Tag: Devotional

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How Will They Hear?

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ~ Romans 10:13-15

We don’t mention Jesus to coworkers in our workplaces because of fear of “political correctness.” We focus more on conforming to “Political Correctness” than on submitting to “Obedience to God.” We avoid the two most important issues in life, Religion (Because religion affects our eternity) and Politics (Because politics affects our here and now).

These are the two most important issues that we should be discussing, but yet they are the least discussed… They are the two topics that we try most to avoid. And in so doing, we are kept silent, by our own freewill, and the political boat is not rocked, and thus we conform.

That leaves an open door for the powers-that-be to do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want. Because nobody can discuss it. Because it’s impolite. It’s rude. It’s disrespectful. It’s offensive. It’s too controversial. It’s politically incorrect.

So, we avoid those two topics like the plague. We keep our distance when the politically incorrect talk starts up. But in so doing, they ensure our silence by us policing our own selves. They don’t even have to do a thing; we do it all for them our own selves…to their delight.

Because, after all, we don’t want to be offensive. LORD forbid. We don’t witness to anyone because that would offend the person. We don’t mention the name of Jesus because someone from another religion might be offended, and we wouldn’t want that. But think about this, would you rather be offended? Or spend eternity in a burning Lake of Fire?

As for me, please offend me and save my soul. And let me spend eternity with Jesus in a place of blissfulness with peace, joy, and pleasures evermore. With all my needs supplied. Listen, no eye has seen, no ear has heard all that God as instore for us who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). Jesus has marvelous things in store for us. He has glorious things in eternity for all who love Him and for all who seek Him, but yet we are afraid to tell because we don’t want to offend.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and How Will They Hear?

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Are You Sharing?

11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. ~ Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

What is Solomon talking about? Death. No one knows the hour or the day when death will come calling and eternity comes crashing in. The American novelist, short-story writer, and the 1954 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the late Earnest Hemingway, had a fixation with suicide, especially after his father shot himself in 1928. He was reported as saying, “I’ll probably go the same way.”

The Hemingway family is not known for their strong religious beliefs or for their steadfast faith in the LORD Jesus. But instead, they are known, first of all, for Ernest Hemingway’s writings. But they’re also known for alcohol and drug addictions, depression, mental issues, suicide, and sexual molestation.

When that happens, despair sets in because Jesus is the only hope for a future. It’s only through the power of His Name and the cleansing of His blood that can break such family curses.

God said:

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11NIV

Our hope and our strength are found in the LORD. Beware of despair, it breeds darkness as it did the Hemingway family. A generational curse. Earnest Hemingway committed suicide in 1961 at the age of 61. As did his father before him, Clarence “Ed” Hemingway, in 1928. Ursula Hemingway, his sister, also took her own life. As did his brother, Leicester Hemingway. His other brother, Ernest Hemingway Jr., also died by suicide. His granddaughter, Margaux Hemingway, committed suicide in 1996. Mariel, Margaux’s older sister, contemplated suicide herself.

God has put eternity in the heart of mankind, and we cannot get away from it. Without Jesus, the future is bleak and dark. There is no hope; deep down, we feel hopeless because we are. Whether or not those without Jesus will admit it, there is a longing for stability, hope, something more than what this life can offer. It’s a longing for something to fill the void. And only Jesus can fill the void. Because the void is in the shape of a cross.

The world is trying to fill that cross-shaped void with sex, drugs, music, entertainment, social media, alcohol, and the like. They’re searching for eternity because God has placed eternity in the heart of mankind. They don’t understand the longing, the emptiness, or even the loneliness. The world needs Jesus, and they don’t even realize it.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I didn’t share Your Gospel of hope with others. Please forgive me for all the times I kept Your Word to myself. Please give me the boldness, wisdom, and love to share Your Word with others. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Be A Participant

17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” ~ 1 Peter 4:17-18

Please note that he did not say that the righteous will not be saved. Or that the righteous cannot be saved. But instead, he said that they are scarcely saved. Meaning this is not a spectator’s sport. We are not here to sit on the bench and watch. We are expected to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

Jesus gave His Church a mandate to go into all the world and tell the Good News of His death and resurrection. And we are to baptize and make disciples of all who believe. There are no couch-potato-Christians. There are no armchair Christians. We are expected to get up, stand up, and win souls for the LORD before Eternity Comes Crashing In.

His coming will be like a thief in the night, you do not know on which night or at which hour He will come back. Therefore, we must watch and pray that we are not found slumbering or without oil to trim our lamps, as was the case with the Five Foolish Virgins.

You cannot say that they were not saved because they were. They even had on their wedding garments. They looked the part, but they had no oil with which to trim their lamps. They had no growth. They were only spectators and not participants.

Listen … Jesus is coming back for participants, and not spectators. Which one are you? Are you a participant? Or are you a spectator? Do you look the part only? Or are you being the part? I’m not trying to insult you. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m not trying to place doubts in your mind.

What I am suggesting, however, is to take an inventory of your life. Evaluate your actions. Assess your purpose for Jesus. Do not let that day catch you unawares or unprepared, with no real treasure stored up in eternity. You do not want to be broke here and be broke there… that’s if you make it in at all.

We are not saved by works, but we are certainly saved to work. Adam was placed in paradise, the Garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it according to Genesis 2:15. We are fellow workers, not general spectators. Therefore, get up and start working before Eternity comes Crashing In on you, and you are caught with no real treasure in eternity.

But it all starts with Jesus. There is no life. There is no hope. There is no future without Jesus being first in your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Participant.

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Flee Vanities

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

It sounds as if Solomon is saying these temporal things are all going to end in judgment when God calls every secret thing, whether good or evil, into account. Also, did you notice what Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, highlighted in his conclusion?

He said:

… Fear God and keep His commandments … For God will bring every deed into judgment …

Everything is vanity or is meaningless in this life if it is not connected to eternity. Our whole duty is to fear God and keep His commandments. In other words, work for eternal things. Work to store up real treasure that will last forever and ever, safe and secure, far away from inflation and thieves. In other words, it is meaningless, a vanity of vanities to work for treasures that do not last and are not secure.

Solomon is advising young people not to get caught up in things that will not last because not even your youth will last. The days will come when the pleasures of life will no longer yield their bounty for you. Your eyes will grow dim. Your hands will tremble. Your legs will grow weak. Your teeth will fall out. Your taste for good food will fade. And you will no longer desire marital pleasures. Temporal things are like chasing after the wind. It’s all meaningless, utterly meaningless. Unless, of course, you’re working for eternity, which lasts forever. For without Jesus, everything is vanity, meaningless, utterly meaningless.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Flee Vanities.

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Remain Sméagol

7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. ~ Genesis 4:7

One of my favorite characters in The Lord of the Rings series (that’s including The Hobbit) is Gollum. Now, to many people, including my mother, that’s insane. She sees him as a horrible, creepy character, but honestly, I see him as a character that represents the majority of humanity. Gollum, for those of you who don’t know who he is, is the original owner of the ring, well, he’s the owner that Bilbo got the ring from. Anyways, Gollum is deformed and crazy, all because of this ring. So, this ring has created a dual personality within him. One of almost innocence, like a child, and one of pure evil and wickedness.

This ring gives anyone who wears it the ability to turn invisible to all. Now, the ring also causes the owner to be driven mad; the more you use it, the more you lose yourself to the ring. This is much like the world today. The more we give into sin, the more we lose ourselves to sin. The more we are deformed and driven farther and farther away from the person God created us to be. When we just look at the outside, it’s easy to dislike and want judgment for the wicked. It’s easy to look at Gollum and hate him, but if we take a moment to actually look at Gollum, we’d see he’s nothing more than a lost soul who has been corrupted by the thing he loves most. And because it corrupts him, he also hates it.

That is the same with us and sin. We love and hate it all at the same time. We struggle back and forth with it yet ultimately give in the majority of the time. It becomes a never-ending struggle that we will be unable to overcome on our own. I think J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit) said it best:

He [Gollum] will never be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself. Sméagol’s [Gollum’s original name before he found the ring] life is a sad story. Yes, Sméagol he was once called. Before the Ring found him. Before it drove him mad.

Gollum was never intended to be a character to be despised but a character to be pitied, for he represents the dangers of giving into sin’s desires and not ruling over it. This will be a never-ending battle for the rest of our lives unless we submit a new master. Unless we fully submit to Christ, we will all lose ourselves, just as Sméagol did.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remain Sméagol.

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Uproot It

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. ~ Hebrews 12:15

The Israelites, whom Moses and Aaron brought up out of the land of Egypt, their tracks were supposed to lead to the Promised Land. It should have been an eleven- or twelve-day journey, but instead, it took them forty years.

Why? Because they let their circumstances dictate where their tracks would lead them.

When you lean too much to one side, you start getting off course. If you lean too much on the bad circumstances, you will become bitter and cynical, and that is what happened to those Israelites.

They let cynicism creep in, and a distrust of God rose up in them because of the root of bitterness that sprouted, and they let it grow.

The root of bitterness sprung up in the hearts of those Israelites, and they did not deal with it; rather, they became cynical and began to doubt God, which not only defiled them but also disqualified them from entering the Promised Land.

It’s not “Que Sera, Sera.” Just because God has something for you doesn’t mean you will get to enjoy it. Each and every one of our actions determines the outcome of our lives. They determine whether or not we will reach the end of the plans the LORD has for us or not. Therefore, doubt and unbelief will disqualify you from the promises of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Uproot It.

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Don’t Twist

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. ~ Romans 5:12

Paul specifically states that sin entered the world through Adam and death through his sin, but the Ruin Reconstruction Theory says that death and destruction were already here way before Adam, making the Biblical account inaccurate. Now, I wonder how that teaching came to be.

Its purpose is to reconcile the atheistic, scientific propaganda of a 4.54-billion-year-old Earth with a literal reading of the Bible. Their aim is to align Scripture with science instead of aligning science with God’s Word. But truth and lies will never reconcile, and disinformation will never align with Scripture.

Please understand that these are the same scientists who say that there is no God and man, meaning You. Me. Us. The whole human race. Evolved from apes, that they are trying to align Scripture with. Think about that. And even knowing this, some Christian theologians will fight tooth and nail to defend a belief invented to prove that there is no God and to prove Scripture is inaccurate.

There is only one Truth. That Truth is the Word of God. Therefore, if the world contradicts the Word of God, we are not to try to manipulate and twist Scripture in order to force it into the false truth of the world. The Word of God should be our foundation for Truth not an obstacle we have to try to get around.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Twist.

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For Others

53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels? ~ Matthew 26:53

Jesus was in the crucible. But notice, He was not fighting to get out. The Father had a purpose for Him there. It was for our benefit. My benefit. Your benefit. Your loved ones’ benefit. And my loved ones’ benefit.

If Jesus had prayed to get out of the crucible, and the Father had indeed rescued Him, there would be no salvation for us. There would be no way for us to be saved. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

The crucible is important, but do not be confused. Some things are God-ordained, and some things are simply our own fault. I’ve heard people say that they had to go through a certain situation, like a divorce so that they can minister to others. But that is simply not the case. That is definitely unbiblical.

God does not have to put you through a divorce, something that He hates, for you to give comfort to others. They say things like, “The Scripture says to comfort others with the comfort you’ve been comforted with.”

Well, let us see exactly what that Scripture says:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

It says …in any affliction… It does not necessarily have to be the same affliction; it is the comfort that is important.

Therefore, we use the same comfort that we ourselves have been comforted with to comfort others. It’s the same comfort that we received from our heavenly Father no matter the affliction because His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). It’s all about Him. It’s all about His grace. It’s all about His mercy.

His grace, no matter the situation and no matter the circumstance, is more than enough to comfort those who mourn or those who are hurt. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do For Others.

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Proselytize

3 Even though the people were afraid of the local residents, they rebuilt the altar at its old site. ~ Ezra 3:3aNLT

The LORD God had mandated that the time had indeed come to rebuild His house. They had the finances. They had the skill. They had the help. They even had the Temple vessels for worship because Cyrus had given them back. But still, no one was doing anything about it, including Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest. They were all too busy building their own homes, planting their own vineyards, starting and running their own businesses. They had gotten caught up ‘in life.’

Yes, they had rebuilt the altar and were sacrificing on it. Yes, they were even celebrating the Feast of Booths in the seventh month, but the Temple…not so much. It hadn’t even been started. Here is why. Fear! It was because of fear! Fear had gripped their hearts. Fear had stayed their hands. Fear kept them quiet. Fear stopped God’s work.

Why do we not witness? Because of fear of persecution. Why are we silent about issues that the Church should be involved in? Because of fear. Why do we not speak up about the insanity of so many different genders, although we know that it is not of God? We don’t speak up because of fear. Although we know that the Scripture says that those who do such things will be condemned; still, fear keeps our mouths shut.

Listen, God said that He made man in His own image, male and female He created them, therefore, there is no other choice, it’s either male or female that is it, nothing else. You are either a man or you are a woman. You cannot be both, and you cannot change from one to the other or to anything else, for that matter. What you have is what you are.

It’s not about your feelings; it’s about the Creator and Judge of the whole earth, and He’s coming back soon. And it’s His laws that we will be judged by, not man’s. Therefore, share the Gospel. Evangelize. Disciple. Lead through action. Let Christ live through you so that on that final day when we stand before the Throne of God, we will hear the words “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Proselytize.

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Your Response

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. ~ Job 2:7-8

I want you to understand that at this time, Job is already in the crucible; it’s already hot, but now the fire, or the heat, is turned up even hotter. Satan went out from the presence of God and struck Job with painful boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. In other words, there was no part of Job’s body that did not have a painful boil with pus oozing from it.

He had sores from head to toe that hurt and itched, so much so that he sat in ashes and scraped himself with a piece of broken pottery, trying to get some relief from the itch and the pain. When Job’s three friends heard all that had happened to him, they came to visit him so that they might bring some comfort to him. But they did not expect what they saw. Job was barely skin and bones. His affliction was so grievous that they did not even recognize him.

When they did see him up close and saw how great his suffering was, they tore their robes, sprinkled dust on their heads, and lifted up their voices and wept for him. When Job’s friend realized how great his agony and his misery were, they couldn’t speak a word for seven days and seven nights. They just sat on the ground with him, hoping to comfort him in all of his grief.

It was so bad that earlier, Job’s wife had said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) But Job replied to her in verse 10:

10 … “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job 2:10b NKJV

This is the proper response when in the crucible. “Shall we accept only good from God? Shall we not also accept the bad as well?” This was not something that Job just inadvertently came up with off the top of his head. No, he was prepared. He had decided beforehand that he was in it for the long haul. That no matter what, he had decided that he would follow God and be obedient to Him.

We have to understand and admit that a lot of life is lived in the crucible. The fire may not be turned up as hot as it was turned up for Job, but we live a lot of life in the crucible. The rent is due in three more days, and we just don’t have it. A loved one was just diagnosed with terminal cancer. An unfortunate accident just claimed the life of someone you held dear. These are some of life’s challenges. They’re not easy to deal with, but with God…it’s a different thing because Jesus changes everything.

We also have to acknowledge that there are many innocent people who have been brutally hurt or severely injured by malevolent people who have no respect for life, nor do they care about others in general.But as harsh as it sounds, you can overcome that. No matter what life throws at you, with the right attitude you can overcome. All things are possible for one who believes (Mark 9:23b).

These are the words of Jesus Himself, when a father had brought his son to Him to have a demon, that tried to kill the boy on several occasions, cast out. The father had said to Jesus, “…if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us (Mark 9:22b).” With Jesus in our life, we can do all things.

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