Category: Daily Bread

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Use To Multiply

1 Peter 4:10-11

[10] As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: [11] whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

When we think of spiritual gifts from God, we often think of gifts we would deem mystical. Paul gives us a list of gifts that we most associate with spiritual gifts. Prophecy, word of knowledge, tongues, thing that sound and look spiritual. Peter, however, lists spiritual gifts that just sound regular and normal, but are no less spiritual and God-given than Paul’s list.

These gifts, listed by Peter, are more naturally born with. These are gifts that we showcase from a young age. Gifts that define who we are and direct us to our call. Even though these gifts are everyday traits, without them we could never fulfill our call. These gifts propel us forward towards God’s plan for our lives.

They aren’t meaningless, less than, or insignificant, they are like the one talent. They may look small now but if you use them, they will multiply. They will grow. And for all we know, give birth to even greater gifts than we could ever dream.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Use To Multiply.

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Swallow His Pill

Ezekiel 3:16-21

[16]  And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: [17] “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. [18] If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. [19] But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. [20] Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. [21] But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

God gives Ezekiel a very difficult pill to swallow. A very difficult charge. He tells him that if He doesn’t correct a person living in sin and they then die in their sin, their blood is on his head. In other words, Ezekiel would be just as guilty as the sinner. What a difficult call. A difficult charge.

When we read that, we kind of breathe a sigh of relief thinking that now that we are under a new and better covenant, this isn’t for us. Oh what a deception we have been led into. The new covenant wasn’t about allowing or overlooking sin, but about overcoming and eradicating sin completely.

Jesus tells us to preach the Gospel. How can we do that without exposing sin? He tells us to be the salt of the earth. How can we be the salt if we don’t ever correct or teach? Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets. How can we do that if we do not judge their actions and words against Scripture?

No where in Scripture does God tell us we are free from correcting others. That we are to overlook and ignore or embrace sin. In fact, it says otherwise. Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they led others astray and made them even more a child of Hell than themselves, instead of leading them to God. This is the charge we were given “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Our pill is no different than Ezekiel’s.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Swallow His Pill.

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Let God Rise You

14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” ~ Exodus 2:14

When Moses attempted to help and guide his fellow Hebrews, they originally rejected him. His fellow Hebrew responded, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?” I always just assumed it was because he grew up in the palace as a prince, instead of as a slave with them. While I do believe that was definitely factor, I think there might be a little bit more to the story.

See, they had been enslaved for almost 400 years by this point. They knew the different prophecies Jacob had given his 12 sons. They also knew that Moses wasn’t from the tribe of Judah, but from the tribe of Levi. See, they were looking for a savior, a redeemer to come in and rescue them. To come in and deliver them from this slavery, and here comes this palace brat from the tribe of Levi, who had just killed an Egyptian now trying to lead them.

This Hebrew knew Moses had killed the Egyptian. He knew he had grown up in the palace as grandson of Pharaoh. And he knew the prophecy of Levi. Levi was prophesied that “cursed be their anger… and their wrath… I will divide them in Jacob and scattered them in Israel.” Judah however was prophesied that “the scepter would never depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet…” I fully believe they expected their deliverer from their current slavery to be from the tribe of Judah, not a Levite who had just killed a man out of anger, just as his ancestors had done.

Sometimes people will throw your past in your face. They will tell you that you don’t fit the bill. That you’re not what they believe your call should be. That you will never live up to your call. I’m sure this later factored into the Moses’ decline to the LORD when God officially called him. He remembered this words. He remembered his past. And he allowed his own insecurities to influence him.

We all have a past. We all have insecurities. We all aren’t worthy of the LORD’s call, but that’s the beauty of it. We aren’t worthy, yet the LORD still chooses us and He rises us up to meet the occasion. Your call may feel bigger than you are, but your God will stand by you forever. And when He is for you, no one can be against you. And He will do through you what you cannot.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let God Rise You.

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Find Your Plan

Genesis 49:8-12

[8] Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. [9] Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? [10] The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. [11] Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. [12] His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

Before Jacob died, he went through and prophesied over each and every one of his sons. Starting with Reuben and ending with Benjamin. Now, when Jacob gets to Judah, he prophesied that the scepter would never depart from him. What I find interesting about this, is that the word translated as scepter is actually the word rod. The same Hebrew word given to the Son of God in Psalms 2. The same rod used to comfort the sheep of the Shepherd in Psalms 23. The same rod used to rule the nations in Psalms 21.

Jacob’s prophecy for Judah wasn’t just to be the ruler, but that God Himself would come down from Heaven, in the likeness of men, through his (Judah’s) lineage. Jacob prophesied something profound that day, even if Judah (or his brothers for that matter) didn’t fully grasp it at the time.

God has a plan and prophecy for each and every one of us. We may not know exactly what it is, but we know it is good. Because the plans He has for us are good. Plans not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future. Judah would’ve never dreamed that God Himself would be born from his lineage and likeness, but God had a bigger plan for him and his lineage. You may not think God has a great plan for you, but He does. His plans for you are achievable. They’re set before us, but it’s up to us to seek them out and follow them.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Your Plan.

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Take Comfort In Discipline

Psalms 23:4a

4 … your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

David describes the LORD as his shepherd. He even goes as far as to say that the LORD’S rod and staff comfort him. What’s so interesting about that? The rod was used for correction. David, in Psalms 21, writes that Jesus would break or rule the nations with a rod of iron. Solomon, David’s son, in Proverbs 26:3, wrote that the rod is for the back of the fool. So, how could David find comfort in the LORD’s rod?

The fool says in his heart, there is no God. See, the fool doesn’t say with his mouth that there is no God, but with his actions. David prayed, “search me, oh LORD,” “create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.” David found comfort in the correction of the LORD, not because He enjoyed punishment or discipline, but because as long as God was correcting him, he knew the LORD loved him.

It’s when the LORD says enough is enough and stops correcting, when He says okay, have it your way, that’s what David feared. That’s what David found terrifying and distressing because when the LORD turns you over to a reprobate mind. When He turns you over to your own desires and wickedness, that’s when He stops calling you to Himself.

The LORD assures us that He will discipline those whom He loves. He will correct you as a father corrects His child. This is what David found comfort in, the love of God. The relationship between God and His people. A love that corrected and disciplined, not out of wrath, but to teach and transform. To bring us back to Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take Comfort In Discipline.

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Pay Attention To What You Do

Exodus 34:6-7

[6] The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

There’s currently a bit of an imbalance in the ecosystem of Florida. Burmese Pythons, Anacondas, Lion Fish, and even Green Iguanas have negatively impacted Florida’s ecosystem. Why? Because they have no natural predators, so they breed and eat freely without restraint. That means that they are multiplying faster than other species in the area and they are consuming more than other species in the area. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time.

How’d this begin? A few exotic pet owners let their exotic pets go in the wild, fully believing it would have no impact on anyone else. When we introduce a foreign organism to an ecosystem that cannot sustain, that foreign organism begins to take over. The spiritual realm is no different.

When we open doors in ourselves through our actions, it affects more than just us. It affects those around us as well. And depending on the door we open, generations to come. So often we see generational curses plaguing families. Generation after generation. Alcoholism, abuse, addiction, greed, violence, anger, depression, anxiety, fear. We pass down spiritual doors that we don’t even realize. Things we turn a blind eye to because we don’t think it affects anyone but ourselves. But it does.

There is no such thing as an action that affects only you. Generational curses are real, so be careful the doors you open in your life and the lives of those around you. And those who will come from you in the future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To What You Do.

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Spread Light Regardless

John 3:19-21

[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. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

Today, I went to the Post Office to mail two packages and because my hair wasn’t done, I put on bandana, like I usually do. Now, when I wear a bandana it’s one of two things, either the American flag or military green camo. I couldn’t find my camo one, so I grabbed my American flag bandana and went about my business. Now, fast forward to arriving there, the Post Office worker, who is usually always nice, greeted me very nice as always. Asked me how my day was, etc. Then pointed at my bandana and told me it was a bad time to be patriotic.

I asked why and the conversation went from there. I quickly realized that this very nice young woman was genuinely angry with me for not agreeing with her. Now, I’m a firm believer in (and I practice it myself daily) if you don’t actually know a subject don’t bring it up and try to shame someone for it. Everything she said, she was simply repeating what she heard someone else say. She didn’t actually know any of the facts. She didn’t research or even look anything up for herself, but she was confident enough to accuse people of mass murder, rape, fraud, and pedophilia, without any evidence or even looking into any of the allegations or cases.

When she was shown evidence, she abruptly ended the conversation and continuously said she’s not political and that she didn’t care. This told me that one she did care and two she was offended by the facts that were shown to her. This attitude has become the normal thing in today’s world. We hate correction. We hate facts. We hate anything that would dare contradict our fragile world view.

This encounter today really bothered me. It has consumed my thoughts for the past 12 hours and only now am I understanding that this is exactly what the Devil wants. This is how he wins. How can we know Truth if we hate it? How can we ever grow if we hate anything that contradicts our world view? We can’t. Jesus said that the judgment that has come upon the world is the world loved the darkness rather than the Light.

Light exposes. It corrects. It doesn’t care about your feelings or opinions. It only care about Truth. The Truth. The only Truth. And when we can’t handle the Truth, we hate the source of the Truth. The Light. I was dismissed, laughed at, and mocked today because I shed light into the darkness and the world hated it. And even though I found it extremely uncomfortable, stressful to the point my hands were shaking uncontrollably, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Why? Because the Light can never back down to the darkness. Who knows, someone in that darkness might just catch a glimpse of the Light and find Truth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Spread Light Regardless.

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Know Why You Hope

5 This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. ~ 1 John 1:5-7

Because of the love of God, He has lavished grace upon us. Because of that grace, we have a blessed hope. A promise to hold to. See, sometimes the world around us can feel heavy—full of challenges, uncertainties, and divisions. It can feel like it’s weighing us down, yet, because of God’s love and grace, we are unfazed.

Because God has made us a community of faith, united in one sacred space, bonded together and seeking the One who is light, the One who casts out all darkness. Therefore, we strive to live in that light by running to it and away from the darkness…

John declared in all confidence that God is light. What was he saying? John was affirming that God is completely:

  1. Pure and Holy
    1. There is absolutely no darkness at all in God
  2. He’s morally perfect and the source of all truth
    1. There is no relative truth
    1. There is no: your truth, my truth, someone else’s truth
    1. There is one truth, God’s truth
  3. He’s good, kind, and forgiving
    1. He is never changing but always the same

According to John and also to Jesus Himself, Jesus came so that we might know the Father.

We were once separated from the holiness of God. Yes, the Israelites saw God’s holiness from a distance, but a veil separated all of mankind, including them, from a perfect and holy God.

Jesus came to bridge that chasm by dying on the cross for us—for our sins, and thus, through His body, He has made a way back to God the Father.

At the point of death, the veil in the temple separating the holy place from the most holy place, or the holy of holies, was torn in two, signifying our permission to enter God’s holiness—the very Presence of God.

This is reason we have hope. This is why we aren’t phased by the darkness because we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We are no longer our own, but bought by the LORD God Himself. We have been redeemed, restored, and renewed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know Why You Hope.

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Let Your Gift Provide For You

Genesis 41:14-16

[14]  Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. [15] And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” [16] Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

Your gift will always provide for you. See, Joseph was in the pit. He wasn’t just in prison, but in a pit that they had to bring him up out of. I used to think Joseph was in like a large cell or something, but no. He was in a pit. A deep pit for criminals. That’s where Pharaoh brought him out of.

See, Joseph didn’t do anything but use his God-given gift. In every circumstance, Joseph used his gift. Whether it be being a natural leader, manager, or dream interpreter, Joseph was always using his God-given gift no matter where he was.

See, it doesn’t matter where the Devil tries to bring you down to. He could bring you as low as possible. It doesn’t matter. As long as God sees you. See, when God sees you, no one can cover you. No one can stop you. No one can keep you down.

And God has given you a way out. Your gift. Your gift is your key and guide to your call. It will help you navigate your life. The life God has for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Your Gift Provide For You.

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Stay In God’s Plan

Matthew 7:21

21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

I recently heard a Catholic exorcist say, “God has a plan for you; so does the Devil.” This is an interesting concept. We often think about the LORD having a plan for us, but we don’t really think about the Devil having a plan for us as well.

See, the Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. In fact, a lot of the time it seems good. It seems like a good idea. Like our own idea.

It could be as simple as staying home instead of going to war (King David) or numbering the kingdom (King David). These in themselves, weren’t evil, but because they weren’t a part of the LORD’s plan, they were evil and brought great consequences upon David and his household.

Sometimes the Devil’s plan looks a little more mischievous like saying you sold something for one and amount when you really sold it for another amount (Ananias and Sapphira), and as innocent as making a sacrifice instead of being obedient from the beginning (King Saul).

The Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. It doesn’t even have to be an evil action. All he really wants is for us to be outside of the will of the LORD. Why? Because Jesus warned us that it’s only those who do the will of the Father that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So, be careful not to be distracted by the enemy. Be careful not to miss God’s plan for your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay In God’s Plan.

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