Tag: Devotionals

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Look Inwardly At Your Heart

39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.” ~ Luke 11:39-41

The same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead dwells in the Church, and the same spirit that kept the Pharisees from accepting the Messiah is still ravaging the Church as well. Spirits never die. They are immortal. They may interact with the world around them differently than they did in ancient times, but they are still around and very active today.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day and age were not concerned with the Spirit, but with the physical. They looked at outward appearances, and not the heart. How could they look at the heart? By looking at the actions that people make and the words that they say. Too often in the Church we look the part, but we don’t act or speak the part. Instead, we are callous. We just let any cruelty and insult fly out of our mouths. We’re ready to send people to Hell and even wish it on them. We no longer walk in love.

Our love has grown cold. Why? Because we no longer look inward. When we look at the heart and really analyze our actions, we will be able to see whether or not we are of God and dwelling in His Spirit or not. I saw a video the other day of a young man who had tattoos all over his face and body. His hair was dreaded, and his clothes were a little baggy. He wasn’t what you would picture in your mind as ‘Christian,’ but his actions, his words, his heart was. He was patient, kind, loving, and truly understood grace (because he knew what it meant to receive it). He was speaking with another guy who was clean cut. Someone you would expect to be Christian and a good one at that. But he wasn’t. He instead couldn’t understand love or grace. In fact, it sounded like he wasn’t a believer at all because he didn’t understand grace.

See, it’s not always about our outward appearance. Yes, dressing modestly and honoring God with our bodies is important. But what’s even more important is honoring God with our heart. Whether or not we look the part outwardly isn’t what matters. What matters is, do we live the part?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Inwardly At Your Heart.

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Desire Righteously

10 And He said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” ~ Revelation 22:10-11

God is NOT about compromising His word for Bubba in the back row, who only wants his ears tickled. God is not about that! He doesn’t have time for that. Either you are for Him, or you are against Him. Either you accept Him, or you refuse Him.

God does not force anyone to be a part of His Kingdom, but He gives all the free opportunity to come to Him and be redeemed. Yes, the will of God is that all should be saved, but He never forces that will on anyone. Why? Because it would remove freewill. The freewill to either choose Him or reject Him. That freewill is a gift from God.

Therefore, He says that as the time gets closer and closer to His return, continue in how you live your life. I will give you over to your desires. If you desire me, you will have me. If you desire to be away from me, then you will no longer feel my pull. God will never force His desires onto us, but will always give us the desires of our hearts.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Desire Righteously.

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Be Sheep-tinct

16 … as God said, “I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the LORD, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the LORD Almighty.” ~ 2 Corinthians 6:16b-18

God declares that He will make His dwelling among us… and walk among us… and be our God, but we must go out from their midst. We are to separate ourselves from the world, not link arms with the world and support/push evil. We are to be in the world but not of it. How can we be sure? Because He has called us out of the world. He has made us holy for Him.

There are no shades of gray in Christianity. Either you are for Jesus, or you are against Jesus. No one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). And that is why the Church is so weak today. We mix the occult with the things of God. And we try to force Christ into accord with Belial. The Temple of God has no agreement with idols. It has no agreement with darkness of any kind.

Therefore, if you want to dwell with the LORD for all eternity, then we are to separate ourselves from the world in this life. We are to pick up our cross and follow Him. We are to crucify our flesh so that we can inherit His Kingdom forever. See, today the Church looks no different than the world. We embrace sin. We push darkness. And all in the name of love, while throwing out the True love of God as described in the Bible. This is why the Church will be separated into two groups: the goats and the sheep. If we aren’t careful, we’ll be on the wrong side of the separated.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Sheep-tinct.

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Check Your Heart’s Abundance

[23] Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. ~ Proverbs 4:23

So, there’s no secret I like movies and tv shows, and there’s also no secret that I see the bible in almost everything (if not everything) I watch. Now, one that I genuinely really enjoy is The Hobbit trilogy. Within The Hobbit is a main character named Thorin Oakenshield. Throughout the movies, Thorin is on a quest to return to and reclaim the Lonely Mountain, the home of his fathers.

Now, throughout the movies Thorin is loyal, honorable, and brave. BUT he is also angry, prideful, and worst of all unforgiving. He is haunted and bound by the pain and wrong doings of the past. Now, even though he faces obstacle after obstacle and is captured time after time, Thorin is able to fulfill his quest and reclaim the home of his fathers. Here’s the thing though, the sins of his fathers takes hold of him and ultimately proves to not only be his downfall but his complete and utter demise.

See, his grandfather lost the kingdom because of his love of gold and when Thorin inherited that same gold, he also inherited that same spirit of Mammon. This one fatal flaw of the love of money caused him to lose those three good traits he had previously. Why? Because when we try to focus all of our energy on the past, the past and all of its woes will consume us. Just as Thorin did, you’ll find yourself succumbing to generational curses that should have been broken, and your faint bit of light will found to be dwindling in the darkness as it consumes you.

What should have been a happy and victorious ending with great rejoicing turned to be a sad and disappointing end because one man refused to look forward allowing pride, anger, and unforgiveness consume him.

Our heart controls our actions. It’s the source of all we say and do. What is your heart full of? What It’s full of and what is focus is will be what your destiny is.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Check Your Heart’s Abundance. 

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Enjoy Your Goodwill

He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor. ~ Luke 4:18b-19

Jesus was anointed or commissioned by the Father to set us free and to declare the year of the LORD’s favor. This is indeed Good News. It’s exciting news. Let’s unpack this and see how Jesus fulfilled His mission. Because this is really exciting. Jesus got up and read from the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 61:1-2, but in the middle of verse 2, He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. We never go back to check what Jesus eliminated from verse 2. Let’s read it together. Jesus stopped reading here:

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,

Isaiah 61:2a

Now here is the part, or the rest of verse 2 that Jesus did not read:

and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

Isaiah 61:2b

Jesus stopped reading at “…proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.” He outright snubbed the part about the “day of vengeance” of our God. Isn’t that amazing? Exciting even? … If it’s not, it soon will be. What does that mean for us?

Let’s break it down and see what it means for us today. Jesus said that He was anointed “to proclaim” (Greek: kēruxai pronounced as kay-roo-kai), which means to announce or herald publicly, like a messenger delivering big news, and this is significantly big news.

It is the year, or the time, of the LORD’s favor, an acceptable year to the LORD. It’s the season of the LORD’s unfathomable grace. It’s a time of divine acceptance or goodwill toward mankind.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Enjoy Your Goodwill. 

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Remove It First

[1]  Judge not, that you be not judged. [2] For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. [3] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] Or 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? [5] You 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. [6]  Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. ~ Matthew 7:1-6

Jesus wasn’t saying “never judge.” Jesus as saying “judge correctly.” Many of us, hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. We allow ourselves to think more of ourselves than we ought. This is why Jesus warned us to get ourselves together before we judge someone else.

Jesus wasn’t just speaking to random people either. Jesus was specifically speaking to the Pharisees who held themselves as not only righteous, but more righteous than anyone else, even though they didn’t keep the Law perfectly. Even though they were flawed. Even though they denied the Messiah and missed His coming, they felt they were more righteous than all others.

So, Jesus was explaining to them that they were holding others to a higher standard than they held themselves. That they were overlooking their own sins and shortcomings but not others. So, Jesus was warning them that when you live your life however you feel and disregard God’s Law, as they condemn others, they would receive that same level of merciless judgment from God.

As Christians we cannot hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. But also as Christians we cannot refuse to hold ourselves or anyone else to no standard at all. We are to love others and ourselves. Love means to take no pleasure in evil but rejoice only in the Truth. So what are we to do? We are to remove that log before we judge the actions of others for how can a hypocrite save anyone?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remove It First.

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Make A Divine Shift

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. ~ John 3:17

It’s all about grace, the opportunity to be saved. Jesus invites us into a real relationship with Him, and today is the day because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

Jesus ushered in a divine shift from bondage to blessing, from toil to rest, although we haven’t received our rest as yet, but it’s on its way.

We’re called to go into all the world, starting where we are at. In our hometown. We are to make disciples teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught and commanded. We are called to be the light. Let us light our part of our world and then take it as far as we can get before Jesus comes back.

Are you ready to work? Are you ready to win souls? Are you ready to make disciples? 

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Pray For The Silenced

11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. ~ Proverbs 24:11

Today is Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity. Today we remember those who have been silenced before they even had a chance to breathe their first breath of air. Those who were silenced before they even had a chance to be born. As Christians, we aren’t called to turn a blind eye to this kind of evil. We are called to confront this evil and remove it from our land. What does that mean?

We are to pray for the LORD to move in our midst, forgive us for allowing it to go on for so long, and then we are to vote for those willing to change it. Willing to protect the unborn. That is our charge given to us from above.

Today, take some time to pray for those who are thinking of aborting their baby. Pray for those who have aborted their babies. And pray that those facilities that abort babies would no longer exist.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray For The Silenced.

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Find Another Strand

[9] Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. [10] For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! [11] Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? [12] And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. ~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Something I’ve been working on lately is allowing myself to let out pain instead of bottling it up inside. And what I’ve learned is that the pain doesn’t destroy me like it used to. Yes, it hurts, but allowing myself to breakdown and just cry has really helped. It sounds absolutely crazy, but it does help.

When the world keeps dumping on you, finding someone you can trust that you know loves you more than words can say and letting out your pain with them unburdens your soul. I don’t know why, but it does. Someone holding you as you cry in their arms, it releases that pain that has been burdening you down for so long.

When things begin to take a toll on you and you feel like you might burst, it’s okay to lean on someone else. It doesn’t make you weak. It doesn’t make you less. It means you are growing up and you understand that no one makes it through life alone.

So, find someone you can depend on. Someone you can unburden with and can in turn can unburden you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Another Strand.

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Live Like Chau

[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:19-20

Today is World Mission Sunday. We as Christians, are called to go to the ends of the earth and proclaim the Gospel. As I was scrolling through reels (shorts) on my phone, I saw a movie trailer for the movie “Last Days.” The comment section was filled with negative comments. In fact, every single comment on there was negative. “Stupid idea for a movie.” “He got what he deserved.” “We all knew what would happen.” Many of these people were self-professing Christians.

See, “Last Days” is a movie based on the last days of John Allen Chau who died on November 17, 2018 at 26 years old. He was an American evangelical Christian missionary who attempted to share the Gospel with an isolated tribe in the North Sentinel Island. On his second attempt to share the Gospel with the Sentinelese people, he got in a kayak and made his way to the tribe. He was shot with an arrow and died from the wound.

His actions were condemned across the internet. He was accused of neocolonialism. He was called an idiot and arrogant. Condemned by the majority of commentary. All because he wanted to share the Gospel with those who had never heard. He wanted to fulfill the Great Commission as we all should try to do. To share the Gospel with all people.

We’re not all called to extreme mission work but we’re all called to mission work. We’re all called to share the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. This is the call of all people in the Church. What are you doing to fulfilling this call? Are you sharing with anyone willing to listen? Are you making yourself uncomfortable in order to share the Gospel with someone and possibly save a soul?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live Like Chau.

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