Devotionals Archives

September 27, 2021September 27, 2021

Press In Deeper

¹³And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. ¹⁴And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ~ Luke 8:13-14

Did you catch that? Those who fell on the rock are those who heard the word and believed it. In other words, they heard the Gospel, and they accepted it. They received their free gift of salvation. They are now a part of Jesus’ sheep, but when things get difficult. They’re being teased for their beliefs. Their friends are treating them differently. They’re being persecuted. Troubles have come because of their conversion to Christianity; they fall away. They return to their old ways. They give up their salvation.

Now, for those who fell among the thorns are those who hear, but they give in to the temptations of the world that continue to call at them, so their fruit never matures. What does that mean? That means they hear, they believe, they get saved, but they don’t withstand temptation long enough for the fruit of the Spirit to grow in them. They are never able to produce Good Fruit as Matthew 7 says those who are saved will produce. In both cases, according to Jesus, some people will hear the word of God, become saved, but will turn from those beliefs and give up salvation because of one thing or another.

Tribulations, temptations, grief, and pain will come in life. It’s up to us not to lose faith. It’s up to us to press in when things get difficult. It’s up to us to press into God and build our relationship with Him. Sure, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing can remove us from His hands, but we can freely walk away. We can freely choose sin or anger over our relationship with Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Press In Deeper.

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Do What is Good

³Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. ⁴Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. ~ Psalms 37:3-4

David, who is described as a man after God’s own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14, tells us to do what is good, dwell in the land, and befriend faithfulness. Delight ourselves in God, and we’ll have the desires of our hearts. In other words, follow God’s commands, fulfill His call for your life, be faithful to Him and His word, seek after Him and His presence, and your heart will be changed. When your heart is changed, your desires change as well. You no longer desire evil, but your spirit will then desire good. And when your spirit desires good, you will receive the desires of your heart, for they will be in line with the LORD’s plan for your life.

When we delight ourselves in the LORD, we are filled with the Joy of the LORD, and we are no longer filled with a desire to be happy. That hole that we had that couldn’t be filled by anything this world has to offer is filled by the Holy Spirit, and as the Holy Spirit fills us, He plants, nourishes, and grows the Fruits of The Spirit within us, including the Joy of The LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do What is Good.

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Lead By Example

¹ Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. ²At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. ³The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ~ 1 Samuel 3:1-3

The first thing I want you to notice is the second sentence in the first verse. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

In those days, what days? The days under the end of Eli’s ministry.

- So, what was going on?
- Why were there no frequent vision?

If there were no frequent visions in those days, it would stand to reason that there were frequent visions in days prior. Right? So, what has happened to bring such a change?

Whatever the culture is, meaning the way we do things here, whether it’s their goals, their priorities, their vision, it all stems from the leader. And again, it doesn’t matter whether it is ecclesiastical, meaning the church, or secular, the society; it all reflects the real leader(s) at the time. That is true in churches and in the workplace. The organization can be judged by its leader.

Therefore, if you are discouraged by the culture you are in, then be the change in that culture that you want to see. Lead by example. Don’t blindly just follow the status quo. Do as the apostles did, follow Christ, and others will follow you. Don’t be discouraged by the world around you, be encouraged by the reward awaiting you if you finish the race that has been set before you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Lead By Example.

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Become a New Man

²⁹But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ~ Romans 2:29

Our hearts are changed by the Holy Spirit. The law, which is a foreshadowing of Jesus taking away the sins of the world, is written on our hearts. Our hearts are circumcised by this because circumcision was the sign of the covenant. The importance of this is that we are now under a new covenant and better covenant that doesn’t just put off our sin for another year, it completely washes us clean, and our sins are blotted out.

In other words, we get a new fresh start with Christ. Our old man is dead, and we are, in fact, a new creation in Christ Jesus. We don’t have to hold on to our past; it is erased. Blotted out. Thrown into the Sea of Forgetfulness. It is no more. We can start over in Christ Jesus. All we have to do is repent and confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Become a New Man.

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Show Your Love

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. ~ Romans 13:8-10

The entire law and all of the prophets are summed up and fulfilled in love. Why? Because if you love your God and your neighbor, you won’t do wrong. You’ll put others first. You’ll change your actions, even your beliefs, in order to help those you love.

Now, I understand that this could be difficult to understand but think about it this way. If you love someone, it changes who you are. When you love someone, you can’t help but show it. As a young teen, the Twilight saga was huge. I mean, everybody knew about Twilight, even if you didn’t like it or wanna admit it, you knew what Twilight and at least the three main characters.

Now, I was a big Twilight fan. And I was Team Jacob. But anyways, love is like imprinting in the series. Jacob describes imprinting as this,

It’s like gravity. Your whole center shifts. Suddenly it’s not the Earth keeping you here. You would do anything. Be anything she needs. A friend. A brother. A protector.
Jacob Black

I think that’s a really good description of love. You’ll do whatever it takes, become whoever it takes to be with that person. Love isn’t just a phrase. Love is an action. It’s the way you live your life. God sees love this way as well. He said that because He loved us, He sent His only Son to die for us to save us. Now it is our turn to show God that we love Him with our actions by sacrificing our desires and wants for His desires and wants.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Show Your Love.

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Leave Your Filth

⁴Whoever says ‘I know Him’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, ⁵but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: ⁶whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. ~ 1 John 2:4-6

According to John, it’s not enough to just say that you love Jesus. In fact, you can’t even say that you know Him unless you follow Him. John goes as far as to call anyone who says they know Jesus but doesn’t follow Him and walk in His ways a liar. In our world today, so many people claim to love God. They thank Him at all the award shows. They talk about being blessed by Him in their music, but they live their lives as if He doesn’t even exist.

As we just read, John states that you don’t know God if you live in sin. He doesn’t say if you mess up but keep getting up and fight to overcome your sin. He says that if you live in sin, just give in to it and make it your norm, then you don’t even know God. So, here’s a thought, how can you love someone that you don’t even know? How can you have a relationship with someone you’ve never met?

The return of Christ is right around the corner. Don’t let Him come back to find you still wallowing in your filth. Run home to your Heavenly Father. Let Him wash you clean and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He already paid the price; all you have to do is accept it by repenting of your sins and confessing that Jesus Christ is LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Leave Your Filth.

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Stop Chasing Happiness

“⁷Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! ⁸And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” ~ Matthew 18:7-9

Jesus didn’t say, ‘you know what, life is hard. There are all these temptations. Pretty girls. Cute guys. You know what, if you give in every now and then, I get it. I got you. Just do your best.’ That’s not how it works. Life is one large test, and you only get one chance. And when the test is over, and it’s time to receive your grade, you only have two options. You either passed or failed. And if you fail the exam, the teacher isn’t going to give you an ‘A’ just because they like you. That’s not just. That’s an unjust teacher.

God is a just teacher. And when we all stand before Him on Judgment Day, He will judge us according to His standards, not our own standards. Because it’s not whether you tried or not, it’s whether you did or did not. Either you did it, or you didn’t do it. It’s as simple as that.

We’re intended to be the Bride of Christ, so then in a sense, we are currently engaged to Christ because we have yet to have the marriage. So, let’s put this into perspective. Imagine you’re engaged to someone, and they cheat on you constantly, and whenever they’re caught, they say, ‘You know I love you. You know you’re my number one. It wasn’t my intention to cheat; I mean, I tried not to. But does that really matter, though? Cause, I mean, I love you. Don’t you love me? Don’t you want me to be happy?’

Do you see how insane that sounds? This is the main problem with the statement ‘I think God just wants me to be happy.’ God wants more for us than to be happy. See, happiness is a relative term. Happiness means something completely different to each person. And sometimes, happiness will lead us to our own death. Why? Because happiness isn’t a trustworthy emotion. In the moment of committing the sin, we are happy, but that soon fades as the shame and guilt kick in. Then we return to our sin, and we’re happy for a short time, then shame and guilt kick in again. It’s an endless cycle that never leads to joy. It only leads to a quick ending, never satisfying false happiness.

Choose the ways of righteousness, and you will be satisfied. When you begin your journey, it won’t be easy. Satisfaction and being filled won’t happen overnight, but as we fight, we will be filled more and more each day. God draws near to those who draw near to Him. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t grow weary of doing good, for the reward that awaits us is greater than anything we could ever think of or even imagine.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop Chasing Happiness.

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Abide in the Love of God

⁶[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:6.

Love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing; it can’t accept wrongdoing. Love can only abide in the Truth. So, we can’t say God loves me; therefore, He will never punish me for my sins. Because Jesus didn’t just say, ‘I love you, go and live your life.’ Jesus said, ‘I love you, now abide in my love or you will abide in my wrath. It’s your choice.’

See, even though God’s steadfast love never ceases, at some point in time, the Last Judgment will happen. It’s not because God hates you, but because you chose to live your life outside of His never-ending, steadfast love that never ceases. We’re each given a certain amount of time on this earth, and what we do with that time is up to us. Don’t waste the time you’re given. You never know when your time may come to an end.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Abide in the Love of God.

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Grasp Salvation Today

^19b And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ~ Exodus 33:19

Honestly, at face value, this statement sounds rather harsh. In fact, it almost sounds sinister, but when you actually look at who God is and how He works, you understand that it isn’t harsh or sinister at all. God sets in place rules for the entire Universe to abide by, and there are consequences to breaking God’s rules.

Now, if we repent, He promises us that He will have mercy on us. This is why He says He will show mercy on whom He will show mercy because not everyone humbles themselves before Him. Why? Because not everyone repents. Today is the day of Salvation; tomorrow is promised to no man, no woman, no teen, no child. Tomorrow is promised to no one. Today is the only day you have to repent. Don’t take it for granted because tomorrow may never come.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Grasp Salvation Today.

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Dwell In Faith

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ~ Ephesians 2:8

It is only by faith that we are saved. And if we dwell in fear, then we don’t have faith. And if we don’t have faith, then we cannot please God. In other words, we cannot be saved. We have to dwell in love if we want to be with God, and the only way to dwell in love is to dwell in faith.

Faith comes by knowing God, which can only be done by spending time in His word as well as spending time in prayer and worship. We can’t expect to get to know God without spending time with Him. So, spend time with God. Get to know who He is, and you won’t live in fear or doubt; you will dwell in faith and love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Dwell In Faith.

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