Tag: Devotionals

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Don’t Force The Hand of God

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. ~ Jonah 2:1-2

I recently rewatched The Hunger Games series for the millionth time and each time I watch it Prim’s death is just hard. Then I remind myself that her death was a necessary loss. See, if Prim hadn’t died, Katniss would’ve never killed President Coin and the people of Panem would never truly be free. She would’ve just been satisfied living the rest of her life in peace with her family. She would’ve missed her purpose of bringing freedom, peace, and security to everyone without fear of oppression.

So many of us are Katniss Everdeen. We have this giant call on our lives that forces us to become more than we think we are. To travel so far outside of our comfort zone that we feel like we won’t make it. The walls feel like they’re closing as the weight of the world crushes our shoulders. But we have to keep going. Even if it takes someone else pushing us to that place where we will become exactly who we’re supposed to be. Who we’re meant to be.

Sometimes we have to lose everything in order to become more. We all have a call on our lives. Something that demands more of us than we thought we could be. And when we won’t keep going, we need a push that’ll force us to keep going like Katniss Everdeen and the Prophet Jonah. Don’t force God to push you. Jonah lost his very life because he refused to step up to his call. Katniss lost her sister because she couldn’t see the new enemy rising. An enemy worst than her current one.

Your call doesn’t have to take everything from you, if you are willing to give it all in order to fulfill it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Force The Hand of God.

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Learn How To Save Life

30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. ~ Ezekiel 22:30

 A couple songs from my childhood have just been playing in my head for the past few days. One of the songs is “How To Save A Life” by The Fray. To me the lyrics just really make me think. They make me contemplate past life decisions, especially the chorus. It goes:

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

For me, these lyrics really hit hard. There’s one particular person that I just gave up on. I stopped praying and the moment I did, they fell into the very thing I had just stopped praying about. This has been several years ago, and I still think about it. Often. I think about how I just gave into the argument and said fine, if you want me to stop interfering with your life through praying, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.

The words:

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

If I had know how important and powerful my prayers were, and how the very thing I was praying against would’ve been kept at bay if I had just continued, that is what keeps me up. If I had just known how to save a life, I would’ve stayed up all night with them in spirit praying. Now, I just feel shame and regret. Because I was given a task and I failed. I was called to stand in the gap and I didn’t. I walked away.

We’re all called to stand in the gap for someone. You don’t have to be a pastor, teacher, scholar, theologian, or any of the sort. All you have to do is be called by God. And if you are saved, you have been called. To do what? Intercede for your lost loved ones. To stand in the gap interfering in their lives through prayer and fasting. That is the call of every single Christian.

Tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. Don’t give yourself opportunities for disappointment and regret. Learn from the mistakes of others. Don’t let another day go by without standing in that gap. For all you know, that could be the difference between life and death for that person.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn How To Save Life.

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Stop Embracing The World

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV

[14]  Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? [15] What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? [16] What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, [18]  and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

I recently heard a celebrity say he was raising his child to have good Hindu values. This was said by someone who not only was raised in a Christian household, but whose father was an Assembly of God Pastor. We, as the Church, so badly want to be a part of the world, one with the world, and enjoy the world that we will reject our own faith and God to achieve it. See, it wasn’t enough to overlook and be tolerant of the religion of his wife, he had to embrace it and teach it to their child. How sad.

You had the words of Life. The hope of Christ. The good news that is The Gospel, yet you threw it away for a woman. Now, your child will grow up never knowing Truth. She’ll grow up with the value system that created the extreme poverty within India. The extreme filth and waste that the lower classes live in. And worst of all she’ll grow up with the value system that has no true hope because it’s based solely on how good you can be.

We are human. Flawed. Unworthy. Never able to reach perfection, let alone the presence of the Creator God. There is no do over. No second chance. No rebirth once we die. That’s it. It is appointed man once to die, and then the Judgment. Why would you take away the hope, joy, and security that is Christ? The love of God that has taken away the sin of the world?

The final Church in the Book of Revelation is a Church that is rich and well off in material things, but poor in spirit and in Truth. They are rich in the temporary, but poor in the eternal. They are lukewarm, refusing to be either hot or cold. Refusing to choose Christ or the World. This is the richest the Church has ever been, yet this is the poorest spiritually we have ever been. We can’t have our cake and eat it too. We can’t call ourselves Christians, while not only embracing an entirely different religion but raising our children in its values and not the values of the LORD God Almighty.

It’s time the Church stands up for righteousness and makes a choice. A decision. Time is running out. We can’t afford to keep playing on the fence, as if the LORD will be pleased by us replacing Him because He prioritizes tolerance. The LORD has never condoned, pushed, or even overlooked tolerance of sin. So why do we keep pushing it? We want our cake and eat it too. Today is the Day of Salvation. Tomorrow is promised to no man. Therefore, choose life. Choose Truth. Choose Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop Embracing The World.

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Go Boldly

“May the good LORD pardon everyone 19 who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness” (2 Chronicles 30:18–19).

Hezekiah and the Israelites were under the Old, inferior Covenant when they gathered to eat the Passover meal. Many of them had not consecrated themselves, so the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for those who were not able to do it for themselves, because they were unclean… Otherwise, it would not be acceptable to the LORD. Yet Hezekiah prayed for them.

They were unclean and so disqualified from eating or even participating in the Passover celebrations…Yet, verse 20 tells us that the LORD heard Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people.

They were unclean, yet… still they ate, under an inferior covenant, but the LORD healed them anyway, because they had set their hearts to seek the LORD.

If the LORD showed that kind of mercy under the Old Covenant, how much more will we be healed and blessed if we will only discern the body of Christ and believe that “by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5b).

We are no longer strangers to Jesus (Romans 7:4). Isn’t that an amazing thing…? We now belong to Christ… We are no longer strangers, but are betrothed to the Son of God… Therefore, let us come boldly with our prayers, our petitions, and our requests, since we now belong to Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Go Boldly. 

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Be His Joy

Hebrews 12:2 ESV

[2] looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I read a “Sumerian Proverb” that stated:

How can a poor man who doesn’t know how to cultivate Barley manage to  cultivate wheat?

And it immediately got me thinking. So, since I know nothing of farming or harvesting wheat or barley, I asked ChatGPT if Barley was harder to cultivate than wheat. This is what it sent me in response:

Barley is very hardy. It can grow in poorer soils, tolerates drought better, and can handle slightly more acidic or alkaline soils. Wheat, on the other hand, is sensitive to soil quality, moisture levels, and temperature extremes (especially some high-yield varieties).

Barley has a shorter growing season (about 90–120 days). This makes it faster to harvest and less exposed to diseases or extreme weather. Whereas wheat has a longer growing season (100–150 days depending on type), so there’s a slightly higher risk of crop failure if conditions aren’t ideal.

Barley is generally more resistant to common cereal diseases and pests. While certain types of wheat are highly susceptible to rusts and other fungal diseases, requiring more careful management.

But the pay out is greater from the Wheat Harvest. See, wheat typically has a higher yield per hectare and a broader market (especially for human consumption). Whereas Barley has a slightly lower yield, but easier to grow under suboptimal conditions and widely used for feed, brewing, and malt.

God created the Barley Harvest to take place before the Wheat Harvest. The Barley Harvest represents the biological descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Israelites. The Jews. The Wheat Harvest represents the Church. The Body of Christ. Believers. The Barley Harvest He made easier than the Wheat Harvest, as the Jews were easier to cultivate than the rest of the world. He chose Abram because he would teach his children and his children would teach their children and so on and so forth throughout the generations. This is the Barley Harvest.

They sacrificed a lamb for Passover and the blood of a bull for the Day of Atonement pushing their sins forward one more year, so that they didn’t have to answer for them in that day. No matter how hard nations tried to strip them of their identity, they never forgot who they were, their God, or the land He promised to them. But the Wheat Harvest took a bit more work.

God had to come to earth as a man, die, and rise back up on the third day to bring in the Wheat Harvest. It was no longer just animal sacrifice. God sacrificed Himself for the sake of the Wheat Harvest. So, that Jew, Gentile, anyone who was willing could come. No longer was it just outward actions, but inward actions. No longer just circumcision of the flesh, but the circumcision of the heart. The condition of the heart mattered. Animal sacrifice wasn’t enough anymore, now the spiritual sacrifice of yourself and your desires is demanded.

All for a greater reward. It was no longer just one nation the LORD was saving, it was now all nations. Any person who is willing to believe can be saved. No longer was it just passed down from generation to generation, but now people who have never heard, who had entirely different gods were being converted and saved. More work, but an even greater reward.

You are that Wheat Harvest. Harder to cultivate but worth every ounce of effort. God will never look at you and think, oh they’re just too much work. Oh, they’re just not worth the effort. No, He takes pleasure in knowing that you will be with Him for all eternity, so He gladly accepts the difficult labor.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be His Joy.

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A Tenacious Faith

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. ~ Mark 7:24-30

In Mark 7, Jesus leaves the familiar territory of Israel and travels into the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon. This is significant because Jesus Himself said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Yet here He is—35 miles from Galilee, in foreign territory, entering a house and hoping no one would know He was there. But Scripture says, “He could not be hidden” (Mark 7:24). Why? Because there was a desperate mother whose daughter needed a miracle.

This unnamed Syrophoenician woman had only heard about Jesus. She did not know Him personally. She was not part of the covenant people of Israel. She had no religious standing, no prior relationship, and no guarantee of an audience. Yet when she heard about Jesus, hope welled up in her heart.

Faith comes by hearing. Romans 10:17 reminds us, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Something about Jesus stirred her to believe that if she could just get to Him, everything would change. And so she came. She fell at His feet and pleaded for her daughter’s deliverance. Mark says she “kept asking Him” (Mark 7:26). She was persistent. She was determined. She refused to be denied.

Even when Jesus seemed silent, she continued to ask. Even when the disciples were annoyed, she stayed. Even when the response sounded unfavorable, she did not lose hope. This is the kind of faith that moves heaven. When Jesus said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs,” many would have walked away offended. But not this mother. She turned what looked like rejection into an opportunity.

“Yes, LORD,” she replied, “yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28). What humility. What boldness. What faith. She was essentially saying, “LORD, I know I may not have a seat at the table, but I believe there is enough power in even a crumb from You to change my daughter’s life.” Jesus immediately responded: “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter” (Mark 7:29).

Her miracle came not because of her status, but because of her faith. How often do we quit praying too soon? How often do we mistake delay for denial? This mother teaches us something powerful: persistent faith does not let circumstances dictate its confidence in God. Maybe you’ve been praying for a child, a marriage, a healing, or a breakthrough for what feels like forever. Perhaps heaven has seemed silent. Maybe opposition has made you wonder if God hears you at all.

Do not lose heart. Delay is not denial. The same Jesus who could not be hidden in Tyre and Sidon still responds to sincere, persistent faith today. He is still moved by hearts that refuse to quit. This mother did not let silence stop her, obstacles discourage her, or offense derail her. She worshiped, persisted, and believed. And her daughter was healed instantly.

What if your breakthrough is on the other side of one more prayer? One more act of faith? One more moment of refusing to give up? Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Jesus still hears. Jesus still heals. Jesus still responds to faith.

Father, help me to be tenacious. Help me to be steadfast in my beliefs and in my prayers, in Jesus’ Name, amen.

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Ignite With Reminders

Romans 7:4

4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Isn’t that an amazing thing…? We now belong to Christ… We are no longer strangers, but are betrothed to the Son of God… Therefore, let us come boldly with our prayers, our petitions, and our requests, since we now belong to Christ.

In other words, we are dead to the Law…, the Old Covenant, and are alive to Christ through His body in a new and better covenant based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6)… Promises like:

  • By His stripes we have been healed.
  • Ask and you shall receive, seek and will find, know and it will be opened for you.
  • Authority to cast out evil spirits in the name of Jesus.
  • The privilege to enter the throne room of God and make our petitions known to Him.
  • To be seated in Heavenly places with Christ.
  • To be fully and completely washed clean of our sin and redeemed from all unrighteousness.
  • To be transformed in the twinkling of an eye into the Image of God.

Those promises are never failing, and will all come to pass for anyone who believes and follows the Son of God. Therefore, encourage yourself with these promises. Let the promises of God fuel you to run the race at before you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Ignite With Reminders.

 

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Partake In Him

Hebrews 10:19–20 NIV

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body,

The huge curtain that hung in the Temple, separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, represented Jesus’ body… When it was torn from top to bottom at the moment of His death, it immediately opened a new and living way for us to enter God’s Presence with confidence and with boldness—something impossible under the old system.

That’s one of the reasons why the writer declared that we now have a new and better covenant… We now have full access with all permissions granted to enter the Holy of Holies and lay all of our petitions and all of our supplications at the feet of the Father who is on His mercy seat—especially as we gather at His table of grace to receive the cup and the bread.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Partake In Him. 

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Know The Difference

[20] For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21] For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. [22] What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” ~ 2 Peter 2:20-22

So many people are under the impression that Yahweh and Allah are the same person. That both are the God of the Bible. I recently saw a video of a Muslim Imam teaching that those who commit the most horrid of sins ( sexual abuse, porn, adultery, drunkenness, etc.), but pray to Allah are better in Allah’s eyes than those who do none of those things, but do not pray to Allah. This statement really disturbed me. So, what you’re saying is that Allah doesn’t care about our actions. He doesn’t care about how we represent him. All he cares about is whether or not we are praying to him. Whether or not he’s getting recognition and praise, regardless of who is doing it. This is a big key difference between Yahweh and Allah.

See, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob demanded His followers to change for the better. To become more like Him. To go as far as to crucify the flesh and all of its desires. To be about our Father in Heaven’s business, and not our own. Throughout Scripture, the LORD condemned the people for simply praying, sacrificing, and bringing offerings, but their actions were wicked. He went as far as to say the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to him. Their offerings and sacrifices are evil in the sight of the LORD. Why? Because the LORD is a good and sovereign God, and sin is displeasing to Him. He does not make excuses for, defend, overlook, or allow sin to dwell with Him.

Wickedness is a stench in the nostrils of the LORD. Therefore, He made a way for us to be saved. To be redeemed. To be taken out of the wickedness and cleansed from all unrighteousness so that we might dwell with Him. Praise, prayers, sacrifices, offerings are all meaningless to God unless we live for Him. And if we dare to enter His presence, then we must make sure we are living a life pleasing to Him.

Today is the National Day of Prayer. It’s the day we are encouraged to pray a personal prayer of repentance and to pray for the return of righteousness in the culture. We don’t serve a god like other gods. He is a Holy and Sovereign God demanding more than lip service from us. Today, let our prayers not be in vain. Let our actions be pleasing to Him, so that our prayers might be heard by Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know The Difference.

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Don’t Hit Snooze

Jeremiah 8:20 ESV

20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Look around at the condition of the Church— or the so-called Church: We have mega-church pastors championing a godless agenda, pushing racism, and defending the right to slaughter helpless unborn babies in their mothers’ wombs. We have “bishops” boldly stating that they “are of the opinion that we need a third Testament, because the Bible has become problematic.” The Church is in a mess and it’s as if we don’t even realize it.

We don’t recognize the times that we are in and when we do, we do nothing to prepare ourselves or others. The Church, we as a whole, has been lulled to sleep. It’s as if the alarm has gone off and we keep hitting snooze. The alarm may quiet for us in those few moments before sounding again (until it eventually stops all together) but the times continue. No matter how many times we hit snooze, time keeps propelling us forward at a high rate of speed.

The LORD said that the fields were white on to harvest. In other words, the fields are so ready to be harvested that it is at the point where the crop could go bad and be lost. Jeremiah and his people missed the harvest. They went into captivity because of their sin. Their transgression. Their slumber. The Church is no different.

A time is coming when there will be tribulation on the earth like never before. Man’s wrath on the Church let loose without restraint. All because we fall asleep in times of safety and prosperity. It’s in these times that we have to awaken and prepare. We have to get ourselves ready. We have to make sure our family is ready. We have to wake up and pay attention to the times. Because the end is right around the corner.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Hit Snooze.

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