Category: Daily Bread

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Wake Up This Sleeping Giant

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

I watch a lot of debates between Christians, Muslims, Atheists, etc., and a well-known Christian apologist’s wife explains how Muslim’s will try to trap Christians into a very weird argument by twisting very simple words. One example is that they will ask ‘is Jesus fully God?’ most Christians will answer yes. Muslims will then respond with ‘which part or what percentage of God is Jesus? And what part or percentage of God is the Father? How fully God is He?’

Now, they know that doesn’t make sense, but it will trip up and catch most Christians off guard because it’s such a strange argument. So, what do we do? The Christian apologist instead answers that Jesus is truly God, rather than fully God, to avoid the foolish twisting of words. We have to prepare ourselves by studying our Scriptures and the tactics of our enemies. We have to know our Scriptures better than they do. Why? Because the enemy is notorious for twisting, misquoting, reinterpreting verses, words, and arguments in order to tear down our faith. Why? Because our faith is under attack.

We’re no longer preparing for and/or engaging in spiritual warfare. The enemy is at war with us, but only a few of us are at war with him. We’ve become a sleeping giant. The world is at war with us, but we aren’t taking it seriously. It’s about time the Church wakes up and joins this spiritual war currently consuming us. Currently leading our children away. If we would only wake up, we could change the world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Wake Up This Sleeping Giant.

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Remember The Foretaste

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” ~ Revelation 21:1-7

One of my favorite hymns is Blessed Assurance. I think the author really hits the nail on the head when she says:

Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine

Jesus is ours, and we are His. This relationship we have with our Savior is just a foretaste of eternity with Him. The love, joy, peace, etc. we have and enjoy here in this life are nothing compared to eternity with Christ. It’s just a taste of what’s to come. A taste of the promise.

To me, that’s encouraging. Those moments in worship when you feel His presence and the Holy Spirit fills you are just a little taste of what it will be like in eternity when we are on the New Earth and the LORD Jesus Himself will physically live with us. And in that day He will wipe away every tear, and all will be made new.

Encourage yourself with these things. Encourage others with these things. All of the pain and suffering in this world cannot compare to those moments, let alone all of eternity.

9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love Him”—

1 Corinthians 2:9

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remember The Foretaste.

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Stop Trying To Muzzle

4 You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain. ~ Deuteronomy 25:4

I recently heard a man say, “If Paul was a fisherman, Peter was a tentmaker, and Jesus was a carpenter. Please, tell us why your preacher doesn’t have a real job.” Now, he did correct the mistake that Paul and Peter should be flipped, so that’s beside the point. It’s the fact that it’s just not true. See, he said it very much like it was a mic-drop moment. Like he had just wrecked Christian pastors. Here’s the problem with that: they didn’t do those things alongside preaching and teaching the Gospel. That’s why Paul said that this Law was written not for the ox, but for us. For those who preach and teach the Gospel.

9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

1 Corinthians 9:9-11

Peter, James, John, and Andrew were all fishermen prior to taking up their roles as teachers, preachers, and apostles. They put that aside. That’s why Jesus said the well-known phrase, I will make you fishers of men. They were no longer fishermen by trade. Even after the death and resurrection of Christ, Peter said that he didn’t have time to handle disputes and such because it was more important for him to be devoted to prayer. So, they set others up in places of authority to deal with those things.

Peter wasn’t out fishing for money. Peter was spending his time praying and getting souls saved. Paul was a tentmaker in only one area because he didn’t accept offerings from them. But he did receive them from places like Thessalonica and Philippi. It was because he didn’t want the risk of their misunderstanding of Scripture to keep them from hearing the Gospel, which he explains to the Corinthian Church in that same chapter. In fact, Paul makes it sound as though they were fine with Cephas and the other apostles receiving money but not Paul and Barnabas, but that’s beside the point as well.

Paul says throughout this chapter that if you are preaching the Gospel, then you should make your living from the Gospel, just as every other person makes their living from their job. So, this man’s point in the video I saw wasn’t actually an argument at all. Just as Peter couldn’t devote himself to prayer and teaching in the way he needed to in order to properly share the Gospel with others, so are pastors unable to have a full-blown other job or real job, as he called it in the video, as well as lead a congregation and feed the sheep. This idea that pastors need to have ‘real’ jobs isn’t a biblical one, because according to Scripture there’s no other job that is more important than getting souls saved and building the Kingdom of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop Trying To Muzzle The Ox.

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Form The Tornado

20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ~ 1 Corinthians 4:20

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 20 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ~ John 17:11, 20-23

Have you ever watched a tornado form? The tornado doesn’t just come down in one solid wind, wreaking havoc on anything in its path, but instead, two distinct winds (one above and one on the earth) come together and form one powerhouse. One tornado. This is how the Church should be. We should come together as one tornado. One force of nature, ready to spiritually tear down anything in its path.

Paul says that the Kingdom of God isn’t about talk, but instead, power. Nowadays, power in the Church is frowned upon. Success in the Church is judged. No longer are we coming together as one body in Christ Jesus to tear down strongholds and break down spiritual blockages in our way. Instead of coming together as one, we fight one another. Jesus said they would know we are Christians by our love for one another. Instead of loving one another. Instead of encouraging one another. Instead of building one another up. Instead of becoming one with one another, we tear each other down. We capitalize on each other’s flaws and failures. We do whatever it takes to tear down our fellow Christian. That isn’t our call.

Yes, our call is to expose darkness. Yes, our call is to separate ourselves from the world. But our call is also to come together as one Church and build the Kingdom of God. We are to preach the Gospel, teach and disciple, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, tear down strongholds, and break down spiritual blockages in our paths. We are to become one with each other. Different winds coming together to form one unstoppable force. That is how the Church should be.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Form The Tornado.

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Do The Most Important Work

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28:16-20

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ~ John 3:16-19

I watched a reel the other day of a woman saying that the least important thing for a Christian to do is evangelize. That’s the very last thing that should be on a Christian’s to-do list. Why? Because there’re so many other things that are far more important for a Christian to do. She said that church is a place where we need to take care of our neighbors, not a place obsessed with conversion. According to her, that is the work Jesus called us to do. There’s a reason why Jesus says that the last Church will be spat out of his mouth because of their lukewarmness.

There is nothing more important than someone’s eternity. Lazarus was starving to death, but when he and the rich man both died, it was Lazarus who found comfort in the afterlife, not the rich man. The rich man, though he had everything he could possibly need or want on this earth, still went to a place of torment. Why? Because having everything on this earth is meaningless if the end isn’t torment and torture.

How did this woman defend her case? By simply saying that she is a pastor’s wife. She tried to speak from a place of authority rather than showing in Scripture where she could defend her point. Why? Because she couldn’t. Scripture is very clear. Jesus Himself is very clear. He came for one reason and one reason alone. It wasn’t to feed the hungry or give water to the thirsty; it was to get souls saved. It was to redeem mankind. What good is feeding someone if you neglect spiritually feeding them?

There is nothing more important than one’s eternal soul. Nothing. Yes, taking care of our neighbors is important, but unless we are saving souls in the process, it’s pointless. Unless saving souls isn’t the end goal, then your actions are pointless. What good is it to feed someone in this life, but rob them of food in the next? They might die full, but at the end of the day they still have to stand before the Throne of God, and He isn’t looking for whether or not they were fed, but whether or not they know Him. Charity is important, but nothing is more important than evangelizing and getting souls saved.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do The Most Important Work.

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Know Your Own Destiny

1 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. 3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” ~ 1 Samuel 24:6

1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:6

Just because you can do something and it wouldn’t technically be wrong to do so doesn’t make it right for you to do it. Just because something would be good doesn’t make it right. God has called each and every one of us to do a specific job. To fulfill a specific call. We’re the body of Christ made up of different members. Some are feet, some are hands, some are arms. We aren’t all created to do the same exact job. That’s what makes us all so special.

Taking out King Saul and David taking his rightful place as King of Israel would have been good, but not right. It wasn’t his place to do so. We each have a plan for our lives. The enemy doesn’t always get us to do something blatantly wrong, but something good that isn’t right for us to do.

Don’t get caught up in trying to do everything. In trying to be every member of the Body. Just because something is good doesn’t mean it’s right. In the words of one of my favorite childhood characters:

Zuko: … I know my own destiny. Taking you down is the Avatar’s destiny.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know Your Own Destiny.

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Go In The Confidence of The LORD

1 Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire 2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. 3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. 5 David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. 7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” 9 So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor. ~ 1 Samuel 30:1-10

One of my favorite TV shows of all time is Avatar: The Last Airbender. Each character has a unique and deep storyline that involves some form of growth. One of my favorite episodes is when Zuko and Sokka go to find Sokka’s father in a Fire Nation prison. Sokka feels like giving up because he can’t find his father, and if he stays, he’s risking everyone’s (him, Zuko, Suki) safety and freedom for something that may not happen (finding his father).

In hopes of encouraging Sokka to not give up, Zuko tells him this:

Zuko: Look, you’re going to fail a lot before things work out…
Sokka: This is supposed to make me feel better?!?!
Zuko: Even though you’ll probably fail over and over again…
Sokka: Seriously, you’re not helping!
Zuko: You have to try every time. You can’t quit because you’re afraid you might fail.

In the end, Sokka decides to stay, free his father from the Fire Nation prison, and lead everyone to freedom. If he had left, he would never have been reunited with his father or freed him. It looked impossible. It was dangerous, but in the end, it was worth it. Our lives are much like this.

We are each called to do things that scare us. Things that we can’t ignore. Things that we can’t just let go. Usually, these things are to take us to the next level. They’re to get back something that the enemy has taken from us. So, go in the confidence of the LORD. Sokka had his friends to help him, but you have the LORD God Almighty. You have the Great I Am.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Go In The Confidence of The LORD.

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Put Your god On Trial

5 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” 6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” 7 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” 8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” ~ 1 Kings 22:5-8

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. ~ Proverbs 12:15

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ~ 2 Timothy 4:3-4

I was recently reading the comments on a Christian video attempting to explain the Stone Age. There was one atheist in the comment section commenting and calling all these Christians dumb. What I found interesting was that if the Christian gave him evidence he couldn’t refute, he didn’t respond to the comment. He’d only attack, degrade, and argue with someone that he believed knew less than him. He never engaged with anyone bringing facts into the conversation that has now shifted to the possibility of a worldwide flood.

This is the tactic many non-believers use. They’ll go for Christians that they don’t think know as much as they do, and they’ll attack them. They’ll debate, argue, and engage with them so that they can show others, “Look, look. Look how dumb this religion is. Look how dumb its followers are. They don’t know anything and can’t even defend their own beliefs.” All while actively ignoring the one who can defend. The one who knows more than they do.

When you avoid someone because you know they’ll prove you wrong, and only go for the weak, it is intellectual cowardice. Deep down you know you’re wrong. Deep down you know that you cannot defend these beliefs against actual facts and evidence. So, you have to protect it. You have to beat down the weak to make yourself feel strong in your beliefs and stance.

This way leads to death. This way leads to destruction because your beliefs, opinions, and ideologies have become your god. It’s something you have to protect and keep safe at all times because it defines you. It’s the god you made with your own hands. With your own mind. So, you can’t let it go. You can’t let it be destroyed by Truth. So, you avoid Truth to keep it safe.

We should never run from Truth to keep our god safe. Our God should always lead us in the ways of Truth because the one True God is the Truth. He is the Spirit of Truth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Put Your god On Trial.

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Know With Whom You Deal

9 If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet. ~ Proverbs 29:9

Instigating when you are losing a debate, I believe, is exactly what Solomon was referring to in these verses. If you argue with someone who cannot defend their stance, they attack you. They gaslight you. They will accuse you of being loud, aggressive, and in need of calming down because they have only one true option when it comes down to it: they have to admit that their stance is wrong, which a fool will never do. Why? Because according to Proverbs 1:7, they despise wisdom and instruction.

Throughout the book of Proverbs, they are characterized as quarrelsome, aggressive, and making their own path to destruction, ignoring any instruction of the wise. These people are self-destructive. Haters of wisdom. Mockers. Unable to ever find truth. Not because no one has told them. Not because no one has taken the time to explain it, but because they hate instruction. They hate Truth. They are wise in their own eyes, and therefore unable to ever come to the knowledge or understanding of Truth.

So, what can we do? We can plant the seed by showing them the Truth and the folly of their ways or beliefs, and then we place them in the hands of God. You can’t argue the Truth into them. You can’t even beat the Truth into them. Solomon says:

Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.

Proverbs 27:22

In other words, no matter what you do to a fool, you will never get them to see the Truth. This one you can only put into the hands of God. Into the hands of Him who can melt stone hearts, open deaf ears, and remove scales from blind eyes. It is only the mercy of God that will save a fool. Therefore, show them the Truth, but do not let them anger you. Don’t let them get to you. Hold your peace, and when it’s all said and done, place them in the hands of the Almighty. Not every soul is the same. There is not a one-size-fits-all for leading people to Christ. Some you can show the Truth, and they will accept on the spot, while others will need prayer, and still others will need prayer and fasting.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know With Whom You Deal.

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Keep Your Soul

26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? ~ Matthew 16:26

I recently saw a video of a young woman who had been on X-Factor and had a recording contract in her teens, open up about what it was like behind the scenes. She said that as a young teen, the label told her they weren’t giving her any money for promoting this new album. Instead, she needed to go to the clubs and try to seduce Bieber. To basically leech off of his success by throwing herself at him. This was their advice to a young teenage girl.

Now, I actually remember listening to her music as a young teen myself and wondering what ever happened to her. Why her career never blew up. I now know why. She didn’t play Hollywood’s game. She didn’t want to, essentially, prostitute herself for fame or gain of any kind. She was talented. Her music was catchy, but her soul wasn’t for sale, so her music didn’t go anywhere.

Jesus asks a very deep question: “What will you give in return for your soul?” We often read Jesus’ first question and think about someone selling their soul, but what happens once it’s sold and you want it back? What can you give in order to acquire it? In order to retrieve it? More times than not, when a person who has been in Hollywood a long time or has a lot of fame begins really seeking Jesus, they have some kind of mental breakdown. Some kind of mental meltdown that is often very public. Very intense. Very off. I don’t think this is a coincidence. I believe this is spiritual.

Make no mistake, your soul can be sold. You don’t need to sign your name in blood on a mystical contract with the Devil himself to do it either. Who you align with. Actions you take. Things you promote. Your soul has a for-sale sign on it. And what is all of that profit and gain and fame worth if your soul has been lost to an eternity of darkness because of it? Then Jesus asks the scariest question. What will you do to get it back? So many think that saying a prayer of repentance will save their souls from the consequences of contracts and open doors they themselves have signed and opened. I don’t believe so.

I believe there’s more to it than just the sinner’s prayer, which is why you see the meltdowns, the breakdowns, the mental instability. The Scripture paints the spiritual war as a war, but also a courtroom. A place of legal law. A place where we have a lawyer and an accuser. We have to spiritually take the enemy to court. We have to spiritually cancel contracts, close doors, and take back our soul.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Keep Your Soul.

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