I was in church today, and the pastor gave a really good sermon.  The sermon was surprisingly all about the first chapter of Matthew which is the genealogy of Jesus.  It is definitely not my favorite section of the Bible.  I know it has importance because it was included in the Bible, but I can definitely find myself nodding off reading or listening to the list of names that creates Jesus’ family.  One point was made that Jesus’ family was filled with cheaters, adulterers, and liars, yet he was still the Savior of the world.  This was a reminder for all of us that it doesn’t matter what your past is or who is in your family, but rather it is the future and your relationship with Christ that makes all the difference.  

One example is Rahab.  She was one of the four women actually mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.  (Often women were left out of genealogies).  She is also one of my favorite people we are introduced to in the Bible.  She was a prostitute.  However, she was also considered to be a great heroine of the faith because at the time she hid the Israelite spies who were attempting to see the Promised land and were hiding from their enemies.  She did very right by God’s people.  Later, she would become the mother to a man named Boaz who would be later married to another important woman, Ruth. These people would become part of the genealogy of Jesus.  You wouldn’t expect a former prostitute, especially considering the time of history they were in, to be a part of this genealogy of the only holy man to be on earth, but there she is.   

There were many other examples including Abraham, who was a significant leader but also a huge liar and would lie about who his wife was, more than once. There was Judah and Tamar.  Judah, who did not help out his daughter in law, Tamar, after she became widowed twice by two of his sons, and Tamar who would then pretend to be a prostitute who seduced and slept with Judah, so she can finally be taken care of.  There was David, who while a king, and a man after God’s own heart, did have the huge Bathsheba problem where he slept with a woman who wasn’t his wife and then had her husband killed.  

The beautiful thing about being a follower of Christ is it doesn’t depend on your past.  It has nothing to do with what you have done, but rather who you would want to believe in.  If you choose to believe in Jesus as Lord and he has forgiven your sins and has made you fully clean, then you will be accepted as part of God’s family.  The verse that really highlights this is Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  It is completely a gift from God. Your salvation and the salvations of anyone in your family or anyone you love is completely a gift from God.  

The challenge for you this week is to pray to God for your family.  I don’t know what your relationship is with your family.  I don’t know if you are distant from them, or if you see them all the time.  This may be a time of praise for the family you have received, but it also may be served as a time to pray for your family to find Jesus and to find forgiveness and love.  This may be a time where you genuinely need to ask God if there is any bitterness in your heart towards any particular family members and how he can help you work through this pain and resentment.  This could be a time where you pray over the future generations of your family and that their desire would be to know God and how much he loves them.  There are many different ways to pray over family because everyone’s family looks different and serves different functions in a person’s life.  However, we should know and have seen through this blog that God uses family as a way to share the good news of Jesus.  

I wanted to write this blog post because I really want this to serve as a reminder of God’s love for his people.  We, and I am going to use we, since this includes everyone in the world, have fallen short of the glory of God.  However, we, again, as everyone, have the ability to be made right and made complete with the love of God and the sacrifice he made for all of us on the cross.  Your past and the past of your family members does not make your future, and I pray this will always be something you remember. 

I volunteer in church for a group called, “Treehouse,” and this is our child’s ministry.  Recently, after church, we had training.  It was a nice time to talk to others who are a part of the children’s ministry who I usually don’t get to spend time talking to.  Then the question asked of us to ponder with our particular groups was, “how do we help the kids encounter God?” What a question?!  Then we moved on to different ways we as volunteers or we as people in general ponder and worship God.  Some of the items we listed were drawing, being out in the garden, prayer, reading of the scriptures, and worship of music. 

This hit me in very affirming ways.  For much of my Christian life, I had always felt bad because I am not the ideal worshiper.  What I mean by this is when singing is happening in the church, I sing and stand, but I am not jumping for joy, I am not the one dancing or raising my hands.  Honestly, it makes me feel a bit out of sync or uncomfortable when I think about doing this.  Now, I want to be honest, this is still something I should work on.  I should be better at listening to the music in church and really letting the lyrics and the truth behind them resonate in my life.  I love going to concerts and weddings and dancing to music, so why do I struggle with it when it comes to church music? 

However, I realized through this training that people do genuinely worship in different ways because we are different people.  We worship and see God through different experiences.  Some do encounter and worship God through painting.  Some are really great about choosing to worship God through their musical choices and through listening and praising in church.  Others could spend hours reading the Bible.  While I believe all of these are good, and things we as Christians should continue to grow in, especially when it comes to praising in song and reading of scripture, we can also be happy to know we have a different way of worship and different experiences than those who are around us.  

I realized in the last year or so, that my way of worship is through writing and especially through writing on this blog.  I have learned a lot through writing my blogs.  It helps me reflect on what I am learning in my time alone with God, in my times at church, and then also in my regular life and the life lessons I have learned.  It has helped me look at everything in a new perspective, and I hope I have opened the door for others to learn through my blog. 

Psalm 75:1, “We praise you, God, we praise you, for your Name is near; people tell of your wonderful deeds.” This is exactly what worshiping God is all about.  It is the love of God overflowing out of you into the world.  Usually we associate it with singing God’s praises because that is one common way people see the love of God out of another person’s actions. It is all about helping others find Jesus through telling them of His great deeds. This is true worship.  It is not something that can be manufactured to fit what everyone else believes to be worship.  

This is very important for me to share because I believe we can get very distraught as believers and as people in general in the comparison game.  We can start to look more at what someone else is good at as opposed to focusing on what we are good at, and what we bring to our relationship with God.  We can start to believe we are not a good Christian just because we don’t do something a certain way, but this is just not how our faith in God or our time in worship should work.  

My challenge for you this week is for you to think about how you personally best worship God. This could be through a lot of different things.  This could be through painting, through prayer, through singing of worship songs, etc.  Then the second part of this challenge is I want you to spend an hour in this next week praising him through that particular way of worship, and show/tell someone else what you did, so they can too be inspired by your worship in God as well.  

In church, we are going over the book of Romans.  We are in the first couple of chapters, which is a bit harsher side of Paul.  He is being very honest about the state the country of Rome is in, and the state is not the best. They are not following after Jesus as well as Paul would like, not even many of those who belong to the church.  Paul describes the many, many sins of those who are in Rome.  Paul has a great heart for those who are in Rome and those in the church, but he sees many of both the citizens and Christians falling far away from God.  

However, one thing that really spoke to me was when my pastor described the two different types of sinners.   There was the Shameless sinner.  These are sinners who don’t have any care as to following God’s law.  They have really no desire to be better followers of Christ and they have no desire to change.  However, then there is the self-righteous sinner, and these are the sinners who are very judgmental of everyone and everything people, specifically fellow Christians, do. 

I should start out by saying it is not necessarily bad to be aware and a tinge judgmental of others’ actions.  What I mean is it is perfectly fine to see a particular action and know this is not the right action and to know to avoid it for your own life.  It may even be good to give advice against particular actions, especially if you know the person really well.  However, to come from this place of extreme confidence in anyone’s ability than God’s is what is incorrect. 

We should not put ourselves on too high of a pedestal that we are not aware of our own actions. We should not look down on the people around us, as if we are more deserving of love or of good fortune.  The truth is everyone is a sinner, and everyone has fallen away from God, and this is why Jesus had to come and save all of our lives.  There is no person more deserving of salvation over another person.  It is important to be hopeful consistently that people who are away from God’s house become closer to God and choose to turn away from their sins.  

My pastor, Peter did a really good job comparing these first two chapters of Romans and what Paul was describing of these sinners to the two prodigal sons parable Jesus told to his disciples.  It is usually called the parable of the Prodigal son, not sons, but our pastor really explains how this is the story or the parable of the two sons.  The first son ran away from home after getting his insurance money early.  Then he spent all his money and ended up being really broke, helpless, and hopeless.  Because of this, he ran back to his dad and again was accepted into his father’s house.  He was at one time the shameless sinner.  He did a lot of sinning and making mistakes before he returned home. 

Then there is the other brother.  He was so angry at his father for having a party after his brother’s return.  He was angry because he didn’t understand why his brother should receive any recognition or honor for just returning home.  He wanted his father to recognize all the work that he had been doing the whole time his brother had been away.  He wanted him to remember how he always stayed true.  This is said in Luke 15: 29-30.  “but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” 

Because of his refusal to come to the celebration, he never did fully get to appreciate this relationship with his father.  The Father tried to remind his son that his brother had been lost and now he was found and that is cause for a very glorious celebration.  The response the father gave his son who never ran away was, “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” He wanted to remind his son he has great reason to celebrate and to love his brother, even with his time being away from home.  The important piece is now he has arrived again.    

This week’s challenge is more of a reflective challenge.  The goal is to be aware of the moments when we as followers of Christ may become overly judgmental of the people around us.  The goal is to become aware that if a person is struggling with a particular sin, not to judge, but to pray for their betterment, to pray for them to find Jesus and to find a way to distance themselves from this sin. Then if they do fall away from a sin or come to know Christ, we need to remember to praise God and be filled with so much love and celebration!

Today’s child ministry’s story was the story of the men who were gifted three talents.  This is a parable that comes from Matthew 25:14-30.  This story was about a master who was going on a trip.  However, before he left he gathered three of his servants.  He gave each one of these servants some “talents.”  In this sense this is referring to money. In fact, one talent is relatively 20 years of wages.  One man received five talents, one man received two, and then another received one.  The man with the 5 talents went and used the money from trading to gain five more talents.  Then the man with two talents did the same thing.  However, the man with the one talent hid and buried the one talent, so nothing could happen to it, but he made no more talent. 

The master would eventually come home and he would be pleased with the two who doubled their talents.  But he was furious with the one who just hid the one talent.  He was mad that he did nothing with the item he had been entrusted with.  He felt disrespected because the gift he had given out had not been taken care of, at all, but rather buried and forgotten about.  He questioned why he should have ever given a talent to the third man in the first place.  I should also mention the master knew what each servant could handle before he left.  This was the reason why he didn’t give the same talent to all three of them.  He knew what would overwhelm each servant. 

What do you think God would say about us and the talents he has given us.  God has given each person talents and gifts, some in the form of money, some in the form of spiritual or physical gifts, some in the form of relationships, and a lot of us a combination of all these talents.  He has given us each what we can handle and each looks different from the other person down the road.  This is why it is very important to use our talents.  In fact, I was reading a book recently called “Gaining by Losing,” by J.D. Greear.  In one particular chapter, Greear discusses the importance of using talents.  He retells the story and shows the master getting incredibly angry at the man who did not do anything with his talent or his money.  He called this man wicked.  He didn’t call him lazy.  He didn’t call him dumb, but rather he called him wicked, like he was evil.  

This may seem a bit harsh and a bit unwarranted upon first reading. I mean, I can understand the master being disappointed with the third man, but I don’t understand why he was called wicked. He didn’t do anything wrong.  He didn’t do anything at all.  In fact, I didn’t really understand why he was called wicked until J.D. Greear reminds us that he was called wicked because he didn’t use what the master had given him to grow.  He didn’t appreciate what he had been given.  He tried to hide it away and pretend it didn’t exist.  He didn’t want to be responsible for it. 

In many ways, people are like the third servant when they decide to walk away from the amazing gifts from God we have been given.  For one thing, anyone who is a Christian has been given the gift of the Gospel, and that is the most precious gift in all of history.  The Lord knew we were sinners and yet he still chose to die on the cross for our sins and remove all of our guilt and shame away.  This is such a precious gift and yet sometimes, we (I am including myself here) can walk away from this gift and forget to think about the great opportunities and the great amount of responsibility this leaves with us.  We are called, if you are a Christian, to speak the Gospel to others and to make disciples.  

J.D. Greear writes this wonderfully in his book, “Gaining by Losing,” “The question is not just whether you have done bad things; the question is whether you have done the right things with the good things God has given you.” (J.D. Greear, Gaining by Losing, page 181)”  God has given every Chrsitian, the Gospel, as well as spiritual gifts to help bring the gospel to others, and people and opportunities in order to share that message with. He has given each person these gifts based on what each person can handle, so it is important we choose to handle these gifts well.  

The challenge for both myself and others who are reading is to use your talents God has given you.  I think my personal challenge is to reach out to those who are near me and ask them where their walk with God is.  Then maybe ask to have a time where we can spend talking to God and going over the Bible together.  I really want to make sure that those who are near me and those I care about are being taken care of in their spiritual walk and give a way for all of us to spend time together with God.  My challenge for you is to think about your range of influence and the people around you and how you can best use your talents to reach those people in your influence.  

I have always believed, like many Christians that one needs to be called in order to serve as a missionary.  There needs to be a special moment, and a special person who will fulfill a calling for mission work or fulfill a ministry.  Sure, I think most people have little callings.  Help in the church, tell your coworker about your relationship with God, and do your little things, but I didn’t always pay attention to how each and every Christian has more power than they could ever think possible.  Yes, I am even talking about myself, and you who are reading who believe in the work Jesus Christ did on the cross.  

Recently, I have been reading a book by a man named J.D Greear called, “Gaining by Losing.”  This book is all about how the churches that gain the most are the ones who send the most people.  This could be sending the people to plant a new church, to start a ministry or service project among their community that also teaches the Gospel, or sends them to a completely new country.  All of this is a part of sending and all of this is important for the spreading of God’s Word and the good news found in knowing Him.  J.D. Greear also takes the time to remind his readers of a very important power amidst those who are followers of Jesus, and this is that they have the Holy Spirit.  

Jesus went up to heaven which was a big moment for many of the disciples.  Think, they just had lost one of their best friends brutally when he died on the cross.  They watched him die in a great amount of suffering.  Then something miraculous happened.  Jesus resurrected from the dead and was able to walk amongst them again.  The disciples were amazed and excited to see him. Then he was going to leave them again. Can you imagine the disciples’ disappointment?   However, he left them with really good news.  He was going to be leaving them with a helper, something to remember him by and can offer assistance and guidance for the rest of their lives.  

The disciples were still probably disappointed.  I would sure be upset.  How could you imagine having to say good-bye to Jesus in sight and person and then accept something that isn’t quite the same as Jesus.  However, Jesus would say this helper is better than if he were just to stay with them.  He told the disciples they would be able to do more work now that they have the helper of the Holy Spirit.  In John chapter 14 verse 26 it says, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”  This was Jesus’ promise.  He doesn’t want the disciples to be alone, so he makes sure they are given great power. 

Later, in the Bible, we get to see the follow up of the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples.  In Acts chapter 2, the apostles and followers of Jesus were all together on the day of Pentecost when something inexplicable happened,  “And suddenly, there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  And divided tongues as fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (verses 2-4) They were suddenly filled with the power to speak multiple languages and they were filled with great power.  Then shortly after this, “And at the sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”  (verse 6)

How amazing! Jesus did do as he had promised. He made the disciples with an ability to speak to a great number of people and then through the sound of the power he created, he also brought the people to them to speak about Jesus and his Gospel.  How easy the Holy Spirit made completing the Great Commission!  The Holy Spirit also wants to do this great power with all of us.  Greear describes this perfectly in his book.  “This means ordinary people-people with problems and faults and stubborn habits and personal weaknesses-can be used mightily in the mission of God, because it’s not about their abilities to do things for God, but about his ability to work through them. (J.D. Greear, Gaining by Losing, page 104)

Have you ever thought about how with the Holy Spirit, we as people have become more equipped to spread the Gospel?  I have, every once in a while.  But I will be honest that most of the time I think of the Holy Spirit as a good conscience.  I think of it more as the good angel on my shoulder leading me away from the bad devil who wants me to make the bad decisions.  I think of the Holy Spirit as a good leading guide against the bad thoughts I have or against the people who are aggravating me or the strong desire to do the wrong thing.  While the Holy Spirit does do all of this, it is capable of so much more. 

This can be both inspirational while also being intimidating.  It can be amazing to imagine the power we have through Jesus Christ inside of us.  However, it can also be scary to imagine the callings and the capabilities we have.  My challenge for you this week is to spend deep time in prayer.  I want you to spend time trying to find more voice in your holy spirit.  Ask God to have the Holy Spirit become more and more prevalent and present in your life to complete the work He wants for you to do.  I hope you are amazed by what is revealed the Holy Spirit is capable of in your life.    

“Goliath Must Fall,” by Louie Giglio is a very good reminder to face all of our fears. This book describes all the different giants we as people often develop.  There are things in my life and everyone else’s lives that go from being a little problem to a really big addiction or harmful area in our lives.  We don’t always think of them this way, but these are our giants.   

One of the giants the book mentions is the giant of rejection.  Rejection is a hard thing to get over at times.  There are times we don’t want to even think about our rejection, long enough for us to really notice it is a giant.  But when past rejection comes in our thoughts, it can cause great pain.  Because this whole book was looking at the story of David and Goliath, we get to see David and his bouts of rejection.  Granted, I don’t believe it is ever described as David feeling rejected, but how could he not be.  He was the only one of the brothers in his family who wasn’t chosen to go to war.  He was also the only one who was not considered for the prophecy to someday become king.  He kept getting overlooked.  He was the littlest brother.  He was the small one of the family, and therefore in his family’s eyes, he wouldn’t amount to much.  What a huge amount of rejection, young David had to face.  

I personally have struggled with rejection.   I had never thought it was something I struggled with, until there were a few big events I wasn’t invited to with friends, and I was left heartbroken.  A big part of the reason I started therapy was because I was struggling with being anxious and insecure in the heart of rejection, especially after these nonexistent invitations happened.  I would come close to anxiety attacks when I would think of the possibility of being rejected by those I love once again.  It was getting to a place where I did need help, which is why I did seek out professional help with my therapist.  

A great verse that can comfort us in our heartbreak of rejection is John 14:18 which says, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”  God will not leave us rejected or alone, but he will comfort and care for us.  He has not rejected us and he will never reject us.  He will always love you, no matter what you have done or no matter who else you feel has rejected you.  Getting back to David, it is a good reminder that God overlooked everyone else’s rejection.  God had decided David as king, and he chose David as the one who would be the winner over the big battle and giant named Goliath.  

Another big giant mentioned in this book was the giant of comfort.  Sometimes we as people care far too much about our comfort over everything else including our call and mission to be Christ followers.  I personally can care a lot about comfort.  I am so happy I decided to take up the nonprofit job and move to a bigger town because I knew I was going to be having a pay decrease and yet I was going to be in a bigger town where it was going to be more expensive to live there.  I was very nervous I would not be comfortable and live comfortably.  However, I really believed this is where I was meant to be and what God had planned for me, so I did decide to go even amidst my discomfort. 

I am not through this suggesting we make bad decisions.  Just because comfort shouldn’t be our main priority, does not mean people should necessarily go out into situations we feel are taking us away from God.  However, we should be more willing to speak to someone who we wouldn’t usually talk to.  This could be choosing to pray over someone when they tell you about a struggle they are having, or this could be choosing to share your faith in front of a group of people.   

One quote from the book that really struck out to me from the chapter over comfort was “In fact, the gospel is rooted in a place of discomfort-Christ’s discomfort. (Giglio, Louie “Goliath Must Fall, pg. 120).”  This is an amazing reflection.  Jesus had a lot of fear and a lot of discomfort, and this created the best story in all of history that has left us with so much love, peace, and joy.  He is now asking us to risk a bit of fear and a bit of discomfort for the sake of others to know the Gospel.  

My challenge for you this week is to think about your giants.  What is the thing that holds you back?  Is it fear? Anxiety? Comfort? Money? Relationships?  Addiction to substances? What is the thing that is holding you back from a more intimate and beautiful relationship with Christ and his mission for your life?  It is not an easy thing to fight against, but it is important we know how to name our giants if we are ever going to fight them.  We can also know God is with us every step of the way, to make us a David. 

Some of you reading may know my favorite holiday is Valentine’s Day.  I love it! I start celebrating and decorating and preparing for Valentine’s Day weeks beforehand.  My office is completely decorated in handmade hearts and positive notes.  I work making valentines and the presents I can give to others to hopefully make them feel loved on Valentine’s day.  Then delivering or sending them in the mail is my absolute favorite part.  The night before I am very busy making my treats I can bring to work and putting the bags or the presents together I can present to my friends.  

My love for Valentine’s Day started at a young age.  My mom would give me sweet little gifts to celebrate the day.  They were probably not the extravagant gifts she put a lot of time into like she would with my birthday or Christmas.  They were probably not the gift she thought would stand out to a young girl.  But, one year she gave me a little ladybug, or as it was called, a little lovebug. It was the smallest little ladybug charm ever.  There was also a poem accompanying the little ladybug.  It was a sweet little thing to remind me she loves me.  The ladybug charm stayed in a special place all throughout my growing up years.  My grandma was pretty impressed I never lost it.  Granted, it did have to be replaced after it was lost in the move my parents made while I was at college, but I am going to blame my parents for that one. 🙂

I felt loved on that particular Valentine’s Day. I felt special and cared for.  After that, I wanted to make others feel loved on Valentine’s Day.  It also helps that Valentine’s main colors are pink and red, which I love, and hearts which are pretty and easy to decorate with.  Making a valentine is easy.  Cut out a heart, add some pretty decorations to it and then write a sweet note.  How simple, yet effective. 

This year, I was asked to do a special task.  I was asked to make 61 valentines for a church group I am a part of called, “Christ Love in Action,” or CLIA for short.  These valentines were being sent out to the widows and widowers in our church along with a gift card to a restaurant in town.  This group wanted to make sure these members of the church felt extra loved on this special day.  I was so honored to be asked to make all of these valentines, and I do really hope these put a smile on many of these member’s faces.  

We are commanded many times throughout the Bible to love our neighbor, love the people in the world, and just love others more than ourselves.  Romans 13:10 is one example which says, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  The Bible is sometimes considered to have a lot of laws and rules, but at the base of all of these laws is love.  Love for God and love for your neighbors is the core of being a Christian and following God to the fullest.

 I am reading a book for my Quiet time with God in the morning called, “Gaining by Losing” by J.D Greear. This is all about how we as a church and as followers of Christ are being sent out to preach the good news and the love of Jesus.  We are all commanded to love others and to share his good message.  One quote from this book really struck me which was, “He blessed you to be a blessing.”(Greear, Gaining by Losing, page 50)  This is so true.  Anyone who is a Christian has been blessed with the love of God and has been blessed with the knowledge of Him.  Now we are commanded to show that love to others.  

My challenge for you this week is to spread love to others around you.  Yes, for some this may be for your significant other.  But I also wanted to challenge you to spread love to someone else in your life who maybe doesn’t always receive love on a regular basis.  This can be a friend you haven’t reached out to in a long time, this can be a family member you know is going through a hard time, or this could be a coworker who has been really helpful to you in the recent days.  Just spread the love.  I truly believe Valentine’s Day is more than a day for a significant other.  It is a day to remember our loved ones and a reminder to spread the love we have for them.  

Josiah was a very good king of Judah.  He was considered to be one of the best kings to come out of Judah.  He cared a lot about God and he cared a lot about being a good king to the people in his kingdom.  He is very much an encouragement considering a majority of the kings I had been reading about had fallen far away from God’s grace and laws.  They have not been considered Godly and they have often fallen into the camp of believing in other gods and goddesses.  

Something really exciting would come out of Josiah’s reign.  The Book of the Law was discovered.  The book was discovered by Hilkiah the high priest and Shaphan the secretary when they were in the House of the Lord.  The Book of the Law was brought and read for the king, Josiah.  Upon hearing God’s Word, Josiah actually tore his clothes. He was so emotional and so impacted by the words he was hearing from God.  He also knew the people and the kingdom as a whole, had not done a great job of following these precious words.  The people of Judah had forgotten their God many times throughout the years.  They had not honored or revered his words at all.  This broke Josiah’s heart.  He also knew there was a potential of God’s wrath because of the way the people have acted. 

The great thing about Josiah was that he didn’t stop there.  He didn’t get disappointed in himself or in his kingdom.  He didn’t wallow in self-pity, and he certainly didn’t decide to go back to the thinking he had before he heard the Book of the Law.  He let the words he heard from the Book impact the actions he made.  He did this through many different actions.  First, he went in front of the people in his kingdom and read the book of the Law or the Book of the Covenant for all to hear and pledged his own covenant with the Lord.  He decided he wanted to spend the rest of the days following all the laws (to the best of his ability, of course) that were written down.  All of the people in his kingdom agreed.  They then got rid of all the altars to other gods such as Baal, the sun, the moon, constellations, tore down the altars made for prostitution, and he got rid of all the priests he knew were not leading people towards the Lord.  

I don’t always let the words from the Bible impact my actions, specifically when it comes to how I talk about God’s Word with others.  Sure, I can do a fairly good job about reading and reflecting and spending time in prayer.  I try to be better with my patience and I try to be more focused on making God’s decisions, but I don’t always spend time speaking with others about what I have been learning in the Bible.  I don’t always let the words I hear in the morning impact how I talk to others throughout the day or to how I act throughout the day.  

Two verses I want to highlight about this topic from the Bible are from 1 John chapter 5, verses 2 and 3, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome.” I love these verses.  It is a good reminder to love God’s commandments and the words in the Bible.  When we really spend time loving God and his words, we show we are the children of God.  I also love the part about these laws not being burdensome.  They are not supposed to take the joy out of living, as we often think when we think of rules.  They are not supposed to suppress us or create a deep desire in our hearts for more.  Following God’s laws and commands frees us from a lot of other hardship that would otherwise be found in the world.  

This is one of the reasons I do love this blog.  This is really the only place where I really let what I am learning go to other people.  This is where I do spend a good amount of time thinking over the words I read from God and live it out in my day-to-day living.  I try to be aware of the impatience I can often show, the bad words sometimes come out of my mouth, and the bouts of jealousy and bitterness occurring inside my head.  I am also aware of the items or the habits that would be better off getting rid of in my life even though I have kept them in because I like having them around.  

This week I have a big challenge.  My big challenge is to spend time in prayer about what you have been learning in the Bible or church with one person.  This can be a friend who goes to church with you, a coworker who you are close to, or a family member.  I always want to let what I have learned stay with me, but now I need to know I need to speak these thoughts out loud and speak these words of wisdom to everyone who is around me.   I am challenging myself to do the same as I am challenging you.  

P.S. I do want to say that if you do read my blogs a lot, the last couple of weeks have been about the kings of Judah and Israel.  I know I have mentioned it, but I do really want to highlight the work done by Lysa Terkeurst in her devotional study book, “Trustworthy; A study of 1 and 2 Kings.”  It really has been a good study for me these last few weeks.  I have learned so much about the kings, yes, but also about how it applies to my life and how it can apply to every Christian’s life.  I do want to give a high recommendation to do this study sometime.  This can be done either in a small group or by yourself, like I am doing. 

I live in Iowa, and I have lived here my entire life.  Because of this, I have definitely been used to the moments of extreme cold weather.  I am talking, of course, of days sub zero degrees with the windchill even lower.  This is so cold, a person shouldn’t have their exposed skin out for too long, or it will otherwise have frostbite.  This last week was definitely one of those extreme cold weeks.  Most of the days were incredibly cold, so cold that one day it was 15 degrees outside, I would have almost called it warm.  

With those cold days, it can take some motivation to go outside.  I go outside, but it does take a long time.  However, I have noticed one big thing.  When the sun is shining, it is so much warmer than it is without the sun.  If the sun doesn’t necessarily make the degree higher, it certainly makes a person feel as though it is warmer.  It also makes the whole day seem brighter and more beautiful, even with the freezing temperatures.  Granted, a person should still cover up accordingly and still not stay outside too long.  

This reminded me of a book I had read a long time ago about women’s health and the importance of Vitamin D. I read this book called, “Roar” by Dr. Stacy T. Sims.  This is all about how the female body is different from the male body, there are certain foods we need more of, and there are certain exercises women should do for optimum health.  Some nutritional pieces, though, are essential for both men and women.  One of those is the importance of Vitamin D which helps with bone health.  There has been a lot of study on the essence of Vitamin D and the increased lack in overall bodies.  “Turns out many of us aren’t getting enough (Vitamin D) from any source.  In fact some researchers have gone so far as to call Vitamin D deficiency a pandemic.”  (Sims, Stacy T; Roar, page 235). This really shows in the increased issues many have with their weaker bones such as osteoporosis that is really prevalent in older women.  

Vitamin D is often described as the sunshine vitamin.  A person receives a lot of Vitamin D when they sit in the sunlight, as well as from some foods such as fish, certain cheeses, and eggs.  Besides helping with bone health, Vitamin D also helps with muscle growth and energy throughout exercise or strenuous activity.  When a person is surrounded by the sun’s rays, we are given so much more nutrition than when we are choosing to stay inside.  This got me thinking, while maybe not the most perfect metaphor, Jesus is like our Vitamin D.  He is the Son after all.  It is important we don’t have a deficiency from him, just as we should avoid a deficiency in the actual Vitamin D.  

I know I can sometimes live my life without as much of the “Son” the Lord, then I should.  I sometimes assume I can make it through the day by myself and through my own strength.  This can work for a while, until I get really down or until something really hard happens.  Days can be hard.  Days can be long and dreary.  There can be very hard days.  However, the Lord as the Son in our lives can make those days so much brighter just as the sun outside can make the freezing cold less bitter.   It doesn’t necessarily mean that no bad thing will ever occur, but it does help remind us that God will be there every step of the way.  

Psalm 27:13-14 says, “I remain confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” There is goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  There will be even more goodness in the land of the Lord in heaven.  We can remain confident in this because God has made promises to us and for us.  Yes, he does tell us we are going to have trials and tribulations and bad times.  However, we are going to be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.  

Because of all of this, I have realized that just like people can become Vitamin D deficient, we can also become Son deficient in regard to how much time we spend with God.  Similarly, when we spend time outside with the sun’s rays on our body, we get our good helping of Vitamin D. It is just as important when we spend time in prayer or reading our Bible, then we get more of our Son, our time with the Lord.  

I have two challenges for you this week.  The first one is a health related one.  If you do ever find, especially in the winter months, you struggle with your energy and feel a bit sadder, I do recommend looking into having more Vitamin D.  Personally, I do take Vitamin D supplement pills, but foods like eggs and fish include Vitamin D as well.  The second challenge is to spend time with the Son, Jesus Christ.  Make it a goal to put aside at least one hour in your week, to spend time in prayer or in reading your Bible.  Spend time talking with him and really get your helping of the Son needed for your days.  

A few weeks ago, I recapped new lessons I learned through the kings of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.  However, I am going to recap one more big life lesson I have learned from this story.  Rehoboam was a king easily influenced for the worse.  He was Solomon’s son, and he was chosen to be king over all of Israel.  Solomon had made work really hard for the people of Israel, and they were forced to complete a lot of labor.  However, he was asked by the people of Israel, with the help of Jeroboam, to ask for their burdens to be lightened.  

Rehoboam had a decision to make.  Does he weaken the load of his people?  There is a lot of work necessary in the country and if jobs don’t get done, they look to the king for the solutions.  What if they are being lazy and want to get out of work completely?   But on the other hand, maybe he really should listen to what his people are telling him.  Rehoboam goes to two different sources for advice.  He goes to the older advisors in the country.  They advise him to listen to his people.  Rehoboam honestly didn’t seem to completely agree with this answer, so he went to the younger people for advice as well.  The younger people told him to make the people’s burdens harder and their loads heavier.  Rehoboam decided to listen to the younger people and initiated harder jobs for his people.  

   From the reading, I would guess Rehoboam would rather be a hard and intimidating king.  He would rather the people do a lot of work, so his kingdom can be run proficiently.  It shows he was very willing to listen to the peers of his own age for advice.  I would say this shows he would rather listen to the people who tell him what he wants to hear as opposed to what he maybe really should hear.  

Throughout this devotional, I can see there are many other instances of the kings of Israel following bad advice and following bad people to their ultimate bad decisions.  One of the worst kings of Israel was named Ahab.  Ahab was the king during the time of the prophet, Ezekiel.  However, he would not choose to go to him for any advice.  Instead he would listen to his wife named Jezebel.  Jezebel was a very devout follower of Baal, another popular false god.  Because his wife loved and worshiped this god, Ahab would become very devout and would create altars for him throughout the land. 

However, there would be another example of a king who would be impacted by the people around him in a positive way.  Jehoash, or sometimes written as Joash, would become king at a very young age.  However, his young age did not make a difference in this instance on whether or not he would end up becoming a good king.  He was hidden by his aunt in the temple with many different priests. Because of this, he would be very positively impacted by the people in the temple and the priests he was surrounded by.  He would go on to be one of the best kings of Judah, and would be a king that would follow the Lord till the end of his days.  

I have definitely been in situations where I go to people for advice but in reality, I have my own ideas of what I believe should be done or how I should best handle a certain situation.  I may go to people, but really I want to do what I want to do, and I am just seeking advice from others, so they can confirm my thoughts.  Proverbs 13:20 says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”  It is important to remember to avoid bad counsel and fight against the people who are making unwise choices.  It is also important to seek advice, not just “yes people” who will tell you what you want to hear.  

I have definitely been a person who has been inspired and impacted by both positive and negative influences.  I have known people who have sometimes seemed to pull me more in one direction, but then I have had other people who have pulled me back in the right direction.  Luckily, I grew up with family members who helped me grow closer to God and to have a desire to really learn about God’s goodness.  However, I have definitely been led astray through peer pressure.  It is important to be constantly reflective on where one is getting swayed at different points in one’s life.  

I am not trying to suggest we shouldn’t seek to know people who we may think are making poor decisions.  We have definitely been called to love people of all different walks of life.  We have been called to be the salt and the light to all people.  However, we should be very aware of where our heart is leading.  Do the people in our life help lead us?  And if they do, where are they leading us towards?

My challenge for you this week is to reflect.  Who are the top five people you regularly talk to?  Who are the people you first go to when you are feeling down?  Who do you seek advice from?  Then reflect on whether these are the people you should be seeking advice from.  Are these people helping you make wise decisions or are they leading you towards the path of destruction?  I hope through this reflection, you will find the people you really can go to, who will lead you toward a life filled with God’s goodness, just as the king Joash of Judah.