Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #90

Belonging to God

1 Peter 2

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 9-10) "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (v. 12) "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

My Thoughts

Paul reminds us that we belong to God. We are a people under God and for God. God brought us out of the darkness that we had been covered in, and brought us into his wonderful light, through His Son, Jesus. We have all received mercy, we need only accept it.

As God's people, we are called to Him. He has a great many things for us. Tasks for us to perform, blessings to give, lessons to learn and even to teach. It can never be a dull time with God, because either He has something for us to do or He has something to give us or to show us.

How cool would it be for those that don't know God to praise Him, to come to know him, through us? Especially if it just based on what those people see us do, how we act, what we say, even if we rarely mention God. That would be like seeing the attitude and respect of someone who was in the military, and knowing that they were in the military, without ever actually having any proof of it. You just know by their attitude and you say, "He has sure straightened up, he must've been in cadets," or, "You can tell she was in the army, she is so respectful of her elders."

When people know that you belong to God just by observing you, then you are doing a great job and God is surely pleased by that! If not, that doesn't mean that you are any less. It just means that you may need to take a look at yourself and spend some time in prayer. You may not even need to change.

Think of a theatre production. You have all the people on stage that are seen. Some people may even not be seen, even while on stage. There are also people who are not seen or not even on stage. They are still a part of the production, right? They are also important, are they not? The production could not be successful without those people behind the scenes. Same thing goes for us in God. Some of us are behind the scenes people for God.

Being behind the scenes does not mean hiding your faith. It just mean s that maybe you aren't as outward or forward. You still pray, you aren't ashamed, you tell people, but it's not something that you tell everyone you meet. Being behind the scenes, you support those who are on stage through prayer and communion with them.

God's plans involve you no matter what, whether you are on stage or behind the scenes. He needs you and you are important no matter what. We each belong to God, we are each a part of the production, and the end result is dependent on each one of us.

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 #89

Seek the Lord

Amos 5

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 4) "This is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: 'Seek me and live;" (v. 14) "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is."

My Thoughts

This passage of Amos tells us to seek God and to seek good, not evil, so that we may live. It means so that we may live forever, with God, not just on this Earth. So what exactly does it mean to seek God and how do you do so? The biggest way, in my opinion, is to keep God at the center of your life and heart.

By keeping God at the center, you are making Him the focus. You are making Him number one. Look for God in all situations, both good and bad. because all good things come from God and He can bring good out of the bad. When bad things happen, look to God for the good that can bring out of it and look for the good that He will bring out of it.

Seeking God is talking to Him regularly. Talk to God and tell Him of the good things that are happening in your life and thank him for it. Tell Him of the bad things that are happening in your life and ask Him for guidance and strength. Ask God what He wants you to do, where He wants you go and how He wants to use you to accomplish good.

So seek God and live. Eternally. That is a choice that each of us has to make. No one else can make it for you. You have to choose whether you want eternal life or not. Eternal life is a gift you can only receive through Jesus Christ. You only have the rest of your life to make the decision, which is not very long in comparison to eternity.

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 #88

Be Careful of Your Words

Matthew 12

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 34-37) "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The god man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

My Thoughts

This is a longer post, and I apologize for that. Usually when my posts are long, it's stuff that is important to me so I hope you don't mind!

You know that saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me?" That's not really true, you know. Words can definitely hurt. There have been times where I'd rather have hit with a log than hear what was said to me. We really have to be careful and watch what you say sometimes. We don't always realize or think about how what we say may hurt the one we say it to.

Not only when we are physically speaking, face to face with someone, do we have to watch what we say, but also over the phone, over text, email, and even in a letter. Over the phone, sometimes you don't fully understand what someone says and you also don't have visual cues in their facial expressions and body language, which are both a huge part of communication as well.

In a text, we often use abbreviations like LOL, TTYL, OMG etc... to communicate because it is easier than typing it all out. Sumtimes we evn omit certn letrs or use nums 4 da same reasn, like I did here. Both of these make it easier to read faster, but not necessarily understand emotions attached to what is being sent. In an email, we don't normally shorten words, but sometimes they can be lengthy and often times they can taken the wrong way, depending on the words you use. I kinda think that may be due the fact that emails are usually a more formal type of communication, and sound a lot more serious than is actually intended.

Over the phone, you might try to be sarcastic, but the other person cannot see your body language or facial expression, so again, it can be taken the wrong way. One time, I was texting with my cousin and he was telling me of his possible plans for the year after he graduated. He wasn't sure whether he was going to school or going on a missions trip somewhere for a few months. He told me that he was praying a lot and wasn't what God wanted for him, but that he wanted whatever God wanted. I said, "Yes that is true, but what do you want to do? What do you want more?" He told me again, "Whatever God wants." I said, "Yes, but maybe God is leaving this choice up to you." He wasn't sure about whether the missions trip would actually happen or not, and I told him to just keep acting like it will. if that is what you want to do, keep saying that it will happen, not that it might or that it won't, but that it will. I wanted to encourage him because this is what he wanted more, but he wasn't sure. He took it completely the wrong way and wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the night.

I still don't understand what happened there, but the point is that I either worded something wrong or he was just frustrated for whatever reason. Right now, I put it down to being both our faults and that it really doesn't matter. We are still close, so that conversation doesn't mean anything anyway. I know that sometimes when I send emails, I can be short and to the point, but I don't mean any disrespect whatsoever. I usually say so as well because I've had experiences where it has been taken as rude or disrespectful, and I am totally shocked by that because that was not my intent.

My personal advice to avoid bad situations and possible ruining of relationships is this: Do not send a text, email or PM or even phone someone if you are angry with that person. Chances are, you will only make things worse. If you really feel like sending a message or a text or email during that time, then either write out what you want to say on a piece of paper or type it in a document so that you don't accidentally send it. Type out everything you want to say, let your frustrations out, and when you are done, read it over, out loud if you have to, just make sure no one can hear you. Hopefully that calms you down even a little bit.

Next thing you do is type out what you want to say and have someone else, who isn't a part of the situation, read it over to you. If you are truly comfortable with sending it, and you can't talk to this person face to face, then once you have prayed about it of course, go ahead.

The best thing to do, after you have calmed down a bit, is talk to the person face to face. That's the best way to avoid further miscommunication. I am telling you these things because I have had personal experience, being on both sides of the equation. It is not pleasant at all and, if I can help it, I don't want anyone else to have to experience that, on either side.

If you read all that I had to say here, thank you. That really means a lot to me and I hope that this has helped you in some way. Godbless!

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!