God- God will bless those who give generously, not necessarily with money, objects, or anything in this world, but with righteousness. God also blesses us so that we can bless others, nothing that we have was given to us without reason. "God loves a cheerful give", that is straight out of the bible and 100% true. God doesn't want anyone to give out of obligation, God doesn't want anyone to give when they would rather not be giving. God wants you to give because thats what you want to do. Verse 15 is a reminder of God's incredible gift, the gift that we were given because of his son!
Us- In order to gain from God we need to be able to willingly give up the things of this world. We should all give whatever we are willing to give. This does not in any way mean that we shouldn't give if we don't want to or that we should not give in large amounts. It only means that all of our giving should be done both willingly and cheerfully. And again "God loves a cheerful give". In verse 9 something is mentioned that is constantly showing up in the bible, giving to the poor. Few actions are mentioned more than giving to the poor in the bible, so it is obvious that giving is really something God wants us to do as believers. Paul finishes the chapter by reminding us of several things. The first is that God is the one that has given us everything that we have, we should be thankful for that and eager to give back a small portion of what God has given us. He also reminds us that God will bless us when we give and again not always with things of this world. And last but especially not least he reminds us that giving to the church is also a great blessing to all those that the church serves and spreads the gospel too.
Like- "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly," If we want more God in our lives we have to give up more of ourselves.
Summery- Paul starts off by continuing to talk about the church in Macedonia and how he has been telling them about what the church in Corinth said they would do and how they would give. He reminds them of what they said and also that they're on their way to pick up their offering. His goal in telling them all this was that they would prepare their hearts for the giving that was soon to come.
Application- We must give but not only monetarily, if we wish to fill ourselves with with God we must first empty ourselves of our own desires and of the things of this world.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Day 5
Ok so heres what's happening. I'm going to go ahead and post two different things today. One will be my devotional on 2 Corinthians 8 which is the one i did on Friday but did not have time to post due to a Christmas party. And the second will be my devotional on 2 Corinthians 9 which i did today. Sadly on Saturday which was only day 4 of my fast I missed my first quiet time. But I will continue on and try to make it up by posting twice in the upcoming days that I have off now that school is finally over. So here it is.
2 Corinthians 8
God- This passage just like a lot of the chapters in 1st and 2nd Corinthians doesn't really talk a lot specifically about God. Both of these chapters are letters from Paul to the church at Corinth so as letters tend to do they mostly deal with information to and or about people.
Us- So in this chapter Paul explains how we should all "excel in the grace of giving", and reminds us how sometimes the amount that we give can symbolize the amount that we trust God. He does a great job of explaining how we not supposed to give so that others can see us give, and how we should give because we want to give. He also emphasizes how we should give according to our means, which should be a tithe, which means a tenth of your gross income. Paul also reminds us how the ability to tithe is a privilege. God will be able to accomplish his goals with or without you, the question is do you want to be a part of it.
Like- I like how Paul openly admits that he was surprised at how generous the church in Macedonia was in verse 5. I like the idea that we should be joyfully tithing, and glad to be a part of the ministry that what serve.
Summery- Paul starts off by talking about the great generosity of the church at Macedonia and goes on to tell the church at Corinth how Titus is on his way to go see them. He also mentions that two other men will be traveling with Titus, both of whom are praised as being great ministers. He ends reminding them of all of their credentials basically, by reminding them of the suffering that they have endured for the Lords name.
Application- I think the application here is pretty clear. We should give and do so with joy in our hearts because it is our privilege to serve both the Lord and the ministries that we are a part of. (something nice to remember right before Christmas =) )
2 Corinthians 8
God- This passage just like a lot of the chapters in 1st and 2nd Corinthians doesn't really talk a lot specifically about God. Both of these chapters are letters from Paul to the church at Corinth so as letters tend to do they mostly deal with information to and or about people.
Us- So in this chapter Paul explains how we should all "excel in the grace of giving", and reminds us how sometimes the amount that we give can symbolize the amount that we trust God. He does a great job of explaining how we not supposed to give so that others can see us give, and how we should give because we want to give. He also emphasizes how we should give according to our means, which should be a tithe, which means a tenth of your gross income. Paul also reminds us how the ability to tithe is a privilege. God will be able to accomplish his goals with or without you, the question is do you want to be a part of it.
Like- I like how Paul openly admits that he was surprised at how generous the church in Macedonia was in verse 5. I like the idea that we should be joyfully tithing, and glad to be a part of the ministry that what serve.
Summery- Paul starts off by talking about the great generosity of the church at Macedonia and goes on to tell the church at Corinth how Titus is on his way to go see them. He also mentions that two other men will be traveling with Titus, both of whom are praised as being great ministers. He ends reminding them of all of their credentials basically, by reminding them of the suffering that they have endured for the Lords name.
Application- I think the application here is pretty clear. We should give and do so with joy in our hearts because it is our privilege to serve both the Lord and the ministries that we are a part of. (something nice to remember right before Christmas =) )
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Day 2
2 Corinthians Chapter 7
God- Theres hardly anything in this passage that specifically talks about God.
Us- We should be perfecting our holiness out of reverence for God. This seemingly small statement means so much. The idea of "[purifying] ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit" is huge and harder than when could ever imagine, to accomplish. It takes serious drive and determination to start a pursuit of holiness, but as believers it should be what we all strive for. We have the right to rebuke our family in Christ when they start to stray from the path of God, but it should be done with love and understanding, with tact and compassion, and never convey any feeling of anger. In the long run it is always going to be better for the person who we rebuke. Kind of like re-breaking an bone when its not healing properly, it's going to start of with a lot of pain but in the long run it's whats best for your body.
Like- I believe that this passage speaks volumes about never giving up on your friends that are beginning to backslide (aka not being as "into God" as they used to be). Obviously since Paul had to write 2 whole books about them, the church at Corinth was getting into a lot of stuff that they shouldn't have been getting into. But no matter what they did Paul never gave up on them. He never said to himself, "you know what, there's just no hope for that church in Corinth we should focus on other things". All they really needed was someone to guide them and correct them, and Paul was steadfast in keeping them honest.
Summery- Verses 2-16 are Paul's appeal to the church to not be upset with him because of what he has said, or because of the rebuking that he has done. Both 1st and 2nd Corinthians are letters to the church at Corinth where Paul tells them what he thinks they are doing wrong, and how they can do a better job of living out what God wants in their lives, and as you can imagine this isn't always easy. It isn't often that we tell people that they're doing things wrong and then walk away feeling great. Rebuking your family in Christ is often hard and it is sometimes difficult to explain how we are saying things out of love and concern for people, Paul uses this passage to do just exactly that.
Application- Thats for you to do. But if i had to pick something it would be to never give up on your backsliding friends.
FYI: I'm staying away from Conan just as planned.
God- Theres hardly anything in this passage that specifically talks about God.
Us- We should be perfecting our holiness out of reverence for God. This seemingly small statement means so much. The idea of "[purifying] ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit" is huge and harder than when could ever imagine, to accomplish. It takes serious drive and determination to start a pursuit of holiness, but as believers it should be what we all strive for. We have the right to rebuke our family in Christ when they start to stray from the path of God, but it should be done with love and understanding, with tact and compassion, and never convey any feeling of anger. In the long run it is always going to be better for the person who we rebuke. Kind of like re-breaking an bone when its not healing properly, it's going to start of with a lot of pain but in the long run it's whats best for your body.
Like- I believe that this passage speaks volumes about never giving up on your friends that are beginning to backslide (aka not being as "into God" as they used to be). Obviously since Paul had to write 2 whole books about them, the church at Corinth was getting into a lot of stuff that they shouldn't have been getting into. But no matter what they did Paul never gave up on them. He never said to himself, "you know what, there's just no hope for that church in Corinth we should focus on other things". All they really needed was someone to guide them and correct them, and Paul was steadfast in keeping them honest.
Summery- Verses 2-16 are Paul's appeal to the church to not be upset with him because of what he has said, or because of the rebuking that he has done. Both 1st and 2nd Corinthians are letters to the church at Corinth where Paul tells them what he thinks they are doing wrong, and how they can do a better job of living out what God wants in their lives, and as you can imagine this isn't always easy. It isn't often that we tell people that they're doing things wrong and then walk away feeling great. Rebuking your family in Christ is often hard and it is sometimes difficult to explain how we are saying things out of love and concern for people, Paul uses this passage to do just exactly that.
Application- Thats for you to do. But if i had to pick something it would be to never give up on your backsliding friends.
FYI: I'm staying away from Conan just as planned.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Day 1
I think I might have said in my introduction that yesterday was Day 1 but i changed my mind and decided that today December 8th is day 1. I also decided that since I believe that teaching is one of the best ways to learn, I will be explaining what I read in my quiet time in order to better understand it myself.
Today I am reading 2 Corinthians 6. Fyi i believe in using the GULSA method of quiet time which is a kind of self explanatory way of organizing the ideas that are presented in the chapter.
The G stands for God and under that section you would explain all the things that the passage says about God.
G- This passage really doesn't say that much about God besides reminding us of His grace and salvation. But it does say a lot about what He want's us to do.
The U stands for Us and under it you would write down what the passage says about Us.
U- "We put no stumbling bocks in anyone's path," This was put in the passage to explain to us that we should never do anything that would lead anyone else to sin whether they be a believer or a non believer. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says "whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" . This was written to explain to us the weight of our actions, and how every single thing that we do is much more important than we even know. In this passage we are reminded of how our actions affect others.Verses 4-10 go onto explain how we as Christians should commit ourselves to lives of servitude, putting God before ourselves. In verse 14 it talks about not being yoked together unbelievers, this is commonly mistaken as God telling us to not associate with people who are not Christians but thats not what it's saying. It is actually telling us that we shouldn't do the same things that people who are not believers do, because if we have really been saved our actions should not be the same as those who have not been saved. As 16-18 explains Paul was actually writing to discourage people from separate themselves from idolatry which was a common practice in those days and was probably an issue with the church in Corinth
The L stands for Like and this is where you would write what you liked most about this chapter
L- At the risk of being extremely vague my favorite part of this passage is verses 4-10 where Paul gives a great description of all the things that happen when a believer really lives out what they believe in. The majority of what is written here is based of things that Paul himself went through while trying to spread the gospel and I think it really gives you something to think about. If you yourself haven't been through any of the things of this list for the sake of the gospel then are you actually doing what God has called you to do?
The S stands for Summery here is where you write a summery of the entire chapter just for the sake of letting the information soak in.
S- In summery this passage is about putting our beliefs into action. It talks about how we should not be holding people back but in fact lifting people up. He gives many examples of what it means to be a believer and how it rarely deals with personal gain and will in many ways bring hardship. He reminds us that our ways should be different than the ways of the world. It is a passage about putting our words into action
The A stands for apply and under it you would write all the ways that you can apply what you read to your life.
A- I am going to go ahead and leave this part blank because the application of what God has written is really the most personal part of your quiet time. So I'll leave it up to you to decide how this passage can be applied in real world situations specifically to your life.
And thus completes the official Day 1 of my Conan fast. (although this will technically be posted on the 9th)
Today I am reading 2 Corinthians 6. Fyi i believe in using the GULSA method of quiet time which is a kind of self explanatory way of organizing the ideas that are presented in the chapter.
The G stands for God and under that section you would explain all the things that the passage says about God.
G- This passage really doesn't say that much about God besides reminding us of His grace and salvation. But it does say a lot about what He want's us to do.
The U stands for Us and under it you would write down what the passage says about Us.
U- "We put no stumbling bocks in anyone's path," This was put in the passage to explain to us that we should never do anything that would lead anyone else to sin whether they be a believer or a non believer. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says "whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" . This was written to explain to us the weight of our actions, and how every single thing that we do is much more important than we even know. In this passage we are reminded of how our actions affect others.Verses 4-10 go onto explain how we as Christians should commit ourselves to lives of servitude, putting God before ourselves. In verse 14 it talks about not being yoked together unbelievers, this is commonly mistaken as God telling us to not associate with people who are not Christians but thats not what it's saying. It is actually telling us that we shouldn't do the same things that people who are not believers do, because if we have really been saved our actions should not be the same as those who have not been saved. As 16-18 explains Paul was actually writing to discourage people from separate themselves from idolatry which was a common practice in those days and was probably an issue with the church in Corinth
The L stands for Like and this is where you would write what you liked most about this chapter
L- At the risk of being extremely vague my favorite part of this passage is verses 4-10 where Paul gives a great description of all the things that happen when a believer really lives out what they believe in. The majority of what is written here is based of things that Paul himself went through while trying to spread the gospel and I think it really gives you something to think about. If you yourself haven't been through any of the things of this list for the sake of the gospel then are you actually doing what God has called you to do?
The S stands for Summery here is where you write a summery of the entire chapter just for the sake of letting the information soak in.
S- In summery this passage is about putting our beliefs into action. It talks about how we should not be holding people back but in fact lifting people up. He gives many examples of what it means to be a believer and how it rarely deals with personal gain and will in many ways bring hardship. He reminds us that our ways should be different than the ways of the world. It is a passage about putting our words into action
The A stands for apply and under it you would write all the ways that you can apply what you read to your life.
A- I am going to go ahead and leave this part blank because the application of what God has written is really the most personal part of your quiet time. So I'll leave it up to you to decide how this passage can be applied in real world situations specifically to your life.
And thus completes the official Day 1 of my Conan fast. (although this will technically be posted on the 9th)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Introduction
Hi, my name is Jon and I am a Christian college student. Like many other Christian college students I feel that it is important to spend part of each and every day focusing on God, what many people call a "quiet time", where I can reflect on what God wants for my life and what exactly I should be doing to accomplish that.
So as I was driving home from school the other day i realized that within the last 5 weeks I had missed around 20 quite time which is, even by my own lax standards, horrible. My thoughts started to wander to other things, as they normally do, and then i realized that since the Conan on TBS had come out I had not missed watching a single episode! Of course I kinda cheat cause I have a dvr that I use to record Conan and I just watch it whenever I get home but still! Anyway after realizing this I decided that I should make a change and this is how The Conan Fast started. Starting today December 7th I will stop watching Conan everyday when I come home from school and I will take the time, that I would normally use to watch Conan, and use it to focus on God. I honestly believe that I am so into Conan that this will work. So this will be my record of how I'm doing, keeping me honest about the amount of quiet time that I get in. Oh and last but not least I'm gonna try to do this for a month so until January 7th. So yeah this should be fun.
So as I was driving home from school the other day i realized that within the last 5 weeks I had missed around 20 quite time which is, even by my own lax standards, horrible. My thoughts started to wander to other things, as they normally do, and then i realized that since the Conan on TBS had come out I had not missed watching a single episode! Of course I kinda cheat cause I have a dvr that I use to record Conan and I just watch it whenever I get home but still! Anyway after realizing this I decided that I should make a change and this is how The Conan Fast started. Starting today December 7th I will stop watching Conan everyday when I come home from school and I will take the time, that I would normally use to watch Conan, and use it to focus on God. I honestly believe that I am so into Conan that this will work. So this will be my record of how I'm doing, keeping me honest about the amount of quiet time that I get in. Oh and last but not least I'm gonna try to do this for a month so until January 7th. So yeah this should be fun.
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