Mood:  hungry

S. Matthew 2:13-15 

13.) Now after they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph (increase) in a dream and said, Get up! [Tenderly] take unto you the young Child and His mother and flee to Egypt (troubles/oppression/anguish); and remain there till I tell you [otherwise], for Herod (outward appearnace) intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him.

14.) And having risen, he took the Child and His mother by night and withdrew to Egypt (troubles/oppresion/anguish) 15And remained there until Herod’s (outward appearance) death. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt (troubles/oppression/anguish) have I called My Son.

O. Jesus is our life's example. What He did, we are to do, too.

In these scriptures Joseph/Increase obeyed God (No obedience to God, no growth/fruit)

... Joseph wanted Jesus safe and to grow up healthy and wise. As a good father, Joseph led His Son to a place in which to grow. obeying God's direction.

That place was 'life'...EGYPT, a place of troubles.

Life is where we learn wisdom. Here is where 'increase/Joseph' led our 'Salvation/Jesus' in order to learn wisdom through 'troubles/Egypt' until... His 'outward appearance/flesh/'Herod' woud DIE!

A. God wants me to have attain wisdom, learned through my living life...here, in life's troubles, is where my outward/fleshly appearance dies. Just like Jesus as He grew up in Egypt. Growth and fruit are produced in my "Egypts".

The soil of my life has to be WORKED UP in order for full growth! THEN, with the wisdom learned, FRUIT CAN GROW.

P. Thanks You for showing me that even Jesus had to go through 'Egypt', led by His Father, in order to become wise, drop the fleshly outward appearance, and then produce fruit and growth. I WANT THAT, LORD! Teach me wisdom as I go through my life. I want to grow in health and fruit!

Mood:  surprised

S. 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15  (MSG) Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God.

12:7 (MSG) Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty!

O. Satan knows God, and he knows us. If he can fool us, he will, even coming to us through any disguise.

When we discover these deceits, we are to fight.

2 Corinthians 12:7 gives us the answer to HOW to fight...on our knees.

Prayer, praise and humility to God is our weapon against satan.

Everything in the Kingdom is opposite the world.

Satan has no power through prayer, praise and humility. These things are Truth...and satan has no Truth in him.

This is how we break through and find out Truth. We bow to God and let Him take it!

A. The only way to discern Truth from lies is in humility. When I humble myself to God in prayer and praise, Holy Spirit reveals to me the Truth even through the disguise of deception. Being sensitive to Holy Spirit helps me to 'see' what satan tries to hide. I can then know WHO the enemy is, and what he is trying to disguise himself as.

ON MY KNEES I FIND TRUTH AND POWER!

P. Father, I pray for eyes to see the enemy. I pray for discernment of his ways of attack. Make me quick to remember, Holy Spirit, that when deceit comes in disguise, it is time to get armed on my knees!

Mood:  happy

 A 'FISH' IN LIFE'S 'NET'; LEARNING 24/7 JOY

S. 2 Corinthians 7:10,11 (MSG)

O. The definition of 'distress' is: "to afflict with pain, physical or mental; oppress or crush with suffering, misfortune, or calamity; make miserable."

Sounds like 'life' to me.

God uses my 'life' and 'living' to 'work out my 'salvation'.  

I can either wiggle like a fish in a net, taking longer to learn and knowing the end result is the same

...OR I can surrender in the joy of knowing that I am learning what God has sent that 'distress' to teach me...and KEEP my joy!

The choice is always mine!

A. During my last BIG 'distress', I wiggled like a 'crazy fish' in the net of life.

 The end result could have come alot faster if I would have surrendered to what God was trying to teach me in the first place.

I now see that I need to EQUALIZE MY JOY! (which I can't do alone...HOLY SPIRIT is my Helper in this). When 'distresses' of the net-of-life comes again, I need to rest in the knowledge that God has me there for a reason...and learn it in JOY! (AND curiosity!)

P. Father, make me 'life-smart'! I SO need eyes to see and a heart that trusts You in ALL life's 'nets'! Equalize my joy, Father...both in distressful times and times of joy! That would be MY proof to MYSELF that I trust in YOU totally...in or out of the 'fishing net'! Learning Your 24/7 JOY...no matter what!

S. 2 Corinthians 3:3,6 (MSG) Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.

vs. 6 The plan wasn't written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It's written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!

O. We Believers are an open book for all to see what God's character is because He lives in us. Our lives and everyday living are what people 'see' as the character of God. Our lives 'PUBLISH' The Living God.

A. Every step I take, every move I make, every work I say, every gesture I do....all point to who God is. If my life doesn't show Him in HIS character, then He doesn't rule inside of me. If my total life and living doesn't reveal His love through me, then something needs to change inside of me. Oozing Jesus from an inner overflow to the outside of my life, is my goal...to be like Jesus.

P. Father, help me to be more like Jesus. Increase my desire to be so close to You that Your character automatically flows through me.

Mood:  happy

S. Psalm 149:1-4 (MSG) Hallelujah! Sing to God a brand-new song,...And why? Because God delights in his people,...

O. We are to 'sing a new' song in order to 'repair, rebuild and renew' ourselves each day. Fresh joy each day as we go through a new day...all because God delights in us!

A. Every new day, God wants me to have NEW joy! This gives Him delight. Because I want to please Him, I need NEW joy everyday. Joy comes from thankfulness. Each morning I want to look for something that renews my gratitude to God. This raises up in me NEW joy, fresh happiness that reveals God's love for me. Just like a father, My Father rejoices in my joy!

P. Father, I pray for NEW gratitude each morning. I pray for NEW joy in YOU! I want You delighted in me!

Mood:  amorous

 "TRUE LOVE"

S. 1 Corinthians 14:1 (MSG) Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you.

O. The most important thing is life is love; love of God, love of other people. Love is the only thing that lasts forever. We will be remembered for how we have loved. Love is what God judges us on as we continue our eternal life's journey.

And when God gives us His gifts of the Spirit, we are to totally put our whole selves into them; giving them all we've got...studying them, practicing them, learning from mentors about the. In this way our God-given gifts are put to HIS use for man's good.

A. All that can matter in my life is how I love God and others. Everything good stems out of love. Everything that is real and truth comes out of love. When I know God's compassion in my heart, allowing His love to reign through me, I feel that love that lasts. In that place of God's compassion, I am real and full of God's Truth. I can't love in a real way without knowing God's love for me and others. When I love HIM, He spreads His love over me, inside and out. It's a love I can not contain or keep for myself. It overflows onto others. This is the place I need to constantly live...KNOWING God's love, personally!

P. Teach me more about Your love, Father. Open my eyes, ears and heart to Your kind of love. Fill me up with Your special kind of love...to the top and overflowing. I NEED Your love, compassion and passion, Jesus!

 "LOVE, THE APHRODISIAC FOR SPIRITUAL GIFTS"

S. 1 Corinthians 12: 29-31 Are all apostles (special messengers)? Are all prophets (inspired interpreters of the will and purposes of God)? Are all teachers? Do all have the power of performing miracles?

Do all possess extraordinary powers of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all--love].

O. The desire for spiritual gifts comes from our love for God. When we desire to please Him because of our love for Him, we want to do what His Son Jesus did; point to the Father through actions then words. Jesus had all the spiritual gifts. Because we also are 'sons of God', we can have them, too...just by stirring up our desire through love of God.

A. Wanting to please God stirs up my heart to desire what I can do for Him. God just wants us all to know Him. I must show God's love and desire for ALL people by showing 'proof' that He lives in me. The 'proof' is in the gifts that God gives me. I desire these because I know He loves me...and that I love Him.

P. Father, I love how You love me. Stir me up inside, Father, by our love, so that I will desire every gift that You have chosen for me.

Mood:  hungry

 "Eating at Home so I can Eat with Others"

S. 1 Corinthians 11:33, 34 So then, my brothers, when you gather together to eat [the Lord’s Supper], wait for one another.

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together to bring judgment [on yourselves.

O. When we come together to learn about what God's Word says, we are to come having learned from God, personally, at home. We are to come prepared with what God has given us personally in order to, maybe, share what He has shown us personally. We are to come together prepared to learn from others what they have learned personally. We are not to come together as ravenously hungry but come willing to partake from others knowledge on the basis of what we have also personally learned. In that way we do not 'hog' the time spent in what others are sharing, equalizing the learning from others.

A. When I study God's Word at home, I have a basis on which to learn from others. I have heard from God through His Word, personally, and can then go on to learn more from what others have 'heard' from God in their personal time. This adds to my learning without taking more time from others and their learning. It's adding more revelation on top of what I have learned at home in my personal life.

P. Father, You alone know what knowledge and wisdom I need more of. Prepare my heart, through Your Word, in a personal way, in order that I will come together with others and receive THEIR revelations, too!

Mood:  a-ok

S. 1 Corinthians 2:16 For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.

O. We can not understand the way God thinks. We can't TEACH Him ANYTHING! But we DO posess the same faculties that the Son of God has! We DO hold Jesus' mode of thinking, judgement, feelings, purposes and desires, because He dwells inside of us. We just have to 'step aside' and let Jesus rule! THEN we'll have the same desires, thoughts, feelings and purposes as HE has! And He KNOWS the Father!

A. I believe that anything that is good in me is Jesus. He is ONLY good, and is the reason I can be good. I KNOW when I, myself, step aside and let Jesus be King in my life because everything comes out right, good and points to Father God! Learning to walk like Jesus is learning to surrender all of me to Him.

P. Jesus, walk in FRONT of me. I ask for humility and surrender in my life...more of YOU and less of ME!