Devotionals Archives

September 9, 2020September 1, 2020

Understand Authority

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. ⁹For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

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 8:5-13

The Centurion didn’t personally know Jesus. He didn’t sit and have multiple conversations with Jesus. He only knew of His power. He knew of His authority. He understood His authority. Why? Because the Centurion had authority as well, so he knew how it worked. Before even meeting Jesus, he had faith because he understood authority.

Do we understand authority? Or does doubt overcome us, by squashing our faith? We read scriptures about Jesus’ name. We hear stories of the miraculous still being done in today’s world by the authority of His name. But we doubt. We don’t believe that these things are possible, yet we know Him. We allow our religiosity to get in the way and blind us from the relationship. The relationship didn’t suddenly weaken because the apostles died. The relationship didn’t suddenly dry up because the Bible was finally finished. The relationship still has the potential of being strong. Stronger than ever.

God promised in the last days He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. If Jesus was coming soon 2,000 years ago, would it be crazy to believe that these are the last days now? Why would we doubt that greatness can happen in our time? Jesus said we would do what He did and more. So why do we settle for nothing? Why do we settle for no miracles?

The faith of a mustard seed could cause a mountain to jump. Strengthen your faith for the impossible to happen. Strengthen your faith to do what not even Jesus did. It’s not pride, because it’s not by our power. It’s His power. It’s by the Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus. We just have to stop looking at the Bible as a historical document from the past, and start looking at it as a blueprint to the beginning of the future. Just because something wasn’t recorded in the Bible, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible to achieve. You have to build your faith, not your religion.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Understand Authority

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Seek The Right Counsel

“¹ After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. ³And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. ⁷And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.” ~ Genesis 41:1-8

Just like Pharaoh sought the answer to his dreams from magicians and wise men, we seek counsel from everyone who is not God. We always go searching for answers in places where answers cannot be found.

We seek out counsel from ungodly people, from people who are not believers, from people who are spiritually asleep, when the true answer can only come from God. Just as the magicians and wise men had no answer for Pharaoh, neither do the people who we seek and ask. The only one who can help us with our troubles, the only one who can show us the truth is God.

And just as God spoke through Joseph, He still speaks through other people as well. He may not answer you directly, but He will answer you, you just have to be listening to the right source of information. God will never leave you hanging. He will never leave you on read. He will never abandon you. God won’t always show up the way you expect. Sometimes He’ll show up in the most unexpected way or place, but He promises that His sheep know His voice. We are His sheep, and He is our Shepherd, trust that you know His voice.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek The Right Counsel.

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Hold To The Promise

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” ~ Proverbs 22:6

Train your child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they won’t depart from it. From a young age teach your children to honor, respect, follow, serve, and fear God, and when they are old, they will continue in those ways. Teach them to read the Bible. Teach them to memorize scripture. Teach them to stand up for what is right. Teach them to believe in themselves. Teach them to trust God. Teach them to have respect for all people. Teach them to value life. And when they’re grown and move out, they won’t stray from those teachings.

If you’ve done that and your child seems farther from God than ever before, don’t be discouraged, hold to this promise. They may be going through a time of rebellion or straying from the path, but if you continue in prayer and faith, your child will return to the Truth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hold To The Promise.

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Test Your Faith

¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ¹⁸But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” ~ Daniel 3:16-18

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the statue set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. That took a whole ‘nother level of faith to stand in front of the fiery furnace, feel the heat resonating off of it, and still refuse to bow to the statue. That’s faith to the death. Do we have that kind of faith today? Do we have the faith to say, “I know you’re capable, but even if you don’t my hope is in you alone”?

Who does your hope lie in? Where do you place your trust? If you don’t get that promotion, are you still going to put your trust in God? If you don’t get that job you want, are you still going to put your trust in God? If you’re held at gunpoint and told to deny that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, are you still going to trust in God? Times are coming when our faith is going to be tested beyond what we can imagine. We think that because we live in societies that are free, that freedom will always be there. We think that because we live in societies that still hold to the traditions of religion, that religion won’t be changed. We live in little bubbles that never test our faith, so our faith never grows.

Imagine if tomorrow the world completely lost its mind and got rid of all religions except one false one. Imagine if they built a statue and told you to bow to it or lose your life. Would you be able to stand? Would you be like those three young Hebrew boys, or would you give in to fear because your faith wasn’t strong enough? Take the time of freedom to build your faith because no one knows what tomorrow may bring. Jesus said we would see tribulation like never before, is the Church ready for this? Or have we become so lukewarm we no longer hold to what Jesus said, but to what we feel we deserve to happen.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Test Your Faith.

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Have Faith

⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hand.” ~ 1 Samuel 17:45-47

The battle belongs to the LORD. David knew who he served. How? Because he had quiet time. He killed the lion. He killed the bear. He knew who God was, is, and is to come. David didn’t look at the size of the giant or his weapons. He looked at the LORD and saw how glorious, all-powerful, and amazing He is. He had faith.

We look at our giants, and we look at their weapons, but we never look at God. We forget who God is because we don’t take the time to build a strong, steady relationship with Him. We don’t take the time to become friends of God. David was so close to God that when he saw a giant who was raised to fight, he didn’t shudder, he didn’t doubt, he didn’t cower in fear, he stood strong. He stood proud. He stood in the power of Almighty God. Sometimes we allow our heads to get too big for our britches. If David had stood before Goliath and said, “I killed the lion. I killed the bear. And I can kill you.” Who knows how this story would have ended. David didn’t walk in his own strength but in the strength of Almighty God. He knew who God was, and he knew what God could do through him. He had faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Have Faith.

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Grow Your Faith

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” ~ Hebrews 11:1

We always speak on faith, but do we actually know what faith is? Hebrews 11:1 defines faith for us, but do we truly understand it? Faith is knowing that what you hoped for, what you prayed for, will come to pass. It’s the conviction of things not seen. Even though we have never seen Christ in the flesh, we have a conviction that He was, He is, and He will be. That’s what faith is. Faith is knowing that something is true, without actually having to see it with your own two eyes.

Faith is what draws us closer to God because through faith, we are saved. Through faith, we are redeemed. Through faith, we are healed. Through faith, we seek. Through faith, we draw near. Faith is our connection to God. Faith is believing without seeing. But how can you do that? How can you believe without seeing? You stop doubting and start trusting. You stop saying that the branch can hold you, and you walk out on to the branch confident it can hold you. You stop holding back from serving God wholeheartedly, and you allow yourself to jump in headfirst. Read your Bible, pray, worship, and hear the Word of The LORD. That’s how you build a relationship with God, which is the only way you can grow your faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Grow Your Faith.

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Fulfill Your Call

¹⁰But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” ~ Exodus 4:10

Did you notice that Moses never had a healing? There is no record of Moses ever becoming a great speaker. Could this have been a moment that God was trying to use to give him his healing? But fear overtook Moses, he couldn’t see what God saw. He couldn’t see himself as God’s spokesman, so he missed his blessing. He missed his future because fear overcame him. As Mordecai told Esther that God would raise up someone else, if she was not prepared to fulfill her calling, it is the same with Moses, and with us today.

God has called each and every one of us for a specific job. We may not be ready at the time of the call, but God always makes us ready to fulfill the call. He brings us to a higher level, we just have to trust him. We have to fight fear and its grasps in order to fulfill the call God has placed on your life. Don’t be as Moses and have to be replaced in part of your call by another because of your abundance of fear and your lack of faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fulfill Your Full Call.

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Fear Not

¹ When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ²So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

³So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. ~ Exodus 32:1-6

There are two kinds of fear that happens in these verses, the first one is fear of the unknown. The people didn’t know what happened to Moses, and they were no longer used to a God they could not see. So fear entered. Fear does that to us today. Is this God called Yahweh really God? Can He really keep you? Can He really be the only God? What if this is all a lie? Maybe He wasn’t the one that took you out of your situation, maybe that was another god. Maybe He is just a lie. Fear puts all of these doubts in your mind because we lack trust.

The lack of trust comes from the lack of faith and understanding. The people desired gods that they could see, just as the Egyptians had gods that they could see. Even though they just watched Yahweh, through Moses, cast 10 plagues on the Egyptians, deliver them out of Egypt, part the Red Sea, rain down Manna in the wilderness, none of that mattered to them. As soon as fear came into their midst and whispered, look Moses is delayed, they gave in and sought after other gods. That’s how we are today, we seek after other gods as soon as God does not show up on our time. As soon as we feel He is delayed, we run to something that we can see at that moment, in that time.

The other kind of fear is the kind Aaron had, fear of the people. I’m sure Aaron had some doubt as well, but his fear didn’t truly kick in until the people came up to him with their fear. Aaron gave in to the fear of the people turning against him, so he did as they asked. He made them a god out of their gold and then proceeded to intertwine their sin and God. Verses 5 and 6 say, “When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.’ ⁶And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play” He made the calf, then to make it seem alright in the eyes of God because he knew it was wrong, he had the people have a feast to the LORD. We do this today. We don’t go and have a feast, but we try to make sin as if it is acceptable in the eyes of God. We’re so afraid of people being offended by us, or being mad at us, or turning away from us that we will do whatever it takes to keep them happy. Fear tells us we’ll be alone, we’ll be hated, we’ll be ostracized, so we blend religion and sin so that we don’t have to completely turn our back on God, while still being accepted by the people.

Don’t allow fear to control your lives. Fear is a liar. Always has been and always will be. God may not come when you think He needs to, but He will come at the perfect time, His time. He won’t let you down. He’s never forsaken you, and He never will. Stand up for what is right, you may not be the most popular person, but you won’t be alone. There are others who follow God without making exceptions for the world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fear Not.

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Act

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” ~ Romans 8:28

A lot of the time, we take this to mean that everything will work out for the better. No matter what happens, it’ll work itself out. We don’t have to stress, Que Sera, Sera. Whatever will be, will be. But that’s not exactly what Paul is saying in this letter to the Romans. He is saying that things will work out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, but you have to still work. We can’t just assume that things will fix themselves. We have to do some sort of work, some sort of action. We read this and forget that James tells in James 2:17, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Faith is moving forward and acting as if it has happened, and working towards it becoming a reality. You can’t just expect God to just fix everything on His own, He’s not a solo act. He follows your lead and helps you along the way. He doesn’t have the takeover spirit. If you want to see something happen, pray, have faith, and then put it into action. Don’t just wait around. You don’t have to stress, but you can’t just walk around waiting for something good to just fall in your lap either. You have to keep working towards that good.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Act.

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Find Your Mordecai

¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, ¹¹“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

¹²And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. ¹³Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ~ Esther 4:10-14

Fear tried to take hold of Esther. It wasn’t just losing her life in the palace that she had grown accustomed to, it wasn’t just being ostracized, it wasn’t even jail that she feared. It was her life. Her life was on the line, and fear was doing its job, blinding her to the fact that her life was at stake no matter what she chose. This is where good company comes into play, without iron sharpening iron, you only see what fear wants you to see.

Esther was blessed with a good man of God to guide her. Mordecai showed her that her fate would be even worse if she chose not to stand and do what was right. He was the voice of reason in a time of chaos and fear. When all looks lost, you have to find a way to look past fear, for God’s ultimate plan will come to pass, with or without you. “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Your Mordecai.

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