Tag: Devotionals

Matthew 20:25–28

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

While the world asks, “What is in it for me?” Christ-followers asks, “How can I serve you?” While the world shrinks away from generous giving, the Body of Christ gives unconditionally.

And again, while the world is looking out for number one, and fighting to climb up the corporate ladder, the Church endeavors to be last, the servant of all and considers others more important than ourselves.

We are called to a Selfless kind of Love. A love that is sacrificial and requires the giving of oneself.

Our religion teaches that in order to be first, we must be last. In order to rule we must take the place of the lowest servant.

Just like Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, we too are not called to be served, but to be servant all.

• Ours is a sacrificial love
• It is a selfless love
• It is a giving-of-ourselves kind of love

So, this Valentine’s, don’t ask what your loved one can do for you, but how can you serve your loved one.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

²³ Don’t continue drinking only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. ~ 1 Timothy 5:23

Timothy had frequent illnesses, even though he was a leader in the church and was Paul’s son in the faith. Paul didn’t tell him to make sure to pray about those frequent illnesses. He didn’t tell him to fast about it. He told him to drink a little wine for it. What does that have to do with anything? So often, we pray about our illnesses and fast about them without ever doing anything to physically fix them.

The LORD has given us the necessary means to help our illnesses. Not all things need laying on of the hands. Sometimes, it is our diet that needs to change or our routine or a specific action that is the source of an issue. If we continue in the same way, even if we pray or fast, nothing will change. Therefore, sometimes, it’s not a spiritual issue; it’s a physical one that needs to be dealt with in the physical world.

Dear LORD, please open my eyes and give me discernment so that I might know the difference between physical and spiritual ailments. So that I might know when it is me (my flesh) and when it is a spirit. Please give me wisdom and understanding in all of these things so that I might help myself and, in turn, help others live a more fulfilling life. Thank You, LORD, for all of Your many blessings. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16).

We are a unit. We are one people. We can’t prosper while in division, but we thrive in solidarity. There is great strength in the power of agreement. Therefore, if we offend someone, go to that person and apologize. Clear the airways, so to speak. The old saying, “No man is an island” is certainly true. God did not intend for us to be hermits, or to exist alone. God created us to be members of a close nit society. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 explains that two are better than one, because they can help each other, and they will have a better reward for their labor. But the drawback with going at it alone is if he or she falls, who will lift them up, but if they had a companion that person would definitely help them back to their feet. Solomon goes on to explain that if two people lie down together they can help keep each other warm, but if one lies down alone, how can he or she keep warm alone? Then there is the power of agreement if any two agree on the earth about anything, it will be done for them.

Therefore, do not limit yourself to you alone because of pride. Do not let little things leave you divided from friends, family, or loved ones. There is more power in company, than in isolation. Do not let your prayers be held up because of pride. Go to the person who is offended, even if it’s not your fault. You do not want hindered prayers. And according to James, the brother of our LORD, we can hold up our own healing. When we are in unity, our prayers are powerful, working miracles and yielding much results.

Sometimes we offend people without us even realizing it. I remember one time years ago, when I was in my twenties, I worked with a woman, whom I liked very much. She was really nice and non-confrontational. She was showing me some pictures of the home she and her husband were building together. I thought it was funny to say, “Wow! What a nice house Robert (not his real name) is building. And it was a nice house. But that offended her and I didn’t even know until years later. I was only teasing her by not including her with her husband. I use to tease her all the time and did not realize that this time I obviously went too far. She never said a word about it for years, then one day she confessed. I never knew and I never meant to hurt her. She was my friend and coworker, I only knew her husband through her.

So, the moral of the story is, our words can hurt people even if we don’t realize it. We must be careful of how we carelessly sling our words around. We never know who will get hit even if we are not aiming at them, or intend to do harm. I apologized to her when I did find out and I’m happy to think that the incident did not strain our relationship, praise the LORD.

Heavenly Father, help me to see those whom I have offended without even knowing. And help me to be quick to confess and apologize. Help me to keep a close inventory on my words and my actions to make sure that I am in complete harmony with those in my circle of influence, in Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. ~ 2 Timothy 2:15

Every time I watch a short on social media, no matter the platform, there’s always someone calling sin sin and someone else telling them they can’t because only God can judge. What a sad world we live in today. We go from one extreme to the next. We go from condemning every little action that isn’t even a sin to supporting every single action, even if it is a sin that will lead to death. And how did we get to this new extreme? Because the first was out of hatred and now we want to walk in love and understanding. But here’s the problem, we don’t know what love is.

We’ve allowed the enemy to come in and twist our understanding of love. We believe that to love, we must accept all sin, and if not, then we don’t truly love. But think about this. Remember the phrase, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk,” from the early 1980’s? Well, here is a spin on that, “Love don’t let others go to hell.” We’ve loved people right into hell.

Because ‘a perverted’ type of love says that we must accept them for who they are, no matter what they do. But the Scripture says, “For the LORD disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives (Hebrews 12:6).”

If you love, you will correct. If you love, you will chasten. That is An Acceptable Kind of Love. We help bring out the best in people; we don’t leave them to their own broken-down devices. And it’s true in all of our relationships. With our children. Spouses. Family. Friends. Co-workers. We were put on this earth to share the Light of Christ with others, and we can’t do that unless we show them why they need Christ, which would mean we have to show them that they are living a sinful life away from Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Honest In Love.

⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? ~ Isaiah 58:7

When we remember what Jesus did for us. And when we recall what happened to Jesus by His own submission and by His own obedience, on our account it is then that we learn to love. Because what happened to Jesus was not happenstance, it did not come as a surprise or against His will, but instead, it was completely and thoroughly planned out before the foundation of the world.

The Godhead knew that man would fall. The Godhead knew that we would rebel against Him. But still … God so loved the world … And Christ so loved the Church … And that is where we take our queues from. That is where we learn what true love is and how to love.

See, True love requires us to give of ourselves. And sometimes, An Acceptable Kind of Love requires us to give even when it hurts… even when pain is in the offering, still we give because that is what love does. That is how love operates.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love Like Christ.

³⁶ For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? ³⁷ Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36–37).

Jesus asks two very pertinent questions here. The first, what benefit is it to you, or what good is it to you to gain, or to own the whole world but lose your soul, or forfeit your soul? The second is, what can anybody give in exchange for their soul? He was simply asking rhetorical questions to show how valuable a person’s soul is. There is nothing more valuable. Because your soul will exist some place forever, and ever, throughout all eternity. I know those words are repetitive. They are redundant, but I was trying to make a point as to how final eternity is. It goes on, and on, and on forever. It will never end.

Now, let me reemphasize this point, your soul will spend that time, eternity, the time that will never end, all a hundred billion years, eternity will still be going on, and your soul will still be there, and you will still be aware of where you are. Jesus knows that and He is trying to get His hears to see and understand that there is nothing in this short, minute space of time that can compare to eternity. And there are only two places that every single soul will be. You will either be in a burning lake of fire, called hell, or on the new earth with Jesus, enjoying peace, love, kindness, no more fear, no more hunger, no more thirst, not even the hot sun will burn down on those who spend eternity with Jesus. Every need will be met.

Jesus is trying to get His hearers to see the dire predicament that mankind is in. We didn’t ask to be born, but yet we are here. Before we even rebelled our own selves, we were born with sin and iniquity in hearts, because of our forefather, Adam. The is only one sentence for that, and that is death. The second death is eternal punishment in the lake of fire. But Jesus came that we might have life and life more abundant. And it is only through Him that we can escape the flames of hell, and He offers us that escape.

Many people will take no account about their own souls. Where will they spend eternity. A young woman I was speaking with told me that she didn’t think it was important enough for her to find out where she would spend eternity. There will never be a second of peace or relief from the tremendous torment of hell. It is not a light thing, so, I ask you, what will you give in exchange for your valuable soul? In other words, where will you spend eternity? Where will your loved ones spend eternity? Jesus was teaching that we need to get our priorities straight when it comes to eternity because eternity is a long, long, time.

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins. Thank You Jesus that You were obedient to Your heavenly Father. Help me to prioritize my life so that I am rightly prepared for eternity. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ~ Ephesians 5:25-27

I want you to think about the connection between adultery and idolatry for a second. Adultery is when one spouse cheats on the other spouse with someone else. Idolatry is the same exact thing, only it is not with your spouse, but adultery against God Himself. Scripture teaches that we are the bride of Christ, so when we commit idolatry, we are, in essence, spiritually cheating on Christ. Think about that for a moment!

Here is how it works. Adultery and Idolatry are both deceptive. They will make you feel like you are in control, but you are not, it’s like playing with death itself. Russian roulette, if you will. And not just any death, but spiritual death, which lasts forever.

Therefore, flee both. Don’t entertain any thoughts that will separate you from the love of Christ. That will separate you from living eternity with Christ forever and ever.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Be Deceived.