Tag: Devotional

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Build A Heart of Thanksgiving

[18] Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. [19]  Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small. ~ Jeremiah 30:18-19 ESV

God promised to restore and rebuild Jacob, that is the direct, physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When He promised that, He said from them will come songs of thanksgiving and the voices of those who celebrate. So, restoring and rebuilding and ultimately reclaiming them as His people and He their God will involve a heart of thankfulness, for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. If this is the ultimate goal for Israel, should we not also strive for this goal as the Church?

How do we train our brains and cultivate a heart of thankfulness? As you go through your day, be conscious and aware of your surroundings and what is happening around you.

Take special note of 3 to 5 things that happen during your day that you are thankful for. It doesn’t have to be huge things; it can be, but it doesn’t have to be.

Think about those 3 to 5 things and at the end of the day, write them down in your Gratitude Journal. Reflect on them as you lie on your bed and link them back to the goodness of God. Be intentional, be consistent, and be reflective.

Writing down what you’re grateful for strengthens the neural pathways in the prefrontal cortex, which helps regulate emotions and reduce anxiety.

You must be specific… Instead of saying, “I’m thankful for my family,” say, “I’m thankful for my mom, who came to my rescue by driving me to the store to buy such and such.”

Or, “I’m thankful for my sister who encouraged me today when I was feeling bad about myself.”

Relate that to God and His goodness. “Father, I am so thankful that You gave me the mother that I have. She is always encouraging me and looking out for my best interests. If she had not driven me to the store today, I would have been really stuck.”

Be sure to be consistent, because consistency matters. Science shows that even small, regular gratitude practices – daily or several times a week – can rewire neural pathways to make gratitude a habit and reduce anxiety over time.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build A Heart of Thanksgiving.

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Feed Your Mind Thanksgiving

5 And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And He brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which You, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you. ~ Deuteronomy 26:5-11

God was teaching the people how to reflect on and remember the goodness He had done for them,  thereby training their brains to be thankful.

Think about the prophet Habakkuk. Crops failing, fig trees not blossoming, no cattle in the stalls—total economic collapse coming. Yet in Habakkuk 3:17–18 he says, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” That’s gratitude when there’s nothing in the pantry.

Or think about Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail—backs bleeding, feet in stocks, midnight darkness—and what do they do? Acts 16:25 says they were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. The prison shook, the doors flew open, and the jailer got saved. Gratitude literally shook the foundations!

Now, here’s the fascinating thing: what God commanded thousands of years ago, modern science is only now catching up to. You see, gratitude isn’t just a nice feeling—it actually changes how our brains work.

Scientific studies using brain scans have shown that practicing thankfulness activates some of the same areas of the brain that process anxiety, like the amygdala, which handles fear, and the medial prefrontal cortex, which helps us regulate our emotions.

In other words, being grateful helps our brains manage stress, anxiety, and worry more effectively. So, what are we to do? Remember the goodness of God and give thanks with a grateful heart. Allow your thanksgiving to change your perspective.

Peace.  Love. Go Forth and Feed Your Mind Thanksgiving.

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Be Thankful Like A Thessalonian

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This is the end of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. It was a letter of encouragement to them, as they had received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7). They were a sounding gong to all around them. Paul even goes as far as to say that he and his companions didn’t need to speak a Word because they (the Church in Thessalonica) had already spread the Word so well. So, he just reminds them of the teachings he has already taught them and ends his letter with encouragement to continue in the faith.

This is where he states his famous words “give thanks in all circumstances” a phrase often taken out of context and/or misunderstood. See, Paul encouraged them with these words not because God’s will was for them to suffer, but because they were suffering persecution and God’s will was (and always will be) for His people to overcome the persecution and tribulation of the world. The tools he gave them to do this? Rejoice Always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances.

We are to give thanks IN all circumstances, not FOR all circumstances. It’s our weapon for overcoming. It’s our tool to make it through to the other side of persecution. Thanksgiving is how we enter into the gates of the LORD (Psalms 100:4). Entering the gates of the LORD is how we get renewed in our spirit. It’s how we are refreshed. It’s how we soar on wings like eagles, so that we can run and not be weary, walk and not be faint.

Giving thanks in all circumstances isn’t for God, but for us. It isn’t a cruel instruction by Paul from God. It’s a tool given to us to not only survive this world and all of its woes, but a tool to overcome this world and live a life more abundantly, regardless of our circumstances. Regardless of what may come. Our joy will never be stifled as long as we give thanks.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Thankful Like A Thessalonian.

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Walk In Wisdom

[5]  Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. [6] Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. ~ Colossians 4:5-6

The Church is the light of the world because Christ dwells in us and through us. We are to be Christ to the world. That means that we are not to isolate ourselves from the outside world. How can we reach them if we do not even communicate with them? How can we reach the world if we do not spend time with the world?

Yes, each and every Christian should have an inner circle of believers to depend on. An inner circle of friends that pick us up when we’re down and encourage us when we’re feeling low. Someone we can depend on to help us through the rough times. We should also have a Church family that we can pray with. That can pray for us and vice versa. That you can grow with and worship with. But we should also befriend the world.

I want to be clear. We aren’t to befriend the sin of the world, but the people. We aren’t to justify sin and give it our blessing, but instead we are to love the sinner and show them the True love of God. Never spreading hatred or violence but the True love of God.

The only way we can do that is if we know our Bible better than the skeptic we are speaking with and if we actually live our lives for Christ and not for ourselves. Our words matter. How we are as people matters. How we treat unbelievers matters. Live life purposely reflecting Jesus in all we do.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Walk In Wisdom.

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Crucify The Flesh

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (Galatians 5:24–26).

Paul writes, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” The word Paul uses for crucified literally means “they crucified”—an aorist active indicative verb. The aorist tense points to a decisive action completed in the past. Paul is not issuing a command here, but stating a fact: those who belong to Christ Jesus have already broken decisively with their old way of life.

If something has been put to death, it no longer has a rightful place among the living. So when any of the acts of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19–21—or anything like them—try to rise up within you, you resist them as you would resist a clearly destructive impulse. When someone cuts you off in traffic, you do not give in to anger. When thoughts of sexual immorality attempt to enter your mind, you refuse them. They are not your thoughts, and you give them no room to grow. As you deny them nourishment, they weaken over time. Instead of feeding the impulses of the flesh, you feed the fruit of the Spirit—because whatever you feed becomes the stronger influence in your life.

But notice that Paul does not simply say we “put the flesh to death”; he says we have crucified it. Crucifixion is not instantaneous. It is slow, painful, and drawn out. Paul’s imagery reminds us that although the decisive break with the flesh has already occurred, the struggle between flesh and Spirit continues. Therefore, we do not take the flesh off the cross. We leave it there, giving it no leeway, no voice, and no authority. Anything that rises up against the Spirit is to be nailed back to the cross. Its influence diminishes over time, but we must remain watchful and Spirit-led.

So understand that Paul’s statement is both reassuring and sobering. It reassures us that the decisive work has already been done—we belong to Christ, and our old way of life has been nailed to the cross. And it soberly calls us to keep in step with the Spirit, refusing the works of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and anything like them. As we walk by the Spirit, the life of Christ grows stronger within us.

Our Heavenly Father, we pray for strength to resist the devil so that he might flee, and for the will to do Your will and be obedient to Your commands. Grant us favor and prosperity in our Christian walk, in Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.

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Live Your Unique Life

[20] And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” ~ Mark 7:20-23

I recently had a conversation with someone who uses Revelation 2 & 3 to defend his belief that the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews are not the true Jews/Israelites. After going back and forth for a bit, I asked him why he had no problem with the Mizrahi Jews but only with the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. His response? The Ashkenazi Jews go around claiming to be Jews wearing their yamakas and believe they are God’s chosen people. It finally made sense to me.

It wasn’t about race or who the true Jews are or anything like that. It was about the fact that they know who they are and are proud of it. Proud of their heritage, culture, religion, and history, whereas he is not.

So often, our hatred, skepticism, criticism, and accusations are rooted in one thing. Envy. Envy, unlike jealousy (in my opinion), is rooted in wanting what you don’t have and what does not belong to you. Jealousy, on the other hand, is seeing what is yours and what belongs to you being taken away by someone or something else. It’s the desire to keep what is yours yours. One is rooted in self-doubt and often times, self-hatred. The other is rooted in the love you have for another.

When you hate someone and speak all manner of evil about them, take a moment and ask yourself why. Why do you have such a strong distain for them? Is it because they are deserving of this distain (in man’s eyes) or is it because you envy the life they have? The life you desire for yourself?

Often times, our own hatred is a projection of how we feel about ourselves. God made each and every one of us unique with a special purpose. If we focus all of our energy on others, we’ll end up missing our own call. Our own path. Our own destiny. God is no respecter of persons. In other words, He has no favorites. He is only looking for one thing. A willing heart.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live Your Unique Life.

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Do Not Sleep

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ~ John 3:19

Darkness is not merely ignorance—it is willful rebellion against the light of Christ. Darkness is the domain from which the enemy operates.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul tells us that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. But the darker the night, the brighter we Christians must shine.

See what Jesus said, “but while men slept…” (Matthew 13:25a KJV). The men mentioned in the parable are the workers in the field, who represent us, the Church. Therefore, that verse could read like this:

But as the Church slept, the devil came in and sowed weeds amongst the good seed.

The Church has fallen asleep so the enemy wreaks havoc wherever he pleases. We have a duty as Christians. That duty is to let our light shine. To spread the good news of Christ. We have to put the enemy in check by standing up for the Truth of the LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Not Sleep.

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Build A Spirit of Defense

Luke 6:45 ESV

[45] The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Have you ever noticed yourself sometimes waking up with a song stuck in your head almost like you’re waking up singing it? Now what about a worship song? Sometimes it’s songs you haven’t even listened to in years but it’s just playing through your head as you wake up as if you had been listening to it nonstop. I believe these moments are your spirit at work when your body is asleep.

See, we are told to build up our spirit man and crucify our flesh. In fact, Jesus says that it is out of the abundance of our hearts that the mouth speaks. Our subconscious would have the same source. Our spirit would have the same source. So, when our heart is full of Christ and we have our eyes set on Him, our spirit man works in our defense even when our mind doesn’t know what’s happening because it is asleep.

It becomes like the watchmen of old. Sounding the alarm. Fighting off the enemy as we sleep. Defending our mind and keeping it safe from evil thoughts and dreams meant to tempt, correct, anger, and/or terrorize us. So, build up your spirit man. Build up your Spiritual defense.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build A Spirit of Defense.

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Let Your Light Abound

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field…

Our LORD Jesus explained this parable to His disciples. He said that the Sower who sowed the good seed in His field is Himself, Jesus, the Son of Man, and the field is the world.

The good seed is us Christians, the Church, which He called the sons of the kingdom. And the weeds are the sons of the evil one. The atheist. The haters. The one who has despised and rejected Christ. And the enemy is that old devil himself, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

Dark is the night when the moon is in its new stage, and the clouds blot out the light of the stars. But the darker the night, the brighter the flame of a candle will glow. It can be seen for miles.

Jesus said that we, His followers, are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). We are to light the darkness around us with the saving knowledge of the light of our LORD Jesus Christ. Yes, many will be offended. Many will refuse to hear. Many will say, “We don’t need to hear that right now!” or, “We don’t need to be reminded of repentance!” or “Leave us alone!”

Indeed, the night is getting darker. But where darkness abounds, the light will much more abound if we Christians will only let it so shine.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Your Light Abound.

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Depend On The Goodness of God

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV

[1] For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: [2] a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; [3] a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; [4] a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; [5] a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; [6] a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; [7] a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; [8] a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

For everything under the sun, there is a season. And it’s okay to be going through a rough season. A season of pain, sorrow, and heartache. One of confusion, anger, and rage. A season where God seemingly is a miss. That’s how you could characterize this season. Right now. A season where you cry out “where is God?” And “why is He not near?” It’s during these seasons of mourning and weeping that we have to do a little more to see the light shining in the darkness. Because no matter how dark the darkness may get or how hopeless the nights seem, one thing does not change, and that is the goodness of our God.

Today, we buried my last grandparent. Emotions were high. Tears were shed. Feelings were felt. There was even chaos at one point but still nevertheless, one thing was constant. One thing remained the same. One thing kept our peace. The goodness of God.

When it feels like the entire world is crashing in, remember, it is the goodness of God that holds us together. It keeps us from falling apart because it is His love that is the goodness of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Depend On The Goodness of God.

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