Luke 6 (November 21)

So I just spent the past 4 hours talking myself up for scholarship applications.. So I decided to take a break and do devos to practice some HUMILITY and MODESTY after all the 'im a great student. GIMME MONEY'

Wow today's chapter was just FILLED with all these great and memorable teachings of the bible. Verses 20-22 are the beatitudes. Perfect for this whole humility thing that I was talking about. All of the beatitudes pretty much takes all of the things that are considered bad in this world and twists them around to recognize the humility, holiness and blessings that these people will receive. An example is the first one: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." Obviously in this world, being poor is a bad thing - because not only are you not able to have a lot of the materialistic goods that are supposed to make us 'happy', but it also puts someone at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Being poor is often seen as one of the worst things ever. I know I always complain about not having enough money:P But according to Jesus, none of these things like being poor, hungry, sad or hated in the world are bad things - because it is these people (those who are rejected by the society of this world) that are blessed. Jesus says that those who are last on this world will become the first in heaven. So it shows us how God's perception of us is completely opposite of how the world perceives us. Someone that is filthy rich and has all of the material things that they could possibly want usually has a hard time being a good Christian and thus getting into heaven, because they have the tendency to rely on the materialistic things that are bringing you food, shelter, popularity, etc. But, those that have less find it much easier to turn to God and trust solely in him, because they can't trust in anything else. It is these people that God blesses in heaven. When Sam came back from Madascar I remember him telling us that he doesn't want Madagascar to become industrialize and capitalistic like the Americas. He notices how much true JOY, LOVE, and COMMUNITY that these people have, because they're not taken over and corrupted by selfishiness and materialism. It's so hard for us in this crazy capitalist society that we live in not to be reliant on money. And obviously we still need the food, the clothes, the shelter.. But do we really need those $7 venti vanilla bean lattes with soy milk and a shot of chai at starbucks? or those $300 jeans? (ahha sorry isaac i swear this isn't a personal attack on you. those were just my GENERAL examples ) And this materialism can take form in many other ways, like for example, my obsession with scholarships, demonstrates my lack of trust in God to help me get through. But yeah. This was great timing in reading this passage. Put things into perspective for me and sort of calmed me down

Also there's one verse that i absolutely fell in love with.
Verse 45: "For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."
This is part of the "A Tree and Its Fruit" part of this chapter.. And so pretty much its saying that our heart is recognized by the fruit that we bear. And by fruit he means our words and actions. Verse 45 means that the things that we speak are just an OVERFLOW of the things in our heart. So whatever goodness we possess in our hearts, it will show in our words and actions, and the opposite with the sin and evil in our hearts. Thus all the songs like 'from the inside out'. We have to make sure taht our heart is in the right place before we can expect our actions and words to change. On Friday me and Jacob were discussing some possible problems and hindrances that our praise team can be experiencing that stop us from truly worshipping. The same message goes for praise - if our hearts aren't worshipping, our voices, fingers, arms, and uh. leg (and wahtever other body parts we use for praise) can't be expected to worship.

haha we can even change the verse and say like: "for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth sings." or "for out of the overflow of his heart his fingers.. pluck.." HAHA you know what i mean.

So let's keep praying and really try to be the best possible praise team! See you all tmrw and get EXCITED!

busy day! lots of cleaning,movies,too much food... haha
im so tired now, i have this really bad headache, but itll pass
argg, i need to go to niagara tomorrow .... i love my fam.... but its so far !

20Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

i loved this chapter today. and theres a simple reason why i chose these verses today.
you think about all of those Christians who suffered BECAUSE they believed in God. They stood up for their faith, and suffered a great deal while they were still a part of this world. But think about it. What would have happened if they rejected God, and said "no im not a christian" just so they could live? Sure they would have been fine for the rest of their life on earth, but what would happen when they died and had to go to heaven or hell? What happens in this lifetime is important, but whats more important is what you do, that will reflect on whether it will lead you to eternal life or hell. We may be rejected by this world because we belive in Christ, but should we hide that so that we can have a easy time while we are living flesh? NO we need to stand up for our faith, and do our best. We will have to make sacrifices, but in the end, we will be able to spend eternity with God in heaven. We will sing His praises and will think back and be happy cause we will be able to live without regret

lol 2nd time, pressed back on the internet thing by accident so again!

24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

huh never thought this before. It is like the opposite of the beatitudes.
I really like the beatitudes because you can always see for yourself what Jesus said are the virtues I guess in christinaity
It is like a checklist almost, or reference whenever you are confused about something or having a hard time in your walk

Love those who hate you. Hate towards those around you will never turn into something good. It just causes problems. Obviously we will find people we cannot agree with, but don't resort to hate.

anyways that is all I hate laptops you press things by accident

c ya

hahaha it happens Allan. Today i didn't do much, studied a bit, will study tomorrow, played ALOT of Sudden Attack, owned, got invited to a REALLY pretty girl's birthday party that i did not attend to, had a soon moyim, and now i'm here.

The forum won't let Isaac come on, but he did do his devos...or so he says. haha

Hmmm, Jesus really shatters the unseen law the pharisees sugercoat to make it seem like the real law.
I realized that Jesus was doing ministry and even doing these great things even before his "calling".
He was called to become the ultimate sacrifice, but notice he wasn't just breaking down the barrier of just sin, but also
what was justice, truth and moral. Jesus did so many miracles on the Sabbath, of course to heal them and feelign compassion for them, but to prove God is always working and that there are more things that are important then staying within and behind the fences.

Yah, this chapter also explains humility especially with the beatitudes. Gos says don't be just a blessing, but when you
have all these things God has given you, BE a blessing. i'm grateful for our team and that i get the privilege to serve with you guys!
God has chosen each and everyone of us to SERVE and to BE a blessing within the church and we are trying to achieve
what God wants us to achieve through what we love, music, but more importantly, because of God.

Be humble. Expect nothing in return, but know that God is working always.
you know what the BEST characteristic a CEO can have for its company? Apparently it's humility. It's different when the CEO
takes time to come down and do the dirty work with the workers, it's different when the CEO takes time to talk with his/her employees.
and That's exactly what God just did. He was our humble king. God doesn't expect anything in return, but he does want a relationship with you.

40A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Continue to seek God, because we have been created to be like Him, a relational person at its fullest.
Of course we will never be Christ, but the more we try and desire, we will transform into somethign great.
Great as a definition in God's eyes, not in our own.

"For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

Great explanation of this verse, i simply love it!

49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.

Devotions is a key part of our lives, it is our daily bread and it is GOD'S WORDS.
The Bible is our foundation, and i really do wish we will continue to learn and grow and want to grow.
NO one can ever stop learning, no one can ever stop us as long as we have God

noobie mistake allan


20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

"God blesses you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours.
21 God blesses you who are hungry now,
for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
for in due time you will laugh.

this was a really cool quote from Jesus. God blesses those who are poor because when they die and go to heaven, they will have all the riches imaginable in heaven. God blesses those who are hungry, and makes them full. God blesses those who are sad, he makes them laugh soon enough. The one thing in common is that God blesses us everyone and helps out everyone. God will always be there for us so i want to have the faith that will trust God.

20Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

HEY!! The song yours in the kingdom, SICK SONG!!!
And plus, god uses the weak to lead the strong, I
dunt kno how many times i said that and it's true...
He can use the weak to help ANYONE!! I remember,
We were doing street missions and one person, who's
legs didnt work so he was in a broken wheel chair not
being able to go anywhere and the last thing he said
is HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!! I was extremly touched by
in and i think god used him to change me....

25Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.

People who have MORE than enuf to take care of
themselves, God has given you EVERYTHING but there
are people in this world jst like the homeless people
we've met in street missions that need our help...
Altho we have everything to take care of our selves, we
are STILL HUNGRY for something. We can feed these
kinda desires by helping people who are in need...
I have more than enuf to take care of my self and
when i helped the homless, i felt like something was
filled in my life... If we dont help the needy, we will
go hungry more... If u eat more than u should eat
EVERYDAY, we are gonna need eat more food than
we eat now...

33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that.

I cant express this in another way... We all do luv people who luv us...
But that's not gonna give us anything... If we luv people who dunt
luv us or hate us by showing sympathy, They are gonna luv us back...
We will earn more people that luv us... THINK!! IT'S SOOO TRU!!!

39He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Wat a powerful message... U need a person with a vision to help guide someone
who is blind. If a blind person leads another blind man, they can get hurt... It means
that if we do good to someone, prob the chances are, they are gonna to something good
to you, and if you do something bad to them, they will do something bad to you...
KARMA!!