Devotionals Archives

February 22, 2024February 21, 2024

Beware The Unquenchable Flame

⁴³ And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. ~ Mark 9:43

³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? ~ Matthew 23:33

Jesus referred to Hell as a place of unquenchable fire that some are sentenced to while others are not. This is because Hell is a place you’re sentenced and thrown into, not a place your soul goes to simply because you have died. Otherwise, we would need to fear man just as much as God because Jesus made this very clear that it is the power of God that can destroy both body and soul in Hell (Matthew 10:28)

If Hell is just a place you go when you die, then this argument that Jesus is making for why you should fear God and not man is silly because anyone who kills you would be sentencing you to Hell because that’s the realm of the dead. No. Jesus wasn’t talking about the realm of the dead. Jesus was talking about something much worse. Something more terrifying than just the realm of the dead. Jesus was talking about a place that was created, not for mankind to go when they die, but for the Devil and his angels as an unquenchable fire. An eternal flame of torment.

Therefore, there is no reason to fear man because man can only destroy the body, but the soul no man can touch or harm. This is why we only fear God, for it is God who makes the final judgment call on where our soul will spend eternity based on our actions in this life. When it comes down to offending God or man, it is better to offend man, for God is only offended by evil, and evil will only lead to eternal destruction away from Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Beware The Unquenchable Flame.

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Allow God To Comfort You

¹³As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. ~ Isaiah 66:13

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and He comforts those who mourn. He even goes as far as to say that joy comes in the morning. Joy, comfort, and peace are all promised to us, but it’s up to us to accept and receive them. Even though something is promised to us, it doesn’t mean that we will automatically receive it.

So many of us miss out on joy, comfort, and peace because grief has a hold of us. It convinces us that we need to continue in our grief, or we’re betraying the one we’ve lost. It convinces us that we need to stay frozen and refuse to move on so that we can miss out on the plans God has for us.

Mourning should never last for more than the night. It should never be years of grieving and pain for all of those who belong to Christ; He will comfort us if we allow Him to.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Allow God To Comfort You.

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A Better Servant

²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:23^NIV

The early Church had a vastly different understanding of what it means to follow Christ than the Church today. For instance, Paul boasted about going through tribulations because of the name of Jesus. He said he was more of a servant because of the tribulation he faced for the name of Jesus, but today’s Church argues the complete opposite.

They claim only those who are lukewarm will go through tribulation. They claim that God loves us too much to allow us to go through tribulation because we are the Bride and we’re to be spotless. Here’s the thing, we’re to be spotless from sin, not from bloodshed. In fact, why would only the head be flogged, beaten, and hated, but the body loved and protected from all harm?

To receive persecution from the world because of the name of Jesus is a badge of honor, according to Peter and John. It’s a privilege to be counted as a servant of Christ, so why have we deceived ourselves and others that it is a punishment or God’s wrath?

Dear LORD, please renew my mind so that I might understand and accept Your Truth and not my own. Open my eyes, ears, and heart that I might hear and understand. Strengthen my spirit man, so that I might be able to stand strong in the day of trial. Prepare, oh LORD, for what may come in my lifetime. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Watch Out For The Unclean Carcass

³⁷ If one of their carcasses falls on any seed that is to be sown, it is clean; ³⁸ but if water has been put on the seed and one of their carcasses falls on it, it is unclean for you. ~ Leviticus 11:37-38^CSB

The LORD gave many laws and statutes to Aaron and Moses to tell the people. These laws were a shadow of things to come. God said that if a dead carcass of one of the unclean lizards falls on any of the seed that is to be sown, the seed will remain clean, but if it’s been watered, it has become unclean. Why is that?

In the parable of the Sower, Jesus explained that the Word of God is the seed, and the different types of fields receiving the seed are four different types of hearts. See, the Word of God cannot be polluted by false doctrine, misinterpretation, and twisting of Scripture unless someone hears it and accepts it. The seed must first be planted and watered in order to corrupt the seed because our words can affect whether the seed grows into a good fruit-bearing tree or a bad fruit tree.

The Word of God is powerful and is not subject to anyone’s sole interpretation. There is only God’s interpretation. So when you hear the Word of God preached or taught, you have to weigh it against what the Word of God says, lest you believe false truths and your watered seed becomes unclean.

Dear LORD, please open my eyes and ears to Your Truth and Your Truth alone. Fill me with a spirit of discernment so that I might not be tripped up by false doctrine and false interpretations. Help me to be like the Bereans who searched the Word of God to see if what Paul said was true. Teach me to see the Truth, LORD, so that I might never accept or teach anything false. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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The Comfort of Promises

¹³But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

One of the most cliché verses to quote when someone dies is from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. He told us that we don’t grieve the way that the rest of the world grieves because we know that one day, we will see them again. The problem is that though these words should comfort us, the majority of the time, they don’t. At least it doesn’t comfort me. When you lose a loved one that you’re close to, it almost feels like you lose part of yourself as well.

These words should be very encouraging and comforting to us, but they’re not because our focus isn’t fully on eternity but on the temporary. We don’t know how short this life is. We don’t realize that these few days on this earth without those loved ones who’ve gone on ahead of us will feel like a blink of an eye compared to the joyous eternity we will spend with them.

Dear LORD, please help me to focus my eyes on the joy of eternity instead of the grief that tries to consume me. Please fill me with Your everlasting peace and love. Please comfort us and teach us to encourage ourselves in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Avoid The Perverse

⁶You are not to come near any close relative for sexual intercourse; I am the Lord. ⁷You are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to your father and mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual intercourse with her. ~ Leviticus 18:6-7

Have you ever read the book of Leviticus and just thought to yourself, “Why did God even need to address this? This is just common sense.” That’s how I felt about these verses, and then I felt like God brought to my mind the warnings on bleach bottles and other poisonous liquids. These are common-sense rules, but there are always those who will misuse the product and then try to sue the company for their own idiocy. The same is true with the Law.

God gave us laws and commands not because we’re stupid or lack common sense but because the more we give into darkness, the more our vision is perverted, and the more we give into our own fleshly desires. Imagine if God didn’t give us any commands or laws but expected us to follow them. On Judgment Day, would we not be able to say, “But I didn’t know it was a sin.” Therefore, the LORD addresses the black-and-white areas plainly and clearly so that there’s no room for grey to appear.

So, what are we to do? We get rid of grey, and we stick to the original outline. We don’t give into our flesh, but we crucify it. We don’t quench the Spirit; we feed it. We don’t blur the lines between right and wrong; we call sin sin. We stop making excuses for our sin, and we strive for holiness.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Avoid The Perverse.

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Do More Than Pronounce

⁴⁰ If a man loses the hair of his head, he is bald, but he is clean. ⁴¹ Or if he loses the hair at his hairline, he is bald on his forehead, but he is clean. ⁴² But if there is a reddish-white condition on the bald head or forehead, it is a serious skin disease breaking out on his head or forehead. ⁴³ The priest is to examine him, and if the swelling of the condition on his bald head or forehead is reddish-white, like the appearance of a serious skin disease on his body, ⁴⁴ the man is afflicted with a serious skin disease; he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean; the infection is on his head. ⁴⁵ The person who has a case of serious skin disease is to have his clothes torn and his hair hanging loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ ⁴⁶ He will remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp. ~ Leviticus 13:40-46^CSB

The Levitical priests were given the task of not just being the moral authority of the people of Israel but also the doctors of Israel as well. Today, we, the Church, are to be like the Levitical Priests, but oftentimes, we fall short. How?

The majority of us aren’t a moral compass for anyone. The majority of us believe that we’re not called to judge, which is both wrong and right at the same time. See, we’re not called to pronounce a blasphemous judgment or condemn those in the world, but we are called to judge between right and wrong. We are called to judge the actions of all people in order to know whether or not they are of Christ or the Devil.

The few of us that still call sin sin and judge between right and wrong may save a soul, but we don’t disciple that soul. We move on to the next person to save. We leave these new Christians as infants, expecting them to feed and teach themselves, then are shocked and disappointed when they fall back into sin.

This is because we didn’t take the time to disciple them. The Levitical priests had to not only check to see if they were clean or unclean, but they also had to do a follow-up examination. They had to make sure that person left clean, or they’d be unclean and remain outside the camp. When we disciple someone, we’re looking for fruit that lines up with the Spirit. If we don’t see that fruit beginning to sprout, then we know that we can’t send them on their own way and move on to another person.

We’re to disciple people until we can confidently send them out to create new disciples. We’re not to just save souls, we’re to plant seeds and water them. We’re not to just pronounce someone unclean and leave them be. We’re to pronounce them unclean and then help them become clean by the precious blood of Jesus and the renewing of the mind through the Holy Spirit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do More Than Pronounce.

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The Levitical Purpose

¹⁰ You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean, ¹¹ and teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given to them through Moses. ~ Leviticus 10:10-11^CSB

The LORD was speaking to the Levites. They were the moral authority of Israel because it was them who went before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites. It was the Levites that were the priests and high priests of God. This is why the LORD told them they had to be able to distinguish between the holy and the common. The clean and unclean. Today, the Church represents the Levites to the world.

We are supposed to be the light of the world because Christ now dwells in us and lives through us, yet we struggle with discerning good and evil. We call evil good, and good we call evil. We make sin normal, and we endorse it in our churches and on social media. We are to guide the world out of darkness to the Light of the LORD, but instead, we’ve become like the Pharisees. Like blind guides leading the blind straight into the pit.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for not being a light in this dark world. Please forgive me for all the times I’ve endorsed sin and blurred the lines between good and evil. Please soften my heart to the things of You and renew a right spirit within me. Teach me Your ways so that I might lead others to You. Let Your Light shine in me and through me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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God’s Valentine

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. ² Give thanks to the God of gods, for His steadfast love endures forever. ³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His steadfast love endures forever; ~ Psalms 136:1-3

Twenty-three more times, this phrase, “for His Steadfast love endures forever,” is repeated twenty-six times in total. Doubtless to say, we are God’s valentine. We are His most loved and prized possession, and He wants us to know. We are the very apple of His eye. There is no sidestepping it or no getting around it. We are God’s valentine. It is hard to believe that an Almighty, All-Powerful, All-Knowing God and Creator can look at us and say, I love you this much, and then hold out His hands to us, revealing the nail prints in the palm of His hands.

Yes, we mean that much to God to send His beloved Son to die for us. Yes, we mean that much to Jesus for Him to come down to this old dusty earth to endure heat and cold. Sweat and sorrow. Pain and rejection. To know what it is like to be thirsty and hungry. To be mocked and ridiculed. To know what it is like to be weary and tired. Then to be punched and slapped and spat upon, and then to know what it is like to be whipped within inches of His life. And finally, to know what it is like to be crucified and to die. For what? For His dearly beloved bride, the Church.

Yes, it is true, God the Father loves us, and Jesus the Son loves us, and they gave us their Holy Spirit as a seal of adoption. No greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. Jesus is our friend, He is our God and our Savior, but He is our friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, that You would send Your Son to die for me. Thank You, Jesus, for being obedient and coming to die for me. I can never repay You, but I will always love You. Thank You again for all You have done, and are now doing, and will ever do for me; in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Genuine Love

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. ~ Romans 12:9-13

Let love be genuine, not only during this week that we call ‘The Love Week,’ but let genuine love shine through your words and your actions. Genuine love can be spotted. It can be felt or sensed. It can be tasted. It beckons you, calls you from far distances. It has a specific smell, the smell of life, a fragrance of grace.

When you walk in genuine love and talk with love, evil will become abhorrent to you, and doing good will become second nature. One way of doing that is to be the first to show honor to your brother or to your sister. Not in a half-hearted way, but in genuineness of heart. Genuine love does not hold back its affections. It does not resist the need to pay a compliment when a compliment is due. Honor one another in genuine love.

Do not be fake; believe me, folks can spot an impostor because it carries all of the opposite attributes that genuine love portrays. Genuine love builds up and never divides. Therefore, we love people, for by doing so, we show that we love God.

If you love one another, you show love to God. If you are zealous for one another, you show zeal for the LORD. Love will Rejoice in hope; it will be patient in tribulation, and it will remain constant in prayer. For who ever stopped praying for someone they genuinely love? Or who will withhold the needs of someone that they genuinely love? The answer is no one. So, be obedient children of God, and love one another; thus, you will spread the fragrance of life eternal through Jesus Christ our LORD.

Heavenly Father, help me to be genuine in love and to honor those who, by their own love for the saints, demand honor. Help me to never let love become insincere or lackadaisical but to always show genuine love. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Tag: Devotionals

Beware The Unquenchable Flame

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