Devotionals Archives

August 28, 2022August 3, 2022

Expect The Impossible

²³And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep. ²⁵And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶And He said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?” ~ Matthew 8:23-27

Jesus and His disciples were in the ship, crossing over to the other side. These men weren’t men who had never been in a boat before. These men weren’t men who weren’t used to rough waves and weather. These were seasoned seamen that were with Jesus. They were crossing the lake when a tempest, or a huge storm, arose and threatened to sink the boat with them in it. I presume the disciples were rowing and bailing out the water from the boat to no avail.

So, they went to the back of the ship and woke Jesus up, asking for help. When He helps them by calming the storm, they marvel. They could hardly believe what they had just seen. Maybe it took them by surprise because they were not expecting that. Maybe they were expecting Jesus to grab a bucket or pan and start bailing out water. Or grab an oar and start rowing. Whatever they were expecting, it certainly didn’t seem to be that. That didn’t expect Jesus to stand up and speak to the storm and the storm obey Him. They weren’t ready.

Some of us are where these disciples were so long ago. We’re seasoned in our position, and then, out of nowhere, a storm hits, and we panic. Imagine how much more God will do for us if we cry out for help expecting the impossible. Think about it. The disciples were saved in such a miraculous way that they were shocked, meaning this wasn’t how they were expecting to be saved. So then, how much more will God do the impossible if we pray and expect the impossible?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Expect The Impossible.

Back to Faith?

Back to Daily Bread?

Ignite a Deeper Faith

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed Him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. ¹¹I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹²while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. ~ Matthew 8:10-13

So, the centurion goes to see Jesus and explains to Him that his servant is ill and needs a healing. Jesus said, “Sure, I will come with you and heal him.” The centurion was like, “You don’t even need to come. Besides, I’m not worthy for You to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” That pretty much floored Jesus. He was stunned when He heard this.

In fact, Jesus states that no one in all of Israel had that kind of faith. This would mean that not even Jesus’ disciples had that kind of faith. The men that walked and talked with Jesus daily didn’t have that type of faith. Even though they witnessed miracle after miracle. Healing after healing. Sign after sign. Wonder after wonder, their faith couldn’t compare to that of a man who had only heard of the good things of Christ.

Many of us in the Church are baffled by this. We can’t understand how the men that walked and talked with God have less faith than a man who had never met Him. But what many of us fail to realize is that we are often the disciples, not the centurion. When we grow up in Church, it’s easy to take the Bible and all of its promises for granted. It’s easy for us to miss out on something deeper with Christ because He’s always been there. When we allow the things of God (going to church, reading your bible, praying, worship, etc.) to become just another routine, then the Word of God slowly becomes less and less important. We slowly become asleep, and our faith slowly dies the deeper into a spiritual sleep we get.

So, when we come to Jesus, we need more than just head knowledge. We need a good real down to earth belief in who He is and what He can do. We need to strive for an unshakeable faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Ignite a Deeper Faith.

Back to Spiritual Slumber?

Back to Daily Bread?

Activate The Sword of The Spirit

^17b… and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, ¹⁸praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ~ Ephesians 6:17-18

The Sword of the Spirit isn’t just the physical Word of God that we refer to as the Bible. It’s not just quoting Scripture. It’s quoting Scripture in Jesus’ name through the power of the Holy Spirit. This power of the Holy Spirit can only be activated through praying in the Spirit because your spirit can only be built up through praying in the spirit, just as your mind can only be built up through praying with your mind.

This is why the Church has been in a dormant state. A state where people leave the Church and become pagans or occultists because the Church has no power. We no longer see the miracles of old in the Church today because the Church rarely prays in the Spirit. Each and every one of us has a Spirit language. This isn’t the same as the speaking in tongues that we saw in Acts 2, which is speaking a heavenly language, and each person hearing heard it in their own language regardless of whom they listened to.

This isn’t the same as the speaking in tongues that Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 14, which is speaking a word from God in a heavenly language to the Church and then needing the interpretation of that heavenly language from either the person that spoke or from another who received the interpretation from God. This is speaking in a heavenly language that is specific to your spirit that connects to God’s Spirit that is in you. It is your spirit’s way of building itself up but also cutting through the limitations of our minds and getting straight down to what it is that you need that you may not even know. Without feeding our spirit, it can’t grow. This is how we grow our spirit.

This is the key to activating the Sword of the Spirit. So, when we start to pray in the Spirit and we start to activate the Sword of the Spirit, we will begin to see a change in our lives. We will begin to see the power of God fill us as His Spirit builds in us and builds our spirit with Him. After we have prayed in the spirit, we must pray with our mind that our mind might be built up as well. After we have built up our spirits and our minds, we must then make supplication for the rest of the saints of God. These are the keys to wielding the Sword of the Spirit. Each one of these is important, for a three-strand cord is not easily broken.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Activate The Sword of The Spirit.

Back to Spiritual Warfare?

Back to Daily Bread?

Have The Faith of The Centurion

⁵When He had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him, ⁶“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” ⁷And He said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” ~ Matthew 8:5-8

Look at the faith the centurion had. And he wasn’t even a Jew. He wasn’t even a follower of Jesus. Yet he put his hope completely in Jesus. His servant was sick. He heard all about Jesus and His mighty acts of healing. So, he himself went to see Jesus. He didn’t send someone else. Many Christians won’t pray for themselves, and others won’t even pray at all. They would rather someone else to labor in prayer on their behalf.

Now, I want to be clear. I’m not in no way discounting asking for prayer. Please, pray for me. If you can do anything, please remember me in your prayers that the LORD will open up doors and opportunities for us. That the LORD will always lead us in all things. But that doesn’t release me from the necessary task of praying myself. Jesus prayed for Himself. Paul prayed for himself. Both changed the entire world.

We have to be like them if we want to see a change in our lives. We have to be like the centurion who didn’t rely on someone else to do what he knew he ought to do if we want our loved ones healed or saved. We have to take it upon ourselves, just as that centurion did, if we want to see miracles, changes, and answered prayers in our lives. He wanted his servant healed, and he believed, and he knew Jesus could do it, so he himself went to ask.

Your children aren’t serving the LORD?
- Ask Jesus
Are your children in unhealthy relationships?
- Take it to the LORD in prayer
Someone you love or know is sick?
- Pray the prayer of faith
Are you called to do something? And you sure it is the LORD and not the enemy distracting you?
- Ask for confirmation from the LORD.
  - Remember, not every opportunity is of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Have The Faith of The Centurion.

Back to Faith?

Back to Daily Bread?

Believe With Everything In You

²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ~ Matthew 6:27

⁶do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:6-7

Oftentimes, the Church falls for the lies of the enemy. How? This is what we say, “Well, I did everything I know to do. I guess the only thing I can do now is to pray.” Prayer, or seeking Jesus, is not our last resort. It is not the thing we can do after all else fails. No! Prayer is what we do first. Our attitude should be:

Let me take it to the LORD in prayer, first.

But instead, we wrestle with things that we could give over to the LORD. We stay awake all night worrying about things that we can’t control and things that will never happen. There are studies that show that anywhere between 85-91 percent of what we worry about never comes to pass. I even saw a post where it basically said something like, “Worrying works because 90% of what we worry about never happens.” This is one of the biggest lies of the enemy.

Worrying is counterproductive, not only from a physical standpoint but a spiritual one. Because when we worry and refuse to go to God, we are calling Him a liar. We’re saying that He won’t protect us. He won’t rescue us even if He’s promised that He will. Even if He’s never failed before. Why do we do this? Because we know that God can do all things, but we don’t fully believe it. We don’t believe it in our hearts, only in our minds.

In order for faith to overcome fear, we must believe the Scripture with all that is in us, even if it doesn’t happen overnight. Even if it takes constant prayer. Even if it takes reciting the same verses over and over again until we believe it with all that is in us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Believe With Everything In You.

Back to Fear?

Back to Daily Bread?

Be Thankful For The Scars

²⁰For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 6:20-25

We all have a past. Some of us have a past that we feel is worse than others’ pasts. In fact, many of us don’t like to even think about the past that we have been redeemed from because of shame and guilt, but what if remembering the past isn’t always a bad thing? When we accept our Salvation, and we begin to follow Christ, we are washed clean by the Blood of The Lamb. We, in that moment, are no longer slaves to sin, but now we are given the opportunity to overcome that sin that once kept us in bondage, and we can overcome it through Christ. When we remember all that Christ saved us from, our love for Him grows. Our desire to grow closer to Him grows. It’s only when we forget all that God has done for us and begin to take it for granted that we fall into our old ways and choose our past over our future.

There’s a song by I AM THEY called Scars. The premise of the song is that they are thankful for the scars that they have because, without those scars, they wouldn’t know the love of God. If they didn’t have those scars. In other words, if we didn’t have scars, we would not only have the memory of what God has done for us but we also wouldn’t have been saved. We’re human, so we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to sin.

Sin causes cuts and wounds upon our souls and our spirits. Some of us have been broken and shattered because of the poor decisions we’ve made. So, when God picks up that broken vessel, He reworks it into a new creation. You can see that it’s gone through hard times and, at one point in time, was chipped and shattered, but the new creation it is is more beautiful than ever. We shouldn’t dwell on our past and let guilt or shame overcome us, but we also shouldn’t try to forget it. We have to remember where we have been so that we might know where we are going. We were once slaves to sin, and now we are free in Christ Jesus. A new, completely different creation that is beautifully remolded and sowed back together by God Himself. Why would we want to forget that?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Thankful For The Scars.

Back to Thankful?

Back to Daily Bread?

Never Forget Whom You Serve

²⁸And Peter answered Him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” ³¹Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” ~ Matthew 14:28-33

Sometimes we are in that same boat. Life’s fierce winds are howling all around us, blowing over 100 miles an hour. The waves of the cares of this world are crashing against our ship and breaking over the bow, threatening to sink our ship. The lightning is flashing across the night sky as the deafening thunder crashes all around us. The ship is filling up with water faster than we can bail.

Of course, we are saved
Of course, we are serving Jesus
Of course, we know He is our all sufficiency
Of course, we depend on Him
Of course, we know He is all powerful
Of course, we know He can do all things
We know the Scriptures we can quote
We have the head-faith
What we don’t have is the faith of a mustard seed
We must get it from our heads and into our hearts
We can confess it with our mouths, but until we confess in our hearts, there is no true faith

The thing is, when life’s storms begin to rage, our boat threatens to sink, and there is no land in sight. It is not that easy to put down the bailing pan and cast our cares and worries and fears on Jesus.

It’s just not that easy.

In times like that, we forget that He is all-sufficient. We forget that He is Almighty God. Why? Because we are looking with our natural eyes. So, we have a need to control the situation ourselves instead of casting our cares and burdens on Him because He cares for us. In other words, we have to stop looking with our natural eyes and start looking with our spiritual eyes. Sometimes it needs prayer in order to open our spiritual eyes, just as Elisha had to pray for his servant. Sometimes it just takes a change of focus through reciting Scripture. Either way, we must focus on God, for the waves cannot overtake us as long as our focus is on Him because what we focus on is whom we have our faith in.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Never Forget Whom You Serve.

Back to Faith?

Back to Daily Bread?

Go To The Elders

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ~ James 5:13-15

James tells us that if we are suffering, being oppressed, then we should pray that we might be freed from this suffering. But when it comes to being sick, James tells us that we need something a little more. Why? When the disciples couldn’t cast out a specific type of evil spirit causing an illness in a boy, Jesus basically told them that they were too childlike in the faith. Not that they had childlike faith, but that they were children in the faith. They weren’t mature Christians. They were children, not elders. Their faith and relationship with God weren’t where they needed to be to have the authority and power to heal this boy.

Many of us miss out on our healing because we aren’t elders in the faith. It’s not about the length of years you’ve served Christ but what you’ve done in those years of serving Him. The disciples of Christ were serving Him the longest; nevertheless, Paul (who persecuted them and other Christians) was the greatest apostle who ever lived, doing things and understanding things that they didn’t. Though their relationship with God was longer than Paul’s relationship with God, Paul had to correct some of them as well as some of their followers. So, I said all of this that you might understand that just because by Jesus’ stripes we have been healed unless we or the person anointing us and praying for us is an elder in the faith-filled with power and Truth, we just might miss out on our healing.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Go To The Elders.

Back to Growth?

Back to Daily Bread?

Be Filled with Grace and Power

⁸And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹²And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. ~ Acts 6:8-15

Stephen is recorded in the Bible as the first martyr. He was stoned to death because those around him who refused to accept the Truth could not disprove the Truth he spoke. Stephen wasn’t stoned for the good things he did. He wasn’t even stoned for the signs and wonders he did. He was stoned because of Jesus. Stephen set aside himself, and with great power and authority, he followed in the footsteps of Christ. He made a difference wherever he went to the point that the heads of the synagogues came to disprove all that he said, but because Stephen was a Spirit-filled man of God, they couldn’t. This is what angered them the most. This is what they arrested him for because they couldn’t dispute the Truth.

The Word of God is Truth. It is irrefutable. There is no flaw or contradiction in it because it was breathed out by God-Himself. God authored the entire Bible through the men He used to write the words down. Because of this, we can stand in confidence when we read our Bible. Some will say many are leaving the Church right now because of the flaws in the Bible. This isn’t a flaw in the Bible; this is a flaw in the Church. The Church today is no longer full of grace and power as the early Church was 2,000 years ago. We can no longer defend our own beliefs as Stephen could because we no longer read our Bibles through unbiased eyes seeking the Truth. We no longer fast, pray, and worship as the early Church did. They were Spirit-filled Christians who didn’t just say they were Christians, but they had the power of Christ dwelling in them that manifested in their speech and their actions.

Even though it’s our natural response to being questioned, don’t lean on your own understanding. Listen for the Spirit, and He will give you the words to speak. He will show you what you don’t yet know or understand. Seek God as the early Church did. Study the Scripture as the early Church did. Allow God to use you as the early Church did. If you do these things, when you are confronted, you will be able to defend your faith as Stephen, and the rest of the greats of the early Church did.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Filled with Grace and Power.

Back to Growth?

Back to Daily Bread?

Help Another Human

⁴¹Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. ⁴²For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. ⁴³I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ ⁴⁵And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ ⁴⁶And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” ~ Matthew 25:41-46

So many of us have become centered around our own needs and our own goals in life. It’s easy to do this in our fast passed society. Unless we focus on our dreams, we won’t ever achieve them, but what if we’re meant for more? The early Church understood something that we struggle with in the Church today. We struggle with having a Kingdom mindset because we’ve grown up in a self-centered world. We’ve been taught evolution and natural selection from elementary school that tries to convince us that only the strong will survive and the weak will perish alone, so don’t help them. We have to allow the natural order of things to take place. The problem with this is that we are blinded by the self-destruction argument of natural selection and evolution. Unless we help each other, then the human race will cease to exist.

No person can succeed on their own; someone had to help them get to where they are today. Why? Because humans aren’t perfect. We make mistakes, we fail, we fall down, and unless we have someone to help us get back up again, then we will remain there. Humanity is a single race of people that are connected to each other by the same flaw that makes us human in the first place. Unless we help each other, we cannot survive. In fact, if Jesus had never taken the form of man and died on the cross for us, then we wouldn’t even have salvation. Jesus got off of His throne to not just help us but to literally do it for us, for we could never pay our own debt. So, why can we not help another human in need? Show the love that Christ has first shown you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Help Another Human.

Back to Growth?

Back to Daily Bread?

Tag: Devotionals

Expect The Impossible

Similar Content

Ignite a Deeper Faith

Similar Content

Activate The Sword of The Spirit

Similar Content

Have The Faith of The Centurion

Similar Content

Believe With Everything In You

Similar Content

Be Thankful For The Scars

Similar Content

Never Forget Whom You Serve

Similar Content

Go To The Elders

Similar Content

Be Filled with Grace and Power

Similar Content

Help Another Human

Similar Content