Daily Devotional: 12/24/2018 - SCRIPTURE SERIES PT. II (AC)

"'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.'" Jeremiah 29:11

This is a continuation of a series that I started back out towards the end of July, The Scripture Series. I was inspired after going on an encouragement date with a sister from Long Island and one with from our region. Usually at the end of these dates like the next day, later or whenever they have the chance the sisters will write a card. And because I am me and I feel if someone gets me something I have to get them something in return, so I decided to combine the love for art and Scripture into one. But then I was like "BRAIN BLAST" why not make one for all the sisters in our campus for an encouragement for the upcoming semester and year. That was how The Scripture Series was created. We are now on Part Two with one more part to come so we can encourage and give sisters hope all across the world for days to come.

• Women have it hard no matter where they go or what they do. They lack equality in every aspect. They are constantly objectified and are constantly being taken advantage of. It is our job as men and as human beings to treat all these women with respect, love and the dignity they deserve.
• I am going to try and keep these relatively short, but if God leads long we go long. Going to throw some fun facts and some scripture and call it a day.
• The last series was all to sisters in the church (plus one very special woman outside the church). This series is dedicated to the people I call family, whether they be actual blood or women that help keep me sane at school.

Here are a couple fun facts for you, the first being that the name anemone comes from the Greek language and roughly means "wind flower". This signifies that the wind that blows the petals open and will also, eventually, blow the dead petals away. The second fun fact being that the color light blue is the color of the sky and the ocean (not much of a fun fact, but common sense), but this is often associated with depth and stability. Also, light blue symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.

Our Heavenly Father has so many amazing qualities. All the qualities of the fun facts are all qualities related to our Heavenly Father.

Our God is the wind to our life. When we let God enter our life, we allow him to work through us. Our life begins to flourish, he allows our true colors to show. He allows so many great things to happen. He blows away our old life and makes us new. He allows us to really see the purpose in our life. That purpose is for us to glorify him in everything that we do.

• When we put him in our life our gifts become more prominent. Without purpose, we are directionless.

The Spirit comes into us through "wind" and "breath". The Hebrew word, Ruach, means breath/spirit. This word is used in Genesis 1 during the creation account. It is also used in Psalm 18:15 which states, "The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke, LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils."

• I will touch more on this topic on a way later devotional, but I thought it was just a cool concept and was good to connect it to this topic.

Everything I listed for the what the color light blue symbolizes are prominent qualities of our Heavenly Father. God is trust (Proverbs 3:5, Psalm 37:4-6, Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11). God is loyalty (Joshua 1:9, Deuteronomy 31:6, Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 28:20). God is wisdom (James 1:5, James 3:17, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 2:6). God is confidence (Proverbs 14:26, 2 Timothy 1:7, Romans 15:13, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Philippians 4:13). God is intelligence (Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 2:6, Daniel 5:14, Philippians 1:9-11, Genesis 1). God is faith (Romans 10:17, 1 John 1:9, Ephesians 2:8, Hebrews 12:2). God is truth (John 14:6, John 16:13, John 8:32, John 1:14, 2 Timothy 2:15). God is heaven (John 3:16, Hebrews 11:16, Matthew 6:33).

God is our stability and is full of depth.

• Proverbs 10:9 says, "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out."
• Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path."

God has a plan for us. Everything that we do is for his glory, he has the plans for us to prosper. He does not want us to fail, he only wants us to succeed. Everything that happens in our life is not only for our benefit (Romans 8:28), but it is also for his glorification.

We are not only his image bearers, but we are his light bearers and we are called to use that light and to spread that light all around the world

• Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20).

This verse (Jeremiah 29:11), is one of the most well known verses. This verse is known all around the world and is one of the most tattooed verse. This verse is awesome and super encouraging, but it is the perfect verse to show us that when reading the Bible and particular verse we have to pay attention to everything that is going on.

• The burger is not a burger without a bun.

"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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Yeah, God has a plan for all of us and wants us all to prosper, but there is something we have to give, too. It is a give and take relationship, not just a take. We have to go to him, we have to "call on him and come and pray to him" (v. 12). We have to "seek him" (v. 13). We are not called to simply look for him, but seek him "with all your heart".

• God wants a relationship with us. He is constantly telling us how much he wants a relationship with us. Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
• We can even leave and come back to him (Luke 15:11-32). I do not suggest it, but that is how much he loves us.

God is the breath to life. He is the reason for life. He gives us a purpose, he gives us direction. He is the wind that blows us over and knocks out the old self and it's desires. He is our stability. He is our rock and redeemer. He is trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. He has a plan for all of us. He wants the best for us. He wants us to prosper and never wants us to fail, but we have to give a little, too. We have to seek, find and give our life to him.

Lord, thank you for all that you do. You truly are amazing. You are the reason for life and the reason why we have a purpose. You give us the direction to the path that we should be walking down. You never want us to fail and want us to always prosper. I pray that you continue to guide us to be the men and the women you want us to be. I pray you grant us with the wisdom and confidence to come to you. I pray all this in your son's glorious awesome name, Amen.

#LetsBeAMovement