Day 100 Bible Reading - Deuteronomy 13: 3-4 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 13-14, Luke 13: 1-30, Psalm 55: 12-23

Deuteronomy 13: 3-4 (ESV)

“..For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.”

These two verses from Deuteronomy 13 are Moses’ response to false prophets and others who say they can see the future and tempt us to worship other “gods”. When we come across these people, we must ask God for discernment. God allows such people to exist among us so he can test us. Are we truly faithful believers in him and his word or are we merely seeking a spiritual experience or even sign? Christ is our savior, but he also has commandments for us to follow. These are the few things God asks of us – to keep his commandments, obey him through the voice of the Holy Spirit, and serve him. I think the most important thing here in my experience is asking God for discernment. I constantly pray to God for discernment on what to do if I am at all confused or something doesn’t feel right, and I can’t come to an instant decision on what to do. Sometimes I do argue with God when he does give his advice, but over the years I’ve learned that if I don’t follow him my life doesn’t always turn out as well as I thought it would. Even if the response from God seems crazy and nonsensical, God always ends up being right.

Day 99 Bible Reading - Luke 12: 35-36 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 11-12, Luke 12: 35-59, Psalm 55: 1-11

Luke 12: 35-36 (ESV)

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.”

Verses 35 through 36 from Luke 12 give us advice from Jesus about waiting for his return and how we need to be focused on it and ready. I think it would be so amazing if Jesus returned, but at the same time I fear the return of Jesus because of what is written in the book of Revelations. My pastor talked about this year that we are starting to see the signs of the return of Christ as mentioned in Revelations. I do think there is a culling going on in mainstream denominations as they seem to be shrinking, and after COVID many churches closed. But I think the events I most fear from Revelations are the earth changes because those seem so destructive and disrupt so many lives. What I do not fear is Christ returning and the time of the judgement, because I have a good relationship with God. I know Jesus will recognize me and welcome me into his kingdom.

Day 98 Bible Reading - Luke 12: 22-23 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 9-10, Luke 12: 1-34, Psalm 54

Luke 12: 22-23 (ESV)

“And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”

Verses 22 through 23 from Luke 12 remind me of how I used to be many years ago before my faith become very important to me. I was very anxious about my job because the company I was with at the time was struggling financially since the 2008 recession. VPs came and went if they didn’t perform and we even had a work stoppage of two weeks. Then came the layoffs every two to three years, which were small at first with the last one being a 10% reduction in force across the board. I was so afraid of losing my job, always wondering if I was going to be in one of the layoffs for several years. It was a stressful environment to work in and I hated it. But Holy Spirit urged me to stay in that job until one day, I got the inspiration to move to be closer to family. I moved without a job and found another one within six months in my new city. That job was okay for awhile until it wasn’t, then I got the message from Holy Spirit to leave that job. Quitting a job because I wasn’t happy was a bucket list item for me, so I was happy to leave that job and thereby fulfilling a lifelong wish. I was only able to  quit the new job, because I listened to the Holy Spirit about staying in the old job. When I quit the old job, I walked away with a nice chunk of change. Not being anxious about my job situation led me to focus more on God, and I can honestly say that I am more rich in God now than I’ve ever been before in my whole life. I owe all of this to listening to the Holy Spirit and following most of the advice I was given. God has truly taken care of me even when I was so far away from him because I was too worried about having money in my life.

Day 97 Bible Reading - Luke 11: 35-36 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 6 – 8, Luke 11: 33-54, Psalm 53

Luke 11: 35-36 (ESV)

“Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.””

Verses 35 through 36 from Luke 11 is a warning from Jesus of having darkness within ourselves. Jesus could perceive it and others can as well. If you live without the light of Jesus within you, the light within you will not be bright. Not having the light of God within you will also make you spiritually blind. You will be blind to the miracles of Jesus and live as a hypocrite. In my life, I’ve had people come up and tell they see so much light within me. Or they look at a photograph of me and tell me, “you have so much light in your eyes.” When I look at myself in the mirror, I cannot see the light that they see. I wonder if it’s because I am so used to looking at my own face, I cannot see any difference. I’ve had a relationship with God since I was a child. The most touching thing to me is when old people tell me I have so much light. They come up to me and they want to touch me, and they smile and tell “I can tell you are a good person. Do you go to church?” When I answer yes, they smile and go on their way. I had an older woman say to me when I was sitting outside of a store resting with my mask on during the COVID mask days, “I can tell you are smiling because of your eyes. You seem like such a nice person.” Even under my mask, my light shone. Does the light of God shine within you so much that random people tell you how much light you have? If not, why not?