Daily Bread Archives

August 12, 2020August 12, 2020

Talk

^“1When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ²Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. ³And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. ⁴But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. ⁵This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. ⁷And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, ‘The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.’ ⁸So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, ‘What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?’ They answered, ‘Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.’ So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there.” ~ 1 Samuel 5:1-8

Notice how they saw that the God of Israel is greater than their god, they saw that the God of Israel is a greater God, yet the one thing they didn’t do is repent and beg forgiveness and try to serve the God of the Israelites. Isn’t that how we are in today’s world? We see that God is God. We see that there is none greater than Him. We know the truth, but instead of turning from our sinful ways and serving Him, we send Him away. We try to get rid of Him as soon as possible.

We refuse to give up the gods that we have grown accustomed to, even though we know they will lead us to death. We hold fast to these inferior false gods, even though we know that they cannot give us life. We cling to this feel-good, live how you want, everything you do is justified ideology, even though we cannot defend it. Even though we know our argument makes no sense. Even though we know our foundation has crack after crack, we still cling to it because we want to live the way that we want to live.

We refuse to learn/accept the truth by refusing to have a conversation about it, because we know that what we believe and the way we want to live is not okay. It isn’t right. And when we feel under attack, we throw up verses like ‘only God can judge me’ or ‘ye who is without sin.’ But what we fail to realize is that by doing this we are not only killing ourselves, but anyone who listens or looks up to us. We forget that on Judgment Day there are no more chances for forgiveness. On Judgment Day there is no redemption. On Judgment Day, that’s it. However, you chose to live your life will be set in stone. No matter if you believe or not, it doesn’t matter, because just as Dagon fell before God Almighty and was judged, so will all of us.

I urge each and every one of us to go out and seek the truth. Not the “truth” that tickles our ears. Not the “truth” that allows us to sin. Not the “truth” that feeds our flesh and crushes our spirit. But the actual full, Jesus stamp of approval TRUTH. This can only be achieved by conversation. This can only be achieved by submission. This can only be achieved by having a relationship with The Holy Spirit. Because without the absolute truth, you are now teaching others (even if you don’t realize it) and condoning others’ sins. By doing this, you have now just added their sin onto you. The Scripture says that “if I say to a wicked man you shall surely die and you don’t warn him or speak out to change his ways, then that wicked man will die for his sin and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” We can’t hide the truth in order to spare feelings to someone who doesn’t want to live the life of a Christ Follower. We cannot hide the truth from ourselves because we don’t want to live the life of a Christ Follower.

Sin tastes good in the beginning, but its end is a burning pain like no other. Eternity is forever, once you enter it, there is no going back. Once you take your last breath, there is no do-over. Don’t wait for God to judge you, let man judge you while you still have time to change, for iron sharpens iron.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Talk.

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Remember

²¹The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” ²²Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” ~ Matthew 27:21-22

2000 years ago, Jesus took the place of Barabbas, a notorious murderer, but who did Barabbas really represent? Jesus an innocent man, pure of heart and blessed by God, took the place of a rebellious murderer, us. Barabbas represents us. We were the rebellious murderer Jesus took the place for. We were the ones released from our prison of sin, forgiven of our debt, and set free in eternity.

Just like us, Barabbas didn’t deserve to be set free. Just like us Barabbas deserved his punishment, but thank God that Jesus has taken our place. Thank you, Jesus, for taking my yoke upon your shoulders. Thank you, Jesus, for taking my place on the cross. Thank you, Jesus, for shedding Your Holy and Precious blood so that we may be cleansed of all unrighteousness. We overlook Jesus taking the place of Barabbas because we don’t realize that Barabbas stood 2000 years representing us. We don’t realize the pain and suffering He went through for us. We don’t realize how much we don’t deserve to be free. We don’t realize the weight that was lifted off of us and put on Him.

Today as you remember the price that Jesus paid for us all, give Him the recognition He deserves. When you teach your children why we celebrate this day, don’t change the story. Don’t sugar coat it. As children, my sister and I were shown the Passion of The Christ, and every year we watch it as a family on this day to remember just what Jesus did for all of us. It wasn’t a few scratches and scrapes that He received. He was beaten until He was unrecognizable. He had to carry His cross to Golgotha (Calvary). He was spit upon and cursed. He was stripped naked. He was mocked and abused. A crown of thorns was pushed down onto His head. He was nailed to a tree. And He died. There is no easy way of saying this, and any less devolves just what He went through. Today I urge you all to take the time to truly remember what Jesus did for us and give Him the praise and the glory that He truly deserves.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remember.

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Make Your Covenant

^“18So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, ²²and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.’” ~ Genesis 28:18-22

Have you noticed that they didn’t refer to God as their God, but as the God of their fathers? God didn’t become their God until they made a covenant with Him. It wasn’t until they were grafted into the blessing. This is how it works for us as well. We are not a part of the blessing or promise until we are grafted in. Until we make that covenant with God for ourselves, He is only the God of our fathers. But once we accept His gift, once we make our covenant, He becomes our God and we become His people. Until this happens, we are only watchers on the outside looking in.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Make Your Covenant.

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Walk In The Light

“⁷But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” ~ 1 John 1:7

During this week we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We honor Him for this Holy week, but do we honor Him the other 51 weeks of the year? We tend to make excuses on why we don’t have to live the way we ought, and when someone tries to correct us we are very quick to shout, “Ye who cast the first stone,” or “only God can judge me.” We love to say Jesus died for our sins, but we never really take it much farther.

This week I encourage you to go beyond just words, I encourage you to take action. I encourage you to hold true to what Jesus came to Earth, died, and rose again for. Don’t be like those who praised Him one day and crucified Him the next. But be like those who praised Him one day and praised Him the next and then praised Him for the rest of their life, even going as far as to praise Him with their lives even to death. Don’t allow this what Jesus did 2,000 years be counted as nothing. Walk in the light, as He is in the light, so that His death and resurrection still means something to us today and isn’t just a meaningless tradition we celebrate once a year.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Walk In The Light.

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Got off Again?

^“¹⁰He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; ¹²as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. ¹³As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” ~ Psalms 103:10-13

Our sins and our iniquities called for swift and just judgment, but praise the LORD for He indeed is good. He does not repay us as our sins deserve or deal with us as our iniquities demand. But in love, and with grace and compassion, wrapped up in a whole lot of patience does He forgive our rebellious ways, because of the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross. Every time we fail or get tripped up, God is not waiting with some big stick to give us a good whack with. But He is watching in hopes to see a true turning away from sin.

Just like we want to give our children good things, He wants to bless His children even more. Don’t be fooled by the religious spirit that tells us that God is like an old ogre just waiting to smite the next sinner. No, He sent His only begotten son to die on Calvary that we don’t have to suffer. Think about the cost of our salvation. How Jesus was beaten beyond recognition. How He suffered shame, and humiliation in our stead. How He hung on the Cross, enduring pain and more insults to buy our pardon. Now, does that sound like someone who hates us, or is trying to get us? No, it does not.

The problem is, we look at things from a temporal viewpoint, but God is seeing eternity and is working all things to the good for an eternal reward. Things that seem important to us now will not even matter in eternity. Remember no eye has seen, no hear has heard, neither can we imagine what God has in store for us in eternity. Let us not second guess God, but endure, and run the race marked out for us. Accept the bad with the good, the reward will be worth it all. Paul said these light afflictions cannot compare with what God had in store for us.

Father open our eyes to see the eternal and help us not to focus on the temporal. Help us not to get bogged down with things that are quickly passing. But rather, LORD, help us keep eternity in perspective that we might see Jesus when come to get Your children. In Jesus name, Amen.

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Healing For All?

⁴⁹And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” ⁵⁰And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. ⁵¹But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. ~ Luke 22:49-51

Is healing for Christians alone? Do you have to be saved to be healed? Do you have to have a personal relationship with Jesus to receive your healing? I believe that anyone can be healed as long as they have faith that they will be healed.

See Jesus saw this soldier who came to arrest him in order to lead him to his death. In order to have him brutally beaten and whipped, yet Jesus still touched his ear and healed him. I believe that healing is for anyone who’s heart is willing. For a willing heart is soft to the things of God and is impressionable for FAITH to find it’s way in.

See, sometimes salvation comes before the healing. But sometimes the healing comes before the salvation. Healing is for anyone who is willing to be healed. But just because you are healed does not mean you will be saved. See salvation will keep you from returning to that disease. Some will say that a disease isn’t a spirit that comes back. The only problem is that a disease is a spirit that comes back. Even science tells us that a disease and a virus need a host in order to survive.

There are spirits that cause diseases, that cause disabilities, that cause pain. How do we know, because Jesus casted out many evil spirits that caused men to be mute, blind, lame, etc. But what good is knowing this? The spirit will return to the house it once was in and if it finds it empty it will fill it again. And that healing is overpowered by that spirit because you are without salvation. Healing is for everyone who is willing to be healed. But healing will turn only to short relief if the house has been swept clean and left empty.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Receive Your Healing and Fill Your House.

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Listen To The Rain

“²⁴And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.” ~ Genesis 7:24

Ever get tired of waiting for a promise to be fulfilled? Of course, you do. We all do. We all pray and pray and pray and wait for an answer that doesn’t seem to come. Imagine how Noah felt when the rain stopped, but the Earth was still completely flooded. There weren’t even mountains that could be seen, only water.

That’s how it is for some of us. God has destroyed everything around us that was evil, that was bringing us down, that was keeping us from Him, and we are currently seeing nothing. We look out expecting to see life and hope, but all we see is the water that took away everything.

Sometimes it feels like it will take forever for the floods to subside, but what we don’t understand is that under all that water is a new and better life. The life God intended for us. Sure some will take longer than others, but it will never come late. For God’s timing is perfect. His will for us is perfect. If we allow God to use us, He will destroy the evil in our lives and build us a new and better replacement for the old. But we have to have patience. We have to continue to try new things, Noah sent out a bird four times before he even considered taking off the covering of the ark to look.

Sometimes we have to focus on what God has for us right now, not outside of our ark. We have to wait for the rain to stop before we can send out a dove to make sure it’s safe to move on/forward. And if you listen really closely, God will tell you when to come out and go forward.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Listen To The Rain.

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Go Before The Throne

“³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” ~ Genesis 4:3-5

Who are we when we bring an offering before the LORD? Are we Cain? Or are we Abel? I guess the easiest way to answer that question is by taking a step back and evaluating our offerings. When we do something for God, that’s an offering. When we do something for others, that’s an offering before God. When we put money in the offering plate that is an offering before God. But how do we do these things? Do we do them with love? Do we do them begrudgingly? Do we do them out of selflessness? Do we bring our very best?

But why? Why does it matter how I bring my offering, at least I brought one. At least I did this for that person. At least I did it. So what is wrong with that? What’s wrong with bringing your second best? What’s wrong with just showing up? Think about it like this, life is a test. Each opportunity is how you study for the test, and each offering is how you take the test. If you don’t study for a test, then chances are you’re gonna fail that test. If you put down an answer that is wrong, then your answer is wrong whether you wrote it down or not. The answer is still marked wrong. Why? Because there is a right answer, just like there is a right way to bring an offering.

Don’t just bring an offering before the LORD, bring your best. Why? Imagine if you constantly help someone no matter what it is, no matter how extreme it is, no matter how impossible it is. But when you ask for something from that person, they begrudgingly do it. They complain the whole time. They act as though it is the biggest inconvenience to them. I don’t know about you, but I would just tell them not to worry about it. Why? Because that is unacceptable. It’s selfish.

God gives us everything we need. He died for us. He got off His throne and became man, yet we can’t bring an offering before Him. We are living in a selfish world, but don’t allow the world we live in to dictate our actions. To dictate who we are, for we are made new. We are no longer a part of this world, but a part of the Kingdom of God. So, therefore, be an Abel, not a Cain. Be a man or woman that brings their best and sets it down before God’s throne.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Bring Your Best.

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Take It By Force

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. ³You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.’” ~ Leviticus 18:1-3

A lot of times as Christians, we expect that when we are brought into our promise, that everything will be perfect and dandy. But that’s not the way things work. We have to continue to fight. We have to realize that with each step we take to get closer to fulfilling our calling, there will be a bigger obstacle in our way. Just because we reach our promised land, it doesn’t mean that we have fulfilled our calling. There is always something more for us to do until we are taken up, whether by death or by rapture, but until then we are to keep going. We are to keep fighting.

Why? Because we are in a real war. We are in an unseen, for the most part, war. We are in the middle of the supernatural, spiritual war. The enemy doesn’t want to see us do the will of God, so with every step, we take closer to God, the Devil throws something harder for us to overcome. We don’t just walk into paradise, and that’s it. We march into paradise as a warrior ready for the battle ahead of us. That’s why Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:12, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”

We can’t expect to be passive and see the Kingdom of Heaven. We have to take it by force. We have to fight for it. Just as God had to tell the Israelites to leave behind the bondage of Egypt and not get into bondage in the new land He promised them, so does He say the same thing to us today. We have to let go of our past and be careful what we allow into our future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take It By Force.

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Fulfill Your Promise

“¹⁵And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, ¹⁸and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.’ ¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.” ~ Genesis 22:15-19

This promise was already promised to Abraham before Isaac was born. A lot of the time we assume that when God promises something to us that we don’t have to do anything to get it. We don’t have do anything to fulfill it, but in actuality, God has promised every one of us something, but only few of us actually see the actual promise fulfilled.

Why? It’s not because God is unwilling to fulfill His promise, but because we are unwilling to give up something. We are holding back something from God. We are placing something above God. If we hold on to other things that separate us from God, we will lose out on our promise. If we put something, even something good, above God, we will lose out on our promise.

For instance, if we are blessed with the gift of music, but we only use this gift to make us famous, or we use it for anything else than to glorify God, we will lose out on our promise. If we have been blessed with athletics, but put sports above spending time with God, we will lose out on our promise.

These things in themselves are not bad, but the way we use them will determine whether we will lose out on our promise or not.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fulfill Your Promise.

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Category: Daily Bread

Talk

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Remember

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