Category: Daily Bread

¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14

Oftentimes, we expect God to move for us, but we don’t want to move for Him. We can’t expect God to hear and answer our prayers if we don’t spend time with Him, or we live in sin. We have to have a relationship with God, if we expect Him to move on our behalf. We can’t go weeks without spending time with Him, and then when something goes wrong expect Him to fix it.

But, if we humble ourselves, pray, seek Him, and turn from our sin, then He will forgive us and answer our prayers. God doesn’t move unless we move first.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Move For God.

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³ Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. ~ Psalms 24:3-4

David, a man after God’s own heart, posed a question that we no longer ask today. Who can enter into the presence of the LORD? In fact, we no longer even consider this a valid question anymore because this is now seen as an offensive, hateful, and discriminatory question. But why? Could it be that we’ve become too familiar with God?

Here’s what I’m getting at, yes, God is our friend, our brother, our father, our betrothed, but He is still God. We’ve lost respect for the King of the Universe. The creator of everything. David starts this Psalm by declaring how great God is by saying,

¹ The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, ² for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

Psalms 24:1-2

The earth, and everything in it, was created by the LORD and still belongs to the LORD. Yet we think that we can enter into the presence of the LORD God Himself anyway we want. And if anyone dares to question that idea, we’re up in arms and offended. Why? Because we’ve lowered the greatness of God and elevated the greatness of ourselves. We have greater respect for earthly kings and rulers than the God of the universe. We revere mere men more than we do the Living God.

Imagine walking into Buckingham Palace covered in filth and rags demanding to speak with the Queen. Or walking into the White House, regardless of who’s in office, and demanding to speak with the President. We’ve become too familiar with God. Solomon introduces the book of Proverbs by explaining the importance of wisdom and knowledge, which are the foundational blocks of our relationship with God. Without the knowledge of God, we can’t accept Him. Without the instruction and wisdom of God, we cannot follow Him. After this, Solomon shares the foundation of knowledge.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

We no longer fear the LORD; we’ve become fools despising wisdom and instruction all for the sake of our own selfishness. All because we desire our own version of truth that leads to our own version of temporary happiness. Here and now, we live our lives however we please because when we sin, God doesn’t send His warring angels to crash through the sky and strike us down where we stand. No. That doesn’t happen because we live in a time of grace and a time of forgiveness. We’ve gotten so caught up in grace and forgiveness that we’ve forgotten reverence and fear.

LORD God, help us to fear You. Help us to revere You as the LORD of the universe. You are our friend, brother, and father, yet You are still our God. Never let us forget that. Help us to love wisdom and instruction. Give us the Spirit of Discernment that we might know You and the things of You. Help us to love You with more than just our empty words. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

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^7b So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. ⁸ Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. ⁹ Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. ¹⁰ That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10^NLT

Paul was a man of God. He was arguably the greatest apostle who ever lived. Yet even though he was great, he still had his own battles to face. He had his own demons to fight. He was human, just like us. The difference, though, between Paul and us is that Paul didn’t allow his weaknesses to keep him down. He didn’t allow his flesh to dictate who he would be or who he would become. Why?

Because he knew his God. He knew the one which he served. And it’s not because he met God on the road to Damascus. It’s not because he saw so many miracles take place or because of the many revelations he had. It was because he sought after God. He wanted to personally know. He had a hunger for more than just what the world could offer him. Paul wanted to know God. Not know of Him. He wanted to personally know God.

Paul had known what it was like to quiver in fear before the presence of Almighty God. He knew what it was like to be before the Throne of Grace guilty. He knew what it was like to be before God uncovered, naked, and shameful. So, he fought for more. He fought for a relationship, so that that day when Jesus takes His seat on His throne and judges the whole earth and everything in it, he would hear the words, ‘well done my good and faithful servant.’ Paul was fighting for his life. His eternal life.

Paul knew God not because he did great miracles, those were direct effects. Paul knew God because he sought him. See, we forget that this world comes with difficulties. This world comes with pain and suffering. It’s inevitable. We can’t avoid it. We can’t skip it. But we can overcome it. Paul, a man of God, prayed three times for the thorn in his side to be removed, but God reminded him that His grace was sufficient for him. God reminded Paul that he wasn’t alone. That this thorn that He has allowed to torment him for this short time here on this earth will not only mean nothing to him in eternity, but while here on this, it would be able to help someone else struggling with the same thing, but lacking the faith and endurance to fight.

We have to understand that God won’t just come down and fix every struggle we have overnight. But that He has given us an abundance of grace, love, mercy, and goodness to overcome any obstacle set before. Overcoming doesn’t always mean that we no longer struggle with something, but that we no longer give in to that something. And if we follow God and fight with everything in us, then we can be confident that if we stumble, God will catch us before we fall because His grace is sufficient for us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know God.

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⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians 4:9^NLT

Oftentimes, we get so caught up in grace that we forget that we are expected to do something to keep that relationship with God. We forget that it’s up to us to run the race set before us. It’s up to us to fight for our souls. It’s up to us to pray for ourselves, our loved ones, and the Church. Once we hear the Gospel and accept it, it’s up to us to put it into practice and build a relationship with God.

Just look at what Paul said; he didn’t say that if we accept Christ, then the God of peace would be with us. He didn’t say if we believe in Christ, the God of peace would be with us. He said that if we practice all that he has taught us, THEN the God of peace will be with us. We have to practice all that we’ve learned from the Scriptures and put it into practice.

We, the sheep, have to follow the Shepherd, and here on earth, God has given us many shepherds to teach His flock while He is away. But that doesn’t mean we just blindly follow anyone. We have to pray and seek God for discernment. We have to read our Bible to make sure that everything that our pastors are preaching to us is Biblical. Then we have to put it into practice. Christianity isn’t a quick pill that you can take that will fix every problem you have overnight.

Christianity is a long, hard road that is set before us. This is why Paul says that if we follow the commands of God, if we follow His teaching, then He will be with us. Then God will give us the peace that passes all understanding. Then the road that once seemed so daunting, tedious, hard, and unbearable will be joyous and fulfilling because it’s no longer us running by ourselves; it’s no longer according to our own power. When we follow the commands of God, then we run according to His power. Then we run with peace, knowing that God is with us always.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Run With God.

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² I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³ I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ~ Revelation 2:2-5

God has set two choices before each of us. One choice is life everlasting with Him; the other is death everlasting without Him. What we do on this earth determines what we choose. When we choose God and the things of God, we are spiritually saying that we want to spend eternity with Him in a place of peace, joy, and blissfulness.

In eternity with God, there will be no more tears, for God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. No more dying there. Neither shall there be any more mourning, nor crying, nor pain for the former things have passed away.

The city, the New Jerusalem, is so beautiful that the foundations of the walls of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel, while the wall itself is built out of jasper. The city itself is pure gold, like clear glass. The streets also are made of pure gold, so pure that it looks transparent. The twelve gates each are fashioned out of one single pearl.

The other choice is quite the opposite. The Bible describes it as a place of eternal destruction away from the presence of God. A place where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. A fiery lake of burning sulfur. An Eternal fire. A place of outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A furnace of fire where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A lake of fire and brimstone, where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. These things all await those who become discouraged and give up.

So, what is the solution? The solution is simple. We need to get back to the basics. We need to practice self-denial. We need to get excited about the things of God again. We need to believe the promises of God again. The Scripture says we must return to our first love.

Jesus is counseling us to repent and be zealous for Him because He will soon be back for us. For when we think we are doing so much and doing so good, we are literally wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked when we are just going through the motions.

He is saying, “Get back to the basics of life, my children.” Get back to putting me first because nothing else matters in all the whole world. No profit, no success, no amounts of money will be able to purchase eternal life apart from Jesus and His salvation.

Even though there seems to be no hope, even though all the sky is gray and life seems hopeless, there is still always hope as long as we have breath, we have hope. Hope is lost when we put our hope in the wrong thing or the wrong person, and that’s usually when we take our eyes off of the true hope. Jesus!

LORD God, help us to choose you over the desires of our flesh and call of the world. Teach us Your perfect ways. Open our eyes to the deceit of the enemy and cover us in Your pure, redeeming blood. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

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