Friday, July 31st
Written by Kyle Shultz

Lamentations 3:22-23
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Galatians 2:21
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

I woke up this morning and I felt down in the dumps. I didn’t feel ready to tackle this week, and I could just feel my imperfections weighing down on me. It didn’t help that I woke up later than I needed to either. On the last verse that I read in my quiet time this morning, I read Galatians 2:21. If it were up to how I felt, then today would have been a bad day. However, how my day goes has nothing to do with how I feel. It has to do with the answer to this question, am I going to choose to be satisfied that Jesus has made me right in God’s eyes and live in His strength today, or am I going to try really hard in my own willpower and never feel like it’s good enough. It’s so easy to forget that Jesus has already made us right as believers because we can let so many things take our attention away from Him. The reason why it’s so important to start the day with spending time with Jesus is because it allows Him to get our hearts and minds focused on Him and start the day moving in the right direction. Before you do anything else today, stop and think about the truth these verses. Whenever we are prepared and have our minds set in living in Jesus’ name, we will respond to any situation in a way that pleases God because it’s not us that is reacting, when we choose to give ourselves to Christ daily, He will work through us.

Extra time in the Word Galatians 2

Thursday, July 30th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Psalm 141:2
May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

In order to understand what David is requesting, it’s important to understand the purpose of incense and the lifting of the hands. In the Jewish priesthood, it was commanded by God that incense always be burning in the temple to Him, the fire was be lit a specific way and it was never to be put out. Lifting of the hands is symbolic of surrender, more specifically the lifting of one’s heart to God. What David is asking God is that his prayers always be before Him and that God would find favor in David offering a broken heart in place of trying to make himself right by what he could give God. This ought to be the prayer of us today. It is so easy to forget about God and get wrapped up in our own wants and needs. When we get our eyes off the truth that when once we are in Christ, we cannot do anything to earn His favor or please Him. We try so hard to please Him with things we can do to earn His favor but He has already given us His favor through Christ. What He wants for us in order to walk in Him and His favor is to set our eyes to focus on Him lifting up our prayers to Him like the incense offered continually in the temple, and to remember that God takes pleasure in a heart that is not bent on his own way but is open and soft to the Lord’s leading. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17

Extra time in the Word Psalm 141

Wednesday, July 29th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Proverbs 23:31,35
Do not gaze at wine when it is read, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!
“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”

To bring up a previous thought, we were designed to bring glory to God. With our being living vessels, our lives were made to reflect Him and find our satisfaction in Him. The danger comes when we fail to recognize Him or go to Him for our source of satisfaction. It’s impossible for us to not be filled with something, if we aren’t getting our satisfaction from Him, it will be in the form of an addiction. It may not be alcohol like today’s verses show, but the principle remains the same. It is not possible for someone to just dabble a little bit into something for pleasure. We were designed to give ourselves to something. There are two dangers that effect us when we hold an addiction. (1) It numbs us of the truth of what that addiction is doing to us. We may think we’re doing fine because we gauge how we are doing based on our feelings, when our eyes will be blinded to the hurt we are really doing to ourselves. (2) It consumes you. That is the danger of alcohol, pornography, self injury, eating disorders, etc., it controls you. We cannot serve two masters. If you have been dabbling with something, you’re messing with fire and you will be burned. Confess your actions and heart to the Father and choose to follow Him and whatever steps needed to live in victory over the addiction.

Extra time in the Word Proverbs 23

Tuesday, July 28th
Written by Janet Scott

Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise mans listens to advice.

I remember when I was 17,18,19 maybe even 20 at times thinking that my parents just had no clue, they were so old fashioned or not with the times. I don’t know why but that is pretty common in young adults, to a degree I believe it is a part of growing up unfortunately. As I got older I realized just how much trouble I could save myself by listening to what they had to say and asking for their advice. I made some pretty stupid decisions and paid the price before I learned that it is much better at any age to seek out Godly advice. If you don’t feel your parents are the ones you want to go to then find a pastor or youth pastor that can help guide you with Godly advice. Don’t play the fool thinking that your own way or your friend’s way is what is right or best! Trust me there is a price to pay for wrong decisions and sometimes the price is much higher than you would think it could be. You may hear, “life is short” and guess what, it is! That is all the more reason to live it right and wisely so you don’t spend half of it wasting your time paying the price for not just asking someone that has a little more life experience and more Godly wisdom than you have right now. It doesn’t matter how old you are, Bill and I still seek out Godly advice and wise counsel when we aren’t sure about something, we are getting older and don’t want to waste time on wrong or bad decisions. Get the most out of life, seek God and Godly advice and then follow the right path. It isn’t enough to get the advice, you need to apply it to your life.

Extra time in the Word Proverbs 12

Sunday, July 26th
Written by Janet Scott

Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright, he feared God and shunned evil.

Wow! What would they say about you if they were writing a book about your life? I don’t want to think of what they might say about me on some days. Don’t get me wrong, I believe Job had his days but this was his overall testimony. People have gotten so into the “freedom in Christ” movement that a lot of people have forgotten that we also need to “fear God”. By fear God, I don’t mean shaking in your boots fear, I mean respect who He is respect His view on sin, respect what all He has done for us from creating us to having His own son die on the cross for our sins. NO ONE ever has or ever will do even a smidgen of what God has done for you in your lifetime! It is humanly impossible! I am a little surprised that it doesn’t start with “he feared God and therefore was blameless, upright and shunned evil.” That is truly the way to be certain that we are walking with God is to have a healthy “fear” of Him and who He is! If we have His view on life and right and wrong we will avoid a lot of wrongdoing just for having the right perspective! I would encourage you today to find the FREEDOM Christ has for you that is within His boundaries that He has given us in the Bible for our lives. Stay in the Word and put some effort in thinking on it and applying what you learn on a daily basis to your life. The freedom you will find and the success you will find there will be better than anything you can find anywhere else.

Extra time in the Word Job 1

Monday, July 27th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.

Living in God’s will is a struggle. What makes it such a struggle is that we have to choose every day to put aside what we want and look to God. This is really a struggle of the will. We can’t force ourselves against our will because that would break our spirits. What I believe God wants us to do with our wills is choose to channel it focusing on God. In honest confession to God about our struggle, we need to ask God to help us focus on Him and give us a heart to know Him. Then we must give ourselves to the truth found in today’s verse. We must beg God to give us a hunger for His Truth. When we are open to Him the Truth of His Word brings our will to life, but it’s not enough to have knowledge of the Truth. We must have understanding (discernment for the Truth), wisdom (how that truth applies to our lives) and discipline (how to apply that truth today). Make this your prayer to God today and see how God works in your will.

Extra time in the Word Proverbs 23

Saturday, July 25th
Written by Kyle Shultz

Revelation 5:9
And they sang a new song; “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Have you ever wondered what it is that God enjoys so much when it comes to Him hearing our praises? Have you ever had a hard time with what it means to express your heart to God in thankfulness and praise? John witnessed one of the greatest visions ever recorded in God’s Word. He saw Jesus, the Slain Lamb of God, worthy of opening the scroll beginning the judgment of the end times. As Jesus takes the scroll, it’s recorded that all the saints sing a new song to Jesus. The saints were expressing, from thankful hearts, praise to God recognizing Jesus at work. They had their eyes fixed on Jesus and what He was doing, and they lifted His name up out of response to seeing this. We were designed to bring glory to God in everything we do. Because of Jesus we have been made right with the Father and we must choose to focus on Him daily. Ask God to give you a thankful heart for making you right in His sight and to help you see Jesus at work in you today.

Extra time in the Word Revelation 5

Friday, July 24th
Written by Rachel Lange

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” John 14:23a

This past week, I led a small group of kids during my church’s VBS program. As with any activity involving small children, it got a bit rowdy at times. On such occasions, I was called upon to exercise my authority as a leader and to quiet the kids. They obeyed me, but not because they really wanted to, or because they feared punishment. They obeyed because they loved me and wanted to make me happy.

In the same way, we need to love our Lord and obey Him out of love, not out of fear. Yes, we need to respect Him, but obedience motivated by fear will not inspire the same whole-hearted devotion for our King. Although following His commands may not always be what we want to do, as we get closer to God, our desires will conform to His. And when our desires for our lives conform to God’s desires for our lives, we will be fully obeying Him out of love. That way, when we arrive in Heaven, we will hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Extra time in the Word John 14

Thursday, July 23rd
Written by Kyle Shultz

Psalm 131:3
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.

Not that I’ve been around that long, but this is definitely the most unstable time in our country that I’ve ever seen. I believe about 10 percent of Americans adults don’t have a job right now. I also heard that 50 percent of college graduates don’t have job opportunities after they get out of college. I can hardly think of a family that hasn’t been hit by this economy. If people aren’t out of work, things are tight for them. The way things are looking it’s not going to get better before it gets worse. But that’s the condition of a country that has turned its back on God to follow after the American Dream. It’s through the tough times though that what you are really made of comes out from inside of you. Because we are Christians, God wants us to realize that He must be our stability. Remember the story of the man who built his house on the rock? The house took a beating in the storm but because of its strong foundation it stood. Our hope that will never die is only found in Christ. We can trust Him because He is Faithful. He’ll take care of our needs today, our future tomorrow, if we just choose to let Him be our priority.

Extra time in the Word Psalm 133

Wednesday June 22nd
Written by Kyle Shultz

Psalm 131:2
But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

We really don’t realize how much God really is at work in our lives. It’s a very common thought, I believe, that people think that God only steps in our lives when the miraculous happens. Thank God He does, but think about this, the Jews would never say the name of God, but would rather say YHWH (pronounced ya-hey-va-hey). Since this sounds so similar to one’s natural breathing they equated saying God’s name to natural breath. This gives the idea that we can only exist by saying the name of God and we cease to exist when we can no longer say His name. God is not a distant diety that only steps into our world to do a wonder once in a while. He gives you every breath you breathe. I believe Oswald Chambers once said that the laws of the world (such as gravity) or only things God chooses to operate the world by regularly. He didn’t just wind the world up and leave it to function on its own, He holds it all together as Colossians 1:17 says. It’s just that we get so focused on our own thing that we fail to see Him at work in our lives. It would be good for all of us to get our own agenda out of the way and let God show us how He wants to use us today.

Extra time in the Word Pslam 132