Devotionals Archives

August 15, 2022August 3, 2022

Worship The Creator

²⁰For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. ~ Romans 1:20-25

From before Israel even entered the Promised Land, they were mixing the worship of the Creator with the creation. And almost 4,000 years later, nothing has changed. Today Christians see no problem with mixing Christianity with an entirely different religion, such as Wicca because it’s an earth-centered religion. They fail to realize that in digging into another religion to learn how to incorporate it into your lifestyle and beliefs, even if that religion is earth-centered, is no different than the Israelites creating the golden calf on the way to the Promised Land. Instead of worshipping God for what He did, they worshipped a golden calf.

Instead of worshipping God for making the moon to give us light at night, we worship the moon. Instead of worshipping God for making the sun to give us light in the day, we worship the sun. We miss that without God, there would be no moon. There would be no sun. The sun and moon only do what they do because God created them to do it. The sun and the moon have no power on their own; all that they have God has given them. So, why would we worship them? Why would we worship the creation that is nothing without the Creator?

When we fall in this one area, God gives us over to every sin that we struggle with. He stops fighting for us and the sin that was lying wait at our door, waiting for the opportunity to attack us, overcomes us. Don’t allow the enticing rituals of this world to draw you away from God. Don’t allow them to lead you to your own destruction. Worship the Creator who not only has created everything you see and everything you don’t see but the Creator who formed you in your mother’s womb. The Creator that created a way for you to get to Him. The Creator that creates a way for you to escape every temptation. The Creator that loves you more than you’ll ever know.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Worship The Creator.

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Remove The Plank First

¹ Judge not, that you be not judged. ²For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. ~ Matthew 7:1-5

Sin will overcome you if you don’t first overcome it. You must first recognize your propensity or your weakness to a certain temptation, whether it is sexual, anger, pride, lying, or any of the other sins.

In the 3^rd chapter of the book of Genesis, God asked Adam and Eve a series of questions:

“Where are you?”
“Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
“What is this that you have done?”

He was getting them to admit and see where they were. In other words, to recognize their shortcomings, or their sin, and confess them. Unconfessed sin is detrimental to the soul. Some people are quick to see other people’s faults but not so decerning when it comes to their own flaws.

If you want to overcome sin, you must first take an evaluation of your own words and your own actions and see how you line up with God’s word. After that, then you can begin to help others. You cannot help your fellow Christian with the speck in his/her eye until you take the plank out of your own eye.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remove The Plank First.

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Take Them Captive

⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

You cannot play around with sin and pull its tail or its ear and think that no harm can or will ever come to you. Remember, its desire is to have you, but you must master it, not by playing with it or trying to befriend it, but by casting it down.

When you play with sin or with temptation, you become familiar with it, and its familiarity begins to break down your resistance to it, and eventually, you will give in to it. Because one thought will lead to another thought, and that one still to another, and soon sin will have its desire.

You!

Sin will overcome you each time if you continue to allow it residence in your mind. That’s how sin gets you. The idea. The fantasy. The repetition. That’s why Paul said we cast down every thought and force it to conform to Christ. Because it’s only God who is perfect, it’s only God that can truly know right from God. And it’s only God that knows what is best for us because even we can/do fall for the lie that some evil isn’t truly evil.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take Them Captive.

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Awaken The Power

⁵After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. ⁶Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. ⁷Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. ~ 1 Samuel 10:5-7

Before the Day of Pentecost, where tongues of fire rested upon the believers in the Upper Room, the Spirit of the LORD was not dwelling on earth in mankind. In fact, there were times of silence when the Spirit was not in the land at all. But look at what happened when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul after he was anointed as king of Israel. The Spirit rushed powerfully upon him, and he began to prophesy. In fact, the Spirit even went a bit farther; Saul was changed into a different person. He became a new creation. Today this should be even more real to us.

Many believe that the power of God no more works through the Church. That the spiritual gifts given to the early Church were somehow only for the early Church. Why would God tell us to earnestly seek the higher gifts if it wasn’t for us? Either all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that we in the Church may be complete, equipped for every good work, or none of it is. We can’t make an entire section of the Word of God null and void just because it makes us uncomfortable or we don’t understand it. Today when we are saved, we should see an even greater change in us than Saul did, for the Spirit, Himself, abides in us. It didn’t just rush upon us; it is living in us, for we have become the Temple of the Living God. So, when we are saved, we should be filled with the very power of God that not only redeems us but awakens the spiritual gift we have been given that has remained inactive in us, waiting for the power of God to awaken it. Not all will prophesy, but all who are willing and who seek it out will receive the power of the Spirit of God, and their spiritual gift will be awakened with that power.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Awaken The Power.

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Choose Your Father Wisely

³⁹They answered Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹You are doing the works your father did.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” ⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. ⁴³Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. ⁴⁴You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” ~ John 8:39-47

No matter our age or our experience, we are all children. We are either children of God or children of the devil. Some of us don’t even realize who our father is. Each one of us was born of a woman from the seed of a man. And none of us chose our parents; we were each given to a mother and father by God Himself, for it was Him that knit us together in our mother’s womb. Who our physical, biological parents are wasn’t up to us. We didn’t have a say in the matter, but who our spiritual father is, now that’s all up to us.

So, many of us believe that just by the belief that God exists is enough to make Him our Father. We buy into the lie that as long as I believe in God and pray, I’m a child of God. In other words, we’ve made being a Child of God a religion without a relationship. See, it’s not enough to just believe. It’s not enough to just pray. It’s not enough to just go to church every Sunday. You have to also follow Christ. Jesus said that if you loved Him, you would keep His commands. The word Christian itself means to be a mini-Christ. In other words, you have to walk in the same footsteps Jesus did.

How you act and how you speak will determine who your father is. Why? Because your actions determine where your heart is, and your heart determines who you are. If your heart is only evil, then you cannot be a part of God, for there is no evil in God. Therefore, you would be of the devil, for there is no good in him, only evil. This is the one time that you can choose who your father is, and it’s the most important time as well. Because each child will receive their father’s inheritance. Inheritance doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good. Inheritance is receiving what was first your parent’s. In other words, if your parent has only punishment and curses, then that’s what you will inherit. If your parent only has rewards and blessings, then that’s what you will inherit. How you live your life matters, for you are a child following your father, and you will inherit whatever your father has.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Choose Your Father Wisely.

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Work For Your Blessing

¹¹ The Ark of the Lord remained there in Obed-edom’s house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his entire household. ~ 2 Samuel 6:11^NLT

There’s always blessing and prosperity where the presence of the Lord dwells. So, why are we in poor health, poverty, depression, and hopelessness if the presence of the Lord (the Holy Spirit) is living in us? If the presence of the Lord is dwelling in us, then we should be displaying the fruit of the spirit. If we’re not displaying the fruit of the spirit, then we need to check ourselves because, more than likely, there’s a stronghold in our life keeping us from producing fruit.

According to Jesus, every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit is cut down. Therefore, we can understand that just because we accept Jesus’ salvation and have faith in Him doesn’t mean that we are saved. The kind of fruit that we are producing determines our salvation. Do we have love? Joy? Peace? Or are the cares of the world overcoming us daily? Don’t buy into the lie that all you have to do is believe, and God will bless you. If you want His blessing, you must friend have His Spirit. If you want His Spirit, you must first produce good fruit. If you want to produce good fruit, you have to act upon your faith. Remember that even James explains that faith without works, or action, is dead. It’s meaningless.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Work For Your Blessing.

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Travail Like Hannah

⁵But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. ¹¹And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” ¹³Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. ¹⁴And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” ~ 1 Samuel 1:5-6, 11, 13-14 ESV

Isn’t it peculiar that a lot of important people or people used by God came from barren women? Their wombs may have been barren year after year, and people may have mislabeled them as drunk when crying out to God, but God still used them if they were willing to be used by Him. Even though they couldn’t see it in the physical because their barren womb had the potential of bearing/producing children, as long as they sought God with all that was within them, God turned that barren womb into a womb that would house greatness.

For instance, Hannah was barren, but she travailed in prayer before God because she wanted a child. She didn’t allow the antagonizing taunts of her rival to keep her from her heart’s desire. She didn’t allow the misjudgment of the man of God who called her drunk to cause her to give up praying. Hannah believed that her barren womb would one day produce life. That’s how we need to be with our dreams that God has put into us. We need to travail in prayer as Hannah did. Even if people put us down and call us all manner of derogatory names, even if they mislabeled us as drunk or crazy, we cannot give up. We have to fight through the antagonizing world so that our prayers may be heard. The only one who giving up hurts, is the one who has given up. Therefore, we must continue to pray until our time of being barren is over, and we give birth to our dream/promise.

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Claim Your Aroma

¹⁵Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. ¹⁶To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. ~ 2 Corinthians 2:15-16a

So many of us are desperate for the world’s approval over God’s approval. Why? Because we’re physically here on earth. We’re physically living among the world, not physically living in Heaven where God abides. Because most of us only look in the physical and not in the spiritual, we miss out on what’s right in front of us. Our body may live in the physical, but that’s not who we are. We are our souls. We are our spirit, and both our soul and spirit abide and are subject to the spiritual. Does that mean that the physical and the spiritual aren’t connected? By no means. What we do in the physical will affect the spiritual, sometimes instantly. But if we only live by the physical, we’re walking, living, and acting blind.

We have to start looking at our actions and others’ reactions differently. If the LORD God says that this is right, we do it, and the world gets upset at us, we have to ask ourselves, why? The reason the world hates what God calls good is that the world isn’t of God. We have been called out of the world; therefore, the world hates us because we are no longer like the world. Ted Dekker wrote a novel series called The Circle. Within The Circle, he explained the world of sin and the kingdom of Heaven in physically for us to imagine what it may look in the spiritual. For instance, those who were of the world had skin that was stink, cracking, and decaying, yet to them, it was a sweet aroma. Those who had been saved and washed clean through redemption had sweet, smooth, soft skin, yet to those of the world, their aroma was stink and foul. This is the best depiction I’ve seen in a novel of how sin and righteousness would manifest physically in our world.

So, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be dismayed. Don’t allow the taunts of the enemy to break you down, for if the world hates you, it’s because they hate Him who sent you. If you’re following the LORD and doing as He has called you to do, and the world rejects you and speaks all manner of evil against you, remember that they did the same to Christ, and He overcame. Therefore, we have this confidence that we will overcome as well, for Christ Himself lives in us and through us. Don’t lean on your own understanding or even your own physical eyes. Focus on the spiritual and what God has called you to do. If you do this, God will be with you in all things. And if God is for you, who can be against you?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Claim Your Aroma.

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Watch For The Third Temple

¹⁵So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, ¹⁸and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁹And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²²And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²⁹Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. ~ Matthew 24:15-22, 29-31

2,000 years ago, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. We still await the building of the third temple. What many Christians don’t realize is that the building of the third temple is one of the signs of Jesus’ return. Many Christians also don’t realize that the Jews are preparing to build that third temple. They’re getting the special paints, lumber, bricks, etc. needed in order to build the temple as commanded by God so many years ago. The third temple isn’t far from becoming a reality. In fact, I believe that we will see it built in our time. If this is true, then that would mean Jesus’ return is soon at hand.

Are you prepared for Jesus’ return? Are your family and loved ones ready? Are your neighbors and co-workers ready? Don’t be fooled. That day isn’t far off. And for all who don’t believe, it’s a day of much terror and fear, for the kings of the earth will see the Lamb of God seated upon His throne full of glory, and they will cry out to the rocks to crush them. None can escape the wrath of God nor the coming judgment unless they bow down at the feet of Jesus, repent, and then get up and follow Him. There’s no way around it. The only way to salvation is through Jesus. Don’t be one of those who are taken by surprise when Jesus comes like a thief in the night, taking His bride to be with Him. Be prepared. Be on guard. Stay awake, for the end is close at hand.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch For The Third Temple.

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Go Back To Go Forward

¹ After this, David asked the Lord, “Should I move back to one of the towns of Judah?” “Yes,” the Lord replied. Then David asked, “Which town should I go to?” “To Hebron,” the Lord answered. ¹ Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood.” ³ So there at Hebron, King David made a covenant before the Lord with all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel. ~ 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:1, 3 ^NLT

King Saul was dead, and it was time for David to officially take the throne as king of all of Israel. When David asked the LORD where he should go to be anointed as king of Israel, the LORD told him to go to Hebron. So, what’s so special about Hebron? Hebron was where Abram settled and built an altar to the LORD. It’s the place where the Hebrews were established. God took David back to the place where it all began. The question now begs, why? Could it be that God was establishing David as king in the same place that He established Abraham as the father of the Hebrews because God was symbolically starting over?

Keep in mind that Israel had judges, prophets, and another king before David, yet it was David that God said He would establish one of his descendants on his throne forever. It was Abraham whom God made the original covenant that we are still under, and we are still called children of Abraham. Sometimes God takes us back to a significant place in order that He might, in a sense, start over. No judge, prophet, or other king of Israel has been or will ever be established as these two men have been. Even when giving Jesus’ ancestry, Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes that there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David. Who else is remembered and/or honored in this way that they are a timeline for the Messiah Himself? No one.

Sometimes God takes us back to the past of our ancestors because He is establishing us in ways that we may not understand and that time. So, if God tells you to go somewhere or do something that feels as if it may just be repeating history, follow His instruction. If you don’t, you may miss out on the blessing of one that came before you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Go Back To Go Forward.

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Tag: Devotionals

Worship The Creator

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