Tag: Devotionals

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Use Each Breath

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.  ~ James 4:13-16

Elvis Presley was labeled the inventor and king of Rock ‘N’ Roll, yet he died on the toilet at the age of 42. Whitney Houston was dubbed the Queen of Pop, yet she was found deceased in her bathtub at age 48. We can have the whole world, but it still comes to an end.

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Each and every breath we take is a gift from God above. Therefore, be careful what you do with your gift. What do you do with the breath in your lungs? How do you spend your time? Our time on this earth feels like a long time. It’s difficult for us to truly grasp the length of eternity, so we struggle to crucify our flesh here on this earth, as well as fight the desire to satisfy instant gratification.

We can spend our entire lives building an entire empire on this earth. We can be rich and wealthy without want for anything, but in an instant, our lives can be taken from us, and we will be sent to one of two places: one a place of comfort and love, the other a place of pain and suffering. Where Elvis and Whitney are today, I can honestly say I don’t know. I have my opinions, but what I will say is, I don’t believe either of them started out their day knowing it would be their last.

How terrifying of a thought unless you know in whom you have believed, and He, in turn, knows you. As Christians, we have a hope that no one else has. This hope isn’t obtained through works, self-righteousness, or anything we could ever offer. This hope is only obtained through acceptance of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for our sins. It is given to us by grace through faith in His death and resurrection.

Don’t allow anything on this earth to separate you from that hope. Use each day to grow closer to God, build His Kingdom, and He will cause all other things to fall into place for you. Put your faith and trust in Him as you follow the path He has for your life, and He will be faithful to you as He leads you into the call He has for your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Use Each Breath.

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An Accountable One

Ezekiel 9:3-7 CSB

[3] Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherub where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man clothed in linen and carrying writing equipment. [4] “Pass throughout the city of Jerusalem,” the Lord said to him, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the detestable practices committed in it.” [5] He spoke to the others in my hearing: “Pass through the city after him and start killing; do not show pity or spare them! [6] Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, as well as the children and older women, but do not come near anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple. [7] Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out killing people in the city.

If you’ve been in the church for a little bit, you’ll hear the words “Age of Accountability.” It’s the idea that children are spared by age, regardless of actions or beliefs because they don’t know any better. This Age of Accountability can be anywhere from 7-12 years of age. Here’s the thing though, no where in Scripture will you find any verse in support of this belief.

When the LORD saw the defilement of His people and He was prepared to pour out His wrath on them, what did He do? He killed all who didn’t groan over the detestable practices committed by others. This wasn’t just any random action, this is a foreshadowing of the coming end. When God will separate those who follow Him from those who do not. And who is still judged? Children.

Now, children could mean any age under the age of an adult, right? God uses the Hebrew word “טַף (ṭǎp̄)” which means: little children, e., offspring that are young and not yet able to easily walk long distances, nor fully developed in their moral values.

These are children of all ages. According to The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Press, 2017, normally) prepubescent person of either sex; in rare cases extending to adolescence. These are children before the ages of 11,12, and 13. God didn’t spare them. Why? Because “… man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Therefore, the LORD can see what is in the hearts of all. He can see whether there is evil or there is good. Whether there is righteousness or unrighteousness. Darkness or Light. God sees all and nothing is hidden from Him.

Therefore, raise up your children in the right way. Prepare them for trying times so that they might love good and not evil. So that they might rejoice in all Truth. Don’t wait for them to grow older after they’ve lived their lives however they wanted for so many years. You raise them up as a child so that they might have a firm foundation to fall back onto.

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An Anxious Struggle

7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. ~ 1 Peter 5:7NIV

Anxiety caused by overwhelming thoughts or feelings is a weird kind of fear. Let’s break it down. In my case, I’ve been getting a paralyzing anxiety from overwhelming tasks that feel impossible to tackle. My heart begins to aggressively beat out of my chest; it feels like I can’t move. Then, the stress begins to cause my body to feel like it’s shutting down, leaving me with no other option but to pause and take a nap, hoping my body will relax a bit. This kind of stress, anxiety, and overwhelming feeling isn’t in God’s plan for my life. So where does it come from?

I’m sure there are deep-rooted issues that I need to work on that are the main source, but let’s look at what I know now. I’m a perfectionist. I want everything done the right way, done at the right time, and the way I expect it to be. Sometimes, my expectations for myself aren’t achievable, and this causes me great stress and anxiety. Sometimes, what I need to get done is so many daunting tasks that I feel stressed, overwhelmed, and paralyzed, unable to even attempt the task.

I suppose at the end of the day, my standard for myself is to be a perfectionist, but because I’m not a perfect person, I fall short every day. Because I fall short every day, this then adds to my stress by planting a seed in my subconscious that I’m not good enough. This then causes me to panic and stress. At least, this is seemingly one issue in the puzzle.

I know this is an issue because every time a mistake, problem, or issue is brought up about me, it causes me great stress, anxiety, and overwhelmness, and then, after a little while of these feelings, depression begins to sink in. It’s this continuous cycle that I’ve been stuck in for years. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been chipping away at it, but until I can truly figure out the source of the issue, I’ll only be able to chop down the tree every time it shoots up.

While we don’t all struggle with anxiety and depression, we all struggle with something that pulls us back continuously. Something that we constantly have to battle and fight to overcome so that we can be free from it. This was never the plan, but it is the reality. So, what can we do? We bring it to God. We chip away at it until we get to the root of the issue.

Dear LORD, search me. Show me the source of my struggle. Show me the source of what is holding me back. Then please, LORD, show me how to uproot that source of my struggle and help me to remove it from my life forever so that nothing can keep me from the life You’ve planned for me. Please wrap me in Your love. Please fill me with Your peace. Please help me to overcome through You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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The Awakening of Fear

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. ~ Genesis 2:25

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ~ Genesis 3:6-10

I have two nieces, one who is scared of everything and the other who is completely fearless. The one who is scared of everything is 8, while the other who is scared of nothing is 3. Mommy and I were talking about it one day, and she said it’s because the older you get, the more afraid you get. I said that we then have to try to protect her from that so that she doesn’t become frightened of everything as well.

Now, today, I was doing some sit-ups on my bench, where I put my feet under the bar and then sit up. When I went to lay back, I felt a fear of falling. Then it hit me: fear only works if you have a sense or understanding of the punishment or consequence for the action you are about to take or have taken.

Then it further hit me. This is one of the things God was trying to protect us from in the Garden of Eden. Adam was given one command: do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This command was then relayed to his wife, Eve. This was the only don’t they were given. Why? It wasn’t because God didn’t want them to know good things. It wasn’t because God didn’t want them to have knowledge. Think about it: Adam had to have some form of wisdom in order to talk with God in the cool of the day when He came and walked with him. So, it wasn’t trying to keep knowledge from them. God was trying to keep them from being held captive by fear and/or shame because they go hand in hand.

When Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, he didn’t suddenly think ah yes, I’m like God. He didn’t suddenly learn the wisdom of the gods. The very first thing that happened to Adam and Eve was shame. They looked at their nakedness, felt shame, and sought a covering for themselves. What was once beautiful and innocent was now tainted and spoiled. Then the LORD stepped down in the garden and called the man, but he and Eve both hid. Why? Not only were they now wrapped in shame, but now they were afraid. They were terrified. They knew what they had done was wrong; their innocence was stripped away, and fear of the coming punishment had taken over.

God’s desire for us was and always is for our good. It’s never for our harm. It’s never for evil. So, what does He do? He protects us from things that will cause us harm and evil. So, He tells us not to open certain doors that will allow fear to enter into our hearts and remove love, peace, and joy. When Adam ate, the love he felt from God was gone. The peace he felt when he spoke with God was gone. The joy he felt when he heard God walking in the garden was gone. All that he was left with was shame and fear. Two cold, brutal, cruel masters that aren’t ever satisfied until you are completely and utterly destroyed, and then, even then, they aren’t satisfied, for they move on to their next victim.

This is what the LORD wanted to keep us from. My niece wasn’t afraid of anything until she was given a reason to fear things. I wasn’t afraid of doing my sit-ups until one day, I forgot to put the weights on the bar to keep it from rising up when I leaned back, and I almost fell. It wasn’t until I saw and understood a possible consequence of not doing something correctly that I became afraid. We were not created for nor given a spirit of fear. We were created for love. To love and be loved by our creator.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for each and every time I overstepped my bounds and stepped over lines You commanded me not to cross. I’m sorry for each and every time I allowed my flesh to dictate my actions and opened doors to shame and fear. Please, LORD, cover me in Your precious and Holy blood. Cause Your angels concerning me. Help me to know that I am loved by You. That if I walk in Your ways and delight myself in You, I have nothing to fear because You are with me. If I cry out to You, repent, and seek Your face as I turn from my sin, no shame has any right to me. That the past mistakes I’ve made no longer have a hold on me and I can move forward in You. That all fear, anxiety, and doubt have no claim on me, for I am loved by You. For You loved me even when I hated You. Even in my sin, You still loved me. Even in my sin, You still called out to me. Even in my sin, You still died for me. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for Your forgiveness. Please, LORD, help me feel Your love surrounding me in all things that I do. In every area of my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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In The Beginning

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ~ Genesis 1:1

There is only one God, and there is only one beginning. The word translated beginning is the Hebrew word (rē(ʾ)·šîṯ), which means, what is first. When the Bible says in the beginning, it is referring to the beginning of all things, and not the beginning of God. God, Himself, has no beginning. He always was and always will be. Now, concerning the beginning of all created things, there is only one beginning for us, when God said let there be, even for light. God did not create something and then it all went bad, and then He had to start all over again. If so, there would be two beginnings, but as it is, there is only one beginning. That is why God said that In the Beginning, God Created … There were six literal 24-hour days where God created everything that was created in the heavens and on the earth.

Therefore, before God created the heavens and the earth, there was nothing except God Himself. God spoke everything into being. He spoke, and it was. When it came to man on the sixth day, however, God got His hands dirty, so to speak, as He knelt and took dirt and made a mud man. Shaped him into what we see here and then breathed the breath of life into him, and he became a living being. God is the beginning of all things and the end of all things. All things were created by Him, and for Him, and in Him all things consist. We are His, and now, through the cross, He is ours.

Father, thank You for molding us into Your image and likeness. Thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your only begotten Son to die on the cross of Calvary to redeem us from death caused by sin. Help me to live for You in this New Year so that whatever I do and whatever I say may all be pleasing to You, O LORD, my God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Be Careful What You Seek

Matthew 6:25-33 CSB

[25]  “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? [26] Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? [27] Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? [28] And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. [29] Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. [30] If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you — you of little faith? [31] So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

So many things in our lives keep us distracted from the things of God. Work so we can pay bills, afford food, have clothes to wear, shoes on our feet, gas in our car, a roof over our head, and yes, enjoy life, but all of these things should never come before the LORD. He promised that if we follow Him and seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, all these other things would follow. So often, we suit these things about the things of God and end up never reaching/achieving either.

How we spend our time matters. What our priorities are  matter. Who is first in our life matters. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does NOT change, therefore, if He kept His promises in the past, He’ll keep them now. We just have to break down the strongholds of the flesh that keep our spirit man, our connection to God, weak.

Dear LORD, please help me to start the New Year strong. Help me to start it right by focusing on and seeking You. Teach me to crucify my flesh and build my spirit man every single day. Help me to grow in You. Give me the burning desire to grow closer to you, as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Peter, and Paul had. Please, LORD, don’t turn a blind ear to my prayers, but hear me when I call. Hear me when I cry out to You. Come to my defense as you defended Jacob, Moses, and David. Pray for me, LORD Jesus, as You prayed for Peter, the other eleven disciples, Paul, and the rest of the early Church. Please help me to see and praise You for every step towards You that I make. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Start A New

Isaiah 43:18-19 CSB

[18] “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. [19] Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

2024 has come to an end, and today, we begin 2025. So many of us will start this year out strong. We’ll set goals and resolutions for the year. We’ll start reading our Bible, going to the gym, etc. but sadly, by February, we’re done. Our goals, aspirations, and resolutions for the drift away and we fall back into the same routine of previous years that kept us from reaching our goals or achieving our aspirations/resolutions. Nevertheless, let us start this New Year with hope.

The hope that this year, 2025, will be the year that we achieve and succeed. The year that we grow and flourish. Let us not be discouraged by the past years, for the LORD will make a new creation out of any willing soul. What do we need to do? Cling to hope and be fueled by determination. It’s not enough to want to achieve and reach new heights. We have to strive for it. We have to work to achieve it. Therefore, start this New Year off right, dedicating it to God, so that He might make the whole year blessed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Start A New.

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Live As If It’s Your Last

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ~ 2 Timothy 4:7CSB

This is Paul’s final letter to Timothy. Matter-a-fact, this is believed to have been Paul’s last letter. Imagine that. What a statement to make. There was no doubt in Paul’s mind that he had finished the race set before him. He had fulfilled his God-given call. He had overcome trial after trial. Obstacle after obstacle. Persecution after persecution. He had faithfully followed the path God had laid before him.

This is the last day of the year. I want you to really be honest with yourself and with God. Can you truthfully say, without a shadow of a doubt in your mind that you have lived this year following the path God has for your life? Have you spent this year, that ends tonight at 11:59, fulfilling your God-given call? So many of us get so caught up in everything else. We get so busy with life, that the year comes and goes and we’re still in the same spiritual place we were at the beginning of the year.

Today is New Year’s Eve and I want you to think about this past year. What did you waste time doing? What could you have done better? Did you achieve anything? Did you grow spiritually? Did you backslide? Be honest with yourself and God. Then prepare for next year. A new start. Ask yourself, if you knew this coming year 2025 was your last year on this earth, how would you live it?

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for every moment I wasted and every opportunity You gave me that I didn’t take. I’m sorry for each time I backed away from Your call or fell short of Your desires for me. Please help me not to spend another year going through the motions not going anywhere. Please LORD, help me to spiritually grow this coming year. Help me to fast more. To pray more. To worship more. To read my Bible more. To spend more time with You. Please help me not to be distracted or tripped up by the world, but that I might overcome the world through You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Prepare For Perilous Times

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-5

As the days race toward eternity, the Return of Jesus draws closer and closer, and things will take a turn for the worse for the Church. And it already has in many places, but it will get even worse. Those who are called by His Name will be persecuted. We will be despised, hated, and even hunted down and killed, all because we love Jesus. Because we have chosen Him, because He first chose us.

Jesus has given us an opportunity to accept Him and to follow Him by loving Him and keeping His commandments. We love Him by being obedient to Him and loving others and living in harmony with each other. Therefore, we keep ourselves from being defiled by the world.

We live in the world, but we are not a part of the world. We do not partake in what they partake in. We do not take pleasure in what they take pleasure in. We are a peculiar people, a royal priesthood. A people chosen from before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 2:9).

We are loved by God, who purchased us with His own blood and wrote our names upon His palms and in His Book of Life. We all have been given the privilege of choosing Jesus (John 3:16). That is our choice. To accept Jesus or to reject Jesus. It’s that simple, but it has devastating consequences if we choose unwisely.

Therefore, separate yourself from the world. Be in the world, but not of the world. We are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16), not friends with the world. So, build your spirit-man now. Crucify your flesh now while these days are still ahead of us because when they come, it will be difficult to prevail without preparation.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare For Perilous Times.

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He’s Coming And Bringing Friends

… But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short! ~ Revelation 12:12b

Satan did not come down for a nice, restful vacation. Or for some sightseeing tour. He will use deception, cruelty, murder, and everything in his arsenal to conquer the world. To lead the whole world away from God and into eternal destruction. Hitler also said, “I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.”

Which fits right in with, “You gotta protect your grandmother…” It doesn’t make sense when you think about it or reason it out, but it does play on your emotions. And so there you have it. Get their emotions involved. Threaten their lives, even if it isn’t real. Then you will have them. This isn’t a game, and you are not allowed to sit out. Remember what the Scripture said?

7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation

Revelation 13:7

No one is missed, and no one is immune. Not only will the beast make war on the saints, but it will conquer us. Meaning, it will kill a lot of Christians. We must be prepared for those days. We can’t live in a fantasyland thinking that God loves us too much to let that happen to us.

  • James, the brother of John, was run through with a sword
  • John was boiled in hot oil
  • Peter was crucified upside down
  • Paul was beheaded
  • Mark was beaten to death by an angry mob
  • Other saints were burned at the stake
  • Some where dragged to death by horses
  • Still others were tortured on racks and with hot iron spikes
  • Many are being jailed and starved and beaten and burned to death

Some of the most heinous torments was and is being meted out to Christians, did God love them less than us? No, but I tell you, be prepared so that when The Days of Sorrow comes, it will not surprise you, and you will have the strength to stand. It is very difficult to stand when you are unprepared and taken totally by surprise. So, I say again, be prepared!

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