bread and water

Last night at church I got to hold a new baby ...only 5 pounds!  He was precious, so sweet!  I just stared at him in amazement.  The next day I got to see a baby chick hatch out of an egg.  Another new life...so little and tiny and cute.  I told my husband that there was just something amazing about NEW life.  I got to thinking about when people meet Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior He gives them NEW life.  They are sometimes fragile and weak, like a newborn, when they begin their journey with Christ.  New believers need the milk of the Word and the kindness and tender love of God to strengthen them.  I notice in some churches they sometimes treat new believers like they are already strong soldiers in God's army and they shove hard truths and the meat of God's Word at them before they are able to digest it.  This turns them away.  A new life is fragile and we must handle them with care.  A newborn baby cannot care for ...

Spend some time with the Lord today.   Pretend like Jesus is actually sitting with you as you talk with Him and share with Him.   Ask Him to teach you something through His Word as you study it. 1.   Read and review James 4:1-10.   Write down 3 main things the Lord taught you. 2. Read James 4:11.   Read it a few times.   What do you think this means?   It is talking to Christians because it uses the word “brethren”.   It plainly says for Christians not to speak evil of one another.   The Lord knew that we would struggle with gossip toward our brothers and sisters in Christ so He put this verse in the Bible to remind us.   Why do you think we speak bad things about other people?   The reason I do is because it makes me feel better about myself.   If someone else’s fault is spoken of then it gets my eyes off of all my own faults and sins.   I see the spot in their life and not the plank in my own eye.   Yes, I jus...

1.       Pray with thanksgiving.   Ask for wisdom.   Pray for your Pastor and leaders.   Pray for the President and the government.   Pray for our nation to turn back to God and for true revival to start. 2.       Read and review James 3 through James 4:1-4. 3.       Read James 4:6.   I am so thankful that God gives more grace.   Can you think of times in your life when God gave you more grace? 4.       According to verse 6 who does God resist?   Why do you think He resists the proud?   Usually if someone is proud they do not think they need God or they do not want God because they think they can handle things on their own.   Define the word pride. 5.       According to James 4:6 who does God give grace to?   Define the word humble. 6.       Read James 4:7.   Who are you sup...

Congratulations on doing four and a half chapters of James!   I love the book of James.   It can be convicting and challenging, but we need that in our Christian lives, right!?   This time we are going to take a short break from the book of James to talk about something that is a burden on my heart.   After your prayer time we will talk about it below. 1.       Pray and thank the Lord for something He has done for you.   Sometimes we can get into a pity party thinking that the Lord has not been good to us.   I complain sometimes and get discouraged sometimes but then I look around me and realize that there are people out there who are lost and undone or sick with a disease and I immediately quit complaining and start thanking God for blessing me.   There is always someone out there who has it worse than you.   When we think about this it should also move us to pray for them. 2.       The past ...

1.       Begin your devotion with prayer.   Pray for needs in your family and the church.   Ask for wisdom daily. 2.       Read James 4:1-3 in review. 3.       Read James 4:4-5.   “Ye adulterers” is talking about a spiritual adultery in this verse.   We are the bride of Christ and we commit spiritual adultery when we love other things more than Christ.   What do you think the Bible means when it says, “friendship of the world is enmity (ill will, mutual hatred) with God?”   4.       Read 1 John 2:15-16 According to 1 John 2:16 what all is in the world? 5.       Read 1 John 2:17.   According to this verse what are the pros and cons of living for God or the world? 6.       Read Matthew 6:24.   No one can serve two _______?   Which one is your Master? 7.       Take ...

Read Galatians 2:20 .   Dissect this verse using a dictionary.   Look up each word and read the verse with the meaning of the defined word. Meditate   on this verse this week. List things in your life that the Lord wants you to put to death or die or be crucified with Him….things in your flesh, sin, things that pull you away from Him. Now list things to be resurrected in your life to take the place of the things you are getting rid of to be closer to Jesus.   Example: I am getting rid of watching a soap opera and will instead read my Bible or pray during that time.   Example: I am not going to read certain things or look at certain things and will instead listen to godly music. Think about Jesus’ death on the cross and what He went through because He loves you.   Ask Him how He desires that you live for Him.

1.     Do your daily prayer time for a few minutes.   Include thanksgiving and prayer requests from the church and your family.   Pray for your Pastor and his family as well.                                                                                                     2.     Review James chapters 1-3 if you have time.   Go over the things the Lord taught you and share it with someone. 3.     Read James 4:1 and compare it to Romans 7:2...