Romans 11

Remember to do sunday reflections tomorrow guys.

1Am I saying that God has turned his back on his people? Certainly not! I am one of the people of Israel, and I myself am a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God did not turn his back on his chosen people. Don't you remember reading in the Scriptures how Elijah complained to God about the people of Israel? 3He said, "Lord, they killed your prophets and destroyed your altars. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me."
One thing to never forget, never confuse... God will NEVER, turn His back on you. Don't ever think for a second that God will abandon you. That's not how it works... no matter how many times YOU leave GOD, no matter how many times you stray away or think you dont need Him.. hes ALWAYS there waiting to accept you back. He's always standing there, waiting for you to return with His arms wide open. He chose you. He loves you. He created you. Why would he turn his back on something he loves so dearly? He's our father, he's our support, foundation, our.. everything!

4But the Lord told Elijah, "I still have seven thousand followers who have not worshiped Baal." 5It is the same way now. God was kind to the people of Israel, and so a few of them are still his followers. 6This happened because of God's undeserved kindness and not because of anything they have done. It could not have happened except for God's kindness.
There can be hundreds or thousands of non believers, but as long as atleast one follower of Christ tries to spread God's love, there is always hope for more people to turn to Christ!
I remember Sayah comparing schindler's list, with the bible.
He was talking about how the point of missions was to go and spread God's word to the people at the reserve. It's not all about having fun with the kids, its not all about going their to organize games, but the MAIN purpose behind all of that, is in hopes to reach out to these kids with God's love and mercy. God works in people, all the time, when we went there as a team, he used US to plant seeds into their hearts so that someday they can grow up to be beautiful sons and daughters of God.But it doesnt mean that we have to convert the whole entire reserve in a matter of days... all that matters is where OUR hearts lie, when we go to share God's love. Just knowing that we can atleast change ONE person's life, by introducing them to God, one day, they are going to break open out of their jars of clay, and will let Christ's light shine!!!
We cant force someone to believe in God, we can force someone to automatically believe in Christ.. ultimately... it gets down to the point where God has to do the rest, you do your part, and God will take over from there.. but we need to remember our focus, and keep trying to plant seeds into others.
Atleast then, we could atleast say, that because of God's love and kindness, there is atleast ONE follower of Christ, who can make a difference.

36Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen.
amen!

I guess I'm fairly late to post devos?

Oh yeah, SINGLES AWARNESS DAY! Don't got me a valentine, ahhahahaha!

The first part really interested me at first - I guess it sorta took me by surprise. Elijah was one of the last 1000 who have not worshiped God, where God's prophets and worship places were destroyed - the remnant - the remains of the Israelites - were chosen by grace, but not out of what they did as works. I mean, works do matter, but I think it's the heart that really counted towards God that made them the last few and righteous to worship.

I really liked the branches example - where it really sums up to how branches break off because of unbelief (where others might have different times where we're not as close to God), while others stand by having that faith - Verse 21 makes it really clear - Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Verse 32 overall is making me ponder a little bit right now - For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Once we do things we know go against God's moral code, we should be in a position to realize what we have done, pray to God and offer it, where he already knows - nothing can't be hidden - and God just offers us mercy in hopes that we continue to try for God.

My 2 cents of the day.

- Jules.

20 Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. 21 For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’tt spare you either.

22 Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. 23 And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree.

I read this passage and it really spoke to me. I'm constantly taking the privillege and oppurtunity of being able to worship God let alone even Knowing him for granted. The fact that we even have a chance to be on this branch is such a blessing yet I feel like we take advantage of it way too much. We constantly break off from the branch, but at that same time, God constantly brings us back to the branch. I think we all as individuals should try to make a goal not to HAVE to come back to the heart of worship so often.

Sorry i didnt do devo on saturday!
i went to a band concert and came back late. i had a major headache and slept right away
sorry! we came third though ahaha

Romans 11
Right when i read the first verse of this chapter it really hit me.
1
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! .....................

To me i think this means that God didn't reject any of his people back then. Then why would he now?
He has every right to love us the same amount as he did in the past. So we should always stay by his side because he will always be with us through good times and bad times and never reject us.

18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in," 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.

These verses really spoke out to me because it explains or captures perfectly the way we think when we have been "grafted" on. We are prideful and we believe ourselves to be above others, but the truth is that our blessing could be easily taken away, as it says in verse 21. We should consider being blessed by God as a privilege and even help others on to the tree. After these verses, it also explains that we should never try to get close to God for the reason of being accepted by him, but to love him unconditionally because that is what God intended us to do. It also says that we should try to bring in those who do not believe yet and to help show God's grace and mercy.

Hey peops~~~
How was Valentine's Day??? Mine was awesome~ XD
Sorry I didn't do devos for a really long time......ㅠ.ㅠ
I have no excuse, other than to say I was slacking off......

16: If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
This verse is actually interesting to me, 'cause it bases on God/Jesus Christ and Christians. It says that if our origin is holy, we are, too, but how can that be when we have to ask for forgiveness and if we sin every second of our lives? This verse is like relating God/Jesus Christ with Christians, which is literally impossible to relate to, 'cause Christians are nowhere near where/what God/Jesus Christ is. But I think this passage is trying to relate God/Jesus Christ with Christian's hearts, 'cause Christians themselves aren't holy, but the heart that we let God/Jesus Christ purify is pure and holy, and I think that's where this passage is leading towards; whatever we may do, God/Jesus Christ is always with us, and if they're always with us, then we will always be a part of God/Jesus Christ, holy.

Sorry. My computer wasn't working until oneish at night and then I somehow deleted and couldn't get my devo back.
So, I promised myself I'd post the gist of it today.
Here's basically want I was sayinggg:

It sounds like we're being told that we are imperfect so we can always strive toward perfection; to set the devoted apart from the people who don't try/won't try. Like, I said before, if we were perfect, we wouldn't be able to truly appreciate God for creating us, or Jesus for dying for us. Then again, Jesus wouldn't even have to have died for us if we were perfect.
Sin, keeps God's grace and love, awe-some!

Btw, sorry these last couple of devos have been short.
I feel like, everything is being repeated with different examples and what not.
I'm trying to find something that pops, bleeeeh.
K, off to post the next. (: