Devotionals Archives

January 23, 2024January 23, 2024

Never Quench Hope

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. ~ Isaiah 55:8^CSB

I remember a little while back; I was having a conversation with someone about the current state of the US. He saw no hope for our country. My response was that so many people have woken up in the last 3 or 4 years that probably would’ve never woken up if it had never happened. His response was, “So?” I could hardly believe it. I was in shock. This wasn’t a nonbeliever. This was a Church-going man trying to lead his family in the way of the LORD. Sadly, this is the temperature of the Church.

Many of us want a revolution. We want the Messiah to break that eastern sky and bring justice to the earth. We want the justice system fixed and evil put in its place, but we really don’t wanna pray for it. We don’t really wanna fast to see it happen. And if we don’t see it happen the way that we want it to go, then we refuse to rejoice in the hope that God gives us. If we’re not careful, we’ll find ourselves in the same boat as the men and women of Jesus’ day and age.

They had the Messiah there with them. God in flesh and bone walked and talked with them, teaching and healing them, but because He didn’t come the way they wanted or bring the kind of deliverance they wanted, they turned their backs on Him. They even went as far as to order His execution at the hands of the Romans.

If we want change and a move of God in our lives and in our nation, we have to pray and fast for a move. Then we have to trust and believe God that the move He makes is for our good and not our evil. That no matter how He sees best to intervene, we will accept it in faith because His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He knows the beginning and the end. He alone can dictate what is best for His people. So, when you look out into the world and see the evil, fast and pray, then stand in faith on promises of God, always rejoicing in each eye opened and every heart changed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Never Quench Hope.

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The Tongue’s Power

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. ~ Proverbs 18:21

The tongue has the power to speak life or to speak death. That’s a very frightening thought, if you think about it, that our tongues hold that much power. I want you to stop and think about what I just said for just a moment. Our words are life, and they are death, and people throw words around as if they count for very little or for nothing.

People will let words like:

I will never succeed
I can’t do anything right
I will never make friends
I am a born loser
I will never get over this sickness
This is killing me

Just roll off their tongue as if it was water on a duck’s back, so to speak, without us even thinking about it. Listen, you don’t have to know it in order to speak it into being.

Words are alive because they are breath, which is spirit. Therefore, words will never die. That’s why the words of our prayers can come up before God as a memorial years after they have been spoken.

That’s also why the prayers of:

The saints long dead
Grandmothers
Grandfathers
Parents
Holy men and women of God

Will come to pass eventually because they are words that were spoken.

On the flip side, that is the same reason why curses, also known as generational curses, can plague generation after generation after generation because words have the power of life or death, and if they are life or death, that means they do not die, but they can be canceled.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for every careless word I’ve spoken about myself or other people. Please cancel each and every curse I’ve spoken, whether out of anger or idle talk, in the mighty name of Jesus. Please let life be the words I speak out of my mouth instead of death. Let my words be holy and pleasing to You, LORD God. Bridle my tongue. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Transformed

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ~ Romans 12:2

When you are born again, that is, when you first accept Jesus as LORD and Savior of your life and become a Christian or a Christ-follower, you don’t automatically know the will of God. The will of God is not somehow automatically downloaded. It must be developed.

The word “test” is a verb meaning to try so as to certify or to make certain of the genuine, trustworthy will of God. The same word can be used for a person who is said to have been tested in battle. So, why is it necessary to renew your mind?

Well, the easy answer is so that you can be transformed. But what does that mean, to be transformed? It simply means not to let yourself be forced into the mold of society’s ever-changing standards, values, and morals.

In short, Paul is saying, “Do not let society shape your behavior or your way of thinking.” Society, or culture has a way of pressuring its populace into validating its morals and ethics by forcing them to accept in their minds and confirm with their actions society’s version of right and wrong.

Dear LORD, please transform me by renewing my mind. Give me the strength to cast down thoughts that aren’t of You. Fill me with discernment so that I might know the Truth. That I might easily differentiate between right and wrong. Open my eyes so that I might see the Truth, even when the world tries to hide it from me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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The Keyboard Warrior

³⁵And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” ~ Matthew 9:35-38

I recently posted a short that collected over 3,000 views. To say the least, I was ecstatic, but the more views I got, the more comments I received that were filled with insults, digs, and hatred simply because my views differed from theirs. The more I read, the more my heart began to break, not because my feelings were hurt or because I was offended by their comments but because they are people claiming Christianity. That means that they are supposed to represent Christ to the world.

Imagine if I was an unbeliever and this was me digging into the Bible for the first time; I would be completely turned off by Christianity because of these people. The internet has allowed us to feel comfortable insulting, mocking, and hating others. We don’t think twice before we spew hatred in the comment section while still arrogantly saying that we are Christians.

Imagine how many souls they come in contact with every single day and how many of those souls they’ve turned away from Christianity because of the bad fruit that they bear. The more I think about it, the more my heart aches. There’s a reason the laborers are few. It’s not because there aren’t enough people who know about Christ; it’s because there aren’t enough people who know Christ.

Here’s what I mean. It’s not because people don’t know about Christ that the laborers are few; it’s because our hearts are so cold that we don’t love enough to labor in the fields. We know who Christ is. We know His name. His book, but we don’t know Him. We know things about Him, but we don’t have a relationship with Him.

Christ then goes on to admonish us to pray that the Father will send laborers. He’s not saying praying that more souls will hear about Christ, but that laborers will come. Yes, we’re praying for those who have never heard, but we’re also especially praying for those who have heard and accepted but haven’t changed. Those who are still filled with hatred. Those who refuse to accept correction or guidance. Those who cherry-pick. Those who know of Him but have yet to pick up their cross and follow Him.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I didn’t share Your love with people. For all of the times that I was a poor witness for You. Please, LORD, have mercy on Your Church and begin to open the spiritually blind eyes. Melt the cold hearts of those who represent Christ to others. Raise up a standard in all of Your Church that we might not turn others away because of our hatred and mockery, but that they would know You are God because of our love and our good works. Fill your field with laborers, LORD God, so that souls might be harvested. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Combat With Humility

⁶ But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. ~ James 4:6^CSB

Shame enters us when we dwell in sin and are conscious of it. To combat this shame ourselves, we become prideful. We try to justify our own sin and force others to accept and affirm it as well. If anyone protests or disagrees, that shame (fueled by pride) comes to the surface and gives birth to anger.

Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.

Uncle Iroh

Only when we humble ourselves before the LORD will our sins be washed clean and the power of shame broken within us. Pride gives shame its power, but humility uproots shame and destroys it. Shame cannot stand when we dwell in the perfect love of God that can only be accessed through humbling ourselves before our God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Combat With Humility.

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Don’t Water And Nurture

⁶ Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. ⁷ After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” ~ Genesis 39:6b-7^CSB

Potiphar’s wife wasn’t filled with lust for Joseph from the moment that she saw him. No. After looking at him longingly for some time, lust overtook her. She didn’t just entertain the thought of being with Joseph; she began to fantasize about it. She began to look for opportunities to bring this fantasy into reality. The Devil planted the seed of lust with one idea, and she watered it and nurtured it until it grew into a full-blown tree. Soon, she couldn’t take it anymore, so she approached Joseph.

If we want to overcome any sin, it starts with controlling our thoughts. It starts with not allowing Satan to plant a single seed of evil but immediately casting down the thought. We have to take control of what thoughts we allow and don’t allow into our minds. We have to fight the good fight starting in the war zone of our minds, for that’s where we will either fail or prevail.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I gave into wicked thoughts and allowed the enemy to plant seeds of lust, envy, pride, anger, bitterness, etc., into my mind. Please help me to guard my thoughts and uproot any thoughts that aren’t of you. Teach me to fight the good fight for you, LORD God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Uproot And Destroy

³ When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful, ⁴ Joseph found favor with his master and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority. ~ Genesis 39:3-4^CSB

Joseph was sold as a slave by his own brothers to Ishmaelite traders. They went on to sell him to Potiphar, an Egyptian. Joseph could have easily been bitter and refused to work. We would have understood. His own flesh and blood, his big brothers who were supposed to protect him and love him, sold him into slavery. He could’ve mumbled and grumbled at God for allowing this to happen to him when all he did was share the dreams God had given him with his brothers. Joseph didn’t do that, though.

There’s no account of Joseph lashing out at his brothers for selling him or to God for allowing it to happen. There’s no account of Joseph being bitter and allowing it to stop him from achieving whatever he set out to do. Because of this, the LORD blessed all that Joseph did. God’s hand on Joseph was so noticeable that Potiphar promoted Joseph from lowly slave to his personal assistant, putting him in charge of everything he owned, including his home.

The Devil will try to use people closest to us to try to break us down. He’ll have older siblings that you look up to and just want approval from to discourage you and break you down with their words. He’ll use a parent’s busy schedule or misunderstanding of a situation to break you down. All of this with the hope that a root of bitterness will rise up in you and keep you from fulfilling your destiny.

But here’s the thing, only you can stop your destiny from coming to fruition. No one else. So, take a page out of Joseph’s book and keep your trust in the God who sees you. The God who is with you always. If you continue on and refuse to let bitterness build up in you, then the LORD will bless you regardless of what land you’re currently in.

Dear LORD, please teach me not to grow the root of bitterness within me. Help me to uproot and destroy any tree of bitterness that has already made its way into my heart. Help me to forgive those that I feel have wronged me. Help me to let go of past hurts and pains. Teach me to move forward and cling to Your promises and good plans for me above all else. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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One Hour

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” ³⁹And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ⁴¹Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴²Again, for the second time, He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. ⁴⁵Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” ~ (Matthew 26:36-46)

Have you ever been woken up earlier than usual and gotten the feeling that maybe you should pray, but slumber is pulling you back, so you shake off the feeling and give into a few more hours of precious sleep? That’s how I’ve felt these last couple of days, especially, but this morning something changed. Right after I got this feeling, a thought entered my mind:

Arie, what are you going to do when you stand before me, and I ask you why you never prayed when I woke you up?

To say the least, I woke up immediately and started praying. What a frightful thought to stand before the LORD God and have fallen short. No, we’re never going to reach perfection on this earth, but there are things that many of us don’t do that we can do. The majority of us, myself included, struggle with praying for more than 30 minutes straight when Jesus made 1 hour the minimum. Many of us struggle with reading our Bible every day or setting and sticking to a time to worship every day.

These are some of the bare minimum that Christ is asking of us. He gave us everything and still pours out blessings upon blessings, some of which we don’t even realize He’s given us, yet we struggle to give Him an hour of our time a day. Why He loves us so, I’ll never know, but thank the LORD that He does.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the times I’ve given You less than my best. I’m sorry for all the times I chose something else over You. Please forgive me for each time I’ve fallen short of Your bare minimum requirement of me. Please help me to crucify my flesh every day and to feed and nourish my spirit-man so that I might be able to give You more than just the bare minimum, but my absolute best. Thank You for never giving up on me, and for giving me chance after chance after chance, especially when I don’t deserve it. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Not Another Thought

³⁴ Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright. ~ Genesis 25:34^CSB

Esau came in from these fields, and he was famished. Jacob was cooking down a nice-smelling lentil stew. Feeling his belly growl, Esau went over to ask for a bowl, but Jacob said not until you sell me your birthright. Esau replied, “What good is a birthright to when I’m about to die from starvation.” Jacob said swear to me, and Esau did.

Now look at what the text says, “He ate, drank, got up, and went away.” He got up and went away. Never giving another thought to his birthright nor to the consequences of his decision. Because he sold his birthright so cheaply, without a thought or regret, because he held so little value for his birthright, so he was considered to have despised what was rightfully his. Then, when it came to the blessing, he sought it with tears, but to no avail.

The same is true of our birthright, the new birth, the one Jesus purchased with His own blood. When we despise salvation by our words, our actions, or even in our thoughts, we despise our birthright.

One day soon, Jesus is coming back to get us, and if we are found to have despised our birthright, although we seek it with tears, it will be too late. The time is now, the opportunity is here for us to be like Jacob, who saw the value of the birthright and sought it with all his heart, and he received both the birthright and the blessing.

Dear Heavenly Father, I humble myself before You to receive all that You have for me. Help me never to despise my birthright, nor snub my blessings, nor downplay Your importance in my life. Please forgive me for all the times that I did, consciously and subconsciously. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Be Silent, But Pray

⁷ Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get an insult in return. Anyone who corrects the wicked will get hurt. ⁸ So don’t bother correcting mockers; they will only hate you. But correct the wise, and they will love you. ⁹ Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more. ~ Proverbs 9:7-9^NLT

Having a predominately online Church, I’ve had to learn this teaching the hard way. See, when we first started, I would respond to everyone who commented because I didn’t want to be rude. It quickly became apparent that there are some people you shouldn’t respond to. Sometimes, it’s still hard to see who to and who not to respond to.

They’ll start off nice, the conversation is pleasant, and then as soon as you point out the flaw in their beliefs, they become rude, insulting, demeaning, and aggressive. They’ll then accuse you of all of the things they’ve done. Why? Pride.

There’s a proverb that states that there’s more hope for a fool (one who says in his heart there is no God) than for one who is wise in his own mind. What a frightening verse.

Pride will cause you to lash out when confronted and corrected. It’ll cause you to insult instead of defending your own beliefs. It’ll cause you to accuse others of attacking you when all they’ve done is show you your errors. Pride is one of the biggest separators between God and man because pride won’t allow correction to help you grow and fix flaws within yourself and your own beliefs.

Here’s what I’ve learned over the years. If you want to see a change in a prideful person, you don’t respond to them. You pray for them. You lift their name before the LORD daily as you pray against the Spirit of Pride holding them captive. No amount of true statements or verses will open the eyes of the prideful. Only the fervent righteous prayers can get the attention of God to intervene in their life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Silent, But Pray.

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