Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #135

God Fights for Us

Deuteronomy 3

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 22) "Don't be afraid of them, because the LORD your God himself will fight for you.' "

My Thoughts

Being a follower of Christ, we fight many battles. These battles are not the kind of battles you see in movies or games, but they are battles none the less. The enemies we face are the forces of Satan. He opposes us because we follow God and he wants as few people to follow God as possible.

Even though Satan is the one who opposes us, not to mention bullies or harassers or anyone else, God tells us not to be afraid of them. We really have nothing to fear about anyone or anything because God is on our side! God himself will fight for us. How amazing is it the the God of the universe would fight our enemies for us? I think pretty amazing!

We are never alone because God is always with us. Anytime we are attacked by Satan, he only wins if we allow him to. Otherwise, because God is on our side, Satan can't do anything to hurt us. Even when we face opposition, or even death, we don't have anything to fear because no one and nothing can take God away from us.

There are many people around the world who are hurt by others or even killed. Some of those people are children. Whether they believe in God or not doesn't make a difference for how horrible that is. God does allow it to happen because He won't take anyone's freewill of choice away from them. For those that do follow God, they go to Him, yes. No, that doesn't make it any better. But those who hurt you and hurt others will pay the price in the end because God is against those who follow the ways of Satan.

Rest assured that no matter what you are going through, God is always with you. Remember the footprints in the sand. When you see only one set of footprints, that's when God is carrying you.

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 #87

Pray for Your Enemies

Psalm 35

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 27) "May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, 'The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.' "

My Thoughts

Okay, I have to be honest here. When I first read this, I chose this verse because I, for some reason thought the word 'vindication' had something to do with being attacked or oppressed. David seems to be praying against his enemies in this whole Psalm, saying things like "May those who seek my life be put to shame..." and to ruin and disgrace. I was obviously wrong about the word 'vindication' because it means to have your name cleared.

The title of this post still stands and still works perfectly fine. If David was saying these things against his enemies, that's fine, but we can still do the opposite and pray for our enemies. Why would you want to pray for your enemies? Well, we are supposed to love them as well, right? We usually pray for those we love, however it is that we love them.

We should never have malicious thoughts for our enemies because, whether they deserve it or not, whether we feel that way or not, whether we are justified in feeling that way or not, they are still evil thoughts. Evil thoughts are never appreciated by God and never something that He wants from us. God is the one who ultimately gives punishment anyway, and His punishment is ultimate. Nothing we could ever think of could ever come close to what God could do. People are not always mean to others by malicious choice. Sometimes that is all they know because that is all they got, or sometimes it's because of things that have happened to them. You never know what could have happened in someone else's life.

It is very difficult to let go of what someone has done to you sometimes. The worse their deed, the harder it is usually. It may take some time, and that is perfectly alright. Once you are able to forgive and move past it, you can't hold a grudge. Holding a grudge is not letting go. If you never want anything to do with them again, that's fine, but how would it be if you could bless them?

If you could bless those who hurt you in return for their deeds, or even pray positively for them, you would have the ultimate comeback! People love to one-up each other, and if you blessed in return for a curse, that would be the best thing you could possibly do. Do that, give a blessing to those who hurt you from now on. You don't have to do it to their face, you can just talk to God. If you cannot think of a way to bless them, ask God to bless them however He chooses to. After all, God does know best.

If you are unable to give a blessing to them, then try praying positive things for them. If the person stole from you, pray that they would realize stealing is wrong. If they hurt you with words, pray that they would realize how hurtful their words are. Pray that they would change from these things. That's still a positive request. The next time someone hurts you, give yourself time to cool down from how you feel about it, then pray for them, and if you can, bless them.

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 #56

Forgiveness

Acts 7

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 59-60) "While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Then he fell on his knees and cried out, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' When he had said this, he fell asleep."

My Thoughts

Forgiveness is a powerful thing. If we don't forgive and we instead hold onto the hurt, we will eventually snap and our attitude toward others will change drastically. Those hurts are a burden on us and if we hold onto it, the burden becomes greater and greater until it is so much that we can't ignore it anymore.

When someone hurts you, it is going to hurt you for a while. Some hurts will last longer than others, and some may only last a day or less. It will last longer if you don't forgive. Forgiveness does not mean to forget about what happened. Nor does it mean to ignore it. Forgiveness means letting go and moving on and choosing to start the healing process.

If you hold a grudge against someone, you are not only going to cause them grief, but you will cause yourself a lot of grief and it may even spread to those around them and you. It will affect your relationships and continue in a downward spiral. Often times, forgiveness is hard, especially for certain things that were done or for certain people, like for a close friend or family member who hurt you.

Stephen was being stoned, which, if you didn't know, means execution by throwing stones. Stoning was the death penalty at that time, a long time ago. While Stephen was being stoned, he asked God not to hold this sin against those who were stoning him. He became a martyr. Stephen was killed for his faith in God, and he forgave those who killed him. I can't say for sure that I would do the same if I was him, though I'd like to think that I would.

Not many people in our world have the kind of forgiveness that Stephen had. Some people have a hard time forgiving someone who stole a pen. Whenever someone hurts you, remember to forgive them. If you don't forgive them, you are going to cause yourself so much grief and heartache, not to mention the other person as well. Don't hold onto that burden. Forgive and give it to God.

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!