Monday
What Is Honor?
Read Isaiah 3:5; Romans 13:7; Philippians 2:3
Seed Thought: According to the thesaurus, honor has these synonyms: "esteem, respect, pay homage to, assigning value to." The Greek word translated "honor" in our English Bibles, timao, means "to prize, i.e. fix a valuation upon; by implication, to revere" (Strong's Concordance). Showing honor means treating another respectfully because we value them highly.
We live in a culture and age of dishonor. This is a time when political cartoons and editorials routinely lampoon our leaders. Turn on the radio, T.V., Internet—or maybe we should not!—and we find them filled with talk shows from all political stripes. Their theme seems to be discussing whose reputation they wish to destroy today. Their cruelty and bitterness soon infects even our attitude. Even conservative talk-show hosts are not God's messengers, but reflect the thinking of a segment of this world. Even children's cartoons often reflect Satan's anger, his fighting, and his insulting of any and all around. If we are not careful, we can begin to think and talk the same dishonoring way. Nobody is safe from attack or being dishonored. Not the presidency, not members of congress, not school teachers or law enforcement officers. This is an irreverent and disrespectful age. It is time to see what God says about honoring others—something very different from what the world teaches us.
So is honor due anyone? Should we put value on any man or woman, or should we honor God alone? What does the Bible say? A study with a concordance reveals just how much God has to say about honoring others. He does not limit it to honoring our parents. There are scriptures after scriptures that speak of honoring each other. To honor others we must have an attitude of meekness. Truthfully without it we will never sincerely, respect, prize, value and honor anyone until we do.
Action Plan: Define the word meekness, think about it and then ask yourself this, Does your attitude reflect meekness? If your attitude doesn’t; then ask the Holy Spirit to show you, how to change that aspect about yourself.
Tuesday
Honoring God
Read Luke 6:45, 46; Matthew 15:7-9
Seed Thought: God desires far more than lip service. He wants a relationship with us that stems from the heart. Jesus tells us, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil, For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks"[Luke 6:45]. In the end, it is not enough just to avoid misusing God's name. God wants us to love and respect Him. Honoring Him begins in our thoughts. We must know who and what He is. We must know what He requires of us and why. We should admire His wisdom, love, fairness and justice. We need to stand in awe of His power and recognize that our existence depends on His goodness. Then we should talk to Him in prayer- every day. He wants to hear from us. We should follow the admonitions in the Psalms to give Him thanks and praise Him. Openly expressing our appreciation for all that He gives us. We should acknowledge His greatness. We should ask Him to create in us His way of thinking and character. We should request the power of His Spirit to enable us to wholeheartedly obey and serve Him. We honor God most of all by loving Him so much that we desire above all things to be like Him and to accurately represent Him to everyone who sees or knows us.
Action Plan: What flows from your heart? Listen to the words that flow from inside you if they are not wholesome and uplifting ask God to give you the mind of Christ.
Wednesday
How Do We Honor God?
Read each scripture with each step for honoring God
Seed Thought:
1. Honor God in church.
We value honoring God even above our relationships.
2. Honor God in the Family. Ephesians 5:25-26.
3. Honor God in work. Colossians 3:23.
4. Honor God in our finances/wealth. Proverbs 3:9.
We honor God with our wealth through giving and in stewardship. Proverbs 13:22.
5. Honor God by honoring our parents. Exodus 20:12.
WE HONOR GOD IN EVERYTHING WE DO.
We are all called by God to honor him. He is pleased when our only desire is to honor Him.
Action Plan: You just finished reading ways that we honor God “Were there some ways mentioned that you do not honor God? List other ways besides the list above that you can honor God!
Thursday
Do You Make God Smile?
Read Matthew 22:37-40; Psalm 145:3; Psalm 99:5; Matthew 15:8; Malachi 2:2
Seed Thought: Values dictate our behavior. Every family has a set of values they live by. Every church has their own set of values. Where do we get these values? Why do we honor God? We honor God because He is worthy! What does it mean to honor God? God first loved us, we should practice love and tolerance to one another, when we do this it reflects God’s love for us. To honor God is more than just a lip service; it is more than just coming to church and doing religious routines. Honoring God is a heart issue in other words it is out of a deep reverence and love for God. It is when you serve with a sincere heart, that it honors God. When we honor God it makes Him smile. Why do you want to make God smile? It’s the same way you want to make your Dad smile. You want to make him smile because he loves you and cares for you, so you want to reciprocate that love in some way. When that reciprocation is successfully carried out, a smile is usually the easiest, most recognizable way to know that it is a success. To make God smile, it is the same. We want to honor God because God loves us, and we want to reciprocate that love in a way that we are good at, and in a way that will make God smile.
Action Plan: As you go about your day today, stop and think. Did what I say to my classmate/friend/neighbor just now please God, or not? Did it put a smile on His face? What can I do today to make God smile?
Friday
Honoring Our Brothers And Sisters
Read Malachi 1:6; Mark 6:4-6; Matthew 15:4-9; 1Timothy 5:17-18; Ephesians 6:3
Seed Thought: There may be as many reasons to honor special people, as there are people to honor. Yet, have you ever wondered why we honor people in the first place? Why do we pause every so often to acknowledge and honor special efforts by special people with an appreciation award or milestones in people's lives? After all, life would go on without special occasions. We'd still get up in the morning, go to work, care for our kids; they’d go to school, grow up, get their own jobs and maybe have a family of their own. Life does its thing. Perhaps we honor people with recognition programs because, sooner or later, we realize that we don't know how much time we've got here and every day becomes a little more precious. So too, the people we admire become a more appreciated. We honor those we respect, those that have been a huge presence in our lives. We honor those that have spoken words of encouragement, instruction and correction. We honor an individual for sacrificing the time and personal glory for the good of others. Romans 12:10 (The Message) says “Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle”. Here is a competition where we can rightly fight for first place in line: in honoring one another. Not just tolerating one another, but honoring one another.
Action Plan: Spend time today reflecting on your life and those who have made a difference in your life, if you can make an effort to call or see them to tell them how they impacted your life and honor them.
The Weekender
Looking Back
Today is the day that we take time to look back on what we have learned this past week. To reflect on what the Holy Spirit has highlighted in our lives and how we can implement the changes needed in our lives to be fully all we can be.
Father, we ask that you bring back remembrance of changes and what we need to do to change in our life to be fully who and what you have purposed us to be in your kingdom, Father thank you for being at work in our lives, in Jesus’ name, Amen
Take a few moments and Journal what the Father is speaking to you:
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