goin' solo.

day sixteen.

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:05:27 -0400

What phrase is most memorable?

the most memorable part of this passage comes from Deuteronomy 10:15:

So cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded.

when i reflect on this, i think about all of the times i’ve hardened my heart and sheltered certain people out of my life. i’ve done it with friends and ex-girlfriends, and while in most of these situations it was for the better, there have certainly been some who i later regretted from excluding in my life. this passage reminds me to cut away those things that make me be so cold hearted towards other people and to embrace them for who they are.

What quality of God stands out to you?

the quality of God that i get from this passage comes just a sentence later, which says:

He doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.

God doesn’t put anybody before anybody. He doesn’t have a list of people who are His favorite and others who He doesn’t like so much. He loves us all. He just wants us to share that love that He shares with us with the rest of the world. shows just how fair, just, and amazing our God is. really blows me away.

What command stands out to you?

the command from God that stands out to me comes from Deuteronomy 10:19:

Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him, back up your promises with the authority of his name.

on day ten of my reflection, i wrote about the respect that we have to uphold with the Lord, and this passage from today just further supports that idea. we’re called to show our upmost respect for God in all that we do, and to never lose the grip we have on the relationship with Him! respect for God is something i’ve been thinking a lot about while doing these reflections. probably because of the line that we have to draw between the God is my bestest and closest friend and the God is the amazing Creator of all the Heavens and the Earth below mind sets. God is my best friend but He is also my Father! and sometimes i feel like i don’t draw the line often enough between the two. i don’t like the thought of disrespecting God in my life. and that’s something i really want to focus on.

day fifteen.

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:26:22 -0400

How seriously do you take the words of God?

i like to think that i take the words and commandments of God pretty seriously, since they are the laws and guidelines for life set forth by our Creator. but after thinking about it for a few minutes, i’m sure every single person who reads this question will all come down to one single answer: not seriously enough. Scripture is something that is something everybody can take a lot more seriously and make a much more important part of our lives; myself especially. something to certainly work on over this summer.

day fourteen [reflection].

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:01:03 -0400

this past week has been pretty sweet. in the midst of work and all that good stuff, i’ve been finding myself being more wanting and needy to be with God, which is always a good thing. i really do feel God’s presence with me when i’m alone and studying His Word and worshipping. i’ve been tuning in a lot this past week to IHOP’s The Prayer Room via the net and it’s been a great way to relax after a long day or early in the morning, just chill out, and get my thoughts into the form of prayer and song. it’s been a good week, for sure.

day thirteen.

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:48:00 -0400

What is primarily on your heart today?

the excitement of julia’s graduation is definitely one of the top things on my heart lately. i’m so excited for her, and so proud that she’s been able to overcome so many struggles to get where she is at right now. friday is her graduation, which i’m really excited to be able to attend! got the day off work to celebrate with her and her family!

the incident from work yesterday has also been plaguing my thoughts since it happened. when people started coming into my job and threatening me, that’s when i have to draw the line. and it all started off with me trying my best to help the guy out! i think that’s why it has been bothering me since last night. i was doing my job and just helping him out, and all of a sudden he started lashing out ready to throw punches and go after all of us. so messed up.

i’m also super excited for some of the awesome things going on this summer. julia, nickyb, and i have finally got our tickets to scream the prayer 2009, which is going to be an awesome show. some awesome parties and trips we’re taking is also something to look forward to.

my worries about the upcoming school semester has also been bothering me a little bit lately, but not as much as i know they will be in a few months, when school actually gets a little closer.

Share with God what you’ve been thinking. Does this make you uncomfortable?

the positive things in my life - like julia’s graduation and the great things going on this summer - i have no problem at all sharing with God - not the least bit of hesitation. but the more serious things, like the confrontation at work and the upcoming school semester, do bother me when bringing up to God, because sometimes it feels as if i’m showing worry or concern that God isn’t going to help me. deep down, i know that Jesus is going to help me through the struggles i’m currently facing; i know He will be there looking over my shoulder when classes start and if that guy ever comes back into my job. but it makes me wonder if it offends God when we do worry about these things. because God tells us:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” - Joshua 1:9

we are not to be afraid. we are not to be discouraged because God is always with us! so when we are worrisome that God isn’t going to be there for us… does He get offended or upset with us? it’s for this reason alone that sometimes i feel like i’m hesitant to bring my worries before God - out of fear of offending. but in the end, i always do end up bringing them to Him, because i know that He wants to help us through our struggles, and wants us to see His presence during those times.

day twelve.

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:22:59 -0400

What impresses you most about God?

probably the most impressive thing about our God is how ready and willing He is to show the people of this world His love, mercy, and forgiveness. since the very beginning, God has offered His creation these three things at a very little cost - all we have to do is show our love for Him too. by accepting Jesus as our savior, God offers us his undying love for us. He offers his mercy for us. He offers forgiveness that is deeper than the seas. He loves us!!!

when i think about how big this town, this state, this country, this world, this universe, this galaxy is… it’s really overwhelming. and to know that the Creator of all of this has a burning love and forgiveness for me is just… woah. leaves me speechless.

His love never leaves us. when we turn away from Him, when we go to sleep, when we go out and sin against Him, He never leaves us. when we go home after a long day and lock ourselves in our own rooms when we think we’re totally alone… He is there. gotta love that!

day eleven.

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:10:00 -0400

Under what circumstances are you most prone to forget who God is and what He’s done for you?

today’s reflection is hard to write about. we don’t want to think about the times we’ve forgotten God. we don’t want to think about the times we have left His side and lived our lives according to our own agenda vs. His will. nobody wants to admit they’ve hurt God. but we do. it’s a reality we have to accept - not necessarily agree with - but it’s something we have to acknowledge and understand that we do.

i’m more prone to forget God and His power in my life when i’m under stress, worried, afraid, or upset. it’s easy to say, “i put my worries in the Lord and do not worry!” but it’s not so easy to actually do. it’s hard to always put all of our biggest concerns in the hands of God, because we don’t know how He is going to act on it; we don’t know His plans for our lives. we have to learn to just accept life and live it out the way He wants us to; according to His plan He made for us before we were even born!

but it’s during these times when i’m panicking and worrying that i forget…
when i needed Jesus most, He was there for me.
when i was worried, Jesus helped me to not worry.
when i was scared, Jesus gave me courage.
when i wanted to cry, Jesus offered His own shoulder!

i’d love to be able to get to a point where i don’t forget God and all the glory He’s done in my life. i’d love to be able to acknowledge God in the good, in the bad, in the happy, and in the sad. got a journey laid out ahead of me, but i’ve got my prayers to help me along the way.

day ten.

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:45:54 -0400

As you read God’s statements about Himself and about the priests what is your reaction? Notice whether you are drawn toward God as you read or repelled from God.

personally, i feel as though this passage just reiterates the idea of just how Holy our God is. sometimes we think of God as our best friends - our buddy that we can tell our secrets to and know He will keep them. and while He is our best friend, we must also hold a very high level of respect for Him - since He is God - the creator of all of Heaven and Earth! i think the point God was trying to make in this passage was just how we have to show Him the respect that we owe Him, and how important it is for us to upkeep a high level of respect and reverence for Him. it’s all too easy to write off just how holy He really is when we think of Him as our best friend. when we are in this mind set, we’re thinking “me & my best friend” as opposed to “my God - the Creator of the Earth that i stand on! - and me.” and that’s where we lose a certain level of respect we’re called to upkeep.

this passage cannot repel me from God. why? simply because He has certain demands He wants to see respected before anybody goes to accept His holy offerings? all i can think of doing is taking a good look around me - looking at all the Lord has given my family and i - and you know what, i really don’t think the demands God asks for is too much of Him to ask. He has every right in the world to make such demands; He is the Holy One!

day nine.

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:01:41 -0400

What do you want to say to God about having sent your sins off without you?

how about a renowned THANK YOU! my heart fills with praise just at the thought that God forgives us of our sins. how can it not? in today’s passage when they sent the live goat off into the wilderness - the wasteland - it represents throw your sins away. it represents your sins leaving your presence, so that you might be free of them! how remarkable is that - for real! it’s awesome. and it shows the true power and mercy of our Holy God! the fact that each morning when i awake, God promises my sins to be washed away leaves me nearly speechless. it’s amazing.

day eight.

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:42:19 -0400

“Why does God take sin so seriously?”

my first thought after reading this reflection was: why wouldn’t He? i think to pretty much sum it up, sin can be described as the act/thought of going against the Word of God. it’s going against the laws our Father established for us to follow with our lives. when we sin, we are breaking those laws. that’s why it’s so serious. God only set up these laws as guidelines to better our own lives! so when we sin, it’s hurting and negatively impacting our own lives. God doesn’t want to see us suffer or live a life full of wickedness. that’s why sin is serious! if God didn’t take sin seriously - would His people have limits? would there be a line - like the one His laws put in place in our lives - that we still wouldn’t want to cross over? i doubt it. if God didn’t take sin seriously, we wouldn’t have a problem with things like murder, lust, greed, lying, etc.

“When we sin, what sort of sacrifices are we required to bring to God?

two words: our lives.
i feel like when we sin, even though God reassures us we are already forgiven, we still owe Him something. we owe Him our praise, our glorification, our lives. through prayer and worship, we can renew our lives with Christ and show our God our true intentions; that sin plagues us daily, but it isn’t a choice we want for our lives. the choice for our lives is God, solely!

day seven [reflection].

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:12:57 -0400

every seventh day of the next year will be a day of reflection; a day to rest and look back on the past weeks lessons learned and share anything about them. tonight i wanted to write a quite little entry about the characteristics of God that was portrayed this week through the passages i read:

God is:

forgiving.

a provider.

a listener to our complaints.

Holy!

how remarkable is our God?
He forgives us of our sins and all our wrong doing.
He provide for us - and knows what it is we need before we even ask!
He listens to our complaints and helps us through them.
He is the most Holy of all things Holy!

day six.

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:29:08 -0400

Title: God Reveals Himself
Passage: Exodus 33:21-34:7
Topic: Forgiveness

the theme that i got out of this passage this morning comes mostly out of Exodus 34:6-7, which reads:

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

i held onto the word of forgiveness after reading this passage, because it is a quality of God that i think more people today, myself included, could pray about and ask God for. i struggle with forgiving others sometimes, especially when it’s something that has hurt me or made me upset. it’s just not as easy to forgive them - and i mean really forgive them: not just with your mouth and with your mind, but with your heart and soul. it’s one of the many awesome qualities of God that i look up to and appreciate, because He forgives us of “wickedness, rebellion, and sin.”

Jesus teaches us that forgiveness is incredibly important. an example would be Matthew 18:21-22. we’re called not to forgive just once, but forgive over and over and over again. that’s the quality of God that i attached myself to during this morning’s passage, and something i’m going to continue to pray on throughout the week.

day five.

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:16:24 -0400

“If you were to complain to God right now, what would your complaint be?”

i really do try to live my life as positive as possible. i try to be happy and content with every “card” i am handed and with every aspect of my life. i try to not be a needy, miserable person. so this question is hard to think of an answer to. i truly feel satisfied with my life - i really don’t feel like i have any complaints about my actual life or the way it is going. i’m very happy with who i am and where i’m at at this point in time. so my complaint, i don’t think, would really be so much about my life per se.

i think i’d complain to God about the return of Jesus! i’d complain that i’m impatiently awaiting the return of Christ - for the opportunity to look Him in the face, bow down before Him, and worship for the rest of my life. i’d also probably complain about pushing more people into dedicating their lives to the Lord! i’d love for Him to just be able to take the non-believers and show them - once and for all - His realness and His burning compassion for His creation: US!

“In what ways, if any, have you been perplexed by God’s response to your complaining?”

one thing i’ve come to realize is that God doesn’t always answer our prayers flat out / directly / in the way we want. God will answer our prayers according to His will for us, and will do so in which ever way He feels the need to do so, in accordance to His will for our lives. it is times like those that He leaves me slightly puzzled. i’m left puzzled because, yeah, maybe looking back on a certain time period we can see God answering our prayers in the way He does, but while we are currently in the time when we need His answer, it’s hard for us to see how He is working. (not really sure if this is worded the way i want, but it makes sense to me haha). it is the same when we complain to the Lord: He answers our complaints in His own way, according to His will for our lives, and that can sometimes leave me a little perplexed.

day four.

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:07:27 -0400

“God is holy. What difference does that make in your life?”

the fact that God is holy makes all the difference! we worship a holy God - a God who is above all of us, a God who is sinless and perfect in every way. it makes me take a step back and really feel like we sometimes don’t always treat God as holy as He is. we sometimes make it seem as though he’s just another buddy of ours as opposed to the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth! my value of our relationship increases by a billion too - the opportunity to be able to confide, repent, and ask for specific blessings in my life are amazing things that i truly am honored to be able to do with such a Holy God!!!

Moses clearly felt the same way too, since when we found out that the voice he was speaking to from the bush was that of the Holy One, he immediately turned away. he felt so honored and blessed - yet unworthy all the while - that he wasn’t able to look His Creator in the face. i really respect Moses for that; i feel like if God were standing directly in front of me, i wouldn’t be able to turn away! it’d be too hard! haha. i’d want to just bask in his love, grace, and of coarse - Holiness.

day three.

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:51:48 -0400

“…Listen for what God is inviting you do to or become this week.”

when i woke up this morning to today’s devotional, i laid in my bed just thinking about today’s reflection. i spent some time trying to figure out what it was God wants me to do this week. is there someone i can help out? is there something i know that needs to be done? is there some place i know my presence should be made at this week?

it’s almost midnight now, and i still don’t really know what it is God wants me to do this next week. i know that there is someone who could be shown the word and message of Jesus Christ in their life, but i’m not quite sure how i can go about bringing it up to him without scaring him off and ruining a friendship of many years. i’m wondering if maybe this is what God is calling me to do this week, but i think i really just need to spend some more time praying on it and focusing on listening to see if God drops a hint on me this week that this is what He wants me to do.

if it does turn out that helping to share the gospel with this guy is what God wants me to do, i think i’m only hesitant because he’s pretty open with his feelings about atheism and how he doesn’t believe in God. but i know about the presence of God in my life - i’ve felt it, i’ve seen it. and i’ve seen it in other people’s lives as well. i just hope i can do a good job at doing it. i’m definitely going to spend some time trying to pray on this and figure it out this weekend.

day two.

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:49:54 -0400

“Pray about what you desperately want from God.”

today’s topic to pray on isn’t as easy as it sounds. what is it that i desperately want from God? one thing i’ve always tried to do was not constantly ask for things from God. it’s not that i have a problem asking the Lord for things, but at what point do we have to ask enough things of him before he goes, “alright already!” i mean, i don’t think God will ever deny us or get angry with us for asking for things, but there should be a line where the praise and worship heavily outweighs the asking of things. and looking more deeply into the question, it’s what do you desperately - as in, having an urgent need/want - from God. this is where the question for a bit more serious for me.

one of the things on the top of my list would be for the strength of my mother to keep being the strong woman she is. she’s done a really amazing job being a single mother to three boys since we were all just becoming teenagers, and it certainly hasn’t been easy at all for her. she’s sacrificed much more than i ever have for myself and my two brothers. i really do owe this woman my life. but lately it just seems as though she’s more stressed out than usual. she hasn’t been noticibly upset or anything like that, but you can just tell she’s been getting stressed out. i’d love to see her get less stressed out and happier with her life. that’d make me seriously such a happy camper.

i’d also pray for the decision of someone up at my college, who i’m relying on to help me do a major switch in my college studies. i haven’t heard anything from them yet, but this decision can seriously impact the rest of my life, that’s why it makes me a little on the edge.

my girlfriend, also, has been dealing with some anxiety and stress issues. it can be hard sometimes, since i don’t always know what to say when she’s upset and needs me. i feel like i can really do is be there for her and listen to her when she talks. but when it gets quiet and i feel like she’s expecting me to say something, sometimes i’m left speechless. not because i don’t care - simply because i don’t know what to say. not that i can really say anything to make everything okay anyway.

so that’s what i’ll be praying for all in the name of Jesus tonight.

bobbyb goes solo.

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:14:05 -0400

bobbyb goes solo is a new tumblog to track my journey into the world of lectio divina and to help me on my journey, i have a copy of the message // remix:solo next to my bed side. the message // remix:solo is a daily devotional - “an uncommon devotional” - that dives into the idea of worship through the practice of levtio divina, or “divine reading.” each day, as i am presented with a thought / question about the devotional for the day, i’d like to use both the @bobbybgoesSOLO twitter account and this tumblog as a way to record my progress.

some links others might find useful:

@bobbybgoesSOLO twitter account.
iheartbobbyb.com homepage.
wikipedia: “lectio divina”
buy a copy of the message // remix:solo