Tag: Devotional

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Let’s Rethink

11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ~ Genesis 29:11

In today’s world, we have an idea of what masculinity is. An idea that strong men should never cry, they should never show emotion, but when you read the Bible (both New and Old Testament), you see something different. Throughout Scripture, you see the men of the Bible weeping. They wept privately and publicly. In front of their wives, families, parents, friends, crowds. They wept.

They didn’t hold in the pain, the suffering. They didn’t bottle it up and try to just ignore it, pretending it didn’t exist. Look at the statistics of the suicide of men in the US.

Male suicide in the United States is at a significantly higher rate than those for women. For instance, in 2023, the suicide rate among men was approximately 23 per 100,000, nearly four times higher than the rate for women (about 6 per 100,000).  This disparity has persisted for decades, with men accounting for 79% to 80% of all suicide deaths in the U.S., despite making up only about half the population.

Suicide rates are highest among men aged 75 and over, with a rate of 42.2 per 100,000 in 2021.  Rates have also risen sharply among younger men, particularly those aged 25-34, increasing by 30% since 2010. Men in certain occupations face elevated risk. Construction and extraction workers have the highest suicide rate (69 per 100,000), followed by those in installation, maintenance, and repair, protective services (e.g., policing), and farming, fishing, and forestry.

The older men get, the higher at risk they are for suicide. The more “masculine” job they have, the higher at risk they are for suicide. Could it be that all of those years of bottling up their emotions, pain, struggles just becomes too much? Could it be that the feeling of never being “manly” enough or never reaching some pedestal we’ve set for them makes them feel less than?

Ancient Israel didn’t struggle with suicide, but the US does. Ancient Israel mourned, wept, and openly expressed themselves, but the US does not. If we can change the way we see “masculinity” and how we treat our men in the US, maybe, just maybe we can stop this pandemic of suicide that is ravaging through our men.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let’s Rethink It Together.

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Test Your Soul

10 The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes. ~ Proverbs 21:10

Solomon said that the soul of the wicked desires evil. Its very being desires evil. What does that mean? Well, when you go back to the original Hebrew you find that you could actually translate this as “the soul of the guilty desires punishment, his neighbor (or friend or companion) finds no mercy in his eyes.”

In other words, the guilty do not forgive. They lack the love of God that softens the hearts of His people. They lack the capability to forgive and show mercy like the unforgiving servant in the parable Jesus told.

We forgive because He forgave us. We love because He first loved us. But the guilty aren’t saved. They aren’t forgiven because their hearts are hardened and ice cold. They do not love because they are not forgiven and the love of God has not changed them and restored them. Therefore, this is a good test to see if you have been saved, if you are dwelling in the love of God, ask yourself “Do I show mercy and forgive?”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Test Your Soul.

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The Genocide of A Generation

Deuteronomy 32:16-17

[16]  They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. [17]  They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.

Jeremiah 19:3-5

[3] You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. [4] Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, [5] and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—’

I heard some disturbing statistics the other day. It said that  approximately 28% (nearly one third) of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) have already died. How? Abortion. An estimated 26 million babies were murdered in their own mother’s womb in just one generation. This has been the generation that experienced the highest loss due to abortion among all generations in the US. This rate exceeds that of earlier and later generations, including Millennials and Generation Alpha.

Approximately 18% to 20% of Generation Alpha (2012 to 2024) have been lost to abortion in the United States, according to analyses using Guttmacher Institute and live birth data. This equates to an estimated 14.4 million abortions out of roughly 71.75 million total conceptions in that period, meaning nearly one in five Gen Alpha babies were aborted.

There is a spiritual war over our children. Over their lives. Their souls. Them. From the days of old, the demons posing as gods in the land of Canaan demanded child sacrifice in return of favor from them. Today, is no different. See, spirits never die. They simply change the way they work. They adapt to their surroundings. No more do we throw our children our babies into the fire of an altar to a demon, now we disassemble them in the womb before they even take their first breath.

We sacrifice our babies for our jobs, vanity, or simply because we don’t want our lives to change. We don’t want to take or accept the responsibility of our own actions or decisions.

Thankfully, abortion is no longer at the federal level, but has been brought back to the state level. Back into the hands of the people. And heartbeat bills have been passed. Much innocent blood has been spilled on our land. It’s time we stop the shedding of innocent blood and remove all the altars from our land.

Dear LORD, forgive us for allowing such abominations and atrocities in our country. Please forgive us for not praying, fasting, and tearing down the spiritual altars and strongholds we allowed to be set up. Forgive us for being docile, passive, and apathetic to the slaughter of our children. Forgive us for the innocent blood shed on Your land. For the earth is Yours and the fullness thereof. Forgive us LORD for the genocide we have committed. Forgive us. Heal our land. Touch our generations. Let not our sins be held against us. Let not the past dictate our future. Forgive us. Move in our culture. Shift the atmosphere that we might be on fire for You. That our hearts would melt and be made of flesh instead of stone. Forgive us, oh LORD. Forgive us. Let Your precious presence fill the United States of America and heal our land. Heal our people. Heal our country. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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A Clever Enemy

1 Peter 5:8-11

[8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

When we read this verse, often times we expect the Devil to come in a way that we’d automatically recognize. In a way that we would expect, but that isn’t always the way he attacks. See, the enemy knows you better than you know yourself. He knows you better than you think he does. He watches you. Studies you. Takes notice of every little thing about you. Your actions. Desires. Thoughts. And he’s taking notes. He’s preparing attack after attack for you.

Sometimes, he doesn’t come full force knocking down the front door. Sometimes, it’s just little things. Keeping your prayers held back, so that you think God no longer hears you. Making sure that for everything you get done right, multiple things go wrong. Chipping and chipping away at your self-esteem, drive, faith, hope until you have nothing left. Beating you in a battle that you didn’t even realize was with him.

Paul says we’re not unaware of the Devil’s schemes. This is true, but if we aren’t watchful and on guard as Peter tells us to be, then we will miss his attacks. We’ll fall prey to his teeth and claws. So, what are we to do? Pray. Seek. Read. Worship. We have to be in tune with the Spirit of God in order to have the discernment needed to see his clever schemes. In order to be encouraged to keep going. To not give up or give in. To keep fighting for another day.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the times I’ve neglected You. I’m sorry for not putting You first in my life and allowing the enemy to sneak right past me. Please forgive me. Please remove him from within my life. Please seal up every open door and window in my life that has allowed him in. Help me to never open them again. Strengthen my heart, mind, and faith. Help me to fight and not give up. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Pray For Exposure

[12]  Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. [13]  Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. ~ Psalms 19:12-13

David prays for two kinds of sins to be delivered from. First, he asks God who can know or discern their own šegî•’ā(h). šegî•’ā(h) is a Hebrew word meaning unintentional sin, sin committed out of ignorance. David makes his case before God explaining that how can anyone know the sin that he sins in ignorance? Then he pleads, declare me innocent from nis•tā•rôt’. Hidden things. Things that are kept hidden even from the person who has done them. David pleads with God to not only find him innocent of hidden sins within him, but to declare him innocent so that none can go before the Throne of Grace to use those sins against him.

Then David prays for intentional sins. He refers to them as zē•dîm’. Arrogant, presumptuous sins. Sins that he commits knowingly, willingly in spite of God. He ends that thought with, let them not have dominion over me. See, before the Holy Spirit, before the death and resurrection, we had no fight against sin. Sin had dominion over us. It ruled us like a lord, like a god.

David cried out for mercy. For grace. For forgiveness. And for divine intervention. David was still dwelling in the days of “I do the things I do not want to do, and the things I want to do, I do not do them.” Sin was his master. Sin was his ring leader. Sin controlled him, so he prayed diligently seeking with all that was within him that the LORD would deliver him from the grip, the chains, the bondage of sin.

Even though sin has been defeated. We have died with Christ to sin. How can we pray any less of a prayer? For David had an excuse, we today, do not. We have no excuse. For Jesus has come, suffered, died, resurrected, returned to the Father, and sent His Spirit to dwell with us, in us, and through us. He is interceding on our behalf. How can we expect to pray any less than David?

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a loving God. Slow to anger. Quick to forgive. Merciful with grace that is for anyone willing to accept it. LORD, please forgive me for each and every sin I have committed. Forgive me for the sins I committed in ignorance. The sins I committed without knowledge or understanding. Open my eyes to those sins, LORD, that I might not commit them again. That they might not take hold of me. LORD, please forgive me for the sins I have committed knowingly, willingly, presumptuously, and arrogantly. Sins that I knew better yet I gave in anyway. Sins that I ran to and made a way to take place. Sins I pondered on and sought out. Sins that have a stronghold in my life. LORD, break those strongholds from off of me. Rescue me from my own flesh LORD. Deliver me from spiritual bondage and oppression. Let not any evil spirits find doorways into my life through my flesh. Help me LORD to crucify my flesh. Help me to break free from these sins that have a foothold in my life. Deliver me, oh God, like only you can. Deliver me, LORD Jesus. Save me from myself. Give me the strength, determination, wisdom, and self-control to overcome in Your name. Leave me not to my own devices, but deliver me, LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Hold Firm On The Rock

Genesis 41:38-45

[38] And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” [39] Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. [40] You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” [41] And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” [42] Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. [43] And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. [44] Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” [45] And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

I always hear that there’s no evidence for the existence of Joseph or the Hebrew people’s time in Egypt, but to me, this is evidence enough.

There’s a place called Tell el-Dab’a (Avaris), located in the Nile Delta region (identified as Goshen in the Bible), where excavations have revealed a large Semitic settlement during the Middle Kingdom (c. 1876 BC), matching the biblical timeline for Joseph’s arrival. The site includes a massive villa with a floor plan identical to later Israelite four-room houses, suggesting a prominent Semitic official (probably Jacob, Joseph’s father) lived there. Royal seals have been unearthed at there with names Yacob-har (Jacob) and Sakir-har (Issachar).

Lastly, there’s a tomb at Tell el-Dab’a that contained a shattered statue of a Semitic man wearing a multicolored coat, echoing the biblical description of Joseph’s “coat of many colors.” The tomb was eerily empty, with bones removed—consistent with the biblical account that Moses took Joseph’s bones from Egypt during the Exodus.

There’s always people that will say this isn’t evidence. There’s always gonna be people that will say that the Bible is a made-up story, but as Christians, when we see this kind of evidence (even though we don’t need it to have faith), it really does build our faith. It makes us feel more bold in our faith when we have evidence that we can say to the unbeliever and skeptic, when they demand physical, historical, archaeology evidence. This evidence isn’t always for us, for our faith, but for the skeptic, scoffer, unbeliever who needs some form of physical proof before they can give in.

Man can try to destroy all evidence of God, but the LORD’s name, His story, His Kingdom, and His people will never be forgotten. Never be blotted out. No matter how hard the world tries, He is the Rock that shall not be moved. So, stand firm on that Rock and know with certainty that the Scriptures are true and preserved from God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hold Firm On The Rock.

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Recenter Your Home

Isaiah 29:13

[13] And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”

We’re currently in the process of moving from one part of Tennessee to the other. So, we’re currently looking for a place of our own. While house hunting, we came across a home that was almost exactly what we were looking for. As my parents tour the home, they see a nice big room, and the lady explains that it’s their temple room. She further explained that in every Indian home, they have a temple room to pray and do rituals to their gods. I couldn’t believe it when I heard. Every other religion seems to have more dedicated followers than Christianity.

As Christians, we’re lazy. We take our faith for granted. We don’t even set aside a place in our room to pray, let alone set aside an entire room for prayer and worship. Hindus worship pagan gods. gods that cannot save them, yet they are dedicated to their gods. They are sold out for their gods.

We, Christians, serve the one true God. The God of gods. The KING of kings and LORD of lords. We serve the Creator of Heaven and Earth, yet we can’t even set aside time for prayer and worship. How sad of a state the Church is in. Weak. Helpless. Unable to see miracles, healings, deliverance, etc. that the Church was built on, and we have the audacity to blame God. We have the audacity to say He no longer moves in that way. No. We don’t see those things because we don’t worship. We don’t pray. We don’t dedicate ourselves to Him.

The early Church had a time of prayer when they came together to pray and worship. They met daily to read the Scriptures and grow together as a Church. They made time for God. How much time do we make for God? Do we make any time for God anymore? He should be the center of our lives, not a side piece that we go to every now and then. He’s the center of it all.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Recenter Your Home.

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Begin To Harvest

John 4:34-38

[34] Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. [35] Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. [36] Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. [37] For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ [38] I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Luke 10:2-3

[2] And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. [3] Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

I was listening to a Christian novel the other night and the main character was having a flashback. The main character, who is an atheist, was talking with his girlfriend (later wife) about what they believe in. She, being a devout Christian, tells him when you see all of this how can you not believe in someone or something greater than yourself. They say a few more lines and then he asks “That’s it? No more questions? Aren’t you supposed to try to save me?” How does the Christian respond? “That isn’t in my job description. God handles that part.” This is the lukewarm, apathetic, leave it all up to God Church we have become. God said He is the head and we are His body. Therefore, we are to go make disciples of all nations. Not Him. He did His part. He died on Golgotha. He rose on the third day. He ascended on high. Now, it’s up to us to witness. To plant seeds. To make disciples.

Yes, God draws them in, but how can He draw those whom have never heard? There’s little revival and expansion of the Church in the West because we put every single thing on God and take no responsibility ourselves. We don’t witness because God will draw them in. We don’t pray and seek because God will do it if He wants to and in His own time. We don’t spiritually fight for anything because of God has it for me, He’ll give it to me when He’s ready. We have become a passive, apathetic, weak, lazy body. Meanwhile those who will die if they spread the Word or Evangelize or witness to anyone about Christ willingly risk their lives in order to tell others about Jesus.

There’s a hunger there. A desire. An urgency. They yearn to grow the Kingdom of God for Christ because they understand the necessity of it. They understand the need for Jesus.

Today, take some time and reflect. Have you become lazy? Apathetic? Passive? Have you put everything on God instead of giving yourself some form of responsibility? Have you made a difference in the lives of those around you?

Scripture says the fields are ripe on to harvest, but the laborers are few. So, pray for more laborers. Jesus didn’t say pray for more people to get saved. He said pray that those who are already saved will begin to reap the harvest of the world because they are ready to bear. They are ready to receive Christ and God forgiveness, they just need someone to tell them. Someone to reap them.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Begin To Harvest.

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Shake Off The Past

10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.” ~ Joshua 14:10-12

Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad had received their inheritance, and now Judah was ready to receive theirs. Caleb, as their spokesman, came to Joshua and reminded him that he didn’t lose faith the first time they scouted the land. And because of this Moses promised him and his people this inheritance.

See, Caleb never forgot his promise. He kept it in his heart for 45 years, waiting for the time to see it come to pass, and surely, it had come. And Joshua blessed him.

So, Caleb, at 85 years old, goes out to into the land God promised him and drives out the Anakim. The three sons of Anak from the land of Hebron. He saw his promise fulfilled because he had enough faith to hold on to it.

He didn’t allow the failure of the past keep him from claiming what God had promised him, because if he had not stood strong and kept his faith in God, God would have raised up another person to take the land of Hebron for the people of Judah, just as he raised up Aaron to fulfill Moses’ call that he refused to do.

Don’t let your past failures keep you from the future God has for you. We all have a past, but that past doesn’t have to dictate who we are or what we can accomplish. Our present, right now, is what matters.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Shake Off The Past.

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Replace The Blinds

Matthew 7:21-23

[21]  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [23] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

For the first time in my life, I had to sleep in a room without full blinds. And weirdly enough, I struggled. I struggled to sleep. I struggled to stay asleep. I felt uneasy. My peace was shaken. It was a rough night all because there was a decent sized hole in my blind. Then something hit me, this is a physical example of spiritual matters.

See, I felt unsafe because I could see out and anybody could see in. Even though the window was still there and the blinds only block what can be seen, I was unsettled. I had a trust in something false. Something not firm. Whether the blinds were there or not anyone or anything could break through that window. But because I could see that physical barrier (though flimsy and helpless to save me) it gave me a false sense of security. This is like us today.

Today, in the Church, we have a false sense of security. We think that because we go to church on Sundays, pray before we eat and before bed that we are safe. All we’re doing is putting our trust in flimsy blinds. We have an appearance of godliness. An appearance of salvation, but the substance isn’t there. The full armor is lacking. We have to put our flesh into subjection. We have to build up our spirit man so that we might be able to worship God in spirit and in Truth. So that we might not put our hope, faith, trust into weak armor but we can stand firm on the Rock. On Christ Jesus, and our relationship with Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and  Replace The Blinds.

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