Scripture Challenge {Week 39}

As I was sitting at my girls’ private music teacher’s house this week, I was trying to figure out what word God would have us study. I tossed a few words around but I just wasn’t sure. One word I tossed around was “power.” I decided to open my Bible and see if God would lead me in any particular direction. Well, I opened my Bible, and it opened to Daniel. The word “power” literally jumped off of the page. It was the weirdest thing. I then began laughing hysterically. Two of my girls looked at me and thought I had totally lost it. I then proceeded to tell them just how good God is. I don’t think I will ever forget how He chose our word for this week. Anyway, our word for our 39th week is:

Week 39 Challenge Word: Power

God is All-Powerful! He uses His power for His purpose. A.H. Strong (a theologian) said “God can do all that He wills but He will not do all that He can.” Think about that statement for a minute.

Do you have something you are trying to change? Maybe you want to go on a diet. Maybe you have a bad habit of yelling. Maybe you are completely impatient with your husband or your children. Maybe there is someone you just don’t get along with but you are around them more than you would like. Well, do you realize that we cannot change by our own power? We need His power to change those undesireable areas of our lives. Allow Him to be your power and make you strong where you are weak. God allows those bad habits or those difficult circumstances in our lives to reveal His power in our lives. These are opportunities for us to experience His power.

God’s power is not only revealed in our own lives but we can read about His power over and over in the Bible. Here are just a few examples of MANY!

**God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1.
**The plagues against Pharaoh & Egypt in Exodus 7:8 through Exodus 11:10.
**The parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 14:15-31.
**Jesus always used His power to help others. Look for many examples in the Gospels.
**Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proves the power of God. Look in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20 & 21.

I also wanted to share with you a devotional I got just this morning from Zondervan:

It Will Never Lose Its Power
“Only the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross two thousand years ago, shields us from the awful judgment of God for sin. We are not justified because of our good intentions. We are not protected because of our tearful appeals. We can, in fact, do nothing to merit God's favor. Only the blood puts us in right standing with him. In the words of the Andraé Crouch song that we often sing in our church, the blood of Jesus "reaches to the highest mountain" and "flows to the lowest valley." That is why "it will never lose its power."

This week I used some yummy papers from Creative Memories called Romance Power Palette along with their lined paper. These are absolutely gorgeous in person. So many yummy colors and designs.
The scriptures I chose were:

Nahum 1:3a “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. . .”
Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes. . .”

I hope you will rely on God’s power in your own life. Enjoy your week, and may you grow in the Lord as you study His word.