To Follow and Remember

My BIble study yesterday was talking about the Antidote to our fear.  Antidote: a medicine taken or given to counteract a particular poison Fear is the poison we are talking about. And fear is a poison. It keeps us quiet, it keeps us trembling, it keeps us from moving forward. It keeps us from trying, it keeps us from taking the chance to live the fullest life that God has called us to live.  Would yall like to see from God’s word what we can take to couteract our fear? I would.  Joshua 1:1-9 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant,  “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness to Labanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the la...

Daniel is mentioned fasting 2 times in the book of Daniel. This one is much much later in his life. He is an old man now. He is very upset about the state of things around him so he began to fast again. I know there are a lot of details here but try to read through it.  Daniel chapter 10 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, hi...

The goal of my prayers for you all today.... as God answers our prayers,  we will know more of Him  and worship Him  and not worship the answer to our prayers.  Let me explain... This morning in my Bible study, we were looking at Hannah. Lauren knows Hannah well, we studied her on Wednesday nights for the entire spring! Hannah was in a very tough place- her husband had another wife, Peninniah. Peninniah had children but Hannah could not have children. Children are very valued in life today but in that day- your children defined your life. Without children you didn't have much value. In spite of this, her husband loved her more. The Bible calls Peninniah Hannah's rival- so like think of our sports rivals but worse- she lived with her rival. Rival can also be translated her trouble or her adversary. And lets just make it all worse- Hannah had been praying for a child for years, and she knew God was not answering her prayer. So she was praying and praying and...

Here's a little more water in the desert- daddy is asking us to pray for streams in the desert, yesterday I wanted you to remember God parted a sea in the desert to deliver his people from the land of slavery and here today I want you to remember that God can make water come from a rock. Why is that important? Read the storty first.... Exodus 17:1-6 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost rea...

Since Daddy has us thinking about deserts and streams of water, I can't help but think about the scene in this desert and this water. I just want to remind you of the God we serve... When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly.  And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”...

Mark 9:14-29 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”  And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”  And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”  And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on theground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”  And he said, “From childhood. And it has...

We are fasting and asking God for breakthroughs, right? Breakthroughs in wisdom, understanding, schedules and opportunities! Sometimes it seems like there is no way- there is no water in the desert- it's dry and endless-- with God we have more hope that that! We are asking for a not just a bottle of water to drink ok the desert but a stream!!! Not just a little wisdom, a little understanding, little schedules, little opportunities, we are asking for streams!

I said it last night and I said it last week, but I'd like to say it again. Our longing for GA to win, is a longing for the familiar to win, our longing for our friends to win, our longing for the team we are connected to win, our longing for the good guys to win. I think this is a foreshadwoing in our hearts, that is, something that looks like something we will see in the future.... Jesus is not struggling to win. And we are on his team. We are a part of his Kingdom. We wear his jersey. He defeated death. He lived a perfect life. He rose from the dead. He conquered sin. He conquered shame. And the crazy thing is, he invited us to be on his team. Now he sits in Heaven, sitting means peaceful, sitting means his work is done, sitting means he's got it. And one day, he will get up, he will get on his white horse and lead the battle to defeat Satan forever. He will bind Satan forever and we will all live in the Kindgom with him forever. We know how the story will end. We have...

What is the pint of Bible study, reading devotionals, praying, fasting and worship? Pretty simple... Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.  James 4:8 We want Gods help. He made us. He put us where we are. He's a good, kind, loving God. He has plans for us that are good. He's preparing a place for you for eternity. He is a God we can trust. We can trust what we read in his Word. We can trust that he hears our prayers and sees our heart when we fast. He hears and sees our worship.  Speaking of fasting-- this week my eating is for my health. Clean up my body. Take a break from my coffee addiction (have y'all see Mila's coffee video? "Yawns are silent screams--- for coffee 😂) but starting next week, my eating will be a reminded of this verse. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Want chocolate? Pray instead. Want fried chicken? Long for God's direction instead. Let the cravings of your mouth and stomach point you to deeper,...

Y'all do remember what I'm writing about, right? All this was about the Lord's Prayer. We paused to get our minds thinking about the fast but we were looking at the Lord's prayer.  Did it help? Did you learn something? Awesome prayer to pray, huh? Good ole Jesus, always leading us in the right way. So last word. Amen.  What's that mean? Origin of Amen: Old English, from ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek amēn, from Hebrew 'āmēn ‘ truth, certainty ’, used adverbially as expression of agreement , and adopted in the Septuagint as a solemn expression of belief or affirmation . They Dictionary says it means:  Uttered at the end of a prayer or hymn, meaning ‘ so be it ’ So it's just a way to say, "I agree and I believe, let it be!" (PS this is a good thing to memorize where in the Bible it is, look below.... but bonus points if you look to see where else it is, its in 2 places!) Love yall! Love praying for you...

Thine is the..... glory forever and ever. Glory. What exactly is glory?  Good ole dictionary.com.... High renown or honor won by notable achievements. Magnificence or great beauty.  I'd say both of these apply. And I'd say it's an awesome thing to finish a prayer with - yours is the glory forever and ever. Let's look at a few other places glory is used in the New Teatament and see if we can bring this word to life further.  Luke 2:8-11 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord..." So this is Gods great beauty here on earth. Can you imagine?? That must h...

Thine is the ..... the power ..... Matthew recounts a conversation that Jesus had with some Sadducees. (Sadducees were religious leaders) They asked Jesus a question and Jesus replied,  Matthew 22:29  “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God..." My prayer is that Jesus will not say this of us. I want us to know the scriptures, know the power of God and know Jesus!  This is the power of Jesus.... Mark 5:24-35 And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her di...

For yours is the Kingdom.... Lauren is at a big advantage on this one today because she has already heard it. We started Wednesday night discipleship this fall on the week that Kerry died. I couldn't look at the girls and not spend time spreading the hope that we have. So we talked about the Kingdom of God... The Kingdom of God is not just in Heaven and it is not just here on earth. The Kingdom of God is whereever Jesus is King. That to me is worth saying again, The Kingdom of God is whereever Jesus is King. So we are now in this Kingdom and will be in this kingdom for all eternity. It is a Kingdom that has already come and a kingdom that we are waiting for. Same Kingdom. Same King. What is a King? "the male ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth." And what is this state that Jesus is King? Well it began with Abraham and spread to his children and his children's children and his children's children's c...

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:13 Wait, are we praying that God will not lead us to temptation?? Of course he wouldn't!!! Oh wait.... Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”  Matthew says pretty clearly who led Jesus and why. How did Jesus handle this time? He fasted and he fixed his heart on the Word of God- which meant he knew the word of God, which meant he was taught the word of God, which means he kept the word of God. Remember when he stayed at the Temple and his parents couldn't find him?  Luke 2:43-49 And when the feast was ended, as they wer...