Thoughtfully Thankful

     As I was doing my morning devotions today I came across an interesting scripture. It was one of those passages that really make you stop and think about just how mighty God really is.

    I Corinthians 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

     It is such a clear (real blunt) reminder of how absolutely PERFECT God is and how we need him so very much. According to this scripture the "foolishness" of God is still wiser than the smartest, most educated, well informed and wise person on Earth. And the "weakness" of God is still stronger than the most powerful, fit, muscular athlete ever. I'm sure most of us already knew this. I mean he is God of the universe after all. But if you stop and really think about it, acknowledging and letting it apply to your life isn't always so straight forward and easy.

     Have you ever been in a situation where you think you have it all under control? You think you know the right decision to make but for some reason everything keeps going wrong? Many times without realizing it, we try to handle things ourselves and accidentally push God out. I know with me, there have been times when I would hear God's "still small voice" and ignore it. Not because I didn't want God's direction, but because I was so wrapped up in my own understanding. I didn't recognize God's voice until later when everything had already fallen apart.
     Proverbs 3:5-6 says (5) Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (6) In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. It's so important to make sure that in every aspect of our lives we are allowing God to speak His wisdom to us and give us His strength. Compared to him we are so weak and so unwise. We need to trust Him and lean on Him to direct our lives. His will is ALWAYS the very best place to be!

     Lord, I pray that today you help all of us to remember to come to you with our problems and decisions. Help us to seek you in everything that we do. You are so wise and strong and I know that you always have the perfect plan for our lives. Help us to remember that even when we mess up and don't listen to your voice that you are always there waiting to take our hand and help us through life's struggles. You are always there to help us pick up the pieces of the mess we've made and move forward. I'm so very thankful that you care for us and are there to take care of us. I love you so much God and I just want to please you. Amen.

~Bethany Bryen

Happiness or Joy?

Always be joyful.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 NLT
    While reading the Bible one day I was struck by this passage. Many people associate joy with happiness.  Happiness brings joy and joy brings happiness.  According to Webster's dictionary, joy is "the emotion evoked by well-being...source or cause of delight" and happy: "enjoying or characterized by well-being."  Wow…source of delight?
     I don't want just happiness, I want joy.  I want happiness that can NEVER be taken away. Happiness is an emotion that causes feelings; it makes us feel good.  When we ace a test, get a job or promotion, finally get something we desired, etc.  These things make us happy. Happiness comes from something and ultimately from something that can be taken, lost, or destroyed.  Joy comes from within and is from God; it gets you through troubled times.  Joy cannot be stolen from you because it is not an emotion affected by circumstance; it brings a peace and contentment that separates us from the world.  
      The world looks for "quick fixes" to be happy while we should look to the one true Joymaker, God.  

     Lord, I pray that each and every member of Fusion would strive to know the difference between happiness and joy.  I ask Lord, that You would be their one, true Joymaker and that they would find their contentment in You. We know that true contentment is not satisfied by any earthly thing but only comes from You. Give us joy that can never be stolen by any man. Amen.

    ~Holly Finley

Straight Talk

2 Samuel 12

Nathan Rebukes David

 ¹ The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

 ⁴ “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

 ⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

 ⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

 ¹¹ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

 ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Lesson:

In these scriptures we find a “Revealing” of sin.  Surely David knew he had sinned.  The sin he had committed was extreme.  He had murdered a man to cover it up.  The thing that he didn’t completely understand though, was the evaluation or judgment of that sin.

      Now that the sin had been evaluated and he had decided how terrible it was in the eyes of the righteous, he began to repent.  He had send against the LORD.

       Last week we discussed “Straight Talk” in our Fusion Friday lesson.  This is what David did in his life.  There was some straight talk going on.  As we pray today, lets go in an shine God’s righteous light over our whole life.  We want to grow and be all that we can be in the body of Christ .

Memorize:

Jeremiah 29:11

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Prayer:

Lord I love and praise you.  I seek you today God.  I seek your wisdom and light in my life.  In all my wisdom, I am but a fool, but with your guidance, I would be led by Solomon’s teacher.

I ask you right now to draw our students to trust in your wisdom as we step out in faith, and give you all of ourselves for your kingdom’s glory. 

Thank you Jesus.  I love you Jesus.  Amen

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