Devotional Archives

July 6, 2021July 5, 2021

He Paid the Price

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. ~ Isaiah 53:5

He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. What does this mean? Jesus purchased our salvation on the Cross, not only what is built up in the past, but He paid the price for every sin we would ever commit in the future. He took care of every generation, past, present, and future, so that all could have the chance to have freedom through His perfect blood.

²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:22

The sacrifice had to be a pure, spotless, unblemished sacrifice. In other words, it had to be a sinless blood sacrifice so that all who were washed in the sinless blood would be cleansed. We could never clean ourselves, so God took our sins upon Himself. Because He took our sins, we can now be forgiven; we need only repent and accept His perfect sacrifice.

LORD Jesus, thank You for Your sacrifice on the cross. Thank You for paying my debt that I could never pay. Help me to never turn away from Your unfailing love. Please guide me in everything I do. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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We Have His Peace

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. ~ Isaiah 53:5

The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. This is why Jesus could leave us His perfect peace.

²⁷Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]

John 14:27^AMP

- Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.
- People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.
- Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.
- It’s not uncommon for someone with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression or vice versa
- Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder

Some folks have it so bad that they cannot function in society and have to stay locked up at home. Some can’t even go to work or go to normal places, like the grocery store or any place with large crowds. But Jesus Christ paid the price to set you free from that.

And you can be free! My daughter, Arie, suffered from anxiety and panic attacks. When she was in college, some nights would have to drive to her college and pick her up. She couldn’t order food through a drive-thru. Her counselor told her she would be on medication the rest of her life, and she would have to live with it.

But the chastisement of our peace was placed upon Him, Jesus Christ. So, Arie did a 40-day fast in January of 2019 and hasn’t taken one pill, nor has she suffered from anxiety or one panic attack since.

There is freedom in the name of Jesus! God is good!

LORD God, please help us to accept Your perfect peace that You so graciously purchased for us. Help us to always remember who You are and how much You love us. Help us to remember that no one can snatch us out of Your hand, that You have never abandoned us. You are with us always. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Hold To Freedom

In 1775 our founding fathers drafted the Declaration of Independence, their plan for our physical freedom from the tyranny of the British crown. The following year, they made that plan a reality, and today we still benefit from that declaration that all men and women were created equal with the right to liberty and justice.

Before the foundation of the world, before man or woman was created, God drafted the plan of Salvation. 2000 years ago, He fulfilled His plan through His Son, Jesus Christ, so that anyone who wanted freedom could receive freedom. Today we still benefit from the freedom that Jesus bought for us that day on that old rugged Cross. We still have the same freedom the early Church had through the redeeming and cleansing blood of Jesus.

Freedom has been given to us physically, mentally, and spiritually, yet we still oftentimes choose the spiritual slavery of sin and the physical and mental slavery of ignorance. Why? Why do we return to slavery when we were created to be free? This is the lies of the enemy; he promises us cookies and cake if we give up just a little of our freedom and liberty. But as soon as we give up a little, he takes it all, and we are left with nothing. The dark side has no cookies, no cake, no security: only darkness, hunger, and slavery.

Don’t be fooled by the deceitful tongue of the enemy; his intentions are not for your good but for your destruction. He’ll show you how unfair and difficult it is to keep your freedom, but don’t let him beguile you. Don’t let him trick you with ‘the grass is greener on the other side.’ The grass is greener in freedom. Freedom of religion, speech, and assembly. Freedom from sin and ignorance. Freedom in the Truth. Hold to your freedoms, and don’t give them up. Don’t allow the enemy to deceive you; hold tightly to the Truth that is Christ Jesus. Hold tightly to your freedom, lest it be taken from you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hold To Freedom.

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The Spirit of Que Será, Será

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

God has a plan for each and every one of us. He has good things in store for us. His desire is for our good, but if we don’t take it. If we allow our words and our actions to go unchecked, then we will miss out on all that God has planned for us. We have to tune in to God. We can’t ignore or expect someone else to speak good things into our lives. We have to do it ourselves through prayer and declaration. What we hear in the spiritual, we must proclaim in the natural.

Think about this:

God planned the world, and every one of us, before the foundations of the Earth were laid, from the eons before time began, He planned the sun, the moon, the stars, but until He proclaimed, “Let there be light,” there was no light.

When Ezekiel was taken to the valley of dry bones, nothing happened until Ezekiel began to prophesy.

This “Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” attitude we Christians have, is not a Biblical concept. This “Whatever God has for me, nobody can take it away from me” attitude is a spirit of apathy that is taking over the Church. We no longer care to fight for what God has in store for us. We just want everything handed to us, and if we miss something, we don’t care because we think, ‘well, it just wasn’t for me then.’ But is that how it is?

I want to remind you that the Israelites were led out of Egypt heading for the Promise Land. That was their promise from God. He had that in store for them, but did they receive it? No! they most certainly did not. So, who took it from them? You’re right, nobody took it from them, but disobedience and unbelief DID and WILL.

If you want to enjoy all God has in store for you, you have to slay a few giants. You have to break down a few walls. You have to fight a few wicked nations. Nothing in life comes easy. You have to fight your flesh, your spiritual attacks, and in some cases, physical and mental attacks from others. As a Church, we have to start proclaiming our blessings again. We have to proclaim our promises again. We have to get rid of Que Será, Será.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Overcome the Spirit of Que Será, Será.

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Watch and Pray

³²But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. ³⁵Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— ³⁶lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake. ~ Mark 13:32–37

What I say to one, I say to all, “Stay awake.” In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked His three companions, Peter, James, and John, to stay awake and to watch and pray so that they would not be caught out and fall into temptation.

On February 3, 1943, the troopship Dorchester went down in the icy Atlantic off the tip of Greenland with heavy loss of life. The torpedoes struck around 1 o’clock in the morning. Orders were that every man was to wear his lifejacket whether awake or asleep, but many of the soldiers ignored those orders and were caught sleeping without their lifejackets on.
Through fright and confusion, there were several men still without lifejackets after all the surplus stocks were handed out. Due to this, the loss of life was very heavy.

We have such a mandate. It is to stay awake, watch and pray. Jesus is coming back soon. He had given us our independence from sin, so we wear our salvation like a lifejacket. Do not be caught in the middle of the night when the torpedoes hit without your lifejacket on.

Dear Heavenly Father. Please help me stay awake and to watch and to pray so that I will not be caught without my life jacket on. Cover me with Your protection, and teach me to listen for and to recognize Your voice. Thank You, Father, for Your love and Your salvation, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Proclaim Your Rain

⁴¹And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” ⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. ⁴³And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. ⁴⁴And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” ~ 1 Kings 18:41-44^ESV

Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the rushing of rain.” Before we get too far into the message, I want you to understand that the phrase eating and drinking is a metaphor for celebrating. So, Elijah told Ahab to go celebrate before there were any visible signs of a breakthrough:

No distant rumbling of thunder
No flashes of lightning
There were no dark clouds rolling in
Nothing

There were no physical signs of rain. Yet Elijah told Ahab to go and celebrate because there was the sound of the rushing of rain. What’s that called? FAITH! Elijah didn’t need to hear rumblings or see a rain cloud to have faith. Why?

¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1

Simply stated:

Faith is being sure of what you hope for and convinced of the things you do not seen.

As in Elijah’s case: Through faith, while there were still no significant features, the man of God told the king to go and celebrate, for there is more than enough coming. I want you to take note of that, whatever you need, God can and will supply, and He will supply more than enough. You may not see it now, but if you put your faith in God, pray fervent prayers, and follow Him with all of your heart, He will reward your faith each and every time.

LORD God, give us the faith we need in order to see our prayers answered. Help us to put our faith in you so that we won’t worry about tomorrow. So that the things of this world won’t take us by surprise, but we will have full confidence that our God hears and answers our prayers. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Lift Your Burdens

¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Though giving thanks in all circumstances seems impossible, God desires for us to do so for our own benefit. On one of the TED Talks I listened to, a doctor told a story about a patient saying thank you to her back pain, and after a period of time saying thank you to her back pain, it eased. Just the act of having a thankful heart, the woman got pain relief.

Let me list the 7 scientifically proven benefits of gratitude for you:

Gratitude opens the door to more relationships
Gratitude improves physical health
Gratitude improves psychological health
Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression
Grateful people sleep better
Gratitude improves self-esteem
Gratitude increases mental strength

Giving thanks can bring healing in so many ways. The enemy often tries to show us the negatives of our lives so that we can focus on the pain. So that the weight of the world hangs on our shoulders, but God desires to remove that weight. When we are thankful, especially in the hard times, the burden is lifted off of our shoulders.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Lift Your Burdens.

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Cry Out to God

^48a He, [speaking of Jesus], saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them… ~ Mark 6:48a

Let me encourage you today, Jesus sees you. He knows where you are in your storm. He sees you straining at the oars when the wind of this life is against you. The Bible tells us in

Therefore He, [referring to Jesus], is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.
Hebrews 7:25

Jesus sees you in your storm, and He is interceding for you, just like He was interceding for His disciples. You aren’t alone. Call out to God, and He will calm the storm.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cry Out to God.

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Hold to the Faith

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ~ Genesis 3:1

I believe the serpent was challenging Adam, the herald for God, or at least, he was the conveyor of the Law, or the word of God “Thou shalt not eat …” In other words, he was casting doubt on the accuracy of what was passed down to Eve. “Did God actually say …?”

How do you know? You weren’t there. You didn’t actually hear God say it, Adam told you, and he could have changed it up, or left something out, or got something wrong.

You see, as I understand it, Eve wasn’t created when the Gospel was given. The law was given to the man before the woman was created. So, the Gospel, or the Law, or the word of God was handed down to the woman just as it is handed down to us. The evil one came and tried to question the reliability of the word handed down to her.

“Did God really say …? I don’t mean that your husband is a liar, but, after all, he is just a man.”

Eve answered with full confidence, relying on the accuracy of what was handed down to her. She said, “God did say …”

Although Eve didn’t quote Adam word for word, she actually added in “… nor touch it,” Eve was confident that her husband heard directly from God. How confident are you that the authors of the Bible heard directly from God? How confident are you that the Word of God is God-breathed? Your faith will be tested at some point in time if it hasn’t already, but you have to be confident in your beliefs and not give in to any doubt as Eve did. Because if you conquer, you will receive everlasting life with Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hold to the Faith.

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Focus on Your Relationship With God

¹⁶As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. ²⁰And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” ~ 2 Samuel 6:16, 20

Bullying has always been and will probably always be. There are those who will hate you and say all manner of evil about you because of that hate. There are others who are jealous of what you have, whether it is earthly possessions, or your family-love, (your home life).

They will hate you because of your relationship with Jesus. There are all sorts of reasons that will cause them to bully you, and even spread all sorts of rumors about you. But it’s not unique here in America, it’s all over the world. We all fight the same demons.

These were the words of David’s wife. Words that she intended to destroy him with. I’m sure David’s feelings were hurt, and his ego bruised. I’m also pretty sure that at the very least, it made him feel small and embarrassed.

David’s wife, Michal, saw David as less than royal. Remember, she was a spoiled princess who got everything her little heart desired. All the latest gadgets, and all the latest phones, laptops, you name it, and she had it. She had it all. But she didn’t have a worshipping spirit like David did. So, she lashed out at him, but David didn’t let it get the best of him. He looked to God. He focused on His relationship with God. This is what we have to do when people try to bully us. We have to overcome evil with good by looking at our relationship with God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Focus on Your Relationship With God.

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