11/14 Love Never Fails

S) 1 Cor 13:8a Love never fails.

O) What a promise! Love never fails is such an amazing promise, because we live in a culture where that word is thrown around so that we can get what we want from other people. But true love will never fail us. His love will never fail us.

A) I have to model love. I have to be an example of love for all of those around me. I hope that my version of love is God's version of love. I don't want to be guilty of using the word love without remembering that it is not supposed to fail. This has been such a busy week and it never fails that when you have a birthday everyone asks if you feel older, of different, and the answer always seems to be, "No", but I want my answer to be, "Yes". I want my answer next year to be that yes, I was closer to the Lord this year than ever before. I don't want this because of my job at the church, but because I hunger after God!

P) Lord help me to live a life where love never fails. Help me to show a love that is not based on what it can get, but on what it can give to others.

11/13 No Entry

11/12 No Entry

11/11 I Was Glad

S) Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord"

O) Is that our attitude still today? Is that my attitude still today? We live in a society that is so consumed with "ME" time, that I fear that we are sometimes guilty of "checking in" with God on a Sunday morning. Maybe it's out of a genuine relationship, but it could be out of routine. I hope that I will always be glad to be in the house of the Lord. I want my son and my wife to be glad to go into the house of the Lord as well.

A) Our society is not conducive to putting others first, sadly, not even God at times. I want to be guilty of setting an example that is one that says "I was glad to be in God's house." Help me not to be worried about "ME" time, and to freely give it to You as an offering, as a symbol of my love for You. Help me to model these things in my life.

P) Lord help me to live out these things in my life. I never want to be unhappy with going to Your house. I want You to know that I don't love Your house because I am a pastor, but because I am Yours!

11/10 Magnify Him

S) Job 36:24 Remember to magnify His work, of which men have sung.

O) What a challenge! How often are we guilty of forgetting His work? As I look around at my situation in life, I must remember to magnify His work. We take so many things for granted, and we often forget to magnify Him for His works.

A) When I look back through the history of the church I can start to grasp the big picture. The songs that must have been sung and attributed to the Greatness of God. I must always remember to thank God for His Awesomeness.

P) Lord I thank You for Your Mighty Works. I thank You for loving me, help me to never forget the things You have done in my life.

11/9 All Things Are Lawful

S) 1 Cor 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

O) "All things are lawful for me..." Was a slogan of the early church at Corinth. Paul was warning the Corinthians that freedom from the ceremonial law was not freedom to be immoral, nor was it a license to sin and indulge in our own selfishness.

A) I must look at this passage and allow the Lord to speak to my heart. Freedom is not a license to do my own thing, yet I treat it like that at times. I must celebrate my freedom in Christ as a privilege and not something that gives me a license to sin.

P) Lord help me to be a man after Your Own Heart. Help me to know that even though all things are lawful, some things are not helpful or needed in my life.

11/8 No Flesh Should Glory

S) 1 Cor 1:27-29 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

O) God in His infinite wisdom could have done things any way that He wanted, but these verses let me know that there is a reason for people like me. Thank God that He will allow no one to get His Glory.

A) I have to hold on to the fact that God wants to use people like us! I am so not worthy of this honor, yet He looks beyond that and sees me through the Blood of Jesus.

P) Lord, I am honored that You would use someone like me. I want to liveup to Your Expectations of me. I want to make You proud of me. Help me to be an example to those around me. AMEN!

11/7 Watch What We Sow

S) Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

O) We are kidding ourselves if we think we can sow to the flesh and not reap destruction. We must get our priorities right! This Scripture reminds me that I must sow good seed into good soil.

A) In a society that is constantly looking for us to give to something, help somewhere, invest in everything, I am responsible to God for my sowing. I am also responsible to acknowledge that I will reap what I sow.

P) Lord help me to sow right seed into right soil. Help me to make decisions that will have eternal results, and not ones that bring destruction.