Devotions

Ezekiel 23-24 Read these chapters with the BIBLE READER to the left of this post. You know what I've just realized? If you're someone who usually reads my devotion, then good, because today is an extra special treat. However, if you've just stumbled upon my blog, you're also getting treated to a surprise. Because today, I'm talking about what EVERY teen wants to hear about: RELATIONSHIPS So, if you haven't read today's reading, you probably should. I kind of strayed away from the ACTUAL meaning of the passage, which is prostitution and everything associated with that-- and kind of brought it down to a less extreme level. I hope that's okay. In today's reading, it talked about some girls who became prostitutes. They shamed their family, they disrespected themselves, but most importantly, they didn't follow God's orders. God wants us to LOVE the one we're with, and that we're giving love in the relationship instead of mooching off of o

Ezekiel 21-22 Read these now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post. STAND UP, AND STAND OUT. This is a fairly easy devotion for me to write about, because I like to head things and be the leader of a project. I like to... let's face it... stand up for what I believe in and BE IN CHARGE. But for some people, that's really tough. However, in today's reading... God actually tries to tell people that He needs people to stand up and stand out. Ezekiel 22:31-32 I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Sometimes, we need to take charge (without being bossy) and stand up for what we believe in. You can end up saving a lot of the people around you, all because you stood out from the crowd to get the

Ezekiel 18-20 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post, or at http://www.bible.com/ . EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN SINS. Sometimes, people take this phrase and twist it into "no one is perfect." But we shouldn't take this as an excuse that sinning is okay. My pastor brought that to my attention today. I comfort my friends (and myself) all the time by saying "don't worry about it! everyone sins! no one is perfect!" But now that I sit down and really think about it, everyone has their own sins. It's true, that no one is perfect, but that doesn't mean that sins aren't a big deal. It means the opposite-- that we should own up to our sins and take responsibility of them. That we should feel bad when we do something wrong, because although no one is perfect, we ALSO have our own sins that we are responsible for. In today's reading, God really summed that up for me: Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one a

Ezekiel 16-17 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . RESPECT YOURSELF. The world is constantly changing. People are becoming more engulfed in material things, especially teenagers. Am an an expectation? No way. I love my technology, and my stuff. But it just makes me wonder when we stopped respecting ourselves instead of our stuff. I believe at one time, people took pride in how they held themselves up, and they liked who they were. But it just seems like people are getting closer and closer to a world where people change themselves to impress someone else. Or, we buy material things (not necessarily for our benefits,) but so people get jealous of our "fortunes." We change our beliefs, our language, our clothing-- just to fit in. And you know what? It's pretty annoying. Since when was it uncool to do well in school? Or to be a role-model? Or to go to church? The world is changing, and before we know it, everyo

Ezekiel 13-15 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . They really relate to today's devotion. NO ONE IS TOO AWESOME FOR GOD. I don't know if you've seen anyone like this-- (heck, maybe you're even like this)-- but sometimes people act like they're too cool for God or something. They think that they got all their money and fame and awesomeness by themselves, and they're blessed with a house and good family because they just... deserve it. But the fact is-- everything is God given. Every sunrise, every dollar, every iPod... whether or not you believe it, it's true. God gives us our fortunes, and we're supposed to use them. In today's reading, God clearly stated that we're all responsible by how we handle ourselves, and no one is cool enough for God. He created us all, and loves us all... and is in charge of us ALL. Ezekiel 14:12-14 The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, if a

Ezekiel 9-12 Read these chapters with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . WINGED SPIRITS. In today's reading, God sent cherubims to the people of Israel and to Ezekiel as an AWESOME miracle to show people how AWESOME He really is. I looked up the definition of cherubims, which is a winged spirit that spreads the word of God. In case you haven't notices already, that's the theme of today's horribly cheesy devotion. There's this part of me that wants to twist the message of today's reading into something COOL and hip, buttttt the message is just screaming out to me. It's a bit cheesy. Be prepared. God is using these creatures with wings, so they can fly fast, and come from heaven. He's using them to spread the word of God. And (here's the cheesy part) you can soar like birds, too. I think that the cherubims can be used as metaphors for who we are and what our purpose is. We need to be proud of our faith, and try an

Ezekiel 5-8 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.bible.com . GIVE 'EM A CHANCE. Have you ever seen someone you think is going to be super awesome, so you go to say hi, and it turns out they're totally not what you expected? Maybe it's the opposite, someone might of looked scary but they end up being a really cool person. My fact is, God tells us to reach out to those people. To the people that look different, act different, talk different. Most times, different is better. And even if they seem even MORE weird or mean once you talk to them, God is always telling us not to judge people. Heck-- if it was okay to judge, then God would be awfully mad at me. You see, we all have faults. I talk to much. I'm a little on the strange side. I have high expectations. I stink at bowling. I sin. And if you're a human being, then you must sin, too. And God sees everything that goes on in our lives, but He forgives us. He loves us more t

Ezekiel 1-4 Read these AWESOME chapters with the AWESOME BIBLE READER to the right of this AWESOME post or at the AWESOME website http://www.bible.com/ . In case you haven't noticed, the theme of today's blog is: AWESOME. Our God is awesome. His love is awesome. Today's reading was pretty awesome. So make sure you read it, or you might not believe what I'm saying. In today's reading, the prophet Ezekiel could talk to God. As if that wasn't awesome enough, he saw images of flying animal people and ate an entire scroll all in one encounter with the AWESOME HOLY SPIRIT. Awesome, right? But aside from all the awesome visions-- there was an awesome message that we can learn, too. It's when God was speaking to Ezekiel, and I'll post an excerpt below: Ezekiel 3:18-19 When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, a

Lamentations 3-5 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post. RAY OF HOPE The book of Lamentations is all about the after effects of the sinning of God's people. They sinned, and they were punished. And then, the people blamed their misfortunes on God, like God is some evil guy that punished them for no reason. But then, in the midst of all this suffering and complaining-- a ray of hope was discovered. Whoever wrote the book of Lamentations was undergoing some pretty rough stuff. They were pretty depressed without friends or family. It must have been hard seeing all of your people starving for food, and getting thirsty all the time. But in this ray of hope, there came a message. I don't really enjoy reading about all this depression, so when the author wrote the next few verses, I was really happy. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call

Lamentations 1-2 LAMENT: To express grief for or about; mourn It's interesting, reading the book of Lamentations. Because even though most people pronounce Lamentations "lamb-en-ta-shuns" after looking at what the word really means, it's almost like we should pronounce it "lament-ations." Because the fact of the matter is this: in today's reading, and in the readings to come in Lamentations, it's all about mourning. It's about the deaths and destruction of many people and towns. Great kings and wondrous cities fell-- all because of sin. There's a diagram I threw together (below), saying that SINFUL DECISIONS is the start of it all, because we all sin. And I guess that ever since Adam and Eve ate that forbidden fruit-- the world kinda stinks. That means that all sin leads to bad stuff. That bad stuff can be turned into one of two things: REALIZING MISTAKES REACTING NEGATIVELY If we realize that we sin, and that God serves justice to the world

Jeremiah 51-52 Read these last two chapters with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . LIVE. In today's reading, God did what He said He'd do. The Babylonians died, in the blink of an eye. A lot of things remind me that we have to live life to the fullest, especially the fact that God can give and take life away in an instant. He doesn't do it recklessly, He has a plan, but we never know when He's coming again. We never know when it's our turn, our neighbor's turn, our own family members' turn, to be a big part of the plan. We never know when the gift of life will be taken away. And we can do one of two things. 1: We live life in fear. We realize that we don't have control of our lives, and we hide under our figurative covers until we feel safe. We don't do anything reckless, we never take chances, we're constantly finding new things to be afraid of... OR 2: We love God and LIVE. God has all the power. He's

Jeremiah 50 Read this ONE chapter now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . DO UNTO OTHERS... Everyone learned this golden rule at one time or another. "Do unto others as you would want done to you," blah blah blah. It works well for young children that are trying to learn to be nice to other kids and whatnot. Before today, I just kinda thought that this verse was below me-- that I was onto bigger better things. But believe it or not, the things we learn when we are 6 can stay with us for a while, and mean something, too. In today's reading, God was telling the plan He had in store for the sinning place of Babylon: death and agony. Everyday for the past week or so we've been talking about the same thing: the people sinned, so they needed to be punished. It was a pretty brutal punishment, too. But today, it really occurred to me just WHAT they were being punished for. We knew that they refused to have faith in God, but did you

Jeremiah 49 Read this ONE CHAPTER at http://www.bible.com/ or with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post. IN DAYS TO COME. In today's reading, there was more death and destruction, because people has sinned. God destroyed all the people, in hopes that things would get better in days to come. It's important to know that even though a lot of damage was done, that God DID have a plan, and He really was doing it for a better tomorrow. The people deserved what happened to them, but it's not like God was just going to end the world. He was going to make better things to come. I don't know if you've realized it yet, but all of the above paragraph can be applied to us-- to you-- RIGHT NOW. Sometimes in today's world, there is turmoil. There is death, and destruction, and pain. But it's not like God is trying to destroy the world. And even when the day comes that He DOES let the world fall apart, everyone with faith in Him will be saved in days to come. ".

Jeremiah 47-48 Read these chapters now (if you want) with the BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . I won't really be talking about them, but if your goal is to read the Bible this year, then these are the ones you have to read. MAKING TIME vs. ALL THE TIME. Today I feel like we need to prepare for that big change that will happen soon, or may have already happened: SCHOOL. The opinions of school are really scattered and random. Some people LOVEEE school, others wish they could hide under a surfboard the entire school year. I'm not saying which one is right or wrong, because they're just opinions. But a FACT we have to face is that school is coming. And I feel like with all this excitement, and football games, and grades, and homework... we have less time for God. We have less time to work on our relationship with Jesus. And I'm not saying that I sit home all summer and read through scripture over and over. It's not like you ne

Jeremiah 44-46 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.bible.com ! EVENING OUT THE FIELD. I'm sure we've all heard this phrase a few times... in a sport, probably. If there are two teams, and one team obviously has more power, you're supposed to give a little of that power up, so that the teams are equal. That way, the outcome of the game can't be argued with. It was fair from the beginning. I think, believe it or not, that today's reading had a lot to do with that. You see, God gives us a choice: to follow Him, or not to. The choice is primarily ours, and no one can take that away from us. In today's reading, the people had to chose as well. They had to make the decision of whether or not they should continue worshipping idols, or come back to God. We all know that God is much more powerful than any "god" out there. The one who created the entire universe is much stronger than a block of wood. I know that, you

Jeremiah 40-43 Okay, so today I'm mainly talking about all the depressing stuff that went on in today's reading. It's not because I'm sad, or angry, or in need of venting... there's just a LOT of death and destruction in today's reading. You can see what I mean by reading today's chapters with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . I guess you don't have to read if you don't want to... but I need to get this devotion started. And I have to talk about something, right? But lucky for you... I will not make the message of the day depressing. Think of it as... motivating. Yeah, I like that. Today's devotion is about... MOTIVATION. Sometimes we need a little push to get something done. Just like in the show "Wipe Out," if people hesitate too long, they throw in a motivator to get them on the next obstacle. It's not always easy doing things for God, or even talking about Him with friends or family! It'

Jeremiah 37-39 The chapters are relatively short today. Read them now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . SAVIOR. We all know that Jesus is our savior. He saves us from sins. He saves us from guilt. He saves us from the pain, and the sorrow... but from today's reading I just realized He saves our lives, too. We can always be still and know that Jesus loves us so much, that He will save us time and time again until it's our time to live with Him in heaven. In today's reading, Jeremiah was speaking the word of God and was being put in danger time and time again. They were really dangerous times back then, wars happening every other day, practically! Anyway, even though Jeremiah was put into threatening situations, God had a bigger plan for Him. God saved him from death because Jeremiah was a strong believer and God needed to use him in big ways. Jeremiah 39:15-18 While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word

Jeremiah 32-36 Read these now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . DON'T LOOK FOR SAWDUST I know what you're probably thinking. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, CARLY?" Will you be patient for a while, please? I'll explain in a little bit. Sometimes blame people for things. Once, I heard this girl complaining about her "awful ex-friend who said bad things about her behind her back." I couldn't help but laughing a little, because that girl was talking about HER friend behind HER back! It's totally hypocritical. Take this for instance: I go to a meeting and endorse these "Go Green" water bottles. I accuse someone of being bad for the environment when they turn down my product, and on the way home... I throw a bottle out the window of my car. What's the point in that, right? There's no point in being two-faced. And yeah, I realize that I'd be a hypocrite if I don't admit that I

Jeremiah 31-32 Read these now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . GREENER GRASS. Have you ever heard the saying "the grass is greener on the other side"? In today's reading, the people of Israel were enduring some pretty tough times. They were about to have half the population destroyed, and were about to be given off to a mean king that would work them in agony for 70 years. But God promised them that when the 70 years were up, He would take back all the believers and pull them out of the sadness. It's almost like God was saying "you'll be going through some tough times, but I promise I will deliver you one day." It's supposed to make them feel better, or safer, but it's hard sometimes to know that times are getting better when they seem so tough now. Jeremiah 31:3-4 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will

Jeremiah 28-30 Read these now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . A PERFECT PURPOSE. Have you ever looked at an item in those cheesy nick-knack magazines? (I have noooooooo idea how to spell nick-knacks. That's just what the spell-check said.) We've all seen them, though, right? The magazines with things like "indoor grass patches" and "watch phones" and the most ridiculous items you'll ever see. I always read them on airplanes or at bookstores and think "what is the purpose of THIS?" How can anyone ever need a decorated fruit holder? I hate to admit it, but sometimes I read the Bible and think the same thing. "How can THIS story ever be beneficial to ANYONE?" It's all about war, and famine, and death. Doesn't seem very inspiring, right? But we have to believe that even when times in the Bible seem dry or boring that there is a purpose for us reading them. It's just like life, once

Jeremiah 25-27 Read these now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.bible.com . JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED! It's a cheesy line. But it's simple, and true, and completely supported by the devotion today. The reading we read was about a choice God was giving to His people-- they could listen to Him or they couldn't... and most of them chose not to. But it makes me wonder... if we're given an ultimatum, and we chose the wrong thing, is it right if we're punished? For instance, I tell my sister that she can hit me, or not hit me. But if she DOES, I'll steal all her money. She chooses herself to hit me, so I steal all her money. Does that seem unfair? She knew what would happen to her if she chose wrong. So really, I think that it's her fault. Does that make sense? This isn't a real situation, by the way :) God told the people they could listen or not listen, and when they didn't... there would be consequences. God is a God of justice, and

Jeremiah 22-24 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . GOOD FRUITS AND BAD FRUITS. Yesterday, God used the analogy of a potter and clay to describe what His people are like. It made sense, and we can learn from it. But today... God gave another analogy to us, which is far more confusing. I'll post it below: Jeremiah 24:3-10 Then the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" "Figs," I answered. "The good ones are very good, but the poor ones are so bad they cannot be eaten." Then the word of the LORD came to me: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to k

Jeremiah 18-21 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ YOU ARE THE CLAY. Sometimes, in action movies, or kung-fu movies, the instructor is always like "you are a tiger" or "you and the warrior" or something cool and awesome like that. But did you ever think you could be compared to CLAY? It sounds a lot less cool than a tiger, but in today's reading, that was the case indeed. Jeremiah was told to tell the sinful people about a prophesy he heard from God: that He is the potter and they are the clay. That even though God put special care into molding us, He has the power to drop us in an instant, and we'd shatter just like the pot if it were to fall to the ground. It's a good analogy, really: that God is the potter, and He's constantly shaping our lives into what they should be. We may not approve of the shape of our pots, but god has a specific plan for us. If we try to break away from the po

Jeremiah 15-17 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post or at www.bible.com . KEEP HIM HOLY. I think a lot of times, we go to church to praise God and see people and listen to sermons... which IS what we're supposed to do... but what happens when we get home? What happens when we go to school, or work? What happens when we get home, and we aren't surrounded by people who love God? How can we keep Him holy? In today's reading, Jeremiah was once again told to go and tell the people about God. Once again, they didn't listen. Once again, they kept on with their evil ways and ignored God speaking through Jeremiah. That got me thinking, though. When people need a helping hand, or you have an opportunity to tell others about God-- do you ignore? Do you keep living the same after you've left church? To keep God holy, I think we need to spread His word. We need to keep it living in our lives by talking, praying, and living for God. We ne

Jeremiah 12-14 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ . OH, THANK GOD. We have a special day every year in which we give thanks to God for family, friends, food... otherwise known as THANKSGIVING. But I feel like right after, we just focus on what we have instead of who gave it to us. All good things come from the Lord. No matter what, whether it's something you bought or something you were born with, God gives it all to us. So why does it feel like sometimes, we have good things happen to us, we don't even give gratitude to God for it? Or sometimes we mumble "thank God" under our breath, without really thanking God. It's almost like it's programmed into our heads, we don't even think about it. Next time you say "thank God," make sure you mean it. Make sure you understand how GREAT God really is, and how much He does for us. In today's reading, Jeremiah's people were about to be

Jeremiah 9-11 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post, or at http://www.bible.com/ . SO MANY CHOICES! Alright, it's no secret that today's chapters were a little depressing. How God was going to punish everyone for their sins, and how none of their idols can save them, and blah blah blah. Anyway, I think that nowadays God gives people a choice. God gave people choices back then too... but times are different now. We can choose to follow God and all that He stands for, or we can ignore Him and be on our own. We have freedoms here in America, to choose whatever and whichever faith we desire. It's not like if we don't bow down to the president we'll get stoned to death or something. We always have a choice. God grants us that choice. And a few verses I read today really shows us all about the different things we can choose: This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength

Jeremiah 6-8 Read these chapters now with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at www.bible.com . CALLED BY GOD. Have you ever felt called by God to do something? To talk to someone sitting by themselves, or to help someone out on the street? Maybe someone you met needs help with a relationship, or is having trouble getting someplace. All there little encounters that WE perceive as just "being nice" can actually be named as being called by God. God uses ordinary people to help others out, and sometimes we don't even realize it. But every miracle, every "oh thank goodness!" moment can be traced back to a God that loves us. We just have to keep our eyes open, so we know who to thank. In today's reading, Jeremiah was called by God in a very intense way. He was called to tell everyone what big mistakes they were making, and he was called to help the people correct the sins. He was called to tell people how one day, God would punish them for their sins.

Jeremiah 4-5 P.A.D. (MY NEW FAVORITE ACRONYM.) Hey everyone! Time is getting closer and closer to the end of summer. I'm trying my hardest to fit in time with friends and family, and do this blog, and prepare for school... I LOVE BEING BUSY! :) Throughout all this busyness, you should learn something about yourself. You know, how you respond to things when they go by fast... how you deal with things quickly, how you deal with things you're not used to... It's all a giant learning process. But what I've learned while people-watching at the pool is that PAD... which means PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT. It's such a simple phrase! We all knew that, right? We all understand that God created us all differently, and we all have a different purpose. So sometimes, I have to stop and wonder: why am I trying to change someone, or being judgmental of someone... just because they're different? People are different. That's a fact. No one is the same as someone else, and although y

Jeremiah 1-3 Read these amazing chapters at http://www.bible.com/ or with the BIBLE READER widget to the right of this post. It's awesome reading about how awesome God is. It's just amazing to me how He can have a personal relationship with us, similar to how He talked with the prophet Jeremiah. That He could tell him what to say, and interact with His people like that. It makes me a little jealous that we can't just sit down with a cup of coffee with God today, but that doesn't mean we can't still have a relationship with Him. We can always pray to Him, and no matter what, we know He's listening. If you invite Jesus into your heart to be your Savior, then you automatically have His soul living in yours. It's a weird concept, but it's so awesome and life-changing that I encourage it to everyone! Get to know the Creator! Talk to the one who knew you from birth. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appo

Isaiah 64-66 Read these AMAZING chapters with the BIBLE READER to the right of this post or at http://www.bible.com/ ! ACCIDENT FORGIVENESS I think I may already have a blog somewhere out there about accident forgiveness. But it fit nicely with today's blog. It's the last day of Isaiah today, and although I'm excited to move on, I'm upset that Isaiah is over. It was a really awesome book filled with all sorts of wisdom. And what do you know, the chapters we read today were filled with awesomeness and I can't wait to talk about them. First off, we all sin. This might be a shocker to those who believe that they're blameless... but NO ONE IS PERFECT EXCEPT GOD. God is perfection, the only perfection, and we're just a whole bunch of sinners. In saying that, God is also very forgiving and gracious. He sent His song to die for us, and our sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ. This verse in today's reading really helped sum that up

Isaiah 60-63 LIFE IS SO GOOD. I hope it's okay if I vent about how great life is and how lucky we are to experience it. I figure it's a heck of a lot better than me complaining about stuff in life, so let the rant begin! Something about this weekend has opened up my eyes to something new. I'm not really sure what it is, or why it's so awesome... but I'm starting to see things in a different light. I guess it all started with seeing how fortunate we really are, then a great day with friends, and then I got some awesome comments on my blog about how proud people were and how greatly my blogging has affected them. It just makes me happy thinking about it-- me, a little teenage girl, making a difference in the world. And for THAT, I am very thankful. Then today I had a great time at church, where I was able to hear a great sermon and spend lots of time worshipping the One and Only God. I'm very thankful for what God has given me, and I know that the Christian life i