Tag: Devotionals

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Don’t Miss The Big Picture

2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ~ Genesis 22:2

God told Abraham to take his only son Isaac. I want you to think about that. Does that not sound a little contradictory? “… Your son, your only son Isaac …” Remember, Abraham has another son, Ishmael. But God doesn’t count that son because it’s the son of the promise and not the son of bondage that Abraham’s descendants are counted.

You see, Sarah caught Ishmael mocking Isaac at his weaning party, and so she sent Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son, and Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, out of their home. But Abraham was very distressed over the matter because he loved his son Ishmael as well, probably not as much as Isaac, but he loved him all the same. After all, Ishmael was his son too.

But God brings Abraham’s focus back to the promise of Christmas. He said, “Look, Abraham, this is what it’s really all about. It’s through Isaac that the promise of Christmas will come. Therefore, it’s Isaac who God recognizes as Abraham’s only son because the promise of Christmas wouldn’t, couldn’t, and didn’t come through Ishmael but through Isaac.

Sometimes, we get caught up in the details, and we miss out on the bigger picture that God has planned for us. We want to include people, places, or things that aren’t intended to forge the way to our promise. But don’t worry, God doesn’t forget people because even though the promise didn’t come through Ishmael, God still made a way for Ishmael’s descendants to be blessed through the promise. How? Because Christ came to redeem all people from every nation that would call on His name.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Miss The Big Picture.

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Be A Part of The Multitude

5for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. ~ Genesis 17:5–6

God told Abram that He would make him into nations. That he would be the father of a multitude of nations. This promise isn’t just about being the physical father of the Jews but the spiritual father to every believer in every nation. In fact, God said, “It’s already done.” But Abraham hadn’t seen it; Sarah hadn’t given birth yet. Nevertheless, God said, “I have made you a father of a multitude of nations.”

Please understand that God did not say a multitude of people; He said a multitude of nations. Abram and Sarai had already tried to help God out with the promise, and Ishmael was the result. The son of the slave woman. But God’s promise is not enslaved; neither does He need help to bring to past that which He has declared.

Although, at the time, Abram might not have understood the full promise, The Promise of Christmas, Abraham, the new man, the covenanted friend of God, he understood; for he longed to see Jesus’ day, and Jesus said that he did see it and rejoiced. In other words, Abraham saw the promise of Christmas. Abraham longed for this day, and it has come. Christ came 2,000 years ago. The Messiah has come. The Christ has come. Abraham’s seed has come. He died. He rose. He ascended. And He is coming back for His people. He’s coming back for the multitude promised to Abraham. Don’t miss out on the fulfillment of this promise, like so many missed out on the fulfillment of the first promise.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Part of The Multitude.

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Do You Pant For God?

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? ~ Psalms 42:1-2

Many of us started out our Christian walk with a strong desire and love for God, but the longer we serve Him, the more we begin to take God for granted. So much of the Church today has a watered-down love for God. A very basic surface-level love that has grown cold. A love that doesn’t consist of action but only talk. Why? Consider the things you did when you first got saved and see if they equal what you’re doing now. Do you feel the passion that was there in the beginning? Is your soul still panting for God as a deer pants for water?

We want revival, but we refuse to spend time in prayer. You’re not panting like the deer; our souls are not thirsting for God. We aren’t striving for the only source of living water. We’ve lost our desire. It’s like when we want to lose weight, but we don’t have the willpower to eat properly and proportionately. We don’t have the discipline to exercise. We want to get good grades in school, but the desire to study is not there. Without desire, there is no discipline or self-control.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pant For God.

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Don’t Be Bullied

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ~ Ephesians 6:10-12

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 envious 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.

So, what exactly is bullying?

Erling Roland, a professor at the University of Stavanger’s Centre for Learning Environment and one of Norway’s leading researchers on bullying, describes bullying as:

A “longstanding violence, physical or psychological, conducted by an individual or a group directed against an individual who is not able to defend himself in the actual situation.”

Ah, it’s the weak that the bully targets. I guess you never see a linebacker being bullied, or a 220-pound state championship wrestler being bullied. They prey upon the weak, those who are unable to defend themselves.

It may start small, but every day it will grow and get more and more intense. This is the need for the Armor of God. Unless we are fully covered in the Armor of God, then we are the weak. That’s when we became targets of opportunity for the devil and his minions. Therefore, armor up so that you won’t be overcome by the enemy.

Peace. Love. Go Froth and Don’t Be Bullied.

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Don’t Fear That Day

33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Think carefully about what is right and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:33–34

Even though God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, He still punishes the guilty and does not just let them go free. So, don’t let anyone tell you that you can live and do whatever you want because their god will never send anyone to hell.

People who say such things do not know the one true God. They think they know God, but to their own shame, they do not! Because everyone will be called to give an account of all, they’ve said and done. Don’t be confused because God blesses the righteous and the wicked alike. He will let both the moral and immoral dwell together on this earth until the time of the Judgment, and then He will separate them.

On that day, it won’t matter how much good you’ve done. It won’t matter how much evil you’ve done. It won’t matter if you were an upstanding citizen or a useless street bum. The only thing that will matter on that day is whether or not you followed Christ while on this earth. All other things will be irrelevant when the LORD separates mankind between believers and nonbelievers. Between actual followers of Christ and those who just speak of Him.

Don’t let the Day of Judgment hold you in fear or catch you unawares. Prepare for this day in Christ Jesus so that you won’t fear the Judgment. So that you will be able to stand before the LORD in full confidence of who He is and who you are in Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Fear That Day.

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Jump Out of The Water

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. ~ Proverbs 14:12

If you have spiritually fallen asleep, you will not recognize that you are on the wrong path because the thing that is presented to you might feel good. It might even seem good, but the end of that road is death. Snow White had no clue the apple was poisoned; otherwise, she would not have partaken.

You see, sometimes we get so caught up in the disguise that we don’t see the evil inside until we have taken a bite, and it’s much too late because the poison has already entered our body. This is how evil is presented to us. Nice and beautiful. Delicious and sweet. Like a red shiny delicious apple, and we take a bite, and we don’t even know that we have fallen asleep.

It’s not presented as evil by the most wicked person we can think of. Neither does it come from a man with horns and a pointy tail, dressed in a red suit waving a pitchfork. But rather, it comes like an innocent old lady. A grandmother type with a basket of beautiful red delicious apples.

Evil is presented by a family-friendly entity that appears harmless that seems to have good morals and good intentions. But the reality is, it’s the devil in disguise. Disney movies, from the beginning, are filled with spells, curses, hexes, magic portions, and invocations. From innocent-looking Snow White to Beauty and the Beast to The Little Mermaid. The majority of us have all seen these presets designed to lull us into accepting darker and darker magic. It’s not giving it to us all at once, but instead, it’s like the proverbial frog in hot water. You won’t know you’re boiling in water until it’s too late.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Jump Out of The Water.

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Learn The Heart of God

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ~ Exodus 34:6–7

The LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Aren’t we so glad that the LORD is a God merciful and gracious and slow to anger? Aren’t we so glad that His steadfast love and His faithfulness are constantly surrounding us? And protecting us?

What would we do if God was to one day wake up on the wrong side of the bed, so to speak? We would all be in trouble, but as it is, God is patient with the righteous as well as the wicked, but He will by no means acquit the guilty. Did you notice that as well?

Even though God is merciful and gracious and slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness, still He punishes the guilty and does not just let them go free. So, don’t let anyone tell you that you can live and do whatever you want because their god will never send anyone to hell.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn The Heart of God.

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Know His Ways

6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. ~ Psalms 103:6–8

The people of Israel were only familiar with God’s acts. They only saw what He did because they stood far off. But Moses knew His ways because he drew near to God. Moses said let me know Your works that I might know You. David also knew his God, and that is why he is known as a man after God’s own heart because he sought to know the LORD his God.

The people of Moses’ day were not so inclined to put themselves out there in order to know their God. It’s the same today. People are good and content just to come to church and sit in the pews and let somebody else praise God for them. They sit quietly by while their neighbor gets more and more undignified, praising God.

But catch them at a football game. They will come home with their throats sore and their voices hoarse from the screaming and yelling and celebrating. They will never see God’s glory until they catch the spirit of Moses.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know His Ways.

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Don’t Miss Him

18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. ~ Exodus 20:18–21

So many Christians only know about God, but they don’t know God. They can quote Scripture, defend doctrine, and even teach the Scriptures to others, but they don’t know God. They have no relationship with God. They’ve become like the Pharisees. The Pharisees taught the Scriptures; they were the teachers of the Law and the closest to perfection mankind could get on their own; nevertheless, they didn’t know God. They had no relationship with God.

Because they only knew God on a surface level, they missed God completely when He came in the form of man by the name of Jesus. Today, so many of us only know God on a surface level that we don’t see Him in our society anymore. We try to mix God with our own personal ideas of who God is and what He stands for instead of trying to get to know Him on a personal level. We’d rather others pray for us than for us to go to God ourselves. This just adds to the separation between us and God. If we don’t seek God out ourselves for who He is and not who we want Him to be, then we’ll miss Him completely.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Miss Him.

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Invoke, Thank, and Praise

4 Then he appointed a family of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. ~ 1 Chronicles 16:4

Solomon said that a three-strand cord isn’t easily broken. In other words, when you put three key principles together, you aren’t easily overcome by the enemy. David set up a three-strand cord as well, and there was much peace, prosperity, and favor of the LORD during His reign.

1. Invoke (to invoke the Name of the LORD. To bless. Jesus gave us the authority to use His mighty name.)
2. To give thanks
3. And to praise the LORD

Normally, the first thing that is listed, or the first thing that is done, is the most dominant or the most important. The first thing David did was call on the name of the LORD. We were given a promise from the time of Joel that all who call on the name of the LORD would be saved. Jesus promised that God would hear those who call on the name of the LORD.

After this, David gave thanks. This is important because we enter God’s gates with thanksgiving. In other words, after God has heard our cry and we’ve gotten His attention, we begin the process of entering His presence through thanksgiving.

Finally, David had them praise the LORD. Because you enter His gates with thanksgiving, and you enter His courts with praise. In other words, we enter God’s presence through praise. This three-strand cord opens the door to the presence of the LORD. It worked for David during his time on this earth, and it still works for us today.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Invoke, Thank, and Praise.

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