Amos, Obadiah, Jonah

Hurray! You are here!
Today in my Bible, I had the pleasure of re-reading a paper gift given to me my last day in Fiji by one of the girls there. Bri was there for a few more weeks than my brother and I, so we had a send off party for us in our hotel room the night before we flew out. Bri and Heather drew us these adorable sketches and wrote great memories and notes on them. Today, Bri's sayings resonated with me. One of which reads, "Take the time to embrace the relationships you have, for they are more valuable than gold." Also, "Find God in nature, His beauty shines through all living things." Thanks for those Bri! Heather, your images made me smile ear to ear as I was viewing each sketch (it shows our entire journey in a collage of sketches). The memories were flooding back and grounding me. I loved the time I had to reflect and devour the Word and these images today. It was really great for me to just sit in God's goodness and love.

Also, another thing to bring me back to Fiji today was reading Amos! It is about a fruit farmer/shepherd who God leads to be a prophet without training. One of the group leaders in Fiji was a fruit farmer! Thanks for everything Tami!


Amos
In verse 4, my Bible says its an "old school" slur. I thought that was strange. More research to follow that.
4:4-5 "Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and bring about your freewill offerings--boast about them, you Isrealites fopr this is what you love to do," declares the Sovereign Lord." Then God goes on to give Amos Word about how He allowed drought, mildew and plagues to get people to turn from their wicked ways but they just did not. It made me want to be more intentional about my actions and my comments. God seems so disappointed and sarcastic here it was definitely a spiritual awakening for me. Aka, a reality check for areas of my life that need some editing and renewal.

4:12-13 "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel." Now. If that does not make you healthily fear the Lord, I do not know what does. Prepare to meet your God. Tomorrow, this could happen! So we need to always be on our guard against the enemy and reject the choice to sin. By speaking life and love and being in the Word, we can be filled with constant light rather than darkness.

I have been telling my boyfriend, that I really feel like God is spiritually maturing me this year. I am growing in new ways than ever before and allowing myself to go deeper spiritually and take on bigger things for Him each day. Such as reading the entire Bible in 8 months. The 1 year Bible reading I failed at, so now my timeline is shorter? Only God. Thank you Lord! Yay for Spiritual renewal! Amen!

My favorite verses in Amos are 5:6 "Seek the Lord and live...", 6:1-7 where it talks about how we sit around with our riches and our opportunities and we waste them on ourselves. We are the first to go it says. Utilize your resources for the Kingdom when you can and for all you can : ) There was SO MUCH that I wrote down and underlined but I will save your eyes from reading every comment and point. I wrote multiple times in every chapter! Needless to say, just read Amos.



Obadiah
First of all, what a great name! Obadiah means, "the servant of the Lord." I want my life to say, "the servant of the Lord" when it's all said and done. Speaking of the end of life, I read an Obituary in today's paper. The woman's life was about Jesus, the church and the community! It was such a blessing to me reading about a woman running after the Lord all her life! What a joy to read about a sister's triumphs for the Kingdom!

Verses 3-4, 11-12 and 15 caught my attention. I really felt a sermon coming on in verses 3-4. I want to investigate those verses further and develop something there. 3-4 reads, "The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?' Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the Lord.

This summer, God has been bringing me back to simple truths and bringing me to Scripture after Scripture about not looking down on people or judging their place in ministry or their walk or the lack there of. I think it is so important that He brought me back to square one. Especially, since Ian and I feel called to work in freshmen ministry this fall. Amen for lessons re-learned and re-freshed!

I really enjoyed and want to write this verse on my mirror as a daily reminder. Verse 15 reads, "The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head."
Every day, this is an important Truth to return to and die to self with. I think I need to see this every day so that I will be slow to anger and rich in kindness and more careful about casting judgements, comments and rude actions.


Jonah
What a great book to remind us that God is always with us, even when we are running away from Him! Loved Jonah! In 3:6-10, it speaks about fasting and how God's compassion came from their obedience and surrender. I loved that. I love knowing that I can give Him and return to Him the much needed glory and repect He so deserves from me with fasting. I am so new to the whole fasting thing that I have been needing verses like this to help me understand the heart of God concerning the matter. Thank you Lord for those verses!

2:6--such a great reflection of God's love for us and His redemptive power and mercy. He never gives up on us.
2:8-9--I like the wording used here. The word 'forfeit' because it's always available (God's grace) but you choose to check out of it.

Jonah 4 is wonderful. The content taught me to be constantly listening to the Lord and really seeking to allow Him to nurture the relationships that I have with people.


All in all, a wonderful discovery of the Lord and His greatness. Thank you God!

Learning to die daily,
Kristina