Genesis 4-5 Give Your Best To God

Genesis 4:4-5 

 ⁴And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
 ⁵But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

I used to think why did God get mad at Cain, because Cain did give something to God.  But God just don't want us to give something for the sake of giving.  God wants our attitude in the gift.  How are you giving the gift?  With joy?  With love?  Is it the best gift that you can give?

Keep reading Genesis this week.  Read with all your heart as a gift to God.

Genesis 1-3 The World Puzzle

Genesis 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

January is Bible month for our teen group.  The teen challenge is, "Who can read the most chapters in Genesis this week."  There are 50 chapters in this book and I'm looking forward to see who reads them all.

The above verse made me remember the world map.  I love looking at the world map because it's like a giant puzzle.  South America looks like it could fit in Africa and so on.  Verse 10 shows that God called the different water areas seas.   It appears the God created the land first and then had it divided by the seas.  Boy, I bet that had to be one massive move.

But the biggest move is when we accept Jesus as our Saviour and start living for Him.  Remember what God did for you and thank Him today.

Dec. 25th - Jesus, Standing at the Door

Rev. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Have you ever not opened a door because you knew who it was at the door?  Have you not answered your phone because you  recognized the number and didn't wan't to talk to that person?

This verse says that Jesus is at the door knocking.  What a blessing that Jesus would even want to come to us and knock.  What is more amazing is that we'll let Him keep on knocking.

Jesus says 'IF' we open the door then He will come in and eat with us.  Jesus wants to come into your life and be with you.  Open your Spiritual Door and let Him in today.  He's knocking.

Dec. 24th Rev 1:1 - 2:29 Present yourself as a present to God

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

What a blessing to know that God sends His angels to help.  Sometimes we are unaware of angels around us.  But what if we could see angels, would that spur us to be more diligent to serve God?  It shouldn't.  Just knowing that God came down as a baby knowing He was going to die for us, should be enough for us to lovingly serve Him.

God, may I give you the gift of service as a present for your birthday.

Written Upon The Heart

1979 I took a pocket knife and carved on the side of our door jambpost the date March 11, 1979. Dad would have killed me. At the time I wondered what I would be doing in 10 years as I reflected on that date. Here it is 30 years later and I remember that thought and it's still etched on the jambpost.

1984 I had a class in high school learning how to program in Basic language. I have a print out of a program that shows Mike and Barb 10-11-84.

1985 while Darren and I are hunting we decided to carve our girlfriends names on a tree surrounded with a heart. Both of them now our wives.

The software application that I work in is shown throughout the nation at Home Depot and Lowe's stores. In that application I have Emily's and Andrew's names that a customer can see to choose the font that they want to write upon their door.

As I think about all these different events at a point in time I can't but help to think of God's Word about what He has written upon His heart. He has our names written down in a book, called the Book of Life for those of us that have asked Him to save us.

As I've recorded special events, God too has special events recorded. One of these days in heaven He'll remind us of those events. I always wonder how that will be? Will we sit with God as He flips through the scrapbook of our life? I pray that there will be many times that God will be pleased with my heart, my thoughts and my actions throughout my life.

Making Dreams Come True

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up!"

God has given us the ability to do so many things. But what causes us not to do them? Are we talked out of them? Do we look at the end result and say, "Wow, I don't know how I'm ever going to get there, I'll do something else."

There are so many things that I would love to do and one of them is that I would love to be a cartoonist. I enjoy looking at life and coming up with witty sayings or a twist of words on an event. The problem is though I cannot draw, so this year I plan to learn to draw and start on my project cartooning some of my thoughts. In effect I'm going to wake up and start doing it.

I'm reminded in the Bible in Acts 12:12 about a guy named John Mark. He was Barnabas' cousin and went with him on Paul first missionary journey. But along that journey for some reason John Mark stopped going. We don't know what happened, but for some reason it made Paul mad. Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance but Paul refused to do so insomuch that he and Barnabas separated themselves.

But John Mark evidentily woke up, because Paul in 2Tim 4:11 says to Timothy, "Take John Mark because he is profitable to me."

We may never see any cartoon drawings of John Mark, but we sure can read what the Holy Spirit gave him to write and that is.... the book of Mark.

Is there something that you desire to do, but have not done it? Wake up, because it's God that gives us the ability to do things. God has a promise in Psalm 34:7. Desire in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart.

I am stuck on you, O Lord

Psalms 119:31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.

I was trying to memorize this verse and for some reason it was hard to memorize it. After a while the song popped in my head.... I am stuck on Band-Aids and Band-Aids are stuck on me. It's amazing what sticks in our mind over the years and what doesn't stick in 30 seconds. One of my earliest memories was when I was around 3 or 4 and I stuck a butter knife in the mayonaise jar, got a big g lob of white goo. It looked good and I took a taste. Not good as I thought, in fact my body agreed and decided to help me get rid of it. Not until my adult years did I learn to like mayonaise again.

God has giving us the ability to remember things and He wants us to fill our hearts and minds with thoughts about Him and His love towards us. God remembers and forgets too, although He forgets intentially. He remembers the love that we have toward Him and He forgets the sins that we ask forgiveness for.

That word stuck is the same as cling. Have you ever had someone get to close to you, being all clingy where you want to say, "Stop clinging on me!". God doesn't mind and He'll never let us down especially when we cling unto His testomonies.

I remember Andrew just loved Band-Aids. When he would get an ouwee he would want a band-aid. When we were building our chuch I would sometimes take Emily and Andrew with me and they were about 5 and 7. Pastor would always say that Andrew always knew where the band-aids were.

So lets stick unto God's Word because He is the greated healer of all.

Bible Reading

Assist News Service Rhodes quotes a recent poll, which indicates that 35% of born-again Christians do not read the Bible at all.

In addition, Rhodes indicates that among those who say they read the Bible, the vast majority only read it during the one hour they attend church each Sunday morning.

With these statistics it's easy to see why Christians are easy prey for spiritual deception.

The Bible is God's letter to us to help us with our life. I love getting letters, notes or cards from my family. It's a note that takes the time to formulate our thoughts from our heart and time to write those thoughts down. Sometimes it's thoughts that are never conveyed verbally and without the note we might have never have know the person's thoughts.

Think about a special note that you received. It might have been an encouragement from your teacher, "Good Job Emily" or "Way to Go Andrew". It could have been a recommendation letter from someone. "Emily's character is impeccable" or "Andrew is a blessing with his guitar". How does that make you feel? Yes, special and with righteous pride.

We need to take the time and read God's Word as a personal letter to us. In that context it will help us to read God's Word with a great fervor.

John 15:4 - Emily abide in me, and I in you.
John 15:5 - I am the vine, Andrew is the branches:

The Bible is God's letter to us. Let's find out what He is saying to us today.