Faithfulness Week 1 Day 2

The Purpose of God in My Life

Read Deuteronomy 10:20-22

20.Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.
21. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
22. Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Moses reminded the Israelites that God took them into Egypt as a group of only seventy souls. Four Hundred Years later, Israel emerged as a nation. It is not uncommon for God's promises to not be completely fulfilled in our lifetime. God made the promise of nationhood to Abram and Sarai in Genesis 12, and even at the end of Abraham's life, Israel was still only a very small nation of three. But in a day long after his death, the nation numbered to millions.

Faithfulness always serves God's purposes, but often the mills of God grind slowly. Many times we only see God's enduring intentions in hindsight. Even as Abraham died, he could not measure the extent of the promise that grew from his faithfulness. That finished vision was perhaps a score of lifetimes away. Still the promises of God never sleep.

Faithfulness instructs us how to live with purpose, but even better, we can pass it to our children until- as Abraham discovered- the world is blessed because of that simple discipline called obedience.

Faithfulness is a gift anyone can give God, and he responds with a purpose for every morning's sunrise. Then at last we are free. We live and have great reasons to live.

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. Faith is passed from generation to generation. What has been your life teaching about God?

2. Faithfulness produces obedience. What are some things you can do to nurture faithfulness in your life?

Bible study!

Hey Emi! I'm starting this bible study on faithfulness. I figured I'd post it on here so you can do it too! :D woot

here it goes dun dun dun

Faithfulness Week 1 Day 1

Read Genesis 12:1-4 NIV

We don't know much about Abram and Sarai when God called them to originate the Jewish nation. We only know that they were old and that they came from Ur, a pagan society. Many suggests that they were moon worshipers serving celestial gods and goddesses.

Then Suddenly a previously unheard voice broke into their world. It was the voice of a God much mightier than the gods they worshiped- it was "the" God. This unknown God spoke to them and said, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land that I will show you." (Genesis 12:1). And with this brief summons, Abram and Sarai, old in years- some would say too old to make such a pilgrimage- had the audacity to obey God.

Judaism was born in this simple way. At the time, few people recognized the significance of Abram and Sarai's trip. Yet this is the way God works. He often alters history by starting with the smallest instructions. A baby in a stable or an old couple doddering out of the moon temples of the Tigris valley are just two examples of God's unique methodology.

In such ordinary things comes the roar of God. The quaking world is the reborn in the name of people who obey the extraordinary claim God holds on their lives. In their faithfulness, God's blessings swallow them whole.

Have you ever heard a simple, seemingly unimportant whisper? Did it fail to make perfect sense? Listen! God waits to bless you. He longs to bless you. All you have to do is say, "Yes, Lord, I will!" Then act. Open your heart and follow your faithfulness. Be obedient in simple matters and the angels will come to attention.

Questions for Personal Reflection

1. Have you ever felt that you were hearing a whisper from God? What did he say to you?

2. When hearing what you believe to be God, how do you know for sure it is God? What keeps you from acting in faith in response to God's calling?

That's it! Love you emi! <3

Dear Abi

I love you!! and I miss you. :-)