Daily Bread Archives

April 29, 2023April 29, 2023

Judge Between Light and Dark

²¹ I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying. ²² If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds. ~ Jeremiah 23:21-22^NLT

Not too long ago, I was having a conversation with someone who said, “After all, we weren’t created to judge. The Bible tells us not to judge.” I responded, “That’s debatable.” Her posture then straightened, and she got noticeably annoyed as she said, “Well, I wasn’t created to judge.” This is the average Christian today. We’ve been brainwashed from childhood that making a judgment on whether something is right or wrong is not only wrong to do, but it’s hateful. Why?

Because the enemy knows that if we correct people and show the Truth, Light will begin to penetrate the darkness. More people will be saved. The more righteousness will be done on the earth and the less souls he will be able to claim. To judge simply means to deem either right or wrong, and the most important part for a disciple of Jesus is that it’s not our own opinions; it’s God’s. God has had His Word written for us so that we don’t have to guess what’s right or wrong. So that we didn’t have to guess whether we were living in sin or for Him. God’s Judgment gets rid of the guessing. He’s laid it all out for us in Scripture. So that we might live and not die.

If we want to live in eternity with God, then we have to live on this earth for Him. We have to judge between what’s right and what’s wrong. What’s good and what’s evil. What’s true and what’s false. How can there be Light in the darkness if the Light is forbidden from judging between the Light and the darkness? The Light in this world will continue to dwindle unless men and women of God stand up for righteousness and begin to righteously judge with love and compassion.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Judge Between Light and Dark.

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Confidently Stand On The Word of God

¹⁶All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Word of God has been given to us so that we may grow as disciples of Christ in righteousness and relationship with Him. We can have confidence in His Word because it was God-breathed and not the opinions, thoughts, or misunderstandings. The Bible is the Word of God that we are to stand on. This is a part of our spiritual armor.

¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

Ephesians 6:15

We’re to stand on the Word of God. We’re to build our lives on His Words. His unshakable, infallible, untainted Word. How do we stand on the Word of God? We read it. We study it. We learn and memorize it. So that we can have confidence in our beliefs. The more we learn about God, the closer we draw to Him. The closer we draw to God, the more peace we have. The more confidence we have because we can then always be ready to defend our beliefs against anyone who would try to cast doubt on them (1 Peter 3:14-16).

The Word of God is a foundation. We build our faith through our relationship with Him, which only comes through knowing and learning about Him and spending time with Him. Let your faith grow by growing your knowledge and understanding of Scripture.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Confidently Stand On The Word of God.

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Run To The Good Shepherd

²⁸When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to Him. ~ John 11:28-29

Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus had just died. They were currently in mourning when Jesus came four days late. Martha heard that Jesus was on His way and got up and ran to Him, but Mary remained in the house, mourning. After speaking with Jesus, Martha came back to the house for Mary and told her that Jesus was calling for her. It was only at that time that Mary got up and went to Jesus.

Sometimes grief distresses us to the point of blindness. It blinds us from seeing where our hope is because we begin to play the blame game. We blame God for our problems instead of trying to understand, instead of seeking comfort in the Comforter. We know that if we love God, He will work all things out for good. We have to put our faith and trust in Him. We have to walk according to faith and not according to sight.

When things go wrong, run to the only Way. When you’re in distress, run to the only Comforter. When you’re grieving, run to the only source of Joy. The LORD doesn’t always run to us; sometimes, we have to run to Him so that He can show us a new perspective. A new way of seeing our current circumstance.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Run To The Good Shepherd.

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Encourage Your Faith

²³By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ ~ Isaiah 45:23

The foundation of Christianity is that Jesus wasn’t just a man from Galilee but that He is God. With each generation, the belief that Jesus was, is, and always will be God dwindles. Doubt seems to be sweeping across the world throughout the Church, the Body of Christ. Why? Maybe it’s because we no longer read our bibles. Maybe it’s because we no longer base our beliefs on the Bible but try to make the Bible fit our beliefs. But the Word of God is clear. We don’t just have any old person as our savior. We don’t have just any old person being our Rock and Deliverer. We have God Almighty being our Savior, Rock, Deliverer, and Friend. Jesus is God.

So that there would be no doubts in our minds, He wrote out His Word and preserved it throughout each generation so that we might know Him. So that we might know how to live and grow in righteousness. The LORD prophesies through Isaiah that every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear allegiance to Him, yet Paul in Philippians 2:9-11 that this will be to Jesus. This isn’t an error in Scripture; this is confirmation that Jesus Christ is God.

Don’t allow anyone to weaken your faith with verses taken out of context or bold statements. Search the Scriptures for yourself. Study them. Meditate on them, but most importantly, seek guidance from the Spirit of the LORD. Let Him guide you and not your own mind (or anyone else’s). Let the LORD be your Truth. Let Him lay your foundation of faith so that it may be strong and unshakable.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Encourage Your Faith.

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Stand Strong Against Rabshakeh

¹⁹And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ²⁰Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ²²But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? ²³Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ²⁴How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’” ~ 2 Kings 18:19-25

Rabshakeh didn’t know the LORD. He wasn’t a follower of the LORD, yet he tried to intimidate Judah with what he had heard about them. King Hezekiah had removed all the high places and the altars, this was right in the eyes of the LORD, but Rabshakeh, who didn’t know the LORD, tried to use this as a way to intimidate Judah. See, Rabshakeh was hoping that Judah didn’t know the LORD. That Judah didn’t know their own Scriptures, so he threw a stone at the good things Hezekiah had done, hoping that he might be able to cast enough doubt in Judah so that Assyria might overtake them as they overtook all the other nations.

The enemy still uses this trick with us today. He still uses this trap. He’ll throw a stone at the good the Church has done and try to make it out to be something evil. Then he waits for those of us who don’t know the LORD nor His Word to slip in our faith. The moment that we slip in our faith, we give the enemy a foothold, and that’s all he needs to wreak havoc. From that one foothold of doubt, he’s able to convince us that evil is good and good is evil. Just look at the Church around us today. The enemy bluffed, but because we don’t know our God nor His Word, we can’t call his bluff. We can’t defend our faith with Scripture. This is the importance of the Helmet of Salvation. See, salvation isn’t just a repentance and acceptance one-time action. Salvation is an ongoing relationship with the LORD and His Word. It’s getting to know Him better and better through prayer, worship, and reading your Bible. So, that when your Rabshakeh comes up against you to cast a stone at all the good things you have done for the LORD, you can stand confident on His Word, who He is, and who you are in Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stand Strong Against Rabshakeh.

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Be Thankful For Our God

⁵Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ~ John 14:5-6

In response to Thomas’ question about knowing the way, Jesus leaves no doubt in the minds of His hearers. He made it plain and simple by saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” But Jesus doesn’t leave it there; He takes it a step further and adds a very bold claim; some may even consider it a narrow-minded statement. “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

So, there is no doubt what Jesus’ claim is here. There is no other way to salvation except through Him. It is through faith in Jesus Christ, the faith that He has paid the penalty for our sins and that it is only He who can forgive sins, and because of our repentance and belief in Him we receive salvation.

Our entire salvation has been purchased by Jesus. Knowing that we don’t have any way of achieving salvation through our own merit or works, Jesus set aside His Godliness and took on flesh so that He could take our place on the cross. We have so much to be thankful for. There’s no other religion where the Almighty God comes down to save all of the wicked mankind.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Thankful For Our God.

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Grow Your Mustard Seed of Faith

²⁴And He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” ~ Mark 4:24-25

Jesus told us to pay attention to what we hear, but what does that mean? Jesus is simply saying, use your faith, and you will receive a reward. The more you use, the more you will receive, and the more will be added.

Jesus said that all you need is a Mustard Seed of faith. Understand that a mustard seed starts out small but grows into a mountain-moving faith, and it doesn’t have to take very long. Because the measure you use will be measured back to you, and still more will be added.

That is why Peter and John were so confident when they said, “Silver and gold I have not, but what I do have, give I unto you,” and then proceeded to say, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk,” in full confidence that it would be so.

That is why people could bring handkerchiefs and aprons and place them on Paul’s body, and demons would come out, and diseases would be healed. That is why they would place sick people in Peter’s path just so that his shadow would fall on them as he passed by, and just his shadow would heal them. They didn’t just have faith; they put that faith into action.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Grow Your Mustard Seed of Faith.

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Hear The Living Word of God

¹⁵He who has ears to hear, let him hear. ~ Matthew 11:15

The Word of God is living and active; therefore, it cannot lie dormant or inactive; it must be stirred up within us. How do we receive the Word of God? Through hearing. Once we receive the Word, then we must mix it with [(ho) Pistis] The Faith and put it into action. We put it into action through word and deed.

In other words, we live what we preach, and we preach what we live. No one hides a lamp under a bowl but puts it on a stand so that the whole room can be lit and those in the room can benefit from it. It’s the same principle in the Parable of the Mustard Seed. When it’s fully grown, it grows into the largest of all the garden plants, and the birds of the air come and nest in the branches. It benefits all.

Jesus declared that there is a right way and a wrong way to hear; that is why He solemnly warned us to be careful how we hear. When we study the original Greek, we find that there are two types of hearing. One where we let sound or words pass through our ear canal and right out the other ear canal. Those words are meaningless to the hearer because they did not meet or did not mix it with [(ho) Pistis] The Faith. It’s as the saying goes, “My words fell on deaf ears.” Therefore, it was of no benefit to those who heard.

Then there is a right way to hear. It is the hearing that is both present and active, as well as past and active. When a word is spoken to us, we immediately receive the Word, like the fourth hearer in the Parable of the Sower, and it is immediately mixed with [(ho) Pistis] The Faith, and it produces a harvest of a hundredfold.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hear The Living Word of God.

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Accept The Mercies of God

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; ²³ His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ~ Lamentations 3:22-23

Many say that God won’t punish us for our sins because He loves us. But here’s the thing, love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing; it can’t accept wrongdoing. Love can only abide in the Truth. So, God’s steadfast love never ceases, but at some point in time, the Last Judgment will happen. It’s not because God hates you but because you chose to live your life as if He doesn’t even exist. We’re each given a certain amount of time on this earth, and what we do with that time is up to us. So, use your time wisely. Don’t waste it. You only have this one life to accept salvation. Every morning we’re given another chance because of the mercy of God. Accept the mercy that is given to us each morning through the grace of God by faith in Jesus.

Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Mercy is only shown to those who have humbled themselves to repentance, and their debt is paid by someone else. And God is our sun because His mercies are renewed every morning that He rises and overcomes the darkness of night, which is why in Eternity, there will be no more night.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Accept The Mercies of God.

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Be Aware of Temptations By The Enemy

⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. ¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ~ 1 John 1:9-2:1

I believe Repentance is an ongoing thing. We are instructed not to sin, but if we do sin, and I am not talking about deliberate sinning, the kind where we are now taking advantage of God’s grace but honest mistakes, we have Jesus as our Advocate. We confess, repent, and endeavor not to commit the same sin again and again. Otherwise, we will be crucifying the Son of God over and over again. No one who has repented, or changed their worldview, continues to willfully sin just because they feel they can repent for it later because of grace.

Grace isn’t a license to sin. It’s not an indulgence. When you get saved, a temptation will come. It will be a really good opportunity, one that you feel you cannot pass up, because it’s a chance of a lifetime, at least you feel it’s a chance of a lifetime. A chance like Joseph had to sleep with the master’s wife, but it’s a lie, DO NOT FALL FOR IT. Look out for temptations by the enemy. Be on guard.

John told us that Jesus is faithful and just to forgive anyone who asks Him to, and we can rest assured in that promise. So, we endeavor not to continue living in the flesh, or in other words, we stop willfully sinning. Why? Because you change in pursuit of dwelling forever in the presence of the LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Aware of Temptations By The Enemy.

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Category: Daily Bread

Judge Between Light and Dark

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