Tag: Devotional

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Care About Your Destination

13 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. ~ Matthew 7:13-14

One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite stories, Alice In Wonderland, is the scene between Alice and the Cheshire Cat. It goes as follows:

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.
Alice: …So long as I get somewhere.
The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

Some may see this as just bad advice, but I don’t really think it was. Their conversation doesn’t end there. He goes on to suggest to either go visit the Mad Hatter or the March Hare. When Alice is lost and in tears, the Cheshire Cat doesn’t just appear to her but comforts her. He then warns her of the Queen of Hearts’ temper, then shows her a secret passageway to the queen’s castle.

See, Lewis Carroll’s whole point of the very first conversation between the Cheshire Cat and Alice was that if you don’t have a true destination in mind, then the road you take doesn’t matter. If you don’t know where you want to go, how you live your life really doesn’t matter. You have to have a destination in mind. See, Lewis Carroll was a devout Christian. He was a deacon in the Church of England. His father was a highly-respected conservative Anglican church figure who heavily influenced him, especially as a child.

Everything Lewis Carroll wrote was directly influenced by his Christian faith in Jesus Christ. He knew and fully believed that there are two roads set before each of us. One that leads to life and one that leads to death. One that many are on and one that few even find, let alone walk. And if we don’t care about the destination, then the path we choose doesn’t matter.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Care About Your Destination.

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Beware The Other Attack

9 So Moses told the people of Israel what the LORD had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery. ~ Exodus 6:9 (NLT)

Notice what the verse says: they refused to listen anymore. It’s not that they couldn’t. Or that they struggled to. It’s that they wouldn’t. They flat-out refused—they would not listen anymore because of their dire situation.

Sometimes your situation and your circumstances can push you so far down. You feel like you can’t even get back up. It certainly did to the Israelites. They had become too discouraged. They didn’t feel like going to church. They didn’t feel like getting involved. I’ve got too much going on, brother. You don’t know what it’s like. You haven’t experienced this before.

That is what discouragement does—but God’s promises don’t stop speaking, even though we stop listening. Discouragement is one of the enemy’s favorite weapons—because he can’t. He cannot stop God. So, he tries to stop God’s people from listening and believing, and so he brings in discouragement. Things always seem to get worse just before they get better.

For Moses, slavery worsened. The people turned on him. Pharaoh’s heart hardened. See, discouragement makes us stop listening. It makes us doubt. It spreads like gangrene. Look at how it made the Israelites react. They stopped listening. I don’t care what you have to say, Moses. I don’t want to hear it. I’m done. They had lost hope.

See, if the enemy can get you to stop listening, he can get you to stop hearing, and when you stop hearing, your faith is stolen. So, keep your eyes on Christ. Keep your eyes on your promise. Don’t let the enemy steal your hope. Keep going. Fight for the promises the LORD has given to you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop The Enemy From Stealing Your Promises.

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Live Chosen

6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints ~ Romans 1:6-7

We are all called to a universal calling, that is, a calling to belong to Jesus Christ. And in the same way, we are all called to be saints. In other words, we are all called to A Life of Excellence.

There is no excuse for us to be mean or abrasive with each other. We are called to live holy lives. Because we are all loved by God— For God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus. It was He who died on the cross to provide us with salvation so that we would not have to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, which burns forever and ever, and the smoke of the torment of those who go there will ascend forever.

It is this calling that I would like to speak to you about this morning—a call to keep yourself holy and free from sin. Don’t believe the lie that you cannot live a holy life.

We are a chosen generation. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A peculiar people. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live Chosen.

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Beware Of The Deep

32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired. 33 On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. 34 He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride. ~ Job 41:32-34

Leviathan is a creature in Scripture that has become wildly talked about. Some use him go prove dinosaurs existed in the Bible. Others say he was a crocodile. While others claim he was just another example and description of Satan. I, however, don’t agree with any of these statements. In the book of Job, Leviathan is presented by God as a formidable foe none would dare to stand against or even rouse from sleep. But why does God bring him up?

Because God was putting Job in check. He was saying that Job wouldn’t dare rouse Leviathan or try to stand to him, so why would he dare speak against God who created Leviathan. For me, that means Leviathan isn’t just a regular sea creature or a dinosaur, but a supernatural being, like Satan (but not Satan himself).

What really solidifies it for me is that God ends his points on Leviathan by calling him king over all the sons of pride. This is a title for a supernatural being, not a sea creature or dinosaur. This now makes a little more sense why God brought up Leviathan to Job. He was warning Job not to be deceived by Leviathan.

Sometimes, our words are right but our heart is not. God said to Eliphaz that he and his two friends didn’t speak right of Him (God) as His servant Job did. Job 2:8 says Job didn’t sin with his lips. His words weren’t the problem, his heart was.

See, just saying the right things aren’t enough. Lip service isn’t what the LORD wants. Our hearts must also be right before God. When we begin to believe that because we do x, y, and z therefore we deserve x, y, and z we give a foothold to Leviathan. We give room for pride to. Build up in our hearts. See, Leviathan’s way seems right. It seems white-haired (wise) but it leads to enslavement. It leads to death. Therefore, we must watch not just our words but our hearts.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Beware Of The Deep.

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Use To Multiply

1 Peter 4:10-11

[10] As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: [11] whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

When we think of spiritual gifts from God, we often think of gifts we would deem mystical. Paul gives us a list of gifts that we most associate with spiritual gifts. Prophecy, word of knowledge, tongues, thing that sound and look spiritual. Peter, however, lists spiritual gifts that just sound regular and normal, but are no less spiritual and God-given than Paul’s list.

These gifts, listed by Peter, are more naturally born with. These are gifts that we showcase from a young age. Gifts that define who we are and direct us to our call. Even though these gifts are everyday traits, without them we could never fulfill our call. These gifts propel us forward towards God’s plan for our lives.

They aren’t meaningless, less than, or insignificant, they are like the one talent. They may look small now but if you use them, they will multiply. They will grow. And for all we know, give birth to even greater gifts than we could ever dream.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Use To Multiply.

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Swallow His Pill

Ezekiel 3:16-21

[16]  And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: [17] “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. [18] If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. [19] But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. [20] Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. [21] But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

God gives Ezekiel a very difficult pill to swallow. A very difficult charge. He tells him that if He doesn’t correct a person living in sin and they then die in their sin, their blood is on his head. In other words, Ezekiel would be just as guilty as the sinner. What a difficult call. A difficult charge.

When we read that, we kind of breathe a sigh of relief thinking that now that we are under a new and better covenant, this isn’t for us. Oh what a deception we have been led into. The new covenant wasn’t about allowing or overlooking sin, but about overcoming and eradicating sin completely.

Jesus tells us to preach the Gospel. How can we do that without exposing sin? He tells us to be the salt of the earth. How can we be the salt if we don’t ever correct or teach? Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets. How can we do that if we do not judge their actions and words against Scripture?

No where in Scripture does God tell us we are free from correcting others. That we are to overlook and ignore or embrace sin. In fact, it says otherwise. Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they led others astray and made them even more a child of Hell than themselves, instead of leading them to God. This is the charge we were given “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Our pill is no different than Ezekiel’s.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Swallow His Pill.

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Let God Rise You

14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” ~ Exodus 2:14

When Moses attempted to help and guide his fellow Hebrews, they originally rejected him. His fellow Hebrew responded, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?” I always just assumed it was because he grew up in the palace as a prince, instead of as a slave with them. While I do believe that was definitely factor, I think there might be a little bit more to the story.

See, they had been enslaved for almost 400 years by this point. They knew the different prophecies Jacob had given his 12 sons. They also knew that Moses wasn’t from the tribe of Judah, but from the tribe of Levi. See, they were looking for a savior, a redeemer to come in and rescue them. To come in and deliver them from this slavery, and here comes this palace brat from the tribe of Levi, who had just killed an Egyptian now trying to lead them.

This Hebrew knew Moses had killed the Egyptian. He knew he had grown up in the palace as grandson of Pharaoh. And he knew the prophecy of Levi. Levi was prophesied that “cursed be their anger… and their wrath… I will divide them in Jacob and scattered them in Israel.” Judah however was prophesied that “the scepter would never depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet…” I fully believe they expected their deliverer from their current slavery to be from the tribe of Judah, not a Levite who had just killed a man out of anger, just as his ancestors had done.

Sometimes people will throw your past in your face. They will tell you that you don’t fit the bill. That you’re not what they believe your call should be. That you will never live up to your call. I’m sure this later factored into the Moses’ decline to the LORD when God officially called him. He remembered this words. He remembered his past. And he allowed his own insecurities to influence him.

We all have a past. We all have insecurities. We all aren’t worthy of the LORD’s call, but that’s the beauty of it. We aren’t worthy, yet the LORD still chooses us and He rises us up to meet the occasion. Your call may feel bigger than you are, but your God will stand by you forever. And when He is for you, no one can be against you. And He will do through you what you cannot.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let God Rise You.

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Find Your Plan

Genesis 49:8-12

[8] Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. [9] Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? [10] The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. [11] Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. [12] His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

Before Jacob died, he went through and prophesied over each and every one of his sons. Starting with Reuben and ending with Benjamin. Now, when Jacob gets to Judah, he prophesied that the scepter would never depart from him. What I find interesting about this, is that the word translated as scepter is actually the word rod. The same Hebrew word given to the Son of God in Psalms 2. The same rod used to comfort the sheep of the Shepherd in Psalms 23. The same rod used to rule the nations in Psalms 21.

Jacob’s prophecy for Judah wasn’t just to be the ruler, but that God Himself would come down from Heaven, in the likeness of men, through his (Judah’s) lineage. Jacob prophesied something profound that day, even if Judah (or his brothers for that matter) didn’t fully grasp it at the time.

God has a plan and prophecy for each and every one of us. We may not know exactly what it is, but we know it is good. Because the plans He has for us are good. Plans not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future. Judah would’ve never dreamed that God Himself would be born from his lineage and likeness, but God had a bigger plan for him and his lineage. You may not think God has a great plan for you, but He does. His plans for you are achievable. They’re set before us, but it’s up to us to seek them out and follow them.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Your Plan.

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Take Comfort In Discipline

Psalms 23:4a

4 … your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

David describes the LORD as his shepherd. He even goes as far as to say that the LORD’S rod and staff comfort him. What’s so interesting about that? The rod was used for correction. David, in Psalms 21, writes that Jesus would break or rule the nations with a rod of iron. Solomon, David’s son, in Proverbs 26:3, wrote that the rod is for the back of the fool. So, how could David find comfort in the LORD’s rod?

The fool says in his heart, there is no God. See, the fool doesn’t say with his mouth that there is no God, but with his actions. David prayed, “search me, oh LORD,” “create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.” David found comfort in the correction of the LORD, not because He enjoyed punishment or discipline, but because as long as God was correcting him, he knew the LORD loved him.

It’s when the LORD says enough is enough and stops correcting, when He says okay, have it your way, that’s what David feared. That’s what David found terrifying and distressing because when the LORD turns you over to a reprobate mind. When He turns you over to your own desires and wickedness, that’s when He stops calling you to Himself.

The LORD assures us that He will discipline those whom He loves. He will correct you as a father corrects His child. This is what David found comfort in, the love of God. The relationship between God and His people. A love that corrected and disciplined, not out of wrath, but to teach and transform. To bring us back to Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take Comfort In Discipline.

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Pay Attention To What You Do

Exodus 34:6-7

[6] The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

There’s currently a bit of an imbalance in the ecosystem of Florida. Burmese Pythons, Anacondas, Lion Fish, and even Green Iguanas have negatively impacted Florida’s ecosystem. Why? Because they have no natural predators, so they breed and eat freely without restraint. That means that they are multiplying faster than other species in the area and they are consuming more than other species in the area. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time.

How’d this begin? A few exotic pet owners let their exotic pets go in the wild, fully believing it would have no impact on anyone else. When we introduce a foreign organism to an ecosystem that cannot sustain, that foreign organism begins to take over. The spiritual realm is no different.

When we open doors in ourselves through our actions, it affects more than just us. It affects those around us as well. And depending on the door we open, generations to come. So often we see generational curses plaguing families. Generation after generation. Alcoholism, abuse, addiction, greed, violence, anger, depression, anxiety, fear. We pass down spiritual doors that we don’t even realize. Things we turn a blind eye to because we don’t think it affects anyone but ourselves. But it does.

There is no such thing as an action that affects only you. Generational curses are real, so be careful the doors you open in your life and the lives of those around you. And those who will come from you in the future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To What You Do.

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