Author: princessleah

If we want to move away from just the duty we feel to walk this Christian walk, and really enjoy our life in Christ, it takes some adjustments. If we just make a list of things we need to do and then keep on checking them off dutifully, we might miss the joy of a real living, vibrant relationship. We didn’t become Christians to join a religion. We aren’t religious people, we have a life giving relationship with Jesus. It’s a friendship, and friendships bring joy to our life. So make some adjustments:
Instead of just reading your Bible everyday, dutifully, think of it as God’s love letter to you. He wrote you words to encourage and bless your life. Get excited everyday to read and learn and grow in God. Instead of just rattling off your prayers each day, let the Spirit of God direct your prayers. What needs to be prayed at the moment? Instead of just attending church and your small group because you have to, why not come prayed up and ready to give out to those who gather together with you. You are blessed to be a blessing! You have the opportunity to look at things either way, as a drag or a blessing. Look for blessings! This life is not a duty, its a delight! Let those words recharge you inside!

Intro:
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. This week as we talk about being recharged, we will decide to immerse ourselves in a culture that is life giving. We don’t want to just go through the motions in our walk with God. We want to live in a way that there is evidence that we have an intimate, loving relationship with God, that is fresh and vibrant. Here’s a recharging word for you this week. Here is your dailyeword.

I think we have all been at the place where we are just going through the motions in life. Perhaps you might have heard this chorus from a song by Matthew West.

I don’t want to go through the motions
I don’t want to go one more day
Without your all consuming passion in side of me
I don’t want to spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions.

How easy is it to just routinely do what we thing we must, without passion or heart behind it. What can you do today to make your walk with God more fresh and vibrant? Could you set aside time to spend with God, just worshipping Him, or reading His Word, or maybe even just being quiet in His presence? So often we busy ourselves with things that don’t matter and miss taking time for what really is important. Do some self assessments today, and then make some adjustments. Live a life with no regrets!

Be honest with yourself. How good are you at being self aware? Most of us are good at giving our selves lots of grace, but flunk at giving very much grace to others. We judge ourselves by our intentions, and other by their actions. How about we change that. Look deeply into your situation right now. How can you begin to get out of the frustration, discouragement, or disappointments you might be facing right now? Could a little more time in the Word of God help? Probably. Could a little more time in fellowship with other believers help? Probably. Could spending time talking to God, instead of whining to your friends help? Probably. How about sharing your heart with your small group? Can that help you get a better perspective and maybe even help pull you out of the slump that you might be in? Probably! So take a good look, and decide. What can I do right now to let the energizing power of the Holy Spirit sweep away some of the junk that I have let build up in my life? If you start by asking that question, you are starting at a great spot. God’s got a great future ahead of you.

We have all faced disappointments. Sometimes we can even feel trapped by life circumstances. Too often people try to find a way through them and make all the wrong choices. Once we have Jesus in our life, we don’t need the crutches that the world uses to get through life. We don’t have to dull our pain through alcohol, drug use, or unhealthy relationships. Sometimes even Christians do those things, but it never makes the disappointments or the feelings of being trapped go away. The opportunity arises for all humans, and sometimes especially as believers, because we have an enemy who really does hate us, and it out to destroy us. But, because of the blood of Jesus, we can have a relationship with Jesus and become overcomers. We have overcome! You are an overcomer. Just like the wife who receives the check after her husband, the champion of the world defeats his opponent in a boxing match, we have received the same thing. Jesus fought the fight, and handed us the victory. So let some of the energizing fresh air of the Holy Spirit sweep through your life and recharge you. Good things are about to happen.

Has anyone ever called you a dreamer? Maybe as a kid you did a lot of daydreaming at your school desk, when you should have been studying. Or maybe you had lofty ideas that someone told you that could never be accomplished. Or perhaps you wake up in the morning thinking about the funky dreams you had in your sleep the night before! (I’ve had some weird ones!) There are lots of ways to look at dreams. One dream that everyone has deep in their inner man, is to have fellowship or union with their Creator. That sends many people on searches for fulfillment, and just like the country western song says, they go looking for love in all the wrong places. We find fulfillment of that dream when we come to personally know God, who is love personified.

God places dreams in the heart of all of us. He has a plan and a purpose for each one and His desire is to see our dreams, come alive, and then become a reality. Too many people die with their dreams still unattained. They never had confidence to step out and try or to press through the fear of failing. It could be they gave up on their dream because someone, either intentionally or inadvertently, crushed their dream. I’m believing with you that you will reach the dream God placed in you. Determine to be a dream releaser for others! And go after the dreams God put in your own heart too

The five gold rings recall the Hebrew Torah (Law), or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. Many Jews memorize the whole Torah, and young Jewish children who make the right of passage through their bar or bat mitzvahs are tested thoroughly on their knowledge of the Pentateuch.
The first five books of the Bible are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For the most part, both Jewish and Christian traditions give credit to Moses for being the author of the Pentateuch. These five books form the theological foundation of the Bible.
“The word pentateuch means “five vessels,” “five containers,” or “five-volumed book.” In Hebrew the Pentateuch is Torah, meaning “the law” or “instruction.” Another name for the Pentateuch is “the five books of Moses.” The Pentateuch gives us history and instruction. It is valuable to read even if it seems long, especially if you are in Numbers!
The 5 books of the Pentateuch introduce Bible readers to God’s divine purposes and plans, and explain creation and how evil entered the world. In the Pentateuch we also see God’s response to sin, his relationship with mankind, and we gain insight into God’s character and nature. All scripture is God breathed and is profitable! Be a lover of the Word, and hide it in your heart!

Gal 2:20-21

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”^[a]

What emotion comes up in your heart when you think about what Jesus did for us on the cross?  Is it thanksgiving?  Probably.  Is it love?  Most definitely.  When ever I think of the cross, and the blood that Jesus shed for me, I can help but be so thankful for the love that it took to put Jesus there.  God so loved, that He gave Jesus to us.  God so loved, that Jesus gave His life.  God so loved, that we can experience life abundant on this earth.  All because of love!  God’s liquid love flowed from Calvary from Jesus side, and reaches all the way to us.  His love was sacrificial.  He was the sacrifice, and He did it because God wanted His family back in fellowship with Him.  What have you sacrificed for love?  That may seem like a funny question, but the answer is pretty easy.  We don’t have to give a limb, or a lamb, but we do have to give up selfishness.  We have to war against our flesh, and our flesh says me first, do it my way, I am most important.  Love says you go first, let’s do it your way, we is more important than me.  Those simple acts of love, let others know that our love for them is sincere, and that we care enough to lay our flesh down.  If we would remember that in the heat of battle, our marriages and families would all be the better for it.

Love Covers I Peter 4:8-10
As Christians, we have received the unconditional love of God. Aren’t we thankful for that! In fact, it was God’s unconditional love that sent Jesus to the world as a baby to live a sinless life and then to die on a cross for our sins. It is love that surpasses knowledge and love that can overflow as we are filled with His fullness. (Eph 3:19) The Agape love of God is God’s selfless love that set the world in motion, and keeps all things held together. (Col 1:15-17) Love really does make the world go round!

In 1 Peter 4:8-10
New International Version (NIV)
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
We are to love each other deeply! Love covers a multitude of sins. When I think about something being covered up, usually it seems negative. We should have things out in the open, and not brush them under the rug. I think this scripture is saying, it doesn’t matter what sin someone has done, God’s love has it covered. That is the love of God.
Think about in your life. What has God’s love covered for you? A shady past? Sins that you don’t even want to mention? A ungrateful heart? Maybe even a broken heart? We can know the love of God which can shelter us in the time of a storm, and can keep us warm in a cold, cold world. I hope you show some of that same love to those around you. God’s love covers you from east to west, north to south, and every place in between.

The Bible actually talks about 4 kinds of love. They are Agape, Eros, Phileo and Storge. The first three are the ones most talked about in the Bible, so we’ll focus on them. If we look at the root words, we can see that Eros is romantic love. The root Phileo, means brotherly love, which is love within a family. Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love. The last love is Agape, which is the God kind of love. This kind of love is unconditional and keeps giving without expecting anything in return. That’s the kind of love we get from God. In Revelation 2:2-6, Jesus actually wants us to return to the way we first loved Him. He tells us not to leave our first love. You can probably well remember when you first met your mate how you would think about them all the time, you would find ways to be together all the time, you would talk about them to others all the time. We can probably even remember how we first did that with Jesus too! You couldn’t wait to get around people who loved God too, and your world revolved around your new love….Jesus. We can get complacent in marriages and earthy relationships, and we can do the same thing with our relationship with God. How can we keep the flame in our earthly relationships? We nurture it, we take the time to do special things together. We make it a priority. We can do the same thing with our relationship with God. Let’s put Him high on the list! Let’s set aside time to spend with Him. Let’s even take time to be alone just with you and Him. If we want our relationship to have some heat!!, we have to keep the flame burning. Let’s do that! Have an awesome marriage, and have a vibrant relationship with God! Don’t grow weary, and don’t leave your first love!

Revelation 2:2-5
New International Version (NIV)
2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Let us return to our first love, and let God know, just like He will never let us go, we will never let Him go.

Intro: We need to get back to the basics of love! The Bible says that the world will know we are Christians by our love. (John 13:35) God’s love toward us, gives us the capacity to love others. In fact, since God is love, when we receive Christ as our Savior, we have a totally new avenue of love that goes beyond human love for one another. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. This week we are talking about the fruit of love and how important it is to stay connected to the lover of our souls. Here is your daily eword.

You probably are very familiar with these verses in Gal 5:22-25. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desire. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

You have probably heard the phrase, the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. When we say that, we can usually see the imprint of a physical attribute of the parent in a child, or see a child act just like their parent. When you think about abiding in the vine, with the vine as a picture of Christ, the fruit of the vine is from the Holy Spirit. If we are filled with the Spirit, that same fruit should be what we exhibit as well! Our fruit should look like Jesus. The Spirit of God, is love! His fruit is love. That means that kind of fruit should be evident in our lives too! The divine personality and character traits of God can become incorporated into our lives. All of the fruit is centered around love. Without love, none of the attributes of the fruit would be evident. With out love, there is no joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, etc. So how much do you look like your Father? Are you reflecting Jesus? Do you exhibit the fruit of the Spirit? Will they know you are a Christian because they can see love in your life? I hope all of your answers are yes!