Devotionals Archives

August 2, 2020July 26, 2020

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“¹On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, ²and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’

⁵And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word, I will let down the nets.’ ⁶And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. ⁷They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ ⁹For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ ¹¹And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” ~ Luke 5:1-11

Jesus came down to their level. Jesus grew up studying in the Temple around Rabbis learning and teaching, but He came to lowly fishermen. He made His message simple and to the point that they would be able to understand. When He spoke in parables, He took the time to explain it to them so that they wouldn’t be left in the dark. He took them from being slaves to being His friends.

Jesus doesn’t try to trip us up. He doesn’t try to make the question so hard that no one passes. Jesus comes to us with something that we understand, and He turns it into something so much more. He doesn’t discriminate against your sin, your ethnicity, your race, your beliefs, your desires, your job, He comes down to all of our levels, so that He may make Himself known to us. But it’s up to us to put down our nets and follow Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow.

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July 31, 2020September 11, 2020

Eternal Praise

“¹³So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’” ~ John 12:13

The LORD Jesus came to Jerusalem on a donkey. He was greeted with shouts of acclamation. He was greeted with love and acceptance. On this day He was chosen as the perfect sacrificial lamb of God. He entered Jerusalem as a King but would be crucified as a sinner before the week was over. Yet Jesus boldly entered Jerusalem fully knowing what would be the end result for Him. He fully knew that the same people who were blessing Him and loving Him today, would be the same people prepared to crucify Him the next, yet He continued. He didn’t stop because He knew that they needed Him. He knew that there was no other way for them to enter life unless He did this. This was the only way for the world to be saved, so Jesus continued on, and boldly entered Jerusalem.

The times have not changed in the last 2,000 years. We get really religious and love Jesus when everyone else does. We get really religious and love Jesus when we need a healing or a miracle. We get really religious and love Jesus when it’s Sunday morning, but as soon as the world turns on Him, so do we. We go from shouting ‘Hosanna. Hosanna.’ to ‘Crucify Him. Crucify Him.’ And Jesus knew that. 2,000 years ago Jesus knew we, in today’s world, would crucify Him, as they did in His day. Jesus knew 4,000 years ago that we would crucify. He knew 6,000 years ago. He knew before He even created Earth, yet Jesus still entered Jerusalem and accepted the praises of those who would soon be crucifying Him.

Today we have the chance to change our paths. We don’t have to continue the cycle of praising Him, then crucifying Him. Today we can choose to praise Him, and when He is crucified, we can take Him down. When our media, our city, or our government crucifies Him, we can take Him down by defending Him. We can take Him down by living like Him. Don’t let this day continue as just another symbolic day, let today be the day that begins your eternal praising.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Praise.

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Clear The Room

“²³And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴he said, ‘Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. ²⁵But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. ²⁶And the report of this went through all that district.” ~ Matthew 9:23-26

Even Jesus needed to remove the naysayers in the room. Even the Son of God needed to have the room cleared of all doubters. If Jesus needed it, why don’t we? Why don’t we clear the doubters from the rooms? Why do we allow them to stay, slowly feeding on their doubt, until we have started to doubt, ourselves?

We expect a miracle to happen, but we are without faith. We want it to happen, but we don’t truly believe it will happen. Our faith is weak, and our doubt is strong. We hold to things that don’t help us when God is saying just clear the room. Don’t look at the current circumstance, look at what could be.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Clear the Room.

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Bless

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” ³²His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ³⁵But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. ~ Genesis 27:30-38

The blessing of children was very important, so important that Esau wept when his brother got his blessing. Keep in mind that Esau is not a child, he is not a teenager, he is not a young adult. Esau is a grown man, and he wept when he did not receive his blessing. They knew the power of the tongue was great and mighty. They knew that life and death were in the tongue and they used their words very carefully.

When they blessed their children, they had no doubt in their mind that that child would be blessed according to the blessing that was spoken over them. They held to it. But today, in our culture words mean nothing to us. We say whatever we want, not realizing that even though we can’t see our words there is much power in them. We should bless our children daily. We should have faith in that blessing and as children we should receive it.

God spoke many blessings over anyone who would just accept His Son and receive the blessing, but the sad truth is many of us who are saved don’t hold to the blessings that were given. We don’t receive them. We don’t accept them. These blessing came from God Almighty, yet we don’t fully believe they will come to fruition. Imagine if we did. Imagine if we all fully accepted and held onto the blessing in the Bible. Imagine the amount of blessings that Heaven would pour down upon us.

Three things to take from this:

Stop using your words lightly.
Bless your children.
Hold onto the blessings that have been given to you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Bless.

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Be Silent

“Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, ‘Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’ Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” ~ Job 1:13-22

“So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” ~ Job 2:7-10

Job lost everything he had. He lost his earthly possessions and every one of his children. He even lost his health, but in all of this Job did not sin with his lips. See I had this bad habit of speaking out of anger. I would say things I probably wouldn’t mean later on, but yet in the heat of the moment my mouth just started running, and I couldn’t seem to shut it up.

Proverbs 18:21 tells us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Matthew 15:11 says “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” If we allow wickedness, hatred, evil to come out of our mouth, we have to check our spiritual temperature. Luke 6:45 explains it like this, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Think about it like this, if evil things are coming out of your mouth, then there is a lot of evil in your heart that you have to get rid of. There is a lot of hurt and hatred that you just have to give to the LORD so that while you are in a fit of rage, you won’t sin.

Here’s one of our biggest problems, we don’t have control over our emotions. When one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong, and our countenance drops. We allow our situations to dictate our attitude, to dictate our lives, to dictate who we are. If Job a man who lost everything he held dear to his heart could keep his mouth shut and not sin with his lips why can’t we do the same? When in the heat of the moment when your really angry quote Proverbs 4:4 “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.”

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Silent.

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Be Meek

“¹⁷So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. ¹⁸And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. ¹⁹But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, ²⁰the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, ‘The water is ours.’ So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. ²²And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, ‘For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’” ~ Genesis 26:17-22

It probably felt like every little thing Isaac did the people had a problem with, but he never fought with them over anything they claimed as theirs. Instead, he gave it to them and moved on until God made room for him. I wonder what we would reap at work, at school, even at home with our families if we didn’t argue with people and just gave them what they think belonged to them.

Right after I wrote that I jokingly thought to myself, “We’d be broke is what we’d be,” but that isn’t true… The Bible says “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth.” Isn’t that what Isaac was being, meek? He allowed them to take the wells his father dug that they then filled in and then he just dug it out again. Imagine if we were meek, sure people would think they’re walking over. They would think you’re a real pushover, but what would God think? Would He not bless you like never before? Would He not prepare a place for you at your job, or at your school, or even at home? Isaac reaped 100 fold the same year he sowed, why? Could it be because he was meek? Could it be that he didn’t think too highly of himself, but was humble? In order to be meek, you must first humble yourself or pride will speak for you.

I just wonder what would happen if Christians were meek… would we then inherit the Earth? Now, remember being meek is NOT staying silent when someone is doing something wrong or watching your country destroy itself and do nothing about. Being meek is exactly what Isaac did in these verses, give to the people what they felt was theirs without being annoyed or doing it begrudgingly. But simply saying that’s fine, take it MY GOD will provide for me when He sees fit.

Peace. Love. Go forth and be meek.

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Be Humble

“⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, ⁷casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” ~ 1 Peter 5:6-7

This is why we don’t see what we think we deserve at a certain time. We think we deserve it now, we even try to make it for ourselves and wonder why it hasn’t happened yet. We as Christians, who want to move on and go to the next step the next level must first humble ourselves. If we can’t be humble with the minor things how will we be able to be humble with the major things? We wonder why it takes so long to get to a certain point, sometimes it’s because we are not ready.

When a door is closed, we don’t need to become angry or discouraged or take it into our own hands. We don’t need to try to kick it down or pick the lock ourselves, instead, we need to take a look in the mirror and see why we’re still stuck in this hallway. It’s almost like you are walking through a hallway and every time you get to an open door, to exit the hallway, the door closes. It’s like those Cheez-It commercials you can’t go on until you have matured enough to pass the test before you. Sometimes that takes years, sometimes it takes months, but it will never be rushed. Perfection cannot be rushed, it is a tedious and sometimes slow process. Abraham had to wait 14 years before he got his promised son, Isaac. Could it be that God wanted to get Abraham to a place where he would hold nothing back from God because he trusted and loved God so much?

Sometimes we have to wait because our hearts aren’t in the right place. Sometimes God keeps us in the hallway so that He can fix us because where He’s taking us will be difficult or impossible to overcome in our current condition. Don’t be discouraged by the closed door, in due time it will be opened for you. In due time that prayer will be answered. In due time that God-given dream will be handed to you, but your heart has to be in the right place. You have to be humble, meaning that your desires are to build the Kingdom, not yourself.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Humble.

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Take Your Promised Land

“¹Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ²And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ ⁴And they said to one another, ‘Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.’

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ⁶And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ⁷and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ‘The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.’ ¹⁰Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.” ~ Numbers 14:1-10

We look at the people of Israel and say, “How could they grumble against God? How could they be so hateful towards Him? How could they do all of those things? Serves them right that they didn’t get to enter the Promised Land.” But what we don’t realize is that that’s exactly what we are doing today.

We allow fear to turn us against God. We allow fear to control us. We allow fear to say what the truth is, instead of believing what God tells us. We turn away from God and grumble and accuse Him of doing us wrong, instead of taking the time to try to see it through His eyes. But how do we do that?

We have to seek Him. We have to read our Bibles. We have to pray. We have to build a relationship with Him so that we can build faith. So that when the Spirit of Fear tries to jump on us. When he tries to take us over. When he tries to turn us away from God, we will be able to stand strong as Joshua and Caleb did. Are you willing to miss out on your promise because of fear? Are you willing to sacrifice your peace to bow down to fear? We have to stand firm in our faith. We have to trust God Almighty, for if God is for us, who can be against us?

I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. I’m not saying you’re not going to have to face giants. What I’m saying is that God is on your side. He promised that He would fight for us, we need only be still. We only have to have faith. We only have to believe. Fear is a liar. He’s already stolen your peace, don’t let him steal your promise land too.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take Your Promised Land.

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The Benefits of Praise

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—” ~ Psalms 103:1-2

Did you realize that there are benefits in praising the LORD? Here are a few

Forgiveness of sins
Healing
Eternal life
Crowns, or blesses us with love and compassion
Satisfies our desires with good things
Renews our strength
The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed
Compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love toward us
Does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities
Shows us a great and steadfast love

And there are so many more benefits in praising the LORD, like the favor and the blessing of success. So, with a pure and sincere heart begin to praise the LORD right where you are for being who He is, and for loving us so. We’ve done nothing to deserve such love and kindness. We actually deserved death and punishment. Instead, we received blessings and benefits. So, why not lift up your voice and shout a shout of praise. Sing melodies in your heart to the LORD for He is good.

Father, please help me to realize that there are benefits in serving You. Keep my heart true no matter what may befall me and help me to continuously praise You no matter my circumstances. Take my hand and lead me ever guiding me along life’s bumpy highway. Help me to have the courage to share these benefits with the ones I love and with those I meet. Come to Your people bearing Your benefits, and help us to recognize Your benefits. Thank you so much for not treating us according to what our sins and iniquities deserve. Let Your steadfast love surround us today, that we may be encouraged when we praise You.

In Jesus name, Amen.

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Rise Above

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” ~ Isaiah 43:2

It is plain that we will have trials, temptation, and hardships. We are not promised a rose garden with only sunshine and blue skies. No, there is also rain, weeding, sweating, and hard work. But the good news is, when we go through it, hard as it may seem, we will pass through, for our God is with us. He will not let our circumstances defeat us, or destroy us. He is there with us shielding us and protecting us.

Sometimes we feel like we are the Lone Ranger as we pass through the waters, and through the rivers, and through the fire, like no one is there, and there is no end in sight. But please notice that it said when we pass through, God does not intend for those situations to be perpetual, He does not intend for us to go through those situations alone. He intends for us to learn to grow and to draw closer to Him as we pass through.

Heavenly Father, please grant Your comfort and Your peace to those who are troubled today. Grant them peace where there is no peace. LORD, bring Your people safely through whatever troubles they may be facing today. Send Your hornet before them to clear their pathways, and may the confidence that You are their God and their protection, be a source of comfort to them today.

In Jesus name, I pray, Amen.

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