Genesis 9:1-17

"Then God said, 'I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.'" v12
Noah stepped out of the boat onto the earth devoid of human life. But God gave him a reassuring promise. This covenant had three parts:

1. Never again will a flood do such destruction.
2. As long as the earth remains, the seasons will always come as expected.
3. A rainbow will be visible when it rains as a sign to all that God will keep His promise.

The earths order and seasons are still preserved, and rainbows still remind us of God's faithfulness to His world!

The next time I see a rainbow, may it remind me of God's unfailing love!

Taken from the NLT Life Application Study Bible

Genesis 8:1-22

"Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. And the LORD was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, 'I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.'" v20-22

Noah shows extreme patience as he waits for the flood waters to recede and God to tell them when they can come off of the boat. Please keep in mind that he has spent almost a year cooped up in this boat with, animals (animals that poop and stink), his family (this can be good, but I am sure tension happened), no cell phone, no TV, no Computer, no Internet, no Ipod . . . you know the things now we feel like we can't live without.

When God gives the ok, the first thing Noah does is build an alter to the Lord so he can sacrifice a burnt offering with the clean animals appointed for that. God finds this aroma pleasing, and though we are sinful by birth, God's love proves strong by him making a covenant that He would not destroy the earth or the human race again until final judgment.

Noah put God first, he could have easily went out to see the damage or the new things but instead, He built an alter for sacrifices to the Lord. Do I put God first in everything or does He come around when I get to it? My prayer is that I will put God first!

Genesis 7:1-24

So Noah did everything as the LORD commanded him. v5
Have you ever been asked to do something you thought was crazy or impossible? Noah has been asked to do something that seemed crazy and impossible in his day. God asked him to build this giant boat and then to put animals, male and female, on the boat. That to me, seems like a big task. This isn't something that just happened over night it took several years for Noah to build the boat and then, to have to try to think through getting all of these animals on there had to be mind boggling.

But we know now that everything happened according to Gods plan. As Noah obeyed God, God took care of the details. Do I focus more on the details or being obedient to what God has asked me to do?

Genesis 6:9-22

This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. v12
Saying that Noah was "righteous" and "blameless" does not mean that he never sinned. Rather, it means that Noah wholeheartedly loved and obeyed God. For a lifetime he walked step by step in faith as a living example to his generation.

So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him. v22
Noah got right to work when God told him to build the huge boat. Other people must have been warned about the coming disaster, but apparently did not expect it to happen. Today things haven;t changed much. Each day thousands of people are warned of God's inevitable judgment, yet most of them don' really believe it will happen. Don't expect people to welcome or accept your message of God's coming judgment and try to get you to deny God as well. But remember God's promise to Noah to keep him safe. This can inspire you to trust God for deliverance in the judgment that is sure to come.

Like Noah, we live in a world filled with evil. Are we influencing others or being influenced by them?

Taken from the NLT Life Application Study Bible

Genesis 4:1-16

"You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master." v.7
How do I react when someone suggest i have done something wrong? Do I move to correct the mistake, or deny that I need to correct it?

After Cain's gift was rejected, God gave him the chance to right his wrong and try again. God even encouraged him to do this! But Cain refused, and the rest of his life is a startling example of what happens to those who refuse to admit their mistakes. The next time someone suggest you are wrong, take an honest look at yourself and choose God's way instead of your own way like Cain.

Taken from the NLT Life Application Study Bible

Gen. 2:15-3:24

"Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'" 2:15-17
Adam had only one thing he could not do . . . everything else was fair game. God gave Adam responsibility for the the garden and told him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Rather than physically preventing him from eating, God gave Adam a choice and, thus, the possibility of choosing wrongly.

God then creates Eve and the two of them become one and fellowship with God in the Garden. How peaceful that must have been. Even on our best day, it can't compare to what it must have been like to have fellowship with God in the Garden. But it doesn't last long . . .

"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?'" 3:1
The serpent, Satan, tempted Eve by getting her to doubt God's goodness. He made her forget all that God had given her and, instead, focus on the 1 thing God had forbidden. He tries to make Eve think that sin is good, pleasant, and desirable. A knowledge of both good and evil seemed harmless to her. People usually choose wrong things because they have become convinced that those things are good, at least for themselves. Our sins do not always appear ugly to us, and the pleasant sins are the hardest to avoid. So prepare yourself for the attractive temptations that may come your way. We cannot always prevent temptation, but there is always away of escape. Use God's Word and God's people to help you stand against it.

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." 1st Corinthians 10:13

Taken from the NLT Life Application Study Bible!

Genesis 1:1-2:3

I am embarking on a journey through the Bible. Today I start at the beginning. I am excited about this and look forward to what the Lord teaches me!

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 1:1
The Bible not only tells us that the world was created by God; more important, it tells us who this God is. It reveals God's personality, his character, and his plan for his creation. It also reveals God's deepest desire: to relate and to fellowship with the people he created. God took the ultimate step toward fellowship with us through his historic visit to this planet in the person of his Son Jesus Christ. We can know in a very personal way this God who created the universe.

"Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.'" 1:26
God obviously didn't create us exactly like himself because God has no physical body. Instead, we are reflections of God's glory. Some feel that our reason, creativity, speech, or self-determination is the image of God. More likely, its our entire self that reflects the image of God. We will never be totally like God because he is the supreme Creator. But we do have the ability to reflect his character in our love, patience, forgiveness, kindness, and faithfulness.

"On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation." 2:2-3
We live in an action oriented world!!!!! There always seems to be something to do and no time to rest. (hello) Yet God demonstrated that rest is appropriate and right. If God himself rested from his work, we should not be surprised that we also need rest. Jesus demonstrated this principle when he and his disciples left in a boat to get away from the crowds. Our times of rest refresh us for times of service.

Taken from the NLT Life Application Study Bible!