Devotionals Archives

May 26, 2022May 26, 2022

Look Passed Outward Appearances

²⁴Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” ~ John 20:24-25

Outward appearance means little. Thomas looked so much like Jesus that he was called, ‘the twin.’ In fact, even though Jesus taught in the synagogues and in the streets and was a well-known rabbi when He was arrested at night, they waited for Judas to give the sign of who Jesus was before they arrested Him. We can only assume that this was because it was so dark at night that they couldn’t easily tell Jesus and Thomas apart. Yet, Thomas was the disciple who struggled with the resurrection of Jesus the most.

So, many of us look at the outer appearance of a Christian. They may have the appearance of Godliness, but inside they’re struggling. Inside they may be full of doubt because of a loss they experienced or a failure that they just endured. It’s so easy to look simply at the outward appearance of someone and miss out completely on the spirit inside that person.

So, when we look for a teacher or a leader, we can’t just look at someone based on their outward appearance, whether they look the way we believe a Christians should look or not. We have to look with the eyes of God and search the heart of men and women so that we won’t be led astray by a false outward Godly appearance.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Passed Outward Appearances.

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Be Led By The Spirit of Truth

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. ²⁶For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. ²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ~ Romans 1:24-28

So many believe that we are to only show a love that doesn’t correct nor discipline, but is this the kind of love God has sent us to show the world? Look at the outcome of mankind suppressing the Truth about God. Their hearts were darkened; they became fools exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images. God then gave them up to their lusts because they exchanged Truth about God for a lie and worshiped the creature instead of the Creator. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

After the dishonorable passions were planted inside of them, they still didn’t see fit to acknowledge God. That root then began to then take root inside of, so God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. That’s when the floodgates of these other evil things seemed to take grow and bear fruits of unrighteousness and evil, for it says,

²⁹They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:29-32

Definitely sounds like the current state of the world that we’re living in. We have people and churches fighting to make these sins normal and acceptable before God, and if you don’t agree with them, then you’re a hater, bigot, and unkind. We’re to take the stance that we don’t want to partake in any of what they’re pushing. We take the stance to honor Him as the only one true God and give thanks to Him and worship Him so that our hearts won’t be darkened and turn to evil, as Paul warns here in this scripture. That’s why the Truth of God sets you free because only the light can shine into the darkness exposing the lies that we believe about who God is or isn’t. These lies that keep us in bondage and trapped in darkness can only be broken with Truth. Not our own deceiving truth that tickles our ears and never sets us free, but the one and only Truth that is the Word of God that shines the light of Jesus Himself into our lives as we are led by the very Spirit of Truth Himself.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Led By The Spirit of Truth.

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Receive Your New Heart

⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As He said these things, He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ⁹And when His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, ¹⁰He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ ¹¹Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹²The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. ¹⁴And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” Luke 8:5-15

Jesus tells the parable of a sower that threw out His seed onto four different types of land. Three out of the four of the different kinds of land that the seed fell on failed to survive and thrive. This parable was Jesus’ way of explaining what kinds of people would be able to withstand the temptations and trials of the world.

If we look at the reason each fell to the schemes of Satan, we can see it’s because of a heart issue. Our desires are usually on the world and the things of this world instead of on the things of God. For instance, most of us find the commands of Jesus to be restrictive instead of freeing. We find it taxing to pray, worship, and read our Bible. In fact, the majority of us don’t fast at all.

We want to love God, but our desires and our heart are on the things of this world. So, how do we fix this? We beat our flesh into submission by daily prayer, worship, and reading our Bible. We starve our flesh through fasting as we seek the face of God. In doing so, God will strengthen our spirit and give us a new heart that desires Him and the things of Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Receive Your New Heart.

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Give Up Your Biases

¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. ~ Romans 10:17

Today, we often hear that we don’t need the Bible to know God or to have a relationship with Him. But without the Bible, we wouldn’t even know about God. As Paul explained, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Without the Word of God, we cannot please God.

This kind of thinking opens us up to the Spirit of Deception because we now base our ideas and descriptions of God on our own desires and biases. As a result, our minds become dark and confused, and our body then follows and is filled with darkness. So what are we to do? All we can do is give up our own thoughts and biases, open our Bible, and ask God to show us the truth as we read His word. This is the only way we will ever truly know God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Give Up Your Biases.

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Seek God to Leave a Legacy

¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, ²“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. ~ Joshua 1:1-2

Even though Moses was dead and Joshua was now going to lead Israel in his place, the LORD didn’t forget Moses. Moses had left a legacy. Joshua was described as Moses’ assistant even though Moses was gone and Joshua was now leading.

Moses’ legacy was a great example of the life we should try to live. Moses sought the face of God continuously. No matter how much he had been shown, Moses remained hungry for God. He was never satisfied with the relationship he had with God. He always sought more.

So, He built a legacy for himself just by seeking the face of God and following His perfect and Holy will. This is how we are to live our lives, seeking the face of God and following His plan.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek God to Leave a Legacy.

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Walk Not By Sight

¹ And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ³And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ⁸I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” ~ Luke 18:1-8

It can become wearing to pray about a specific situation over and over again, year in and year out, without sewing even a sign of your prayers being answered. But the LORD promises that if we continue to be faithful, He will move on our behalf at just the right time. We have to remember that God isn’t slow to fulfill His promises as we count slowness, but He fulfills them at just the right time. So, we can be sure that if we continue to stay faithful in prayer, we will get our answer, even if it is many years later.

It’s clear in the verses above that if we are persistent, the LORD will hear our cry and answer our prayers. Even though it feels like we live in a hopeless world, this isn’t to lose faith. This is the time to press in and fight even harder for our God-given dreams and calls. This is the time to show God we are faithful in the good and in the bad because we understand that there is nothing without Him.

Always remember that God is faithful, and our job is to trust Him at all costs. Even when we don’t see Him moving, we have to have faith and believe that He is. Peace. Love. Go Forth and Walk Not By Sight.

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Let The Sins Go

²²For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” ~ Mark 6:22-23

King Herod had John the Baptist in prison. He wasn’t a follower nor a believer, but he knew that John was a righteous and holy man. So, King Herod refused to kill him and kept him safe, but because he wasn’t a believer and he didn’t have the Helmet of Salvation on his head to protect him, he was susceptible to the Spirit of Deceit.

Think about it. His niece danced for him, and King Herod was so amazed by this dance that he promised to give her anything she requested, even up to half of his kingdom. What dance is worth half of a man’s kingdom unless there is a spiritual aspect in this? This is how it is today.

When we don’t have our minds protected by the Helmet of Salvation, we are like sitting ducks in the middle of hunting season. We see this all over the world today. People who have the ideas of who God is are still being deceived by the ruler of this world. We are unable to see the deceiver before us when we don’t wear the Helmet of Salvation on our heads. We become like King Herod and get ourselves into the exact situation we were trying to avoid.

So, how do we avoid this? We humble ourselves before the LORD, and we build a relationship with Him by giving up the sins that were holding us back.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let The Sins Go.

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Don’t Strike The Rock

²And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’” ~ Deuteronomy 31:2

When Moses reached a certain age, he was no longer able to go in and come out. Even though Moses was constantly in the presence of God, he still fell into a spiritual slumber, unable to go in and come out. Moses became too focused on the people and lost focus of the LORD and His will for him and his people. In doing so, he allowed the quarreling of the congregation to cause him to fail to uphold the LORD as holy when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. He allowed the confusion and rebellion of the people of Israel to stop his faith.

Even though Moses believed God and had faith in Him, because he allowed the people to get to him and he disobeyed the LORD, the LORD saw this as a lack of faith as well as Moses taking away from God’s Holiness in the sight of the people.

Today, it’s easy for us to allow the world to anger us and get under our skin, causing us to lose faith in the sight of God. Even if we have faith in our own eyes, disobedience, especially because of frustration with the world, will cause us to fall into a spiritual sleep. This will leave us unable to enter and exit the presence of God as we once did before. So, stay focused on the LORD and His plan. Don’t allow the world to distract you and take away your promises.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Strike The Rock.

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Praise the Father of Lights

¹¹Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today, ¹²lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. ~ Deuteronomy 8:11-16

The people of Israel grumbled before the LORD, accused Him of evil, and even created and worshipped new gods. They even went as far as to praise these gods they had just made with their hands for saving them out of the land of Egypt from their slavery. Even though the people of Israel did all of this and more, the LORD still did everything for their good. Today we’re the same.

The LORD saves us from our sin and gives us freedom, yet we blame God for the negatives in our lives and don’t give Him the praise He deserves for the positive things in our lives. Every good and perfect gift comes down from The Father of Light. This is where we fall down, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness. We have to remember life isn’t always going to be flowing with milk and honey, but God is always working things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Praise the Father of Lights.

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Be Distinct

⁷Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. ⁸Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. ~ Psalms 143:7-8

David described the LORD shining His face upon us as a distinction between those with hope and those without hope. We aren’t like the world that lives in darkness, and their prayers aren’t heard by the LORD. We may also live in the same dark world, but we are not a part of this world, nor are we alone in the darkness.

We Christians are guided, surrounded, and filled with the Light of the World. We have hope because God is with us. We have a purpose and a plan for our lives. We have hope in the LORD God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Distinct.

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