Ezekiel 34:1-36:38

Ezekiel 34 As I read this text I am reminded that we must never become complacent. We must always be caring for our fellow believers, but also reach out to all the lost people. We must not be content with how large our church has grown or how many attend on Sunday, but go after those who do not. I need to be a greater witness and shepherd. I am so thankful that God sent Jesus to be our shepherd when we fall short. I am thankful he cared enough to come find me when I was lost.

Ezekiel 36 I am so thankful for my new life. I am so thankful to have my sins washed away. God washed away all the sin and impurity from Egypt and renewed the land for his people. I wonder if that is sometimes the reason for floods. Is that God purging our land and making it new and clean?  Often times when a flood comes or some other disaster we think of the devastation it brings, but maybe we should be looking at the before and after picture.  We should look at all the people saved through those times and the way it seems to bring out the best in peoples spirit. I am not saying that it is not hard for the people to lose things, but they are just things. We must pray for lives to be saved during those times and help those in need.  I think God calls us to help others through those times.

Ezekiel 24:15-25, 29:1-16 Jeremiah 34:1-22

Ezekiel 24:15-25- It seems so harsh to me that God told Ezekiel that he wife was going to die and that he was not to mourn for her. I'm sure it was very hard for him as well. I am inspired by his total faith and his servants heart. I think God uses certain situations even though they may be sad and hard to understand in order to prepare us for what is to come. We just need to have faith even when we don't understand or see the reason.
Ezekel 29:1-16 Egypt had everything it needed, but instead of thanking God and giving him the glory they were saying that they did it. We must always remember that everything we have comes from God. He gives and he can take it all away, so we must always remember to be thankful and give him the glory so we will not be punished like Egypt was.
Jeremiah 34:1-22 Always do what is right by God. We must never turn our back on that. We can do what is right once, but we can't rely on that we must continue to do what is right. You can not say "oh I helped this person and did this" that is the past and while it was good and right by God it is in the past and we must continue to do what is right in the present and the future.

Ezekiel 20:1-22

Why are we so rebellious? Usually it's because we think we know what's best. If only we could be more trusting of God and know that He is the only one who knows what is Best. I am a person who likes to be in control so this is a hard one for me. I am so thankful that God is patient with me and never leaves me. I am able to give the Lord control over my life now because I can see all the things that have happened in my life and that he was in charge of all of them and they turned out for the best. Israel was so rebellious thinking they knew what was best, I can relate. Often times when we are being led by others, do we not question them? I think that it is normal to question things and doubt, but that is where faith comes in. We can build faith by reading his word, worshiping Him, and giving our lives to him. When we rebel from God we will be punished and should be the same as when a child rebels from us they should be punished, it is used to teach a lesson. God teaches us just as we teach our children, because we are his children. I am so thankful that he has love for us no matter what we do just like we do for our children.

Keeping the Sabbath-Oh how I love Sunday's! I am so thankful for such a wonderful church family. We do things as a family on Sunday's. I know it is hard not to work on the Sabbath because often people work all week and we have things we need to get done. I try really hard to get all my errands etc. done on Saturday that way Sunday is just for worship, family, and rest. We are always so busy in our lives. God gave us the Sabbath as a way of telling us to rest and give him the day(he even made it a law). What a wonderful God who knows exactly what we need. 

Amos 1:1-6:14

As I start reading these verses I am reminded that we must be faithful or we will be punished. The way he lays it out in terms of 3 and 4 sins mean they did it again and again. Why do we do that? I think alot of times we sin and then that leads to another sin and so on, until eventually we have lost our way and our guilt builds until we feel unworthy and that can lead us away from God. When we need to do the opposite of that. We must stop ourselves drop on our knees and pray for God to forgive us. Then we must move on and not continue to punish ourselves by sinning.
Amos spoke against those who explited or ignored the needy. We must always be conscious of those around us. The devil likes to turn our eyes away from those in need and keep us occupied by our own wants and desires. God calls us to work against injustices in society and to aid those less fortunate.
Amos shows us through examples in 3:3 that God's revelation to him was the sure sign that judgment would follow. Verse 3:7 tells us that even in anger God is merciful he always warned his people through profits before punishing them. Just like when we punish our children they have been warned just as we are warned not to sin, and then the punishment will surely follow and we only have ourselves to blame. His warnings to us shows us his mercy. Even though he keeps warning us we still continue to sin. When he tells us over and over all we must to is seek him. How we treat the poor shows our true character. In chaper 6 he talks to us about being complacent. It's easy to become complacent when we live in luxury. It makes us think we are secure, but we are not. We must use what we have to help the poor in order to keep from becoming complacent. I know it is hard for some people to give what they have they feel they worked so hard for it and it's theirs. You would not have it if it weren't for the Lord. We must remember that we too may fall on hard times and that we would want others to help us.

Patience

Is patience something that our society is losing due to the fact that everything we want is coming so easily for us? One of the biggest places where I see impatience is shopping lines.  I go shopping every year on Black Friday , one of the biggest days that require patience. So if this is a fruit you are struggling with I would not recommend shopping on good Friday. The way I practice patience is to put myself in the checkers position. People are yelling at them blaming them, when they are doing the best they can. I like to tell them it’s okay that they are doing a good job. It doesn’t make the line go any faster by being impatient and rude, as a matter of fact it makes it seem longer when people are being impatient.  Just that patience and kindness can really change their day and their mood. Just that act of patience can be a way to make them wonder what you have and that’s the holy spirit.

 Everything in our society teaches us that faster is better and that to wait for things is a thing of the past. If we are always in a hurry our lives can pass us by. The important things  like sitting around the dining room table or calling someone and talking, going to someone’s house to pay a visit, playing with our kids those are the things we should treasure. When we are always in a hurry and impatient we teach our kids that. Our society already does that for us so we need to make every effort to teach them patience. Some of the best things in life come after waiting.

 One of the hardest things in my life to be patient with is waiting on prayers to be answered. I pray for my family to be saved every day and it is hard to be patient when I know their lives are on the line. I want them to believe and become emersed believers and come to church with me so badly. That’s where patience and faithfulness come in. I know that everything is according to his plan and that all things are possible if we just believe. So what I can do is pray and witness to them and try to be patient and be a light that others see in me and want to know what I have. Because every time we are patient when we are rushed we become more like Jesus.

We will never be perfect we can only work at it and deal with one situation at a time. Sometimes the things we have to wait for are the things we treasure the most and some of the best things in life can happen when we are patiently waiting.  So the next time your kids are pushing your button, take a deep breath and count ten or when you are waiting in line talk to someone around you and make a connection, or have faith in god’s plan and know that all things are possible through him and give it to him in prayer. No one is perfect all we can do is try to live by the fruit of the spirit and show our kids what it looks like to live that way.  Fruit is not instantly ripe it takes time and attention to develop so we must be patient. When we pray let us thank God for his patience with us.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalms 27:14

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:10-12

The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Ecclesiastes 7:7-9

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret —it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.   Psalm 37

Patience in the Process-Patience is perhaps one of the most loving gifts we can give our family. Impatience, rage, or anger only stirs things up, often with negative results. A mother’s patience-patience when your son needs to be disciplined for the same infraction he’s already committed twice this week; patience with your daughter as she struggles through a tough class at school; patience as your kids learn to get along and share with one another-can make a world of difference in the amount of peace and love exhibited in the home. And we all need God’s help and strength if we are to be patient moment by moment. We begin by recognizing the importance of our patience and the tone it sets in the home. Once you decide to work on being more patient and more understanding, you’ll be surprised at the amount of patience you will-by God’s grace-have for your family.   –Karol Ladd

intro

Hello to all who come to my blog. My name is Gina. I started this blog so I could grow and learn through studing God's word. I like to read the word and then try and simplify it down and apply it to my life. I would love it if you would travel on this journey with me and we can grow together. Please comment if you have something to share. I will be using the Life Application Bible(NIV). I also have other great resources from which I pull and study. One thing I am reading right now is "The Story" by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee it is a wonderful book that tells the true "Story" of the Bible and God's people in one continuous story. I would highly recommend it if you are wanting an easy way to read and learn about God and his people. I love my church family and have learned so much from them. During one of our Sunday School studies I came across a book that completely changed my life and I got a better understanding of the life I should be living and what it looks like to live for God. That book is "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.
I would like to tell you a little about myself. I was not brought up in the church. We visited a lot of different ones while I was growing up. I was taught a lot of things about being a good person and helping others. I have two wonderful parents, but was never taught to read the Bible or apply it to my life. I am just now learning what it means to Live in the word and Live by the Spirit. I have a wonderful husband who doesn't come to church with me, but whom I pray for daily. I was not able to have kids, but thanks to God, I was able to adopt a wonderful son, Joshua. I will share more about these things as I blog, because as I said before I like to simplify things and relate them to my life. I believe we need to pull things from our lives in order to grow. We also need to stop and pray about things and really examine things and then we can see God's work in our Life.
I live my life to serve a awesome God. I live for the day when I hear those words "Well done my good and faithful servant"! So hear we go on our Harvest of the Truth!