Devotionals Archives

April 16, 2022April 16, 2022

The God of Resurrection

⁶²The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while He was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ ⁶⁴Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples go and steal Him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. ~ Matthew 27:62-66

Jesus was dead in the tomb; it looked like it was over. But if you notice, those who had Jesus crucified believed His words yet refused to submit. Instead, they tried to stop any possibility of Jesus’ resurrection from taking place. There are people like this today. They’ll fight to kill your promises, your dreams, and your hope. They’ll even try to bury them and seal the tomb, but that doesn’t mean it’s over.

Even though the Pharisees were able to get Pilate to place guards outside the tomb of Jesus, two angels were sent to roll away the stone and let Him out. Those trying to stop your call sometimes have more faith in you than you do. If they didn’t believe you could do it, they wouldn’t stop you. Therefore, if they have faith in your promise, why don’t you have faith in your promise?

When you have faith in God, and you put that faith into action, nothing can stop your call. People can fire you, they can drop you as friends or clients, or they can try to blacklist you or drag your name through the mud, but if you have God on your side, your dream will not stay dead. He is a God of resurrection and life. So be encouraged today, have hope. There is nothing impossible for God. If He could raise Jesus from the dead, then He can raise your dreams from the dead as well.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Have Faith In The God of Resurrection.

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Show Love

³³And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left. ³⁴And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide His garments. ³⁵And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, His Chosen One!” ~ Luke 23:33-35

2,000 years ago, Jesus was beaten, unrecognizable, mocked, and ridiculed, a crown of thorns was dug into His head, and then finally, He was crucified. Jesus could’ve easily called for ten legions of angels to come to His rescue. He could have easily slaughtered His enemies where they lie, but He didn’t. Why? Jesus saw the worth where there was none.

We’re just clay. We aren’t gods, or angels, or even demons. We’re low on the totem pole, only above animals, yet the God of gods stepped off of His throne and endured the cross to save us. He didn’t have to die. Jesus could’ve easily said, ‘You made your bed; now lie in it,’ but instead of bringing down judgment, Jesus showed mercy out of His abundant love.

The Church’s love for the souls of this world is draining quicker and quicker. As the world becomes more and more evil, we become less and less loving because revenge and vengeance begin to take root in us. Pride and anger begin to stir in our midst. And as these strongholds begin to take root and grow, we forget that Jesus’ sacrifice was for us as well because we were once sinners who reviled against Him. We were once enemies of God, but we have now been saved by grace through faith in the LORD Jesus Christ, who could have easily brought judgment but chose to show love. If Jesus could forgive those who beat, ridiculed, tormented, mocked and crucified Him, why can’t we?

This Good Friday, don’t just remember what Jesus did. Instead, let’s learn from it and put it into action in our own lives.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Show Love.

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Remove This Cup

41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. ~ Luke 22:41–43

When Jesus was at His weakest, He knelt down and placed His pain before the Father. He didn’t hold on to it Himself. He didn’t try to go through the battle alone. No, instead, He took it to His Father and laid it down at His feet. Jesus, God incarnate, didn’t try to carry His own burden, nor did He try to fight the will of His Father. The cross He had to bear was heavy. His sweat became like blood just thinking about it. He took His stress to the Father and asked if there was another way. The Father wasn’t upset or angry. He wasn’t disappointed or frustrated. The Father, with love, sent an angel from heaven to encourage and strengthen Jesus. Why?

Jesus asked if it was possible for the cup to be removed from Him, but He didn’t leave it there. Jesus ultimately prayed that the Father’s will would be done. We can bring anything before our Heavenly Father, but we need to always remember to end our requests with praying for the Father’s will to be ultimately done. It would’ve been easier for Jesus if the Father had removed the cup from His hand, but it would’ve meant that all of mankind would die in our sins. Look at Moses; he missed out on his healing and almost missed his call altogether because he didn’t end his request with, ‘but let Your will be done.’

Sometimes our cup seems too hard to bear. Sometimes it seems like our yoke is too heavy for our shoulders, but remember, our God is faithful. He will carry our burdens for us, and He will send His angels to strengthen and minister to us. We’re not alone; His very Spirit dwells inside of us. The Spirit of God even prays on our behalf because we don’t know how to properly pray for ourselves. We don’t have to carry our burdens alone. We don’t have to carry the cross by ourselves. Go to Your Heavenly Father and lay your burden at His feet. Ask Him for help.

LORD God, please remove this heavy burden from my shoulders. Please lift the weight that is weighing me down. I know Your will is perfect and is for my good. Please strengthen me that I might dwell in Your will. That I might grow weary of doing good. Teach me to love You and follow You the way You deserve. Please give me wisdom that I might see You in every trial and tribulation. Help me to fulfill Your will for my life. In Jesus’s name, I pray, amen.

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Keep Watch

⁴⁰ And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?” ~ Matthew 26:40

It was the middle of the night. Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to an end; He knew the path that was ahead of Him. He understood the cup He was about to drink from, and His heart was overwhelmed within Him. As He prayed, His sweat was like drops of blood. He took His inner circle with Him and asked them to pray with Him, but they all fell asleep. When He sees them, Jesus utters some of the saddest words in Scripture, ‘Could you not watch with me one hour?’

It’s easy for us today to judge those three disciples who fell asleep. It’s easy for us to say they should’ve prayed with the LORD, but we’re no different.

We’re currently in a spiritual battle, there are people who crucify Christ daily with their actions, yet we can’t even pray for 5 minutes. We count praying for our food and our bedtime prayer as enough, then wonder why God is so far off. Jesus is standing at the door, knocking. He’s asking you if you can’t spend even an hour with Him. We expect so much from God, yet we don’t wanna give Him even an hour of our time.

Look at all He’s done for you; does He not deserve at least an hour of our attention?

LORD God, please forgive me for forgetting that You deserve more than I could ever give You. Please crucify my flesh, for my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. Please awaken the sleeping spirit inside of me. Breathe life into these dead bones. Wake me up, LORD God, teach me to pray the way I ought to. Guide me in my path that I might not fall into temptation. Keep me safe in Your loving arms. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Begin The Change

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵ And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. ~ Matthew 22:34-35

The most righteous of the people of Israel were the Pharisees and the Sadducees, yet they were the ones that missed the Messiah altogether. Why? Pride. They saw His miracles and heard His great teachings of wisdom, and they wanted to kill Him. They couldn’t see what made Jesus so special. They couldn’t see why God had chosen Him. They couldn’t see why they needed Him.

That’s how a lot of us are today; we’ve become so filled with pride that our own sin has lulled us to sleep. We no longer see the log in our own eye, but instead, we stare at the speck in our brother’s eye. We’ve let envy sneak into our midst and deceive us into turning on each other. We no longer correct with love but with hate. We no longer ask God to search us; we ask God to search our brother. We’ve fallen into such a deep sleep that we don’t even see it.

Jesus said that all of the Law and the prophets are built on the foundation of love. The whole Law is summed up in love God and love your neighbor. It’s time to wake up to the deceitful spirits we have allowed to enter the Church. We have to not only correct but take correction. We have to remove the logs from our own eyes before we start pointing out the specks in our brother’s eyes. We have to stop questioning why God has chosen someone and start asking what He has chosen us for. Change starts with us, not others.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Begin The Change.

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Prepare To Look Up

¹⁸ In the morning, as He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, He went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. ~ Matthew 21:18-19

Jesus came to Earth 2,000 years ago as a man, but the majority of those He came to missed Him. They didn’t see Him as the Messiah. They couldn’t see Him as He was, only as they wanted to. Today we are in a similar place.

The Jews had been waiting for the Messiah so long that when He came, they couldn’t recognize Him. Jesus has come and gone, but He promised He’d return. We’ve been waiting so long for the Messiah’s return that we’re missing the signs that are around us. He promised that we would know when to look up, yet we’ve become blinded by the world around us.

Here’s the thing, Jesus is coming back really soon, and time is running out for us to prepare ourselves and our loved ones for His return. We have to wake up from our spiritual slumber lest the Messiah return and His people are found asleep once again. When He walks by, will we have fruit on our branches, or will we be unprepared as Israel was and miss our Messiah’s glorious return?

Wake up. Read your Bible. Seek the face of God. We’re in the last leg of the race, don’t slow down now. Keep running so that you might receive your imperishable reward.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare To Look Up.

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Share The Good News

⁵ Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ~ Matthew 21:5

Our Savior came in the most humble way possible. Jesus could’ve easily come riding on His white horse, breaking the Eastern sky filled with glory. Instead, He set off His own glory and took the form of a servant. He did that for us. He didn’t have to. He was (is and always will be) already God, but when He looked on His creation and how far we had fallen, He saw His child filthy and alone. So, He took the form of a servant to save us. He understood what was ahead of us. He didn’t allow pride to keep us from Eternal Salvation because of His love for us.

That’s what the Church is missing today, love. We don’t witness to people because we’re afraid to offend them or others. We don’t help others who have offended or hurt our pride in some way. The Church has lost our love. And without love, how can we be anything like Christ? Love is what differentiates us from the world. Love is what holds us together as the body of Christ.

It’s time the body of Christ sets aside the strongholds of pride and fear and take up love as we ride our donkey into the city to preach the good news. We are all called to tell others of the gospel! We don’t have to be theologians; we just need our testimony. That’s it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Share The Good News.

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Seek His Love

¹⁸ Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. ~ Isaiah 1:18 ESV

As the Jews waited for their Messiah to come, they went from oppression under Egypt to oppression under Assyria to oppression under Babylon to oppression under the Medes and the Persians to oppression under the Greeks to oppression under the Romans. Throughout each oppressed generation, the love of the people of Israel grew colder and colder. They forgot the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when they mourned after hearing the Law for the first time in many years. They forgot how they mourned because they had fallen so far astray that it felt as if they could never receive the forgiveness of God. They forgot the 400 years of silence when they heard no Word from God. They forgot love.

So, by the time Jesus came, they were no longer looking for a Messiah to forgive sins, heal the sick, and comfort the widow and the orphan. No, instead, they were now looking for a Messiah who would wipe out their oppressors before them. They weren’t looking for miracles of love; they were looking for the vengeance and judgment of God. They sought judgment so much that they missed the salvation and forgiveness of God for themselves and instead brought judgment upon their own heads.

This is how we are today. We get so caught up in what has been done wrong to us that we forget that Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save the world through His redeeming blood. When we desire the judgment of our enemies over their salvation, we become like the Pharisees and miss salvation for ourselves. From the days of Ezekiel, God asked, “Do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked?” God doesn’t hate the wicked as we believe He does; He loves them, but they refuse to abide in His love; therefore, they fall into His hands as He brings forth righteous judgment. The Potter loves His clay, and when His clay is chipped, He remolds it into a new creation that it might be used.

God desires that none of His creation be destroyed, but all come to repentance and receive eternal life. That’s why Jesus came; to restore the broken and chipped clay. Never forget the heart of God, that you may never miss who He is and how He is working in your life. It’s been 2000 years since our Messiah set foot on this earth and walked among us; how will you live the rest of your life waiting for His return? Will you seek His judgment and wrath or His forgiveness and mercy?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek His Love.

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Clean The Temple First

¹² And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹³ He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” ¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ~ Matthew 21:12-14

Notice what Jesus did before He healed anybody? He cleaned out all the filth. He got rid of all that was polluting the temple before He could heal the people around the temple. Jesus had to get to the root of the problem first.

So many of us have a root problem that we’re not addressing in our lives that is keeping us from getting our healing. Maybe it’s a childhood wound that we’ve put a Band-Aid on and never thought about again. Maybe it’s a relationship that hurt you or caused you to change for the worst. Maybe it’s something you did that you can’t forgive yourself for. Whatever it may be, we have to take it to God first so that He can clean it.

If it was important for Jesus to cleanse the physical temple before He healed anyone, how much more important is it for Him to cleanse the spiritual temple before He heals anyone? Think about it like this, when we were kids, if we got hurt, we ran to our parents because we knew they could make it better. We are now the children of God, and we have to run to our Heavenly Father so that He can fix it. There’s no wound too deep or shame too strong for God to heal.

LORD Jesus, I know that You have taken all my pain, suffering, sin, shame, and regret upon Yourself. I know that You can heal any wound, but help me to believe it with everything inside of me. Help me to not just know the Scripture but to believe them and put them into action. Clean out the root pain in me that has kept me in bondage for too long. Prepare me, Oh LORD, to be healed and set free. Help me to accept Your love, grace, forgiveness, and healing. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Redeem Your Harvest

¹³Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. ~ John 14:13–14

God has given you the most effective weapon. Intercessory prayer. God will be in the wrestling match with us if we pray. So, begin to pray and call those things that are not as if they were in the Name of your LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Begin to intercede for that lost loved one. Begin to prophesy to your situation that doesn’t seem to change. Prophesy to the dry bones to live. Begin to proclaim the word of God over every aspect of your life. Shout the promises you were given by God Himself. And look with faith at the investment that seemed to have died a natural death, for it’s beginning to breathe again.

Remember the seed you sowed so long ago? It has sprouted and has grown. You know that relationship at home that you’ve been praying about? Well, it’s about to be restored. Speak it and believe it, for the enemy knows it’s YOUR harvest time, but don’t let him steal it. Don’t give up, just because the enemy has come down with great wrath wanting to steal and destroy your harvest. You are a mighty warrior. Believe it even if no one else does. Live it even if you don’t feel like it. God believes in you, so believe in yourself and in the light of God’s grace.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Redeem Your Harvest.

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