Look for whatever devotional you missed, or if you want to simply review any of them.
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10.16 "God's Love"
Do we ever stop and think about what God's love means? What He's done to prove His love for us? I think that God loves us, but have we ever really considered what He's done to prove His love? In 1 Peter 3:18 it says," For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually." Jesus died on a cross, the worst possible punishment that the Romans used and they weren't know for being friendly. They stabbed nails that were similar to they ones we now use on railroads. About 3 inches long. While He was on the cross, something maybe worse occurred, worse than the physical pain He was feeling. He cried out ""Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?" which means "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" God didn't respond. God was too perfect to be there while Jesus was enduring all of our sins for us. His Father, who He had been with since the beginning of time, left Him. That might have been the most painful thing for him on that cross. He did not endure this pain and suffering for nothing. He did it to prove His love for us by taking all of our sins upon Him and making it possible to have a love relationship with God. This is God's love for us. This is what God's love really means. For those of us who are Christians, this is not a one-sided thing. John 15:12: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. " This doesn't mean we need to go die on a cross for someone, but it does mean that we need to seriously consider the way we talk to each other and the way we treat each other. |
10.9 "God's Presence"
Verse: Genesis 28:15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Do you ever find yourself doubting God's existence because you don't feel his presence in your life? You hear that you can have a personal relationship with God, just like best friends. But you wonder why you can see your friend, but you can't see God. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says,"While we liook not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." God isn't someone we can see with our physical eyes. We can't touch him, we can't smell him and we can't, thankfully, taste him. We have to have faith. Faith that God is there, that even though I don't feel His presence, He's here right beside me. We can rely too much on our feelings, that they are what's true in our life. Sometimes, you feel God's presence. That's the Holy Spirit working inside you. Sometimes, you feel alone and that's when you have to remind yourself of the Truth. |
9.18 "God's Watching" |
9.4.19 "Trials Produce" |
God is Watching
There is always somebody watching You reap what you sow When you look at today’s world, we are confused. We see people who are making fun of kids with autism, people who have a fight over a simple conversation, people who cuss and swear at their teacher; and they get away with it. Not only do they get away with it, people consider them to be cool and they actually somewhat, in some weird way admire them. We look at it and we think why are these people doing these things and they get away with it? We can get angry and frustrated with God. We feel like we are doing the right thing, but all the work we are doing to get there results in the same thing as people who are doing the wrong thing. What we have to remember what God says. Galatians 6:7 says "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." When we notice that teachers don't see it, parents don't see it and nobody does anything, remember this. God is watching and even though we might not realize it, that day of judgement is coming. This doesn't apply to certain people. It applies to everyone, even Christians. What we say to our siblings when our parents aren't there, God notices. When we disrespect a teacher, God sees you. Whatever you do today, remember God is not only there, but He's with you and SEES you. |
Bible Verse: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 While we may not be facing struggles that are as severe in our adult lives, we still have a lot of struggles and trials. For some of it, it's depression. For others of us, it's our parents divorces or we have a very sick family member and we don't know if they're gonna make it. For a lot of us in 8th grade, we can become obsessed with grades and high school applications and all of that. In many of these situations, we feel as if we can't do anything about the problem at hand. In a lot of these situations, we actually can't do the thing we need to happen. That causes us to become depressed and to lose heart. We don't welcome these situations. But God wants to be with you in these situations. He wants you to know that with Him, you're able to overcome and triumph. Our feelings tell us it'll never end, but we need to remember that God's love for us is great and He is not only there, but's able to overcome anything. God wants us to embrace thesse moments, not because they are easy, but because they produce maturity and develop our faith throught these trials. |