Daily Bread Archives

July 3, 2020July 3, 2020

Check Your Desires

“¹What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? ²You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” ~ James 4:1-4

This begins by addressing that our passions and our desires are at war within us because we want what the world is offering, yet still want what God is offering. Then when our desires feel overwhelming, we put God to the side and go after our desires. We do anything to achieve the desires of our heart when in reality God will give you the desires of your heart if you ask correctly.

We have this idea that God will change His law to appease our desires, but that is not the case. We want worldly things to satisfy our flesh. It’s like you’re thirsty and instead of asking for water we ask for poison. God is saying that we are wasting our prayers and our time on worldly things that will not last. We ask for things out of envy and jealousy, we must have what they have, just better. God is saying that’s silly, we should be proud and happy for them. Every day our flesh and Spirit are in conflict, they’re at war, but we must crucify our Flesh every day. Genesis 4:7 tells us, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

We have to separate ourselves from the world so that our desires will not be of the world. So that our desires will be of God. So that our desires will follow God’s plan. Yes, we are supposed to go out into the world and witness and make disciples, but we aren’t supposed to become a part of the world. Why? Because we are the salt of the Earth, and what good is salt if it loses its saltiness? Jesus said in John 15:19, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” We aren’t of the world because we were chosen out of the world, we can’t act as the world acts. We have to check our desires so that our desires don’t lead us astray, but instead, lead us closer to God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Check Your Desires.

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Be Like Ishmael

“Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,” ~ Genesis 25:9

Even though Ishmael and Hagar were sent away, Ishmael came and buried his father with his brother. Even though he was sent away by his father’s wife with his father’s permission, he didn’t allow that to stop him from burying his father. He didn’t allow that to stop him from multiplying and becoming great as his blessing promised. He didn’t allow anything to stop him. Imagine if we had that mindset. Imagine if we forgave and moved on. What would The Church be capable of?

We hold on to the past too much. We allow the past to keep us held up. We allow the past to keep us from our future. Ishmael was sent away by his own father, yet he came back, and he honored his father. He fulfilled his destiny. He did not let hurt and pain hold him back, but instead, he forgave. He let go. He moved forward. He overcame.

If we overcame as Ishmael did, we would see the glory of God in our day as in the day of Jesus. It was promised to us, but how long will it take us to attain this promise? We must break the strongholds of hurt, pain, suffering, anger, rejection, etc. if we ever want to move forward. We must break the strongholds of depression, pessimism, distrust, etc. if we ever want to attain the promise.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Like Ishmael.

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Are You Faithful?

“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” ~ 1 John 2:17

Ever notice how it is never ‘whoever loves God will abide with Him forever’? It’s always whoever does the will of God. We always say we love God and we put God first, but we don’t follow all of His commandments. We make exceptions and excuses for those we love, we make exceptions and excuses for those we admire, and we make exceptions and excuses for ourselves.

We play the “God loves everyone” card. We play the “judge lest you be judged” card. We play the “I go to church” card. We play the “I love God” card. But what does that matter? What does any of that matter, if you aren’t obeying His commands? Jesus said in John 14:15 “if you love me you will keep my commands.” Do we do that? How can we truly love Jesus when we constantly cheat on Him with sin? If this is like a marriage, would you stand for your spouse, or spouse-to-be, constantly cheating on you with another person? What if every time they do it, they remind you that they love you? What if they say, “it’s no big deal because you’re an understanding and loving person”?

If you wouldn’t stand for it, why do you think God would? Because you have spiritually fallen asleep. Now your flesh has taken over, and sin wants to control you, so together they help your brain rationalize why the things that God calls sin isn’t actually sin. They paint a negative picture of God in your head. They make Him out to be the too strict parent that doesn’t want their child to have any fun or enjoy life. They paint Him as a buzz kill. Or they paint Him as an overlooking, non-spanking, God loves everyone, everything goes kind of parent. God loves us, that’s indisputable, and He wants us to love Him. But God wants us to love Him and show Him we love Him by staying faithful to His Son, Jesus.

That means giving up each and every sin that you have. That means giving up alcohol. That means giving up drugs. That means giving up cigarettes. That means giving up pre-marital sex. That means giving up each and every idol you worship. That means reading your bible every day. That means praying every day. That means worshiping every day. That means having quiet time every day. That means putting God first, above everything, even yourself. Don’t allow the things of this world to keep you from reuniting with Jesus Christ.

The things of this world will pass away. Even the Earth itself will pass away. Don’t allow the temporary temptations of a temporary world keep you from the everlasting love of Jesus Christ, His Father, and The Holy Spirit. Choose today whom you shall serve, for tomorrow, is promised to no man.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be FAITHFUL.

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Abraham’s Faith

“¹After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ ²He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ ³So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” ~ Genesis 22:1-3

The first thing I noticed was that it didn’t seem like Abraham told Sarah anything about this. He didn’t tell anyone. He heard from God and just automatically stepped out on the branch in faith. He didn’t tell all these people so that they could talk him out of doing what God told him to do. He just did it, no questions, no second-guessing, he just stepped out in faith and did as he was told.

How many of us hear from God, know it’s what we need to do, but talk too much? We talk to others and ask their opinions, and soon their opinions seem better than God’s, so we let them talk us right out of it. We take advice from everyone else, except God. The one who created Heaven and Earth. The one who created each and every one of us. The one who wants what’s best for us. The one who knows what’s best for us. Yet we still listen to man, over God.

We don’t fulfill what He wants from us, which doesn’t hurt Him. It hurts us. How many Christians refuse to sacrifice their jobs so that God can give us a better, more stable one? How many Christians refuse to give up their time so that God can give us more efficient time? Imagine how strong the church would be if we all just did as God tells us instead of talking amongst ourselves bringing doubt. We would be unstoppable. We would be exactly where God wanted us. We would be exactly who God planned us to be.

Peace. Love. Go forth and Have Faith.

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The Household Is Blessed Together

“³¹When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, ‘Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.’ ³³She conceived again and bore a son, and said, ‘Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. ³⁴Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore his name was called Levi. ³⁵And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.” ~ Genesis 29:31-35

Isn’t the LORD good? Leah was not a part of Jacob’s plan, but God still honored their marriage and tried to help her be loved as Rachel was loved. Even though we may have unexpected people join our families, we don’t have to wonder if they will share in the blessing because the blessing is for the whole household and God will honor that, whether it was His will or not. He turns what the Devil did for evil to good. Romans 8:28 says, “²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Jacob worked 14 years for Rachel. Rachel was the one Jacob loved, but because Leah was the one that Jacob married first. Leah was the one that he made the original covenant with, and God was faithful to that covenant. Though Jacob was tricked into that relationship, God still honored that covenant and the promise came through Leah’s son, Judah. Even though she wasn’t a part of the plan, God wrote her into the plan. God honors His covenants. Households shall be blessed together, for they are under one covenant together. They are blessed together.

Peace. Love. Go forth and Be Blessed Together.

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The Potter

“⁴And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. ⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘⁶ O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.'” ~ Jeremiah 18:4-6

Even though we’re broken, even though we’re flawed, even though we have pieces missing God still looks at us and says, “I can fix that, don’t worry.” No matter how destroyed and broken we are our God can fix us. He takes the time to heal wounds and mend broken hearts if we would just allow Him to. But why?

Why would the God of this entire world want to take the time to fix me? Want to take the time to mend me? Because we are His greatest masterpiece. As the potter refuses to throw away any of His work, so does God. As the potter loved his creation, so God loves His creation. If only there were words to describe Him and His entirety. All I can say is, He is good and He loves you.

So don’t allow how cracked, bruised, broken, or messed up you feel, our Heavenly Father still loves you and waiting for you to come home, so that He can heal you and fix all your brokenness. When God is done, you will be a brand new creation in Christ Jesus. The old has passed away and the new has come.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let The Potter Remake You.

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The Power of Fear

¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” ~ Genesis 18:10-15

When we’re afraid, and we feel cornered, because we know we’re in trouble, we lie. We lie even when we know that there is no way out. Even when we know the person who is correcting us knows the truth. Why do we do this? It’s one of the silliest things we can do as humans. Even now as you’re reading this, some may say “I’ve never done that.” But the truth of the matter is we have all done this especially as a child when our parents found out we did something wrong and we knew that belt was coming. But we do this even after the stage of getting spanked. Honestly, we want to be perfect. We don’t want to accept our wrongs, our mistakes because we want to be seen as a better person than we are. We would rather wear a mask than accept we’ve messed up. We don’t want anyone to know we’ve messed up because we want to be able to continue correcting and giving input on others’ lives.

We think, “Oh if they knew what I’ve done they would never listen to me.” But if for once you just accepted your wrongs and tried to fix them, imagine the change the church would see. Imagine if we all took off our masks, accepted we’ve sinned, and worked towards changing it. Imagine if we helped each other without judgment, without looking down on each other. The church would be so spiritually strong and so united that nothing would be able to shake us. Nothing would be able to push us down because now our foundation has been fixed and we’ve patched every hole. Now we are one church. Now we are one bride awaiting our bridegroom.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Break Down The Power of Fear.

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Step Out

¹⁹Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” ²¹He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

³⁰Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of all the earth. ³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³³So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. ~ Genesis 19:19-22, 30-38

Lot asked for safety from the angels, and they granted it to him, yet he was still afraid. He was so afraid he took matters into his own hands and didn’t stay in the tiny city where the angels told him he would be safe but instead went into the hills. How many times have we as Christians asked for something from God, whether it be safety, finances, health, etc. and He says, “let it be done as you have asked,” but that not be enough?

I wonder what would happen if we stopped trying to make the limb stronger and instead, just walk out on the limb and trust God will keep his promises. Why is it so hard? We can trust man, we can trust ourselves, but we can’t trust the God that created the Heavens and The Earth. The God that knew you before you were even a thought in your parents’ mind. The God that wrote out an entire plan for your life, including every backup plan necessary in case you make a wrong turn or get lost. Why is it so hard to trust God? In one word, FEAR.

Fear is one of those things that, if you let it, it will consume you. It gets in your head, and you don’t notice it’s there until it’s too late and it’s barricaded itself inside your mind. It set the knob on the door to electrocute you if you try to get to where it stays. It has vicious guard dogs so that you can’t get in. Fear gets on that megaphone and shouts louder than God, “don’t do it you could fail,” “maybe you should go this way just in case.” Fear may have all of those barricades, but it has nothing to defend itself against God. If we would just pray, trust God, and then step out onto to branch onto that limb that doesn’t look like it’ll hold you, then every one of fears defenses begins to break down until it’s just you, him and God. And you say “Daddy, that’s who’s been tormenting me” and God kicks him out. It’s that easy, walk out in faith and you will overcome. Imagine the amount of struggle the Israelites might not have had to go through if Lot had just stepped out onto that limb with faith. Don’t live in fear. Don’t build up more enemies for you and your family to have to fight against because it never just affects you; it affects everyone around you.

Peace. Love. Go forth and Step out.

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What Your Name Be?

“Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,” ~ Acts 4:36

Imagine if your friends renamed you by your character what would be? Which of the seven dwarfs would they call you? This man had to be quite encouraging and uplifting for the apostles to rename him, Son of Encouragement. What’d your name be?

Would you be called, Son of Encouragement, or would you be, Lustful Lucy? Dangerous Dan? Angry Aaron? How do your everyday actions define who you are? Do you strive to be more than just another complainer? Just another liar? Just another Debby Downer? Or do you strive to be an encourager? Do you strive to bless? Do you strive to uplift? Do you strive to be a comforter? Do you strive to be a peacemaker?

We have to learn to reprogram our way of thinking. Why? Because that is the only way we can fulfill what Paul tells us to do in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We must display good fruit, so that others may see who we are and give glory to our Father in Heaven. And the only way to do that is by reprogramming our thoughts, for our thoughts control the rest of our body. Whatever we think, is what we become. As we live our day to day lives, I pray we all develop the fruits of the spirit so that when people look at us, there would only be good fruit to name us after.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Determine Your Name.

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Just Listen

It amazes me that Jonah fled and disobeyed God, yet did not feel he would be punished. But instead, he wanted the people of Nineveh to perish, he wanted them to be punished but not him. He then goes on to say he is so angry that he would rather die than live because he didn’t see an entire race, an entire nation of people, perish. Then when he is uncomfortable because God took away the plant, he would rather die than live.

So, he is mad God killed the plant but mad he wouldn’t kill the entire city of people. Souls… He would rather them go out into eternity unready than to have another chance? If these are the people, God chooses it makes me feel like okay maybe I can be saved. It shows me that God is truly a God of mercy, patience, love, and forgiveness; not a God of anger, vengeance, and hate as the world tries to make Him out to be.

If God is a violent, malicious God as the world tries to say He is, why didn’t He just destroy both Nineveh and Jonah? Why give Nineveh a chance to repent? Why allow Jonah to live even though he wished to die because of silly reasons? God shows His true colors and simply brings Jonah back to reality. He doesn’t get angry and strike Jonah down for his foolishness, but calmly says,

“¹⁰You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Even with the tantrum that Jonah just pulled, God says listen to me, son, listen. Don’t you see how you pity that plant, how you want that plant? Though you didn’t work for it. You didn’t make it grow. You have no connection to it, yet, you love it. Yet you want to see it grow because it means something to you. Don’t you think I want to see the men and women I created grow? The men and women I labored for. The men and women I took the time to design and form. The men and women I knew before they were even born. Don’t you think I want them to survive the way you want that plant to survive? Don’t you think I want to teach my children who don’t know their left from their right, who don’t know wrong from good, to have a second chance? Of course, I do.

And that same merciful, loving, patient God that gently handled Jonah, still gently handles us. He still takes the time to explain to us. He doesn’t get upset and angry with us. He doesn’t strike us down and condemn us to Hell. But instead He explains why He does things, we just have to listen. We have to stop throwing a fit about everyone else. Everyone who we believe are worse than us. Who we believe deserve to suffer and instead we need to look in the mirror. We need to look at who we are. Who we’ve become while we’ve been looking at the rest of the world. While we’ve been looking at everyone else, who have, we become. Have we become entitled, self-righteous, hypocrites?

But the great thing about God is that no matter how far we’ve strayed. No matter how ridiculous and hypocritical we have become, He still takes the time to wake us up. He takes the time to bring us back to reality. He takes the time to show us His love. His patience. So take the time today to listen to what God has to say. What are we whining about that God wants to explain? What are we doing wrong, that we don’t see?

Peace. Love. Go forth and Just Listen.

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Category: Daily Bread

Check Your Desires

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