Devotionals Archives

November 14, 2021November 14, 2021

Discern the Times

⁴⁰He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” ~ Luke 19:40

If we hold our tongue, the silence itself will cry out to God through the watchman. “Watchman, what time of the night?” Then he repeats himself. “Watchman, what time of the night?” This gives some insight as to the direness of the situation. There seems to be a certain level of anxiety and apprehension on the side of the asker.

Today we are living in a time of trepidation—a time of perplexity. Fear is weaponized, and the people cower from it. Panic is on every side. One word, whether it is real or not real, sends the population into a frenzy.

We, the Church, have to be able to discern the times. We have to be able to lead others into the peace of God. There is no time for distraction, there is a war for our souls, and we have to awaken the dry bones. We have to prophesy the Word of the LORD, for He is coming very soon.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Discern the Times.

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Be A Friend of God

⁴You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ~ James 4:4

If we are so busy making the world our friend, we lose the time we should spend in friendship with our true friend, Jesus Christ. The friend who sticks closer than a brother. But Christians tend to let political correctness prevent them from making a stand. They chose to be quiet about things that ensure life and the things that cause death.

The world is not concerned about your soul. The world is not concerned with where you will spend eternity. The world is not concerned with whether or not you are prepared to meet your maker. They march to the beat of a different drum. So, no matter how hard you try, you will never be in step with the world as long as you are a Christian. It is a completely different rhythm, as different as a 3/4 beat is from a 4/4 beat. The two will never be in harmony.

So, judge for yourself, consider which is more profitable, to be a friend of the world or to be a friend of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Friend of God.

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Don’t Sleep On The Job

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:9

The Church has to wake up and stop being influenced by the world and begin to be motivated by the Truth. The Word of God is Truth. We don’t have a whole lot of time left to influence our loved ones, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers. Time is running out. The end is speeding up and soon will come like a flood. So with all sincerity and love, I beseech you don’t waste the time you have left sleeping on the job. Take the little bit of time that we do have left and use it wisely.

If we are to win souls, we must win them with the Truth, and we must start now. There’s no time for us to water down, sugar coat, cherry-pick, or change Scripture. Today is the day of salvation; tomorrow is promised to no one. Today is the day to win souls because tomorrow might be too late.

Don’t allow the world to pervert the things of God. He has drawn a line in the sand between right and wrong. Don’t allow your flesh to keep you from witnessing, or even worse, keeping yourself away from salvation. Wake up and look around; the end is very near. It’s no longer something far off; it’s now something knocking at our door.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Sleep On The Job.

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Listen to His Holy Spirit

¹⁵Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. ~ 2 Peter 2:15–16

If we know for sure that God does not approve of a certain lifestyle or a certain habit, then we forsake that lifestyle and correct the course. We only need to pray about things that are not so clear-cut, things that are ambiguous. In days of antiquity, they cast lots to determine the will of God. Even the eleven apostles cast lots to determine who would take Judas’ place in Acts chapter 1.

But ten days later, in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came, and we never heard about casting lots to determine God’s will after that. Why? Because they received the Holy Spirit. God spoke directly to them, and nothing has changed for us today. God still speaks directly to us through His Holy Spirit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Listen to His Holy Spirit.

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Follow the Word

¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ~ Romans 12:1–2

We must listen to and evaluate what is being said, or what is being taught, or what is being propagated. Then we are to test it. In other words, we are to compare it with the Word of God. If, for whatever reason, it does not line up or match up with God’s word, if we don’t have full and complete congruency, then we are to throw it out. Dismiss it completely as false and misleading. We are to drop it like a hot potato.

When it is not a blatant contradiction of the Word of God and a little more in-depth analysis is needed, then that is where prayer comes in.

If God’s word says, ‘Do Not Do It!’ then there is no need to pray about it. That is what Balaam did in Numbers chapter 22-24. Although he knew God’s good and perfect will, he was enticed by the lure of wealth and profit. Don’t succumb to Balaam’s error. Don’t allow the world to lure you away from the straight and narrow by its beguiling, poisoned fruit. Let the Word of God lead you on your journey, not the world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow the Word.

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Watchmen Where Are You?

¹⁷Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, “I see a company.” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ” ¹⁸So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” And Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” And the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.” ¹⁹Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus the king has said, ‘Is it peace?’ ” And Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” ²⁰Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.” ~ 2 Kings 9:17–20

The Hebrew word (ṣā·p̄ā(h)), translated watchman, means:
keep watch, be a lookout,
i.e., intently watch a situation using primarily the eye-gate, but possibly also using other senses, implying a future hope or expectation.

Jesus told us to watch and pray. By this, He made the Christians watchmen on the wall, so to speak. We are to announce good, and we are to announce bad. We are to announce friends, and we are to announce enemies. We are to announce peace, and we are to announce war.

It is our responsibility to protect the flock from potential dangers and warn of surprise attacks from the enemy. Therefore, it is our job to keep watch and to warn the body of Christ of impending dangers and threats.

We are to watch for approaching friends and let our fellow Christians know they are friends. We are likewise to watch for approaching enemies and sound the alarm that an enemy is approaching.

Not only this, but it is the watchman’s responsibility to warn the people on behalf of God when they are straying or falling away from His impending judgment. We are to warn them to turn from their wicked or their compromising ways and return to God.

It is a serious and crucial responsibility that we have and one we should not take lightly. Therefore, blow the trumpet and sound the alarm; danger and enemies disguised as friends are all around us. Warn the people of God, watchmen.

Father, give Your watchmen wisdom and understanding to recognize enemies from friends, danger from peace, and the prudence to act accordingly. Grant us boldness and confidence to warn, advise, and caution the body of Christ. Bless Your people LORD and watch over them as they climb the mountains and cross the valleys. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Make the Darkness Visible in Light

¹¹Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ¹³But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ ~ Ephesians 5:11–14

We are instructed not to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather, we must expose them. The weak watered-down teachings and lukewarm theology of the Church have caused so many to stray from the faith. The world has perverted the definition of love. No longer is love about protecting the soul of others; instead, it’s about protecting the feelings of others. We are ‘loving’ people straight into Hell.

Love isn’t saying ‘God hates —–’ and expecting people to change. Neither is it saying ‘God loves everyone’ so no one has to change. Love is correcting the sin while still loving the sinner. It’s bringing to light the difference between right and wrong. When we expose the darkness to the light, it has nothing to do but flee.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Make the Darkness Visible in Light.

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Don’t Stay Complacent

⁸But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. ~ Revelation 21:8

Many believe that sin really only includes sexual immorality, murder, idolatry, or things like these. Often times we overlook the fact that Jesus said that the cowardly (those who are fearful), the faithless (those who do not believe), and the sorcerers (those who are into witchcraft) all have their portion in the Lake of Fire (Hell). So many times, we get caught up resettling the settled that we can’t move into the deeper things of Scripture. We get caught up in rebuilding and rebuilding the foundation that we can never grow spiritually as Christians. Why is that?

If the Devil can keep us locked in at the entry-level of Salvation, then his war isn’t against strong men and women of God; it’s against babies in the faith. Sin has become the dominant force in our society today because we have become so stuck on the basics we aren’t growing in our faith. We aren’t getting spiritually stronger. We aren’t getting spiritually wiser; instead, we’re staying complacent in our own ignorance, unable to mature in the Spirit.

Don’t let settled foundational beliefs hold you back in your faith. Build your foundation, then build on top of that. Seek more, and you will receive more.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Stay Complacent.

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Run the Straight and Narrow

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.³Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. ~ Hebrews 12:1-3

The writer of Hebrews tells us that this life is a race. We can’t stop. We can’t turn left or turn right; we must run that straight and narrow path set before us. In a race, we don’t have breaks; we don’t have rests; we have to run with endurance. But the author doesn’t stop there; he goes on to encourage us that whenever we begin to grow weary or tired, to look to Jesus. To look to the Son of God who ran the race before us. The founder and perfecter of our faith who endured suffering and hostility for the sake of all mankind.

When we begin to grow weary, we can look to Jesus. Why? Because in His presence, we are renewed. Don’t be discouraged because though we are persecuted, we are not destroyed. When we are weak, He is strong. Hold on to the mighty hand of the living God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Run the Straight and Narrow.

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Look Beyond the Veil

⁵⁰And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ~ Matthew 27:50-51

The New Covenant is based on better promises through God –Jesus Christ– Himself. Since the Old Covenant brought death, the new one brought life. God said He would write His new law not on tablets of stone like the Old Covenant but rather on hearts and minds. Therefore, Jesus had to die physically, thus breaking through the veil, which is His body, to let us into the very presence of God. Now we can gaze upon His beauty with unveiled faces to behold the glory of the LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Beyond the Veil.

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