Tag: Devotionals

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Spread True Love

8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ~ 1 John 4:8CSB

I remember having a conversation with someone, and they argued that we can hate people because of their sin. They even tried to explain that God hates them, too. When I explained God is love, they laughed in my face and told me that that was a Catholic teaching. In this world, we have two main types of people: those who believe God loves them so He’ll overlook their sin and those who believe God hates anyone and everyone who sins. Here’s the thing. Neither of these statements are true.

For God showed His love for us before we could even receive salvation while we were still His enemies. For God so loved the world that He gave… it’s not “for God so loved the righteous,” but the world. The world is all the souls of mankind. The world is those who rejected Him and crucified Him. We are the world; that is why He called us out of the world so that we might be saved.

God is love. And love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing, but only in Truth. Love is loving the sinner and hating the sin. Love is praying for your enemies and blessing those who curse you. Love is turning the other cheek. Love is God, and God is love. It’s only in His perfect love that we are safe and redeemed from our sin and our past.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Spread True Love.

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Love Is Not A Fight

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. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ~ Ephesians 5:25-28

As Warren Barfield put it, love is not a fight, but it’s certainly worth fighting for. I saw this on some social media the other day. It said:

I messaged my father-in-law today, and said:
“You need to come get your daughter, she’s driving me nuts.”
Him: “Package is opened, seal is broken, item is used, warranty is expired. Sorry, that’s not a manufacturer’s problem.

And so, it isn’t. It’s your problem, husband. For you are the one that is instructed to love your wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for the Church.

You likewise must give yourself for your bride. You must meet her every need. The need to feel safe. The need to tell you all about her day and to hear about your day. The need for a protector.

And you wives, you aren’t without responsibility. You, too, must find your husband’s love language and speak it fluently and speak it often. Remember, you are your husband’s number-one cheerleader. Find one good thing he does and talk about it for a while.

It’s not stroking his ego; it’s stoking the flames of love that will burn bright in your marriage. A flame so huge it would take the rains of a category 5 hurricane and the winds of an EF5 tornado to put it out, and even then, it will still burn bright.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love Is Not A Fight.

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Called By The Name of The LORD

5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” ~ Isaiah 43:5-7NIV

24 Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce? 25 But this is what the LORD says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. ~ Isaiah 49:24-25NIV

Wow! What a promise. This is a Last Days prophecy to Israel, but take a look at verse 7. God extended it to:

Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

Isaiah 43:7

Are you called by God’s Name? Then this promise includes you and your children. We are living in the last days right now. The days just before the great day of Jesus’ return to get His Bride. We don’t have a whole lot of time left to be playing around with salvation. The clock is ticking, and the door will soon slam shut. We need to get our loved ones in, and God has given us a great and mighty promise. He said that no matter where our children have gone if we will only pray and believe and witness to our children and plant those seeds, the Holy Spirit will water, and God will give the increase.

It may seem like the fierce has captured your children, and the dreaded warriors have taken them as plunder, but God said that the captives will be taken from the warriors, and the plunder from the fierce. What has your loved ones held captive? Is it the pursuit of fame? Or the great desire for wealth? Is it apathy? Maybe some sexual deviant immorality has them bound. The captives will be taken from the warriors, and the plunder will be retrieved from the fierce. So do not fear, but believe God, for His promises will never fail.

Are you believing for the salvation of a wayward son? Are you believing for the restoration of a daughter? It doesn’t matter how far they’ve gone, the promise says “To the ends of the earth.” They can’t go that far as to get away from the love of God. They can’t have done as much as to be beyond saving. This is your promise today. So, get a hold of it, claim it, believe it, keep on praying and trusting, the promise is yours.

(As you pray the prayer, insert the name of your loved one).

Father, please bring Your strong conviction on _____ wherever they may be at this moment. Let _____ feel Your love and our love around them. Open _____ spiritual eyes. Let a strong burning desire to reach out right now overtake them. Let a feeling that cannot be ignored or pushed aside overwhelm them. I believe it is Your will that ______ be saved. Let the Blood of Jesus not be poured out for no reason for _____, but let Your light and salvation shine in the heart of _____ right now. Thank You, Father, for saving ____. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for convicting _____. I believe that the same power that raised Jesus from the grave will also raise _____ to spiritual life. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

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Cast Down

3 For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:3-5CSB

Lately, my biggest battle has been trying to cast down every thought that enters my mind that isn’t of God. I used to think that if you truly lay something down at the feet of Jesus, then you’ll no longer think about it. If you’re truly over it, those thoughts won’t enter your mind, but then I realized that there’s a difference between me dwelling on the past and the enemy shooting darts full of past memories into your mind.

See, it’s when we dwell on the pain and hurt of the past that we hold on to our own burdens instead of giving them to Christ. But when the thought pops into our mind randomly, and we cast it down, that’s no longer our flesh. That’s the enemy trying to force you to pick back up the baggage that we left at the feet of Jesus.

So what do we do? We continue to cast down every thought that isn’t of God. Why? Because we have this promise from the LORD:

7 Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7CSB

If we resist the Devil and cast down those tempting thoughts that he throws at us, he must flee, and we will overcome through Christ Jesus. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen if we are faithful to the LORD and submit our hearts, minds, and souls to Him.

So, don’t be discouraged by the attacks of the enemy. Fight until you see victory. Cast down evil thoughts and replace them with good thoughts. Replace pain and hurt with love and forgiveness. Replace anxiety with peace. Overcome evil with good.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cast Down.

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Watch How You Charge

9b …if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ~ Romans 10:9

Words aren’t empty. Every time we speak, we’re charging the air. Our words are either life or death. With our words, we confess and receive our forgiveness. With our words, we pray and draw close to the LORD. Words are the most versatile armament known to man. For with it:

  • We can bless or curse
  • We can build up or tear down
  • We can create or destroy
  • We can heal or kill
  • We can encourage or discourage

Therefore, we must be very careful how we wield our weapon of words because we can wield that same weapon against ourselves. This is why we watch our thoughts. This is why we bite our tongues. This is why we lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus so that when we speak, it’s only life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch How You Charge.

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Go Outside The Camp

10 We have an altar from which those who worship at the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people by his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing his disgrace. 14 For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come. ~ Hebrews 13:10-14CSB

Every right we have was paid for us by Christ Jesus. He went before and made a way for us. He did this by first being crucified outside the camp. What does that mean? Well, we can look at the camp as the world. The world is like the soul of the earth, and it’s bound to the number of days the earth has left until it will no longer be found on Judgment Day (Revelation 20:11). Jesus was crucified outside of the world. We have many rights because of this, but two main ones are that:

  1. We are no longer a part of the world but called out of the world ( John 15:19).
  2. We can be saved regardless of the time period in which we are born (John 20:29).

If Christ were crucified in the world, He would not have been able to call others out of the world. Christ had to be crucified out of the world in order to ensure each and every person who has ever lived had the opportunity to either accept His salvation or decline it.

Everything God does is for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Therefore, we must go outside the camp, outside the world we currently live in, in order to find the God who loves us and created us. The world may offer us shiny objects, but what Christ is offering is eternal. One day, the world will no longer be here, but there will never be a time when Christ is not here. He is the first, the last; the beginning, the end; the Alpha, the Omega. He is our Eternal, Everlasting God. Nothing on this earth can truly give us a replacement for what He’s offering; it’s all just a cheap knockoff.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Go Outside The Camp.

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Consult God First

14 So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. ~ Joshua 9:14

The people of Israel had just entered their Promised Land. The Gibeonites heard all about what Joshua and his army were doing to the other cities in the land, and they were afraid. So, they came deceptively and tricked the elders of Israel. They showed them worn-out clothes and shoes, stale bread, and worn-out wineskins and told them they had come from a very distant country.

The elders believed what they heard, confirmed by what they saw, and they made a peace treaty with them. They gave those men their word without input from God. Three days later, they heard that those same men had tricked them and that they were actually their neighbors.

Now that these elders had given them their word, they could not break it because they swore it before God.

The key, or the problem, rather, was that the elders did not consult God about the matter.

Christians today make the same mistake. They make alliances with people they should not make alliances with. They go to places they should not be at. They accept favors from their enemy without even knowing it. Because they make these decisions with their flesh. They sample the wares. They look with their own eyes and listen with their own ears, but they don’t consult the LORD their God.

Spiritual laziness and prayerlessness have become the downfall of today’s Church. The Christian thinks with their flesh, driven by their greed and desire. It is like Jesus said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan, for you do not have the things of God in mind, but the things of man.

So, the next time you have a decision to make, consult God. Before you forge unauthorized relationships, consult God. Before you fall for the biggest lie of the century, consult God.

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Don’t Be The One Hit

12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” ~ Matthew 15:12

Have you ever heard the maxim, “Throw a stone in the pigpen, and the one that squeals is the one the stone hit?” When you speak truth, and someone is offended, that means that the person offended knows that they aren’t living their lives in accordance with the Word of God. If you tell someone that you disagree with a certain action or lifestyle and they are offended, then they, in some way, are connected to that action or lifestyle, and they know deep down that you are right.

The only reason someone is offended is if they are the one who was hit by the stone that was thrown. You may say, oh, but brother Kenny, maybe they are sympathetic to the cause. If you identify with the cause, you are a partaker in the cause; thus, you suffer or celebrate as the cause suffers or celebrates. Which means, “You’re one with the cause; the cause is with you.”

Truth should never offend; it should only set free. Facts should never offend; they should only educate. If you are an easily offended person, then you should examine yourself and ask yourself why you’re offended so easily. Is it because you have a spirit of rejection? Is it because you’re prideful? Is it because you’re living in sin, and you know that it’s wrong?

The Truth can only stop being offensive when you accept it, believe it, and let it set you free.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Be The One Hit.

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What’s In Your Heart?

17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. ~ Matthew 15:17-20

The mouth only speaks what is in the heart. In other words, whatever is in abundance in the heart, that is what the mouth cannot help but speak. Why? Because it is the most dominant, making it the most influential.

Ever heard the saying, “The squeaky wheel gets the most grease?”

Whatever the heart is full of will spill out of it and into the mouth and consequently be expressed in words.

Therefore, if your heart is full of

  • Hatred
  • And anger
  • And slander
  • And accusations
  • And talebearing
  • And gossip

That is what the mouth speaks because the mouth speaks only what it hears coming from the heart, and what it hears, it repeats. So, if you want to know what is in a person’s heart, listen to their words. Not only what they say but what they do not say.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and What’s In Your Heart?

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Be Careful What You Say

11 The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. ~ Proverbs 10:11NKJV

Because of the words spoken by the righteous, there is life, a well of life. But the words of the wicked are not the same. Violence seeps in, and violence covers the mouths of wicked men.

We are to put away filthy talk from amongst ourselves when we are Christians because words defile us. It is not what goes into the mouth but what comes out of the mouth that defiles us, according to Jesus (Matthew 15:11).

Words bring life, or they bring death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Whether good or bad, whether healthy or harmful, you will eat the fruits that you cultivate with your words.

There is wisdom in the words of the childhood song, “Oh Be Careful Little Mouth.”

Oh, be careful, little mouth, what you say,
Oh, be careful, little mouth, what you say.
There’s a Father up above looking down in tender love,
So, be careful, little mouth, what you say.

Truly our words hold the power of life and death because in them is the power to create or to teardown.

The very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible states that God spoke everything into being. It says that God said, “Let there be light, and light was.” It didn’t hesitate, and it didn’t stop being. And so it continued on for the next five days; God said, “Let there be, and there was.”

God’s words are creative; how can we, His children, the Bride of the Lamb, speak any different? We must speak words of life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Careful What You Say.

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