Daily Bread Archives

June 10, 2022June 10, 2022

Don’t React Like Michal

¹⁶But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him. ²⁰When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!” ²³So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life. ~ 2 Samuel 6:16, 20, 23^NLT

David was dancing unashamedly before the Lord in worship, celebrating that the Lord’s presence would be dwelling in his place, in the city of David, yet Michal could not discern what David was doing and what was happening in the spiritual. She only saw through her eyes of jealousy and contempt that David was making a spectacle of himself before the servant girls; she was caught up with appearances before mankind.

It seems that, like her father Saul, the spirit of the Lord was not with her, and she had no discernment. She had never seen worship like that before and didn’t understand it, so she felt contempt for the man of God, and lack of spiritual discernment caused her to lose out on the blessing the Lord had for her that day. Instead of giving birth to something great, like a future king, she gave birth to nothing. We have to be careful what we say about the man of God or a move of the Holy Spirit; we need to pray for discernment so that we don’t miss out on our blessing.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t React Like Michal.

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Don’t Rejoice in Judgment

³⁵And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. ~ 1 Samuel 15:35

When the LORD rejected Saul after his many sins, Samuel didn’t rejoice that the LORD had brought righteous punishment upon Saul. Samuel instead mourned for Saul. This is how we are to be today. We are supposed to walk in love. It’s so easy for us to see the sins and forget that there is a soul beneath the outer sinner.

It’s easy to pronounce judgment upon someone that we deem worse than ourselves, but if we love people as we love ourselves, then we would show more mercy, grace, and love. God doesn’t rejoice in the punishment of the wicked, and neither should we. God doesn’t desire that any be punished, but all come to repentance, and so should we. As we see the world becoming more and more evil and more people are being led astray, our hearts should melt for them instead of growing cold and hard.

This is the only life each of us is given, so don’t be quick to desire the judgment of others. For one day, we will all stand before the Great White Throne on Judgment Day, and we will be judged by the same level of judgment we have judged others. So, instead of being quick to rejoice in the judgment of the wicked, cling to mercy, grace, and love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Rejoice in Judgment.

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Follow The LORD With All Your Heart

³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.’ ~ 1 Samuel 2:30 ESV

God promised that the house of Eli would go in and out before Him forever, but because of their evil, it didn’t happen. In the same manner, God gave Hezekiah an extra 15 years after sending him a death sentence because Hezekiah pleaded with the LORD. This shows that we can change the mind of God by our actions and by our prayers. Our lives don’t have to be set in stone.

If we aren’t on the straight and narrow path that leads to everlasting life, then we can change our path by repenting and asking for God’s forgiveness. This can also be true if we have been given a promise and we refuse to follow the LORD and His instructions. If we remain idle and refuse to move forward and follow the LORD, then His promise that He gave to us will be given to another. Don’t allow yourself to miss out on all that God has in store for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow The LORD With All Your Heart.

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Guide Your Children

¹³ And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. ~ 1 Samuel 3:13^ESV

Eli didn’t reprimand nor guide his two sons in any way. He didn’t raise them to fear God nor to love righteousness. Because of this, he brought punishment on himself and his entire household. This is like us today.

We say that our children are adults who can make their own decisions and parents have no control over them, but we should never turn a blind eye and refrain from addressing and correcting them. Children have to be guided so that they learn right from wrong. This is why we teach children not to touch the stove or not to put their finger in the light socket.

Children need to be taught right from wrong by their parents so that when they are older, they will do what is right. Even though our culture continuously changes, the fact that children need to be guided and taught right from wrong doesn’t change. It’s very important to correct your children when you know they are doing wrong against God, lest you and your children one day have to face the wrath of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Guide Your Children.

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Who Do You Desire Acceptance From?

³⁰Then he [Saul] said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” ~ 1 Samuel 15:30

After all that happened to Saul, and even though he acknowledged he sinned, Saul was still concerned about how he looked before the people more than how he looked to God. Saul didn’t even refer to God as his God but as Samuel’s God. In doing this, he separated himself from God and his relationship with God. So many people today are too busy trying to uphold their outward appearance for other people that their relationship with God becomes just for show, and they don’t even realize it.

It’s so easy for us to need validation from those who we see every day and that we know without a doubt are real, rather than the God that we can’t physically see nor touch. It’s the human in us that is seeking out the terrestrial, physical, mortal acceptance around us because that is what we are in communication with every day, but if we change our focus from those around us to the celestial, spiritual, eternal God then who we desire acceptance from will change as well. We have to seek the spiritual to want the spiritual. We have to seek God to want God. The more we draw near to God, the more God will draw near to us. Whom we need acceptance from will determine where we will spend eternity. So, who do you desire acceptance from?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Desire Acceptance From God.

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Hope in His Power

¹⁴But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. ¹⁵For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. ¹⁶But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. ¹⁸ And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. ~ Acts 2:14–18

The blessed Holy Spirit rushed upon all mankind when the Day of Pentecost came, yet there are people, pastors, and religious teachers who claim that the outpouring of the “Power Holy Spirit” was only for that time. Please take special notice of the time frame that Peter indicates:

In the last days.

If Peter was living in the last days, which he indicated that he was, then how much more are we who live in the 21^st century, living in the last days? The power of God didn’t dwindle nor run cold. God still performs miracles, healings, signs, and wonders. There is still power in the name of Jesus. There is still freedom in His presence.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hope in His Power.

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Accept Your Promise By Faith

¹⁹ Everyone tried to touch Him, because healing power went out from Him, and He healed everyone. ~ Luke 6:19

All who touched Jesus in faith were healed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not one who had faith was disappointed; all were healed. 2,000 years later, Jesus is no longer physically walking around His people. Instead, He is living inside of us and through us. His Holy Spirit, by whom He was filled with power and healed the sick, is with us and in us as well. So how much easier should it be for us to get our healing in today’s world, yet we rarely see healing today.

The Church is filled with sickness and disease, yet we have God Himself dwelling inside of us. The Church should be able to claim the promise ‘By His stripes, we have been healed.’ We have this as a promise from God, but it’s up to us to take hold of the promise and accept it by faith. It’s all been paid for. The only way we can be healed is if we have the faith that we will be healed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Accept Your Promise By Faith.

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Be Ransomed

⁴⁵Then the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die. ~ 1 Samuel 14:45

Saul spoke death over whoever ate, not knowing that his son Jonathan hadn’t heard the charge and ate. When the people of Israel found out that Jonathan would die for the sin that he didn’t know he committed, they cried out to Saul and ransomed Jonathan from death. Jonathan was ransomed from a sin that he committed unknowingly.

2,000 years ago, Christ ransomed us from sins that we didn’t realize we even committed, as well as sins that we intentionally committed. During the time of Jonathan, no one took his place, but 2,000 years ago, Christ took our place. He took our punishment and paid our debt Himself. He didn’t have to. Jonathan had just saved the people of Israel, while we did nothing of the sort for God. God took our punishment upon Himself because He loves us. You don’t have to accept the death warrant against you; Christ has already ransomed you; all you have to do is accept His free gift of salvation.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Ransomed.

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The God of Time

⁸He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. ⁹So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. ¹¹Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, ¹²I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” ¹³And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which He commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” ~ 1 Samuel 13:8-11

Saul’s lack of faith in the LORD and in the man of God led to Saul becoming impatient and destroying his future and his children’s future. Samuel gave Saul a set time to wait for him, but when Samuel didn’t show up at the exact time Saul expected him, Saul began to panic and took matters into his own hands. He allowed his fear of the enemy and the lack of time to overtake him. Today we are no different.

Some of us are given a call or promise from God that we feel should come in a certain amount of time, and when it doesn’t, we begin to panic and try to force it to come sooner or come through closed doors that we force open. The fear of missing our opportunity can lead us to not only miss our opportunity but endanger our children’s future as well. We can’t allow the fear of running out of time to keep us from following God’s perfect timeline. God isn’t slow to fulfilling promises as we count slowness; instead, He is always on time, bringing things to fruition at the perfect time.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Have Faith in the God of Time.

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Obey Over Sacrifice

¹⁷And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. ²¹But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²²And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. ²³For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” ~ 1 Samuel 15:17-23

We all know the saying, “It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission,” but is this the Truth? From the moment that Saul disobeyed the LORD and then tried to make it up to the LORD by making a sacrifice, things went from bad to worse. Saul was like a lot of us today. We think that because God loves us and He shows us grace that it’s better to live our lives in fear of the unforgiving world instead of the forgiving God.

Like Saul, every time we sin and just think we can ask for forgiveness after, we fail to realize that we can’t receive forgiveness without the shedding of innocent blood. Could this be why rebellion is the sin of divination? Because we treat shedding the blood of the innocent as a magic potion that erases all of our sins instead of what it truly is, a sacrifice. Obedience is better than sacrifice, not because God wants mindless robots following Him but because He doesn’t want the shedding of innocent blood.

When we begin to get used to living in sin with the idea of just asking for forgiveness later, we’re spitting on the innocent blood that has to be shed for our forgiveness. The innocent blood that was shed 2,000 years ago on calvary. We have to stop treating the precious blood of Jesus as if it was a magic potion that can just wash away our mistakes so we can live our lives however we want and start treating it as it is. It is the very embodiment of true love, for God Himself poured out His own blood that we might be saved. This isn’t a gift we should take advantage of, but that should be revered. A gift that should fill us with praise and thanksgiving for our God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Obey Over Sacrifice.

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