Listen - Don't Speak

James 1:19-20I was reading and in vs. 19 it says "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; vs. 20. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Sometimes we don't know how to be quiet like me. If you are someone who has the gift to be quiet and not say a word that is awesome. But as people we talk instead of listening. Like if we were trying to make a new friend we should be interested in what they have to say about their life instead of going on and on about ours. Or if you are talking to a person about Christ we should be listening like you know, see where they are at or what is going on in their life instead of trying to give the answers to everything and say you need to do this and that. No you need to be quiet because if you keep on talking you lose the person interest and then there is a wall. I heard this quote one time it said "You can win more friends with your ears than with your mouth."
--Vanessa Griego

Gifts

Ephesians 4:11-13 God has used this verse to remind me that I have a responsibility to Him and my brothers and sisters in Christ to use the gifts He has given me according to the measure of the grace given to me, to build up the body of Christ. He tells me in (vs 11) that He Himself gave some to be and then He goes on to say some of the gifts He has given. This serves to remind me that if He Himself gave me a gift to use shouldn't I be using it ? Then in verse (vs 12) He tells me why I should be using it.For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of Christ's body. Here He is telling me that I have a part or roll to carry out in the body. And in (vs 13) He let's me no when I no longer have to use my gift and I can sit back and relax and enjoy the ride. Till the entire body of Christ comes to a unity of faith and the knowledge of the son to a perfect man to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ ! "Are we there yet"? He uses these verses to let me know that He has work for me to do. I'm to strive in His power by the measure of the grace He has given me to carry out the work that He has called me to do.
--Tim Lindquist

Hope for Children

For many years, I have been very sad about my two grown children. Neither of them has chosen to live for the Lord despite growing up in a Christian home. One even attended Christian schools. God entrusted me to raise them to love Him. As a mother, I feel like I’ve let the Lord down. A fellow student brought up a well known verse that says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. The passage has given me comfort and my hope is renewed. Sometimes it takes a reminder such as this to provide the much needed peace. I continue to pray for my children and their salvation.
--Theresa Baca

Lukewarm Person

This last week i read some things on what it is to truly be a Lukewarm person and how many people can settle into this life that they don't even realize that they have lost their fire. The book that I'm reading , Crazy Love, dissects this person and shows in so many ways how this person could very well be you. It was very humbling for me this week and cause me to focus on really what i put my time into and how passionate i was towards the things of God.
--Stepha Herrera

God's Perfect Timing

I have been reading through Genesis, and this week I was in the life of Joseph. I focused mainly on chapter 41. It is so amazing to me to see all the hardships Joseph went through; for example, he was not liked by his brothers, sold into slavery by them, thrown into jail even though he was innocent, and these are only a few. Through all of these hardships Joseph trusted in God! He was faithful in the small things and, in time, God rewarded Him with big things. The end of vs. 41:55 Pharaoh says, "Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do." He went from a slave and a prisoner to being second only to Pharaoh. We never read that Joseph became impatient with God, I wonder if he did? But we see Joseph trusting in what God has for him, and waiting on God's perfect timing! I know this is something I struggle with, taking things from God and doing them in my own timing. Is this something you do, or are you content waiting on the Lord?
--Shawna Willis

His Provision

This week I’m taking notice in HIS provision for me…. Even in the small things.... the weather, the flowers that I brush by every morning, the smile from a friend, the sunrise and sunset, the boisterous greeting of the dogs, the love of a family. Until I start to be aware of WHO he is and WHERE he is, I walk around masked and almost blinded. Until I open my Mind, Eyes & Spirit to what is right in front of me, I am some what dead . Today I am thankful that I have eyes to see.
--Nicki M.

Sons of God

Philemon vs 10-16 "I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. I am sending him back.You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account."

This letter from Paul to Philemon regarding his slave Onesimus is a great picture of Christ's relationship to us. Just as Paul says "Receive him, that is my own heart", Jesus stands before God the Father and declares us his sons, and has taken the debt we owe and bore it on the cross so we who cannot pay it wouldn't have to.
--Matt Storer