Devotionals Archives

June 15, 2022June 15, 2022

Humbly Present Yourself

¹⁰ On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, ¹¹ to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. ¹² But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him. ~ Esther 1:10-12

Queen Vashti was a beautiful woman, so much so that her husband, King Ahasuerus, wanted to show her off to all of his guests, but Queen Vashti refused because of her pride. Many of us look at what Queen Vashti did as something great for women everywhere because King Ahasuerus was being sexist, but what if it wasn’t a positive thing?

See, Queen Vashti could have humbled herself before the king and shown her beauty before his guests, and continued to build a strong relationship with him so that when she brought something to his attention that could possibly hurt her, he would do everything in his power to fix it, as he did with Esther. Instead, Queen Vashti stood rebelliously with pride and lost her position as Queen as well as her opportunity to ever truly change things for women in their culture.

Sometimes standing in pride and refusing to do something we deem to be demeaning can cause us to miss out on so much in life. God says that He elevates the humble and humbles the proud. Just because man tries to demean you and bring you down, that doesn’t mean that God has brought you down. You may not be elevated in this life, but you will be elevated in the next if you humble yourself.

Peace. Love. Go Love Forth and Humbly Present Yourself.

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Leave His Feet

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance ¹³and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” ¹⁴When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. ~ Luke 17:11-14

Ten lepers came to Jesus begging for mercy. They came to Him in faith and humility, crying out with a loud voice. They even declared who Jesus was by calling Him master, but none of that mattered until they obeyed in faith and walked away. It wasn’t until they stepped out in faith and walked to the priests to be checked that they were healed. See, even though they went to Jesus in faith, they had to first leave Jesus in faith in order to receive their healing.

When they left to go present themselves to the priests, they were still sick. They were still ten lepers when they left Jesus; it wasn’t until they started walking a little distance that they received their healing. It was a test of their faith. This is how it is with some of us today. Some of us are at Jesus’ feet, begging for our healing, declaring who Jesus is, crying out for mercy, while Jesus is telling us to get up and show ourselves to the priests. Go to the doctor. Get your checkup. But we’re still at His feet, begging for healing and mercy. So, many of us miss out on our healing because we’re too afraid to leave Jesus’ feet in faith. Sometimes, this is the only way we can be healed, so don’t let fear or doubt keep you from your healing. Walk out in faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Leave His Feet.

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What’s The Anointing Worth?

¹⁵ A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. ~ Proverbs 15:1

When I was young, my mother would always tell me, “it’s the answer that brings the row (argument).” I suppose it was her way of quoting this proverb. A soft answer turns away wrath. She would tell me that it takes 2 to argue.

You see, it is not the answer but how we answer. The other day a man came into my office, but I was unable to help as he didn’t have the minimum requirements necessary. I tried to explain, but he became irate and began to cuss me out. I simply told him to have a nice and genuinely hoped that his day would get better.

The scene could’ve easily escalated if I had returned railing for railing. Cussing for cussing. But instead, a soft answer turns away wrath.

As Christians, we ought to always strive to live in peace and in harmony with our fellow individuals. Sometimes tempers will rise, and sometimes it may be difficult to keep control. It would probably feel really good to return some of their own medicine, but it’s not worth the anointing. God has called us to live in peace. Therefore, nothing is worth the anointing, not even our own pride.

Father, help us to live in peace and harmony and to take the wrong even when we are not in the wrong. We desire Your anointing. We desire Your presence, and we know that arguments and strife will not cultivate a close relationship with Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, LORD Jesus, for giving us the ability to turn the other cheek. Amen.

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Trust Him Even In Prison

²Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³and said to Him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” ⁴And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. ⁶And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” ~ Matthew 11:2-6

John was sent by God to prepare the way for the LORD. He proclaimed to the masses that Jesus was the Messiah. That Jesus was the promised Christ. Even though John had preached to the masses and baptized many, his faith was shaken when he was at the end of his life. See, Jesus was healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and preaching love everywhere He went while John was chained up in prison. The Jews had preconceived ideas about who the Messiah was and how He was to save or redeem Israel. They expected the Messiah to overthrow the Roman Empire that was oppressing the Jews and to take His rightful place as King of kings and LORD of lords, yet Jesus didn’t do this. This caused many to doubt Him, including John, who led the way for Him and even baptized Him.

Today we face this same dilemma. We have our own preconceived notions of who Jesus is and how He would react to things without first taking the time to get to know Him. We no longer search for the Truth; now, we search for those who tickle our ears and validate our own biases. We’d rather stay chained up in a spiritual prison than to seek the Truth of God that will set us free because we don’t want to give something up. Oftentimes, we ignore the Truth of who Jesus is because we don’t want to fight the good fight. Because we want to stay in our own filth and muck where we’re comfortable and have a false sense of safety.

Other times it’s because we desire a Jesus that will bring judgment and punishment on our enemies, as I believe John did. It’s easy to be upset with God when He seems so distant, and everything around us seems like it’s falling apart, but always remember that God works all things out for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Don’t allow your own idea of who you think Jesus should be cause you to miss out on who He is and be caught unawares and sleeping when He returns.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Trust Him Even In Prison.

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Resist The Siren’s Song

¹¹ But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. ~ 1 Timothy 6:11-12^NLT

As we get closer to the return of Jesus, the world becomes more and more evil. As the world becomes more evil, the more it becomes enticing. As the world darkens, it will become harder to fight temptation unless we pursue righteousness from now. Unless we train our flesh and run from all manner of evil, the world will one day be able to suck us in.

It’ll become like a siren song that we can’t resist because we didn’t hold tightly to the hope of Eternal Life with God. And if we are drawn away by this siren song, it will only lead to death and destruction. We have to resist while there is time to resist. We have to seek God while He can still be found. We have to build our faith while it is still possible. We have to fight the good fight while we still can.

LORD, help us to fight the good fight and not be distracted by the things of this world. Help us to not take Your salvation and mercy for granted. Help us to spend time talking and listening to You, abiding in You and You in us, so that we can unashamedly proclaim Your goodness and great salvation to all people, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

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Don’t React Like Michal

¹⁶But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him. ²⁰When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!” ²³So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life. ~ 2 Samuel 6:16, 20, 23^NLT

David was dancing unashamedly before the Lord in worship, celebrating that the Lord’s presence would be dwelling in his place, in the city of David, yet Michal could not discern what David was doing and what was happening in the spiritual. She only saw through her eyes of jealousy and contempt that David was making a spectacle of himself before the servant girls; she was caught up with appearances before mankind.

It seems that, like her father Saul, the spirit of the Lord was not with her, and she had no discernment. She had never seen worship like that before and didn’t understand it, so she felt contempt for the man of God, and lack of spiritual discernment caused her to lose out on the blessing the Lord had for her that day. Instead of giving birth to something great, like a future king, she gave birth to nothing. We have to be careful what we say about the man of God or a move of the Holy Spirit; we need to pray for discernment so that we don’t miss out on our blessing.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t React Like Michal.

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Don’t Rejoice in Judgment

³⁵And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. ~ 1 Samuel 15:35

When the LORD rejected Saul after his many sins, Samuel didn’t rejoice that the LORD had brought righteous punishment upon Saul. Samuel instead mourned for Saul. This is how we are to be today. We are supposed to walk in love. It’s so easy for us to see the sins and forget that there is a soul beneath the outer sinner.

It’s easy to pronounce judgment upon someone that we deem worse than ourselves, but if we love people as we love ourselves, then we would show more mercy, grace, and love. God doesn’t rejoice in the punishment of the wicked, and neither should we. God doesn’t desire that any be punished, but all come to repentance, and so should we. As we see the world becoming more and more evil and more people are being led astray, our hearts should melt for them instead of growing cold and hard.

This is the only life each of us is given, so don’t be quick to desire the judgment of others. For one day, we will all stand before the Great White Throne on Judgment Day, and we will be judged by the same level of judgment we have judged others. So, instead of being quick to rejoice in the judgment of the wicked, cling to mercy, grace, and love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Rejoice in Judgment.

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Follow The LORD With All Your Heart

³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.’ ~ 1 Samuel 2:30 ESV

God promised that the house of Eli would go in and out before Him forever, but because of their evil, it didn’t happen. In the same manner, God gave Hezekiah an extra 15 years after sending him a death sentence because Hezekiah pleaded with the LORD. This shows that we can change the mind of God by our actions and by our prayers. Our lives don’t have to be set in stone.

If we aren’t on the straight and narrow path that leads to everlasting life, then we can change our path by repenting and asking for God’s forgiveness. This can also be true if we have been given a promise and we refuse to follow the LORD and His instructions. If we remain idle and refuse to move forward and follow the LORD, then His promise that He gave to us will be given to another. Don’t allow yourself to miss out on all that God has in store for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow The LORD With All Your Heart.

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Guide Your Children

¹³ And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. ~ 1 Samuel 3:13^ESV

Eli didn’t reprimand nor guide his two sons in any way. He didn’t raise them to fear God nor to love righteousness. Because of this, he brought punishment on himself and his entire household. This is like us today.

We say that our children are adults who can make their own decisions and parents have no control over them, but we should never turn a blind eye and refrain from addressing and correcting them. Children have to be guided so that they learn right from wrong. This is why we teach children not to touch the stove or not to put their finger in the light socket.

Children need to be taught right from wrong by their parents so that when they are older, they will do what is right. Even though our culture continuously changes, the fact that children need to be guided and taught right from wrong doesn’t change. It’s very important to correct your children when you know they are doing wrong against God, lest you and your children one day have to face the wrath of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Guide Your Children.

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Who Do You Desire Acceptance From?

³⁰Then he [Saul] said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” ~ 1 Samuel 15:30

After all that happened to Saul, and even though he acknowledged he sinned, Saul was still concerned about how he looked before the people more than how he looked to God. Saul didn’t even refer to God as his God but as Samuel’s God. In doing this, he separated himself from God and his relationship with God. So many people today are too busy trying to uphold their outward appearance for other people that their relationship with God becomes just for show, and they don’t even realize it.

It’s so easy for us to need validation from those who we see every day and that we know without a doubt are real, rather than the God that we can’t physically see nor touch. It’s the human in us that is seeking out the terrestrial, physical, mortal acceptance around us because that is what we are in communication with every day, but if we change our focus from those around us to the celestial, spiritual, eternal God then who we desire acceptance from will change as well. We have to seek the spiritual to want the spiritual. We have to seek God to want God. The more we draw near to God, the more God will draw near to us. Whom we need acceptance from will determine where we will spend eternity. So, who do you desire acceptance from?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Desire Acceptance From God.

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