The Essential 100, Day 45 Happy Valentine’s Day to those celebrating in the US. Since this day is often dedicated to celebrating the love in our life, this verse seemed fitting. Our reading today is all about proverbs and wisdom. Read Proverbs 16-18. Solomon had lots of wisdom that God had given him, based on his request. Solomon shared that wisdom in these bite-sized nuggets that we can learn and practice. He had advice about every area of life including love and money and jobs, etc. These verses are great to keep and reread oftwn as you make decisions every day. So how does this verse and Valentine’s Day go…

The Essential 100, Day 44 God is a God of wisdom. He is the one who is wise and only through him can we gain wisdom and understanding. Read Proverbs 1-4. Those who are wise actually are the ones who are seeking more and more wisdom. Are we constantly seeking to grow and improve and do more with what God has given us? The wise recognize that God is the source of all wisdom and only through him can we learn and do more.

The Essential 100, Day 43 Praise the Lord! No matter what is going on or what we are experiencing, we have reason to praise the Lord. Read Psalm 103. As we read this psalm, we see so many ways in which we can praise the Lord. We have so many reasons to be thankful to him and so many ways in which he is the designer and creator of so much that is around us. When we think of praising God, do we recognize all of the areas that we need to praise him for? The heavens praise the Lord. His creation praises him. Every leaf and stone and creature…

The Essential 100, Day 42 What do we bring to God? Unfortunately, usually what we bring is our sinfulness and unrighteousness. We desperately need repentance. Read Psalm 51. As we read in the psalm, David is confessing his sins. David has broken God’s law and as a result has broken his fellowship with God. The most important thing that David can bring to God is his repentant heart and desire for God to change him. We need to bring the same thing. Our sacrifice to God is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Do we recognize the sin in our life and do we come to God knowing that…

The Essential 100, Day 41 God restores us. No matter all that God does, he restores our soul. We see so much of the character of God in Psalm 23. God takes care of us and one of the ways he does that is by restoring us. We will all face periods of distress and discontent. That is why God is stated as being the only one who can restore us. Are we relying on the comfort and restoration of God today? Or, are we waiting for other things like people or jobs to restore us? Nothing else will bring restoration to our soul besides God.

The Essential 100, Day 40 Judgment. God did judge the people of Israel for their sins and they were captured by the Babylonians. Read 2 Kings 25:1-28. God is holy and he will judge sin. When we look at our lives and all the areas where God has given us direction, are we obedient? Do we live our life in such a way that Christ is seen through us every day? If not, and none of us are able to do this 100% of the time, then we are guilty. Are we coming to Christ and asking him to live his life through us? Do we recognize the holiness of…

The Essential 100, Day 39 Ever felt like you’ve done everything right and yet are still alone? Most of us have at some point. Elijah explains how it feels and has real conversations with God about how he is doing and what he feels. And God answers him back. Read 1 Kings 16:28-19:18. As followers of Christ, it’s not uncommon to think that we will feel alone. In a world full of people who do not follow Christ, our thoughts and our priorities will be very different from others. However, we are never alone. God is always with us. But even if we don’t think that’s enough, God reminds Elijah…

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…