Devotionals Archives

April 29, 2021April 29, 2021

Am I Too Familiar With God?

³Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. ~ Psalms 24:3-4

David, a man after God’s own heart, posed a question that we no longer ask today. Who can enter into the presence of the LORD? In fact, we no longer even consider this a valid question anymore because this is now seen as an offensive, hateful, and discriminatory question. But why? Could it be that we’ve become too familiar with God?

Here’s what I’m getting at, yes, God is our friend, our brother, our father, our betrothed, but He is still God. We’ve lost respect for the King of the Universe. The creator of everything. David starts this Psalm by declaring how great God is by saying,

¹ The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, ²for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
Psalms 24:1-2

The earth, and everything in it, was created by the LORD and still belongs to the LORD. Yet we think that we can enter into the presence of the LORD God Himself anyway we want. And if anyone dares to question that idea, we’re up in arms and offended. Why? Because we’ve lowered the greatness of God and elevated the greatness of ourselves. We have greater respect for earthly kings and rulers than the God of the universe. We revere mere men more than we do the Living God.

Imagine walking into Buckingham Palace covered in filth and rags demanding to speak with the Queen. Or walking into the White House, regardless of who’s in office, and demanding to speak with the President. We’ve become too familiar with God. Solomon introduces the book of Proverbs by explaining the importance of wisdom and knowledge, which are the foundational blocks of our relationship with God. Without the knowledge of God, we can’t accept Him. Without the instruction and wisdom of God, we cannot follow Him. After this, Solomon shares the foundation of knowledge.

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7

We no longer fear the LORD; we’ve become fools despising wisdom and instruction all for the sake of our own selfishness. All because we desire our own version of truth that leads to our own version of temporary happiness. Here and now, we live our lives however we please because when we sin, God doesn’t send His warring angels to crash through the sky and strike us down where we stand. No. That doesn’t happen because we live in a time of grace and a time of forgiveness. We’ve gotten so caught up in grace and forgiveness that we’ve forgotten reverence and fear.

LORD God, help us to fear You. Help us to revere You as the LORD of the universe. You are our friend, brother, and father, yet You are still our God. Never let us forget that. Help us to love wisdom and instruction. Give us the Spirit of Discernment that we might know You and the things of You. Help us to love You with more than just our empty words. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

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Know God

^7b So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. ⁸ Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. ⁹ Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. ¹⁰ That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10^NLT

Paul was a man of God. He was arguably the greatest apostle who ever lived. Yet even though he was great, he still had his own battles to face. He had his own demons to fight. He was human, just like us. The difference, though, between Paul and us is that Paul didn’t allow his weaknesses to keep him down. He didn’t allow his flesh to dictate who he would be or who he would become. Why?

Because he knew his God. He knew the one which he served. And it’s not because he met God on the road to Damascus. It’s not because he saw so many miracles take place or because of the many revelations he had. It was because he sought after God. He wanted to personally know. He had a hunger for more than just what the world could offer him. Paul wanted to know God. Not know of Him. He wanted to personally know God.

Paul had known what it was like to quiver in fear before the presence of Almighty God. He knew what it was like to be before the Throne of Grace guilty. He knew what it was like to be before God uncovered, naked, and shameful. So, he fought for more. He fought for a relationship, so that that day when Jesus takes His seat on His throne and judges the whole earth and everything in it, he would hear the words, ‘well done my good and faithful servant.’ Paul was fighting for his life. His eternal life.

Paul knew God not because he did great miracles, those were direct effects. Paul knew God because he sought him. See, we forget that this world comes with difficulties. This world comes with pain and suffering. It’s inevitable. We can’t avoid it. We can’t skip it. But we can overcome it. Paul, a man of God, prayed three times for the thorn in his side to be removed, but God reminded him that His grace was sufficient for him. God reminded Paul that he wasn’t alone. That this thorn that He has allowed to torment him for this short time here on this earth will not only mean nothing to him in eternity, but while here on this, it would be able to help someone else struggling with the same thing, but lacking the faith and endurance to fight.

We have to understand that God won’t just come down and fix every struggle we have overnight. But that He has given us an abundance of grace, love, mercy, and goodness to overcome any obstacle set before. Overcoming doesn’t always mean that we no longer struggle with something, but that we no longer give in to that something. And if we follow God and fight with everything in us, then we can be confident that if we stumble, God will catch us before we fall because His grace is sufficient for us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Know God.

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Run With God

⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians 4:9^NLT

Oftentimes, we get so caught up in grace that we forget that we are expected to do something to keep that relationship with God. We forget that it’s up to us to run the race set before us. It’s up to us to fight for our souls. It’s up to us to pray for ourselves, our loved ones, and the Church. Once we hear the Gospel and accept it, it’s up to us to put it into practice and build a relationship with God.

Just look at what Paul said; he didn’t say that if we accept Christ, then the God of peace would be with us. He didn’t say if we believe in Christ, the God of peace would be with us. He said that if we practice all that he has taught us, THEN the God of peace will be with us. We have to practice all that we’ve learned from the Scriptures and put it into practice.

We, the sheep, have to follow the Shepherd, and here on earth, God has given us many shepherds to teach His flock while He is away. But that doesn’t mean we just blindly follow anyone. We have to pray and seek God for discernment. We have to read our Bible to make sure that everything that our pastors are preaching to us is Biblical. Then we have to put it into practice. Christianity isn’t a quick pill that you can take that will fix every problem you have overnight.

Christianity is a long, hard road that is set before us. This is why Paul says that if we follow the commands of God, if we follow His teaching, then He will be with us. Then God will give us the peace that passes all understanding. Then the road that once seemed so daunting, tedious, hard, and unbearable will be joyous and fulfilling because it’s no longer us running by ourselves; it’s no longer according to our own power. When we follow the commands of God, then we run according to His power. Then we run with peace, knowing that God is with us always.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Run With God.

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What’s Your First Love?

²I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ~ Revelation 2:2-5

God has set two choices before each of us. One choice is life everlasting with Him; the other is death everlasting without Him. What we do on this earth determines what we choose. When we choose God and the things of God, we are spiritually saying that we want to spend eternity with Him in a place of peace, joy, and blissfulness.

In eternity with God, there will be no more tears, for God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. No more dying there. Neither shall there be any more mourning, nor crying, nor pain for the former things have passed away.

The city, the New Jerusalem, is so beautiful that the foundations of the walls of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel, while the wall itself is built out of jasper. The city itself is pure gold, like clear glass. The streets also are made of pure gold, so pure that it looks transparent. The twelve gates each are fashioned out of one single pearl.

The other choice is quite the opposite. The Bible describes it as a place of eternal destruction away from the presence of God. A place where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. A fiery lake of burning sulfur. An Eternal fire. A place of outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A furnace of fire where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A lake of fire and brimstone, where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. These things all await those who become discouraged and give up.

So, what is the solution? The solution is simple. We need to get back to the basics. We need to practice self-denial. We need to get excited about the things of God again. We need to believe the promises of God again. The Scripture says we must return to our first love.

Jesus is counseling us to repent and be zealous for Him because He will soon be back for us. For when we think we are doing so much and doing so good, we are literally wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked when we are just going through the motions.

He is saying, “Get back to the basics of life, my children.” Get back to putting me first because nothing else matters in all the whole world. No profit, no success, no amounts of money will be able to purchase eternal life apart from Jesus and His salvation.

Even though there seems to be no hope, even though all the sky is gray and life seems hopeless, there is still always hope as long as we have breath, we have hope. Hope is lost when we put our hope in the wrong thing or the wrong person, and that’s usually when we take our eyes off of the true hope. Jesus!

LORD God, help us to choose you over the desires of our flesh and call of the world. Teach us Your perfect ways. Open our eyes to the deceit of the enemy and cover us in Your pure, redeeming blood. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

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He Disciplines His Children

¹⁷But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin. ¹⁸For though He wounds, He also bandages. He strikes, but His hands also heal. ~ Job 5:17-18^NLT

When God disciplines us, it isn’t to destroy us. God corrects His children with love. He may take away, but He also gives. If God disciplines and corrects us, it’s out of love. God doesn’t just leave us in our sin; He corrects us. Then when we are corrected, He brings us back into His presence.

Jesus came that we may be perfected and made whole so that one day we may be brought before Him. Sometimes, our sickness causes us to need surgery. The surgery sometimes takes hours; it’s painful and uncomfortable when we wake up. We feel stiff and sore, but God gives us the medication we need to ease all of that. He gave us His very Spirit to dwell inside of us so that when we’re healed and we can help someone else who’s going through the very thing that we once did.

The only way for us to be children of God is for us to be disciplined. Sometimes it feels difficult, sometimes it feels frustrating, but if we take hold to His promises and put our trust in Him when we make it to the other side, we will be completely changed. We will be made new.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Disciplined.

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Pant For God

¹ As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. ~ Psalms 42:1

David compared his desire to God to a deer panting for water. Is that the Church today? We get so caught up in the tv shows, Hollywood, and the rich and famous that we seem to think that they are our best friends, and we are prepared to fight tooth and nail to defend them.

Christians are prepared to get up at 3 O’Clock in the morning to watch the royal wedding but can’t get up at 10 a.m. to go to church. The world and all of its delicacies are constantly trying to woo us over. We see them driving the nice cars, and some have their own Learjet. They live in huge mansions with exquisite Olympic pools and beautiful gardens. And it’s easy to get lost in all the noise.

Our soul often pants for the world instead of for God. We allow our flesh to guide us instead of the Holy Spirit. When we seek after the world, it’s like running miles and miles on end for life and then stopping to drink poison from the person you’re running from. The world doesn’t want what’s best for you; it takes evil and dresses it up as beauty. Everything we do here on earth decides where and how we will spend eternity. Don’t allow the world to deceive you; only God has the living water to end your thirst.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pant For God.

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Follow His Ways

⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ~ Isaiah 55:9

God is not limited by our limitations. He’s the God that spoke life into being. He’s the God that created the Heavens, the Earth, and everything in between. Even though He is God of the entire Universe, He takes the time to make a plan for our lives. He knows the beginning and the end. He guides us through life so that we can avoid pain and suffering.

Oftentimes, we feel like we know what’s best for ourselves. We allow our fleshly desires and feelings to control us. We look inwardly for guidance instead of looking upwardly to God. Sometimes His plan doesn’t always look safe. It doesn’t always look easy. Sometimes it even looks impossible, but if we trust in God, He won’t let us down.

If we allow God to guide us, we wouldn’t have so much pain and suffering in our lives and in the world. He wants what’s best for us. He doesn’t change. He was love, and He still is love. Our God has done great things, and He is still doing great things. He is doing great things in us and through us. If we follow Him and listen to His instruction, God will guide us into our promised land. We have to set aside our fleshly desires and feelings in order to follow the plan of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow His Ways.

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Be The Light

⁵⁸Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. ~ Acts 7:58–60

Over here in the West, there isn’t much persecution against Christians. We have so much freedom, yet we lack so much love. When someone wrongs us, we want revenge. When we see someone doing wrong, we want to send them to Hell ourselves, but is that how we are to live our lives? Look at the men of the Bible; they didn’t call for instant judgment; they pleaded for mercy on behalf of the men who were persecuting them.

The men whom Stephen was witnessing to dragged him outside the city and began to pelt him with rocks. I’m sure he was trying to dodge a few, but they hit him in the stomach and in the head, and in his face when his hand would try to protect one part of his body, ten more rocks would hit him in another part of his body, until he was full of blood. Bleeding from the hits he received from the stones.

And what did he cry out? LORD save me? Or LORD, where are you? NO! He cried out, “LORD, do not hold this sin against them.” In other words, please forgive them; they know not what they do. He learned and understood from his Savior, Jesus Christ. Were his eyes on the temporal? NO! His eyes were on the eternal. This world held nothing here for him. He understood that there was something bigger than him and all of them at work. He understood what was in store for them if they didn’t repent. Stephen looked at his murderers with only love.

When we look at the world, do we look at them with love or with hate? Do we want God to show them mercy and soften their hearts, or do we want the wrath of God?

LORD God, help us to look at the world with love. Help us to pray for our enemies and bless those who curse us. Fill our hearts, oh LORD, with compassion. Help us to be the light in this dark world. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

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Our Sun and Our Shield

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. ~ Psalms 84:11

God is our sun and our shield. Every morning the sun rises to shine His light to overcome the darkness of the night. It’s another chance for us to overcome because God’s mercies are renewed every morning. Each and every day are reminded that we can overcome the darkness that tries to overcome us.

Our forerunner, Jesus Christ, went before us and defeated the darkness. He overcame the entire world, and because He overcame, we can also overcome. We overcome through Christ because He is our shield. His blood covers us and protects us from the enemy. We don’t have to fear. We don’t have to be intimated. We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Overcome Through Our Sun and Shield.

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Hold To The Blessed Hope

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. ~ Psalms 84:11

It’s easy to take our eyes off of the hope of the return of Christ and focus on a world that’s filled with gloom, dread, and hopelessness. There’s so much hate, division. Lying, stealing, and cheating. There’s fearmongering and deceit. Sickness and disease.

Fear of the day and fear of the night. Rising prices, lower wages. It seems like every day, the price of gasoline is rising. In with the new and out with the old has caused people to lose hope. It feels almost impossible to focus on the coming of Christ when the world seems to only get worse. When we’ve hoped for the return of Christ for over 2,000 years, it feels as if God has forgotten His people, but is that true? Has God forgotten us?

No matter how long the night feels, we always have the hope that the sun will rise in the morning, on time. It won’t be delayed, nor will it forget; we have hope that the sun will rise every morning. God is our sun. The night feels long. It feels like it may never end, but our joy is coming in the morning. Our joy is on the way. We know that Christ will return. We know that Christ will not be late, nor will He be hindered from His return.

Peace. Love Go Forth and Hold To The Blessed Hope.

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