Category: Daily Bread

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Flee Vanities

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

It sounds as if Solomon is saying these temporal things are all going to end in judgment when God calls every secret thing, whether good or evil, into account. Also, did you notice what Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, highlighted in his conclusion?

He said:

… Fear God and keep His commandments … For God will bring every deed into judgment …

Everything is vanity or is meaningless in this life if it is not connected to eternity. Our whole duty is to fear God and keep His commandments. In other words, work for eternal things. Work to store up real treasure that will last forever and ever, safe and secure, far away from inflation and thieves. In other words, it is meaningless, a vanity of vanities to work for treasures that do not last and are not secure.

Solomon is advising young people not to get caught up in things that will not last because not even your youth will last. The days will come when the pleasures of life will no longer yield their bounty for you. Your eyes will grow dim. Your hands will tremble. Your legs will grow weak. Your teeth will fall out. Your taste for good food will fade. And you will no longer desire marital pleasures. Temporal things are like chasing after the wind. It’s all meaningless, utterly meaningless. Unless, of course, you’re working for eternity, which lasts forever. For without Jesus, everything is vanity, meaningless, utterly meaningless.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Flee Vanities.

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Remain Sméagol

7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. ~ Genesis 4:7

One of my favorite characters in The Lord of the Rings series (that’s including The Hobbit) is Gollum. Now, to many people, including my mother, that’s insane. She sees him as a horrible, creepy character, but honestly, I see him as a character that represents the majority of humanity. Gollum, for those of you who don’t know who he is, is the original owner of the ring; well, he’s the owner that Bilbo got the ring from. Anyways, Gollum is deformed and crazy, all because of this ring. So, this ring has created a dual personality within him. One of almost innocence, like a child, and one of pure evil and wickedness.

This ring gives anyone who wears it the ability to turn invisible to all. Now, the ring also causes the owner to be driven mad; the more you use it, the more you lose yourself to the ring. This is much like the world today. The more we give into sin, the more we lose ourselves to sin. The more we are deformed and driven farther and farther away from the person God created us to be. When we just look at the outside, it’s easy to dislike and want judgment for the wicked. It’s easy to look at Gollum and hate him, but if we take a moment to actually look at Gollum, we’d see he’s nothing more than a lost soul who has been corrupted by the thing he loves most. And because it corrupts him, he also hates it.

That is the same with us and sin. We love and hate it all at the same time. We struggle back and forth with it, yet ultimately give in the majority of the time. It becomes a never-ending struggle that we will be unable to overcome on our own. I think J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit) said it best:

He [Gollum] will never be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself. Sméagol’s [Gollum’s original name before he found the ring] life is a sad story. Yes, Sméagol he was once called. Before the Ring found him. Before it drove him mad.

Gollum was never intended to be a character to be despised but a character to be pitied, for he represents the dangers of giving into sin’s desires and not ruling over it. This will be a never-ending battle for the rest of our lives unless we submit to a new master. Unless we fully submit to Christ, we will all lose ourselves, just as Sméagol did.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remain Sméagol.

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Uproot It

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. ~ Hebrews 12:15

The Israelites, whom Moses and Aaron brought up out of the land of Egypt, their tracks were supposed to lead to the Promised Land. It should have been an eleven- or twelve-day journey, but instead, it took them forty years.

Why? Because they let their circumstances dictate where their tracks would lead them.

When you lean too much to one side, you start getting off course. If you lean too much on the bad circumstances, you will become bitter and cynical, and that is what happened to those Israelites.

They let cynicism creep in, and a distrust of God rose up in them because of the root of bitterness that sprouted, and they let it grow.

The root of bitterness sprung up in the hearts of those Israelites, and they did not deal with it; rather, they became cynical and began to doubt God, which not only defiled them but also disqualified them from entering the Promised Land.

It’s not “Que Sera, Sera.” Just because God has something for you doesn’t mean you will get to enjoy it. Each and every one of our actions determines the outcome of our lives. They determine whether or not we will reach the end of the plans the LORD has for us or not. Therefore, doubt and unbelief will disqualify you from the promises of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Uproot It.

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Don’t Twist

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. ~ Romans 5:12

Paul specifically states that sin entered the world through Adam and death through his sin, but the Ruin Reconstruction Theory says that death and destruction were already here way before Adam, making the Biblical account inaccurate. Now, I wonder how that teaching came to be.

Its purpose is to reconcile the atheistic, scientific propaganda of a 4.54-billion-year-old Earth with a literal reading of the Bible. Their aim is to align Scripture with science instead of aligning science with God’s Word. But truth and lies will never reconcile, and disinformation will never align with Scripture.

Please understand that these are the same scientists who say that there is no God and man, meaning You. Me. Us. The whole human race. Evolved from apes, that they are trying to align Scripture with. Think about that. And even knowing this, some Christian theologians will fight tooth and nail to defend a belief invented to prove that there is no God and to prove Scripture is inaccurate.

There is only one Truth. That Truth is the Word of God. Therefore, if the world contradicts the Word of God, we are not to try to manipulate and twist Scripture in order to force it into the false truth of the world. The Word of God should be our foundation for Truth not an obstacle we have to try to get around.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Twist.

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For Others

53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels? ~ Matthew 26:53

Jesus was in the crucible. But notice, He was not fighting to get out. The Father had a purpose for Him there. It was for our benefit. My benefit. Your benefit. Your loved ones’ benefit. And my loved ones’ benefit.

If Jesus had prayed to get out of the crucible, and the Father had indeed rescued Him, there would be no salvation for us. There would be no way for us to be saved. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

The crucible is important, but do not be confused. Some things are God-ordained, and some things are simply our own fault. I’ve heard people say that they had to go through a certain situation, like a divorce so that they can minister to others. But that is simply not the case. That is definitely unbiblical.

God does not have to put you through a divorce, something that He hates, for you to give comfort to others. They say things like, “The Scripture says to comfort others with the comfort you’ve been comforted with.”

Well, let us see exactly what that Scripture says:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

It says …in any affliction… It does not necessarily have to be the same affliction; it is the comfort that is important.

Therefore, we use the same comfort that we ourselves have been comforted with to comfort others. It’s the same comfort that we received from our heavenly Father no matter the affliction because His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). It’s all about Him. It’s all about His grace. It’s all about His mercy.

His grace, no matter the situation and no matter the circumstance, is more than enough to comfort those who mourn or those who are hurt. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do For Others.

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Proselytize

3 Even though the people were afraid of the local residents, they rebuilt the altar at its old site. ~ Ezra 3:3aNLT

The LORD God had mandated that the time had indeed come to rebuild His house. They had the finances. They had the skill. They had the help. They even had the Temple vessels for worship because Cyrus had given them back. But still, no one was doing anything about it, including Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest. They were all too busy building their own homes, planting their own vineyards, starting and running their own businesses. They had gotten caught up ‘in life.’

Yes, they had rebuilt the altar and were sacrificing on it. Yes, they were even celebrating the Feast of Booths in the seventh month, but the Temple…not so much. It hadn’t even been started. Here is why. Fear! It was because of fear! Fear had gripped their hearts. Fear had stayed their hands. Fear kept them quiet. Fear stopped God’s work.

Why do we not witness? Because of fear of persecution. Why are we silent about issues that the Church should be involved in? Because of fear. Why do we not speak up about the insanity of so many different genders, although we know that it is not of God? We don’t speak up because of fear. Although we know that the Scripture says that those who do such things will be condemned; still, fear keeps our mouths shut.

Listen, God said that He made man in His own image, male and female He created them, therefore, there is no other choice, it’s either male or female that is it, nothing else. You are either a man or you are a woman. You cannot be both, and you cannot change from one to the other or to anything else, for that matter. What you have is what you are.

It’s not about your feelings; it’s about the Creator and Judge of the whole earth, and He’s coming back soon. And it’s His laws that we will be judged by, not man’s. Therefore, share the Gospel. Evangelize. Disciple. Lead through action. Let Christ live through you so that on that final day when we stand before the Throne of God, we will hear the words “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Proselytize.

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Your Response

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. ~ Job 2:7-8

I want you to understand that at this time, Job is already in the crucible; it’s already hot, but now the fire, or the heat, is turned up even hotter. Satan went out from the presence of God and struck Job with painful boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. In other words, there was no part of Job’s body that did not have a painful boil with pus oozing from it.

He had sores from head to toe that hurt and itched, so much so that he sat in ashes and scraped himself with a piece of broken pottery, trying to get some relief from the itch and the pain. When Job’s three friends heard all that had happened to him, they came to visit him so that they might bring some comfort to him. But they did not expect what they saw. Job was barely skin and bones. His affliction was so grievous that they did not even recognize him.

When they did see him up close and saw how great his suffering was, they tore their robes, sprinkled dust on their heads, and lifted up their voices and wept for him. When Job’s friend realized how great his agony and his misery were, they couldn’t speak a word for seven days and seven nights. They just sat on the ground with him, hoping to comfort him in all of his grief.

It was so bad that earlier, Job’s wife had said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) But Job replied to her in verse 10:

10 … “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job 2:10b NKJV

This is the proper response when in the crucible. “Shall we accept only good from God? Shall we not also accept the bad as well?” This was not something that Job just inadvertently came up with off the top of his head. No, he was prepared. He had decided beforehand that he was in it for the long haul. That no matter what, he had decided that he would follow God and be obedient to Him.

We have to understand and admit that a lot of life is lived in the crucible. The fire may not be turned up as hot as it was turned up for Job, but we live a lot of life in the crucible. The rent is due in three more days, and we just don’t have it. A loved one was just diagnosed with terminal cancer. An unfortunate accident just claimed the life of someone you held dear. These are some of life’s challenges. They’re not easy to deal with, but with God…it’s a different thing because Jesus changes everything.

We also have to acknowledge that there are many innocent people who have been brutally hurt or severely injured by malevolent people who have no respect for life, nor do they care about others in general.But as harsh as it sounds, you can overcome that. No matter what life throws at you, with the right attitude you can overcome. All things are possible for one who believes (Mark 9:23b).

These are the words of Jesus Himself, when a father had brought his son to Him to have a demon, that tried to kill the boy on several occasions, cast out. The father had said to Jesus, “…if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us (Mark 9:22b).” With Jesus in our life, we can do all things.

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Prepare To Always Rejoice

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ~ Philippians 4:4

We are taught that life is a series of hilltops and valleys … It’s either or, but not both at the same time. But that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. It might seem that way when we are on the hilltop or especially when we are in the valley. We can’t see the forest for the trees.

When all hell breaks loose against us and we can’t even seem to see a hill, much less a hilltop. It’s hard to see the good. It’s hard to stay encouraged. It’s hard to remain joyful. But to suggest that life is a series of hilltops and valleys would suggest that life is either all good or all bad.

If that is the case, if life is either 100% all good or 100% all bad at any given point of time, then how can we rejoice always if it’s all bad, 100% bad? The quick and simple answer is you can’t because there would be nothing at all to rejoice about. There is no problem rejoicing when we’re on the hilltop and life is 100% good. But how can we rejoice if life is 100% bad?

So, life is not a matter of hilltops and valleys, but rather, life is like a railroad track. Train tracks are built with two tracks so that the train rides smoothly on it. There is one track on the right side, and there’s another track on the left side, and we are the train that runs on those two tracks.

The train cannot run on just one; it needs both. It needs the two tracks to safely reach its destination. And if the train runs off the track or derails, then there is a crash, which ends in much loss of product, whatever the train is hauling, and even loss of lives.

The environment around the crash site might even be impacted by the crash, depending on the type of material and if it was toxic or not. Life is much the same way. On one side, we have the good, but on the other side, running parallel right alongside, we have the bad. And when you have a derailment in life, it can become very toxic, depending on how you handle the situation. The more anger, the more wrath, the more the environmental toxicity.

So, here is how it works. Those tracks that the train runs on, they take that train to its destination. The train cannot move without them. Likewise, the tracks of life have brought us to where we are now. It’s those ups and downs of life that have shaped, molded, and made us who we are today. The things that seem so huge, and even life-changing or life-threatening, sometimes turn out to be minimal, or at least not as impactful as it had appeared to be.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare To Always Rejoice.

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Grow In The Crucible

1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. ~ Genesis 39:1-6

You know the story of Joseph. He was sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites, who then brought him down to Egypt, where they sold him as a slave to Potiphar. But God was on his side and caused everything that he did to prosper. While serving as a slave in a foreign land, he was accused of attempted rape and sentenced to prison, but even in that, the LORD caused Joseph to prosper and be successful.

No doubt, Joseph was in the crucible. And as I said in our first message, we live a lot of life in the crucible. The fire may not be turned up as hot as it was turned up for Joseph or for Job, but nonetheless, we still live a lot of life in the crucible. And it’s all because of our attitude in the crucible, the amount of time we spend there. The more we resist, the longer we stay. Learn what you need. Purge what needs purging. It will be time well spent.

Therefore, don’t allow the downs to keep you down. Find the good in each and every situation. Find something to rejoice about it. Find something to thank God for. Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. His big brothers, who were supposed to protect him, sold him to Ishmaelites, his cousins. Who then sold him to Potiphar. Joseph had every right to be upset, bitter, angry, but there is no record of that. There is only record of Joseph being blessed by God.

This tells me that no matter how difficult your crucible may be, if you will refuse to allow it to sprout a root of bitterness in you, the LORD will bless you. If you will refuse to sin in secret, the LORD will bless you. If you will strive for righteousness, the LORD will bless. The LORD will bless His people who are faithful to Him. Therefore, let your joy continue grow even in the crucible.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Grow In The Crucible.

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No Kingdom For The Unrighteous

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church correcting some spiritual issues that they were experiencing. Amongst other infractions is this one, lawsuits against believers. Paul was trying to get them to understand that just having lawsuits against each other was a sign that they had been defeated already. He said, “Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded than to go to a secular court to sue a fellow brother in Christ? He went on to liken it to being unrighteous. He said, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Then, he listed about nine other offenses against God that will keep you out of the kingdom.

He said, “Do Not Be Deceived!” And the first on the list is sexual immorality. That will include sex outside of marriage. Sex with someone other than your own spouse. Sex with several people, even if it is the opposite sex. Sex between the same genders. I know that homosexuality is the law of the land. I understand that it is widely accepted and even celebrated, but God, who everyone must stand before and give an account to, said you must not partake in such actions, it is wrong in My eyes. Not just the sexually immoral, adulterers, and homosexuals, but idolaters, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, nor swindlers will not have a place or a portion in the kingdom of God.

You can’t get any clearer than that. It is God’s kingdom; therefore, He gets to decide what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in His kingdom. It is not up to us, and it’s not up to government and politicians. Do not believe those who present a Gospel that is different than the one we read in Scripture. Beware of teachers who preach a different Jesus than the one portrayed in Scripture. Jesus does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So, let us leave off the old self with all of its sins, lusts, and deceitful desires that corrupt, and let us put on Jesus. It is to Him that we must give an account. Jesus died for the whole world. He died for you and for me. Therefore, let us love Jesus and serve Jesus because He first loved us. He came to seek us. He came to serve and not to be served. Heavenly Father, please help me to put off my old self and put on Christ. Help me to turn away from sin and cling to holiness. Give me the strength to resist the devil that he might flee as Your word says. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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