Daily Bread Archives

June 10, 2020June 10, 2020

Obey To Trust

“⁸Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.” ~ Isaiah 26:8

Isaiah equates trust to obedience. If God is good, then wouldn’t His laws be good? Wouldn’t they be for more than just keeping us from having fun? God tells us in Jeremiah 29, that His desire for us is good. He wants us to prosper and to have a fulfilling life. God has a plan for each and every one of us. So why don’t we trust Him enough to obey Him?

As a child, I often heard the words, “If you won’t listen, you’ll feel.” In other words, if you aren’t going to trust that I know better, that I know that what you want to do will lead you into harm’s way, and you refuse to listen and heed my warning, then you will feel the pain I am trying to keep you from. Like children, we lack trust because of the over-inquisitive curiosity that is in us. We can’t help but think that the grass is greener on the other side. That somehow, those things that we see others doing is better than the promises God has for us.

We lack trust in God. See, the law wasn’t created to stop us from having fun. The law was created so that we may have life and have life more abundantly. See God knew how each action would affect us and where it would lead us to, so He created boundaries for us so that we didn’t swim too far out into unchartered waters where we can drown, be attacked, or get lost. These boundaries aren’t just so that He can control us; these boundaries are our protection so that we don’t have to go through unnecessary pain and suffering.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Obey To Trust.

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Abide In His Love

“⁹My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and my bones tremble. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone overcome by wine, because of the holy words the Lord has spoken against them. ¹⁰For the land is full of adultery, and it lies under a curse. The land itself is in mourning— its wilderness pastures are dried up. For they all do evil and abuse what power they have. ¹¹‘Even the priests and prophets are ungodly, wicked men. I have seen their despicable acts right here in my own Temple,’ says the Lord.” ~ Jeremiah 23:9-11

During the time of Jeremiah, not even the prophets and priests, the holy men of God, were living their lives according to God’s Law. They not only lived in sin, but they led others to live in sin as well. They led the nation of Israel away from God. They justified their sins and the sins of the people with reassuring Scriptures that they took out of context. They painted God as a God of only peace, patience, love, and mercy, instead of a God of righteousness, holiness, and justice. They taught a version of God that justified sin, instead of the God who demands His people flee from sin, so that they would not corrupt themselves and their land. Because of this, their punishment was severe.

Today, we are following in the same paths of these false prophets and priests. We no longer call sin, sin, but instead, we justify sin by saying, “God understands,” “My Jesus loves everyone,” “You cannot judge, only God can judge.” We no longer stand for what is right, but instead, we fall into the demands of culture, falling prey to their beliefs and their feelings. We no longer hold to the morality that God set, but instead, we have created our own morality. Yes, God loves everyone, yes, God is a God of mercy, but God is also a God of righteousness.

God’s underlying love that He has for all of creation can only do so much for you. Just as a father cannot stop his son from being jailed for his crime because the son didn’t call the father who could pay his bail, our Heavenly Father cannot pay our bail, our fine, our debt, because we have yet to come to Him and ask. So, the love of our Heavenly Father can only do so much if we refuse to abide in His love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Abide in His Love.

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Be The Ax In His Hand

“¹⁵But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself?” ~ Isaiah 10:15 ^NLT

We are God’s vessels. It’s not by our own power, strength, smarts, or skill that we succeed in life, but it is by the grace of God that anyone receives anything good. For all good gifts come down from the Father of Lights. So, praise the LORD for He is good. He gives to all of humanity, including the wicked. We are nothing without God, just as an ax is nothing without the one who wields it.

So, allow God to use you. Allow Him to take you into your Promised Land. Allow Him to show you all that you are capable of achieving through Him. God wants to take you to the next level; all you have to do is allow Him to do so. Don’t fight God; put your trust in Him. Don’t let fear, pride, anger, or anything stop you from the plan that God has for your life. For no matter how much wisdom we have, nothing we plan for ourselves could ever match what God has in store for those who listen to His voice and follow the path He created just for each of us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be The Ax In His Hand.

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Focus On Your Eternity

“⁷Listen to me, you who know right from wrong, you who cherish my law in your hearts. Do not be afraid of people’s scorn, nor fear their insults. ⁸For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing. The worm will eat at them as it eats wool. But my righteousness will last forever. My salvation will continue from generation to generation.” ~ Isaiah 51:7-8^NLT

Don’t be discouraged when you are being persecuted, insulted, and excluded because of your faith. Jesus came to Earth to give all of mankind life, and they not only persecuted Him, but they also crucified Him. But He wasn’t discouraged. He did not allow His countenance to fall, for He knew in whom He trusted, and He knew the plans that His Father had for Him and the entire Earth.

When the world attacks you, don’t be discouraged because God is for you. He will bring you through this persecution, through this pain, through this suffering. Your treasure isn’t here. Your home isn’t here. Your reward isn’t of this world because you are not of this world, which is why the world will never accept you as its own. Both Peter and Paul understood this, which is why they both tell us to rejoice in persecution.

Our reward is Eternal Life with Christ, Jesus. No more pain. No more suffering. An Eternity where only love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control abide. So, let us not focus on our current persecution, for as Paul said, this is only light affliction to what is to come.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Focus On Your Eternity.

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Let Him Clean You

“⁶All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.” ~ Isaiah 53:6

No one is perfect. God didn’t get off of His throne to die for the sins of only some people. He didn’t pay the debt for only certain sins. God died and paid the debt for each and every sin known to man. Past, present, and future, doesn’t matter. God paid for them all.

We should’ve been the one on the cross, but instead, Jesus took our place. He took our punishment so that we didn’t have to. We don’t have to go through Eternity without Him; we can receive forgiveness for every sin we’ve ever committed. All we have to do is repent and confess. That’s it. Repent for our sins and confess that Jesus is LORD. We don’t have to live broken, fearful, ashamed, living in bondage because of our sin; Jesus came and paid our debt. There is no sin too great for God. There is no one too dirty for Him to clean.

You don’t have to clean yourself before going to Him because you can’t clean yourself. The whole point of going to Jesus is to be cleansed by Him. If we try to clean ourselves, it would be about as productive as washing a dirty body with a muddy rag. We can’t fix ourselves. We can’t clean ourselves. We can’t heal our own wounds. Only our creator can fix His creation. A broken pot cannot repair itself; it needs the potter to come and make it new. We are the broken pot, and God is the potter.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Him Clean You.

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God Remembers You

“¹ But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” ~ Genesis 8:1

After God punished the Earth, He remembered Noah. God didn’t leave Noah alone. He didn’t forget Noah. God sent a wind, so that the waters could be removed, and Noah and his family could exit the ark and enter into the new world that God had washed clean for them.

God may remove you from a situation that you’re in, but could it be so that He may cleanse the land of wickedness and bring you to a new land that is not corrupt so that you can thrive? God doesn’t change, and if He remembered Noah, He will remember you.

So don’t be discouraged by your current circumstance, for God may be creating for you a new world to flourish and grow. Not every loss, is a loss. Not every break, is a time of punishment. Sometimes God removes you from a situation, so that He can bring you into a better one. And when the land is ready for you, God will remember you and bring you into your new land.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Encouraged.

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Death Where Is Your Sting

“³Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow. ⁴Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘Please, Lord, save me!’ ⁵How kind the Lord is! How good He is! So merciful, this God of ours! ⁶The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and He saved me. ⁷Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.” ~ Psalms 116:3-7

Death has called each of us by name. It had each of us in bondage and prepared a gravestone to mark our eternal prison cell. But LORD God heard the cry of His people and came to us. He got off of His throne, willingly took our abuse, and then died in our place. He took our gravestone and wrote His name. He took our prison cell and He filled it. On the third day, He broke down the prison cell, destroyed the gravestones, and took the keys from Death. Death has been defeated. The Grave has been overcome. We have been freed.

So, when we say ‘Oh Death where is your sting? Oh Grave where is your victory?’ It’s not just something just for so. When we say this statement, we are declaring the victory of our LORD Jesus Christ. Because He was resurrected, so shall we be. Because He lives forever, so shall we. So, praise The LORD for He has given us the ultimate gift, Eternal Life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Praise Him For He Did Not Abandon Us.

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The Ropes Have Been Cut

“¹From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me. Let all Israel repeat this: ²From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me. ³My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows. ⁴But the Lord is good; He has cut me free from the ropes of the ungodly.” ~ Psalms 129:1-4

The Church has been persecuted from its foundation, but it has never been and never will be defeated. It will never be destroyed. We have cuts and bruises, but God is faithful. Our God is good. Our God has redeemed us from the world and cut the ropes of our enemies so that they could not keep us in bondage. We are never without Him, for He does not abandon us, nor leave us to fight our own battles. Praise the LORD for He is our great defender.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Praise Him For The Ropes Have Been Cut.

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Conduct The Cross-Examination

“¹⁷The first to speak in court sounds right— until the cross-examination begins.” ~ Proverbs 18:17

Don’t just believe everything that is taught simply because it is the first explanation you hear. Don’t just take people’s word for it, do as the Bereans did, and go and search the Scriptures daily to see if what you are being taught is Scriptural. The Bible promises that the Holy Spirit will guide us and teach us, so, give Him opportunity to do so.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Conduct The Cross-Examination.

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Seek After The Power

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” ~ Acts 2:1^KJV

The disciples had been praying earnestly for ten days, and when Pentecost came they were all together, in accord, in one place. They were unified. There was no division between them. And as they waited, the Holy Spirit infilled them. They began speaking in tongues, Peter preached a fiery message, and 3,000 got saved. They were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

How many of us can say that their household comes together and prays earnestly? Or comes together and is unified? Or that they come together and wait for the Spirit to come? We pray for miracles, signs, healings, etc. but we don’t do the beginning. We aren’t empowered. Yes, while we are saved, we have the Holy Spirit, but we don’t have the power. The power has to be sought after, waited for, and we have to be in unity to get it.

When we do these things, we will see miracles happening before our very eyes. We will see the healing of the sick, the oppressed finding peace, the depressed finding joy, and the lost being saved. We will be able to preach through the Power of The Holy Spirit and it will quicken the hearts of all who hear the message.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek After The Power.

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