Not to think visually

"Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to met him" John 12:18

As I was reading about how Jesus entered Jerusalem after he had risen Nazareth from the tomb, this verse suddenly disturbed me. In our everyday life today, we continuously hear how faith is about believing in something without seeing that it is there. This is a very difficult concept for many people to understand in this time and age due to the ability for us to research, and understand multiple concepts, from simple things like gravity to the miracle of birth. 

This was interesting to me because it shows me that the people in the past also had the same difficulty. Even though God was literally in front of their eyes, they still needed the visual of seeing the miracles for themselves in order to believe in Jesus. Even after all his miracles. This makes me think that in the same way, Jesus and God is always there in front of us performing miracles to others and our friends, yet we still find it difficult to believe. Therefore, we just need to open our eyes, and understand that faith is not full of visual proof but the sole belief that he is living and within us as of right now. We need to know that God is alive and that he is helping us through the difficult times and we just need to reach out and accept him in our lives. 

Trusting

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:3

This verse really spoke to me because I related it directly to my eye surgery. This verse was the same idea that popped into my head when I was going through the long and gruesome recovery period. I was able to get through that surgery because I thought God was using it as an opportunity to show me his power and it really did appear. This surgery really taught me that I'm not alone. I have God, my friends, and family. I rely on them to help me do things so i won't injury myself. I rely on them to give me strength. As I recovered I never realized how difficult it was to rely on others especially because I'm always trying my best to help others.  I need to realize how to take people's offers and their help without over judging and boosting about myself and how correct I am. 

God please help me remember that I'm not always right and that my knowledge solely comes from you and your gift to me. I need to know that I can't rely on myself and need to begin relying on others to help me complete my tasks and many other obstacles that I face. Help me start this by trusting others with their work and how they will contribute especially if it is a group project. 

Throw If You Dare

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." John 8:7

God is once again reminding us that we should not be fast to judge but to love one another as we love ourselves as well as to think before acting. Jesus says this statement in a way to get everyone around him to examine themselves and what they've done. We all know that no one is perfect and we all have sins within us. Therefore, what power do we have to judge another sinner as a sinner ourselves, to be worse? 

God indicates that all sin is equal and all and instead of judging another sinner, we should be helping our brothers and sisters stay away from sin and work together to prevail from sin and continue to strive towards God by building up our relationship with him. 

Hidden things already seen.

Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him" John 6:64

For Jesus already knew who was believing him and who was there just for free food, or to see him do miracles for them. This shows a characteristic of Jesus and of God. How they only want believers because the non-believers just walk away or attempt to take the most out of him. God knows when you believe and does not want useless arguments to people who do not believe that Jesus was the son of man. 

Eternal Bread

"you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the son of Man will give you." John 6:26-27

God explains here in an analogy that you shouldn't do things for worldly possessions or material items. He talks about how they spoil because they will never fully satisfy you or what you need such as happiness or any other hole you're trying to fill with these "foods" that you're purchasing. God explains that all you need to be satisfied is to go to him and to feast on him. This can be done by working for food that doesn't spoil. Meaning working for him. Working for him will provide eternal life that Jesus gives you. 

Grades are not Everything

"How did this man get such learning without having studied? Jesus answered, My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." John 7:15-17

Even though this wasn't right after what I read yesterday, I actually thought I was reading accordingly to schedule. However, once I read this, I knew God was speaking to me.

By having trouble in making decisions in school. I've complained about my knowledge and how I don't study. This is exactly stated towards Jesus by a random person amazed by his knowledge. In the same way, I feel like people look at me as being smart. As pointed out by my friend, this is actually a gift from God and I didn't believe her words until I read this verse. 

I need to remember that everything I've learned, the ability to learn quickly and to have all this knowledge is because God has provided it to me. God gave me this brain and my body to give back to him. I need to remember that everything that comes from him is perfect and I should not worry about what my marks are and the outcome of them all. 

Play Of The Year

"Jesus knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself." John 6:15

As I continue reading through John, this verse stuck out to me when I was reading the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Jesus isn't afraid of showing his power given to him by God and to help people to the best of his ability. He showed off this amazing miracle to a wide audience of five thousand men not including the children, or women. 

I think the major reason that this verse stuck out to me was because after being the producer of such an amazing thing with a bunch of spectators, he did not want to boost, show off, or prove his power. He just isolated himself to humble himself and to give glory to God in anyway he can. I think that in the same way, I should apply this to my daily life of studies and sports. I always dream of doing amazing on tests, by sounding smart, helping others. I also dream of catching the last goal or doing major highlight reels during sport games. However, I need to remember and realize that all this is for God and its through God that I'm capable of such actions. Next time I have success, I need to isolate myself pray and give glory to God. 

Jesus' Testimony

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid." John 5:31

By reading this verse, I realized that Jesus knew how people would react to his actions, his preaching, and more. Right from the beginning, he understood that by claiming he was the son of man, would not get anyone to follow him. He had to rely on another, John, to testify for him in order to get people to believe and fully understand that he was the Christ. 

Even during his execution, he was unwilling to claim he was the son of man because he knew people would still not believe. He understood how to gather favour in other people's eyes and continued this throughout his life straight to his death. 

Following God's plan, Jesus never faltered and never testified for God's plan.

Darkness Spreads

"See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." John 5:14

After playing volleyball today, I realized I sinned by lying that I didn't touch the ball when I went for a block. Instantly I felt guilty and upset at myself because I sinned at my church and not lying was something I was proud of myself about. 

As I reflected upon why I did it, I could not find a valid reason. Therefore, I realized that God is telling me to be careful. That I need to continually repent on my sins, watch and understand when I sin. To pray once I sin and ask for forgiveness because if not done, many more things can happen to me that would not be good for me. 

I pray that I'd remember this for a long time and to help me stop doing the simpler sins such as swearing and lying. 

Living Water

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water i give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 5:13-14

As I continue to read through John, I read through this verse where Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman. He explains to her that water in the well can only quench your thirst momentarily while his water will last an eternity. In another sense, I began to realize that this can also be related to earthly and heavenly possessions. 

On earth, everything is given to us through God and these possessions can only satisfy us for so long until we get bored of it and want something else. We as christians need to continue to remember that God can satisfy us in any way. God has everything we need and these earthly possessions are useless because how many of these things can we bring with us to heaven after our death? 

Secondly, if all these things are given to us by God, is it not morally right for us to use these things that he gives us to give back/praise him? We need to continue to use everything we have to glorify God and to remember to centre our lives and put him as our core. 

Gift Giving

"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven." John 3:27

As I was reading John chapter 3, this quote stuck out to me. As I reflect upon this verse, I realize that everything I have, everything I own, my thoughts, my body, my clothes, my money, my food, etc. Everything that I own was given to me because God has blessed me and gave me these things.

I'm known in my school for knowledge and the capability to teach and help others with their course and the material being taught by the teachers. I need to remember that every time I teach, I need to remember that this was all given to me. That nothing I do is mine but should be done to praise God. Recently, I've forgotten about that. I've forgotten that my marks and knowledge is used for God and not for my own pleasure of being able to explain, sound smart, and understand everything in front of people. 

I need to be able to maintain my humility while teaching, and learning to the best of my abilities. I need to stop judging, and still help people no matter the circumstances. God has blessed me with many talents and abilities. Now I need to give it back to him in every way possible. To praise him with everything he's given me because that's the least I can do when it comes to his everlasting love.

Believing what's not there

"I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" John 3:11-12

This verse really reminds me of us humans and how we continually grow up, we continually need proof to believe even though God continues to say our faith should be child like. As a child, they instantly believe whatever they're told. This ability of theirs to solely live their life based on statements should be what we humans should strive for when it comes to God. Jesus did many miracles but did not want to be known for the miracles because believing through your eyes is not truly believing. By truly believing, you need to be able to believe in something you can not see. Hence the term faith. God sent Jesus in an attempt to reconnect with us, to save us, and to help us remember of the amazing power and what he's done for us ever since the beginning. 

As Christians, we need to continue to build this faith, without the need of proof. God works in miraculous ways and its only through faith that we are able to see these amazing things that he does for us. By believing, we can only get the most out of what God wants from us. 

40 DAYS: Day 28

James 5:19-20

If your friend has begun to wander off away from God, the person who brings him back will cover many sins. 

This verse really speaks to me to be more open and to be more out going to people. I have a tendency to think of thoughts but never able to actually act upon them. Therefore, I want to be able to actually act and show God's love through my actions. This hopefully, can also bring back people that have wandered away from God. Which relates back to the verse. 

40 DAYS: Day 24

James 1:22-25

Paraphrase: 

Don't just ignore what the bible says. Do what it says because God has promised to bless you when you do.

 This was a great reminder of the whole purpose of this 40 DAYS in the word. The sole purpose of this campaign is to allow us to get into the habit of daily devotions and to clearly understand his word better. However, you are only deceiving yourself if you don't do what you learn. Even in school, you need to be able to have some application of your learning into your daily life or into a situation. 

Through this, through our love for God, we should want to continually spread his word. This is only accomplished if we clearly understand and do his word first before we get others to do it to set an example for them. 

40 DAYS: Day 23

James 1:19-20

Paraphrase: 

Everyone needs to be able to quickly listen and slowly speak and get angry because anger is not a part of the life that God desires from you.

This verse reminds me to stay patient and try not to lose my cool. I've realized that when I recognize people trying to take advantage of my help, I get frustrated and disappointed becuase I'm giving up my time for nothing. However, I need to remember that true love and help is providing a service to them without a goal for anything back. I need to remember to stay patient, continue to help everyone as best as I can and let me control my emotions better. 

40 DAYS: Day 22

James 1:2-4 

Paraphrase it: 

Whenever faced with difficulties, consider it as a joyful time because when your faith is tested, it creates perseverance which results in maturity and completion. 

Whenever someone is forced with trials of tribulations, naturally, as humans, we tend to react to this as "why me? I did nothing wrong. I don't deserve this kind of torture." 

This verse is weird because it completely contradicts that but instead tells you to rejoice because it is giving you an opportunity to grow, learn, and mature in your faith and as a person as well. 

God promises us many things and this verse really touched me when I first got out of my retinal detachment this year. I am happy I was able to be still considered joyful but I realized that even though I didn't lack insecurities on the results, I did lack joy. I wasn't happy, and that's the difficult thing we need to learn. 

Prayer:

Dear God, I thank you for today. For this amazing day that you have provided us God. I just wanted to pray that you help me learn to be JOYFUL and not just deal with tribulations but rejoice in you that this obstacle was put in my path and I am able to learn and mature because of it. Thank you for everything you provide us with from the good to the bad times. You are always there omnipresent and never changing. Amen.

40 DAYS: DAY 21

Mark 16:1-20 The resurrection

Reading this passage, the major thing that stuck out for me was near the end when it says the disciples went out to preach his word and God was with them all making sure the people they preached too understood and believed.

This really reminded me that God works within you if you let him and that's the only way that we are able to reach out to friends and family that haven't already believed in him yet. We need to understand that its' not just us but God who plants the seeds and who grows the plants. We just need to be able to understand that growing plants takes time but we need to be patient and continually look after them in order to ensure the eventual growth of these plants or these people in faith. 

40 DAYS: Day 19

Mark 14:3-9 A woman anoints Jesus with Perfume

S (sin ... not giving everything to him)

P (promise to remember to do my devo's on a daily basis, not getting distracted and giving him my full attention)

A (attitude ... am i really giving everything to god?) 

C (command ... "")

E (example ... follow the woman in the story)

P (pray for strength and courage to put everything on God)

E (error to avoid ... don't be overcome with pride and take over everything)

T (truth ... God is almighty, you can't do anything without him)

S (something to praise god for? For my talents, skills, and knowledge that he's given me to use in school)

As I put myself in the position of the woman, It is really hard to comprehend her actions because it is completely opposite of my lifestyle today. I've been extremely blessed by God with all these amazing things and with a wonderful life to live. Therefore, its hard for me to relate to a poor individual who has nothing but still is willing to give everything to God. I'm wondering If I could do the same during that situation. Being spoiled, we usually take for granted what is given to us and It's really bad actually. 

I need to learn to be more thankful with everything I have and don't complain as much about anything that is small and insignificant in comparison to other people's lives. 

40 DAYS: Day 18

"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." 

Mark 11:25 

We must forgive to be forgiven

S (sin to confess? Am I holding anything against anyone?)

P (is there a promise that I should make?)

A (Do I need to change my attitude towards something?)

C (Is there a command I need to follow?)

E (Is there an example to follow?)

P (What prayer do I need to pray about?)

E (What error do I need to avoid?)

T (What's the eternal truth?)

S (what is there to praise god for?)

Through this simple verse, I've realized how little I've asked God to forgive me on anything. I need to remember that as a sinner, it blocks my path and light. I need to be able to relent to god meaningfully and remember to consistently do it on a regular basis to show my deepest apologizes to God. So my attitude change is to be more humble, to be more trustworthy in him. I need to follow these examples of my friends and my families. Lastly, I praise God for being constantly forgiving and for giving up his son so we are given this true blessing that we are clearly not worthy for. 

40 DAYS: Day 17

Mark 10:17-31 Jesus meets the rich young man

This passage is basically about how Jesus explains to the rich that in order to have a place in heaven, you need to use the commandment of "love your neighbours" This is done by giving all you have to the poor. In our society, this is very difficult because the mindset nowadays is to give and get something in return. No one really gives and expects nothing else in return. 

Therefore, we need to understand that we should be humble and willing to sacrifice everything we have all for God. This is because, once we die, what do we have? We don't have any materials or anything on earth but God alone. We lose everything except God and that is why we should put our entire focus on him and to do what he says because without him we are nothing.