A Broken Believer

Friday – 05/17/19 Jeremiah 3:1-18 Reflections: 1. How has God demonstrated His loving grace toward you even when you were deep in sin? How can you make repentance a regular practice in your spiritual life? God has provided me with all the basic necessities I need and often more. He has also provided spiritual leaders and friends who have been running alongside me trying to encourage me in my faith and build up my relationship with God. Even as I am sinking deeper into sin when I am alone, God has made it possible for me to return and to grow and thrive in church. It's something I don't actively think about or realize. I can make repentance a regular practice in my spiritual life by regularly coming before God every night, and whatever sins I have committed that day I bring before Him and ask for forgiveness, as well as find ways to prevent the sin from happening again or to fight the temptation the next time. 2. When have you responded to a call to repentance? How...

Tuesday – 05/14/19 Jeremiah 2:9-19 Reflections: 1. How do you understand God’s laws? Which of His laws are most challenging to obey? I understand God's laws by understanding the root cause or benefit of following His laws. Knowing why there is a law in place, or how it contributes to my relationship with God, is effective in helping me follow the law practically. His laws to deny myself and follow Him is the most difficult for me to follow, because I am so caught up in myself. I do not care for others as much as I should, and I do not fear God's holiness as much as I should either. 2. What things in this world entice you away from God? How is Jesus Christ much more satisfying than these things? Material possessions, outward looks, career, and lust are just some of the things that entice me away from God. It's not that I prefer them to God, or my relationship with God, but it seems I have just forgotten how good God is, and how valuable a relationship with Him ...

Proverbs 2 My son,  if you receive my words      and treasure up my commandments with you, 2  making your ear attentive to wisdom      and inclining your heart to understanding; 3  yes, if you call out for insight      and raise your voice  for understanding, 4  if you seek it like  silver      and search for it as for  hidden treasures, 5  then  you will understand the fear of the  Lord      and find the knowledge of God. 6  For  the  Lord  gives wisdom;      from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7  he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;      he is  a shield to those who  walk in integrity, 8  guarding the paths of justice      and  watching over the way of his  saints. 9  Then you will unde...

Proverbs 1:20-33 20  Wisdom cries aloud in the street,      in the markets she raises her voice; 21  at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;      at  the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22  “How long, O  simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will  scoffers delight in their scoffing      and fools  hate knowledge? 23  If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will  pour out my spirit to you;      I will make my words known to you. 24  Because I have called and  you refused to listen,      have  stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, 25  because you have  ignored all my counsel      and  would have none of my reproof, 26  I also  will laugh at your calamity;      I will mock when  terror strikes you, 27  when t...

Proverbs 1:8-19 8  Hear, my son, your father's instruction,      and forsake not your mother's teaching, 9  for they are  a graceful garland for your head      and  pendants for your neck. 10  My son, if sinners  entice you,      do not consent. 11  If they say, “Come with us,  let us lie in wait for blood;      let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12  like Sheol let us  swallow them alive,      and whole, like  those who go down to the pit; 13  we shall find all precious goods,      we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14  throw in your lot among us;      we will all have one purse”— 15  my son,  do not walk in the way with them;      hold back your foot from their paths, 16  for  their feet run to evil,   ...

Proverbs 1:1-7 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: 2  To know wisdom and instruction,      to understand words of insight, 3  to receive instruction in wise dealing,      in  righteousness, justice, and equity; 4  to give prudence to  the simple,      knowledge and  discretion to the youth— 5  Let the wise hear and  increase in learning,      and the one who understands obtain guidance, 6  to understand a proverb and a saying,      the words of the wise and their  riddles. 7  The fear of the  Lord  is the beginning of knowledge;      fools despise wisdom and instruction. For my Personal Devotional this new year for as long as this format lasts, I would like to study the book of Proverbs by sections (subheaders). I feel like Proverbs will be the most stra...