FRIDAY, August 22nd, 2008

Have a great day at school! And remember you are just hours away from THE WEEKEND!!!!!

This morning it was raining really hard at my house, in fact... The rain this morning was worse than the hurricane on Tuesday. That is Ironic! Well, I hope you did not have to swim to school.

Stay faithful on these devos!! There are some of you that miss too many days here and there and that will end up holding you back from our rewards trip!! Stay faithful everyday!!

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Jessica Massey: Sweet Nibblets?? Cool! :)
BETHANY F: I am so glad that you are on here again!!!!
Kacey: God always seems to bring about the right passage at the right time!!
Kervin: Was fourth falls the hardest thing that you have ever done? What are some of your goals??
Jonathan Massey: I want you to help me with something. We are going to do something really amazing at Trunk or Treat and I want you to help me brainstorm!
Alex: I must agree with you, that is not what I would expect Rachel to be talking about in the devotions. It took me by suprise!



Genesis 8

1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.
3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.
7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.
8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground.
9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.
10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark.
11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.
14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying,
16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.
19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”

There were many different lessons in this passage but the one, most influential lesson to me is the one found in verse 20. It explains that after Noah got on dry land he took all of the "clean" animals (the ones in groups of seven) and sacrificed them.

I dont know about you, but I read this, and I think to myself: WHY IN THE WORLD!!! would they carry these animals on the ark for A YEAR!!! just to sacrifice them as soon as they got off the ark?!?!?!

In my small mind that does not make sense. But to God that is crucial!!!!! God wanted to make sure that the new beginning of civilization put Giod first in their life. This sacrifice proved to God that not only was Noah obedient, but He was willing to work hard for NOTHING other than glorifying God!!!

Noah sacrificed these animals and it shows that nothing comes before God in his heart.

What do you have in your life, that you need to give up?? Maybe you have been babying this "animal" for years!! Maybe this animal is special to you? Maybe YOU LOVE IT!! The question is: Is it more important that God in your life?? God requires a sacrifice for success in our life! Maybe it is time that you sacrifice some things for Gods glory!

Is He first in your life? Obey Him and Show Him by sacrificing any idols in your life!