Daily Bread Archives

March 15, 2021March 14, 2021

Leave Them Behind You

¹³Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 3:13-14^ESV

I believe it would be fair to say that we are not where we want to be, neither have we achieved all that we’ve planned. The goals we set for ourselves (plans to move our careers forward, ideas to promote and market our businesses) can sometimes feel daunting; set back by no’s, not now’s, and not interested.

But forgetting those things that are behind you can make your ways seem clear. When we let go of the past, we can move forward because they are in the past, they’re over with, they’re done with, they’re over. The past has no hold on us; we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Now we grab hold of today, and we press on, always moving forward toward the goals we have set for our success.

Heavenly Father, help us to move forward from our past so that we can pursue our call. The call you have given us. Oh, LORD, help us to remember that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Please show us the future you have planned for us that we may not stray from the path you have paved out just for us. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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Take Correction With Love

¹³As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. ¹⁴If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:13-15

Paul tells us to not grow weary of doing good multiple times. He not only tells us to do good, but he also tells us we need to help others remain in the love of Christ. Many of us take this as Paul telling us we need to correct others, which we need to, but Paul is also telling us we need to learn to take correction when we are in the wrong. We’re quick to correct others, but we don’t always accept correct from others. Why? Why don’t we like to take correction from others?

When we take offense from others correcting us, what does that mean for us? Are we filled with pride? Selfishness? Man-pleasing? If we are, what does that mean for us? None of those things get you closer to God. It doesn’t build up the Church. It doesn’t strengthen the spirit, so what does it do?

It brings division… and what does division bring…? well, Mark 3:25 says, “If a house is divided against itself, that house Cannot stand.” If the house cannot stand, then the house will fall; when that house falls, then we are without protection, without defense. As the Church, the body of Christ, we have to learn to give correction with love, but we also have to learn to take correction with love. Without correction, we can’t learn or grow. And if we stay where we are, never moving forward, we will become like stagnant water dirty and stink. We have to continuously grow so that we can grow closer to God. So that we can become more like Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take Correction With Love.

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Use Your God-Given Gifts

⁷But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ~ Ephesians 4:7

Each of us was given grace in the form of the free gift of Salvation from Jesus Christ through faith, but we were each given spiritual gifts as well. Gifts of teaching, apostleship, prophets, evangelists, etc. In each of us is a spiritual gift given to us through the Holy Spirit. Our gifts can also be in music, sports, film, education, medicine, etc.

We don’t have to be a preacher in order to have a gift from God. Not all of us are pastors; if we were, we would all be one body part. If we are all one single body part, then we aren’t complete. God uses and utilizes every part of the body because each body part is important. And as each body part is important, each gift is important.

Peace. Go Forth and Use Your God-Given Gifts.

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Cling To His Divine Nature

⁴And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. ~ 2 Peter 1:4^NLT

God has called us to Himself so that we may be saved. When we are saved, we are changed. We are given a new clean heart and a right spirit. We are given a new life. We are a new creation. Because of this, God Himself lives inside of us and shapes us into His perfect image. This is why we must fight sin.

We can’t allow ourselves to be overcome by the very thing that God has just rescued us from. We have to set our minds to live in righteousness. God has given us everything we need in order to overcome sin and cling to righteousness. Put on your whole Armor of God that you can overcome every sin that comes your way and become more and more like God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cling To His Divine Nature.

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Rejoice In Your Drought

¹⁷Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, ¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! ¹⁹The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. ~ Habakkuk 3:17-19

Even though we go through tough times, God is still with us. He doesn’t abandon us when things get hard. Before the drought even comes, God made a plan to get you through it. He is our strength. He carries us when we can’t walk for ourselves. He guides us when we’re lost. He is our light and Salvation. So, rejoice in the LORD even when everything seems to go wrong. He has never forsaken us. Put your trust in Him, and He will guide you back to your land of Milk and Honey.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Rejoice In Your Drought.

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Accept His Plan

⁹For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time—to show us His grace through Christ Jesus. ~ 2 Timothy 1:9

From before we even sinned, God planned a way for us to be saved. Before we were even born, before time was even created, God knew mankind would sin. God knew exactly how we would sin and how we would save us from our sin. There is nothing you could do that could make you too unclean to forgive.

God is waiting for you to come home. He’s waiting for you to call upon His name. No matter how far you’ve strayed, salvation is always only one step away. All you have to do is repent. Jesus already paid your debt. He already took your penalty upon Himself. Jesus didn’t die to save the ‘righteous’ because there aren’t any righteous without Him. Jesus died to save the broken, the needy, the hopeless, the sinner. Jesus died for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Accept His Plan.

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Continuously Ask

²⁰So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant. ²¹I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.” ~ Genesis 18:20-21^NLT

The LORD didn’t just destroy Sodom and Gomorrah out of nowhere. There was a great outcry against them for a long time. The people affected by Sodom and Gomorrah’s wickedness didn’t just cry out once; they cried out and cried out until God heard them. This is how we have to get God’s attention. We have to continuously bring our petitions before the LORD.

The majority of the time, nothing will happen after our first request. We have to keep asking God. We have to keep reminding God of His promises. The LORD doesn’t intervene unless we first pray and seek His intervention. We have to make the first move. We have to fight for our families, our dreams, and our lives.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Continuously Ask.

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Ask God To Search You

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. ²⁴Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. ~ Psalms 139:23-24

Sometimes we live in sin, and we don’t even know it. We don’t even realize that what we’re doing is sinful. David was a man after God’s own heart; that didn’t mean that he was a perfect or sinless man. It meant that he wanted to love God with all of his heart. So, he asked God to search him and know his heart, but he doesn’t just stop there; he goes on to ask God to point out anything in him that offended God.

This is how we need to be today. We have to want to please God. We have to want to love Him and serve Him with everything in us. As Christians, we are fighting to be mini-Christs. The only way we can do that is to ask for the LORD to convict our hearts so that we may know what we need to change. This is the only way we can be changed so that He can guide us on the path to righteousness.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Ask God To Search You.

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Look For Your Well of Water

¹⁹Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. ~ Genesis 21:19^NLT

Hagar had become spiritually blind because of pride. She forgot who she was because she had a child for Abraham. Hagar didn’t raise her son to respect Sarah or to love Isaac, his little brother. She had become blinded by envy and pride. Hagar was so spiritually blind that she was sitting next to a well full of water and dying of thirst because she couldn’t see it.

This is how we are today; we’re all in a desert of sin, dying of thirst. Even though we’re in a desert of sin, dying of thirst, we don’t have to be. God is in the desert with us. He’s sitting right next to us, calling us by name. He is our well of living water,

³⁸Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from His heart.’
John 7:38

but we become spiritually blind because of pride and/or envy, and we refuse to bow our knees to God. We refuse to love His Son. We refuse to humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness, and we miss out on the well of living water that will end all thirst. Don’t live your life thirsty, dying of dehydration.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look For Your Well of Water.

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Live In Patient Faith

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ~ Exodus 32:1

The people of Israel had to just been brought out of Egypt. They were just freed from slavery. The LORD God did many miraculous things before their eyes, through Moses, while they were leaving Egypt. Even though they saw the Egyptians fall to the glorious power of God, when Moses seemed to have been delayed while on the mountains speaking with God, they began searching in other places for other gods. They even went as far as to create their own gods.

This same thing still happens to us today. We seek after God for as long as He will answer us immediately, but as soon as He seems to have gone quiet, and things aren’t going the way we think they should, we take matters into our own hands, and we create our own gods. We begin to seek after false gods and idols. Because of our lack of faith, we try to replace God, either with ourselves or another false god. This is why patience is a Fruit of the Spirit; if we have faith but we don’t have the patience to see that faith in the promise we were given, then our faith, if you will, is pointless because, without patience, we will move on. We’ll do it our way. We won’t be abounding in faith, but instead, we’ll be working in unbelief.

We have to strive every day to keep our focus on God and His promises instead of what we see around us. We have to live in patient faith so that we can see God’s promises come to pass. So that we can dwell in His good and perfect will.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live In Patient Faith.

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