Happy Birthday Demitrius, I pray you have a wonderful day! We have a holiday weekend coming up; Friday is Demitrius' birthday celebration, what's happening for the rest of the weekend, other than barbecues? I’m looking forward to getting some invites, I have a four day weekend, whew hoo! Have a wonderful day!

Today's scriptures are about being chastised by our Heavenly Father. There's a difference between suffering with Christ, and suffering without Him. I'd rather take the ladder. God is seen in most cases as a Father figure, and we are His children. He had our lives already mapped before the beginning of creation, and He intends for us to follow His will. Obedience is such a huge misnomer in today's society because no one has any structure. We see it in the news all the time. It's to a point where the lawmakers aren't even following the laws anymore. It has been like that for centuries, it's written in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10: That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, "See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. We think we are so new and innovative, but we're constantly reliving history. God created all things, yet we always think more of ourselves than we ought, and Paul warns us against that in Romans 12:3. Remember when our parents will tell us not to do something, and we'd ignore them? We thought we were so smart, but we'd sure enough get ourselves into trouble. Our children do it, we did it, and our parents did it with their parents. After we accepted Jesus as our Savior, we're constantly growing in our Faith walk, and we can't help but to test Him, because we’re living by Faith. I know I'm not the only one that heard a sermon in Church on Sunday, and it seemed like the Pastor was talking directly to me. The entire time I'm listening and shaking my head thinking of all the people this sermon could touch. I'm thinking, "I sure wish Sally was here, she could use this word". However, God is giving us this word as a warning. Monday morning we go out and do exactly what the Pastor said not to do, and things just starts spinning out of control. You know the saying, "if it isn’t one thing it's another"? Well this is how it feels, me lose our bankcard, get a flat tire, our dog runs away, the furnace breaks at our house, etc. We start thinking, "God what have I done so wrong?" He's constantly saying, “come listen to me my child”, but through all of this our Heavenly Daddy is spanking us? Every situation is different, and I don't believe in "bad luck", I believe that God is trying to get our attention. There's a lesson to learn behind all of this mess and confusion, we may not understand why at the time, but if we seek Him first, He'll reveal all of the answers to us, as an epiphany of sorts. Out of all these things, He's still watching over us, by not giving us more than we could handle, because He's not a cruel God. As we know, God is love, and it's written according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... How could our Heavenly Father who suffers long, loves unconditionally, and forgives without a second thought, mean us any harm? He only wants what’s best for us, and you know how we are? Sometimes it takes a big boom to get our attention. Sometimes we need to be taught humility, to understand that God is always in control. What He says goes, and I advise you not to play around with Him. The more you know, the more you're held accountable for. Once we're saved, our heart starts to yearn for His word, and His wisdom, and as we go along, we're expected to follow His will. We're representatives of Christ, and God depends on us, and believe me, He's going to make sure that we do what we have to do. So my question to you is, do you want to do it the easy way, or the hard way? The only way to get things done right, is to do it right the first time. We could save ourselves so much heartache and pain if we try obedience. It's hard at first, because the flesh is weak, and temptation is so strong, however, "Greater is He who is in us, than He who is in the world". God will chastise us it’s unavoidable. He's slow to anger, yet quick to forgive, but He's also a jealous God that demands respect. His love overcomes anything we could possible go through, and He proved that by sending Jesus as an intercessor for us. He didn't do that in vain, so He'll do whatever it takes to keep us in His will. Be worried if you don't get chastised, that means He's put you up on a shelf, and that's not good. If you don't know Jesus, then you don't know God, you can't have one without the other. Jesus is a prayer away, and He's waiting to be gracious to you. My favorite verse today is: He maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. (Job 5:18)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455013&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943197
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=5200573&ct=7048079

I love you!