October 1

Daniel hasn't sent me the updated devotions for this week.
For today, just do your own devotions. Sorry about the late notice.

Thought I'd share. Yay.
-cough.- Didn't know where to look, so I started on Genesis.
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[f] east of Eden.
17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
23 Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

OK. So. To bring up a topic of problem solving, how do we solve the daily issues we face at our schools and other important places today? Do we just try to avoid it and forgive/forget? Or do we speak back and justify ourselves against whatever we did? In any case, it's hard to lend the other cheek (the Revelations chapter on being hit on the cheek), but the reason why it was written so, was because issues might end, but wars don't. Issues are the main source of war-like situations. When we have an issue, we have a tendency to want to be even leveled, so that we may look at each other without feeling inferiority. When we do feel that we're being treated with inferiority, we feel that that's not the way we should be treated and that we should therefore strike back.

Well, in short. It's the same as rallying during a racket sport (tennis, ping pong, badminton), if we don't get back at them, we feel like something unjust was left unjudged.

But thing is, who are we to judge? I think, that if it's really that hard to lend the other cheek, we should just walk away. Instead of trying to start something, it's better to avoid it, or end it as quickly as possible with the least effort, rather than wasting time that you could be using to "make, create" and be productive.

If God was arguing with the serpent from Genesis years long, then we wouldn't have been made. He was prioritizing, and seeing the bigger picture.

JAKE, you don't need to do this devo since you did your own.

Ephesians 4:17-23
17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused.
18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.
19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
20 But that isn’t what you learned about Christ.
21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him,
22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.
23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Look at the arrangement of dots below, and copy it to a piece of paper. Without lifting your pencil, can you draw four straight lines in such a way that at least one line goes through each dot? . . . . . . . . . How'd you do? It's impossible, you say? Can't be done? Think again. It can be done, but it requires breaking out of your usual way of thinking. Did you consider starting your straight lines only on one of the dots, or did you consider the possibility that the straight lines could extend beyond the figure of nine dots? Try it this way: Beginning with the dot in the lower left corner, draw a straight line diagonally to the top right corner. Next, draw a straight line down from the top right corner, continuing past the dot in the bottom right corner. Then, beginning below the dot at the bottom right, draw a straight line diagonally through the dot in the middle of the bottom row and the far-left dot in the middle row (piercing only two dots) and again continuing past that dot into the space to the left of the top row. Then draw your fourth straight line across the top row of the figure. Phew! You did it! What's the point of this exercise? Well, the more you learn about God and his ways, the more you will begin to think in ways that other people just can't understand. As you learn more and more about God and accept him as the authority over right and wrong, your thoughts and attitudes will begin to change. When others react one way to a certain situation or temptation, you will act and react in a totally different way. When others choose wrong, you will be able to choose right because you know some things that they don't understand. If something seems impossible, people think, "Hey, it can't be done." Let's face it-as humans we can be pretty limited in our thinking. But just like the dot exercise, we can be trained to go beyond our limitations. How? By thinking like Christ. First Corinthians 2:16 tells us, "We can understand [spiritual and other truths], for we have the mind of Christ." With his limitless thinking, the possibilities are endless!

REFLECT: Do your friends ever express surprise about the way you think or the things you do? Do they think differently from you about right and wrong? If so, why? If not, why not?

PRAY: "God, how great it is that you give us a new way of thinking. Help me to develop the same mind as Christ and to act and react like he would?"

I felt that this devo was slightly abstract. Didn't quite feel very focused a main theme. Also seemed kinda left-field... like the dots analogy. But anyways, I guess that one of the things we need to thank God for is the ability to think critically as well as creatively. Would be a strange world if we could only be one or the other, but even if we are stronger on one side, we still have some of the other.
He gave us this mind so that we can try to comprehend right and wrong as well as to be thankful for what he's given us. Because Christ was in the likeness of man, we can also think like him and thoughts turn into words and words to actions and whatnot. So always have the mindset of being a Christlike person.

23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

this stood out to me.
What i got from the message itself was that God has taught us and reminded us how we should be living our lives. We are really lucky that we have the bible because if we didnt have the bible what would we base our beleives on? It is already hard enough beleiving something you cannot see,hear,touch,smell, and taste. God has provided us with information to help us.

22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

God always gives us second chances. I remember we sang a song called "God of Second Chances" and it is really true God forgives us when we ask him too, our God is such a loving God who gives us another chance when we make mistakes

all i got?
gnite

Lots of work, will do tomorrow!

18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.
19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

Once you begin scripture reading upon the bible, you KNOW yourself right from wrong and what is expected.
God sets these guidelines straight, how to live your life.
But there's always something we're missing from God and it scares me to believe that we'll never be on the same level of comprehension of God.
We're always missing something each and everyday, how much do I know of God?
God and I are so spread apart, that's what gives me the chills.
How could I even be worthy to follow him, to imitate his son, to follow his actions and beliefs.
Truthfully, that's what I struggle with the most, to understand WHY God gives us His love.

23 "Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes."
So while I read that specific verse, I thought of forgiveness.
To renew is to become new or restore something.
In this case we should be restoring or creating a new relationship with Christ after we had sinned or done something that God would disagree with.
If we let the spirit make us new, we can change our status of sin, to a holy life with God.

19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

This is what stuck out to me. If we have no sense of shame. SOMETHING needs to be self-assessed.
Things like swearing, make me feel nervous or, feel guilty these days.
It's something I tend to do when I'm upset. Terrible habit. And I know the importance of not doing so.
We need to show some kind of caring to genuinely change. If we do things without remorse, there's an issue here.
Hahaha!

18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.
23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.
the two verses really stood out to me. i tend to sometimes not put God as my top priority these days because of all the homework and tests, etc that i have. this is no excuse to put God in the back of you mind. we wander away from Him and when we are going through a tough time, we blame God even though He has always been our side trying to help us. but God forgives. we wrongly blame God, but still God forgives and he purifies our hearts and minds.

21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him,
22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

For those that have not have heard of Jesus, or lack knowledge are hopelessly confused.
But we have the knowledge and understanding of God. Although it may not be a wide variety of knowledge, we know that God is our Father and guides us in his way.
Since we know and heard about Jesus, we should throw our sinful natures away and give everything we have to God and let the spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes.
Although it may be hard, God will be there by our side helping us. We should at least try.