Feb 28

Leviticus 19-20
Psalm 55
Luke 19

The Old Testament: How Could God Have DONE That?

Okay, I feel like John Piper has brought such clarity and truth and grace to the topic of the Old Testament God in this video that I had to share it.

I know the Old Testament can be hard to read through, and many of us read these stories and think, "How could God DO that!?" I know I find myself thinking that a lot. I thought this might help some of us who are struggling with those thoughts and finding it hard to reconcile the God of then with the God of now. (He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!)

Let's discuss: What do you think about what Piper has to say?

Feb 27

Leviticus 17-18
Psalm 54
Luke 18

Feb 26

Leviticus 15-16
Psalm 53
Luke 17

Feb 25

Leviticus 14
Psalm 52
Luke 16

Feb 24

Leviticus 12-13
Psalm 51
Luke 15

Featured Reader: molly june!

1. What is your earliest memory of God (or what you now know was God?)
My story is pretty simple. I was blessed to have parents who loved God & served Him with their lives, & I wanted what they had at a very young age. I don’t even remember the exact moment I gave my heart to God, but I do know that I was the kid asking Him to come into my heart over & over again…probably every Sunday...just to be sure.:) My earliest memories involve Sunday school & church camps & singing & sharing about Jesus with my neighbors as we skated around the neighborhood. It was bliss :)

2. Was there a person in your life who helped you find Him? Who was that person and how did they help you?
Well, like I said, I grew up surrounded by a family & a church family that loved the Lord. They were constantly pointing me to Jesus. I think I really found him for myself in high school though. That is when I chose to follow Him with my whole heart. Something clicked one day while we were on a missions trip in Mexico & all of a sudden I got it! I had my aha! moment. I understood my sin; I understood His love & forgiveness for me! I wanted to serve him with my life. He was so real. touchable. changing me. My high school years & college years were some of the best of my life! I had some key people invest in me & take the time to nurture me & teach me how to walk with God. I was surrounded by people who were excited about Jesus. It was awesome.
Also, now that I really think about it, I think my kids have helped me find God again too. They make me want to know him more. Having kids has opened my eyes to so much more of God’s heart. more than ever.

3. What has become your daily (or semi-daily) reading routine for 365 truth?
Not gonna lie, I’ve had a hard time keeping up lately. When I do fall behind, I just start on the right day & try to play catch up later. If I don’t catch up, I don’t kill myself over it. I find when I stick to the same time every day, I stick to it better. If I don’t, I get distracted with the day & then end up too tired or something. So all that to say, I think I’m learning mornings work best for me...first thing.

4. What are some of your quirks or things about you that are unique?
Quirks, huh? :) Well, I went to school to teach, but now that I’ve had kids, I can’t imagine myself ever teaching at an elementary school! Ha! (let’s just say, there might be some missing children by the end of the day!) :) I’ve found a new passion for design/art & maybe one day, I’ll go back to school to pursue that? who knows. People find it unique that I have identical twin girls. Twins don’t run in our family & when we found out we were having twin girls, my husband had to run to the bathroom to throw up. Ha! Ummm, I’ve backpacked Europe with only 2 pairs of pants, a few shirts, & no blow dryer?! Does that count as quirky? ;) Oh, & I can’t sit Indian style to save my life (I’m not flexible like the Indians I guess. bummer.)

5. What is God doing in your life in this season?
Oh man! God has been doing some neat things in my life! He’s been peeling away the dry, stale layers & making me new again. As cheesy as it sounds, I feel like there’s been a revolution in my heart! He’s shaking me up! Last year I couldn’t sleep without a sleeping pill for the life of me! I was so anxious all of the time; my mind wouldn’t shut off.
[Rewind a bit]
After having my girls, I struggled with my relationship with God. I felt lost. I didn’t know what I was doing...where I fit in anymore. I was so used to always being involved somewhere, serving in some way, living this cookie cutter Christian life. Now that I was a mom, I had no clue how to serve. Audrey & Ellie were needy babies. They were preemie, colicky..& there was TWO OF THEM!! Ahhhh! Suddenly, my life was turned upside down! Like most moms, I could no longer make it through a church service without a screaming baby. Trying to be involved in anything required commitment, & in my mind, I just couldn’t commit to anything anymore.
If I knew what I know now, I would’ve relaxed a bit more (ya think?)...given myself a bit more grace…allowed myself to just be a new mom without the pressure I was constantly putting on myself! Instead of asking for help, I hid. I tried to focus on this new “season,” my new family of 4, but instead, became pretty depressed, & without realizing it, I was pushing God away. I quit caring about people. I was so easily irritated. I didn’t want to give anymore. My joy was depleted.
[Fast forward]
By the end of last year, I was physically & emotionally done. I was making myself sick over it. One day in my car, I pulled over & cried out for God to change me! I didn’t want to be this person I had become anymore! I told him how sorry I was & asked him for joy again! I prayed for peace, for new purpose, for restoration, for life again! I would go or do whatever he asked of me. I said yes.
In December, my dad challenged me to ask God for sleep again. Homie say what?! I definitely had some trust issues. I had a few crazy dreams where I felt like God was promising me something, but I would wake up right before I knew what it was. Then it hit me! God was promising me PEACE! I asked for peace for the New Year & he gave me peace. Imagine that. Long story short (well, kinda. ha!), I have been sleeping like a baby since Jan 1st! No pills! I have been learning so much from this study & I am so excited for what God is doing in me, through me, & all around me! I am still a work in progress, that’s for darn sure, but God has been so gracious to me. He is faithful. & I am so thankful.

(Sorry for that book there. Thanks for letting me share!) :)

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Thank you so much, molly! You are completely delightful. I can't even tell you how encouraged I am by what God is doing in your life... what a great start to a new year!! It reminds me that God really can give fresh starts in PRACTICAL ways!

Hooray!!

Check out molly's SUPER cute blog here!

Feb 23

Leviticus 10-11
Psalm 50
Luke 14

Feb 22

Leviticus 8-9
Psalm 49
Luke 13

Feb 21

Leviticus 7
Psalm 48
Luke 12

Feb 20

Leviticus 5-6
Psalm 47
Luke 11

Feb 19

Leviticus 2-4
Psalm 46
Luke 10

Feb 18

Leviticus 1
Psalm 45
Luke 9

Feb 17

Exodus 39-40
Psalm 44
Luke 8

Feb 16

Exodus 37-38
Psalm 43
Luke 7

Feb 15

Exodus 35-36
Psalm 42
Luke 6

Feb 14

Exodus 33-34
Psalm 41
Luke 5

Feb 13

Exodus 31-32
Psalm 40
Luke4

Feb 12

Exodus 29-30
Psalm 39
Luke 3

Feb 11

Exodus 28
Psalm 38
Luke2

Feb 10

Exodus 26-27
Psalm 37:23-40
Luke 1

Feb 9

Exodus 24-25
Psalm 37:1-22
Mark 16

Why You Matter.

Why You Matter
by Suzanna McDowell

(Letter to the Lost)

You matter.

You matter because there is a case pending against you that all of history hinges on. You, God’s masterpiece, knit together out of a secret DNA code that only He could write and science is still beginning to try to decipher. Too much beauty is contained in that code to describe. A thousand pictures could not capture how it makes those who love you feel when you laugh. Too much wisdom is written in those helices for our most brilliant minds to comprehend. Like the wisdom that teaches the feet of the illiterate to balance their weight perfectly on symmetrical legs. Too much joy is written into those strands to be expressed; even your parents didn’t come close on the day of your birth. The only appropriate celebration for your grandeur is of heavenly proportions…but that does hang in the balance.

Because your DNA was hijacked and your beauty marred and the wisdom despised and the joy stifled. Because you and I have participated in the greatest treachery of all time. The One who designed, crafted, and rejoiced over you for Love has been denied His heart’s desire: full fellowship with you. Your soul’s DNA no longer reads, “Lover of God with all heart, soul, mind and strength.” It’s been changed to read, “Seeker of self for pleasure, glorification, identity, and source.” The design is so grossly perverted that you have to be told…TO BE TOLD IN WORDS…to love the most beautiful, perfect Lover conceivable. To love Love Himself. You and I, we must be commanded to love Love (for which we were made). To see Light (for which our eyes were formed). To do Justice (which is HIs only possible course). To cherish Mercy, by which we continue to breathe from moment to moment.

So because He must, He commands it. And still, after the command, written long form in 66 books over hundreds of years, shouted by prophets who were thrown in jail and sawn in half, and then embodied in His own Son made flesh, still after all…still the Word is neglected and disbelieved, the prophets despised, and the Love, Light, the Son of God, made into a pendant. Crucified by religion daily, His righteousness undesired. And here you are in the now of history, with thousands of years of defiance of men before you and the return of the King to come, and everything is hinging on how you will respond.

You matter. The case against you is unchangeable, insurmountable, terrifying. You were made for greatness, one way or the other. And you have been pursued in the sea of humanity for rescue by the Son of Man and the Son of God. One and the same, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Have you heard His name? Then you have been pursued eternally and offered the world’s only hope. Have you seen His book? Then He has cried out to you in a loud voice. Have you been told of His death? Then you have been confronted with the most astounding injustice the greatest imagination could ever conceive of, the greatest story ever told, and the greatest act of Love any man or spirit could attempt. The immortal God dying slowly at the hands of the rebels, the underlings, the traitors. The created killing Creator. The Omnipotent nailed up by weaklings. Voluntarily.

And YOU are the one at the center of the story. The ONE for whom Christ died. You matter. You matter. You could not matter more. There is no more certain guarantee of your worth than this, Jesus Christ hanging on the cross outside the camp, bloody beyond recognition. You matter. If there is one question on which you dare not waste another moment it is the question of whether you are loved and important. Do you see Him there on the Cross? You matter.

No, the question is not whether you are loved, or whether you are significant. You must disbelieve the Cross and reject history to remain asking what has been so resoundingly answered for all time. No, the question is if you esteem Him. Whether you see Him as worthwhile and significant. Him, the King of Glory. All Creation is groaning for His return, but He holds off, offering you another day and another breath to engage all the angels of heaven in celebration. Will you repent? Will you turn? Will you bow and surrender to love, or defy not only the Righteous Judge, but your own Advocate and Redeemer, in the end standing only in agreement with your accuser and abuser, who calls you worthless and tutors you how to be so? For a few moments the world will stand with you as you stand with them, but it is a vapor. And so you will face the One before whose face all of heaven and earth flees away on your own. And He will open the Lamb’s Book of Life, to see if your name is in it.

All the universities in the world, temples of idolatry, and drunken stupors of men will never change the eternal truth: There’s a book. He died to put your name in it. You matter. Will you believe, confess, and repent? He will pay all debts, allowing you to die and be reborn. To be a new creation, to have new life, eternal life in full fellowship with Him. He will save you not only from the eternal penalty of sin, but from the life of slavery to sin you now live. Sin will no longer be your master; if only you will submit to Him, the kindest and most preferred of all Masters, Lord of all! Bowing to His Lordship will make you free!

When you do, friend and brother, finally the celebration of your worth is released in the heavenlies, all the angels rejoicing at the redemption of the Precious Prodigal. What joy, on earth and in heaven, the Father’s will done. Restored relationship with you. You matter.

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Rom. 10:8-10

And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:9-10

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:18-21

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I hope this encouraged you as much as it did me.
Lift your heads! Continue to pursue the One who sought you first!
He is worth it all.

Feb 8

Exodus 22-23
Psalm 36
Mark 15

Feb 7

Exodus 20-21
Psalm 35
Mark 14

Feb 6

Exodus 17-19
Psalm 34
Mark 13

Feb 5

Exodus 15-16
Psalm 33
Mark 12

Feb 4

Exodus 13-14
Psalm 32
Mark 11

Feb 3

Exodus 12
Psalm 31
Mark 10

Feb 2

Exodus 10-11
Psalm 30
Mark 9

Feb 1

Exodus 8-9
Psalm 29
Mark 8