"Why?", "This is too hard." & "I can't."

      First of all, my up most apologies for my second broken promise. School has started and I have been so busy. I know, lame excuse but I'm done making promises, just goals. My goal is once a week, we will see. Thank you everyone for your patience and forgiveness. 
                                                                                                                              Get out cha HOLY BIBLES! Read Numbers 11:1-3!
     If you know me at all, you will be reading this thinking, WOW Larissa, how incredibly hypocritical of you! But I'm learning just like you. So if you don't know me that well, let me inform you, I complain about everything. Everyone complains sometimes. Why do we complain? I complain because it gets things off my chest, maybe it dose the same for you. Its like blowing off steam. What we don't realize is, when we complain we are spreading negativity. One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:8 and it says "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." (NKJV) complaining? none of the above.
     If that's not enough to convince you that complaining is wrong lets look at it in black and white. Philippians 2:14 says "Do everything without complaining..."(NLT) That's it. The bible tells us its a no-no, so lets refrain from it. Psalm 119:105 says "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (NIV) We do what our good Lord tells us through His word.
     In order to not complain, I definitely need another way to vent when things don't go my way. Here's my challenge for you, instead of complaining to the person next to you in math about how hard it is, pray. Yup, pray about math. The bible says pray about everything right? Pray about the things that frustrate you so you aren't complaining and spreading a bad attitude to others.
     There is something bigger than math class in our lives that we have to complain about.. Confession time, I have complained to God.. Something tells me you've done it to? People in the Bible have. Jonah did in Jonah 4:1-2 "This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it..."(NLT) If you were to read further into Numbers you would see how God severely punishes His people for complaining, I surely want to avoid that!
     We have talked about this in our devos before, God sees the big picture. We may not understand why a certain thing is happening to us, we often don't, but complaining to Him about our struggles won't help us it will only bring us down further. As I mentioned in my challenge lets pray for patience and understanding to the things that make us say "Why?", "This is too hard." & "I can't.".
     Our song today touches on the hardships of the toughest parts of our days. The things that pull us way down and make us complain til we cry. This SUPERCHICK song Beauty From Pain says "I'll wonder why God lets me walk through this place", we all wonder, but let that not lead us to complaints.

     I did a lot of talking in this post so I encourage you to find some of these verses on your own. More verses that talk about complaining are: Colossians 3:8 and Psalm 106:25. We do go through tough times but complaining does nothing good for us, those around us, our walk or anything else in our lives so we should stay away from it. We should fill our days with prayer and other things pleasing to Him. Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." (EVS)


Dear Lord,
Help me to be positive and understanding, keep my mouth from complaints.


James 5:9,
:]

Brag about Him.

I am one day late for the first week of September, please forgive me!
                                                                                                                               Get out your Bibles! Read Jeremiah 9:23-24.
     The Bible tells us clearly not to boast about ourselves. James 4:16 verifies "But you boast about your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil." (ISV) it can hurt others feeling and without meaning to we can give others the notion that we think were the best thing since sliced bread. I'm not meaning to break any hearts or kill any spirits today but I have news for you. You are not worthy to boast about anything, you have nothing to brag about, and friend, neither do I. That is another reason why we shouldn't do it.
     As humans we are all sinners. You and I Romans 3:23 "...have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (NIV). Because of this we still find ourselves boasting sometimes about we did or what we have, where we went and who we've met. Theses things are not as valuable as the world or our sinful nature tells us they are.
      So we've explored the very know facts, boasting about our own works is not holy nor pleasing to God. But if you have met my friend Jesus, you've got a lot to brag about! The deep stain that was left from sin is washed away because of His love like it tells us in Isaiah 1:8 "...'though your sins are like scarlet I will make them was white as snow. Though they are red like crimson I will make them as white was wool." (NLT) The point of boasting is to show others what we've got and it can be done in all the wrong ways by talking about things that have no real meaning. We find out just how pointless this boasting is when we read Philippians 3:7 "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done." (NLT) With Him, it IS loss! What Jesus offers is so much more.
      Our song today is about that. How Deep Our Father Love For Us preformed by Skillet. It has beautiful lyrics but the one that we are looking at today states "I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection." As you praise God through song, meditate on those powerful words.





     More verses that speak the truth spoke in this song include: Habakkuk 2:4 and Ephesians 2:8.
     As mentioned many times throughout this devo, bragging for the glorification of yourself is a sin, but bragging to glorify our Lord, in other words, lifting His name high couldn't be more right. 2 Corinthians 10:17 says "'If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.'" (NLT)


Dear Lord,
Let me not boast in myself, but in You and what You have done for me and in that let others hear about Your great love.


Proverbs 27:1,
:]