Daily Bread Archives

July 1, 2022July 27, 2022

Defy Culture

⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” ~ Exodus 2:5-10^ESV

The Devil planned evil for Moses. He sent a Pharaoh that would commit a mass genocide of the Hebrew boys so that they (the Hebrews) would have no deliverer to save them from their slavery. But God had a different plan. God had a will not only for Moses but for all of the people of Israel. His will was that they might be saved. If Moses’ mother had not had faith to hide her baby boy and defy the Egyptians, Moses would not have been saved, and the Hebrews would not have had a deliverer.

Today, there is a mass consensus that the Word of the LORD is hate speech. That if we speak truth, we are speaking hate. The fear of man has overtaken us, and we’ve lost the fear of God. Instead of preaching life and truth, we preach death and lies that we might fit into the world. If we defy culture and stand with God’s word, we will see a change in our culture. We’ll see a shift in the atmosphere as Paul, Peter, and all the other apostles saw. Fear over faith will only keep the world a slave to sin, but faith over fear will free many from chains and bondage.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Defy Culture.

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Read To Faith

¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. ~ Romans 10:17^NLT

Today we have a lot of people who claim that salvation has nothing to do with the Bible. In fact, they say that if you want to hear from God, then you should listen to your own thoughts. It’s no longer about who God says He is but about who man thinks God should be. We desire to be politically correct, so we push aside the Biblical teachings. We desire to be a part of the world, so we stop making time for reading our Bible.

If God’s attributes, will, and desires were determined by each person’s own ideas of God, then who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Who or what is the standard by which we mark our moral compass by? The LORD has given us His Word, and He watches over it to make sure it does as He has told it to do, so how can man change God’s Word if He watches over it? The Bible is our only absolute source of who God is, and without it, we cannot have faith. And without faith, we cannot please nor can we see God.

So, open your Bible. Read it and study it. Go to Church, and hear the word of God preached and taught. Discuss it with others. Search the Scripture to make sure what is being taught is, in fact, Truth. And in doing so, you will build your faith. And with faith comes salvation by God’s grace.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Read To Faith.

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Play For Keeps

⁵As soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. ⁶And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, ⁷the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. ⁸Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. ⁹Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.” ~ 1 Samuel 4:5–9

The Israelites were so excited to have the Ark of the Covenant come into their camp because they knew it represented the presence of the LORD, and where the presence of the LORD is, there is victory. But they were only going through a religious phase. They were using it as a lucky charm, but they didn’t have a relationship with Him. God will not let His great name be used as a talisman. He desires to have a relationship with His people.

You cannot side with the kingdom of God, and then when the enemy attacks you with sickness, disease, cancer, poverty, or some kind of pestilence and you cannot now expect to just run out and begin to call upon the name of the LORD as aa incantation expecting the magic to just bust forth like fireworks. It doesn’t work that way. God expects you to foster your relationship with Him.

The enemy will begin to fight even harder, and like the philistines fighting the Israelites, he will overcome you, and you will lose the battle. He does not desire to be obedient to your words, but his wish is to enslave you, and he will if you don’t have the presence of God with you.

You cannot separate who you are, neither in work, nor in play, nor in politics. If God hates it, so should we. It is not a matter of choice or our way. It is God’s way or the highway. So, let us get our priorities straight and begin to serve the one true God, and not man or culture or popularity. The enemy is playing for keeps. So should we.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Play For Keeps.

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Believe In The Son

¹² But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, ~ John 1:12

So many people wonder/ask, how do you get saved. That’s simple; you don’t have to say some lengthy theological prayer. The first and most important thing that you have to do is believe. You first have to believe that Jesus is God and that God raised Him from the dead. Faith is believing even when you haven’t seen it. We can repent all day, but unless we believe our repentance means nothing. There is only one way to the Father, and that’s through His Son Jesus. So, the first question that you have to ask yourself is, “Do I believe?”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Believe In The Son.

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Love Him With Your Actions

¹⁴ Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. ~ Psalms 91:14

Many of us go through spiritual attacks that feel as if there is no deliverance. In fact, many of us go through seasons of drought in our lives that we blame God for when actuality it’s because of our own lack of love for God. So many of us believe that if we say we love God, that’s enough, but according to Jesus Himself we love God with our actions.

God said to the people that they love Him only in speech, but their heart is far from Him. Could this be what has happened to the Church today? We honor God with our lips but our hearts are far from Him? We seek the acceptance of the world instead of God. We support and promote sin, yet we expect God to deliver us from our trials and heal our sickness and disease.

The LORD said He will deliver those who love Him and protect those who know His name. So, this begs the question, do you love Him? Is your lack of love for God the reason for your continued trials, illnesses, troubles, etc.?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love Him With Your Actions.

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Minister

⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. ~ Matthew 25:44-46

Today is the day that we remember victims of torture. This day should be especially important to us as Christians because, according to Jesus, unless we minister to those (other Christians) in prison, then there will be no room for us in the sheepfold. How do we minister to them? We pray for them.

We bring them up before the LORD in prayer and supplication. We pray for their peace, patience, love, and endurance not to run dry. We pray for their physical body to receive supernatural healing and that they might be strengthened to endure all that is laid before them. We pray that they might lead as many to Christ as possible by their words and actions. We pray for our fellow Christians.

When we begin to pray, it may not even be out of love, but the more we do it, the more our flesh weakens, and our spirit is strengthened. Then after a time, our hearts will be filled with love for them, and our prayers will become more powerful and more discerning of what they need for prayer specifically. This praying isn’t just for them; it’s for us (the ones praying) as well because what we sow, that we shall also reap.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Minister.

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Speak Up For Life

⁵ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. ~ Jeremiah 1:5

Yesterday, June 24th, 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned. This was something that many said would never be done, but by the grace of God, the LORD is raising up a new generation of men and women ready to stand up for life. We are called to speak up for those who can’t speak up for themselves. We’re called to be a voice of the LORD in the world. A light in the darkness.

So, let this be the beginning of the Church standing up for what is right. The beginning of the Church saying that a life is a life regardless of how small. Let this be the beginning of the Church taking its rightful place as the light of the world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Speak Up For Life.

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Let Go of Yourself

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ~ Philippians 1:21

When Saul encountered Jesus for the first time, that was it. His entire life changed. He never looked back. Not even once. It didn’t matter the persecution he suffered nor the tribulation he would have to endure. Saul understood that no matter what might come his way from the world, whether good or evil, he knew it could never compare to his encounter with Christ. In fact, after he became Paul, he went as far as to say it was no longer he that was living his life, but it was Christ, and if he were to die, then it’d be gain.

Today, every decision we make is with us at the center of it. We’re focused on our own goals and our own desires. We live our lives for us instead of for Jesus. See, Paul was ready to not only give up everything he wanted in life, but he was also ready to give up his very life as well.

Today, we can’t even give up a few minutes of our time to read our Bible or pray; then, we wonder why we no longer see signs and wonders or why our prayers aren’t being answered. If we want to hear from God, we have to seek Him. If we want to see the power of God, we have to have a relationship with Him. When we stop living for ourselves, and we start living for God, that’s when we will begin to see a change. That’s when we will begin to see the hand of God move in our lives as it did so many years ago.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Go of Yourself.

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Reveal Yourself To God

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ~ Genesis 3:8-10

Adam and Eve lived what one could only describe as the perfect life. There was no pain, no suffering, no hurt, no disease, no death. They had everything they could ever want or need, yet it wasn’t enough. Eve’s eye caught sight of what she couldn’t have, and that forbidden fruit looked better than any other fruit given to them by God Himself. When she and Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, they gave birth to shame and fear. We’re no different today.

When we allow temptation to overcome us, it invites fear and shame into our lives that then take root in our lives. So when the Spirit of God comes looking for us, and we hear His voice, we run and hide from Him. Sometimes, we allow shame and fear to take hold of us so that we never reveal ourselves to God. So that we don’t go to Him for forgiveness and we remain in our sin.

When we allow fear and shame to take over, we give into the lie that God doesn’t love us. See, God doesn’t take pleasure in punishing us, even when we deserve it. God only wants God things for us because He loves us. He even gave Himself for us so that we might live and not die. Don’t allow fear and shame to keep you from the forgiveness Christ already paid for. We weren’t given a Spirit of Fear, so don’t allow that spirit to keep you from what God has given you, life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Reveal Yourself To God.

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Watch What You Invite Into Your Life

A lot of us are like Adam and Eve. The LORD gave us instructions, a plan, and all that we could ever need, and yet we desire that forbidden fruit that leads only to death. When we give into temptation, we give birth to shame and fear that then takes root in our lives. God had no intention for mankind to be plagued with fear or shame. It wasn’t a part of God’s plan, yet because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve welcomed in the spirit of fear. God even assures us, through the Apostle Paul, that He did not give us a spirit of fear.

Just because God has good things planned for you doesn’t mean that you will see those good things. God planned for everlasting life for Adam and Eve, but they never knew what it was like not to die. God never set in His plan for man to die, yet both Adam, his wife, and all of their descendants have/will taste death. Our actions dictate what comes into our lives. Whether we obey or disobey will be the deciding factor for whether or not we will receive blessings or curses. Our lives are literally in our own hands. Each one of us writes our own stories, we can either allow God to guide us or we can forge a path for ourselves. We can either choose life or choose death, so choose wisely.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch What You Invite Into Your Life.

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