Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #131

God's Presence

Exodus 40

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 34) "Then the column of smoke covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tent."

My Thoughts

Have you ever felt God's presence? How would you even know; what does God's presence feel like? I can't really answer that, but what I do know is that you will know when you feel Him. It would have been cool to be there when God, appearing physically as a cloud and fire, filled the tent of meeting that the Israelites had finished working on.

I have felt God's presence before in different ways, and I think how you feel and what you feel is different for everyone, and different depending on the situation. I mean, maybe what specifically happens is different, but the feeling may be the same? I don't really know. I know that when I have felt Him, what happened may have been different, but the feeling of God's presence is the same in each. It's weird and hard to explain.

I just think that it's pretty cool the Israelites got to physically see and feel God in the form of a cloud and also fire. Even though we may not experience God the same way, we can still experience Him greatly. Through worship, prayer and even the actions or words of another person.

Sometimes we experience God in things that we do, like singing or athletics. It's hard to really focus on God alone when you're doing those things because you have to focused on what you're doing. You can still keep God at the center and just not forget Him while you're doing whatever it is that you're doing. I also always ask God to keep me focused on Him in what I am doing.

I still pray when I am busy, but not the same way. Just like we can talk to each other without words, we can do the same with God. He made us, so He understands everything about us, better than we even do. Even if you're not thinking about it at the time, but maybe before or after or both, try to see where God is in what you do. 

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #130

Feeling Alone?

Matthew 27

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 22) "Pilate asked them, 'Then what shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?' 'He should be crucified!' they all said." (v. 28-29) "They took off his clothes and put a bright red cape on him. They twisted some thorns into a crown, placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. They knelt in front of him and made fun of him by saying, 'Long live the king of the Jews!' (v. 39-40) "Those who passed by insulted him. They shook their heads and said, 'You were going to tear down God's temple and build it again in three days. Save yourself! If you're the Son of God, come down from the cross.' " (v. 46) "About three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?' "

My Thoughts

Another large amount of verses for this post, huh? Each shows how Jesus was treated before He was actually crucified, and then even after. It was horrible, the things that people did! Jesus was completely forsaken by everyone. Pilate handed Him over, even though he didn't want to and knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong. He was in a position of power and authority and could have stopped it! Instead he gave in to the people's demands.

Have you ever felt alone? I am sure you probably have at some point. I have. Sometimes things get so bad that we just feel everyone is against us and we feel totally alone. Jesus knows what that feels like because He was in that place Himself. Everyone was against Him and people mocked and insulted Him. Even those who could have stopped it turned the other way. Yes, this was all part of God's plan, but that doesn't make it a good thing. It was a very bad thing that God turned into great good.

God turned away from Him because if Jesus hadn't died, He would have gone through all that He did for nothing. Jesus' sacrifice was the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of eternity. God's people used to need to make sacrifices to atone for their sins on a regular basis. Jesus took care of all that forever and He was the sacrifice that atoned for all of our sins, past, present and future.

Whenever you feel alone, know that Jesus is there with you. He went through so much more than you are, I am sure, so let Him comfort you. Talk to Him and tell Him what you are going through and how you feel. Even if everyone else actually is against you, even for a moment, Jesus won't be. Remember God's promise that He will never leave you or forsake you. It is a promise that God has kept for a long time and a promise that He will not break.

The reason why Jesus went through all that He did was because He loved us so greatly. Nothing was going to stand in the way of His love for us. Jesus has already gone through all that, so He can be there for us when we are as well. God can turn anything that is happening in your life into good. It may not be pleasant right now, but God can make it so.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #129

The Bible a Mirror

1 Samuel 14

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 38-39) "So Saul ordered all the leaders of the troops, 'Come here! Find out what sin was committed today. I solemnly swear, as the LORD and savior of Israel lives, even if it is my son Johnathan who did it, he must die.' But not one of the soldiers replied." (v. 44) "Saul said, 'May God do worse things to me than are in this curse if you do not die, Johnathan!' "

My Thoughts

Saul took an oath and made all his troops take an oath that no one would eat anything until he got revenge on the Philistines. Johnathan unknowingly broke that oath by tasting some honey that was on the end of his staff. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul knowingly disobeyed God, and here in 1 Samuel 14, Johnathan unknowingly broke an oath.

When Saul knowingly and willingly disobeyed God, he did not believe that he should be punished, at least not much or harshly. However, when Saul's own son, Johnathan unknowingly broke an oath, Saul was prepared, and willing, to kill him! How sad is that? Does that even make sense?

So Saul committed sin against God, knowing he did, and he should get off lightly, but his son sinned, unknowingly, and he should die. makes complete sense right? Sometimes people hold themselves to a higher standard than others, and it is really unfortunate. Not a single one of us is greater than another on this entire planet we call Earth. Only God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are worthy of that.

Instead of using the Bible and our faith and the righteous that we have in Christ, and yes, those who are in Christ are righteous because of Him, to find fault in others and unrighteousness in others, we should use it to find the flaws that are still in ourselves and then better ourselves from it. Just like when you look in the mirror to find those stray hairs to either pluck or shave, or if there's something in your teeth, or to fix your hair because it looks bad. Use the Bible as a mirror to see yourself better and find those flaws so that you can remedy them.

I am no better than anyone else. Sure, I may be 'better' at a particular game or activity skill wise due to lots of practice, but does that make me better than that person, as a person? Absolutely not! No matter how good I am at something or smarter or stronger or wealthy or anything else than anyone else, I am not in any way better than them as a person or in God's eyes.

We are all equal and loved equally to God and by God. We all have imperfections because none of us are perfect, so who we are and what we are in God we should use to our own advantage to better ourselves, in ourselves, for God so that we can we can be ever closer to Him.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #128

God Takes Care of You

Zechariah 10

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 3) " 'My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the LORD almighty will care for his flock, the house of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle." (v. 12) "I will strengthen them in the LORD and in his name they will walk,' declares the LORD."

My Thoughts

Now before anyone says anything about these verses talking about the house of Judah and the Ephraimites, and yes, the second verse is about the Ephraimites, it doesn't matter. At the time these words were spoken, it was meant for them specifically, yes, but if it was meaningless to us, it would not be in the Bible for us to read.

The leaders of God's people were not leading them in the right way that they should have been, which is, towards God. So God's anger burns against them for leading His people astray. The reason why is because God cares for each of us, as we are His children. Oddly enough, that was also talked about in another recent post, #121. Please go read it if you haven't.

God cares for us and He takes care of us. He is our provider. Verse 12 says that God will strengthen us and we will walk in His name. That is so true. We are given strength by God for what He needs us to do, and we will walk in His name.

Just like a parent takes care of their child, God does the same for us. When we do something wrong, God will discipline us and restore us. He does this very lovingly because God is love.

Please don't ever think that God is far from you. If you love God and you follow Him and obey His commands, God is never far from you. It is possible that you can be far from God, but God is not far from you, even when you do sin, God is still there. He will never leave us or forsake us. Put your trust in Him and you will not be disappointed.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #127

Correction

Wise Words 1

Proverbs 15

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 5) "A fool spurn's his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence." (v. 10) "Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die." (v. 32) "He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding."

My Thoughts

Hey everyone, so first I want to say that I am feeling better than before. If you saw my last post earlier today, then you will know what I am talking about. If you didn't, then you can read it here. I was honestly going to delete that post, but I thought that that might seem really horrible and possibly send the wrong message, you know? I'm not ashamed of it, and I still do feel somewhat the same, but I had a great night, which definitely came from God, so I feel better.

So, on to today's Bible reading, which is extremely late. Proverbs is hard to look at say "This is Proverbs 15 says to me." because each chapter of Proverbs has a bunch of different (mostly) things in it that don't necessarily go directly together, so I thought I'd take a few that were similar from one chapter and do a post on that.

Proverbs 15 has three verses that really stood out to me at this particular time. They all have to do with heeding correction. It is definitely important for us to do so. Remember when I talked about this with Moses' father in law? It was kinda similar at least. That was in Bible reading #115. That was more specifically on advice, but it is still very similar to this.

None of us are perfect and we all make mistakes. Everyone is really good at something and really weak at something, sometimes multiples either way. If someone sees you struggling with something or doing something wrong or inefficiently and they come up to help you, don't take offense to it. Again, obviously, your reaction is going to differ depending on the person's manner, and I talked about this quite a bit in #115.

If someone comes to you and says "Hey, I see you struggling with this. I think you could improve by doing this." then it's probably fine. As I said in the other post, we should always at least listen to what the person has to say before we disregard them. The same goes for when you go up to someone.

Tell the person that this is what you see, this is what you noticed, I would do this, see if that helps. It works better if you have experience with that particular thing so that you can give testimony of your own experiences. That's what I always do.

It is also important for us to seek out correction. None of us are perfect and we can always improve on something. So if you are really wanting to improve on something, seek out someone who has experience with it and ask them for advice, tips and to correct you. You may be considered a 'master' with something, in which case, that's fine, other people may come to you for advice! Just don't ever lie to yourself that you are perfect with it. Think back to how you got to that point. It didn't just magically happen, you had to work at it, even if it came quickly, you still made mistakes and worked to correct them.

It's important for us to admit that we are not perfect and that sometimes we need help or advice or correction.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Today's Bible Reading #127 for January 27, 2016 announcement

I am so sorry everyone reading this. Today there will either be no Bible reading, or it will be extremely late.the reason for this is that I have had so many problems todaty with internet and stuf and I am just so stressed out nd upset. Please forgive ne and i ope you all understand. I pray that you all have a grerat day, or rest of the fay. Hopefully i can get it up later tonight, once i am feeling better because right now, i feel comepletely unmovtiavted to do it at all. hopefully that changes soon os it can be done later todauy. Godbless.

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #126

Confession

Psalm 51

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 4) "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge." (v. 10) "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (v. 12) "Restore me to the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

My Thoughts

David sinned against God by taking Bathsheba for himself and having her husband killed so that he could. Even David, who was a man after God's own heart,sinned. We all do. David acknowledged his sin though and gave it to God. He still had consequences, like losing his son who he had with Bathsheba. God restored David though, because he sincerely confessed his sin.

When you sin and you re overcome with guilt and you face the consequences of it, you need to forgive yourself and ten ask God for forgiveness. God will forgive you, you need only ask sincerely. If your heart is in the right place, then rest assured that God has forgiven you. Ask Him to restore you as well, and He will most definitely do that.

When David confessed, he did so publicly, I believe mainly because everyone knew about it. What he did affected may people, not just himself or a couple people. When you confess your sin, I don't believe you need to do so publicly. If it something just between you and God, you need only confess it to God. If your sin affected others, then it may be wise to confess to them as well and let them know that you are truly sorry for it and that you have given it to God. Even then, the most important thing is that you forgive yourself and confess it to God.

Confessing your sins is an important part of healing. If you keep it covered up or try to ignore it or pretend it didn't happen, you are lying to yourself and to God and to whoever else it affects. That is like keeping anger or a grudge or sadness bottled up inside. It will wreck you in the meantime and eventually it will erupt. When that happens, it will not be good at all.

To avoid all this, release yourself from sin's grasp and Satan's clutches by forgiving yourself and confessing to God. You really will feel so much better after doing so.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #125

The Bible is God-Breathed

2 Timothy 3

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 16-17) "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

My Thoughts

The Bible is not just a random collection of writings thrown together by random people. It is a collection of writings that God Himself has inspired to be written and tells us exactly what God wants all of us to know. God has made sure that everything that is in the Bible is there for a reason and there is nothing worthless or pointless in it.

It is often hard for me personally to figure out exactly what God wants to say to me through what I read, and I have said that a few times on this blog. Some things in the Bible I do believe are not specific to us, but more general. When I have absolutely no clue what God is saying in a certain part, or if He is at all, then I think it is a general thing, and not something specific to me. At the very least, it may not be important to me at the time, but later on.

When you read your Bible, and when I read mine, we should read it as if God is speaking to us. I wrote this down a while ago in my journal, and I am just reminded of it now. I don't do that often, but it is something I want to do. When I go to read God's Word, I always ask Him to speak to me from His Word and guide me in it as I read.

Reading God's Word is like feeding yourself. If you don't feed yourself, you starve and eventually die. The Bible is food for your spirit. If you don't read it, your spirit is not being fed. If you read it but you don't listen to it, then you are just regurgitating what you've just fed yourself. That's not a healthy thing either.

We all need to put the words from the Bible into practice in our lives, not just read the words and understand the words, but actually follow the words. I know I may not be perfect, by any means, and I admit I don't follow every single thing the Bible says, and obviously some things are harder than others, depending on the person. But I do try. I do keep God at the center of my life, and I try to correct the things I need to correct.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #124

Flattery

2 Chronicles 24

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 17-18) "After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God's anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem."

My Thoughts

Flattery is when someone does something nice for you in hopes that you will more likely pay them back what they want. That's rude and selfish, and whatever nice thing they did, it meant nothing because they only did it hoping you would give them what they wanted in return. Don't let people do that to you.

Some people are, unfortunately, more susceptible to flattery than others. Joash was. The officials came and paid homage to him for the loss of Jehoiada, the priest, and Joash gave in to what they wanted because of it. Look where that got him, and his kingdom and people to boot. God's anger came upon them because they turned to other gods.

If you give in and do what the person who flatters you wants, you may get yourself into trouble. Just because someone is nice to you, does not mean that you are required to be nice to them as well. Obviously that would be the right thing to do, right? Yes, but not if the person is only doing it for personal gain. If someone gives you a compliment and then wants you to do something, you don't have to do it. Even if they give you some kind of gift, or a hug or anything else.

I always feel bad not doing something nice to someone who was nice to me. I don't go crazy with it though. I will try to help them with something, encourage them, give them a compliment back, a smile or a hug. Something, but not necessarily what they want, depending on the specific situation. Sometimes what may seem to be flattery really isn't.

The thing you have to watch out for is when people rush to do something nice for you or go out of their way to do so, or if they are insincere. Use your judgement and as always, if you are unsure of anything, talk to God about it. Give it to God and ask Him what He wants you to do.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #123

Lasting Love

Song of Songs 8

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 6-7) "Place me like as seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned."

My Thoughts

This may be a long post, so I apologize in advance for that. In Song of Songs 8, it is the beloved who is speaking. The beloved is the woman whom Solomon is in love with. She says to "place me like a seal on your heart." What she is effectively saying here is to "save your love for me." So what does this mean for us?

This means we should do the same: save our love for 'the one.' It is normal to be attracted to someone, and it should not be frowned upon or shamed. It's also normal to have feelings of embarrassment or shyness about it as well. There is also no harm in getting to know that person better because usually, we are first attracted to someone based on a single event.

It could be that you are attracted to the way they look, smell, talk, or any number of things. Most often it starts because of a single thing, but sometimes a combination. All that really means is that, whatever it is that made you attracted to that person is something in itself that you are attracted to. You need to get to know the person better before you start really being 'in love' with them.

I have been attracted to more than one girl in my life, and only really 'in love' with one. That's another story though. What this post is supposed to be about is a lasting love and saving your love. So, when you are attracted to someone, you need to get to know them better before anything else. If it turns out that you are in love with them, after you know them more, then you have to talk to God.

We need to make sure that the person that we are in love with is the person that God wants us to be with. The girl I was talking about I had known for a couple years before I said anything to her about it. Later on, I saw a different attitude and I knew that she was not the one for me.

Some people seem to have a new boyfriend/girlfriend every week or so. That's the kind of thing we should not be doing. Getting to know someone is one thing, but being intimate, even if it's only hugging and kissing and cuddling, is completely another. When you're constantly with someone in that way, and you're often with someone new, you're emotions and you're hormones are going wild. Really high one day or for a while, then when the relationship ends because reasons, they will be really low.

An emotional rollercoaster is not the kind of thing you really want, especially when you're in school or have other things that you need to focus on. While you're in school, my advice would be to focus on school, not intimate relationships. There are times when it is best to focus on certain things more so that other things.

When the time comes, I am sure you will know. God will work everything out for the best. Just trust Him and talk to Him often.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #122

A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 1-8) "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

My Thoughts

There really is a time for everything. When you were a kid, or maybe you are actually a kid now, have you ever wished that you were older so that you could certain things like drive or date or work or not have to go to school anymore? I did, and I'm pretty sure everyone does at some point. When we are young, we wish to be older and when we are old, we wish to be younger.

What we need to do instead is teach our children to enjoy their lives now and make the most of it while they are young so that when they get older, they don't have any regrets. We should make the most of our lives at the present time so that we don't wish to be young again because "I should've done this." or "I should've done that."

When you are young, there are things for you to do at that time, and you will eventually, inevitably, get older. You can wait until you get older to do grown-up things. Do kid things now. When you are old(er), there are things for you to do then too. There's no shame in having fun and being slightly childish sometimes or playing games. In fact, it's God to do so, good to do so and healthy to do so. If you stop having fun and you stop enjoying life, that is when you die. Not literally, obviously.

It is never too late to start doing something that you want to do. If there is something that you have wanted to do for a long time, start on it now, however old you are, because if you never do, you will eventually be unable to. Oh, and don't worry about the "I should've done this sooner. Maybe then..." stuff. Those thoughts may come, but don't entertain them because it will make you feel bad or depressed or something. Just focus on the now and enjoy every minute and every part of it.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!