Remember to check the reading list on Crosswalk.com. See Post #2 for details.
We begin the year in Genesis, Psalms and Luke. In Genesis we encounter the creation story, Adam & Eve, Cain & Able, Noah & the flood, the tower of Babel and the start of Abram's journey. We shouldn't have any trouble finding some spiritual truth for our lives in these stories. As you read these stories either for the first time or for the 100th time, use these questions to stimulate your reflection.
1. Creation is chaos to order in Genesis 1. Where has God taken chaos in your life and brought order? Is there some chaos right now in your life that requires God's order?
2. When you think about temptation, what is the first struggle that comes to mind in your life right now?
3. God never stops trying to be in relationship with us. The story of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel are good examples of how God provides ways for a relationship with Him even though we have displeased Him. Have you confessed those sins in your own life that have displeased God? Have you received the forgiveness He gives so freely? Do you live a life of forgiveness?
4. Few of us have the faith and obedience of Noah. His was an obedience that spanned over a 100 years. Read the story again. Ask yourself, what is God asking of me?
5. The tower of Babel was a grand plan. Have you experienced a time in your life when you had a grand plan & suddenly it fell apart? Did you find God in the failure? What did you learn?
6. Abram - Genesis 12:4 "So Abram went..." Will you go wherever God calls? What are you resisting in your faith journey?
These are just a few questions to get you thinking and talking to God. More later on Luke and Psalms.
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I would say that I feel like I have alot of chaos in my life right now. I am juggling full-time graduate coursework online, a counseling internship twice a week in Fort Wayne, continuing to meet my goals of weight loss and excerising at the YWCA, as well as my own personal spiritual growth goals.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest temptation in my life and my greatest resistence to God's plan for me is to worry and try to figure out all the stuff that is going to happen in my life in the next 5-7 months (graduation, job, licensure, living situation and/or location).
God is asking me to trust that he has a plan for my life and not to worry or try to "figure it out".
Recently God "blew apart" my grand plan. I had a plan to move to Cincinnati, go through a Masters program, get a job there and stay there. In July I moved back to Van Wert due to lack of funds, and a communted to classes from August till December. I have learned not to make grand plans!
I try to live a life of forgiveness, but I struggle. I am very hard on myself when I sin against God. I am more hard on myself and do not forgive myself then I do anyone else. I am constantly asking for forgiveness and needing to pause to allow God's grace to break in through my own perfectionistic tendencies!
Life usually is chaos - after all these years it's a constant lesson in "going with the flow" whether it's curve balls thrown at us, or that perfect pitch. It's amazing to read how creation was molded from nothing - and the awesomeness of God. The older I get the easier it is to TRY to trust, doesn't always happen but somehow, someway he always makes us land on our feet - we might think we're at strike two, but so far the game isn't over yet, despite the strikes.
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