Kristi Burchfiel

VERSE: Malachi 4:2–But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. TRUTH: This book, and with it the Old Testament, ends with such hope and such promise. The Lord will come, He will prevail, and He will reward those who have stayed faithful to Him. The Lord will rise and bring with Him healing and joy. Are we staying steadfast? Are we focusing on the eternal reward for all that we do? RESPONSE: Father, it’s easy to get distracted by the tangible things of this world. I pray…

VERSE: Malachi 3:8–“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.” TRUTH: We often hear about giving 10% or some other such standard number to the church. While that is OK, the real issue is recognizing that everything we have belongs to God. While we will often say this, when it comes to the area of money, we don’t always act like it’s true. We hold on to our money thinking that we own it and can choose how to use it. Any time we don’t spend our money the way God would have us, we are…

VERSE: Malachi 2:7–For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. TRUTH: People in positions or authority have a greater responsibility as messengers of God. According to Hebrews 5, each and every one of us who has committed our lives to Jesus Christ hold this role and responsibility. Are we taking our responsibility seriously? Do we seek to influence others as a messenger of God? RESPONSE: Lord, as I go through the day today, let You words be my words. I want to serve and lead people in Your way so that…

VERSE: Malachi 1:13b–“and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering? Should I receive that from your hand?” says the Lord. TRUTH: At this time, the people worshipped God by sacrificing animals, but these people were bringing sick animals or animals they had stolen. The Lord had commanded that they give Him their best. Now, through Christ, we are to bring ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Are we giving God the first and best o our time and talents. Or are we giving God the leftovers and the half-efforts or our lives and expecting Him to accept that…

VERSE: Philippians 4:8–Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. TRUTH: What kinds of thoughts fill our minds on a regular basis? Would our thoughts fit in with this list? Do we discipline our mind to only dwell on these qualities, or do we allow our mind to roam to other things that are not as praiseworthy? We must guard our mind, for only by actually monitoring our thoughts will we be able to ensure that we are dwelling on the…

VERSE: Philippians 3:20–For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. TRUTH: It’s important to remember that we hold dual citizenship. We are citizens of a particular country or countries on earth. But even more important than that, if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are citizens of heaven. In the United States right now, there is much talk about the upcoming election for President and as a citizen of this country, I have a responsibility to be informed and vote. As citizens of heaven, do we spend as much energy talking about the upcoming…

VERSE: Philippians 2:14–Do all things without grumbling or disputing TRUTH: At first thought, this may not sound so difficult. Then I start thinking about how many times we complain about something during the day. We grumble to people about the weather, about traffic, about our job responsibilities, about our home responsibilities. It becomes so easy to grudgingly agree to be obedient to what God asks us to do that we fool ourselves into thinking that being obedient is the only thing that matters. Our attitude is of great importance as well, and we are to do all the things we do without grumbling or complaining to others about them. RESPONSE:…

VERSE: Philippians 1:6–For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. TRUTH: We are all works in progress. Every day we are made more and more like Christ as we allow Him to have more and more control of out lives. We can know that God does not do His work only part way. God will perfect us and make us whole and complete in Him. RESPONSE: Father, I look forward to the day when I will be fully perfected, but I wait, knowing that the things I go through now are intended to chip…

VERSE: Job 42:10–The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. TRUTH: After all that Job had been through, God allowed him to see his house restored. But first, Job had to help restor his friends to a right relationship with God. Imagine if Job had held a grudge and told his friends, “No, I won’t pray for you, you made me mad and hurt me while I was already down. I can’t forgive you and you deserve to stay in God’s anger.” Not only would his friends not receive God’s blessings, but Job would have missed…