Daily Bread Archives

July 9, 2022July 27, 2022

Don’t Hesitate To Give

²⁴ One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. ~ Proverbs 11:24

Many of us walk past beggars on the street and don’t even consider giving them a dollar or two. When asked about rounding up our bill at check out and donating it to a children’s hospital or another nonprofit organization, we decline. A lot of us have become stingy with our money. Many of us say it’s because you can’t trust people, and the homeless will probably spend it on drugs or alcohol, and the organization probably doesn’t actually help anyone. But what is a few cents or a dollar?

It’s not up to you what they do with the dollar or cents you give them; that’s not your place. Your place is to give in faith that they will use the money you’ve given them to help themselves/others. You can even pray over the money before you give it or as you’re giving it that it might be used for good and not evil. For all you know, that dollar or couple cents might just be the exact amount they need to change their lives or another’s. Yes, a dollar can change a life. Yes, a couple of cents can make a difference. If it does nothing but give someone hope, then how can you put a price on that? Sometimes hope is the very thing needed to save another’s life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Hesitate To Give.

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Cling To His Grace

⁷So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Paul said that the LORD allowed a messenger of Satan to harass him. Paul never defines what the spirit that harassed him was, but many in the Church have made assumptions and theological guesses of what they could have been. The only problem is, we’ll never truly know what it was Paul was struggling with, so should we even debate over what it could have been? Could there be a bigger reason Paul kept what they were from us?

Paul is arguably the greatest apostle who ever lived; each letter he wrote was dictated to him by God Himself, so would there not be a reason to keep this hidden from us? Could it be that Paul left it to our imagination that we might insert our own struggle and have hope? Think about it: if Paul told us what the spirit tormenting him was, it would be more difficult for us to put ourselves in his shoes if we didn’t struggle with the spirit he did. Could it be that Paul was allowing us to have hope through the possibility that Paul not only struggled with the same spirit or sin that we do, but he was able to still be used by God? He was still able to be the greatest apostle who ever lived. He was still able to receive revelation after revelation.

Here’s what I’m getting at, it doesn’t matter what you struggle with. There is no sin that isn’t common to man. There is no sin that God cannot overcome and still use you. You are not your sin. Don’t allow what you struggle with to dictate your life and your self-worth. You are more precious than silver and gold. You have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. So, don’t allow other people’s opinions of who God can use to keep you from allowing God to use you. Keep fighting the good fight. If you fall down, get back up. Don’t stay in your sin; actively fight it. It may not be overcome overnight, but always remember His grace is sufficient for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cling To His Grace.

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Ignore Their View

¹⁶The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. ~ Romans 8:16–17

There is a really popular saying, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” My question is, is that what the Holy Spirit of God Himself bearing witness with your spirit, ‘that you’re just a sinner saved by grace?’ Or is He bearing witness that you have been, saved, changed, and set apart? Is He bearing witness that you are a new creation and the old is gone, dead, no more? If the old man is dead, how is it that you claim he is still alive in you? If you identify as “a sinner saved by grace,” will you not act like a sinner saved by grace?

The reality is, the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then we are also heirs of God. But not just that, we are joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with Him. Now, which sinner has Christ ever said, “Come, you are now a joint heir with me.” Let me tell you, none! He has never said that to a sinner, only a man or woman, or child of God.

Do not let someone else’s view of themselves be your view of you. You are a saint, a child of God, the blood-bought, the redeemed. You are no longer a sinner but a saint, and if you see yourself as a saint, you will act like a saint. Likewise, if you see yourself as a sinner, you will act like a sinner. Redefine who you are in Christ today.

Father, give us Your eyes to see. Give us Your ears to hear. Give us Your heart to love, that we might be rightly called children of the Most High God. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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Learn From The Past

⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ~ Romans 15:4

All Scripture has been given to us by God that we might learn and grow in Him. Even though we may not be under the Law of Moses, we can still learn from the Law of Moses. God said that the Law was a shadow of good things to come. So, let us look to the past in order that we might be thankful for the present and hope in the great future ahead of us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn From The Past.

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Free To Choose

³In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. ~ Galatians 4:3-7

The whole human race was enslaved to the principles of this world. In other words, we were slaves to sin. When the right time had come, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be born into this world with the goal of overcoming this world in order to set us free from this world. Now we are no longer slaves to sin and to this world, but now we are sons and daughters of the LORD God Most High.

We have been liberated from the world and from our sins. In other words, we have been liberated. We are free to serve the LORD God in all of His glory. It is our Independence Day, for now, the Spirit of Jesus lives in our hearts and gives us not only the ability but the authority to cry Abba Father, which would be the English equivalent of saying, Daddy.

God is now our daddy, and we are His children, free to worship. Free to praise. Free to choose whatever we feel to choose. Happy Independence Day week.

Father, thank you for Your love and Your concern for me. So much so that you died on the cross to free me from sin and from the grasp of this world. Help me not to take advantage of Your love and take Your grace for granted. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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True Freedom

¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ~ Galatians 5:13

Paul writes, “you were called to freedom.” My question is, why are we choosing bondage? Do you not know? Do you not understand that the one you serve is your master? If you serve the sin and the forces of darkness, you are a slave to the darkness. But if you choose Jesus and serve Him, He will break the chains and liberate you.

All you have to do is to ask, and Jesus will free you whatever is binding you or holding you from your freedom. This Independence Day, let us think about real freedom. Consider what it really means to be free and choose the free life.

Father, please help us to understand true freedom and to choose and live in that freedom. Open our spiritual eyes to see and understand. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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Independence Day

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³They answered Him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” ~ John 8:31–36

Did you notice their reply to Jesus’ statement about the truth setting them free?

We have never been enslaved to anyone.
John 8:33

I want to remind you that at the time of this saying, the Jews were under Roman occupation. They had a form of self-government, but they were not autonomous. Not only that but their ancestors were enslaved for 400 years in Egypt. The Assyrians had conquered and dispersed them out of the Northern Kingdom, and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army had conquered and dispersed the Southern Kingdom. They hadn’t had their own king for hundreds of years. Not only that but during the time of the judges, before Israel had a king, they were always being oppressed by some other country because of their idolatry.

But they did not let their past define who they were. They did not let circumstances dictate their self-worth or how they saw themselves. They were free men and had never been enslaved. It was not their past. They would not let it affect their future.

In his song Redemption Song, Bob Marley says:

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Redemption Song

So, let us have this mindset about ourselves. We are children of the Most High God, and we have never been enslaved to anyone, not even the devil because once you accept Jesus, you are no longer the same; the old has passed away, and the new has come, and you are now a new creation in Christ.

Therefore, if the old has passed and the new has come, you are not a sinner saved by grace. You are now a saint of the LORD God Most High. You are a child of God. This is your Independence Day so live like it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live Free.

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Choose Freedom

¹ Now the Angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,’” ~ Judges 2:1^ESV

The Angel of the LORD (Jesus) went before the people of Israel and brought them out of the land of Egypt. He brought them out of the house of slavery and into a land He had promised them. He led them to a land that He would cleanse on their behalf so that they might be free, but the people became complacent in their own sin and the sin of the land. They became comfortable in the darkness and no longer sought the light. Today, we are no different.

Jesus brought us out of the house of slavery and freed us from all sin, yet we choose to dwell in certain strongholds. And just like the Israelites of old, the strongholds pull us back into spiritual, mental, and emotional slavery. Sure whom the Son sets free is free indeed, but whom the Son sets free must not freely return to a yoke of slavery, or he will no longer be free. Don’t allow the strongholds of this world to keep you from the freedom Christ Jesus is offering you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Choose Freedom.

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Defy Culture

⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” ~ Exodus 2:5-10^ESV

The Devil planned evil for Moses. He sent a Pharaoh that would commit a mass genocide of the Hebrew boys so that they (the Hebrews) would have no deliverer to save them from their slavery. But God had a different plan. God had a will not only for Moses but for all of the people of Israel. His will was that they might be saved. If Moses’ mother had not had faith to hide her baby boy and defy the Egyptians, Moses would not have been saved, and the Hebrews would not have had a deliverer.

Today, there is a mass consensus that the Word of the LORD is hate speech. That if we speak truth, we are speaking hate. The fear of man has overtaken us, and we’ve lost the fear of God. Instead of preaching life and truth, we preach death and lies that we might fit into the world. If we defy culture and stand with God’s word, we will see a change in our culture. We’ll see a shift in the atmosphere as Paul, Peter, and all the other apostles saw. Fear over faith will only keep the world a slave to sin, but faith over fear will free many from chains and bondage.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Defy Culture.

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Play For Keeps

⁵As soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. ⁶And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, ⁷the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. ⁸Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. ⁹Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.” ~ 1 Samuel 4:5–9

The Israelites were so excited to have the Ark of the Covenant come into their camp because they knew it represented the presence of the LORD, and where the presence of the LORD is, there is victory. But they were only going through a religious phase. They were using it as a lucky charm, but they didn’t have a relationship with Him. God will not let His great name be used as a talisman. He desires to have a relationship with His people.

You cannot side with the kingdom of God, and then when the enemy attacks you with sickness, disease, cancer, poverty, or some kind of pestilence and you cannot now expect to just run out and begin to call upon the name of the LORD as aa incantation expecting the magic to just bust forth like fireworks. It doesn’t work that way. God expects you to foster your relationship with Him.

The enemy will begin to fight even harder, and like the philistines fighting the Israelites, he will overcome you, and you will lose the battle. He does not desire to be obedient to your words, but his wish is to enslave you, and he will if you don’t have the presence of God with you.

You cannot separate who you are, neither in work, nor in play, nor in politics. If God hates it, so should we. It is not a matter of choice or our way. It is God’s way or the highway. So, let us get our priorities straight and begin to serve the one true God, and not man or culture or popularity. The enemy is playing for keeps. So should we.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Play For Keeps.

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