1 John 2:15-16

NKJV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

Contemporary English Version

15. Don't love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you cannot love the Father. 16 Our foolish pride comes from this world, and so do our selfish desires and our desire to have everything we see. None of this comes from the Father.

The Message

15-17Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

Here is my take:

I am hindering my relationship with God by wanting things I don’t need. Not being content with the Lord, and the Lord alone. Always caring about what other people think of me, rather than what the Lord thinks of me. Being too prideful to minister to people I don’t know well, for fear of how they will view me.
Always wishing I had more, should change to contentment, in what I have. Not contentment in my material possessions, but contentment in what can’t be taken away; my salvation in the Lord, my relationship with the Lord. The only thing I should pine after is the Lord and a greater knowledge of Him. He is sufficient. I should also change my attitude concerning sharing His news with others. What people think of me shouldn’t be important. What He thinks of me is all that matters. I should not love the World. I should not be taken with pride and selfishness. These are not of God.
Lord, please forgive me for the constant battle I seem to have with pride and selfishness. Please help me to let go of those things. Help me to, little by little, learn to love You and You alone. Not myself, and not the world. Help me to live my life solely for you. Give me the courage I lack, to swallow my pride and just do what ever it is You would have me to do. What can I do for You Lord. Help me know, and please don’t allow the world hinder me from accomplishing it. I want to serve you. Help me to grow, to better do so.

God is enough. We need, and should want, for nothing else. His grace is sufficient. Pride and selfishness, keep us from God.

Thank you Lord that you are enough. Thank you for Your Word. It is discipline for my soul and I am grateful. Hebrews 4:12

Spiritual Growth

We are learning about spiritual growth in my class now. It's has been wonderful. The whole reason I started this class was to grow in the Lord, so this topic was, of course, of particular interest to me. Anyhow, we have learned how to get better at spending time with God on a daily basis and how to get the most of our time. One suggestion is 15 minutes with God where you spend roughly:
1 minute relaxing and getting your mind on God.
4 minutes reading a verse or 2.
4 minutes reflecting on that verse, using SPACEPETS, which I will elaborate on in a bit.
2 minutes recording what God did.
4 minutes in prayer, to request God's help in applying what you learned and whatever else is appropriate at the time.

SPACEPETS is a helpful acronym used to help you pick apart the scripture you've just read and really get the most out of it. You are suppose to consider the following:
Is there any:
Sin to confess?
Promise to claim?
Attitude to change?
Command to follow?
Example to follow?
Prayer to pray?
Error to avoid?
Truth to believe?
Something to thank God for?

Sometimes the answer to some of these is no, but for the most part it really helps to give you direction to meditate on the verses in front of you. It allows for God to speak to you through the verses when you really spend time on them. After all, it is the living Word. Hebrews 4:12
Here is a great study I did on Job 37:1-13 using this technique.

Sin to confess?- Not praising God no matter what the weather. Not praising Him for the little things and the big things. Not praising Him in bad times as well as good times.

Promise to claim?- No

Attitude to change?- Never complain about weather or other acts of God, but realize that they are all orchestrated by God who has a perfect plan. Sometimes what he does is for discipline, and other times simply for love and to provide us with what we need or just to enjoy. We should always praise God, even in the storms.

Command to keep?- no

Example to follow?- Elihu is setting an example of how we should praise God and marvel at His powerful abilities. Even something as small as snow or rain is bigger than we think, in the whole scheme of things. God is in control and we should follow Elihu’s example by praising God for everything, both big and small, “bad” and good. God is always to be praised.

Prayer to pray?- Lord, You are amazing. You are awesome in all your works. Lord I pray that I will always be mindful of your woundrous works. I pray that I will always be attentive to your voice when you speak to me. I pray that I will remember to praise in the beautiful weather and the storms, all the same, for You are God, and Your will is perfect. Help me to always remember this for You are always worthy of my praise, no matter what I am going through. Praise Your Holy name. In Jesus name, Amen.

Error to avoid?- I should avoid getting so wrapped up in daily life and busyness, that I fail to see His beauty and wonderful works in everything I encounter throughout my day.

Truth to believe?- God is in control and everything He does, is for good, whether it be discipline or reward.

Something to thank God for?- Thank You Lord that You are in control and that I can praise You for all Your works both big and small. What I perceive as bad always turns out for good in the end, so I thank You that I can rest in that and always bring praise to you, even in the storms. Your plan is perfect! Thank you Lord. Nothing is small, and nothing is bad, when You are in control, and I am mindful of Your wondrous works. In Jesus name, Amen.