Category: Daily Bread

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Don’t Waste This Birthday

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 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. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:13-15

15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. ~ Matthew 7:15-20

250 years ago, a new country was born. One built on the belief that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness by their Creator. Men and women willingly gave up their status, wealth, homes, and their very lives in order to ensure that the United States of America would be free from the tyranny of the British crown. 250 years later, there are those who try their best to take these rights away from us each and every day, as they pretend to be acting in our best interests.

They say they are for the people, yet do their best to take away the rights of the people. America wasn’t built in one day. It wasn’t just born out of thin air. It was built on the sacrifice of the brave men and women who wanted a better life for themselves, their children, and their children’s children. They were willing to lose everything, as long as it meant they had freedom. Today, we desire the opposite. We’re willing to sacrifice our freedom for the sake of convenience and empty promises.

The world has dramatically changed in the past 250 years. We’ve become comfortable in our privileges and rights. We’ve become spiritually dead because we don’t know what it’s like to not have the freedom of religion. The freedom of assembly. The freedom of speech. So, we’ve become docile to the point of deep slumber. And as we’ve slept, the wolves have descended. They’re wide awake, taking away everything from us. Even the simplest of things such as the right to collect rainwater.

The enemy will continue to run rampant, as long as the Church remains asleep. As long as we refuse to do anything. 250 years ago, our forefathers risked their lives and all that they had; what are we willing to risk to defend our freedoms? To ensure that our children and our children’s children grow up in a better world than we did? Will we get up a little earlier in the morning to pray? Will we spend a little extra time in our Bibles seeking wisdom from God? Will we begin to spiritually invade the enemy’s camp through prayer, fasting, worship, and time with our God?

Today is America’s 250th birthday. It’s a day that we remember, celebrate, and commemorate the birth of this beautiful nation, but let it also be a day of prayer that it might remember its God and renew its dedication to Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Waste This Birthday.

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Seek Out Knowledge

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. ~ Hosea 4:6

3 [Jesus] answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” ~ Matthew 15:3

The more negative comments we receive on our website, the more I realize that the source of these comments is from a place of ignorance. One of the biggest problems in the Church is one that plagued ancient Israel as well, the lack of knowledge. We go based on human tradition instead of the Word of God. Instead of studying the Word of God to show ourselves approved, we ignore Bible verses and stories because they contradict what our tradition says. It contradicts our preconceived notions.

God looked out over His people and said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” I don’t think today is any different. Actually, I think it’s worse. The Bible is accessible in paper and digital form. It is translated into hundreds of languages. There’s really no excuse why we should remain willfully ignorant about the things of God.

So, what’s holding us back? Is it spiritual laziness? Pride, because we don’t want to be wrong? What’s keeping us from growing in the faith? The book of Hebrews chastises the Hebrew people by saying, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food” (Hebrews 5:12). The Hebrew people had been separated and made special because of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God made Himself known to them. Gave them promises. Gave them revelation and prophecy that He didn’t give to others, yet when the Messiah came, they missed Him. When the Holy Spirit came, they didn’t grow.

The Church has been given so much opportunity to grow. We’ve had revival after revival, yet we drop the ball and remain on milk. We rarely ever make it to solid food. To meat. Why? Ask yourself, what’s holding you back? What’s keeping you from growing in the faith?

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James 1:5

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek Out Knowledge.

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For I Know Whom I Have Believed

12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. ~ 2 Timothy 1:12

This is the second letter that Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy, probably while he was in prison in Rome awaiting execution by Emperor Nero. In his letter, Paul acknowledges his suffering and hardships, such as the prison chains he was bound with at the time. But that was not his focus. Amid all the suffering and persecution, and the realization of certain martyrdom for him, he wanted to write words of encouragement and instruction to Timothy, a young pastor of the flock there in Ephesus. Still, even more importantly, Paul focused on the greatness of God the Father who, through grace, gave us Jesus.

Paul then reminded Timothy of all that Jesus has done for us by abolishing death and giving us eternal life through belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of which he said he was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. Then he wrote these amazing words: “for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

Paul doesn’t say “whom I have believed in,” but rather, “I know whom I have believed…” That shows a personal relationship. It’s not someone he has heard about, or heard someone else describing, but those words suggest that he had a personal relationship with Jesus, his LORD and Savior. He knew Him intimately, and did not need someone else to help him believe. Paul was completely and totally convinced that Jesus was more than able to do what He had promised to do: raise him from the dead on the last day and give him a crown of righteousness along with eternal, immortal life. He placed all that he had suffered at the hands of the Jews and at the hands of the Gentiles—his imprisonment, the beatings, the stoning, his ministry, his very life that had been poured out for the sake of the Gospel—he placed all of that in the hands of Jesus knowing fully well that he would receive a just reward that was not even worth comparing to all that he had suffered and gone through.

…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.

Are we that confident in who Jesus is and His trustworthiness to keep all that we have committed unto Him until that Great Day of Judgment? Can we truly say, “I will not try to get even or bring judgment on someone else for what they have done to me, but will leave all things, all judgment to God who will recompense on the great and eternal day.”

Father, thank You for who You are, and for sending Jesus Christ Your Son who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross that brought us salvation. Thank You, LORD Jesus, for coming and abolishing death and giving us life and immortality. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

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Beware The Hooks

27 Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared? ~ Proverbs 6:27-28

In an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, SpongeBob and Patrick were playing with fishing hooks, even though SpongeBob said that Mr. Krabs had told him not to play with hooks or even be around them. With the influence of Patrick, the pair would ride the hooks almost to the surface before they jumped off and floated gently back down to Bikini Bottom. It seemed innocent enough to them—they were having fun. They did not realize that the hooks were attached to fishing lines, which were attached to fishing poles, which were in the hands of fishermen in a boat.

When Mr. Krabs arrived and found them playing on the fishing hooks, he scolded them and explained that if they were caught by the hooks, they would be put into a can of tuna and mixed with mayonnaise, which completely freaked the two out. He told them that the hooks look fun and harmless, but they lead to destruction.

We are sometimes just like those two simple sea creatures, SpongeBob and Patrick, not seeing the dangers of sin. Jesus, through His Word, has warned us not to play with sin, just like Mr. Krabs warned SpongeBob. Sin is deceitful and will suck you in even before you know what is going on. And when sin is finished, it brings forth death. In the words of Mr. Krabs, “Worse! You end up vacuum-packed in a can of tuna, with nothing to look forward to but the smell of mayonnaise.”

For us, if we continue in sin, we have nothing to look forward to but the dreadful expectation of judgment and an eternity of punishment and torment in a lake of fire. Christ died that whosoever believes in Him, and will live for Him, will never perish, but have eternal life. So, be careful of the hooks, and watch out for the enemy’s lure and bait. Heavenly Father, I ask you to watch over me and to protect me. Help me see the enemy’s plans, tricks, and gimmicks. But help us to live for You that we will hear, “Well done, My good and faithful servant, now enter into the joy of your LORD.” In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

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Watch How You Fill Yourself

43 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. ~ Luke 6:43-45

I saw a short of a woman walking through a store with a shopping cart, recording how all the shelves were locked, with products requiring worker assistance to access them. What caught my attention, and everyone else watching, was that the woman said, “How are you supposed to shop …?” except she stuttered on shop and almost said steal instead. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Things that come out of our mouth don’t just come out of nowhere; they come out of the abundance in our heart.

The abundance of our heart, we can try to hide and keep secret from others, but sooner or later, our own lips will tell on us. Our subconscious will speak what our conscious tries to keep hidden. The abundance of your heart is the desires you give into. The things you think about. The actions and decisions you make. The things you condone verbally and in your heart. These are things that define you. The things that define you are the things that fill your heart. They are your fruit, and that is how you are known by both man and God.

We all have skeletons in our closet, but they don’t have to be the abundance within us. We bring ourselves before the LORD daily and have Him search us. Have Him show us what needs to be removed so that we might replace the darkness with light. So that our abundance might be light and our subconscious might speak good and not evil.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch How You Fill Yourself.

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Cast The First Stone

38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. ~ Luke 6:38

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” ~ Matthew 25:31-46

I watched a short of a guy who dumpster-dives behind large companies like GameStop, Goodwill, Lowe’s, Burlington Coat Factory, etc. In the video, he showed the dumpster outside of Bath and Body Works. There were two large garbage bags full of unsold soaps, lotions, candles, etc., but when he opened the bags, he found that every single soap and lotion had been emptied out into the bags, and the candles were all destroyed. Instead of Bath and Body Works donating the unsold items or even just leaving them in the bags and not destroying them, they made sure no one could use them. There are homeless shelters, women’s shelters, and other non-profits that could have put those items to good use.

Bath and Body Works is a multi-billion-dollar company. If you go on their website and look at their “Values” page, the first thing you see is the statement “Because doing the right thing is our thing,” yet they destroy perfectly good products that didn’t sell instead of donating them to those in need. If you keep reading, you’ll see the statements “Be Generous” and “Be Accountable,” yet they don’t care about those in need in their own communities.

It’s easy to make all of these statements online, but it’s much harder to put them into practice when Mammon is your god. See, Mammon is just money-hungry, obsessed greed. The kind of greed that would rather throw away than let someone else benefit from it. The kind of greed that doesn’t care about those in need. We, as Christians, are called to not overlook those in need in our communities. We’re to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and help the needy.

We don’t have to go without in order to give, because the LORD promised to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. So, when you see someone in need, don’t be like these big corporations that only talk the talk but don’t actually walk the walk. Give a dollar to the beggar on the street, or better yet, offer to buy them a hot meal. Donate something you no longer use to a non-profit that helps your community, or a few spare dollars. Be Christ to the world, and maybe with these small little actions we can see an extreme change just like Christ saw. Just like the early Church saw.

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.

Mother Theresa

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cast The First Stone.

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Fight The Cravings

Numbers 11:4-6 ESV

[4] Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. [6] But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

Whenever we read about the Israelites leaving Egypt and going into the wilderness, we often judge them. We look at them without sympathy, not realizing that we, the Church, are very similar to them, almost no different at all. Today, we aren’t being delivered from physical slavery, but spiritual slavery, and yet even after freedom, we willingly return to slavery because it’s easier.

Here’s what I mean. This life is hard. There are obstacles, hills, valleys, enemies, and once you follow Christ, you have your flesh against you as well. No longer do you have the meats, spices, fish, herbs, and other cravings you did while in slavery. Instead, now you have to fight those cravings. You have to go through a time of detox as the desires try to overtake you. It’s difficult. The length of the detox from these things you previously indulged in is uncertain. It feels like it’ll never end. Like you will never have peace or satisfaction again.

So, many of us return to slavery. We return to a life that leads to death as long as our flesh is satisfied. We, the Church today, are no different than the Israelites after leaving Egypt. Only 2 from that generation made it into the Promised Land, and our generation of the Church is prophesied to be spit out of the mouth of Christ. Those are discouraging odds, unless we decide to make a change today. Unless we decide to give up our cravings for the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. It isn’t easy, but the cravings of the world will die and no longer have its grip on you like it once did. How? By crucifying your flesh daily. By building your Spirit-Man through prayer, fasting, worship, and reading your Bible. And when the Good LORD returns for His people, you will enter a Promised Land like never before.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fight The Cravings.

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Pray For Their Deliverance

23 One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. ~ Proverbs 29:23

The more you post online, the more trolls you will attract. Why? Because whenever you begin to succeed in something (regardless of what it is), the enemy tries to attack you and tear you down. The enemy doesn’t want you to succeed in anything. He came to steal, kill, and destroy. That is his nature. So, he uses people around you or even complete strangers in order to try to stop you from moving forward and growing. Today, I was hit with two insulting and rude comments. I usually ignore them and go about my day, but recently I decided that ignoring is just enabling, so I started calling out bad behavior.

One responded out of anger and was so full of hatred that it was actually blatant that he didn’t just hate me, but hated God as well. The other responded as if they were trying to help, be encouraging, and support us, while throwing in more and more subtle insults as they shifted the blame. The more they commented, the more I recognized the real issue: they’re a narcissist who hates to be corrected. These are the kind that are the most dangerous.

They will insult you and then pretend it’s all jokes. If you correct them, they will not only lash out but also blame you all while playing the victim. So, what are we to do? Correct and place them before, but always be careful to correct in love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray For Their Deliverance.

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Act To Set

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ~ James 2:14-17

I was recently rewatching one of my favorite childhood shows, and one of the episodes reminded me a lot of the Church. There was a certain town that followed an older woman who would tell them their future. Because she told them the town wouldn’t be destroyed by the volcano, they ignored the outsiders who told them that the volcano was going to erupt, and if they did nothing, the town would be destroyed. The outsiders had to go to great lengths to get the fortune teller to change her prediction in order to get the townspeople to react and prepare for the volcano to erupt. When the town was saved, they said, “Well, her prediction came true. The town wasn’t destroyed.” They completely ignored the fact that they had to do something in order for that prediction to come to pass. The Church today is much like that town and its people.

God has given us promises. Many promises. Victory over the enemy. Answered prayers. Healing of all sickness and disease. Prosperity. Blessings. Redemption. But more times than not, we don’t want to do our part. We don’t want to fight the battle, run the race, or climb the mountain. We just expect these promises to come to pass without any work on our part. But that isn’t how God works. We have to put in the time and effort. We have to run the race set before us with endurance. It’s not enough to just claim promises. We have to set them into motion by our actions.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Act To Set.

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Seek To Find Truth

Hebrews 13:8-9a

[8] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. [9] Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings …

I read a comment on a video where someone said that their Christian pastor explained one Sunday that everyone’s trying to reach God, but we all have different ways of getting to Him. I always think it’s weird when someone says their “Christian pastor said x, y, and z” as an excuse for something. Though pastors are necessary for the building of the Church, they are not the final say for God’s Word. God’s Word is the final say for God’s Word.

Jesus said:

[6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

He also said:

[1]  Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. (John 10:1)

Jesus didn’t say, “there are many ways.” No, He said He is the only way. He didn’t say “some come through me.” He said, there is no other way to God the Father than through me. We cannot override Christ, no matter our opinion or position. And those who don’t follow this teaching of Jesus, but teach a different Gospel, is a thief and a robber. They aren’t Christian pastors, but liars who rob and thieve.

We can try to twist Scripture, take it out of context, and manipulate it to what we want it to be, but at the end of the day, we cannot change it. The Truth will remain the same. And those who desire Truth, will seek it and find it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek To Find Truth.

 

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