The Essential 100, Day 38 God is with us. As we go through our day today, it’s important to realize the presence of God in our life. Solomon understood that as he built and dedicated the temple to the Lord. Read 1 Kings 8:1-9:9. The dedication of the temple was extremely busy with so many reminders of the glory of God. This was an opportunity for the people to see God working and moving in their daily life. God was here, in their midst, and now they had a visual reminder of that every day. When we think about our life, God is here and with us every day. The…

The Essential 100, Day 37 Wisdom. Solomon had asked for wisdom as he judged and ruled. Read 1 Kings 2-3. Solomon was taking the throne and he had a lot of decisions to make. God gave hin the opportunity to ask for something and so he did. God appreciated his request and he granted it. Then later, we see that the people recognized what God was doing through him. When God works and moves in us, others can tell. God doesn’t ever just change us for us; he changes us so we can impact others. Are we impacting others? If not, is it because we haven’t been with God and…

The Essential 100, Day 36 David sinned. Guess what, we all sin. None of us are perfect. The question isn’t if or when we will sin. The question is how will we respond once weare confronted with our sin? Read 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25. David was a man who sought after God. David loved God, but David wasn’t perfect. David still sinned, and these chapters record that sin. The interesting thing here is not that David sinned, because we are all sinners and we will all sin. The interesting thing is how David responds when he is confronted with his sin. He immediately repented. He immediately sought after God. David sought…

The Essential 100, Day 35 What are we attempting to do for God? If we say we love God, how are we demonstrating our love to him? For king David, he wanted to build a house for the Lord to show his love. Read 2 Samuel 5-7. God had established David as the king over the land. Now, David is looking around himself and realizes that God has given him so much and he is so incredibly thankful. The question then becomes, what can David do for God? While God didn’t allow David to be the one to build a house for him, God loved and appreciated that David was…

The Essential 100, Day 34 Difficult people. The world seems to be full of difficult people. We have people who we struggle to get along with and David gives us great examples as he dealt with Saul. Read 1 Samuel 23:22-24:7. Unfortunately, we are never going to be universally loved. There are going to be people we struggle to get along with and people who are committed to seeing bad things happen to us. Saul was that person for David. The key is how David responded. David continued to follow God, but he refused to try to do anything to Saul himself. David knew that was God’s job. God must…

The Essential 100, Day 33 Giant in your path? We all experience giants to overcome, including giants of our own making. How do we face them? Read 1 Samuel 16:1-18:16. David had been annointed king, but wasn’t king yet. He had several obstacles in his way, and one actual giant. He knew that God had a plan for him and he continued to move through obedience, taking on one giant at a time. What giants are we facing? Are we willing to be obedient to go out and confront them in God’s strength? Do we rely on God to guide us and to fight our battles for us? Only God…

The Essential 100, Day 32 “We want a king.” The Israelite people decided they needed an actual, flesh-and-blood king to lead them instead of listening to and relying on God. Read 1 Samuel 8-10. Samuel was upset by this, but God reminded him that the people weren’t rejecting Samuel, but God. When we think about the rulers and governments that we have, do we seek people who are Godly and follow God first? Do we desire to truly follow God first and then follow leaders second? If God were our king, would we follow or rebel? When we look at our leaders, we have a responsibility to try to help…

The Essential 100, Day 31 God speaks to us. We have the opportunity to hear God’s word every single day. Read 1 Samuel 1-3. Yes, Samuel had an amazing encounter with God. God spoke directly to him on that one occasion. However, the Bible clearly states that Samuel learned about God and deepened his relationship with God through His Word. How much focus do we give God’s word? How much time? If we are going to grow in our relationship with God, it will depend on how much time we spend in study of His word. Even Samuel, one of the heroes of the faith, learned through God’s word. So…

The Essential 100, Day 30 Love. We love our family and we love friends, and most importantly, we love God. Read the 4 chapters in the book of Ruth. Naomi was in a difficult situation. Widowed and alone, she made the decision to go back to her homeland and Ruth came with her. All through out this story we see how Ruth loves Naomi and how Naomi loves and cares for Ruth. Ultimately, we see Boaz’s love and care for Ruth and Naomi. When we look at our lives, how many ways can you identify God’s love for you? In what ways do you demonstrate your love for God? How…

The Essential 100, Day 29 Pride is a very dangerous thing. Samson learned this the hard way. Read Judges 13-16. Samson thought he had everything made. He was stronger than anyone, and he did whatever he liked, whenever he liked. God used him in amazing and awesome and wonderful ways to judge the Philistines and to help free the Israelites from their bondage. However, Samson struggled with pride. He was stronger than anyone else and he knew it. He stopped relying on the Lord to fight his battles for him. This became such an issue that even when the Lord had left him, he didn’t realize it. Do we rely…