God’s will

How do we know what God’s will is? Well, several people will say read the Bible, all the answers that you need are in there. But where do you begin? Go to someone who knows the Bible and seek their counsel but what if they don’t seem sure either? Wait, meditate, pray, fast……all this makes me want to scream! I just want results, I want answers, I want God to talk to me, not through a song or through my very spiritual masseuse; I want the burning bush. I want the booming voice of God to shout it in my face, but I know He won’t. That is not how God works. So I continue to pray for His will, I continue to be patient and listen for that quiet whisper that speaks to my soul and I wait and I wait……………

God's word is everywhere, not just the Bible

My life feels like it's falling apart at the seams right now, I have good times - which I truly believe are the times when others are praying for me and God is granting me comfort. But I also have times where all I want to do is shut down and I believe that God is shaping me and strengthening me for who knows what.

Well, found a verse today - it was on a card which was among the many papers that constantly mess up my desk. I think we bought the card a long time ago for someone but it never got sent but here is the verse and it's ironic that it seems to be right along the lines of what I have been desperately praying for these past few days.

Romans 8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. [27] And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

AMEN!

Random thoughts

So I'm going through a tough trial at the moment that right now almost seems insurmountable and a friend sent me this verse.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Has going through the Bible and picking random verses changed my life, has it given me any sort of a greater understanding of God, of myself, of my circumstances? Yes, I think it has but not so much the words themselves but in the realization that you can't get to know someone by just learning random things about them. You start off with the basics and then delve deeper. I was trying to avoid the delving part of my relationship with God and go for the superficial. Does that make me a superficial christian? I don't know, I do know this though, that I need to spend more time getting to know God and I am not going to get there by just randomly picking verses and hoping for that "aha" moment when the clouds part and the angels sing. I have to put an effort in to getting to know the God that would send down his only son to die for MY SINS!

So here is a verse that everyone should at least recognize!

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But wait there's more!

John 3:17-20
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. [19] This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. [20] Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Verse 31, day 31

Oh how I wish someone could interpret my dreams sometimes, then again sometimes they are just too weird and perhaps it's better that I don't have them interpreted.

Genesis 41:25-27
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.

Verses 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, & 30, Day 30

Words are so powerful! One sentence and it can ruin your day, dash your dreams or break your heart, while at the same time words can build your confidence, let you know you are loved or make you feel hopeful.

The Bible is full of powerful words and stories, here is just about a weeks worth of powerful words.

Verse 25
Romans 8:12-14
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Verse 26
Job 18:17-19
The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.
He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.

Verse 27
Exodus 19:24
The Lord replied, "Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them."

Verse 28
Acts 7:11-16
"Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.

Verse 29
1 Kings 11:19-20
Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh's own children.


Verse 30

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

Verse 23 & 24, Day 24

Joshua 8:30-35
Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses--an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses, which he had written. All Israel, aliens and citizens alike, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing those who carried it--the priests, who were Levites. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law--the blessings and the curses--just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them.


Next........a little Mt. Sinai action

Exodus 19:1-6
In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt--on the very day--they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

Verse 22, Day 22

Psalm 144:9-10
I will sing a new song to you, O God;
on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
to the One who gives victory to kings,
who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.

Verse 21, Day 21

This is an example of when just a few lines of a verse doesn't make much sense, so here is the entire passage.

2 Kings 4:8-37
One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. [9] She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. [10] Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us."
[11] One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. [12] He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. [13] Elisha said to him, "Tell her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?' "
She replied, "I have a home among my own people."
[14] "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."
[15] Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. [16] "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms."
"No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!"
[17] But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
[18] The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. [19] "My head! My head!" he said to his father.
His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." [20] After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. [21] She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
[22] She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."
[23] "Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath."
"It's all right," she said.
[24] She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." [25] So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! [26] Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' "
"Everything is all right," she said.
[27] When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why."
[28] "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?"
[29] Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."
[30] But the child's mother said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.
[31] Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, "The boy has not awakened."
[32] When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. [33] He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. [34] Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. [35] Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
[36] Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son." [37] She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

Verse 19 & 20, Day 20

2 Chron. 25:1-4
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly. After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins."



Isaiah 57:1-2
The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

Amen to that!

Verse 17 & 18, Day 18

Keeping up with this everyday is more of a commitment than I expected it to be, so once again, we have 2 for the price of one.

Numbers 23:27-29
Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there." And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."


OH how I love the Psalms! I really just pointed to the first verse but decided to print the whole Psalm. The first line really does sum up how I feel sometimes - "Just answer me!" But I know that God does answer in His time and in His way (which rarely seems to match up with mine)

Psalm 4:1-8
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Selah
Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord will hear when I call to him.

In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the Lord.

Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.
You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.
I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O Lord,
make me dwell in safety.

Verse 16, Day 16

Job 16:1-5
Then Job replied:

"I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!
Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.
But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Verse 15, Day 15

Proverbs 17:8
A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it;
wherever he turns, he succeeds.

While this is true, in verse 23, Proverbs condems bribery.

Day 14, Verse 14

Jeremiah 47:6-7
" 'Ah, sword of the Lord,' you cry,
'how long till you rest?
Return to your scabbard;
cease and be still.'
But how can it rest
when the Lord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
to attack Ashkelon and the coast?"

Verse 12 & 13, Day 13

Boy how time flies. It's another 2 for 1 day!

I love this verse - Good stuff!

Deut. 8:1-5
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

And more good stuff!

Galatians 1:11-17
I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

Verse 11, day 11

Isaiah 21:11-12
An oracle concerning Dumah:

Someone calls to me from Seir,
"Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?"
The watchman replies,
"Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
and come back yet again."

Day 10, Verse 10

Daniel 2:48-49
Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.

Day 9, verse 9

Zech. 8:7-8
This is what the Lord Almighty says: "I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God."

Day 8, verse 8

Numbers 36:5-9
Then at the Lord's command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: "What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right. This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad's daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within the tribal clan of their father. No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers. Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father's tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers. No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits."

Day 7, verses 6 & 7

Oops, I missed yesterday's verse, busy and hetic day!
Here's 2 for the price of one.

Isaiah: 61:11
For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteausness and praise spring up before all nations.

1 Kings 15:20-22
Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah and all Kinnereth in addition to Naphtali. When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah--no one was exempt--and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah.

Day 6, Verse 6

Zechariah. 5:5-11

Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, "Look up and see what this is that is appearing." I asked, "What is it?" He replied, "It is a measuring basket." And he added, "This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land." Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, "This is wickedness," and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover down over its mouth.
Then I looked up--and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. "Where are they taking the basket?" I asked the angel who was speaking to me. He replied, "To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in its place."

Day 5, Verse 5

Ecclesiastes 11:4

Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

Day 4, Verse 4

Revelation 17: 5-6
This title was written on her forehead:

MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITTUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

Day 3, Verse 3

Wow, what does this mean?

Ezekiel 16:1-5
The word of the Lord came to me "Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices and say, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Anorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you . Rather, you were thrown out into the open field for on the day you were born you were despised.

*I suggest that you read the rest of the Chapter, this little tidbit sounds quite cruel.

Day 2, verse 2

Ezekiel 26:15 - 18
"This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands tremble at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan and the slaugher takes place in you? Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled at you. Then they will take up a lament concerning you and say to you:

"How you are destroyed, O city of renown,
peopled by men of the sea!
You were a power on the seas,
you and your citizens;
you put your terror
on all who lived there.
Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall;
the islands in the sea
are terrified at your collapse."

Why?

I have decided to try a little experiment. My goal is to open the Bible everyday and radomly pick a verse. At some point I hope to look back at the verses and see if there are answers, comfort, explanations, etc.

So here is the first verse that I picked.

Day 1

JOB 15:7-13
"Are you the first man every born?
were you brought forth before the hills?
Do yo listen in on God's council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?
the gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.
Are God's consolations not enough for you?
Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such works from your mouth?"