Get Personal Luke 6:35 MSG I have a confession to make. I am a runner. I’m not a physical runner…I am an emotional  runner. While I tested as being 50/50 on the introvert extrovert spectrum, I learned the hard way to anticipate mean people. I didn’t believe that early in life. When I was younger I trusted and I trusted and I trusted. I mistakenly thought deep down everyone was nice. I thought everyone was faithful. I thought everyone told truth. When I was in Seminary psychol

Bible Study Get Personal Luke 6:31 ESV Think of Others In the modern world we often tend to think about what we need to accomplish today or this week. Americans especially are a doing centered people. Countries in the Orient (the East) focus more on being. They value group harmony and interdependence.  Western cultures tend to focus on individualism and self-expression. In Luke 6:31 we are told, “As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” In my estimation those

Get Personal Leviticus 19:18c I recently came to a point of realization by finally admitting to myself I am an addict. When I finally faced it, I decided I had to do research to find out why I was addicted to one particular activity. So, I looked it up. It turns out crochet has numerous advantages to the brain. Crochet relieves stress and anxiety, it improves mood, it enhances mindfulness, it engages problem-solving skills, memory, and concentration. So…I ask myself why I nee

Bible Study Get Real Galatians 5:13 ESV There are times when we tend to make assumptions about our neighbors that come as a complete surprise. I tend to be a repeat offender. I was raised in a home of believers. I love to learn and when my dad was home I spent a great deal of my time learning how to build and make things. He loved Jesus and spent most of his time studying for his Sunday School lesson. He was one of the most loving men I’ve known. He was kind to every

Bible Study Get Personal I John 3:18 ESV 1 John 3:18 MSG The modern saying for 1 John 3:18 would probably be, “talk is cheap.” In the 1st Century the Apostle John wrote in 1st John 3:18 to those who were new believers in Christ, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” That is definitely no easy task. The contemporary version of 1 John 3:18 says, “My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love.” In other words, s

Bible Study I Peter 4:8 TLB Love I found out today that a good friend went to be with the Lord very recently. He was someone who always had a smile on his face and he had a good attitude about everything. Even more than that he loved everyone he met. I Peter 4:8 tells us, “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love makes up for many of your faults.” I was sad when I heard of his passing, but after the initial information settled in I rememb

Bible Study Get Personal John 13:34 MSG Have you ever had a teacher who raised the bar every time you went to class? I had one teacher who continually raised the bar. The interesting element of his teaching is that he raised the bar in different ways and at a different rate for all students who were actively engaged in the subject matter. He came along at a perfect time for me. Going into 7th Grade I mysteriously became obsessed with Speech Class. I wanted to learn how to giv

Bible Study January 2 2026 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 MSG In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul goes right o the heart of the matter on man, Christ, and Spirit when he addresses the difficult issue of the Spirit of God IN us with the early church. It was personal. It’s no wonder the church had to learn from ground zero a new way of communicating with God. The Hebrew people had always communicated with God through the patriarchs (I.e. Abraham or Moses), through dreams and visions, through exteri

Ask and don’t be surprised how God answers! Deborah acrazyjourney.com

Bible Study 1 John 5:15 ESV If I had to choose one prayer issue I’ve struggled with more than any other it would probably be learning how and what to ask. It may sound silly but 1 John 5:15 gives us a perfect example. In 1 John 5:15 he wrote, “And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” The first thing we notice is that God does hear us. We do not need to use special words or phrases. We can ask in any lang

Bible Study Acts 2:38 ESV; John 21:15-19 MSG One of the most striking elements of today’s first scripture passage is the person who spoke the words. In Acts 2:38 we are told, “Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Peter. Peter the disciple. Peter, the disciple who emotionally ran and denied knowing Jesus three times. Now after the resurrectio

Bible Study 7a 2 Timothy 1:6 ESV The gift…the really great gift we have been given from God is the Helper…the Holy Spirit that abides IN us. Asking God to fan the flame of the Holy Spirit or helper God sent to believers on earth is wonderful on top of awesome! 2 Timothy 1:6 tells us, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” It’s been my experience that fanning the flame through laying on of hands can be done in vario

Bible Study 7a Ephesians 4:4-6 MSG One Faith, One Baptism, One God Sometimes in life what we need most isn’t to be problem free and have full pockets…those things are not bad things, but they really are temporary things. After we’ve celebrated the birth of Christ with friends and loved ones throughout the Christmas season we are reminded of the blessing of being on the same road and going in the same direction with others. The dinners and gifts are secondary blessings to the

Bible Study 1 Peter 4:11 NLT Every morning when I wake up I wonder, ‘where are the voices of God in our world today?’ If everything we speak and help is from God…where is the unified voice of God in our world? In I Peter 4:11 he wrote, “Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God thro

Bible Study 7a 1 Peter 4:10 ESV 1 Peter 4:7-11 MSG When I was really young and we studied Spiritual Gifts in Sunday School I didn’t know what Spiritual Gift God gave me. So, I prayed about it. I still didn’t get what my Spiritual Gift could be…so I prayed about it. In 1 Peter 4:10 he wrote, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” I really really wanted to use my Spiritual Gift so I pra

Bible Study Luke 6:38 ESV I John 4:7-10 MSG Series: God Gives Several times in the New Testament scripture refers to a similar concept of receiving what we give. In some instances it sounds like an equal exchange but in the Gospel of Luke it says when we give we will receive abundance in return. Luke 6:38 says, “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measu

Bible Study 7a I Corinthians 12:10e I have some experience with reading and speaking languages I was not taught as a child. Because learning one, two or three languages is easier for young people, I have an idea (call it a theory) that if we taught a baby three languages they would grow up being fluent in three languages. As it stands today and in my past, I was taught English from childhood, Spanish from 4-5 grade through four semesters in college, and in Seminary I was taug

Bible Study 1 Corinthians 12:10d ESV James 1:5-8 ESV If I had to choose one verse and one gift that has caused more confusion in my life more than any other verse or gift it would be tongues. When I was twenty something the gift of tongues was categorized as a certain kind of gift and there were two schools of thought or two sides. One side said tongues were real and they were still a gift today. The other side said tongues were a real gift when Jesus and the Apostles were al

Bible Study 1 Corinthians 12:10c I’ve known for most of my life that my strongest gift is not Discerning Spirits, but with awareness I have learned how to cope with it by signs I see in others. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the new church in Corinth he told them about many gifts from the Spirit and one of those gifts was discerning of Spirits, In 1 Corinthians 12:10c he wrote God gives, “to another the ability to distinguish between spirits.” It wasn’t until Seminary that I

Bible Study I Corinthians 12:10b ESV The Apostle Paul also wrote to the church in Corinth about the gift of prophecy. I Corinthians 12:10b tells us, Give “to another prophecy.” Years and years ago unbeknownst to me I was drawn into a discussion about the gifts of the Spirit and which gifts are given to us today. I was young and was  terribly confused so I did what I always did and I went to my dad. I told him both arguments I heard were from different Christian friends. Some