Daily Bread Archives

September 22, 2021September 22, 2021

Leave Your Filth

⁴Whoever says ‘I know Him’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, ⁵but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: ⁶whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. ~ 1 John 2:4-6

According to John, it’s not enough to just say that you love Jesus. In fact, you can’t even say that you know Him unless you follow Him. John goes as far as to call anyone who says they know Jesus but doesn’t follow Him and walk in His ways a liar. In our world today, so many people claim to love God. They thank Him at all the award shows. They talk about being blessed by Him in their music, but they live their lives as if He doesn’t even exist.

As we just read, John states that you don’t know God if you live in sin. He doesn’t say if you mess up but keep getting up and fight to overcome your sin. He says that if you live in sin, just give in to it and make it your norm, then you don’t even know God. So, here’s a thought, how can you love someone that you don’t even know? How can you have a relationship with someone you’ve never met?

The return of Christ is right around the corner. Don’t let Him come back to find you still wallowing in your filth. Run home to your Heavenly Father. Let Him wash you clean and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He already paid the price; all you have to do is accept it by repenting of your sins and confessing that Jesus Christ is LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Leave Your Filth.

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Stop Chasing Happiness

“⁷Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! ⁸And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” ~ Matthew 18:7-9

Jesus didn’t say, ‘you know what, life is hard. There are all these temptations. Pretty girls. Cute guys. You know what, if you give in every now and then, I get it. I got you. Just do your best.’ That’s not how it works. Life is one large test, and you only get one chance. And when the test is over, and it’s time to receive your grade, you only have two options. You either passed or failed. And if you fail the exam, the teacher isn’t going to give you an ‘A’ just because they like you. That’s not just. That’s an unjust teacher.

God is a just teacher. And when we all stand before Him on Judgment Day, He will judge us according to His standards, not our own standards. Because it’s not whether you tried or not, it’s whether you did or did not. Either you did it, or you didn’t do it. It’s as simple as that.

We’re intended to be the Bride of Christ, so then in a sense, we are currently engaged to Christ because we have yet to have the marriage. So, let’s put this into perspective. Imagine you’re engaged to someone, and they cheat on you constantly, and whenever they’re caught, they say, ‘You know I love you. You know you’re my number one. It wasn’t my intention to cheat; I mean, I tried not to. But does that really matter, though? Cause, I mean, I love you. Don’t you love me? Don’t you want me to be happy?’

Do you see how insane that sounds? This is the main problem with the statement ‘I think God just wants me to be happy.’ God wants more for us than to be happy. See, happiness is a relative term. Happiness means something completely different to each person. And sometimes, happiness will lead us to our own death. Why? Because happiness isn’t a trustworthy emotion. In the moment of committing the sin, we are happy, but that soon fades as the shame and guilt kick in. Then we return to our sin, and we’re happy for a short time, then shame and guilt kick in again. It’s an endless cycle that never leads to joy. It only leads to a quick ending, never satisfying false happiness.

Choose the ways of righteousness, and you will be satisfied. When you begin your journey, it won’t be easy. Satisfaction and being filled won’t happen overnight, but as we fight, we will be filled more and more each day. God draws near to those who draw near to Him. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t grow weary of doing good, for the reward that awaits us is greater than anything we could ever think of or even imagine.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop Chasing Happiness.

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Abide in the Love of God

⁶[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:6.

Love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing; it can’t accept wrongdoing. Love can only abide in the Truth. So, we can’t say God loves me; therefore, He will never punish me for my sins. Because Jesus didn’t just say, ‘I love you, go and live your life.’ Jesus said, ‘I love you, now abide in my love or you will abide in my wrath. It’s your choice.’

See, even though God’s steadfast love never ceases, 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 outside of His never-ending, steadfast love that never ceases. We’re each given a certain amount of time on this earth, and what we do with that time is up to us. Don’t waste the time you’re given. You never know when your time may come to an end.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Abide in the Love of God.

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Grasp Salvation Today

^19b And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ~ Exodus 33:19

Honestly, at face value, this statement sounds rather harsh. In fact, it almost sounds sinister, but when you actually look at who God is and how He works, you understand that it isn’t harsh or sinister at all. God sets in place rules for the entire Universe to abide by, and there are consequences to breaking God’s rules.

Now, if we repent, He promises us that He will have mercy on us. This is why He says He will show mercy on whom He will show mercy because not everyone humbles themselves before Him. Why? Because not everyone repents. Today is the day of Salvation; tomorrow is promised to no man, no woman, no teen, no child. Tomorrow is promised to no one. Today is the only day you have to repent. Don’t take it for granted because tomorrow may never come.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Grasp Salvation Today.

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Dwell In Faith

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ~ Ephesians 2:8

It is only by faith that we are saved. And if we dwell in fear, then we don’t have faith. And if we don’t have faith, then we cannot please God. In other words, we cannot be saved. We have to dwell in love if we want to be with God, and the only way to dwell in love is to dwell in faith.

Faith comes by knowing God, which can only be done by spending time in His word as well as spending time in prayer and worship. We can’t expect to get to know God without spending time with Him. So, spend time with God. Get to know who He is, and you won’t live in fear or doubt; you will dwell in faith and love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Dwell In Faith.

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Fight For Your Marriage

³And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” ⁴He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ~ Matthew 19:3-6

God instituted marriage from the very beginning. He intended for man and woman to be together, not just physically but spiritually. In a sense, He created man to complete woman and woman to complete man because everything woman isn’t man is, and everything man isn’t woman is. But today, 50% of marriages end in divorce.

Why? Because we bought into the lie, that marriage is a 50/50 arrangement. That will only give you a 50% chance to win. It is a 100% effort on both sides. Both of you will need to put in 100%. Husbands, it’s your job to keep the love in the marriage. It’s your responsibility to foster a safe and loving home. You must love your wife as Christ loves the Church. You have to be willing to give up everything, including your own life, for her.

Wives, it’s your responsibility to nurture respect. Today, we live in a society that tries to make women feel demeaned for the man being the head of the household. We turn it into a feminist problem, but just like the hand is not more important than the head, neither is the husband more important than the wife. We have different roles, and that’s okay. Don’t allow the world to turn you into a victim or ruin your marriage.

Don’t give up on your marriage. Fight for the one you love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fight For Your Marriage.

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The Jonah Call

¹ The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: ² “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” ~ Jonah 1:1-12

God was concerned about Nineveh. He was going to destroy it because of the wickedness of the people. But He remembered that there were more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who did not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle living in Nineveh.

God wanted someone to stand in the gap and go and warm them for Him so that He would not have to destroy the whole city. But Jonah ran away and wouldn’t go.

I wonder, is God calling you to a great revival in your family? Has He asked you to stand in the gap so that He doesn’t have to bring about the threat He has threatened?

Well, God has called each one of us to a specific task and a specific work. But in general, He wants you to witness so that those who we witness to will have an opportunity to hear and believe.

Do not do as Jonah did and run away from your God-given mandate. God wants to be merciful, so help Him to be by witnessing to as many people as possible.

Dear Heaven, thank You that we can be a part of what you are doing in the earth. Thank You that allow us to stand in the gap and see many of our loved ones and friends saved. Pour out Your conviction and your mercy, oh LORD! Touch and save the lost, in Jesus’ name, amen.

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Love 100%

³¹“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ~ Ephesians 5:31-32

Statistics tell us that 50% (that is, one in two) of new marriages end in divorce today. I’ve figured out the reason why?

We’ve all been counseled or at least heard at one time or the other that a marriage is 50/50. Right? Haven’t we? Well, I’m here to tell you that is wrong. If you put in 50%, then your relationship will have a 50% chance of surviving. The statistics back me up on that.

A covenant marriage requires 100% contribution/effort/participation/involvement (however you want to say it), but it needs 100% in order for it to work.

So many of us, when we get saved, have this same perspective when it comes to our relationship with Christ. We, the Church, are the bride of Christ. And as the bride of Christ, we have to put more effort into our relationship with our God. We can’t expect to put in 50% effort and succeed. God isn’t bringing 50%. He isn’t even bringing 100%. He brings 100+%. He said I came to give you life and life MORE ABUNDANTLY. He didn’t say I’d take you halfway to the cross, then you gotta do the rest yourself. No. He said, I’ll take you all the way to the cross, and when you’re feeling too weak to walk after, I’ll pick you up and carry you myself because I love you.

That’s what love is. It’s reckless. It’s willingly putting yourself at risk over and over again for the sake of the one you love. It’s putting in 100% and then some, even if your partner won’t, in the hope that they will follow in pursuit of your beautiful, reckless love. That’s how we have to live our relationship with Christ. We have to put our own life, wants, desires at risk for the sake of our relationship with God because our relationship with Him is all that matters.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love 100%.

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Rein In The Wild Elephant

“¹Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘²Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise— ‘³that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’ ⁴Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” ~ Ephesians 6:1-4^NIV

I saw a video from 60 minutes where juvenile delinquent elephants brutally murdered about 30 rhinos. What had happened was elephant families were broken up, and only the young elephants were transported to a different park, and they grew up without adult supervision. These young elephants then formed an elephant gang and were going around harassing and killing rhinos. The rangers were bewildered at first, then they began to look into this and figured out that the young elephants were killing the rhinos and not poachers. This was baffling for them at first; then, they realized that these hooligans had no role models.

Social rules and protocols are not something innate, it is learned, it is taught, it is modeled by adults. Males learn from males, and females learn from females, and, if it is the plan of God in the animal kingdom, how much more in the human kingdom.

So, what the rangers did was to select some big strong male elephant bulls, and after tranquilizing them, they transported them to where the young teenage gangsters were. With the arrival of the adult male figure and role model, the young elephant gang was soon reined in, and peace between the elephants and rhinos ensued. The rhino murder rate fell to zero.

The whole thing, peace thing, according to the rangers, was all thanks to the introduction of the positive role model of the adult elephant bulls. Not only is it important in the elephant community, but it is just as important in human lives as well. Today we have so many young men killing each other. So many mothers now have to mourn their sons’ deaths because they were taken too soon.

We have the power to change the lives of so many people, but we have to desire to change their lives first. We can say that change is necessary. We can hashtag this and repost that, but unless we actually take a stand and do something, we might as well be asleep unaware of what’s going on. The only thing that can prolong evil is for good people not to do anything. If we would wake up from our spiritual laziness and make the conscious effort to change just one person’s life, then we could change the entire world. It starts with you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Rein In The Wild Elephant.

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Take a Stand

²¹For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ²⁵Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. ~ Philippians 1:21–26

I understand that they are trying their hardest to make this world no longer be enjoyable. I get it. I recognize that we are all striving for the day when we get to be with the LORD forever. But I also understand my duty to my God and to my brothers and sisters in Christ.

See, Paul recognized his responsibility to his church family. He understood the importance of his role as teacher, intercessor, and example setter. He understood that if we all, once committed to Christ, returned to Christ, there would be none to witness to others. There would be no shepherds. There would be no teachers. There would be no sowers. There would be no harvesters.

Yes, I understand that the weight of this world is heavy. I understand the struggles and tribulations that come with each day. I understand the pain and suffering that can occur, but I also understand the need for Christians on this earth. So, for as long as Christ will prolong my life, I will live gladly spreading His gospel. I will preach and teach of the mercy, love, and second coming of Christ. We don’t have forever to reach the entire world. We only have a short time to win as many souls as we can, and with sin becoming more and more prevalent and acceptable in our society, the more Christians are necessary. Christians that will stand for justice, truth, righteousness, and love. Christians that will stand for Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take a Stand.

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Category: Daily Bread

Leave Your Filth

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