Daily Bread Archives

January 8, 2023January 8, 2023

Provide Your Claims

³³ When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his. ~ Exodus 21:33-34

From the days of the Law of Moses, the LORD never allowed any wiggle room for the enemy to take away from His people without a way for restoration for His people. This wasn’t something as significant as a house, or land, or family member; this was just an animal. During a time that grace and mercy didn’t abound, God still made sure to put insurance, if you will, on His people and all that His people own. Why? Because God knows that the enemy is the most crafty of all, the Beast of the Field, and he will find a way to corrupt the children of God and/or take away their blessings from God. He’ll find any loophole he can, just as he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden.

If God believed it was important for His people to have restoration for an animal that fell into a pit, how much more will He make restoration for His people that fall into pits? The Devil sets out traps for us to fall into. And when we don’t stumble into those traps, he uses pits that our fellow neighbor dug that weren’t intended for us to fall into. He uses whatever he can get his hands on, but even if we have fallen into a pit or our children have fallen into a pit, it’s not too late. There is restoration for what we have lost. And what we have lost will no longer be counted as ours, but it will be counted as the enemy’s.

Take a moment and write down all that the enemy has stolen from you by trapping you in a pit.

Missed God-given dreams? Why? What was the pit? Was it fear? Was it laziness? Was it distractions?

Estranged Family? Why? What was the pit? Pride? Harsh words? Unforgiveness? Anger?

Whatever the enemy has taken from you and is seemingly killed in that pit, write it down, along with the pit, and bring it to the LORD in prayer. No one could get restoration unless they brought the claim to the judge. We have the chief Judge abiding in us. Don’t just assume that because it’s a promise, the LORD will fulfill it. Write the claim, bring it before the LORD, then claim the promise of restoration.

Don’t allow the pits to keep your dead animal; present that dead animal to the LORD along with the pit so that He might take the dead animal, give it to the enemy and give you restoration. When you receive restoration, take note of that pit so that you may never fall into it again.

LORD God, please open my eyes to the pits that have taken my dreams, goals, call, jobs, promotions, relationships, and blessings. Show me all that I’ve lost to these pits, not so that I can be caught up in the past, but so that I might present them to You for restoration. Teach me how to bring my claim before Your Holy Throne in the Courts of Heaven so that I might receive my promise of restoration. Help me to never accept the pits I fall into, but instead, help me get out of those pits and become aware of each pit that tries to entrap me so that I never fall into them again. Thank you for all that You’ve done and all that you are going to do in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Do Not Keep Looking Behind

²⁶But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ~ Genesis 19:26

Lot, along with his wife and two daughters, had made their home in a wicked and adulterous city. All the thoughts of their hearts were evil to the point that God had no option but to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But Peter tells us that God saved Lot, who was greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked men living in the city. The account found in Genesis said that the angels told Lot to take his wife and his two daughters and leave quickly before they get swept away in the punishment of the city. But Lot lingered, and the angels had to take him and his family by the hand and lead them out. Then they instructed them, “Do Not Look Back! Do Not Stop.”

We Christians are not to linger in the world. We are not to look back or stop. We are to press forward toward the prize that is before us. This New Year, we must make a strong effort to focus on what God has for us and not linger, look back, or stop in the world. Lot’s wife looked back and lost all that God had for her. We are in a time of restoration. God is restoring to us all that the enemy has stolen from us.

Heavenly Father, we ask You to please help us to overcome so that You might restore to us all that was lost and all that was stolen. Please strengthen us that we might not yield to the temptation to look back or to stop but that we might continue pressing forward to gain the prize that You have set before us, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Scripture Reading

¹⁵As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. ¹⁹Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” ²¹He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19: 15–26

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Be A Person of Faith and Action

⁸ Ishbosheth the son of Hachmon was the leader of the Three Warriors. In one battle, he killed eight hundred men with his spear. ~ 2 Samuel 23:8^CEV

Ishbosheth killed eight hundred men in the same battle or in the same fight. Imagine with me this man, Ishbosheth, the son of Hachmon, was in a battle for his life against eight hundred battled-trained warriors. This was a very real event. A very real fight. The rest of the Israelite army had fled, but Ishobeth stayed and fought; he was fighting the whole Philistine army.

I believe the reason he only killed eight hundred men, all at the same time and in the same battle, was that when the other Philistines saw the death toll, they realized the odds were no longer stacked in their favor, and they ran away.

Most people would look at that situation and call it hopeless. They would look at it with their physical eyes. They would say, you better not try that; you’re bound to lose. Or, oh boy, you’re in a hopeless situation. Nothing can help you, and no one can save you now. Well, you fought a good fight, but now it’s all over. Why don’t you just give up now? You can’t win that one. The majority of people in Ishobeth’s situation would be discouraged and believe what the discouraging words others have told them, and in doing so, they would have missed making a great name for themselves. But that was not Ishobeth’s testimony.

He was like, the harder they come, the harder they fall. Why? Because he understood that it wasn’t he alone who was out there wielding that spear. He understood that greater was He that was in him than he that was with the 800. Ishobeth knew the LORD God whom he served. His faith was shaken. He was a man of faith and action. This now begs the question, are you?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Person of Faith and Action.

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Remember and Recall

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. ~ Psalms 137:1

This Psalm has been turned into a song. It’s sung as a happy and even joyous song. One tends to sing it without really thinking too much about it. But in actuality, this Psalm is very sad and heartbreaking. It was written probably somewhere around the Chebar River and the Euphrates River. The Jewish people had been forcibly taken from their homeland. They were as it was, in captivity, because of their idolatry. Everything they knew and loved was destroyed, crushed, broken, and burned, including their beloved Temple.

Their homes had been ransacked; their husbands and sons were slain by the edge of the sword. Their young women were raped and beaten in the streets. Their precious memories, keepsakes, and heirlooms were all either stolen or destroyed. Not one stone was left on the top of the other. Their beautiful buildings, the city walls, and everything they cared about and valued, including the Temple articles used for worship, were taken from them and carried off to Babylon.

Their idolatrous king was captured, and his sons were murdered in front of him, and then his eyes were plucked out, and he too, was carried off to Babylon, where he died. His wives and his daughters were ravished, and everyone that did not starve to death or perish in the Babylonian invasion were all stripped and marched off to captivity.

Now to add salt to the wounds, their captives were requiring them to sing songs of joy. Songs they sang in Jerusalem. Songs of celebration. But they answered, “How can we sing the LORD’s songs in this place of captivity? It will be like forgetting Jerusalem. Forgetting our former way of life and our freedom, we cannot sing songs of joy in this foreign land.”

They remembered not only their homeland and their way of life but they remembered that they had a promise from God. A promise through the prophet Jeremiah. The same Jeremiah they persecuted and thrown into a cistern where he sunk down into the mud because of his prophecies of destruction for turning away from the LORD their God.

The next time you are feeling low. The next time someone taunts you because of your Christian stance. The next time they laugh at you and call your Christian faith an outdated and antiquated religion, just let it roll off your back like water on a duck’s back. Instead of giving in to their taunts, sneers, jesting, and laughing, choose to focus on the promises of God. Choose to remember and recall the promises that God will bless you. You are the head and not the tail. You are the chosen ones, and God is for you, even if it doesn’t look like it now.

Remember, most of all, Jesus’ promise to come back and get us. He will not leave us destitute, nor will He forget us here. But He will come back for us, bringing His rewards for us with Him and His recompense for those who hate Him and who have persecuted us. So, encourage yourselves with these words; Jesus loves me and has made a way for me to live with Him forever in peace and everlasting blessings.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your great and marvelous promises. Thank You for the gift of life. And when life begins to get me down, and times begin to get hard and difficult, help me to remember that You are for me. Help me to remember that Jesus is coming back to deliver me out of the hands of evil men. Strengthen my resolve now; in Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.

Scripture Reading

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion. ²We hanged our harps Upon the willows in the midst thereof. ³For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; And they that wasted us required of us mirth, Saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. ⁴How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a strange land? ⁵If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her cunning. ⁶If I do not remember thee, Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. ⁷Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. ⁸O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us. ⁹Happy shall he be, that taketh And dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Psalms 137:1-9

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Look Out for Others

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ~ Philippians 2:3–4

Looking out for others’ interests over our own interests is easier said than done. We see people as selfish and self-pleasing, trampling on us to get what they want with no remorse or apologies. So, it’s difficult to value those types of people above our own selves. After all, they don’t value us at all. It’s not fair.

Well, it was not fair that Jesus had to come and die such a horrific death in order to save us. It is not about being fair; as someone once said, “Life is not fair.” We do not do it to be fair. We do it because we are commanded to, and if we are obedient, we will gain a great reward. Why suffer for all eternity because we refuse to humble ourselves when if we humble now, we will be free for all eternity? The tradeoff is no comparison.

Is it easy? No, but if we make this a matter of priority and a matter of prayer, it will become easy and will become second nature. As Confucius once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Take it one step at a time. Take it one person at a time, but take the first step and not look back, but pray for strength.

Do not just read devotionals like these or listen to messages like this and think, “Ah, that was good,” but not put it into action. If you would only put things like this into action, you would grow in Christ.

So, this New Year, make it your resolution to grow in Christ. Grow in the things of God, and draw closer to Him every day, so that we will build up treasure in heaven.

Heavenly Father, strengthen us and give us the desire to draw close to You, even if it means we are humiliated because we value others higher than ourselves, even those who place no value on us at all. Help us to bear hardships and trials with the hope of spending eternity with You. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Scripture Reading

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; ⁷rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:3–8

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Dying to Self

²⁴Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” ~ Matthew 16:24

The phrase “dying to self” may not actually be explicitly mentioned in the Scriptures, but it is without a doubt alluded to as a theme throughout the New Testament. It is splashed across the pages printed in both Red Ink and in Black Ink. It is this very thing Jesus was speaking of when He said to deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow Him.

It is not a very popular theme because it does very little to generate shouts and amens and does even less to fill the church coffers. It is a hard teaching to implement when we live in a me, me, me generation. From ads to even the churches promote that sort of thinking. There was a time when the Church almost fell into error with the name it and claim it gospel. Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not against the prosperity teaching. I believe God wants us to prosper and be in good health, but it’s only as our souls prosper.

God is more concerned about our souls prospering than for us to be rolling in the dough. Jesus, Himself did not shrink from self-denial, for He Himself took up His cross and was obedient even unto death. If you are going to see great miracles, you must die to self. Meaning you no longer do what pleases you but what pleases God.

It is not that miracles have ended when the last Apostle died, but rather, self-denial ended when the last Apostle died. Christians no longer pray through the night. They no longer pray, period, because they have become way too busy. There is work. There is family life. And then there is, of course, football, basketball, and hockey. We can’t do without our sports. We are a sports family, and Jesus would never want me to miss the big game.

Jesus is, in fact, saying, “Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me. Because I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to Father except by Me.” Now, with that said, how can we not but implement this dying-to-self concept into our lives? We must stop doing what is self-pleasing because it is self-pleasing and be God pleasers because it pleases God, whom we must all stand before, and who will either pardon or condemn.

Father, please help us to be self-deniers and to pick up our cross and follow You. Give us the strength to do want pleasers You and shrink from what is self-pleasing. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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In The Beginning God

¹ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ~ Genesis 1:1–2

In the beginning, there was God. There was no earth, no skies, no heaven, no hell. There was nothing except God. God was from the very beginning, and from the very beginning, the concept of a triune God was introduced. In the beginning God…And the Spirit of God was hovering…

We do not serve three different Gods, but there is only one God, one LORD, and one Holy Spirit. As the Scriptures declare, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

We are to worship God as one God because, after all, that is who He is, One. Yet we give honor and acknowledgment to each member for who they are as individuals. It’s a concept that is not easily explained, nor is it easily understood.

But in this New Year, let’s make an effort to understand who God is, and the base to start is “The LORD our God is One.” Get to know each member of the Trinity and accept what each member has to offer in terms of support and growth. Remember, we serve One God, three individuals, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet one.

Father, give us the understanding to comprehend that You are a Triune God, yet You are One. Just because our minds are finite helps us not to discard the truth of our foundational beliefs. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scripture Reading

John 1:1–18

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

⁹The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. ¹¹He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. ¹²But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John bore witness about Him, and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.

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Make This Year Better Than The Last

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17b

At midnight we rang in a new year. 2023 has begun, and our slate has been wiped clean. With each year, we are given another chance, a new opportunity to follow through on our plans, goals, and resolutions. Another opportunity to right wrongs and rebuild bridges that we’ve previously lost. Today is the beginning of a new life. We don’t have to continue in our old ways walking around the mountain day after day and year after year. Not everyone gets to see a new year. Don’t waste the blessing God has bestowed upon you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Make This Year Better Than The Last.

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What’s Keeping You Around The Mountain?

⁶ For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that He would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ~ Joshua 5:6

Each and every year, time seems to speed up. Days and nights are getting shorter and shorter. And tonight, at the stroke of midnight, the year will be over, and a new one will begin. If you were to look back at this year in great detail, would you be proud of your actions? Did you achieve your goals? Did you accomplish any of your New Year’s Resolutions? So many of us didn’t do all we had planned to do at the beginning of this year. This was the year so many of us, including myself, said things would be different, but the strongholds of the previous years still have a grip on us. Why?

I believe it’s because we never address the root of our strongholds that keep us from moving forward. So many of us try to put a band-aid over our deep wounds instead of tending to the wound directly. Some of us have spirits of rejection, fear, shame, rebellion, and guilt that keep us from our God-given call. The Israelites were in physical bondage for 400 years. When they were set free from this physical slavery, they walked into physical freedom, still spiritually enslaved. The Israelites were physically free, but they were still in spiritual bondage. Their bondage, their root stronghold, was fear, which was probably even more rooted in rejection.

They were the chosen people, yet they felt rejected by their God, whom they felt had rejected them. This spirit of rejection led to the spirit of fear. Fear caused the Israelites to not only fall back into the slavery of idolatry but also to physically miss out on their promised land. We can only go around the mountain so many times before we run out of time. What if this was your last chance to stop going around the mountain? What if this was your last year to have the opportunity to enter into your promised land? I challenge each and every one of you to look deep within yourself and ask, what’s your root stronghold? What caused it? Then I want you to give it to God. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s our promise from Almighty God that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Therefore, go to the LORD in prayer. Bring an offering of fasting at His feet so that when this new year comes to an end, you won’t look the same. Instead, you will be entering or have entered your promised land.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Out What’s Keeping You Around The Mountain.

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Remember To Keep The Faith

¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1

As Christians, we are under a new and perfect covenant that is based on the premise of faith. According to Hebrews 11:1, faith is defined as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. In other words, faith is believing regardless of whether you see it or not. Faith put into action can be seen as believing that what you prayed for will come to pass. This is the only thing that we can do to be saved. There’s nothing else that any of us can do that can save our souls; according to Ephesians 2:8, we are saved by faith alone. So, if faith is the root of our salvation, then would it not stand to reason that our faith is what the Devil is targeting most?

That’s the first thing the Devil did in the Garden of Eden. He simply cast a little doubt in Eve’s faith, and everything literally went to Hell after that. The Devil doesn’t work harder; he works smarter. He doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. If it worked back then, then it’ll work today, and it still does. The first thing the Devil does is attack our faith. Whether it’s simply hitting us with a questioning dart or it’s taking things away from us that we cherish so that we begin to doubt God’s love for us. But we can’t give up and throw in the towel. When all things look hopeless and bleak, we have to have faith. When things seem right to man, but we know deep inside of us they are not right to God, we have to have faith. Why? Because that’s literally the definition of faith. We must believe even when our natural eyes can’t see what we’re hoping for and have faith it will come to pass.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Keep The Faith.

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Category: Daily Bread

Provide Your Claims

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