Daily Bread Archives

July 16, 2023July 15, 2023

Watch What You Grow

²⁴Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. ²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. ~ Acts 18:24-26

In a TBN interview with Donnie McClurkin, Steve Harvey said, “That it is just my job, everybody has a job to do, and my job is playing music. I play artists like Lil Wayne…and you know when you listen to Lil Wayne, you have to get saved all over again.” So then, why are you still playing those kinds of songs?

Listen, I’ll tell you what John Cougar Mellon Camp said in his song Rain on the Scarecrow. He said,

Calling it your job Ole Ho’se sure don’t make it right,
But if you want I’ll say a prayer for your soul tonight.

Calling it your job doesn’t make it right. When we get saved there are things we use to do, and there are things we don’t do anymore. There are things we use to say, and there are things we don’t say anymore. We put off the old and put on the new. Let me break this down a little bit for you. This is how absurd this mentality is:

That’s like a doctor working in an alcoholic’s recovery place trying to help get young people off alcohol, but he also has a night job as a bartender selling these same young people he just got off alcohol or is in the process of getting them off alcohol. After handing them their drink, saying something like, “Remember your appointment tomorrow at the Alcoholics’ Recovery Center.” It’s that absurd.

The interviewer, Donnie McClurkin (a long-time Christian), just laughed and accommodated it. This is the temperature of the Church today. We no longer want to correct because it’s judging, and judging is bad. We, as Christians, are called to judge the fruit (Matthew 7:15-20), the actions of others, in order to distinguish between sheep and wolves in sheep’s clothing. If we remove all forms of judgment, then we’ll all be spat out of the mouth of Jesus.

That’s what’s lacking today. Mentors. People make mistakes, and people need guidance, but sometimes those very ones that are supposed to be guiding us need to be guided themselves (Hebrews 5:12). The same people we are supposed to look up to and follow their example are the same people who lead us astray. They exploit their own notoriety and influence to support folks with agendas that are in direct conflict with what the Bible lays out as the right way to live.

I want you to understand that what you believe is what you support; otherwise, you are a hypocrite. What you support is what you sow, and what you sow is what you will reap. Therefore, sow good fruit, and you will reap eternal life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch What You Grow.

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Look For The More Accurate Way

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. ²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. ~ Acts 18:24-26

Although Apollos was eloquent and competent in the Scriptures. He was fervent in spirit and taught accurately and boldly the resurrected Jesus, but Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and discipled him, taught him a more accurate way.

They were not jealous of his talent, or threatened by his eloquence, or even taken back by his boldness; they saw Apollos’ as a fellow worker and one in need of a little discipleship.

Notice also that Apollos was not insulted by their interest in him or their taking him under their wing, so to speak, for a time in order to teach him a more accurate way.

This is the kind of discipleship we need in the Church today. Not blasting someone on a YouTube video filled with hatred for views, but honest correction out of love. And in return, we need to be able to take correction when we are shown the error of our ways. We can’t allow pride to keep us from growing and understanding. Why? So that we might grow in the LORD. If we stop growing, we’ll become stagnant, and our spiritual life will suffer for it. Bearing fruit and growing in the LORD are how we please Him and grow closer to Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look For The More Accurate Way.

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Measure Your Love

¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. ~ Romans 13:10

Our spiritual temperature depends on the amount of love we have in our hearts. It’s the root of all other fruit and the foundational block of all gifts. Without love, we have nothing, not even salvation. Why? Because love fulfills the law. Therefore, if we don’t have love, we can’t please God.

Fear is overcome by dwelling in the love of God. Faith is powered by dwelling in the love of God. Patience is built up by the amount of love we have for others. Joy is founded on the love we have for God. Everything is founded on love. If you are struggling in an area, ask yourself:

Do I need to love God and the things of God more?
Do I need to love my neighbor more?
Do I need to love myself more?

Love fulfills the law. Therefore, love, and you will grow in the LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Measure Your Love.

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Enjoy The Feast

⁵ You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. ~ Psalms 23:5 ^NLT

I never thought about the table that was prepared in the presence of our enemies as a feast before. Feasts were celebrations and commemorations of future promises soon to be fulfilled. What does that mean for us?

It’s like when we’re surrounded by doubt, fear, grief, anger, and all manner of spiritual and physical attacks, the LORD prepares a feast for us, reminding us of our past victories and our future promises soon to be fulfilled. That’s why hope is so important.

Without hope, those things won’t encourage us. Those promises won’t lift our hope. Those past victories won’t strengthen our faith. Why? Because without hope, we have no faith. And without faith, not even God can move in our lives. Therefore, we must all cling to hope and be encouraged at the feast God prepares for us in the presence of our enemies.

It’s like that song says:

All I need is a memory of a victory
Like a stone in the sling
All the times that you fought for me

Sometimes all we need is a feast prepared for us to be encouraged and strengthened, but here’s the catch. God is faithful, but we aren’t always. Oftentimes, we get distracted by the enemies surrounding us and the situation we’re in to even notice the feast prepared before us. So, what do we do? We shift our focus. We focus on God instead of the world. We focus on God’s promises instead of the world’s trials and tribulations. We focus on God’s Truth instead of the world’s lies. And in doing so, we will cling to hope.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Enjoy The Feast.

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Answer His Call

²⁶ Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met Him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” ~ Luke 8:26-28

When wolves are separated from their pack, they howl out in pain. They howl because they’re separated from their family and loved ones. This is like us.

Our soul howls for God when we’re away from Him. We’re depressed, angry, broken, diseased, and in pain. Our soul is howling out in pain because it’s separated from God, just like that wolf.

The man with Legion was fully demonized and couldn’t even speak, but yet when he saw Jesus, He ran to Him and fell at His feet. His soul was howling for freedom.

Our soul cries out for God and gives us each day as a new opportunity to run to Him and throw ourselves down at His feet as the man with Legion did. And as our soul cries out, God calls back to our soul. He knocks on the door of our heart day and night.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Answer His Call.

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Build Up Your Spirit Man

⁸Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ~ 1 Peter 5:8

Have you ever played any type of Mario game? Ever noticed the little boos, the circular ghosts…? Ever noticed when they attack? The only time they will approach you is when your back is turned to them, making your character unaware of their presence. As soon as your character turns around, they will back away, slowly fading so you no longer see them. This is the same way the enemy works.

You will never be attacked while you’re on guard, ready for him to come your way. Instead, he will only come when your guard is down; when you’re unknowing; when you’re confused; when you’re preoccupied with other things; when you’re weak.

Matthew 4 speaks of Jesus being tempted. Remember when He was tempted? It wasn’t right after praying. It wasn’t when He felt strong, powerful, and filled with the Holy Spirit. It was after fasting for forty days and forty nights. He was hungry. He was tired. He was weary.

Have you ever gone all day without eating and then felt so weak you couldn’t walk, talk, think, or focus, and you’re all confused…? Imagine not eating for forty days and forty nights. That was Jesus. But Jesus relied on His spirit man who was well-seasoned and prepared for defense.

We are each Mario in this scenario, and our spirit man is the player controlling Mario. The spirit man can see the enemy attacking, but we can’t. If we build our spirit man up, as Jesus had done through prayer, worship, reading and studying the Scriptures, and fasting, then our spirit man will be able to guide us through our attack.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build Up Your Spirit Man.

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Meditate

⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. ~ Joshua 1:8

You know, when it comes to meditation and Christians, there are really only two main groups. The Christians that look at meditation as pure Satanism and want nothing to do with it. Then there are those Christians that just embrace anything that is the new popular. The everything goes Christian. I think that they’re both, in a way, wrong. I think that every Christian should embrace and focus on meditation. But only Christian meditation. What do I mean?

I’m not talking about yoga or any other Eastern meditation. I’m talking about Christian Meditation. This is very important for a person to grow as a Christian. Why? Because the Bible tells us so. If we have to meditate, but only Christian meditation, how do we do that? Three words.

Worship. Seek. Listen.

First, you worship. How do you worship? Well, worship can be defined as a few different things. According to Reverend Kenny and Celia Yates, worship is:

Acknowledgment and exaltation of who God truly is.

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

In other words, you have to bring forth a sacrifice. Back in the day, the Israelites had to kill a lamb, a goat, a cow, etc. But now you sacrifice yourself. Not your literal physical self, you’re your spiritual self.

You set a specific time for God and stick to it no matter if there is a new episode of your favorite show on TV, or you just don’t feel like it, or you’re too busy, etc. It’s about shutting out the world and focusing on God. Once you set a time and you’re about to start your quiet time, try playing worship music so that you can get your mind prepared.

This a time when you invite the Holy Spirit into your home. This is the time of humbling yourself in the astounding presence of God and truly acknowledging Him as the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Jehovah-Yasha (LORD my Savior). So your worship can be seen kinda like opening a door to go somewhere. When you start worshipping and singing and praising God, that’s opening the door, but you still gotta walk through the door.

This is where seeking comes into play. You cry out to Him. You pray. You SEEK after Him. A lot of times, as Christians, we wonder why stuff happened the way it did and why we didn’t get this or why this happened. It’s because, for the most part, we didn’t put it in His hands.

² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

James 4:2

If we just put our desires before the LORD with good intentions, we’ll receive what we have asked for. So now we’ve reached our destination. We’ve walked to the door. We’ve knocked on the door. Now, all that’s left is to wait for someone to open the door. This is where we listen.

Sometimes, we forget to listen. Listening is more than just sitting there and waiting to hear the audible voice of God. Because for the most part not saying He wouldn’t, but for the most part, He speaks to us through His word. So you read your Bible, and when you read, really think about what the verse is saying. If you focus and pay attention to the words instead of what you’ll be doing after this, you’ll hear from Him. I’ll leave you with this,

⁷ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Meditate.

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Battling Sin

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ~ Galatians 5:19-24

Many of us have the desire to know how to battle sin so that we can begin to dive into spiritual warfare, but we don’t want to lay the foundation in order to be successful. Before we can battle sin, we have to make the conscious decision to carry our cross and follow Jesus regardless of what the world says or does to us.

If we decide to follow Jesus, we must understand the difference between right and wrong. They’re broken up into the desires of the Spirit & the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5 explains that we have both flesh and Spirit. The Spirit is our desire for God. The flesh is our desire to sin. But over the years, the majority of us have built up our flesh and starved our Spirit.

This is why when we become convicted of our sins, it’s so hard to break free. We have this idea in our heads that once we accept Jesus, all desires of the flesh will be gone, but that’s not the way it works. We have to go through trial after trial, battle after battle, until we have finally crucified our flesh.

After we make that decision to follow Jesus and carry our cross regardless of our situation, circumstance, surroundings, etc., we have to do an honest self-evaluation. But because we’re human, we’re going to overlook certain things about ourselves. So, what are we to do? Pray and ask God to search us. To show us anything that is in us that we need to change. Anything in us that we need to remove. When God shows us something, then we go into battle and take each fleshly desire down one desire at a time.

We fast. We pray. We read our Bibles and memorize verses that build us up and defend us against temptation. Then we make sure we don’t give the Devil a foothold into our lives. We stop going to places, hanging out with people, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, etc., which caused us to sin in the past. We change our lifestyle to match the commands of Christ Jesus.

This is a lot easier said than done, and it’s not going to happen overnight. But if we continue, we are promised that we will overcome sin because Jesus has already overcome the world. We can’t just pray and expect God to do all of the work; we have to meet Him halfway. We have to do something. We have to fight.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Battle Sin.

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Think of Others

³⁶For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen. ~ Romans 11:36

All things were created by Him and for Him. Jesus is the Creator, and it was for His glory that He created everything. So, don’t get caught up in this neo-pagan idea of we are little gods and everything revolves around us. God said He will not share His glory. When interpreted correctly, that means: We, God’s creation, are not partakers in the glory that belongs to Him alone.

So, we are to value others above ourselves in all humility. That means we are to stop looking out for number one. Stop investing in our own best interests only. Why? Because we become selfish. If we aren’t the ones benefiting, we don’t want to do it. “Let me pray about it” becomes our freedom chant. It becomes our words of wisdom, Proverbs 32:1 “Leteth thou me, prayest about it.”

Each one of us is to take our eyes off of our own interests and place them on the interest of others. If the Church of Jesus Christ would only do that, we would not have all the division in our churches. But the problem, at least it seems to me, is that we believe that it’s our life and we have a right to feel this way or think this way. We have a right to look out for our own best interests because, after all, nobody else will.

But think of it this way. If Jesus bought and paid for you with His own blood on the Cross of Calvary, then you belong to Him, and you are no longer your own. And if this is the case, and we believe it to be, then do you not think that Jesus knows how to look out for the best interest and will look out for the best interest of what belongs to Him?

He does not need help taking care of what belongs to Him. Therefore, if this is the case, and your life is indeed not your own, then it is not about you. If you are going to grow in the LORD, you must understand that it is no longer you that lives, but Christ who lives in you, as the Scriptures teach us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Think of Others.

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Convict Me LORD

⁴³ Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! ~ John 8:43 NLT

Jesus sounds befuddled, if not frustrated. I can imagine Jesus throwing His hands up into the air and sighing deeply, “Why can’t you understand what I am saying?”

Jesus was trying to explain the way to eternal life. Jesus is the only way to eternal life. He is explaining deep, spiritual things to them and was amazed that although they heard the words, they could not, or would not comprehend them. Jesus soon realized that it was because of the hardness of their hearts, which were blinded by sin.

Sometimes it’s the same with us. We read the Bible, and the Holy Spirit will try to get our attention on something that we just read, but we’re too preoccupied with reading and getting it over and done with that He can’t penetrate our focused attention. Or we sit through a sermon that is aimed directly at us, but we look to the left and the right, and we point our finger. And Jesus replies, “Why can’t you hear what I’m saying to you through the preacher? You’re not even listening to my Spirit. You’re not even feeling the conviction.”

We have to be vigilant and pay attention to what the Spirit is saying. It’s not always the person next to us but the person looking back at us from the mirror.

Heavenly Father, it is not my brother or my sister, but it is I who is standing in need of prayer. Help me to feel conviction and be ready to change so that I can be a better servant, LORD Jesus, for it’s in Your name I pray, amen.

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