Tag: Devotionals

Posted on

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.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

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.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

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.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

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!

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Detestable Practices

7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to occupy my sanctuary, you defiled my temple while you offered my food—the fat and the blood. You broke my covenant by all your detestable practices. 8 You have not kept charge of my holy things but have appointed others to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.’CSB (Ezekiel 44:7).

This is an Old Testament law for sure, but it has a New Testament application. It is referring to the physical temple first built by Solomon, then destroyed by the Babylonians, rebuild by Nehemiah, refurbished by Herod, and later destroyed again by the Romans in AD 70. This verse is God Himself speaking to His people, the Israelites. They were allowing, but not just allowing, they were actually bringing uncircumcised, non-Jews into the Temple. The law only made allowances for circumcised Jews to come into the Temple. So, when they did that, they broke God’s covenant with them, because they defiled the holy Temple, where the presence of God aboded.

The Scriptures state that we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is, Himself, God. So, when we apply this law to our day, it looks like this. When you watch unwholesome movies with cussing, and excessive violence, nudity, and other ungodly stuff in it, or when you tell crude jokes, or partake in other unwholesome activities you are bringing uncircumcised things into the sanctuary. In so doing, you are in fact defining God’s sanctuary, which is us, our hearts, our minds, our body. We defile God’s temple while saying that we are worshiping God. We offer praise with defiled minds, and lift up defiled hands. Our worship is defiled when we watch porn on our computers, cellphones, or on TV.

Here is the problem. When we partake in such things, it is not just a one time thing. That thing comes in and occupies the sanctuary. It takes up residence in our minds, and in our imaginations, and they become corrupted. It will take only God and the blood of Jesus to sanctify them again. Therefore, God is not pleased with this type of detestable practices. He commanded us to be holy just as He is holy.

So, let us determine that this New Year we will seek Him with everything in us, and live holy, righteous lives. Let us forsake the detestable practices and seek the face of God, so that we might live and not die.

Heavenly Father, please help me to live righteously for You. Strengthen me when I’m weak as You lead me in the path of righteousness. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Stay In The House

Proverbs 21:9, 19 CSB
[9] Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.
[19] Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

I saw a short (a video that lasts a minute or less) the other day with a woman saying that one of the most demonic phrases we have today is “happy wife, happy life.” Now, personally, when I heard that, I thought that was an odd phrase to choose as the most demonic, but I tried to hear her out. She went on to say that you’re speaking things over your life, and now you’re walking on eggshells around your wife. And I thought, that’s not at all what that saying or phrase means.

“Happy wife, happy life” means that as a husband, if you take care of your wife, she will take care of you. I heard a man put it this way “Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of [poop]!”

In other words, if you have a happy wife, then you will have a happy life. The Bible confirms this by saying that a man who finds a wife finds a good thing. But it doesn’t just stop there because it clarifies what kind of wife. A happy wife because a grumpy, nagging, angry wife is worse than living alone in the wilderness. What’s Solomon saying? I believe he’s saying happy wife, happy life. That encompasses different things.

You and your wife have to be in love. Today, love is defined by saying “love is love” therefore, we never truly know what love is. We can’t define it. We can’t explain it. We don’t truly know what it is. We believe it’s something we can fall in and out of, when in actuality love is a house you enter in and then commit to never leave.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay In The House.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

God’s Promises Are Trustworthy

14 And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until He has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that He has given to you. ~ Joshua 23:14-16

By now, Joshua is old and advanced in years. He had led Israel for many years. He is now 110 years old, and the time of his death has come. He and Caleb were the only two men of fighting age who came up out of the land of Egypt during God’s great deliverance of the Israelites out of the land of slavery to enter the Promised Land. All the other men of fighting age perished in the desert because of unbelief. He knows how fickle these people are. So, he gathered the whole assembly of people, all the tribes of Israel, and he called them to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers, and there he presented them before God.

Joshua reminded them of where they came from and what God had done for them, and what He was still doing for them. He knew that they were prone to stray from their God, so he warned them to fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. He also told them, “Look, you yourselves know that all of God’s good promises have been fulfilled for you.” Not one of His good promises has failed.

Now, here is the kicker. Now, in verse 15, Joshua begins to explain to the people saying, Look, The LORD your God has fulfilled all of the good things that He promised concerning you, but please understand that just like He fulfilled the good things, He will also bring upon you all the evil things that He has promised, until He has destroyed you from off this good land that He has given you.

Therefore, the LORD our God is a promise keeper. Whether the promise is good or whether it is for evil, as long as the requirements are fulfilled, God will bring that promise to pass. Now, understand this, God has given us great and awesome promises. Some are great blessings, and others are not so great.

For instance, Jesus promised that He will be back to get all of us who love Him and are waiting for His appearing. He also promised that if you are not waiting or do not desire Him, you will be left behind. So, just like God fulfilled all of His promises to ancient Israel, so will He fulfill all of His modern promises to us.

Therefore, stay awake, pay attention, and watch and pray so that you will not be left behind. Jesus is coming back real soon.

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are a promise keeper, and You will fulfill every one of Your good promises to me, good or bad. Help me to be obedient so that You can fulfill Your great and awesome promises to me, and that I might reap the fat of the land, and live in Your abundance. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Back to Encouragement?

Back to Daily Bread?

Similar Content

Like and Share This:
Posted on

The First Christmas Morning

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. ~ Luke 2:1-7

This is the story of the first real and true Christmas. For in the fullness of time, God sent His only begotten Son, loved and adored by all of heaven and by the Father. Prized among the believers, rejected by men, and despised by the nations. But yet He came that we might have the promise of Christmas, and this was the very first Christmas morning. But many things had to all happen in sync, and in order, and everything had to be in harmony with each other and with Scriptural prophecy.

Caesar Augustus sent out a decree ordering all people in the Roman Empire to go to their own place of ancestral heritage to be registered for tax purposes. Mary and Joseph also went from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea to be registered. Although Mary was so far along in her pregnancy, still, she and Joseph had to travel to the City of David to be registered just in time for Mary to give birth to her firstborn Son, our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. If it were not for the decree, Mary and Joseph would not have a reason to be in Bethlehem, and Jesus would have been born in the town of Nazareth. But God, in His omnipotence, looked down the corridors of time and saw and predicted what must take place.

Therefore, without even knowing it, by sending out that decree, Caesar ensured that God’s prophecy, which declared that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, would come to pass. The Proverb (Proverbs 19:21), which says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails,” NIV, has been proven true. Many things had to happen all in sync and all in harmony, as per Scripture. That is why we have Christmas, because God loved us so that He gave Jesus on that very first Christmas morning, that whosoever believes and accepts Him shall live forever with Him.

Thank You, Father, that You gave us Your only begotten Son, our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, that we might live through His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. May we always honor Your birth, LORD Jesus, on that very first Christmas morning. And may we always value and appreciate Your sacrifice, and may we love and wait patiently for the hope of Your appearing. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Back to Encouragement?

Back to Daily Bread?

Similar Content

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Keep Watch By Night

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ~ Luke 2:8-18

The shepherds were in the fields watching their flock by night. They were right where they needed to be. They were doing their job as they were supposed to. They could’ve called it a night and ended their day early. Instead, they stayed at their post. They stayed where they were supposed to be, and God honored their dedication by sending an angel to them. When the angel appeared, they were terrified. They didn’t know what to do. They were in the fields, so there was nowhere to run or even hide. Little did they know that great fear would soon turn to great joy, for the Messiah had come to redeem all peoples.

Sometimes, good news and God’s plan for your life are initially scary, but if you remain in His path and put your trust in Him, God will reward that faithfulness with the fulfillment of that Good News. This Christmas, continue in your call, regardless of what you have going on. Continue in your race regardless of how tiring it may be. The LORD will honor your diligence. Then, when the opportunity for your reward comes, don’t allow fear to keep you from it. The Devil will always try to strike fear into your heart before the LORD rewards you and blesses you with a harvest you were not even expecting.

I doubt the shepherds went out the night expecting to see the newborn savior of the world. How amazing of a gift. You started the night with work and ended it with rejoicing and witnessing the greatest prophecy being fulfilled right before their eyes. Continue in your call; you never know how the LORD will reward you for your dedication.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Keep Watch By Night.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Let It Be Done

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. ~ Luke 2:10-11

I want you to really think about what Mary was going through when the angel came to her. She was an unmarried woman. She was betrothed to a man, and now she was pregnant. She had to convince not just her family but her fiancé that she had not been unfaithful to him. This wasn’t like today, either. During Mary’s day and age, this offense that she seemed to be guilty of was punishable by death. Not a quick death either, but being stoned to death. How terrifying. No evidence or proof did she have that could keep her safe from man’s judgment, yet she didn’t give into fear. She boldly told the angel, “Let it be done to me as you have said.”

Mary could have easily said this burden is to heavy for me to hold. My shoulders aren’t strong enough. I can’t do this. This is too much for me. And God, being the free-will God He is, would have accepted her refusal and used someone else. Mary didn’t have to accept this frightening task from God, but she did. She chose to accept this terrifying call of giving birth to the Messiah. The Son of the Living God.

Dear LORD, please help me to accept the call You have for my life, regardless of what it is. Regardless of how hard, dangerous, terrifying, or too heavy it may seem to me. Teach me to trust You enough that I might follow the path You have laid before me. Help me to have faith and dwell in Your perfect love that casts out all fear. Please, LORD, don’t allow me to miss out on what You have for me because of fear. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Like and Share This:
Proudly powered by WordPress