Day 321: Acts 10:1 - 11:30

Upon first reading this passage for the first time, many people would have the same thought - If the angel came down to Cornelius to tell him that he needed to send for Peter, why couldn't the angel have just preached the Gospel to Cornelius right then and there and save Peter a trip? One thing that we must all understand about God is that He isn't nearly as concerned with efficiency as we are. Regardless of whether or not sending Peter all the way to Cornelius' house was efficient, it was absolutely necessary because, if you'll remember, Jesus didn't send His angels to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, He sent us, His followers. All too often, we as believers get so caught up in the irrelevant details when God is standing right there telling us what to do. God called ME to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every living creature so that is exactly what I need to do. Sure, there are definite reasons that God made the angels and throughout history they have done some amazing things, but when it comes to spreading God's Word, He reserved that special job for His children.

- Lord, help me to listen closely to Your voice. Help me to not sit around and rely on someone else to do the job that You have called me to do. You are the reason I am here and Your voice is the only voice that I need to hear. Help me to be obedient to everything You have to say so that I can go out and accomplish exactly what You want. -

Day 320: Acts 8:1 - 9:43

I've always considered Ananias to be such a strong example of what it means to faithfully serve God no matter what. There are two very big points that I can't help but notice about this part of the story. First of all, Ananias apparently had such a history of obedience to God that God went ahead and told Saul that he would be coming before he ever even told Ananias. God already knew that he would do it, and in my opinion, God had to have known that because it wasn't the first time He had asked Ananias to do something difficult. The second, much more obvious point is the fact that Ananias was so in love with God that he was willing to risk his life to go down and pray for a man who had been known as a Christian killer. I don't know how you would have responded to that, but I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I would've had a very difficult time not just because of the fact that I might die, but human nature would tend to think that someone who had so violently ended the lives of so many children didn't even deserve to live, much less be healed of blindness. Just think, as instrumental as Paul was in the beginning of the Christian church, it all may have never happened if Ananias hadn't been faithful to do what God asked him to do.

- Father, teach me to be as obedient as Ananias. I know there have been times when I've ignored Your commands because it was too difficult or "dangerous," but continue to remind me that only You can see the real effects of my obedience and You can take care of the rest if I will just be faithful. -

Day 319: Acts 5:28 - 7:60

Among the many thousands who have died for the sake of Christ, I would dare to say that not a single one has ever been as widely known and preached as Stephen, the first Christian martyr. The story of Stephen is such an inspirational story that we can all learn alot from regardless of whether or not our natural lives are currently hanging in the balance. Something I can't help but notice about Stephen is his quick boldness to preach God's Word with absolutely no regard to what might happen to him personally. I can imagine many of us would probably begin to back-pedal and try to talk our way out of such situations, and yet Stephen was content to do what needed to be done so that he might have just as much of an impact, if not more, after death. It's God's will for each of us to have such a passion for His name that we would be willing to focus on Him first and our own personal lives second. We can all learn a little something about boldness from a man like Stephen, and I know that God will show us more if we will just ask Him.

- God, help me to be strong like Stephen even in the face of terrible adversity. Help me to not regard my life as my own, but remember that You are the One who gave it to me and the least I could do is be willing to give it right back to You. -

Day 318: Acts 3:1 - 5:27

As grateful as I am that we live in such a time where we have so many technological and medical advancements, I sometimes wish I lived in Bible times where the line between true believers and non-believers was very sharp and defined. In today's society, there are hundreds of thousands of "Christians" who would say without hesitation that they would be willing to endure all sorts of punishment and torture for the sake of God's name, and they can say it without hesitation because they know chances are good that they'll never be in a situation where they have to prove it. We live in a society where "suffering" for His name's sake means feeling uncomfortable about sharing your faith or, God forbid, someone making fun of you for being a Christian. In our attempts to be more palatable and user friendly, we have blurred the lines of true Christianity to such a point that it is worth no more than a trinket that can be tossed around and used when most convenient. In the times of Peter and John and the rest of the Apostles, Christianity was the most inconvenient faith anyone could be a part of, and that in and of itself is what made their passion so much more evident. We as believers must find a way to get back to that point where we aren't happy unless we are suffering for His name's sake. We must learn to take all of the conveniences of this Christian faith that we have developed and throw them out the window. Of course, we are fortunate to live in a society where going to jail for our faith may not be as likely as other times in history, but that does not excuse us from the responsibility to take this message that He has given us to the ends of the earth and not stop until the last breath of air has escaped from our lungs. God has given us one life here on earth and He didn't intend for us to waste it making sure that we die comfortably. If we are meant to die, we may as well do it for the One who gave His own life for us.

- Father, set Your church on fire again so that they may have a true passion for Your name. Help us not to be caught up in our own desires and comforts, but consume every area of our lives with Your fire. Show us what it means to be true followers of You and give us the strength to not quit until we are standing before Your throne -

Day 317: Acts 1:1 - 2:47

Every time I read Acts 2, I can't help but be amazed and inspired by what God did among His faithful servants. Among the most inspiring things is Peter's sermon that ended up converting 3000 people. So many times as a youth pastor, I try my hardest to think of clever, well-thought-out, interesting sermons that will be able to get my point across while remaining interesting, and although I've had the amazing opportunity to lead people to the Lord, I've never lead 3000 people at once. As ministers of this wonderful Gospel, we sometimes feel the pressure to dress it up and make it sound as good as possible to those listening. We throw in a few jokes and maybe put up a power-point presentation and yet oftentimes we end up focusing much more on the presentation than we do on the actual message. We can see in the latter part of Acts 2 that Peter didn't spend alot of time trying to formulate the perfect sermon or think of some clever things to say; he simply allowed himself to be used by God in the exact capacity that God desired. If we will just get to the place in our relationship with the Father where we are willing to let go and let Him do what needs to be done, He will accomplish the unthinkable through our hands.

- Lord, help me to just let go and allow You to work through me. You are the only One who can truly achieve all that You want me to do and I know that if I will surrender completely to You, You will take my life and utilize it to change this generation. -

Day 316: John 19:1 - 21:25

When we hear the term "crucified with Christ" we often think of being willing to simply die for Him. Although it is a very honorable and noble thing to be willing to die for something or someone, death was more of a relief during the crucifixion than anything. Being crucified with Christ is so much more than allowing the humanistic part of our nature to take a "bullet in the head." If Jesus had been willing to take a bullet to the head or even have his head cut off instantly, that would have been much easier, but love never takes the easy way out. True love is not only willing to die for the subject of its love, but it is willing to suffer and go through inconceivable pain if that's what it takes. If we are truly in love with the Father, we should be willing to not only die for Him, but we should be willing to live for Him in whatever capacity He requires without questioning or doubting. All too often we are more than happy to say that we would die for Christ because in our society, that promise will likely never be put to the test, but God wants more than our death, He wants our life and every single aspect of it.

- Lord, I want to be the kind of Christian that is willing to endure any and every level of pain and agony if that is what is required to be closer to You. You sent Your only Son down to this earth not just to die for our sins, but to live a life of controversy only to end it with the most horrific torture and agony available at the time. I don't want the kind of life that anyone can handle. I want to live a life that could only be possible by the strength that comes from knowing You and Your Word. -

Day 315: John 16:20 - 18:40

Having grown up in a Christian home, it's sometimes difficult to read the story of the crucifixion through the same eyes as one who isn't familiar with it. If we read about anyone else in history standing firm and allowing himself to be captured, beaten, and ultimately crucified for doing absolutely nothing wrong, we would no doubt take a step back and think about how brave and courageous that person was, and yet when we read about Jesus doing it, it has the tendency to just sound like the average thing that He might do. It is imperative that we as believers remember that though Jesus was 100% God, He was also 100% man and He had to show the same amount of bravery and suffered the same level of pain that you and I would have. Jesus was able to stand firm and allow these things to happen to Him not because He was some super-human that couldn't feel pain, He did it because His love for His people was stronger than any pain that could ever come near Him. And as we learned in previous passages, not only will we be able to do those things, but greater things will we be given power to do! Once God has revealed His love to us and shown us how to really love those that He has called us to, we will have the power to stand up to anything that the devil throws at us because we can take heart in knowing that God will be glorified.

- Father, give me courage in every area of my life. Help me not to shy away from the dangerous encounters that the Devil might throw my way, but help me to face those situations head-on because I know that You have given me strength and You will be glorified in all that I do as long as I keep my focus on You. -

Day 314: John 14:1 - 16:19

In this passage, we read one of the most powerful quotes in the entire New Testament - "The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing, but even greater things." It's interesting because I'm not sure many Christians would directly disagree with what Jesus said here, and yet so many live their lives in direct defiance. So many times we read about Jesus walking on water or opening blind eyes or raising the dead and we find ourselves thinking things like, "Well yeah, He's Jesus. Of course He can do that sort of thing, but I'd be lucky if I could just get my own finances together." We say we have faith and yet our lives tend to be lived in opposition to His Word. Instead of trying to barely get by on our own, perhaps God wants us to live for something more, something greater. Jesus promised us that if we would trust in Him, not only would we have the power to accomplish the same things He did, walking on water included, but even greater things would He give us power to do. The way I see it, we could waste our lives focusing on how our own power can "improve" our lives, or we can put our trust in Him and allow His power to change the world through us.

- Lord, I want the power that You've promised me. Your Word says that not only will I be able to accomplish what You have, but even greater works will I be able to perform. Give me that kind of power, not so I can waste it on my own life to impress people, but so that I can bring Your Word to a hurting and dying world and change it all for You. -

Day 313: John 12:1 - 13:38

In the beginning of chapter 12, we read about a woman who was focused on nothing other than worshipping her God. She wasn't concerned about appearances or people's opinions, or anything of that matter. All she was concerned with was worshipping Him. In this day and age it seems there are so many people out there who get so offended by those who are willing to act "undignified" in the church. In my experience and based on what I can understand, dignity is less a matter of action and much more a matter of the heart. If it came between acting "dignified" or showing our true love for our Savior, we would be fools not to throw off the constraints of religion and worship Him with reckless abandon. Our generation doesn't need to learn how to "straighten up" in the church, we need to learn how to throw everything else out of the window and focus on the only thing that really matters - Our Lord.

- Father, show me how to worship You in such a way that has absolutely nothing to do with me and everything to do with me. Help me to remember that it's not about making everyone around me happy or comfortable, it's all about making You happy and honoring Your name in all that I do. -

Day 312: John 10:1 - 11:57

I've always liked the story of Lazarus because we are reminded of the importance of the fact that we cannot waste our time focusing on the problem, but rather put our focus on the solution. We read in this story that by the time Jesus showed up, everyone was focused on one thing - Lazarus' death. Twice someone even said to Jesus, "if you had been here, he wouldn't have died." But Jesus refused to be distracted by the current situation and made the decision to set His eyes on something entirely different - the solution. Jesus' ability to see beyond the problem to the answer is exactly what was necessary to turn the situation around for all of them. How many times in our lives have we allowed our focus to be placed on the problems in front of us when Jesus is standing there trying to show us the solution? It's not until we can learn to step back and look at the big picture that we will be able to move forward in the plan that God has for our lives.

- Lord, give me the strength to look beyond the problem and into the solution that You are showing me. Help me to not get so caught up in the problems of this life that I forget that You have the keys to every single situation that could ever prevent itself. You are the solution and if I will keep my eyes on You, I will never stumble. -

Day 311: John 8:25 - 9:41

The question presented to Jesus at the beginning on chapter 9 is a very interesting one. Not only is it an interesting question, but it's also incredibly characteristic of our generation. So often people in the church waste so much of their time trying to lay the blame on someone or something. They blame sin, or the government or the very members of their own congregation for certain problems and yet they put forth no effort at all towards solving the problems. Generally speaking, there are hundreds or reasons why certain things could have gone wrong, but there are generally only a few solutions. Rather than standing around complaining about how messed up this world is, we need to step up and set our eyes on sharing the solutions. I believe that it is incredibly vital that we show lost people that continuing along their current path will send them to hell, but once we've pointed that out, it's our responsibility to share with them the information necessary to get on the right path. It would be silly to go to a doctor while suffering from a gunshot wound only to have the doctor tell you that you're wounded and then send you on your way. The doctor is not only responsible for informing you of the situation, but also remedying the situation so that you don't die. The point of this passage was not why the man was blind, but the fact that Jesus made his blind eyes see.

- Father, help me to not get caught up in figuring out why things are as bad as they are, but rather help me to keep my focus on fixing them. I know that Your Word can make the blind eyes see and that is what I am called to do. -

Day 310: John 7:1 - 8:24

Although some would initially associate Jesus with peace and happiness, we see in this passage that more often than not, Jesus was in the very center of what most would consider a controversy. Most immature Christians go throughout their lives trying not to step on anybody's toes or upset anybody because they have some sort of twisted, inaccurate "understanding" of how Jesus operates. But once we are able to set aside our preconceived ideas and truly study the Word, we can see that Jesus was not only involved in a great deal of conflict, but He was usually the very reason for the conflict. God did not send us out into the world to make sure that it always stays the same. He sent us out to change the world. God even refers to His Son in Isaiah 8:14 and again in 1 Peter 2:8 as a "Rock of Offense" reminding us that Jesus, and know we, were sent into the world to change it and save it whatever the cost. In all honestly, this entire point, as most in the Bible, can be boiled down to one word - Love. If you truly love someone, you should be willing to risk their own personal comfort in order to save their lives. It's time for the church to rise up and start caring more about this generation burning in hell than they are about how comfortable it is. When we cause controversy and offense as a direct result of our obedience to God's Word, we can take joy in the fact that we are doing our part to carry on the ministry that Jesus started here on earth.

- Father, give me the vision to be more concerned about the eternal state of those around me than I am about making them feel comfortable. I know that following You may cause some awkward situations to arise, but if those awkward situations are what is required in order to help same the souls of this generation, I will be more than happy to endure them. -

Day 309: John 5:26 - 6:71

The last part of chapter 5 is such a vivid picture of today's "Christian" society. They spend so much of their lives trying to develop new theologies and new "Biblical" concepts that they ignore the point of the entire Bible. The Bible was not simply a book written for us so that we might come up with new ideas and opportunities to fight with each other. God blessed us with His Word so that we would take it out into the world and preach it to every living creature. It seems to me that there are two general attitudes towards God's Word. The first is one of over-the-top religion in which nobody is brave enough to take the Gospel into the world because, after all, there's sin out there and if we get close to it, it might rub off on us and send us straight to hell. The other attitude is one of complete irresponsibility. Christians with this attitude live their lives using "grace" as an excuse to live like the world and chalk it all up to making people in the world feel comfortable so they're more likely to listen to what we have to say. What Jesus is saying in the last part of chapter 5 is that people waste way too much of their lives focusing on themselves and their own ideas of what true Christianity is when they don't even realize that it's that very attitude of selfish pride that will end up sending them to hell along with everyone that they failed to minister to. True Christianity and Godliness is not about what I can get out of it, it's about giving every single piece of ourselves away, and in doing so, we will find ourselves closer to God than we could've ever imagined possible.

- Father, help me to follow Your Word more closely not simply by reading it and studying it, but by living it every single day. Help me to not miss out on what You're saying to me because I'm to focussed on myself and my own agenda. Our agendas mean nothing without You. Give me the passion required to go out into the world and be a light that will guide each and every person I meet closer to You. -

My Apologies

Although I've accepted the fact that very few people (if any) kept up with my blog, I feel that it is necessary for me to write an apology for not finishing what I started well over a year ago. My original plan was to read the entire Bible over the course of a year and blog each day about what I read. I realize that this goal sounds unusually similar to a movie that recently came out, but I promise I thought of this long before the movie, haha. I am proud to say that I was able to finish my reading in one year, but sadly, I was unable to finish writing out this blog and sharing what God had spoken to me throughout my journey in His Word. I may not be able to go back in time and start back over in July, but I can pick up where I left off and finish what I started. If you haven't read my blog before, I strongly encourage you to check it out - not so that I might receive some sort of glory or recognition for saying something deep or clever, but so that God might be glorified in the words that I type and so that He might speak to your heart. I pray that God will revive a passion within my heart and yours to dig deeper into His Word and find out what He is saying to us each and every day. Thank you for reading and I pray that you will continue on this journey with me until the end.

-Ryan