Category: Daily Bread

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Touching Jesus

17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch Him, for power came out from Him and healed them all ~ Luke 6:17-19

Jesus spent the night before praying all night long. Then the next morning, He chose from among His disciples the twelve apostles. After choosing them, He came down off of the mountain to a level place where a great crowd of His disciples and a multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon had all come out to hear Him preach and to be healed of their diseases. The Spirit of God was so strong in the place that power was coming out of Jesus and healing the people. Unclean spirits were being cast out, and the people were jostling each other to get to Him so that they might touch Him so that they too might be healed.

Maybe this is where the woman with the issue of blood got the idea. Maybe she said to herself, if it worked for those people, it will work for me. So, if I can just touch the hem of His garment, I will be healed. She kept encouraging herself with those words and reminding herself that it happened once, it can happen again for her.

There is a song that we used to sing entitled Touching Jesus. The chorus goes like this:

Touching Jesus is all that matters
Then your life will never be the same;
There is only one way to touch Him,
Just believe when you call on His name.

We can no longer touch Jesus physically, but we can still touch Him spiritually. When we reach out by faith and touch just the hem of His garment, we will get what we need. Whether it is healing from our diseases, or peace of mind, or freedom from tormenting spirits. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will never change, and He will never leave us forsaken. So, reach out and touch Jesus today through faith and be healed.

Heavenly Father, teach me to touch Your Son, Jesus Christ, through faith. Teach me Your ways so that I might know You more intimately. Thank you, LORD Jesus, that You never change. Right now, I claim my healing by faith in the mighty and powerful Name of Jesus, the Son of the Living God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Bombard

James 1:6-8 NIV

[6] But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. [7] That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. [8] Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

So, I have a 5 year old Siberian Husky. Anytime she hears me with food, she comes running and sits there staring at me as I eat, just waiting for me to share some of my food with her. I can tell her no a thousand times. I can refuse to give her any of my food and a thousand times, and she will still come back expecting food that one thousand and one time. It doesn’t matter how many times I say no, she will always come back expecting to receive something, even if it’s just a tiny taste. This is how we Christians should be. We should be like my dog.

Jesus told the Parable of the woman who beat the king down and refused to give him peace until she received her justice. He compared praying to this. We aren’t supposed to just say one prayer and expect God to immediately move. We are to bombard heaven with our prayers. We are to send up so many prayers that nothing could silence them.

This life is a spiritual war. We have an actual adversary working towards our destruction. We should never be passive in this life, and when we don’t hear from God, we should keep going. Imagine if Daniel stopped seeking God after one day or even after twenty days. Daniel would have never gotten his answer. He was like my doggie begging for some of the food that I’m eating, expecting to receive an answer. When we pray, we must pray expecting God to hear us and expecting God to answer us. Otherwise, why pray? We must pray with faith and then walk in action. Our actions should correlate with our prayers of faith. Otherwise, our spirit and our soul are not on the same page.

Therefore, bombard heaven expecting to receive exactly what we have asked for. Refusing to allow silence to keep us from continuing our prayers. We pray in faith, and we act as if we have received the answer.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Bombard.

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Rely On The Manuscripts

John 15:18

18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

Matthew 24:9

9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

1 John 3:13

13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

Jesus said that we would be hated for the sake of His name. It’s very easy to miss all that Jesus was saying in this statement. For instance, He wasn’t just talking about persecution in the physical sense, but also the world being against all associated with His name. This isn’t just about us living here today, but about those of the past as well. That would include the authors of the Bible.

The Bible, especially the New Testament, is the best preserved ancient text in existence. The New Testament alone has over 25,000 manuscripts compared to Homer’s Illiad having 1,800 and Plato’s The Republic having 7. These two historical documents aren’t ever put into question whether they’ve been changed, doctored, or if they’re even reliable. In fact, they’re studied in schools and universities. But the New Testament, with 25,000 manuscripts is seen as unreliable.

Let that sink in. We have the best preserved ancient historical manuscript in existence but the world deems it unreliable. You’re laughed at and mocked if you even believe it. Why is that? Because the world hates Truth. The world hates the Light. It wants to remain in darkness. It wants to reject the Light. So, it deems the source of Truth, the Word of God, unreliable. It deems it untrustworthy and corrupted.

The enemy will lie, deceive, and manipulate in order to destroy the souls of humanity, but one thing he cannot do is destroy the Word of God. It’s still here. We still have the words of Christ as He Himself said them. Why is this important? Because, as Peter stated,

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.

John 6:68-69

The Words of our LORD and Savior have not been lost. They haven’t been altered. They haven’t been corrupted or destroyed. They are still here. They are still the words of eternal life. They are still living, breathing, and sharper than any double-edged sword.

So, be encouraged by this. Let your faith grow as you can be assured in confidence that the Word of the LORD has not been changed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Rely On The Manuscripts.

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A Dangerous Disguise

2 Corinthians 11:14

[14] And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

When Paul describes Satan as someone who disguises himself into an angel of light, he doesn’t only mean literally. He isn’t just going around appearing to people as a literal angel of light. Sometimes, its just a quick, simple thought that is thrown into your mind as an innocent idea. Here’s what I mean. One of the ways I’ve started making money is by reselling. I buy storage units, and I resell the contents for a profit.

When I was cleaning out a storage unit the other week, I came across a well-known narcotic, oxycodone. It was a prescription bottle with a good little handful of pills left in it. As I read what the bottle, a thought entered my mind “I wonder how much these things go for?” Immediately, I was like, absolutely not. I audibly voiced “nope” from mouth and immediately opened the bottle and poured out the contents in to the trash bag filled with dirt, mouse droppings, and other disgusting contents I cleaned out of the unit.

The thought didn’t come maliciously. It didn’t come in an evil way. It came gently and softly in the form of “You know we got bills to pay.” It was a very evil thought posed and delivered very innocently. This is how Satan gets you.

He doesn’t come dressed up as evil incarnate. He comes dressed up as an innocent thought. A rational, innocent thought that is posed as being in your best interest. This is how Satan works and has always worked. He didn’t tell Eve to break God’s rule. He simply questioned what God actually said. This is the importance of being spiritually on guard.

Satan is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He isn’t a defeated foe. He isn’t a toothless lion. He is actively seeking a victim. He is actively seeking someone to devour. This is why we have to know the Word of God. So that when Satan comes along whispering in our ear, we can see the lies and the deception coming out of his mouth.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for every time I gave into the enemy’s lies and believed the deception. Thank you, LORD, for every time you have shown me the deceptions and given me an escape. Please help me to see past the deceit and the lies so that I can see the Truth. Give me a spirit of discernment as You fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I might overcome in the day of testing. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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What’s Your Foundation?

Acts 17:10-11NIV

[10] As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Lately, one of my favorite things to do is debate different topics with ChatGPT. I’ll ask it a question, it’ll respond, and we’ll go back and forth. One of the main reasons I genuinely enjoy doing this is because it helps me remember things I have learned, as well as helping me better express and defend my own beliefs. Peter tells us to always have a defense for our faith and why we believe what we do.

The more I do this, the more I realize that many traditional beliefs that I no longer hold to, aren’t rooted in the early Church but are more recently developed than I was led to believe when I was taught these beliefs. When we take peoples word for things, instead of searching and researching for ourselves, we become blind followers. Christ never calls us to be blind followers, yes, we live by faith not by sight, but we aren’t blind followers. Jesus said,

18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?

Mark 8:18

We follow Christ with faith, meaning we trust God regardless of how difficult, impossible, hard it may seem. But when it comes to our faith. Our beliefs. What we build our lives on, we are to test those beliefs/teachings against Scripture. We aren’t to just blindly follow. How many of us today can say without a shadow of a doubt that our beliefs are all rooted in the Bible and did not come much later? I’d say, very few of us. Why? Because when a preacher or teacher we like says something we like, we agree with it and hold it as law instead of testing it against thr Scriptures.

So, what should we do? Seek the Truth by putting every belief and idea to the test. We should be in the Word, studying it, meditating on it daily. It should be written on our hearts influencing every aspect of our lives. That’s the goal each of us should have set for ourselves. It should the goal we are each actively pursuing and chasing.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for each time I have believed man without checking Your Word first. Please open my eyes to any false beliefs I have claimed as Truth, no matter how insignificant they may seem. Uproot every lie, deceit, or misunderstanding I have clung to. Open my eyes to Your Truth. Allow Your Word to speak to me, guide me, and direct my path. Help me to build my faith on You and not on the words of man. Teach me to follow You with all that is within me, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Know His Nature

1 John 4:8 NIV

[8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

John’s statement that “God is love” is often overlooked by Christians and non-Christians alike. This single phrase differentiates Christianity from all other religions. There are approximately 10,000 different religious and spiritual beliefs out there, and not one has ever claimed God is love, except for Christianity.

Our God is not like any other god in all of creation. Our God left the splendor of heaven to save us and redeem us from our sin. He didn’t just leave us up to our own devices. No. He came to us and gave Himself for us. Why? Because God is love.

He doesn’t just do acts of love. He doesn’t just say words of love. This idea of a God whose very nature is love, rather than just one who acts lovingly, separates our God from all other gods. There is no one like Him.

Out of thousands of religious and spiritual belief systems, Christianity alone explicitly states that God is love in an ontological sense—meaning that love is not just something God does, but what He is at His very core. That kind of claim is profound. This idea is so central to Christian theology, shaping everything from the doctrine of the Trinity (a God who is relational within Himself) to the Incarnation (God becoming human out of love) and salvation (offered through sacrificial love).

The uniqueness of this concept really sets Christianity apart in a way that makes you stop and think. Our God is often mocked and ridiculed for being human to die for the world, but in reality it is the single greatest example of His nature. Love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know His Nature.

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A Safe Entrance

18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.  ~ 2 Timothy 4:18

Paul was beaten, kicked out of cities and nations. He was stoned and left for dead. Paul had a rough time as a Christian, yet he still stated, “The LORD will rescue me from every evil work.” Let that sink in. When we think about the LORD rescuing us, we believe it should be physically rescued from all oppression and opposition, but that wasn’t how Paul saw it. Paul saw this physical body as just a temporary place for us to dwell until we receive that new body. So, what does that mean?

Paul understood that the world, the devil, the kingdom of darkness could do anything they wanted to his physically body, but the LORD would deliver his soul out of their hands. They couldn’t taint his soul. His soul was safe. It was secure in the hands of the LORD.

Dear LORD, thank You for holding my soul in Your hands. Thank You that I can live with the confidence that You, oh LORD God, have me and no one can separate me from Your love. Thank You, LORD. Help me to never forget this. Help me to never overlook this. Teach me to believe and put Your trust always in You, LORD God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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A Prayer Request

Romans 15:30-32 NIV,

[30] I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. [31] Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, [32] so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed.

There’s one thing the Church continuously struggles with, prayer. There’s an entire underground church that doesn’t ask for financial help, food, clothing, or even Bibles. What does it ask for? Only prayer, yet rarely do we pray for them. Rarely do we even mention them.

We have national burger day. Ice cream day. Water day. We have so many different random unofficial holidays in the US, but we don’t have a day we come together as a Church, and pray for the underground Church. Those being persecuted simply for believing in Christ and refusing to deny Him. They’re beaten. Tortured. Land and homes taken away. They’re taken to concentration camps. Why? For their belief Christ. For refusing to deny Him. For refusing to stop speaking about Him.

We are the most financially steady Church in generations, but we are the most lukewarm. We are financially rich, but spiritually poor. We don’t have the spiritual growth it takes to get on our knees and pray for one hour a day, but we can binge a show for 8 to 10 hours straight. When the Church didn’t pray, James was beheaded. When the Church prayed, Peter was saved and delivered from prison by an angel. There are countless Christians suffering right now. Their only request is prayer. How will you answer? 

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The Power To Hurt

38 You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  43 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ~ Matthew 5:38-48NIV

The quote

“There’s no such thing as safe love. Real love means giving someone the power to hurt you.”

has been living rent free in my head for a few weeks now. It’s been just replaying through my head over and over and over again. Such a difficult concept to grasp. Such a difficult pill to swallow. True love is giving someone the power to hurt you. That’s not an easy standard to live by.

This isn’t just a good sounding quote either, Christ confirms this belief. Paul told us:

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; 7 rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:5-8NIV

Let that sink. Christ gave up His Godly form, set it aside and took on the form of man. Then, died for the sins of the whole world, knowing fully well that the majority of humanity would refuse to believe. He loved even though He knew that He would be hated. His love was, is, and always will be unconditional. This is the kind of love we are to walk in.

The kind of love that allows others to hurt us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should get involved or remain in abusive relationships. What I’m saying is when we love, we shouldn’t love with the expectancy of that love being returned or reciprocated. We should love, even when someone hurts us. We should love, even when we are the victim. We should love, even when they are deemed undeserving.

If your enemy is hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. If they are naked, clothe them. Our actions should never be to return hate with hate. It should always be to return hate with love. It should always be turn the other cheek.

Dear LORD, thank You for loving me, even when I was a sinner. Thank You for never taking away the opportunity to love You. Please forgive me for all of the times I have not loved others as You have loved me. Please uproot any root of bitterness that has been planted and is growing inside of me. Create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me. Help me to be Christ to others and share Your Light with all I come across. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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A Yoke Of Slavery

13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ~ Numbers 11:13NIV

Moses had just delivered the people out of Egypt. They had been slaves for 400 years. When the burden of slavery became too hard for them, they cried out to the LORD, and the LORD answered them. He sent a deliverer and delivered them.

Now, they are free. No longer enslaved. No longer with a heavy burden that weighs them down. They thankful hearts didn’t last long. They soon began to grumble and complain. First it was hunger. Then it was that they were tired of the food they were given to eat and wanted meat. They commissioned and complained to the point where Moses had had enough, and could no longer take it.

Imagine being enslaved to the point where your baby boys are murdered in front of you. You and your family are worked tirelessly. Beaten and whipped. So you pray for intervention and when God intervenes, you’re only thankful for a short while because you don’t have the same foods as you did in slavery.

So many times God intervenes on our behalf, and we are thankful in the moment but we forget too quickly. We willingly return to slavery in order to have a snack. We trade freedom from our stomachs. Let that sink in. We trade our freedom to return to slavery.

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1NIV

19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

2 Peter 2:19 NIV

Sometimes, we trade freedom for tradition and legalism. We trade God’s freedom for manmade doctrines. Other times we trade freedom for desires. The Israelites of Moses’ day knowingly said they would rather be slaves in Egypt than follow God in the wilderness, today we do the same. We say we would rather be bound by tradition, legalism, and manmade doctrine than to be free in Christ Jesus.

Dear LORD, thank You for saving my soul. Thank You for redeeming me from my sins and giving me freedom in You. Please forgive me for each and every time I chose slavery over freedom. Please forgive each and every time I have fallen back into sin and given into my fleshly desires instead of remaining in Your perfect and holy will. I ask that You would please strengthen me and teach me. That You would uphold me when I fall, so that I might not remain down, but that I might get up and keep going. Please guide me and lead me in the path You have for my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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