Category: Daily Bread

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Pray For Your Persecutors

23  A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly. ~ Proverbs 12:23

Posting videos online comes with people hating you for absolutely no reason other than they ultimately hate God but can’t get to Him, so you’re the next best thing. We recently got a span of sixteen hateful comments from two random people (hiding behind fake names) having a conversation about how much they hate “Christ-tards” and our God. One explained that God had to be evil to create something as cruel as winter because only the rich can enjoy it, and the poor homeless people suffer. The absurdity of the messages just kind of blew my mind. How silly they sounded while thinking they were wise and enlightened beyond their years. The other made claims of how evil God is and how God Himself claims to create evil in the Bible.

These kinds of comments no longer anger me but genuinely confuse me. If you hate a religion or group of people that much, why are you watching their videos and going out of your way to let them know you hate them and their God (which, by the way, they claim they don’t believe in)? It makes no sense. There’s no reasoning in it. But that’s what happens when you allow hatred and ignorance to consume you.

Hatred is blinding and numbing. It blinds you to the Truth so that you can dwell in the lies that stir and flame the hatred within you, so you never truly realize you are even ignorant in the first place. When hatred gets a hold of you, there’s little wisdom and understanding can do to help. Now, it’s up to the LORD to change your heart. It’s up to the LORD to soften your heart, but He’ll never do it against your will. He will never do it unless you want to know the Truth and not your own twisted version of it.

What a slippery slope hatred is. One that leads to death. One that few are able to return from. Debate and Truth cannot help alone, but coupled with prayer and faith, anything is possible. That is why we love those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us, and we bless those who curse us. We do not return railing for railing, but instead we turn the other cheek, and we love, even when it’s difficult and feels impossible, we love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray For Your Persecutors.

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Don’t Burn The Harvest

37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” ~ Matthew 9:37-38

35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ~ John 4:35

There’s a term Christians use that I’m really not a fan of, and it’s the term abomination. It’s like it’s an arsenal for attack to make sure that one sinner knows how much more of a sinner they are than all other sinners. Like, look how much God hates this sin above all other sins. When in reality, the word abomination is used to describe multiple sins in the Bible, not just same-sex relations.

When we try to isolate sin and rate it as more evil than another based on our own opinions and feelings, that is when we begin to misuse Scripture to cause hurt or harm to another. When we do this, shame and self-hatred begin to consume others. Identity begins to be destroyed, and a lot of times it causes great division between them, God, and the Church. Our goal is to change lives for the better. Our mission is to win souls for Christ. Not to burn the fields, but to harvest them.

The fields are white onto harvest. Their hearts are yearning for the Truth. So many are seeking and never finding because we, as the Church, as the body of Christ, do not do our job as followers of Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Burn The Harvest.

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Prepare Today For Tomorrow

[33] I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. ~ John 16:33

When I was a child, one of my favorite movies was Matilda. As I get older, the more I liked the musical version of Matilda, as well. In it is a song called, “When I Grow up.” In the song, all the children sing about how easier life will be when they grow up.

They’ll be tall enough to reach the branches you can’t as children. Smart enough to answer questions you need to know the answers to before you’re grown up. Strong enough to carry all the heavy things. Brave enough to fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed each night to be a grown up.

This to such a sad song when I think about it. The world only gets harder as time goes on, as you get older. There’s never a point in time that we suddenly have no more cares of worries in the world. These children’s outlook on adulthood is very much like One new Christian’s ideas of Christianity, like somehow being saved will stop and end all troubles. An unrealistic and unbiblical outlook of life.

Just like adulthood, a Christian, especially a seasoned Christian, faces challenges that are difficult. That don’t necessarily have a clear answer. That take a lot of hard work and effort. That you don’t just wake up and know one day. Challenges and obstacles that take practice and preparation, time and building in order to overcome.

You’ll never just wake up are day and be good enough. You have to work at it duly Grow Train up yourself. Prepare before the obstacle comes.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare Today For Tomorrow.

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Live For The One Who Remembers

12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? ~ Ecclesiastes 6:12

Life is a really weird concept when you think about it. Every single one of us is born just to one day die and soon after be forgotten. Very few are remembered throughout the centuries, but the majority are forgotten. Their lives, stories, names, and faces are all forgotten. Lost to time. A bleak and depressing understanding of life that makes you ask the question, “What’s the point?”

When we leave life there, it honestly seems very pointless. Purposeless. A speck of dust sailing through the wind. Here one day, gone the next. But that’s not the end of the story. We aren’t just born to die and then one day forgotten. No. We are never forgotten by our Creator. Weare so important to Him that our very hair on our heads is numbered by Him.

Our words, thoughts, actions, and legacy are never forgotten by Him. Yes, man may forget us. Our bones one day turned to dust. Our names forgotten and our graves lost, but our souls, if we delight ourselves in the LORD, will forever dwell in the arms of the LORD Most High.

Yes, man will forget us, but the LORD God our Creator, Savior, and friend never will. Therefore, live your life for the one who will never forget you. The one who will never forsake you. The one who loves you like no other.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live For The One Who Remembers.

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Don’t Sleep On God’s Plans

Genesis 5:28-29

[28] When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son [29] and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”

From Adam to Noah is ten generations. Lamech (Noah’s father), when his wife gave birth to Noah said that he would bring relief to the people. Lamech didn’t know how, but he knew something was special about Noah. Something was different about this newborn baby. Lamech’s spiritual eyes were opened, and he was in tune with the Spirit.

Noah ended up being the sole reason eight persons survived the flood. Survived the punishment of God upon sinful mankind. Noah not only fulfilled his father’s prophecy about him but he fulfilled being the tenth from Adam.

See, 10 is the number of covenant. It is Noah whom God makes a covenant with because of his righteousness and obedience. It’s because of Noah that God made a covenant with all on the earth that He would never flood it again.

Noah truly lived up to his name, the prophecy, and his place in his generation. Are you? Are you living up to what the LORD has laid out for you? Yes, it’s difficult because of distractions, temptation, etc. but is that truly an excuse? Noah lived in a time that was so evil and wicked, filled with temptations and distractions that God destroyed all of them except for eight people. Noah’s day and age was difficult as well, but his desire was to please God, not please man.

Today, ask yourself, who am I trying to please? Others? Myself? God? Whose plans for my life do I want to follow? God’s or man’s? God has plans for our lives, but so does mankind. But God’s plans are for our good and not our harm. Plans to give us  and a future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Sleep On God’s Plans.

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Don’t Just Read

Matthew 1:17

[17] So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Matthew uses fourteen generations. He makes a big deal about it, so I started paying attention. 14 is the Hebrew 10 and 4. 10 is the number of covenant, and I believe 4 is the number of division or separation (kinda like sanctification).

See, in Hebrew, there aren’t separate symbols for numbers and letters. The numbers and letters share the same symbols. Each letter equates to a number; this is where the Hebrew Gematria comes from.

14 in Hebrew is also notably connected to the name David, which is who Matthew was trying to show them Jesus was the son of. David’s name is 14 in Hebrew Gematria. I thought that it was interesting that Matthew showed them that Jesus was the Messiah (the Son of David) through the numerology of their own language.

Everything in the Bible has a purpose. There’s nothing written just to be written. Just to fill the page. Matthew was showing that Jesus’ very own genealogy states He is the son of David. The rightful heir to the throne. Three sets of 14 generations from Abraham to Jesus, showing He is the promised offspring of Abraham. Two sets of 14 generations from David to Jesus, showing He is the rightful heir to the everlasting throne promised to David’s descendant.

Each and every letter has meaning in the Bible. God has written it, now it’s up to us to seek out the meaning of these things.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Just Read.

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Give Thanks For A New Year

Proverbs 27:1

[1] Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

James 4:13-14

[13] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— [14] yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Another year has come and gone. 2025 has come to an end, and today marks the first day of 2026. As we start the new year, let us give thanks to God for bringing us this far. So many didn’t make it to the new year that those of us who did should make sure we start out the year right, with thanksgiving that the LORD hasn’t just given us a new day, but a new year.

Let us not waste the first day of the year. Today, let us make a conscious effort to go before the LORD with thanksgiving and praise for all that He has done for us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Give Thanks For A New Year.

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The Benediction

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our LORD Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. ~ Hebrews 13:20-21

These two verses are the writer’s benediction over his readers. A benediction is the declaration of God’s blessings over His people. It is usually pronounced by the pastor just before he dismisses the congregation after a church service. And this, being December 31st, the last day of this Old Year, it is totally appropriate for us to declare the blessings of the LORD over you.

So, as we close out this Old Year, 2025, we look forward to a New Year, with peace, joy, hope, and the love of our God all around us, and in us. May the LORD God Almighty, the Father of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ, equip you with every good thing that you need to accomplish His will, and complete the work that He has called you to do. May His presence always be felt, His peace enjoyed, and His love eternally experienced. For the LORD is good and His mercies are everlasting.

Our Heavenly Father, we give You thanks for sending Your Son, Jesus, our Redeemer, to die on the cross so that we might live. Thank you, LORD Jesus, for loving us and being obedient to the Father. In this coming New Year, help me not to miss opportunities, nor waste time, nor ignore divine appointments, nor overlook the little things in life that You send me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Learn What Grieves Him

7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ~ Genesis 3:7-8

Genesis chapter three records the fall of man and the first thing that happened to him. Their innocence was immediately lost, and guilt and shame immediately entered in. And did you notice what the very first thing they did? They tried to cover it up by sewing fig leaves together to make coverings for themselves. But who knows that only the blood of Jesus can help us with that?

So, obviously, that did not work for them, for as soon as they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden, Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves from the Presence of the LORD, still wearing the makeshift clothes made out of fig leaves. But it made no difference. They still felt shame and fear.

It’s no different today. You know… if you have a relationship with the LORD… you know when you have grieved His Holy Spirit. You know when you’ve stepped over the line. And here’s something else: what will grieve the Holy Spirit with me won’t grieve the Holy Spirit with you. And likewise, what grieves the Holy Spirit with you won’t necessarily grieve the Holy Spirit with me. To each his own, and you had better be aware of grieving God’s Holy Spirit.

So, just as Adam and Eve were warned of the sin they were to not commit, we too are warned of the sins we are not to commit. If we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit, we best learn what grieves Him and what draws Him closer to us. It’s not for each one to simply just decide right from wrong for themselves. We have been given the Word of the LORD. We have His Word, and He has written His Law on our hearts, so we are without excuse on that final day when we will stand before the LORD and give an account of our lives. When we will have to answer to the LORD Himself for our actions. What we have done and what we did not do.

Therefore, learn the Word of the LORD. Put His Word into practice. Stir up the Spirit and His gifts. Don’t just take hope for granted. Learn who the LORD is and what He demands of each of us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn What Grieves Him.

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Pursue Holiness

Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the Lord? ~ Isaiah 42:19NASB1995

If you really take a moment to think about this statement by the LORD, it is pretty frightening. He is not talking about the blindness or the deafness of these heathens, or those who hate Him. No, God is talking about His own people, His own servants. These people who are supposed to be following and working for Him. The one who should have a close relationship with Him. But instead of closeness, we find distance. Instead of intimacy, we find lukewarmness.

Just because we claim a relationship with the Almighty God does not mean we have one. God’s people, the ones who should know Him intimately and serve Him wholeheartedly, are the very ones who are trampling the blood of Jesus underfoot and making the name of the Holy One something common. That’s why God asks the question in Isaiah 1:5, “Why will you be struck anymore?”

In other words, why continue to rebel after He has redeemed you with His own blood, and now you’re receiving just punishment, punishment that He takes no pleasure in. It is not God’s will that anyone perish, but all come to repentance. But we refuse to draw close to God because we love the pleasures of the world. Let us forsake evil and turn from lukewarmness and cling to God in pursuit of holiness.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pursue Holiness.

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