Technically, we are on day 2 of this adventure, but if you
are just joining us, jump right in! Yesterday we read Genesis 1-3 and prayed
for our military. Today we are going to pray for our churches and read Genesis
4-6 and give some general thoughts about anything that catches our eye. Ready?
Alrighty then. Let’s get going!
PRAYER
You ever try to pray for your church and not pray to fix something? You know
what I mean. The pastor who has the bad delivery or the secretary who has the
bad attitude. Sometimes all we can see in our church are the things that we
want God to fix. Well, maybe today, I need Him to start making my church better
by fixing me.
Daddy, we are new to
our church, and really everything is shiny and wonderful. Honeymoons are
glorious things, but I know honeymoons end, and it is easy for things to become
tarnished and dull pretty quickly. I’m asking you to keep my heart open to the
joy of my church. Help me to see the ways it blesses my family and others. Help
me to see the good things, like the way the way our campus pastor always greets
us with a smile after service.
Help me to be a good
thing.
When someone is sitting alone, turn my eyes to
them so I see them. I’ve sat in too many services feeling unseen. Please, let
me see others.
Give me words to
encourage our pastor and volunteers and let them know I appreciate them. When
they needed it, prompt me to drop a note or even a small gift of gratitude to
let them know their service is being fruitful and making a difference.
Show me where you want
to use the gifts you instilled in me to be a blessing to people who attend. I
want to be a producer and not a parasite.
And, Daddy, when I am
petty, because we both know I can be, give me wisdom to keep it to myself, to
deal with it with you, and to let it go. If something bothering me can bless
the church by making it better, give me courage to speak to the right person
and grace to speak kindly, but if my words only cause problems, I pray you
would convict me to deal with my own issue and my own heart.
Daddy, help me be the
kind of person I would want to see and speak with every week. Help me to be an
answer to someone’s hard week or rough day.
Thank you for my
church and the great people who serve and attend there. May you be glorified in
us all. Amen
BIBLE READING
Genesis 4—I will not drown in all those names. I will not drown in all those
names. The big picture information:
Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel.
Can killed Abel, and Cain was sent out of God’s presence.
There is a guy name Lamech who decided two wives were better than one and killed someone, too, but not because of the wives.
Adam and Eve had Seth.
Genesis 5—Don’t drown in the begats. They do serve an honest purpose, but right now, for our purpose, it’s just filling in a
long blank until we get to important stuff, like Enoch, who was no longer because
God took him. Can you imagine?! Then we get to the next major piece of our
story: Noah.
Genesis 6—First, no, I don’t know what it means by the
Nephilim and sons of God. Right now, I’m not digging into that. Maybe for a personal
study, I might, but for this purpose, I’m simply reading. I might highlight it
or note it in my journal so I go back and look later, but remember, this is not
a deep study, just an overview.
God was sorry He made mankind because it was so wicked. It
is hard for me to wrap my brain around that, and it does contradict some
theology I was taught growing up, but for me the primary take away is so
simple: Dear God, may I never be so wicked that you are sorry you made me.
Maybe I always bring you pleasure and not regret.
Noah. I tried to actually draw the ark out once. Then I
found a picture in a book, and it had all the dimensions and such already. I
felt a bit silly, but I was hoping by drawing it, I would keep getting lost in
the description. Finally I realized the importance of the description to me is
this: God had a plan. It was a detailed plan that had to be followed to
perfection because God does not waste resources. He didn’t waste space, food,
animals, or timber. God knows what He wants done and what it takes to get it
done. It was that way with the ark, and it is that way in my life.
And why did this ark thing work? Because Noah did everything
God told him to do. That alone will sink me to my knees asking, “Lord, am I
doing everything you told me to do? Is there anything I’m missing?”
MEMORIZATION
Still plodding in Jeremiah 29:10-14.
This morning I wrote in my journal:
This is what the Lord says,“When seventy years are completed for Babylon,
I will come back to you and fulfill my good promise
Bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you,”
Declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
Plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call to me and come and pray to me
And I will listen to you.
You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Okay, that last part doesn’t seem quite right. Let me check
that very quickly. Slight fix.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart.”Do a few words make a difference? I am tempted to say they don’t, and yet, some words really do matter, and for me, this is also an exercise of excellence. I memorize quotes from books or movies being careful to get them correct word for word, and they just fit my whim with no eternal significance. If I give such diligence to something that ultimately means nothing, how much more diligence should I give to something that means everything?
How is your memorizing going today?
BIBLE
STUDY/JOURNAL
I’m still fixated on that tree in the garden. When I’m done
rolling it over, I’ll pour it out for you to see. For now, anything you want to
share that has been roaming around your mind?
Thanks for sharing this part of your day with me. I pray it
is a great day for you! And I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
Blessings,
Jerri
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