Daily Bread Archives

January 14, 2021January 12, 2021

Be Love

“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:8‭-‬13

We often get caught up in the desire of the wicked to be punished, but what does that get us? Why do we seem to take pleasure in others being punished as if they deserve it more than we do? We were sinners, just like them. We deserve Hell just like them. It was only the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ that separated us from them. Yet, we still feel a satisfaction in the wrath of God. Why? We lack love.

Love has escaped our languages. Our theologies. Our culture. And our daily lives. What good is it to be a great prophet, preacher, teacher, athlete, policeman, firefighter, parent, etc., if you don’t have love? Without love, we have nothing. We can have the faith to move mountains, heal the sick, raise the dead, but what are we if we don’t love? We are the representatives of God Almighty, and God is love. So strive today to be LOVE to everyone.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Love.

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Following Jesus: Evangelize

“¹⁹And He said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” ~ Matthew 4:19

In part 1 of ‘Following Jesus’, I asked a question, “Could it mean to follow Jesus is to do what Jesus did?” Then I noted the two things that Jesus did the most; pray and evangelize. Every day Jesus was either in the Temple preaching and teaching or going from town to town preaching and teaching. Jesus said to follow Him, and He will make us fishers of men. In other words, He will help us to evangelize. How do we evangelize?

Jesus tells His disciples in Acts 1:8 that they will be His witnesses. And that’s the key. We have to witness. But how do we witness? All we have to do is to tell someone what Jesus has done for us. Jesus told the demoniac in Luke 8:39 to go home and tell how much God had done for him. The result was, the next time Jesus was in town, all the people came out to see Him. There is no right way or no wrong way to witness. All you have to do is tell how you use to be and how Jesus has changed your life for the better. It’s not your job to convict; that is the Holy Spirit’s job. Your job is to tell how much the LORD has done for you.

So, let me be clear because I know a lot of Christians don’t like to evangelize. They don’t like to talk about Jesus outside of Church, but how would we win the world to Christ if we don’t? The world tells us to be quiet; it is not politically correct to speak that name. Well, Peter and John were told that same thing. They were even beaten, thrown into prison, and yelled at, but they replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God” (Acts 4:19). In other words, Peter and John were saying, “This is our only responsibility, our act of worship. This is what we are called to do, and we don’t want to be found not doing what we are supposed to be doing when our Savior comes again.”

Let me tell you if you want to see God’s glory; if you want to hear from Jesus, you must do these two things. You have to pray, and you have to witness. You will never see miracles until you begin to witness, and you will never be the most effective witness until you engage in prayer.

Father, give us the desire to witness. Give us the boldness and the confidence to witness. LORD direct us to the person You would have us witness to today. Let us not miss the divine appointment You have set for us. We want to be found doing what You have commanded us to be doing when You return. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Following Jesus: Prayer

“¹⁹And He said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men’” ~ Matthew 4:19

Could it mean to follow Jesus is to do what Jesus did? And the two things that Jesus did the most were: pray and evangelize. Notice what Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” When we follow someone, we essentially walk in their footsteps. Today we will take a closer look at prayer. Why we Christians find every excuse not to pray is beyond me. We let secular thoughts invade our prayer time, we let to-do-lists cut our time with God short, and the list goes on and on.

So what exactly is prayer? In a nutshell, it’s a two-way communication with God. It’s the time we spend with Him to pour out our hurts, our needs, our anxieties, our dreams, and our hopes. It is the time when we seek out direction for our lives. David, the man of God, had his whole family (his wives, his children, and all his possessions) stolen by the enemy. Our first instinct is to go after them. David’s first instinct, after weeping and mourning his loss, was to ask God for direction. “And David inquired of the LORD, ‘Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?’ (1 Sam 30:8a). And David got a clear answer. “He (God) answered him, ‘Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue’” (1 Sam 30:b).

This was not a fluke. Why, such a clear and definitive answer? David described himself as a man of prayer in Psalm 109:4. This was a way of life for him, not something he did only out of desperation. So, how do we get started? First, we find a place of prayer. Second, we set a time of prayer. Most pastors say that if you’re not a morning person, then set your time of prayer to night time. I’m not here to agree with the logic or wisdom in that, or the lack thereof.

What I’m saying is, Jesus got up early in the morning; before the sun came up, He was found to be in prayer. David declares in Psalms 3:5 that God will hear his voice in the morning. Could it be that we would rather schedule our time around our own likes and dislikes and our own schedules instead of scheduling around God’s desire? God wants our first of everything; I believe that includes the first of our day. Instead, we give it to the espresso machine or the coffee maker. But either way, begin with prayer at the time suitable for you, and let the Holy Spirit lead you into growth from there.

Father, give us a desire for prayer, and with the desire, teach us to pray. Help us not to let the enemy distract us from the time we should be spending with you. LORD, teach us to listen to Your voice, that we might get direction. And help us not to give up but to be diligent and consistent in prayer. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Walk Into The Room

“You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.” ~ Haggai 1:6-7

The people of Israel were more concerned with their own lives, their own homes, their own success more than they cared about the Temple, or God, or His will, or His Kingdom. Why does this matter? They put themselves above God; in doing so, they separated themselves from God. In doing so, they walked away from God. By walking away from God, they walked away from His blessing. They were no longer receiving the blessings that God had bestowed upon them. Their success began to dwindle because they walked away from God.

We still do this today. Church takes a back seat to sports, sleep, family time. Prayer takes a back seat to T.V., books, videogames. God takes a back seat to our lives. We remove ourselves from His presence and still expect the blessings that come from being in His presence, from being in His will. We pray and don’t get a response because we’ve walked away from Him. It’s like walking out of a room, closing the door, and walking down the stairs while talking and then blaming the person you’ve locked in the room for not responding. God can’t hear you unless you’re in the room with Him. Unless you’re in His presence, God can’t move in your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Walk Into The Room.

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The Pride of Rehoboam

“When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.” ~ 2 Chronicles 12:1

Throughout the Bible, it is evident that when people were weak and down-trodden, they called and depended upon God and obeyed His commands. But as soon as He blessed them with strength and prosperity for keeping His commands, they abandoned Him, His commands, and His people. That is just like us today; nothing has changed.

The sad part is, we know that our strength and prosperity come from Him, but we choose to abandon Him because, after a while, we somehow become delusional, thinking we, the man/woman, had accomplished all these things on our own. We become spiritually asleep.

We close our eyes to the things of the LORD and awaken our flesh and pride. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall. Our pride will lead us straight to destruction because it wasn’t us who got us all that we have. It wasn’t our strength. It wasn’t our wisdom; it was the blessings of God. And when we try to remove God from the equation and do it on our own, we destroy all that God built. Affecting those around us, those that work with/for us, our families. When the stronghold of pride takes over, there’s only one thing that can save you from destruction, submitting entirely to Jesus.

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Double For Your Trouble

“Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.” ~ Zechariah 9:12

How fitting is it that the name Zechariah means “God remembers.” Although some of the exiles had returned and Zerubbabel rebuilt the Temple, Israel was still in captivity. But in the midst of broken dreams and oppression, God said, “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope…” This means that despite the chaos and confusion of unfulfilled hope, people still had hope that their God would relent and restore their fortunes. Their hope was not wasted, for God said He would restore double.

Look at how the NLT translates it:

Come back to the place of safety, all you prisoners who still have hope! I promise this very day that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles.
Zechariah 9:12 NLT

Where is the place of safety? It is God. Who are the prisoners of hope? The people who still held on to their hope in the LORD. Now God is saying, “Get ready, my people, for your time has come, and I am about ready to repay double for your trouble.”

This is the year 2021. I believe God is saying to a lot of prisoners of hope, All that you’ve lost. All that was stolen from you. All that you unknowingly gave away, I am about to restore all that to you, but not only that, I am going to double it. Give you back twice as much.

Are you a prisoner of hope? Although your dreams look like they are dead and there is no light at the end of your tunnel, are you still holding on to hope? Keep on believing, and let 2021 be your year. Let it be the year your hope is fulfilled, and all your dreams come true.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Your promises. Thank you that you do not leave us nor forsake us, but you come to us in our time of trouble, and you restore us in our time of need. I pray for every reader today that this year, 2021, will be a year of restoration and hope reborn. Let dreams be fulfilled, and prayers answered in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Drive Them Out

“²¹No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord, your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. ²²The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise, the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. ²³But the Lord your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed. ²⁴He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will be able to stand against you, and you will destroy them all.” ~ Deuteronomy 7:21-24^NLT

Often times, fear will try to overcome us. It will show us everything we aren’t and everything we can’t do, but God sees it for who we are and who He is. He is God Almighty, and you are His child. Fear tries to get into your head and tell you how long it’s taking. He’ll whisper lies of deceit, telling you that it’ll never happen because there’s just too much for you to overcome. There’s just too much for you to have to fight. They’re too big, and you are too small.

But look one more time at what God told them: “do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord, your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. ²²The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise, the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you.” So, don’t be afraid of attacking your strongholds that are holding you back because they’re too big. Or the ‘unmovable’ obstacle that’s been in your way for years. God’s timeline is perfect; don’t allow instant gratification coupled with fear and doubt take away the blessing and the promise that God has given you. He will drive out all of the strongholds, obstacles, failures, etc., before you; you simply have to trust Him and not be afraid, but instead, have courage and faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Drive Them Out.

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Abound In Hope

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” ~ Romans 15:13

Paul refers to God as the God of hope. Often times we search for hope in other places, our friends, our family, other peoples’ stories, and I’m not saying those things are bad, but why not go straight to the source? Why not go straight to God?

When you go straight to God, you’re believing Him and putting your trust in Him. When you do that, He can then give you peace and joy when things go wrong because your faith has grown. Once that happens, then your mindset will change, the way you see the world will change, the way you react to situations will change because you no longer see the glass half empty; you see it half full. You see the world through hopeful eyes.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Abound In Hope.

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Our Own Timetable

“The head cupbearer then spoke up and said to Pharaoh, ‘I just now remembered something—I’m sorry, I should have told you this long ago. Once when Pharaoh got angry with his servants, he locked me and the head baker in the house of the captain of the guard. We both had dreams on the same night, each dream with its own meaning. It so happened that there was a young Hebrew slave there with us; he belonged to the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams and he interpreted them for us, each dream separately. Things turned out just as he interpreted. I was returned to my position and the head baker was impaled’ Pharaoh at once sent for Joseph. They brought him on the run from the jail cell. He cut his hair, put on clean clothes, and came to Pharaoh.” ~ Gen 41:9-14 msg

God had given Joseph a dream and a promise, but it was taking a lot longer to come true than he had hoped. But God was keeping watch over His Word to ensure it would come to past, and He does the same thing today. Therefore, if God has given you a promise, wait for it, though it lingers, do not give up or lose hope for it will surely come to past. It awaits an appointed time and will not prove false, nor will it delay, but God’s Word will accomplish everything He has sent it to accomplish.

Our Heavenly Father, help us to hold on to our promises and not to give up. Help us to refrain from setting our own timetable because the righteous will live by faith. No more stumbling and doubting because of our unfulfilled dreams. For we know the day will come when the dream becomes a reality no matter how big or how small our dream is. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Look Away

“¹³As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.” ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:13

As Christians, we see the world and everything that we cannot do. Sometimes we look at them in envy. We look and see their grass, and we believe that it’s greener than ours. They seem to be more successful. Life seems easier. More tolerant. More likable. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side; sometimes, that’s the Devil tricking you. Playing on all your flesh desires. Whispering in your ear, showing you all that you don’t have and will never have.

As Christians, we are under constant Spiritual Attack. Paul writes, “do not grow weary of doing good.” In other words, don’t grow tired or bored of following Jesus. Of being the good Christian. Of turning the other cheek. Of living a morally sound life. Don’t get tired of it. They may seem like their enjoying life now, but this life is only temporary. What they have now, they can’t take with them to Eternity. Look towards eternity, for your reward is great. This life and its troubles won’t last forever. Look towards eternity. Build up treasure for yourself in Heaven, for where your treasure is, so your heart is also.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Away From Their Grass.

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Tag: Daily Bread

Be Love

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