Steps of Faith~ 25th Sunday of ordinary times

Jer. 4:11-12, 22-28: The Lord tells Jeremiah of his judgment upon his people & how it will affect the land around them. 

Ps. 14:The wicked does evil all the time. They destroy God's people. They upset the plans of the poor. Because they say that there is no God. Yet they are afraid because God is with those who do what is right. Victory comes to God's people when they gather in God's house. Then they will rejoice & be glad. 

1 Tim. 1:12-17: Paul testifies of how God gave him grace & mercy even though he had done harm to his followers in the past out of disbelief. But Through God's mercy and grace God called him to take the message of Jesus to the people. Then Paul sings praises to God of God's honor & glory.  

Luke 5:1-10: Jesus uses Simon's boat to preach from on the sea of Galilee. Then to repay him for letting him use the boat as a place to preach from Jesus tells Simon where to fish. He caught so many fish that he has to get help from his partners James and John. Then Jesus calls them all to become fishers of men & they follow him. 

When the wicked destroys God's people including the poor, God judges them. When God judges the wicked in the land, the land and heavens mourns. But God blesses those who follow him ( Ps. 14; Jer. 4:11-12, 22-28). We see this when Jesus asked Simon to let him use his boat to preach from. Afterwords, Jesus rewarded them by telling them where to throw their nets to caught many fish. Once Simon and all who were fishing with him realized who Jesus was, Jesus called them to follow him and become fishers of men (Luke:1-10). Another man who once did evil while thinking that he was serving God was Paul. He testifies to this when he writes Timothy. In his testimony, he tells how God's grace and mercy forgave him for doing that evil in ignorance & then called him to carry the Good News of Jesus to the world. We too should do good and not evil, and in doing so we will allow blessings to be given to not only us but the land & those in it. 

Challenge of the week:

Take the time this week to check in with God on how you are doing.
Are you obeying God and blessing your land, or are you disobedient and causing the land and those in it to mourn? Ask god what he wants you to do this week?

Accomplishment of the week:

So my friend, what did you and God decide that you needed to do this week? Did you see victory in it?