December 2021 Week 1
Thursday
Thank you
Lesson Objective: To understand the importance of just saying thank you to all around us.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
It is that special time of the year when we talk about giving gifts and showing gratitude. Like most people, I am truly thankful for a lot. However, I find myself giving special thanks for those things in my life that I treasure and place importance on such as family, job, and other tangible items and I spend very little if any time being thankful for those experiences or people in my life that I find more hurtful. However, the Bible says that we must be thankful for everything regardless of the circumstances. I sometimes think of those experiences and find myself being thankful because I benefitted from those experiences even though it did not seem like it at the time. I sometimes find myself thinking what if but I quickly thank God because he knew best. I am so truly blessed.
Thought for the day: God is good all the time.. not just when I think he is good. smile
Wednesday
- Lesson Objective: Understanding that having ears does not mean that we listen
- Scripture: Hebrews 4:2
For to us was the gospel preached, as well as to them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it
I remember my grandmother talking to me after I had done something wrong. Her words were “ Look at me boy when I am talking to you. Are you listening to me?”. She wanted to make sure that she had my full attention. Too often we hear but we are really not listening because we have made a decision without first listening. We hear the advice but we choose not to listen and then we go and make unnecessary mistakes. I believe that God talks to us either directly or through other people and events and the only question is whether we are listening or merely hearing. Hearing does not take effort but listening is an intentional act to not only hear but process what is being heard and use this active process in a positive manner.
Thought for the day: Are you listening with your heart or merely just hearing?
Tuesday
Be careful when you look with your eyes
Lesson Objective: To understand that what we see with our eyes can get us into trouble
Scripture : Genesis 13: 10-11
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Just like Lot, we run the risk of allowing our eyes to see what we think is good but in fact is not good for us. People who are on a diet soon get off the diet because their eyes see things that they know are not to be eaten. It is the same with individuals who are having financial difficulties. Often times this occurs because the person buys something that is more expensive than they can afford or they have to have something that someone else has but they do not need. The key is to be content with what we have in our heart and always see with our heart and not with our eyes.
Thought for the day: Life would be so much easier if we stop looking at things that we do not need with our eyes and be content with what we have in our heart.
Monday
Success or Failure
Lesson Objective: To understand that how we see things makes all the difference.
Scripture: Numbers 13: 31-32
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
The verse says that they saw themselves as grasshoppers as compared to the enemy and thus the enemy must also see them as grasshoppers. The problem is that the verse does not say that the enemy were giants. only looked like giants. How we see things can often be the deciding factor between success and failure. The inventor Thomas Edison is said to respond to the question concerning his inability to find the solution to the problem with the quote “ I have not failed. I have just found 10000 reasons why it does not work”. He never allowed himself to see failure. Failure is not an option.
Thought for the day: Look with your heart and not just with your eyes.