Category: Daily Bread

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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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I Need A Change

13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ~ Romans 2:13-14

It’s not those who merely hear. It’s not those who only listen. It’s those who, after hearing, obey. They are the ones who will be justified. The word “justified” carries rich legal, relational, and future weight in Paul’s thought. It primarily means “to declare righteous,” “to acquit,” or “to vindicate.” It is a courtroom term. God acts as Judge and issues a verdict of right standing. Paul is not saying here that God has transformed us into righteous people on the inside; he is saying God declares us righteous before Him.

That distinction matters. You can sit in church every Sunday and Wednesday. You can hear hundreds of sermons and teachings. But if the Word never moves from the ear canal into the heart and into actual obedience, you remain unchanged—and the verdict of “righteous” does not rest on mere hearing.

At some point the teaching must become practice. If it doesn’t, there is no real change. Jonathan Edwards put it plainly: “The salvation that does not change me will not save me.” A simple way to move from hearing to doing is to ask two questions after every sermon, every Bible reading, every time the LORD speaks:

“What are You saying to me, LORD?” “What is one concrete way I can and will obey this today?”

And keep inviting God to search you:

Search me, O God, and know my heart today. See if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. Help me to overcome evil with good. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

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Outwitted By Satan

11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. ~ 2 Corinthians 2:11

In the animated Western comedy, Rango—a sheltered chameleon—accidentally ends up in the desert town of Dirt, where he invents a tough gunslinger persona. He quickly becomes the town’s sheriff after accidentally killing their arch-nemesis—a hawk. But things take a turn for the worse when he uncovers a dark and sinister plot against the citizens of Dirt… He discovers that the water shortage is no accident but part of a scheme by the corrupt mayor.

We too have what we can consider a corrupt mayor; his name is Satan—the devil. The Bible states that he stalks around seeking someone to devour. But Paul says that we are not unaware of his schemes. Meaning, we know what he is up to, because the Word of God tells us what he is up to: He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. If your things are being stolen- your time, your finances, your relationships, and what have you- it is most likely the devil. You are working really hard, but something that should take you an hour takes you two, and you can’t figure out why—there’s an enemy stalking around, seeking someone to devour.

In the movie Rango, it was their corrupt mayor. Behind his polite, grandfatherly smile, he was deliberately starving the entire town of precious water by secretly shutting off the emergency valve on the water pipeline and thereby creating an artificial drought that turned fertile land into worthless wasteland, and the citizens of Dirt had no clue.

It’s the same with us. The devil masquerades as an angel of light, but he brings darkness wherever he goes. He turns green, lush pastures into barren wastelands that soon become worthless. He comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He presents himself as benign, but all the time he is scheming and plotting. Paul said we are not unaware, but to be unaware, we must first acknowledge that there is a devil and he is alive and active. Second, we must not be intimidated to attribute to him what is his—theft, death, and destruction. But we have a steady and faithful promise from our God: when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit will raise up a standard for us, and will fight on our behalf when the enemy is too strong for us. So, let us believe, and let us seek the face of our God and turn to Him with all our hearts.

Father, we ask you to bring us relief. We are battered by life’s storms; we are harassed by spiritual forces, and we are unaware of the enemy’s schemes. Please open our spiritual eyes to see clearly, so that our prayers may be more specific. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.

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Do Not Choose Corruption

26 There the ships sail about; There is that Leviathan Which You have made to play there. ~ Psalms 104:26NKJV

In Job 41, God describes Leviathan as a fierce foe. Psalms and Isaiah both paint a similar picture, yet that wasn’t how it was when God created Leviathan. He wasn’t created evil. Yet his purpose was corrupted at some point; the Bible doesn’t say when, but it does paint a corrupted creature. I say this to say that all things were created good with a purpose. Even now, enemies of God.

Each person is created with a purpose. A good purpose from God, but we can corrupt ourselves. We can corrupt our purpose, just as Leviathan did. Just as Satan did. We are all given free will. Free will to decide what we will be and who we will become. God said, today I have set before you life and death, so choose life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Not Choose Corruption.

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Crucify Pride To Grow

18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. ~ Proverbs 16:18

Lately, little snippets from shows like Kitchen Nightmares have been popping up on my reels, and one thing that I’ve noticed is most of these restaurants are failing because of pride. Any kind of criticism sends them off the deep end, and they attack the customers, staff, Ramsey, anyone who shows them the error in their ways. They’re hot-headed, quick-tempered, angry, unteachable people. And when their business fails, they don’t understand. They can’t comprehend why it failed. So, they have no other option but to blame everyone except for themselves. Taking responsibility is something they struggle with; I’ve yet to see one do so.

In life, we are going to make mistakes. We’re going to fail, but we have to learn from those failures. From those mistakes. The only way we can do that is by acknowledging that it was, in fact, a mistake or failure. Then we learn from it. Whether that new knowledge comes from a new understanding that you see, or from someone else explaining or showing you, it doesn’t matter; you are still learning.

As humans, we have to be able to take responsibility in order to grow. Without growth, we become stagnant. We begin to stink to those around us. We no longer fulfill our purposes in life. Therefore, we have to accept responsibility in order to grow. In order to move forward in life. To some, taking responsibility is difficult. It feels like you’re ripping yourself to shreds, and in a way you are. You are ripping down your flesh. Crucifying it. Putting it into subjection, so that pride will no longer have a place in your life. So that anger will no longer control you. So that you might not be stagnant in life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Crucify Pride To Grow.

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People Most To Be Pitied

19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:19

Paul explicitly says that we have hope not only in this life, with our needs being met, or maybe every now and then God will throw in a little bonus, and we will receive something that we strongly desire, but we also have the Great Hope of living in eternity with Him. For all though we die, we will live again. Although we, or one of our loved ones, may close our eyes to what seems like eternal sleep, it is not forever, because we have hope not only in Jesus for this life alone but also for the life to come. The early believers referred to it as the Blessed Hope.

That is what Paul was endeavoring to get the Corinthian believers to understand. If we hope only in this life, that is futile; it’s pointless. For what will it profit us to work and labor at something that is perishing? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then everything that we’ve slaved for will also perish the moment we die. Or at best, our heirs will inherit. But Paul is saying, “No, we have a greater hope than that. Our hope is in Christ, the giver of life. Therefore, death will not break the bond, nor will it cancel our hope in Him. He will resurrect the dead. In other words, He will raise to life all those who have died knowing Him as LORD and Savior, and they will receive the crown of life that gives them the privilege of living forever with Jesus.

Therefore, know that your labors are not in vain in the LORD. He is coming back for the living and the dead who have accepted His free gift of salvation. So, rest in the assurance that we have more than a mere hope in this life alone, but also in the life to come. Otherwise, we would be people most to be pitied.

Heavenly Father, please increase our faith. Be our stronghold, and our mighty tower. Create in us a heart to worship and a mind to seek first the kingdom of heaven. Be our strength and our shield now, LORD. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.

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Commit Your Way To The LORD

5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. ~ Psalms 37:5

Sounds simple, yet it’s very profound. It’s much deeper than just a casual prayer or a momentary surrender. It’s a deliberate, life-changing act of placing the direction of our lives—our hopes, our dreams, our struggles, and our plans, along with our daily steps—into His hands. It means letting go of the steering wheel of life and allowing God to take the lead—easier said than done.

When we commit our way to Him, we are saying, “LORD, have Your way in my life. Do with my life as You will. Let Your Will be done in my life.” We choose to trust that His path is better than the one we have mapped out for ourselves. We are inviting Him to lead us toward the victories He has prepared—victories that may look different from what we expected, yet prove far richer than anything we could accomplish alone.

Trust is the constant companion of commitment. It is impossible to fully commit to someone you do not fully trust. The verse does not stop at just handing over our plans. It calls for us to forsake our own instincts and ideas, and to fully lean on the One who sees all and knows all. Trusting God means resting in His character even when the road ahead is unclear, and believing that He will make the right decisions for our best eternal interests. It means believing that He is both willing and able to bring to fruition everything we have placed in His care. We will believe as Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1:12, …for I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.

Listen, what we entrust to God does not just vanish into silence. He takes our surrendered desires and works them according to His good and perfect wisdom and timing.

This is the beautiful exchange at the heart of the verse: we give Him our total obedience, and He works everything to our good. Not always in the manner or moment we prefer, but always in the way that leads to true flourishing. It is a win-win situation. We are freed from the exhausting burden of self-reliance, and God receives all the glory as He fulfills His purposes through our yielded lives.

Perhaps today you stand at a crossroads—facing a decision, carrying a long-held hope, or wrestling with uncertainty. Hear the gentle call of Psalm 37:5. Commit your way. Trust Him. Then watch with expectancy as He begins to unfold what only He can accomplish.

Heavenly Father, help me to submit my complete will to You. Help me to commit all my ways to You, that You might have full and complete control in my life and so lead me into paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake, in Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.

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Exclusive Faith

3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us” ~ Ezra 4:3

Listen to what Zerubbabel declared concerning a secular, and if I may say so, heathen king: “We alone will build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” Zerubbabel was not being unkind for the sake of pride. He was making a clear and necessary distinction. Those who approached them were not part of the covenant people. They had no rightful share in the work. Therefore Zerubbabel and the leaders with him refused their help. The rebuilding of the house of God would be done by those to whom the command had been given, and by them alone.

We who belong to Christ also have a mandate from our King and God. He has commanded us to preach the Good News of His kingdom in all the world, so that people may hear, believe, and accept the sacrifice of our LORD Jesus on the cross of Calvary. In this way His Church is to be built upon the firm foundation of Jesus Christ and His shed blood. The work is holy. The foundation is exclusive. No other name is given under heaven by which we must be saved.

Yet in our day we often act as though the opposite were true. We want to include all those who have no genuine part with us—Muslims, Hindus, those who blend other religions with a claim to follow Christ, and anyone who prays to other gods. Because we are politically correct, we are afraid of offending anyone. Therefore, we become so inclusive that we will not exclude anyone, no matter what. We treat a simple profession—“I am a Christian, I believe in Jesus”—as automatic inclusion, regardless of lifestyle or unrepentant ways.

But Jesus Himself warned us that this is not how it works. Not everyone who cries “LORD, LORD” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will claim His Name while remaining strangers to His authority. True faith requires more than words. A person must forsake and leave behind all falsehood and wickedness. He must come to Jesus to have his sins forgiven, and his heart sprinkled with the shed blood of the Lamb. Then he must live for the LORD exclusively, because Christ has purchased us with His own death and resurrection and has given us eternal life. There is no room for divided loyalty.

Heavenly Father, I come to You asking for Your forgiveness. Teach me Your ways that I might serve You with a pure heart and clean hands. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.

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A Dangerous Orchid

6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. ~ 2 Timothy 3:6-7

14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:14

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. ~ Hosea 4:6

I recently learned that there is a certain type of Praying Mantis that lures its prey to them by mimicking an orchid. The Orchid Mantis, native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, doesn’t hunt down its prey; instead, they lay wait, near/on an Orchid or disguised as an Orchid themselves. When a pollinator comes expecting to pollinate a flower, they are immediately grabbed, pinned, and then devoured by the mantis before they even know what really hit them. What looked like good quality nectar (food) was actually their death in disguise. We, humans, are much like this.

There are so many people searching for Truth, but never coming to the Truth. They fall for false prophets, teachers who have an appearance of Christianity. A likeness of Christians, but don’t have fruit. The Truth isn’t in them. There are false prophets that cause their followers to go into a trance-like state where they go outside and eat grass like an animal. Then laugh at them and mock them from the pulpit with the rest of the congregation. Others dish out hundreds to thousands of dollars for the promise of a healing or blessing. They seek Truth, but never seem to find it.

I believe it’s because, much like the pollinators that fall prey to this mantis, they don’t study the source of the Truth. If the pollinators were to pay attention to true Orchids, they’d be able to distinguish between them and the Orchid Mantis. If those seeking Truth would study The Scripture, they’d be able to distinguish between Truth and Lies. They’d be able to distinguish between Life and Death. Just as the Orchid Mantis doesn’t have to hunt down its prey, neither do these false teachers and preachers. They attract them with empty promises and empty words. False signs and false wonders.

So, pay attention to who you follow. Pay attention to what you study. Seek The Truth of God. That means studying His Word in order to more accurately examine what others are saying. Compare their words and teachings with the Scriptures. If it contradicts, run. If it cannot be proven in Scripture, do not accept. Don’t allow yourself to become a pollinator consumed by a Praying Mantis disguised as a beautiful Orchid.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Pollinate Every Orchid.

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The Person In The Mirror

19 As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. ~ Proverbs 27:19

King Solomon uses an everyday picture—the reflection of a face in still water—to teach a deeper truth. When we look into a mirror, we see an exact representation of ourselves. What we see is the same face everyone else sees. In the same way, Solomon says, a person’s heart reflects who they truly are. What is inside—our motives, desires, attitudes, and character—eventually shows itself in our words and actions.

There’s a funny scene in the movie Daddy’s Home 2 that illustrates how easily we can miss this. Brad is trying to give his co-dad Dusty some hard truths. He points him toward a mirror and says, “The only person who can ruin your Christmas is looking back at you from that mirror.” The problem is, because of the angle, Dusty only sees Brad’s face staring back at him. They keep adjusting the mirror, but every time Dusty looks, it’s still Brad. Finally, Brad gives up in frustration and says, “Forget the mirror exists!”

Brad’s point was clear: the only person who could spoil Christmas was the one looking back from the mirror—not his dad, not anyone else. Yet Dusty kept seeing someone else—Brad.

We often do the same thing spiritually. We look in the mirror of our hearts, and instead of seeing ourselves, we see someone else’s face. So, we shift the blame: “It’s their fault… my childhood… my parents… my circumstances.” We refuse to take responsibility for what is actually in us.

But Proverbs 27:19 will not let us off the hook. The heart of a person reflects the person. No one else gets to dictate the condition of our heart. The face we must face is our own. So, let us look straight into the mirror—honestly, without excuses—and take responsibility for what we see. Then, by God’s grace, we can repent, learn, grow, and move forward in Christ.

Heavenly Father, help me to look honestly at my own heart. Give me courage to take responsibility for my own actions, attitudes, and words. Change me from the inside out, and help me grow more like Jesus. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.

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