Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #139

Living Among Negativity

Isaiah 3

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 8) "Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because what they say and what they do is against the LORD. They are defiant in his honored presence." (v. 10-11) "Tell the righteous that blessings will come to them. They will taste the fruit of their labor. How horrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster will strike them. What they have done will be done to them."

My Thoughts

Do you ever find it hard just to live around other people? There are bullies, harassers, liars, cheaters, people who say bad or hurtful words often. People seem to always be against each other or fighting a lot. It's hard to go one day without being around something negative.

As followers of Christ, we face opposition. Now, I'm not saying we have it harder than others or even than most. We do face opposition to our faith in Christ. Some more so than others, unfortunately, like those who are being attacked and killed by other extremist groups. Kids who go to church and believe in God are sometimes bullied at school because of it.

Don't let these truths and events scare you or worse, cause you to forsake God. Remember that we have nothing to fear if we have God on our side. If you believe that, then it is absolutely true. Stand firm in your faith. Even though others' words and deeds are against God, we do not have to follow them or be afraid of them.

God may use us to get through to those who don't believe, even if we don't ever speak to them or preach. How we live our lives for others to see can be more than enough for God to use. Live a life of Christ in yourself, and people will notice it.

As verse 10 says, if we stay true to God, our efforts in doing so and in what we do for God will not be in vain. We will reap the rewards of holding on to Christ. That reward is eternal life with Him. Do not let anyone discourage you from following Christ because, as verse 11 says, those who are against God will receive in return what they have done and they will be destroyed. This life is nothing compared to the next. 

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 #101

Humbleness

Isaiah 23

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 9) "The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth."

My Thoughts

When I read Isaiah 23, what stood out to me was the word humble. There are lots of other verses, where Jesus speaks for example, that talk about being humble, but this one I just don't see anything else right now. So that's is, obviously, what this post is about.

Being humble is a lot like being meek, which is another topic I blogged about. Where I believe the difference lies is in our attitude before we are humble or meek. What I mean is that meekness comes from being shy, you don't want to stand out or be big or anything like that. You'd rather be in the background. God doesn't want that, so you become meek.

In this way, humbleness comes from the opposite. You are outgoing, you want to be big and you want to stand out. Before I say anything else, I have to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being outgoing, in fact, it can be a good thing! The exact same goes for being shy. What I am talking about here are the extremes of the two. If you are so shy that you won't talk to anyone, you won't help bring others to right relationship with God. If you are too outgoing, you are usually pretty egotistical and you'll be turning people away from God. God doesn't want us to do either.

Meekness is for when we are very low and brings us up higher. Humbleness is for when we are very high and brings us down lower. The end result is the same for both, it just depends on where we are beforehand. We all need to be brought down in some areas, and in other areas, we all need to be brought up.

This post was supposed to be about humbleness, but it ended up being more of a comparison between humbleness and meekness. That's okay though. Maybe this cleared up some questions you had, maybe it gave a new perspective. If you do have other questions, I do have an email you can contact me at in the about page.

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 #86

Elevating Yourself

Isaiah 10

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 33-34) "See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low. He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One."

My Thoughts

Assyria had made itself higher than most other nations. They were the most powerful nation and the one others feared the most. They elevated themselves above all others with their intentions being to destroy. Of course, God had other plans.

Gods plan was to cut down Assyria and bring them low. Just like He did so with them, God still does today. It would be better to humble yourself than to elevate yourself. Elevating yourself cannot really be done in any way other than selfishness. That is why we should never elevate ourselves. Just be you, but don't talk yourself up to others. Even if it works with some people, it usually doesn't go very well in the end.

It is very hard to make yourself out to be some kind of character and then try to stick to that character all the time. It is much easier, almost effortless to just be you. If people like you, then they do, if they don't, then they don't. From those that do like you for you, others may join them because of what they say about you. It'll be much easier to 'stay in character' if that character is the true you.

Your aim should never really be to impress anyone anyway, but if it happens, then that is a good thing. See, if God elevates you, whether through Himself or through others, then that is how it should be done. That would be an amazing thing. I would owe all that to God because I din't put myself there.

Don't try to put yourself in positions where you are elevated, in any way. Just let it happen if it is going to. I can tell you that I honestly couldn't care less about fame. I really don't want fame. I mean, I love it when people I know are excited to see me, sure, but I don't want fame. Being known to a bunch of people is different than fame, in my opinion. Being known just means that you're known to them, but fame starts getting into the hero worship and people wanting to be you and have everything to do with you. That's what I really don't want.

If God makes me known to a lot of people for this blog and/or my YouTube videos, that's great, that means that God can use me to reach them. But that's all it should really be. I don't plan on making myself big or giving myself some kind of authority. It's when people do make themselves big that God won't be happy with them. That's why I ask God to use me however He needs me and to guide me in what He wants me to do.

Don't elevate yourself. You'll just have a lot of stress trying to stay in character so that everyone is impressed by you and people don't lose interest. If you make one small mistake, you may lose it all. Leave that up to God. You can be known and greatly appreciated within a small group of people too, and that is still pretty cool. Just remember what God did to the Assyrians who elevated themselves.

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 #70

Comfort

Isaiah 40

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 1) "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." (v. 31) "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

My Thoughts

God is our comforter. When we feel weary or faint, sad or upset, frustrated or disappointed, God is our comforter. He will be there for those whose hope is in Him and we will not grow weary or faint. There isn't anyone who can comfort us like God does, and there certainly isn't any thing that could.

Take for example the loss of a loved one, which, I might add, is never easy. Those whose hope is in God often move past it sooner than those who don't. We never forget our loved ones, but we remember that we will see them again one day in heaven. I hate using the term 'get over' it because it sounds horrible and that is not at all what needs to be done.

You never 'get over' the loss of a loved one. What does happen and what we do need to do in this type of situation is 'move past' it. To move past it means to move on with acceptance of it, but not forget. When you go through a loss of a loved one, it is going to be hard, no matter what. But it does become easier once you're able to move past it. For those whose hope is in God, we know we will see them again if they too hope in the Lord.

A lot of times, those who do not hope in the Lord, they become stuck in a situation such as this. They are stuck because they don't have certainty that they will see them again. It often causes a large amount of stress and they dwell on it for a long period of time. They don't have any comfort in knowing their loved ones will be seen again one day.

No amount of money or possessions or love or anything else could ever replace a significant loss. I turn to God for comfort when I need it because God is the only one who can fill any empty space in my life. If you have an empty space in your life and you are trying everything to fill the void, you will not be satisfied unless you ask Jesus to fill that void. If that is what you need and you know this and you are ready to ask Jesus into your heart, you can do so right now. All you have to do is ask for forgiveness of your sins, thank God for His Son and ask Jesus to come into you heart. Then, receive Him and pray often and read His word the Bible.

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 #60

Fear God

Isaiah 8

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 12-13) " 'Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy, do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread."

My Thoughts

Well, now that's strange, isn't it? We are to fear God and to dread God? That's what God himself told Isaiah. I'm sure you have probably heard this before, to fear God, haven't you? Let me tell you, the fear that we are to have for God is not at all the same fear that some people have of spiders or deep water or tight spaces. It is actually a good kind of fear.

Good kind of fear? Well, yes, there is a such thing as a healthy fear. It would probably be better known as rational fear and the unhealthy fear is known as irrational fear. I am going to stick with the terms healthy and unhealthy for this though. So, examples of a healthy fear may include a fear of heights. The reason why is that then, you won't be as inclined to go near high edges where you could fall off and die or become seriously injured. An unhealthy fear would be a fear of books or some other such silliness.

These two examples, as well as pretty much any example you could think of, are not set in stone. You can overcome a fear of heights without it necessarily becoming any more dangerous. You can also have an extreme fear of heights that would prevent you from taking the stairs, which would then be unhealthy. A fear of books may be a healthy fear, if there is a reason for it. Say a child, from the time they were born, only ever got their fingers slammed in books, and never knew anything else of them. That child would be conditioned to associate books with their fingers being slammed in it. As horrible as that would be, it would be a good reason to be afraid.

Maybe the term 'healthy' doesn't really apply to the second one, but it would be justified. It's probably still unhealthy, but understandable. The fear we are to have of God is a healthy fear. It is more like a respect than actually being afraid of God. We are to fear His power, yes, because God's power is unlimited. I've said before, and it is in the Bible, that God has the power to create life, take it and to restore it, all in an instant. If that is not terrifying, I don't know what is.

So when God says that we should fear Him, He is not saying that we should associate our emotion of fear to Him, but that we should respect and realize that God can do literally anything, even things we cannot possibly imagine. Our God is a loving God, but that doesn't mean that He is ignorant or flippant; He will punish sin. Don't go around being fearful of God, but rather, understand and realize that He is capable of anything, and respect that acknowledge that.

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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 #58

Asking for a Sign

Isaiah 7

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 10-12) "Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 'Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.' But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.' "

My Thoughts

Ahaz said no to asking God for a sign because he did not want to put the Lord to the test. This whole passage is a little bit confusing to me because Ahaz said no, then Isaiah seems angry, asking "Will you try the patience of my God also?" That's the part I am confused about. Unless it is because God told Ahaz to ask for a sign and he didn't, otherwise I thought that would be a good thing.

What I take away from this is that we that we need to stand firm in our faith. Faith is relying on God, trusting that Him and believing in Him without question and without a need or affirmation. Asking for a sign that what God says is true is like saying, "God, I hear what you're saying, but I need proof that that it is true." That is not at all how faith works.

Now, this isn't to say that affirmation of your faith is a bad thing. There are things that happen all the time that affirm and strengthen my faith in God. It becomes bad when we have to constantly seek affirmation. Again, that is not how faith works. If you have to keep searching for a reason to keep faith in God, then obviously a part of you wants to stop believing. Faith means what I said above, whether you see God or not or when you think He isn't there. God is always with us by the way, He will never leave us or forsake us.

We can't go constantly searching after signs of God's presence and truth and promises. That is not at all pleasing to Him. If you are ever unsure, pray and ask God to strengthen you. Turn to the Bible. It is normal to have doubting thoughts and weak moments. In fact, these things can strengthen us similar to how the flu shot does. It builds up immunity, or rather resistance, to it. If you don't let them persist and overwhelm you, but you take it to God, you will only grow stronger.

So, don't go chasing after affirmation of your faith. If that is something that you do often, stop and reevaluate. Think on why you 'need' that affirmation and think on all the behind-the-scenes stuff. Take it to God in prayer and ask Him for strength and clarity.

Previous PostNext Post

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!