Daily Bread Archives

October 29, 2022October 29, 2022

Flee Dim Light

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

Sometimes, darkness is intriguing and alluring. Not because we want to dwell in all manners of evil but because the darkness tries to convince us it’s not actually dark. Darkness sets out small dim lights that we think are lighting up the darkness, but in actuality, it’s just drawing you in deeper into the darkness with a false sense of security. Because instead of the lights getting bright as you go, the already dim light gets dimmer and dimmer until your eyes have fully adjusted and you feel comfortable in the complete darkness surrounding you.

Sometimes, this dim light draws away believers dwelling in actual light because they’re convinced that the dim light is also the light of God because the darkness can’t have any kind of light. But God’s light isn’t dim. In other words, God’s ways aren’t filled with half or part Truths. God’s way is the Truth. But the Devil will try to disguise evil as good and good as evil. He leads many astray this way. He takes a part Truth and mixes it with lies so that he might appeal to believers by offering them the Truth with the sin they desire most. He’s offering them the best of both worlds. But don’t fall for it. His way only leads to death and destruction. Be on guard at all times. Don’t allow anyone to convince you that all you need is their word for it. If Paul had to be checked to see if what he was preaching was Truth, then so does everyone else. So, check each word spoken to you against the Scriptures to make sure that it lines up with God’s word.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Flee Dim Light.

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Avoid All Wicked Customs

⁹When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. ¹²For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. ¹³You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you. ~ Deuteronomy 18:9-14^NKJV

If you are a Christian, the occult is off-limits for you. Plain and simple. But someone will say, but I’m a good witch, or I’m a white witch. I practice white magic. I believe in God, and I do good with my white magic. There are no double standards in Christianity. You can’t separate the two. Why? Because God does not separate the two.

Did you notice that it didn’t differentiate between white witches and black witches? Or between white masses and black masses? No, it said one who practices witchcraft. It was all-inclusive. These same white witches have familiar spirits that they consult, and they are enchanters. There’s no way to get around it. Each one is involved with the other, and God forbids all. In fact, Paul implies to drink from the cup of the LORD and from the cup of demons is like we think we are stronger than God and can take on His wrath.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²²Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

1 Corinthians 10:21-22

What does this have to do with you? Well, if it’s not from God, which is why the LORD forbids it, then it is of the Devil. And if it is of the Devil, then most likely you are in communication with demons. Just as the people of Israel thought they were worshipping gods in the land of Canaan, God clarified for Moses that they weren’t even worshipping gods, which was bad enough. What they were worshipping was lower than the gods.

¹⁷They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.

Deuteronomy 32:17

We think we understand what we’re doing and who we’re worshipping when actuality, we know and understand very little. We only know what we’re told. If God is Truth itself and Satan is the father of lies, why would we take Satan’s word on how to better our lives and those around us instead of God’s word? If the thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus comes to give life and life more abundantly, why wouldn’t we follow Jesus over the false prophets that make our ears tickled? They only lead to death, so why not live? Put away the things of the darkness and dwell in the light. Dwell in life. Dwell with Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Avoid All Wicked Customs.

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Prepare For Your Giant

³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ³⁶Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” ~ 1 Samuel 17:34-37

There’s a song that says,

I’m calling on the God of David
Who made a shepherd boy courageous
I may not face Goliath but I’ve got my own giants!

O God, my God, I need You
O God, my God, I need You now

See, we all face giants. We may not all face the same giant, but each and every one of us have, are, or will face a giant. And the only way to take down a giant is to first take down the lions and bears. In other words, the giant isn’t our first battle. Our first battle is with something smaller so that we can build our faith. David’s faith was so strong when he got to Goliath because he had already taken down bears and lions, so he knew what his God could, can, and would do for him.

So many of us try to jump ahead to face our giant and end up like the Israelites who cowered in fear before Goliath. We have to start little by little. We have to build our relationship with God so strong that nothing shakes us. And in due time, God will give us the faith, strength, and courage to overcome our giants.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare for Your Giant.

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Be God’s

¹⁹Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19–20

We are not our own. In other words, “we DO NOT belong to ourselves.” Therefore, we must honor God with our bodies. When we begin to do what pleases us, and we try to protect our little feelings, then we are usurping the authority God has over us. I want you to think about that for a moment. This is pretty deep, and I want you to fully understand what I’m saying here.

So, what I’m saying is that when we are offended at what someone says to us or about us, we are now taking offense for God because it is Him that they are insulting, right? I mean, since we’re not our own and all of that, we should no longer be offended for someone else, namely God!

God is big enough to be offended for Himself. This is why God says so many times that vengeance is His. Because whatever people do to us, or say about us, is not to us but to and about God Himself. It’s like when Samuel felt rejected by the people of Israel because they no longer wanted a judge, but instead, they wanted a king like the other nations. God told Samuel not to feel rejected because the people weren’t rejecting him; they were rejecting God, who was their King.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be God’s.

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Pay Attention to the People

¹ But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, ⁴treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Paul lists several last-day characteristics. Lovers of self. Lovers of money. Proud. Arrogant. Abusive. Disobedient to their parents. Ungrateful. Unholy. And several other things. These will be the characteristics that will run the world. The majority of people will fall into, at the very least, one of these categories. We can see it all around us today. People can no longer call sin, sin. We can no longer correct with love because it’s called hate. People who were standing for what is right are standing against it because of money.

The love of many is growing colder and colder. We’re running out of time to seek ye first the Kingdom. The world is getting darker and darker. Evil is being called good, and good is being called evil. Jesus will soon be breaking that eastern sky. He will soon be coming back to get His people. Are you ready? Are your family members ready? Are your neighbors and co-workers ready? This is the time to get ready. Seek the LORD while He can still be found. Don’t wait for tomorrow, for tomorrow is promised to no one. Today is the day of Salvation. Don’t wait for tribulation to come your way to turn to God. Turn to Him while it’s still summer and all is well.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To The People.

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Light Your Lamp

²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²²The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ~ Matthew 6:21-23

Jesus warned that our bodies are run by our eyes, and our souls will spend eternity based on the actions and desires of our hearts. Why? Because our bodies are a housing place for either good or evil. Either light or darkness. Our eyes dictate the level of light that enters our bodies. Jesus wasn’t just referring to sins like porn when He was explaining the lamp of the body, but also our focus.

See, if we only focus on the things of this world, such as financial gain, job promotions, earthly relationships, etc., our hearts will only desire these things. Therefore, our souls will be tied to a dying world that will be judged and found wanting.

Desiring these things, in itself, isn’t bad. It only becomes a problem when these things are put before the LORD and His Kingdom. Jesus said to build the Kingdom of God first; then, these will be given to us. He wasn’t saying, don’t have goals or desires. He was saying, build God up, and God will build you up. James even clarified further that we don’t have things because we don’t ask for things. We can have desires, goals, and wants. We’re to even ask our Heavenly Father for these things, but above all else, we have to first build the Kingdom of God.

Seeking a relationship with God should be the first thing we do when we wake in the morning and the last thing we do before we go to bed at night. But if all our eyes and hearts are focused on our own carnal desires and goals, then our soul isn’t getting light. Why? Because Jesus is the only Light, and His Light is the only light that can light the darkness of this world that has corrupted us all. So, seek Him first above all else, then He will provide your needs and desires.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Light Your Lamp.

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Keep Your Vow

⁴When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. ⁵It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ~ Ecclesiastes 5:4-5

So many of us take for granted that the LORD is holy, so we make vows or promises to Him that we don’t keep. We often think about these vows or promises as just specific actions we vow or promise to do, but what if it’s more than that? When we accept that free gift of salvation and begin our walk with God, we’re making a vow to Him. We’re making a promise that we’re never going to turn away from Him. That we’ll always follow Him, but so many of us take this vow for granted and get drawn away by the world and all of its shiny toys.

Maybe if we focused more on who God is and not on what our flesh wants, maybe we wouldn’t forget our first love. Maybe we would be able to withstand the temptation of the evil one. Maybe we will be able to be one of the five virgins that make it into Marriage Supper of the Lamb instead of one whose oil has run out.

We, the Church, are the soul of the world. If we can’t keep our vow to God that we will always follow Him, then how can we lead the world to His light? We’re dividing ourselves over what has been established as sin from before the Law of Moses was even given. We’re dividing ourselves over feelings and emotions rather than uniting over the love we have for our Creator. Our vow to follow Christ and all that He does is more than just empty words or even a promise. It’s a covenant between us and God that we will follow Him from this day on and forever. Never let the temporary things of this world draw you away from the eternal things of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Keep Your Vow.

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Obey All His Commands

¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ~ Revelation 3:15–16

They say come as you are. The songs say come as you are. And we do. We come as we are, but we do not, we cannot, and we must not stay as we are. We must change as we are led by the Holy Spirit. But why? If we do not grow, we will become lukewarm, and the LORD will spew you out of His mouth.

God says He knows their deeds. God knows all of our needs. There is nothing that catches Him by surprise or that He is unaware of. Nothing escapes the attention of God. He knows all of our ways, all of our thoughts, and all of our motives. He knows where we are and what we are doing. He knows all things.

No one can hide anything from God. Everything is open and laid bare before Him, and He weighs all of our words, all of our acts, and all of our thoughts in the balance, and He ponders or considers all of our ways. He is a great God. Loving and kind. Merciful and forgiving, but we have to be obedient to His word and all that He commands us. Don’t waste the time you have left. Don’t be deceived by this world. Nothing can compare to the plans God has in store for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Obey All His Commands.

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Be More Than Knighted

²¹And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, ²²and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

One of my favorite movies is A Knight’s Tale. The whole plot of the movie is about a young man, the son of a thatcher, who fakes papers of nobility so that he can joust and his friends and he will not starve because they’re poor. The more he wins, the more one of the nobles becomes angry and envious.

During this time period, it was a crime to endanger the royal family, and the prince was in disguise so he could compete in the joust. Everyone who found out that it was the prince withdrew, except for this one pauper pretending to be a knight. It made the prince smile that he wouldn’t withdraw even though he knew that he was the prince.

At the final joust, the young pauper was exposed and placed in the stocks as a punishment. The same people that were once cheering his name were now throwing food at him as he lay there in bondage, helpless. His friends tried their best to get the people to stop, but the people wouldn’t listen to them. Then the prince shows up. He has the young man released, and he says,

He may appear to be of humble origins, but my personal historians have discovered that he descends from an ancient royal line. This is my word. And as such, is beyond contestation.
Prince Edward,
A Knight’s Tale

After this, he knights this peasant, the son of a thatcher, and from then on, he is known as Sir William. Many of us have a similar story. We start going to church, reading our Bible and even begin to seek God through prayer. And just when we think things are going good, the Devil comes in and shows us all that we’ve ever done, said, and thought. Then he binds us up in the stocks of shame and regret. But just like the prince came looking for the young man that had shown him kindness, so does Jesus come looking for the one that sought Him out. The prince freed and knighted the peasant man on his word alone; Jesus frees and makes us heirs with Him based on much more than just His word. He frees us, washes us clean, and makes us sons and daughters of His Father in Heaven by His blood that He shed for us.

If, during medieval times, the word of royalty could not be contested, how much more would the word of our God who created those royals and all else not be contested when He said, ‘you are mine’ to all who believe? Don’t allow the Devil to come in and steal your name, for your name is ‘Child of The King.’ And the King Himself has spoken these words to you, so don’t let a noble steal your inheritance.

Get up from the stocks of shame and guilt. You are redeemed. Your past has been washed clean. Don’t return to it. Move forward. Live your life as the child of God you were created to be. Dwell in freedom.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be More Than Knighted.

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Accept and Believe

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ~ John 3:16-18

John 3:16 is probably the most quoted verse of all time. The love of God is shown in this verse as John details God extending His hand to mankind and offering us a way out of death. The following two verses explain in detail two things:

1. The need for salvation
2. The path to salvation

John made it clear that we need salvation, and without it, we will perish. Then he explained that God made a way for us to have or receive this salvation, but we must do something in order to obtain it. That something is to believe and accept the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. Therefore, without this free gift of salvation, we will not inherit eternal life, but rather we will perish forever. And that is the reason why we all need salvation.

Here’s the encouraging part, none of us have sinned too much for God to forgive. Christ died for all sinners. Therefore, we can be filled with hope that the free gift of salvation is for all who believe. All you have to do is to repent and accept the sacrifice of Jesus. You don’t have to clean yourself up first; Christ will clean you up. All you have to do is accept and believe.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Accept and Believe.

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