It's an amazing World
Exploring the world we live in through the lenses of the Bible, Psychology and general curiosity
Wisdom v.s. Knowledge
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instructions.
Proverbs 1:7
For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart.
Proverbs 2:10
I could read proverbs all day and not find or understand all the verses in there about wisdom and knowledge. There are so many! I also like to look up quotes about wisdom and knowledge, one of my personal favorites is by Miles Kingston, “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”
Wisdom , for me, is the ability to make good choices and good decisions and good judgements.Wisdom is having the ability to do something wrong and not doing it.
Knowledge is information which someone is aware of. Something you could find in a book.
Anyone smart could be a criminal, anyone with wisdom would not.
Secrets
We all have secrets that we don’t want people to know, but God knows everything that has happened to us, and all that we’ve done. He knows our every thought. The thing is that God knows everything, but He wants to hear it from us. He wants us to confess to Him so that He can take our sins away from us. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve thought that they could hide what they’d done from God, they tried to hide it. But if they had come to Him then things would have been so much better. If they had came God to confess their sin then things might be very different today. Just like that choice changed lives, your choice could change lives. So don’t try to hide anything from God, and don’t try to pretend it didn’t happen, because it did, and He knows it. Confess your sins and let Jesus take them from you.
Clouds
Something amazing that just screams out that there is a Creator, to me anyways, is clouds. Amazing, like snowflakes, not two are alike. The crazy clouds put me in aw, and the beautiful ones make me want to sing out to the world about our amazing Father in Heaven. They have power and yet incredible beauty. Like I imagine God, I guess. Clouds are really cool. Lots of natural, everyday things are amazing and we take them for granted, clouds and sunrises and sunsets and stars and the moon and the deep blue of the sky if you stare at it long enough. My heart fills will joy just thinking about these. I hope yours does too. Go out and look at some clouds.
Sunrise
I got up early enough to be outside to watch the sunrise this morning. It was amazing. I was overcome with a sense of joy and peace and I started singing, hymns, random songs I made up, pop songs that could be about God. I was just, amazed. We live out in the country, 11 miles away from the nearest town and far enough away from my nearest neighbor that I didn’t wake them up. It was so quiet, and we live beside a valley so the sound bounced and I have a decent voice so I just felt… Awesome. At peace. Safe. My mind was cleared in a way it hasn’t been in weeks, and I spent 3 hours outside, as the world came alive, 3 hours singing, reading my Bible, and thinking. 3 hours with God. It was the best thing I have experienced in months. I pray with all my heart I can do it again tomorrow, and I pray that you can get up to see the sun rise at least once this week. I don’t mean glancing at it in the mirror on the way to work, I mean just go outside and sit for a few minutes to watch the sun rise. Thank God for another amazing day.
Dear LORD,
Thank you so much for today, thank you for these 24 hours that You have blessed me with.
Amen
Amazing Grace, amazing things
God has done amazing things to give us amazing grace. and a lot of times people don’t remember that, they think of Christianity as something you have to be perfect at to really get it, and that’s wrong. There is a fine line between doing God’s will and doing things because you think you have to, to get to Heaven. Francis Chan is a widely know preacher and public speaker who I don’t think really understands God’s grace. I like a lot of what he says but it’s like he’s living as if God has no grace, as if you have to try to be perfect. God doesn’t ask us to be perfect, He asks us to try and not mess up.
A Prayer List
Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, does not act in-properly, is not selfish, is not provoked, does not keep a record of wrongs, finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
God wants us to love everybody just like Jesus did, and this really isn’t easy. We get mad and frustrated at people when they don’t:
- Like the things we like,
- Share our Biblical opinions and/or world views.
- Behave the way we think is right.
- Believe what we believe.
- Do things the way we see fit
- Do the right thing when obviously what they are doing is the wrong thing.
It’s hard not to get frustrated when people do these things, but God asks us to love these people, this meaning we have to try to be patient and kind toward the people who may not know God’s love, or may have a different opinion on what is right and/or wrong. By being kind, and just having patience with that person, you are showing God’s love, even if that person doesn’t know it, eventually he/she will end up wondering how you have patience and kindness.
How do you learn to have patience and kindness for somebody who really gets on your nerves? Well, you pray. Pray for the love and the kindness that Jesus had. Take a piece of paper and write down the names of people who you need to have more patience, starting with family members. No matter how close you and your family are, everybody can still work on patience. Then move on to the people who you just don’t care to be around, then move on to the people you cannot stand.
Dear LORD,
You are amazing, thank You so much for all the people you have put in my life, please help me to get along with them. Please help me to love them like you would; patiently, kindly, not boastfully, or conceitedly, more than anything else please help me be patient.
Amen.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why do bad things happen to good people? This is the main argument atheist have against Christianity, because they find it hard to believe that there is a God that is all powerful, and all good, and that that God would let bad things happen to good people who believed in Him? This is not an easy question to answer, but something that I would like to point out is that nothing happens for no reason whatsoever. Everything has a purpose. For example, a blind man may be blind so that he can write the best music ever. Or a deaf man may become deaf to write some of the most amazing things ever. A good scripture to point out may be John 9:1-3, Jesus and His disciples come across a blind man, one of His disciples asks why the man is blind, is it because his parents sinned? No, Jesus answered, it was so that the work of the LORD may be displayed through him. Bad things don’t necessarily happen because somebody did something bad. God allows some things to happen for reasons we may never understand, the main thing is to trust that He know what He’s doing. “For I know the plans I have for you,” said the LORD, “They are for a future and a hope. Not for destruction.” Jeremiah 29:11 says. It’s true.
Show God’s Joy
God has truly given us a reason to be happy, He sent His only Son to save us, and if we truly have taken Him into our hearts, then we should be full of joy! I have been reading the historical fiction books about Millie Keith and her family as they struggle through moving to a new home on the wild frontier. One of the characters in this book is Miss Drybread, who the Keith’s find difficult to get along with. Why? Because she claims to be Christian and yet fails to show the joy of one who has been saved. Those who are solemn and gloomy and telling of the bad things in life are not being at all grateful of the things God has given them, and that’s wrong.
Be a light to the world- don’t blind it!
Being a Christian means to bring God’s word to people, but you don’t have to shove it in their faces. The other day we were at a drive-up, me and my mom, and there was a car that had a list of people going to hell on it. That is wrong on so many levels! God didn’t send Jesus to condemn the world, He sent Him to save the world, and if we are supposed to be like Jesus, then how is that right? It’s shoving it into non-believers faces, and it’s not right.
Time with God, and Peace
“How do you find peace in the hectic, crazy world around us?” A friend asked me one day.
“Well, that’s a good question, one that I’m not sure I can answer without some thought.” I answered.
“But you have peace, I have never seen you stress out, I’ve never seen you cry, or have a meltdown.” She said.
This sort of shocked me, I had never thought about it before, but compared to a lot of people, I guess I do have a sense of peace, a sense that could only have come from my Heavenly Father. With all that goes on around us, many people think it is not possible to have peace, the think of life as one non-stop hectic roller-coaster. And it kind of is, but peace is when you figure out how to hit the pause button, and stop, and breathe for a second. When you take time out of your day to sit down and just be still before God, you are experiencing the best kind of peace there is. I really encourage you to take time out of each day to be with Him. Listening to Christian music or watching Christian movies or even reading Christian books doesn’t count, although all of those are good it’s still not really…. time with Him. You have to just sit, and think, and pray…… and listen. That’s spending time with Him. Talk to Him. Yes He knows everything that goes on in your life and your head, but He wants you to tell Him. It’s kind of like when you spend time with a friend, if you watch a movie with them, or read a book or listen to music its not- how do I put it- personal. It’s not personal. Yet if you sit down and talk to them and listen to them it is personal. It’s the same with God. You can listen to music and read books and watch movies, but in order for you to stay close to Him, and learn more about Him, you actually have to sit down and talk with Him. Even now, as I’m writing I am writing about Him, and thinking about Him, but I’m not spending time with Him. Afterwards I’m going to do my Bible study and actually spend time with Him. When you do this, you will find peace.
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