Just before the Jews entered the land God promised to them, modern day Israel, after they were led out of Egypt by Moses, Moses gave them something we might call a charge, or duty which is applicable for us today.

He said in Deuteronomy 4:40, “I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

The commands Moses gave them, recorded in Deuteronomy 5, were what we call the Ten Commandments today; In my words, Put all your trust in God and don’t make other things more important than Him, show respect for God’s name, go to church, respect and honor your parents and authorities; Don’t murder, commit sexual sins, steal, lie, or desire something so much that you would do wrong to get it.

In Deuteronomy 5:33 he tells them, “Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives.”

Dear Lord, Your directions are clear; Help us follow them, because they are the instruction manual for our lives, to make it work well. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

You have probably heard someone use this expression when they seemingly have tried everything to get something accomplished, “What’s it going to take to…….”

In the Old Testament, God sent prophets to the people to try to get them to change their ways. One of these prophets was Amos.

In Amos 4:6 he tells the people God’s message saying, “I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me. says the Lord.”

God is saying in essence, “what’s it going to take to get you people to return and follow me?”

We cannot know if the causes of problems in our lives are put there by God to get us to return to him, but they may be. Either way, however, we should turn to him for help, comfort, and resolution of the struggles in our lives.

Dear Lord, When we have negative experiences, may they remind us to return to you. You are our strength, protection and salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

I think humans have an inherent desire to know how things work, and why things are the way they are; So much so that we guess, which in Science we call a “hypothesis.” Many people who want to rule out God’s design, and His creation as a reason, conveniently use the word “theory” for their guess.

As Christians, we accept that there are many mysteries we do not yet understand, and may never understand.

In John 3, Jesus says that we must be “born again” to enter the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus, a Jewish scholar or Pharasee, questioned what Jesus meant. Jesus replied in John 3:8, “The wind blows where ever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but cannot tell where in comes from, or where it is going, so you cannot explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus doesn’t understand, and Jesus tells him, like he tells us about our “theories,” in John 8:12, “But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”

Dear Lord, You give us so much of your wisdom in the Bible, much remains a mystery, but some we just choose to question. Open our eyes and hearts to see your meaning and believe your message. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

I have heard it said, “You become who you run with, and they become you.” Obviously you don’t actually become that other person, but when we spend lots of time with someone, their lingo, attitudes, and perspective influence ours. It is very important, therefore, to manage who we spend our time with, because, positive or negative, they are influencing and changing us.

The Bible talks about this in Exodus 23:33, where God tells the Israelites, “Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.” Proverbs 24:1, says “Don’t envy godless men; don’t even enjoy their company.”

The interesting thing is that in modern times with television, podcasts, youtube, and other connections, our circle of people influencing us does not just consist of the people we physically spend time with. We can be just as influenced by people we follow on social media, television, and the like; so we need to be careful who we are “running with” even in our “virtual circle”

Dear Lord, help us have the courage to remove those who are negative influences from our circle, and when that is not possible, help us be the positive influence that raises the group to a higher level of faithfulness to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen

What does it mean to be mature? or What does it mean when we tell someone to “grow up?” It doesn’t have anything to do with their age, but is more about their behavior and judgment. One definition of maturity is the ability to accept delayed gratification; to work on something for an extended period of time before seeing the results.

In a similar way as we become more mature in our Christian faith, we can begin to accept the struggles and challenges of being a Christian with the joy of knowing we will be rewarded in time. We accept those challenges out of love for God, and our fellow men and women. Paul writes in Romans 8:18, ” Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.”

Dear Lord, Help us become more mature Christians to take our suffering and struggles in faith, knowing that our future reward will be the peace of trusting you, and ultimately our eternal reward in heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen.