“There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42 (NLT) The heart of this ministry is to inspire a love for God’s Word and encourage the discipline of daily Bible reading and SOAP journaling. These are a few of our SOAP notes from today’s reading. We encourage you to read and journal on your own first, then join us in conversation about what God revealed to YOU today. Click HERE to go directly to the daily reading if you wish.
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Noah was such a patient guy!!!! | Joni Tyner
S~ This morning my scripture journaling is a bit narrative with some of my emphasize in it, just letting you know!!
“everything the breathed and lived on dry land died.”
“The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat.”
“And the flood waters covered the earth for 150 days.” Gen 7: 22-24.
“exactly 5 months from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest.- verse 4
“2 ½ months later the water continue to go down.” -verse 5
“another 40 days” ( Noah opened the window and the raven came back) v. 6
“another 7 days” (the dove brought back a fresh live leaf). V. 10
“he waited another 7 days” (this time the dove didn’t come back.) V. 12
…moving on to verse 14
“2 more months went by, and at last the earth was dry!” v. 14
…finally down in chapter 9,
Noah gets back to starting life over and rebuilding his home and cultivating the land for crops. (this is some seriously HARD work!!!)
O~ Geesh!!!! Noah went through some stuff! That’s a looooong time to wait and not understand what God was doing. My observation is what a long, drawn out, but essential plan that God had for Noah. (I didn’t even mention the before piece of Noah being 600 years old and building the ark, which is estimated to be 100-120 years.)
A~ I get so incredibly impatient with life’s time table. It NEVER happens on my schedule. If I was Noah, I absolutely know I would have bailed at about the 2nd month of building the ark. I would have complained about the length of time on the ark. I would have been discouraged and hopeless when the raven and dove came back. Then, Joni would have had a temper tantrum when I reached dry land and realized the ridiculous amount of work it would take to rebuild my life because of the SIN OF OTHER PEOPLE!!!!!!
Okay, Thank you Jesus that you haven’t call me to live Noah’s life. Whew. Back to 2019. What can I apply to my life today and in this next year from Noah’s faithfulness and hard work? I think I need to release a bit more of my entitled attitude that life is suppose to go according to my own plans. I need to realize my time table is written in pencil and will have lots of cross outs and eraser marks. I think I need to keep my eyes open for glimpses of God encouraging me ( like Noah saw with the dove and raven) and realize that as long as I’m reading God’s word and imperfectly attempting to become a bit more like Jesus, I am on the right track. This life isn’t going to reach the “happily ever after” state in a easy 2 weeks. There are growth seasons, and seasons that suck and break my heart and seasons that I will backslide and probably lose faith. But, there is always, ALWAYS Jesus holding on to me and giving me grace to start over and continue on with this beautiful life He has given me.
P~ Dear Lord, I needed this reminder this morning. I’m such a wimp and inclined to dramatic temper tantrums when life goes a different way then I want. I’m asking for 2019 to bring me more patience with the work you are doing in my life. I ask for contentment in each life season. Help me to not rush it but to embrace and learn from each part of the journey. Thank you for choosing me to be one of Your vessels in this crazy world.
Light and dark | guest post
S~ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be sen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. ~ Jesus in John 3:21 (NIV)
O~ In the light, the good things done have been done through God. In the dark, the things done by that person reveal fear because they will be exposed.
A~ There is such a contrast of what happens in light vs. what happens in the dark. Jesus states it plainly: Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Here I wrestle. I am a child of the Light! Everything good in my past and my right now and my future are by the grace of God. But I still find myself drawn to the darkness. My mind and my plans always go to what I want instead of what God desires. I know my thoughts and attitudes and I have to fight for the light.
And the longer I sit in what I want to do or pursue my life with only me in mind – the harder it is for me to see the light. Why can’t my heart, mind, soul, and strength have continual focus on Jesus?
P~ Abba, I’m just struggling today. To see You, to hear You. To know what You would like of me today. Maybe my focus shouldn’t be on light or dark, but just on You?
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Thank you, Jessie, for affirming what He was saying to me! 🙂 It works both ways!
I had that same observation Kimi! But I thought maybe I was hearing him wrong. Thank you for confirming for me that God was trying to speak that to me. Brings me so much comfort to know one, I heard him right. And two, that indeed life is full of seasons. He knows exactly what we need when we need it. Thank you for sharing Kimi.