Category: Daily

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 16 (7/16), is Genesis 7:16 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.  Then the Lord shut him in.”

Does your life sometimes feel like a downpour of unending bad events or a flood of tragedies?  Whenever that happens, why not just enter an ark of safety and let God shut the door?  When God shuts the door on something, try to recognize it and take advantage of its peace and quiet.

Our ark of safety is in our mind, our heart, our soul.  Our ark of safety is quietness in Jesus.

“My heart is not proud, O Lord….But I have stilled and quieted my soul” (Psalm 131:1f)

“In quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15b)

“The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever” (Isaiah 32:17).

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 15 (7/15), is Matthew 7:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

“Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

Jesus said this.  Maybe sometimes the “false prophet” is within ourselves.  We have a pet theory that we want very much for God to agree with us on.  So we read through the Scriptures trying to prove our point correct.  Of course, taking a verse here and a verse there, you can “prove” anything you want.

So how do we find out if we are being our own “false prophet”?  When we see a verse that contradicts our pet theory, look for other scriptures similar to this one.  Use a concordance ~ a book that lists alphabetically every word in the Bible and every verse it appears in.

Or, if we believe in a different holy book, we can read the holy books of the other major world religions, then honestly search for built-in proofs which book is truly holy.  Then we can decide if we’ve been listening to a false prophet.

And as you honestly struggle, pray about it.

Yes, it is humiliating to believe we just might have been wrong, and then actually admit we were wrong.  But it is also liberating.

Many people have already gone through this, and can testify that changing from our viewpoint to God’s viewpoint is not only liberating, but ultimately brings peace.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 14 (7/14), is 2nd Chronicles 7:14 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

There is always a little bit of turmoil in all nations of the world.  Of course, there is more in some.  The average person cannot make their own nation call on God.  But the average person can do this:  “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone ~ for kings and all those in authority” (I Timothy 2:1-2).  Further, we should pray for them by name.

Even if you think some people in authority in your nation are against you, you must pray for them anyway.  Then wait quietly for God to work things out.  It may take Him a year, a decade or a lifetime to bring about your heart’s desire for your nation.  But keep praying.

Your job, in the mean time, is to follow God’s ways yourself.  Romans 13:1, 3-4 says, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. …For rulers hold no terror for those who do right….For he is God’s servant to do you good.”

God is aware of the suffering going on in your nation.  He will not leave you or forsake you.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for July 13 (7/13) is in Job 7:13ff in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.  I despise my life; I would not live forever.  Let me alone; my days have no meaning.”

Job was extremely depressed. It happens to everyone sometimes.  His depression was certainly valid ~ he had lost all his income  and all his children in a recent storm.  Now he had what the Bible translated as “boils” but the symptoms indicate he had a form of leprosy.  This particular form leads to nightmares in addition to the physical problems.  Job had every right to be depressed.  So depressed was he, that he no longer wanted to live, for his life no longer had meaning.

But, as miserable as Job was, he hung on.  Patiently he hung on during the bad times. Sometimes during our bad times, the greatest thing we can do is “hang on” ~ be patient.

Romans 8:28 says all things work together for good to those who love the Lord.  Job loved the Lord.  Even in his misery and desire to die, he continued to love God and trust Him.

And although at such times you may believe your misery will never end, you may believe you will never even smile again, it will happen.  The misery comes to an end.  It did for Job.  He got his health and wealth back and more children to comfort him.  God will see you through too.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Inspirational2 Comments

 The scripture for today, July 12 (7/12) is Revelation 7:12 in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Amen!  Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever.  Amen!”

How often do we praise God?  Praise is more than thanking Him.  Praise refers to God’s attributes.  Let’s see what these words mean in the original Greek language of the New Testament:

Glory:  magnificantly beautiful
Wisdom:  great understanding
Thanks: bestowed favour
Honor: great weight and power

God deserves all this from us.  Some people think God is ugly, He doesn’t understand them, He is against them, and is for weaklings.  Some even hate God and are repulsed at the idea of worshiping him. They just don’t know God.  

Today, will you help someone know God?

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 11 n(7/11), is Matthew 7:11as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

“If you, then, though you are ‘evil’, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

The Creator of the Universe our Father?  The Master-Mind behind the intricacies of our bodies our Father?  The One who can be everywhere at once our Father?

How unworthy we are.  All we can do is fall at his feet and whisper, “You are so great.  I am so small. I am overwhelmed by your love.”

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 10 (7/10), is Psalm 7:10 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.”

We wouldn’t need a shield if everything on earth was good.  But God gave us free will to love Him or not, to follow Him or not.  He did not want robots to love and follow Him, for that is not true love or true commitment.

And so each of us has an assignment in life:  To bloom where we are planted.  To be strong in the Lord when others want to tear us away from Him.  To be an example.  And when sometimes things get too difficult for us (and they do from time to time), God stands ready to shield us while we rest.

He loves us so.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 9 (7/9) is Deuteronomy 7:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

Our amazing God!  He loved our great great grandparents and He will love our great great grandchildren.  The average age of having children is 30.  Therefore, if we took this literally, 1000 generations would be 30,000 years.  In that case, we’ve only just begun.

If taken figuratively, 10 to the Jews meant all inclusiveness, and 1000 is 10 x 10 x 10 or all inclusiveness times all inclusiveness times all inclusiveness.  This means God will love us all inclusive years, times all inclusive years, times all inclusive years ~ for eternity!

And God gives everything we ask of him if it is good for us.  All He asks in return is for us to give the little bit that He asks of us ~ faithfulness and keeping his few commandments.   What a grand arrangement!

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, July 8 (7/8), is Ecclesiastes 7:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”

Years ago there was a little boy who belonged to the Pee-Wee Baseball League.  A lot of teams played in different parts of a very large ball field.  He would get in line to wait his turn to bat the ball.  But he’d become impatient, feeling that he should be able to bat as often as he wanted.

So he’d take off across the field and get in the line of another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner.  When he didn’t go to bat as soon as he thought he should, he’d take off across the field in yet another direction and get in line of yet another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner.

After doing all that, he’d finally give up and come back to his own team.  By that time, if he had just stayed in line with his own team, he could have come up to bat 2 or 3 times.  His pride got in the way, his impatience got in the way, and he ended up losing all his turns.

What we hope and dream for may happen today, or a year from now, a decade from now. Let us learn to wait for our turn.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Inspirational2 Comments

The scripture for today, July 7 (7/7), is Matthew 7:7 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

How beautiful.  The Creator of the universe pays attention to each and every one of us. How does He do it? How does He even sort us all out when thousands of us are praying to Him at the same time?

Sometimes we may not think He is listening to our prayers.  But it takes time to answer some of them.  If I am praying to meet my future husband or wife, God may have to move him or her from the other side of the country, get a new job for him or her, and arrange for us to “accidentally” bump into each other.  This is just one example.

Also, when Jesus said whatever we seek will be given to us, he had already explained that we must “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).  So only within that context, God will give us our heart’s desire.

Maybe today you can do a little bit of extra seeking and extra knocking.