Daily Bread Archives

July 15, 2020July 13, 2020

Protecting Your Harvest

“Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.” ~ Judges 6:2-6

Here is a story of how the Midianites, the Amalekites, and other eastern peoples would swoop down on Israel at harvest time, and take their harvest. Do you feel like every time your ship is on the horizon the fog swoops in and you lose sight? Or maybe your ship is in the harbor, but a storm is brewing and won’t allow your ship to dock? Or maybe you are under attack, a spiritual attack? Maybe the enemy is attacking you because it is YOUR harvest time.

The dreams you’ve dreamed for so long are finally here. The investment that seemed to have died is beginning to breathe again. Remember the seed you sowed so long ago, it has sprouted and has grown; now the enemy knows it’s YOUR harvest time. That relationship at home that you’ve been praying for, it is about to be restored. So don’t give up, just because the enemy has come down with great wrath wanting to steal and destroy your harvest. You are a mighty warrior; believe it even if no one else does, live it even if you don’t feel like it, because God believes in you so believe in yourself in the light of God’s grace.

Heavenly Father, I pray for every tithe payer right now that You would rebuke the enemy on their behalf. You said in Your Word that if we were faithful in tithes and offerings, you would rebuke the devourer on our behalf and then pour out a blessing so much we would not be able to contain it. I know that You are not a man that You should lie, and I know that all Your promises are true, so please show Yourself faithful to the tithe-payers right now and bring about a blessing so much so that they don’t have room for it, and that they will praise You and honor You in their testimonies.

In Jesus name, I ask it, Amen.

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Fight Back!

^“22And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. ²³And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, ‘You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. ²⁴And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.’ ²⁵And David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.” ~ 2 Samuel 5:22–25

The Scripture states that when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over Israel, the whole army of them came up to search for David. And it’s the same with us today. When God has blessed us or has provided greatly for us, the enemy comes seeking to steal, or kill, or destroy our blessing. He will never let us enjoy our victory in peace and happiness. He will bring war, and hate, and trouble, and malicious talk, and slander against us. He will try to take or destroy everything God has just given us.

But we, as David did, must seek God, and seek His guidance to know how to proceed. Spend a little time in worship. A little fasting. A little seeking. Get up an hour earlier, God is faithful, He will let Himself be found by those who diligently seek Him. Then couple all that with some effectual, fervent prayer, and see how much that will avail.

Heavenly Father. I lift up to You everyone who is reading this devotional today. I pray LORD that You will go ahead of them. Be their point-guard and their rear-guard. Be their right flank and their left flank. Give Your angels charge over them, that they may prevail and be successful in all that they do. Bless them with peace, joy, and favor. Grant them good health. Father do not let the enemy take that which You have blessed them with.

In Jesus name, I pray, Amen.

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Let Everything That Has Breath Praise

“Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.” ~ Psalms 150

This is a hymn of praise to the LORD. The Psalmist is imploring everyone everywhere with everything to praise the LORD. In the little church that I grew up in as a young boy, we did not have musical instruments like electric guitars and drums, worship was done acapella. Now to be fair, we did have a piano in the corner by the platform, but no one ever played, that I can remember.

But instrumentless worship is not God’s way, He wants us to praise Him with all of our instruments, which include hand clapping and singing. Psalms 100 says, “make a joyful noise unto the LORD…come before His presence with singing.” Look also at the last verse of Psalms 150. It says, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.”

In our churches today, don’t let a sinner come into our congregation and raise their hands in praise and worship, for the thoughts that will fly through our minds about ‘that hypocrite.’ But think about it. God did not make a distinction, in fact, He was very specific, He said let EVERYTHING that has breath praise Him. If you have breath in your body, you ought to be praising God. Now don’t get confused with intercessory prayer and praise they are different. Prayer – except for the prayer of repentance- is for the saints, praise is for everyone, so go on praising Him today.

Heavenly Father, I lift up a shout of praise to You today for all the blessings I enjoy, all the prayers You have answered, and for all the times that You have been there for me when no one else understood. I praise You LORD for who You are and what You have done for me. I praise You and give thanks for the great work of salvation that You so freely give to everyone who will accept it. LORD, may Your great and matchless Name be lifted up in my life and among the nations, and may Your praise never depart from my lips. May songs of rejoicing continually be in my mouth, and may You be exalted in all the world, for You are good and Your mercies endure forever. Be glorified in my life I pray; in Jesus name, Amen.

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Encourage Yourself To Praise

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” ~ Psalms 146:1-2

Here the Psalmist is encouraging himself to praise the LORD. He probably doesn’t feel much like praising. Maybe things are rough at work. Maybe home-life is a mess. Maybe he is being unjustly persecuted. But still, he encourages himself to praise the LORD. He almost demands it, when he exclaims, “Praise the LORD, O my soul.”

“Don’t just sit there wallowing in your self-pity,” he seems to say to his soul. “Come on and praise the LORD, for there are benefits in praising. Things change when I praise. So come on soul, begin to praise.” Please realize that the soul is the mind, will, and emotion of a person. Therefore, the Psalmist is not caring about his own feelings, but rather, he instructs his mind to override his will, and praise the LORD. He doesn’t hold a council meeting to find out if it is a good idea. He doesn’t ask his soul to praise, he instructs his mind, his will, and his emotion to praise.

Now notice this. After encouraging his mind, will, and emotion to praise in verse 1, he disregards his feelings completely in verse 2 and makes an executive decision to overrule everything, not caring how down, or how depressed, or how weary from the fight his mind, will, and emotion are, he compels them to praise. “I will praise the LORD as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being” (v 2). He is determined to praise his way out of the desert and sing his way out of the flames. He is determined to not let circumstances keep him down.

Also, did you take note that he makes the object of his praise personal? He says, “…my God…” Not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or the God of his father, David. No! It’s his God. He knows him personally, and he remembers the benefits intimately. So, whatever you’re going through today. Put them in check and sing praises to your God!

Heavenly Father, I ask You to envelop each and every one who reads and accepts this prayer today with Your love and compassion. Let Your loving arms hold them and let them feel the love You have for them. Make their rough paths smooth and their crooked paths straight. Give Your angels charge over them and answer when they call. In Jesus name, Amen.

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Wake Up

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ~ Matthew 26:41

How many hours do we spend in prayer a day and how many hours do we spend a day doing things that weaken our spirit man? I’m not saying we need to spend every waking moment in prayer and do absolutely nothing else, but I do believe we (the church) should spend more time in prayer. Just as these disciples were asleep and not keeping watch, so is the church. The Church is in the mess we’re in today, not because of Trump. Not because of the different world leaders. Not because of the broken government system. Not because of the ACLU. Not because of the amount of sin in the world, it’s because of the Church.

The Church is the only thing in the Church’s way. We are the only thing in our way. How many churches fast as a church family once a year or more? How many churches are worshiping and praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Jesus said we would do better things than even He did, so why don’t we see it?

Why don’t we even see what He did being done? Why aren’t we using those Spiritual gifts that are set right in front of us and all we have to do is open them? Why don’t we? Why don’t we take those gifts that have been given to us? Because we, the church, are asleep. And when one of us sleeps we can’t function right, how do we know this? Because we are called the body of Christ, if the body is built up of different members, then if one, just one member goes rogue the entire body is affected by this one member. We can’t properly and effectively work without being in perfect unison.

So, we (each and every part of the body) needs to stay awake, we need to be on watch, and we need to pray. We need to do as Jesus did and wake up those who are in spiritual slumber. We need to be on high alert because we have been asleep for so long that we have forgotten we are in a war zone. No matter where we go, no matter who we are, no matter our name, no matter our ethnicity, no matter the color of our skin, we are all in war because it is up to us to spread the news. It is up to us plant the seeds. It is up to us to preach the gospel. It is up to us to intercede for the sinner. But if we’re asleep how can we do this and defend every attack the enemy throws our way?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Awaken.

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Time To Jump

“⁴But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. ⁶So the captain came and said to him, ‘What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.’” ~ Jonah 1:4-6 (ESV)

Jonah was not concerned about the stormy weather because he had fallen so far astray. He was unaware of his surroundings to the point that the storm above did not wake him. He felt so comfortable and so assured that he had outrun God that he caused himself to become spiritually asleep.

At some point in time, we have all experienced spiritual slumber, and the worst part is, just like Jonah, we don’t even realize it. God tells us to do something, and we decide to run instead. We decide to push Him away, slowly becoming more and more numb to Holy Spirit’s pull. You just keep getting farther and farther away from God that not even a storm will wake you up. Instead, it takes someone who is awake to wake you up.

Sometimes it takes someone’s forceful nudge to show you that you’re on a sinking ship in the middle of a storm and will drown unless you wake up. Unless you do something about it. Unless you repent. And if you don’t take heed to their warning, you will be awakened. But when you are awakened, it’ll be too late. Listen to your wakeup call and jump out of the sinking ship. Repent. Turn away from your sins. Get rid of that tv show or movie or song that is numbing your senses. That person that has come between you and God. That fantasy that blinds you from reality.

Peace. Love. Go forth and JUMP.

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Get Up

“³¹Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, ³²but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” ~ Luke 22:31-32

Jesus knew Peter’s faith would not hold, but He told Peter “when you have turned again strengthen your brothers.” When you turn back, turn back stronger. When you turn back, turn back and help others who are weak. When you turn back, don’t allow that fall to consume you, don’t allow yourself to be full of shame. Instead, learn from it. Be strengthened by it. Become stronger than before. Failure is more than just missing the mark. Failure is learning how to get back up.

Don’t be afraid of failure because in our weakness that is when He is strong. You learn from your mistakes. You can grow from your mistakes if you allow God to strengthen you. Don’t be defeated. Don’t allow your mess up to keep you down but get back up for Jesus has prayed for you. God believes in you so much that He took the time to pray for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Get Up.

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Erase The Paint

“‘⁴⁴Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.’ ⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶And Jacob said to his kinsmen, ‘Gather stones.’ And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between you and me today.’ Therefore, he named it Galeed, ⁴⁹and Mizpah, for he said, ‘The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. ⁵⁰If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.’ ~ Genesis 31:44-50

I think that’s crazy that Laban would make a covenant with Jacob, who served a different God, but still make the covenant around Jacob’s God. I mean that just shows how powerful the name of God is. Even though people may not worship Him, deep down they know that He is the one true God. He is the great I AM. He is Yahweh. He is Jehovah. I think that that’s amazing (in a sad not so good way) how that’s true today.

God put it in all of us that He is God. He put in all of us His voice. He stamped His masterpiece with His name, just as Andy, in Toy Story, stamped the bottom of his toys with his name. The sad thing is, just as Woody’s name was painted over, many people paint over God’s name on their soul.

They try to deny their conviction until it’s almost completely gone so that they can go on living their lives the way they want. They can go on worshiping whatever gods they want. But the thing they forget, is even though they may try to paint over it and cover it, God’s name is still there. And when they stand on Judgment Day, they have nothing to say because God has marked them from before they were even formed in the womb. Don’t allow your false gods and idols to cover up the one true God.

Peace. Love. Go forth and Erase the Paint.

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Don’t Look Back

“¹⁷And as they brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’ ²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” ~ Genesis 19:17, 23-26

I wonder how many people become spiritually frozen because they keep looking back at their past. I wonder how many more awakened church members there would be, or how many more awakened spiritual gifts there would be if we would just let go of the past that God is trying to destroy for our benefit. But it’s hard, our flesh wants us to open that door God has shut. Or go back down that same path that just took us years to get off of. Or to look back at the past and hold on to it, instead of letting God destroy it and wipe it clean as He has promised to do. Why do we allow our flesh to dictate our lives?

Is it because we don’t truly want to change? Is it because we actually love that part of us? I think it’s because we ask God for forgiveness, but we stop there. We ask Him to destroy the past, but we don’t work towards destroying the past within ourselves. In other words, we don’t fight against our flesh because it’s hard, it’s intimidating, it’s scary, it’s tiring. But we have to fight. Imagine if Lot’s wife had fought her flesh and let go of her past, what would be different? Her daughters probably wouldn’t have gotten their father drunk and slept with him creating all those enemies for the Israelites. I wonder what would happen if we didn’t look back and spiritually freeze; I wonder how many enemies we would have saved ourselves and our children from, how many obstacles we wouldn’t have had to go through.

So today I challenge you to not look back. I challenge you to let go of the past and give it to God. And when that thought comes into your mind to just take a peek, cast it down. When that desires stirs up to step back on that path, get on your knees and pray. When the temptation to turn back to your old habits comes your way, do as Jesus did, quote scripture, and then pray. But whatever you do, don’t stop fighting.

Peace. Love. Go Forth, and DON’T Look Back.

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Don’t Be a Pharaoh

“Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!” ~ Exodus 12:32

Isn’t it kind of peculiar that Pharaoh asked Moses to bless him also when he went to sacrifice to the LORD? Whenever things go wrong who do people go to…? Christians. And what do they ask for…? Pray for me for this, pray for me for that, ask the LORD to bless me at this job interview. Yet they refuse to bow their knee and worship HIM. I find that kind of crazy, you expect someone else to go before God and plead for you, but you don’t believe He’s real, or you don’t believe enough to follow Him and ask Him yourself.

Don’t be like Pharaoh seeing the power and wonders of God, but still refuse to bow your knee. Still refuse to give up false gods and idols that have done nothing for you. Still refuse to give up that relationship. Still refuse to give up that TV show. Still refuse to give up that alcohol. Still refuse to give up that cigarette. Still refuse to give up that drug. Still refuse to give up that sin that keeps pulling you farther and farther away until you can no longer hear the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be Pharaoh refusing to go to the LORD, but desiring prayer and blessings. Instead be as those who followed Moses to the LORD that you might also worship and sacrifice to LORD God and repent, saving your life and your family’s lives.

Tomorrow is promised to no man. Tomorrow is promised to no woman. Tomorrow is promised to no child. Tomorrow is promised to nothing that has breath. At any moment any one of us could lose our lives. Imagine standing before Jesus, and He says to you, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.” Imagine the fear. Imagine the distress. Imagine the sorrow that that would cause.

You see that He is the only way. Deep down you believe He is the only way, but the stronghold of your past keep you down. The strongholds that have kept your family down for generations have continued to hold you down. The strongholds that have kept you from bowing your knee before God Almighty, just as it kept Pharaoh from bowing his knee in submission before God Almighty.

Make the decision today whom you shall serve. Joshua 24:15, “¹⁵And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Make a stance today whom you shall serve, but as for me and my house, we shall serve the LORD.

Peace. Love. Go forth and Don’t Be a Pharaoh.

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