Devotionals Archives

August 30, 2020August 25, 2020

Open Your Eyes

¹⁵When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” ¹⁶He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ~ 2 Kings 6:15-17

Sometimes fear overcomes us, blinding us from the truth. Fear covers our eyes so that we can’t see God on our side. When God is on your side, nothing can stand against you. Fear knows that so it weasels its way in and strikes fear through our bodies, blinding our sight so we can’t see the force of heavenly hosts that have come to our rescue. Fear does this to not only knock us down but to keep us down as well. Fear is sometimes our biggest enemy because it separates us from our call and keeps us stuck in a state of unproductivity, so we never move forward.

Though fear is frightening, it isn’t unstoppable. Even when you’re surrounded by the enemy, God is still with you. In the wise words of Michael W. Smith, “It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You.” You may look surrounded, but for every enemy surrounding you, there are more allies ready to defend you. You just have to turn your eyes from focusing on fear and focus on God. Look to God and pray that He will show you your way out. Pray that He will show you your allies. Fear will make you feel as if you have to fight alone and that God is not there, don’t listen to Fear, you are not alone. God promised He would never leave you or forsake you. So be encouraged, for Fear will never win, unless YOU let him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Open Your Eyes.

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Look Through The Storm

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

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 14:22-33

Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem. Jesus was walking out to the disciples, but they didn’t see Jesus, fear overcame them, and they saw a ghost. That’s how we are sometimes. We expect our salvation, breakthrough, or deliverance to come in a perfect little box tied with a bow that’s on our front porch, but sometimes to get to our salvation, breakthrough, or deliverance, we have to set out on our own and go through a storm. When we think we’re about to sink, that’s when it shows up, but it won’t come shouting, “I’m your salvation.” or “I’m your breakthrough.” or “I’m your deliverance.” It’s going to come walking on the water, but fear will try to manipulate the way you see it. Fear will make you see your end, instead of your new beginning.

You have to listen out for the voice of The LORD, and then walk out to Him. Walk out in faith and boldness. Be confident that Jesus is with you. Be confident that The LORD is for you and not against you. Be strong and courageous. Don’t allow fear to mask your breakthrough. Listen through the storm and Holy Spirit will guide you to your breakthrough. Don’t allow fear to overwhelm you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Through The Storm.

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Defeat Your Giants

²⁷And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

³⁰But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ³¹Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” ³²So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. ³³And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” ~ Numbers 13:27-33

Fear shows us what we can’t do, not what God can do. Fear shows us the giants in the land, not the victory we have already been given. Fear shrinks us down first in our own eyes, and as we see ourselves, so our enemies see us. We become grasshoppers, instead of mighty warriors of God Almighty. We become defeated before we ever even enter our Promised Land.

The majority of the time, we are like the 10 spies who were blinded by fear, instead of like Caleb and Joshua who overcame fear and saw their potential. They saw their promise, not their current circumstance. They saw themselves as God saw them, as mighty warriors. We have to be like Caleb and Joshua, who refused to allow fear to stop them from entering their Promised Land. They saw the giants in their land, but they knew their God was with them at all times.

God is with us at all times, we don’t have to fear the giants in our land. The obstacles in our path may be large, but our God is larger. Our God is unstoppable. Our God is all powerful. Our God is the King of kings and the LORD of lords. With our God, nothing is impossible.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Defeat Your Giants.

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Change Your Dream

⁹So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, ¹⁰and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” ¹²Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. ¹³In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. ¹⁵For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, ¹⁷and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” ¹⁸And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. ¹⁹In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.” ~ Genesis 40:9-19

There were two different dreams and two different interpretations, both of which are very significant today. There are two very different roads with two very different destinations. One road leads to destruction and one leads to restoration, both destinations and both roads are determined by a dream. Our dream, the dream we listen to, the dream we follow, and the dream we live. See, those men had Joseph to interpret their dreams after they had them, after it was too late, but we have the interpretation of dreams before our destination is set in stone. We have an interpretation from God Himself, who got off His throne and said “this leads here and this leads there.”

Watch yourself and you will see what your dreams are, and therefore you will see what your eternal destination is. But unlike the two men in this story, we can change our dreams.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Change Your Dream.

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Rule Over It

¹²When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face, I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. ¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. ~ Genesis 4:12-16

Isn’t it interesting that even though Cain killed his own brother, his twin, God refused to allow anyone to kill him? God removed Cain from His presence and cursed him to be a wanderer and a fugitive, but yet took the time to mark his forehead so that no one would be able to kill him.

Isn’t that like God is with us today? We sin, we leave his presence, but we are protected from those who would murder us. And if someone kills us, vengeance would be taken on them sevenfold. But it’s not just physical death that that’s for, it’s for spiritual death.

When we cause someone to sin, to leave the presence of God, to blatantly disobey the bible so they can live whatever life they want, we are killing them. Spiritual death. The worst kind of death, because very few return from spiritual death. The majority of mankind die from this. But yet if someone leads another astray, they will have that person’s blood on their hands. Just like if anyone killed Cain vengeance would be sevenfold on them, same here, you would become responsible for the blood of those whom you have deceived, and vengeance would be taken upon you.

So, what’s the point? Don’t let another lead you astray, and don’t lead another astray. Hold fast to God’s words in Genesis 4:7, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Rule Over It.

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Be Thankful For Grace

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, ²and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. ³But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. ⁵And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶“Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. ⁹And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, ¹⁰but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

¹¹“Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. ¹²And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil ¹³and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. ~ Leviticus 16:1-13

We really take for granted the fact that we can just go before God. We don’t have to fear that we will die because we entered the presence of Almighty God. We don’t even realize how we are taking that for granted. Only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies. And it wasn’t even whenever he wanted. And he had to bring a sacrifice. He had to do all of this stuff before he entered the Holy of Holies because that’s where God abided.

Now, we as Christians today can’t even give up certain t.v. shows or music, when God abides in us. Isn’t that insane? We as Christians today are so hung up on grace that we actually abuse it. We take it for granted, and we push it too far. We don’t think about the fact that God is living in us, and yet we are parading around as if He doesn’t even exist. How much longer do you think you’ll be able to get away with that? God tells us that tomorrow is promised to no man. Yes, we have grace, but we don’t have the right to live our lives however we want.

We walk into the presence of God with no respect or reverence. We can’t even show enough respect to go to church with something other than basketball shorts and a t-shirt. We are in a generation of no respect. We have taken grace for granted, instead of taking grace as a precious and sacred gift.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Thankful For Grace.

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Join The Righteous

“¹⁰And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ ¹²But when he heard it, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’” ~ Matthew 9:10-13

When you feel like you’re not good enough to be saved, remember Jesus went to the least of those in His time. He didn’t go to the Pharisees and Sadducees, He went to the fishermen, the tax collectors, those who would be deemed insignificant. Jesus went to the lowest of the low, Samaritans.

Why did He go to these types of people? Well, verse 12-13 tells us why. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. Jesus said this because He knew that they looked down on the tax collectors and sinners because they saw themselves as righteous. He said this so that they could understand that Jesus came not just for them, but for all people. He came for the sinners.

We’re all sinners, Jews, Gentiles, addicts, alcoholics, murderers, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, everyone. Jesus came for all of us. No one is too sick for this doctor. Because this doctor is perfect. He makes no mistakes. He does the impossible. He does what is best for His patient. He will never do any of us harm. He will never turn us away because we can’t pay Him. Why? Because it’s already paid for in full, we need only accept His free gift.

Jesus is the Good Doctor. Jesus is our Savior. He loves us so much, that before we even commit tomorrow’s sins, He created a way for forgiveness. He created the plan of forgiveness before we fell into our sinful ways. Before we fell prey to addiction, lust, anger, murder, adultery, God created a way that we may still come to Him. A way that we may be saved so that we wouldn’t stay sick. So that we wouldn’t die in our own filth, but instead live, and live more abundantly.

Salvation isn’t for the righteous, but the unrighteous, that we may be made righteous through His Holy Spirit. We don’t have to continue empty, but God made a way that we can all be filled through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. All we have to do is accept that free gift of salvation by confessing our sins and declaring Jesus Christ as our God and Savior.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Join The Righteous.

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Are You Getting Fed?

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³And the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But He answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” ⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to Him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” ¹¹Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him. ~ Matthew 4:1-11

Notice when the Devil showed up? It wasn’t when Jesus was full. It wasn’t when He was strong. The Devil showed up when Jesus was weak. When He was hungry. We have this idea that The Devil won’t or shouldn’t attack us at our weakest moment, but that’s precisely when the best time to attack is.

When you watch a lion stalk its prey, it doesn’t go after the strongest gazelle; instead, it goes after the weaker gazelle. It attacks the prey that it feels it would be able to destroy and devour the easiest. And that’s exactly what the devil does with us. He waits for us to be weak. He waits for us to be hurting. He waits for us to be hungry. Because then he has a better chance of overcoming us. And the worst part is that a lot of the times we allow him to without a fight.

With every attack, Jesus defended Himself with scripture. How many of us can say that? We quote one scripture and then give up. Jesus is God, and it took Him three scriptures and a rebuke for The Devil to flee Him.

See we read the verse “resist the Devil and he shall flee you,” but we forget that we have to resist him more than one time. Depending on how strong your Spirit Man is and how weak your flesh is, will determine how long it takes for The Devil to flee.

For instance, if you don’t seek God daily, spending time in both worship, prayer, and reading the bible, you will be easily overtaken. Why? Because you haven’t fed your Spirit Man, so he is weak. You have to take time with God to strengthen your Spirit Man, or your flesh will always allow you to be overtaken.

See Jesus was hungry, but only in the physical sense. Jesus’ Spirit Man was well fed. Was strong. Was alert. Jesus knew that He had to strengthen His Spirit Man so that He could take on and overcome every sin known to man. We may not have to face every sin known to man, but we do have to face sins that continuously overcome us. And the only way to defend ourselves is by reading scripture, spending time in worship, prayer, and fasting.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Feed Your Spirit.

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Mirroring Esther

“Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.” ~ Esther 2:20

Esther was a grown woman, but when Mordecai told her not to do something, she obeyed. She didn’t do as she felt right; she did as Mordecai felt right because he raised her. She obeyed from when she was a child, and she obeyed when she was a grown woman. She didn’t feel less of a woman. She didn’t feel less of a person, but instead, she listened and obeyed her elder. She had respect for her elder.

We’ve gotten to a point in our society where we are defensive and angry when our elders try to help us or give us instruction. We’re so filled with pride that we feel as though we know everything. We’ve become easily offended, and no one can help guide us, because we’re grown, and we know best. We’re so prideful that we would rather fail and be unusable by God than to be corrected or guided by another.

We don’t take into consideration that God doesn’t always come down and speak to us face to face, but instead, He’ll use other people to help us. Iron Sharpens Iron. Being obedient isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. It was said to King Saul that it is better to obey than to sacrifice because a sacrifice is worthless if it is not in accordance with obedience. I’m not saying to blindly follow everyone who’s older than you either. What I am saying, is that you shouldn’t just blindly push anyone’s advice away, but take everything with a grain of salt.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Like Esther.

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Praise Him In The Midst of Trouble

“But Job replied, ‘You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?’ So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.” ~ Job 2:10 NLT

Here’s where our growth as Christians comes in, we only want comfort not hardships, joy not sadness, or laughter and not pain. But in this life, we will have hardships, troubles of many kinds, because the prince of this world is Satan and not God. Oh yes, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers” (Psalms 24:1-2).

Everything you see belongs to God because He has created everything and everything is in subjection to Him even though we do not see it at present, just like the writer of the book of Hebrews taught. But the Earth is ruled under the enemy, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Jesus states this same idea earlier, John records it in John 12:31, “³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”

So make no mistake, trials and temptations are going to come but remember this: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

No one gets stronger without working out, and no one develops without practice. The same is true in the spiritual, you won’t grow if you are always on the mountain top. We need mountain tops and the valleys, we need sunshine and rain, we need good and bad in order to grow and develop.

Heavenly Father, teach us to be faithful in bad times and the good. Help us to praise on the mountain top as well as in the valley. May we never get too comfortable where we are that it stunts our spiritual growth. And may we never complain in times of trouble or times of discipline.

In Jesus name, Amen.

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