Devotionals Archives

January 13, 2024January 10, 2024

Reteach

¹ In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you. ~ Philippians 3:1^CSB

Paul wrote many letters throughout his lifetime. He taught and retaught and retaught until those receiving the teaching finally got it. He didn’t get annoyed when they forgot one of his teachings. He didn’t get frustrated when they came with the same faulty argument trying to disprove him. No, Paul said it was no trouble to him to re-explain this to them, and it was a safeguard for them.

You ever open the Bible, and a verse come up that you read, and you’re like, “Yepp, this is for me?” That’s how I felt when I read this verse. See, I have friends and family members who come with the same old arguments every so often to prove a case that isn’t Biblical. We go over why the verses aren’t proving their point. We go over more verses proving their point to be wrong. We come to an agreement, and then a month or so later, they’re back again with the same argument we dismantled.

For me, it can become frustrating. I don’t understand why you would want to push a narrative that was false just so that you can satisfy your own thoughts and opinions. To me, that just doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to be right in my own mind that badly, but that’s where love should come in. See, if I moved in more love, I wouldn’t find it tedious to repeat myself. I wouldn’t find it frustrating to re-explain. Love is the only mandatory fruit to bear because it’s the only fruit the world sees to identify us as followers of Christ.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I acted without love. Please remove my heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I might bear the fruit of love. So that I might shine Your light through me into the darkness. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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God Is For You

²⁰ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:20^NIV

All of God’s promises are yea and amen. Not one of His good promises has ever failed or will ever fail. God does not say yes now and no later. This is good news. The LORD promises to be a shield and a protection to you and your family.

He will give you insight and guard your way. He will rebuke the devourer on your behalf. If you’re going through a storm in your life, He will either break it up and bring a calm and a peace, or He will shield you and protect you as you go through the storm. Either way, God is your shield and your protection. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

God gives us personal promises that are sometimes long in coming. Don’t lose heart because of the length of time your promise is taking to come to pass. God has not forgotten you. He has not forgotten His promise to you. He will defend you, and He will defend your promise and bring it to pass in due season if you do not lose heart or turn back.

So, rejoice God is for you and not against you.

Father, thank You for Your great mercy. For Your protection and for calming the storm on my behalf. Thank you for You have not forgotten me, nor have You forsaken me. I will trust in You and place all of my hope in Your Son, Jesus Christ. For it is in His name, I pray, amen.

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The Bigger Person

²¹You have heard that it was said to those of old, ’You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²²But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. ²³So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. ~ Matthew 5:21-24

Jesus is taking the Rabbinic teaching to the next level. It was okay to do certain things under the Old Covenant, but Jesus holds His Church to a higher standard.

Now, under our New Covenant, it’s all about grace. It’s all about mercy. It’s all about forgiveness. Our words are seasoned with salt. We don’t let any old thing come out of our mouths. We don’t live any old way.

Matter of fact, look at what Jesus said in verse 23. He said if you’re at the altar offering a gift to the LORD and the Holy Spirit brings to your memory that a brother has something against you. Now, mind you, it’s not if you have something against him or her; no, it’s if they have something against you. If you’re in prayer and conviction hits you, it doesn’t have to be your fault, but it’s your responsibility for reconciliation. Don’t leave matters like that not reconciled. Be the bigger person because you are a child of the King.

Father, help me to be a peacemaker and to understand that I have the ministry of reconciliation. I will not let the sun go down on my anger, nor will I let someone else stew over a misunderstanding, even if it was not my fault. In Jesus’s name, I pray, amen.

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Finish The Race

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. ³And the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ⁵Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” ⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to Him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” ¹¹Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him. ~ Matthew 4:1-11

The Devil tempted Jesus with three temptations. The first two Satan attacked Jesus’ identity, but not the last one. Satan had been overcome twice. He couldn’t trip Jesus up into doubting who He was. He couldn’t get Him to be confused with His identity, so he went after His call. This is the same with us today.

If Satan can’t separate you from God through an identity crisis, then he’ll try to separate you by halting your call. Christ tells us that not all will be saved, but only those who do the will of the Father in Heaven (Matthew 7:21). Many of us are confident in who we are in Christ, but we aren’t bearing fruit, we aren’t interceding, we aren’t witnessing, we aren’t working. Many of us don’t even know what our call is. This isn’t an “NBD (No Big Deal) Moment.” This is a big deal. It’s only those who fulfill the call that are welcomed into Everlasting Peace.

Paul said he fought the good fight, kept the faith, and finished the race (2 Timothy 4:7). He didn’t just fight a good fight. He didn’t just keep the faith. He also finished the race. He fulfilled the call.

We are all called for a specific purpose. None of us are created for no reason. All of us have a call given to us from the Father above. If you don’t know what your call is, earnestly seek God, and He will show you His plan for your life. You don’t have to guess with God; He will open the eyes of any willing heart.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Finish The Race.

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The Path of Fear

⁸The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory. ¹⁰The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. ~ Revelation 16:8-11

After the Tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ, those who took the Mark of the Beast and worshipped its image had to endure seven bowls filled with the wrath of God. The bowls were plagues poured out on them. Instead of looking up to God and pleading for mercy, they refused to repent, even going as far as to curse Him. John tells us that during this time, they could even see into Heaven and see God seated on His throne because the sky was rolled up like a scroll (Revelation 6:12-17). So, why didn’t they repent? Why, instead, did they curse God? Fear.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Yoda

John, in his letters, explained that fear has to do with punishment, and perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18-21). Their fear of God and His wrath led to anger because they didn’t dwell in the perfect love of God. They had no chance against their punishment; they couldn’t stop the plagues. They couldn’t do anything to combat His wrath. Their fear led to anger, their anger led to hate, and their hate led to more suffering. They didn’t repent, and more bowls were poured out on them.

God always gives us a chance to repent. He never takes hope away from us because He is the source of hope. One day, Jesus is going to break that Eastern Sky to return for His people. On that day, fear will take over the hearts of those who are left. Their hearts will harden just as Pharaoh’s heart did so many years ago, hate will take over them, and history will once again repeat itself. Don’t put off your salvation; tomorrow may never come. Today is the day of salvation. Accept Christ while you still can and cling to His promises. Let Him transform you in His perfect love so that you might escape the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Avoid The Path of Fear.

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The Righteous Soul

⁷and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked ⁸(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); ~ 2 Peter 2:7-8

Lot lived in the land of Sodom, a city so wicked that the cries against it rose to God and forced Him to come down to see if the cries were true (Genesis 18:20-21). Lot didn’t just dwell in the land silently overlooking their great sins. No. When Lot saw wickedness take place, he spoke out against it and corrected them, even though they threatened evil against him (Genesis 19:1-11). It tormented his soul, but he didn’t let it corrupt him.

Abraham asked God if He would spare the city for the sake of ten righteous men, but they were not found (Genesis 18:22-33). Instead, only one righteous man was found in the entire city, so the LORD only saved that one righteous man and his family (Genesis 19:12-29). We are living in a world that doesn’t rejoice in Truth but in evil. Every day, the world embraces the kingdom of darkness more and more, and the Church, instead of being the light and spreading Truth, we give into the darkness and dim the Light within us.

If we want to be saved from the Wrath of God as Lot was, we have to act as Lot did. We have to speak Truth and act righteously, regardless of how the world may react. Our souls have to be tormented by evil, not give in to evil. We are to now be the light of the world, for it’s no longer us who live, but Christ who lives in us and through us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Torment Your Soul.

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Train Yourself To Let Go

³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ~ Matthew 10:37-39

One of the hardest teachings Jesus ever gave us is that of loving Him. He stated that to love anyone, including your parents, children, and your own life, more than Him makes you unworthy of Him. Jesus was trying to get us to understand that we aren’t this mortal body but the soul within. If we train up our children in the way they should go, then our children will accept salvation, and we will never lose them.

Within the Star Wars franchise, there’s a Jedi named Yoda. When guiding a young Jedi padawan (trainer), he learns that this padawan has a fear of losing someone he loves. So, Yoda gives him advice.

Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.

Yoda

Losing someone you love is difficult. It can destroy you and freeze you in time if you allow it to. Christ tells us not to let that happen. Don’t let even the fear of losing someone stray you from the path set before you.

Today, we will attempt to rewrite and re-explain Scripture in order to approve of the sins of our parents, children, friends, and ourselves. We “love them” more than we love God. We “love” so much that we’re willing to believe and propagate lies in order to appease the fear of losing them. Because we’ve seemingly saved our relationship with them, we don’t even see that we’ve damned them and ourselves to an eternity away from Christ.

We have to understand that true love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing (1 Corinthians 13:4-7), and all wrongdoing is sin (1 John 5:16-18). Therefore, we must turn from our sins and help others to turn from their sins as well. This is the only true act of love. We have to be willing to lose a relationship with someone through sharing the one and only True Gospel with them if we truly want to love God and them. This isn’t an easy teaching, but it is a necessary foundational one.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Train Yourself To Let Go.

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Uproot And Plant

¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ~ Matthew 3:10

The Pharisees and Sadducees were all in the Church, so to speak, but they did not obey the LORD Jesus’ commandments. Therefore, John the Baptist told them that even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Listen, if you are not bearing good fruit, you will be cut down and thrown into the fire, the eternal fire and torment. And John did not leave it to misinterpretation or misunderstanding by saying fruit. No, he did not. He said good fruit, not just any old fruit.

We have to always honestly self-judge and self-evaluate so that we can be sure we’re bringing good fruit before the LORD. We have to make sure that we are willing to uproot any tree that doesn’t bear good fruit. See, many Christians just want to shave the tree down, but few are actually willing to uproot the entire tree that they might find total freedom.

We let the root of bitterness spring up which causes us troubles and thereby defiles us (Hebrews 12:15). Some people are satisfied to simply shave down some branches, but they never uproot the tree in order to get to the root cause of the problem altogether. In other words, the problem never gets rooted out.

I declare to you right now that you cannot live any old way you want. You cannot continue to live in sin and debauchery and expect the LORD Jesus to overlook your blatant disrespect and rebellion. God will only accept good fruit, so plant good seed. Water it. Nurture it. And uproot all trees that bear bad fruit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Uproot and Plant.

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Jesus Our Deliverer

⁶ Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. ⁷ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ~ Acts 12:6-8

The Scripture doesn’t say how long Peter was in prison; we only know that it was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Neither do we know how long after the death and resurrection of Jesus this took place, but we know it had to be at least a year since Jesus was crucified just before the Passover. So, Peter could have been in prison for several days waiting for the feast to be over or just one day.

But at any rate, it was the night before Herod was planning on bringing him out to do him harm as he had done to James, the brother of John. But Jesus sent His angel to deliver Peter. Why? Because the Scriptures tell us that the Church was in earnest prayer for Peter. Jesus is our deliverer; He will never leave us, nor will He forsake us.

You may be going through something, and it seems like you are at your wit’s end. You may feel like you’re bound with two chains, sleeping between two soldiers with sentries guarding the door, and there is no way out. Rest assured that what seems impossible for man is quite possible for Jesus. It may seem like you are out of time, but know this, Jesus has no time limits, for He holds time itself in His hand.

Don’t wait for your situation to change before you move. Peter’s chains did not fall off until he began to get up after being told to do so by the angel. The iron gate did not open until they approached it. We, as Christians, walk by faith and not by sight. Just because it looks like a dead end, just because it looks hopeless, just because we can’t see the end, doesn’t mean it is a dead end, or that it is hopeless, or that the end is obscure to Jesus. He will fight for you, and He will win.

Thank You, Father, for Your great deliverance. Thank You that You will never leave me nor forsake me and that I am always within Your reach; in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Follow The Way

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ~ John 14:6

I heard a pastor say that we need to be more Holy Spirit-centered and less Christ-centered. He explained that the gifts are the gifts of the Spirit, not the gifts of Jesus, so therefore, if we want the gifts of the Spirit, we have to be Holy Spirit-filled. Here’s the thing, though: nothing is done in the name of the Spirit.

We have authority in Jesus’ name. We pray and receive in Jesus’ name. We enter the throne room of God because Jesus went first and made a way. We are saved by Christ. The Holy Spirit may be the source of the gift, but access to that source only comes through Jesus. Therefore, to be anything but Christ-centered would be to fall short. Without our focus being on Christ, then we can’t walk in step with the Spirit. We are the body of Christ. The body follows the head. The Spirit is what helps the body fulfill the head’s instructions.

Christ is our center. Christ is our head. Christ is our everything. Never let new teachings change your focus. If you want to see the power of the Holy Spirit move in your life, then keep your focus on Christ. For Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow The Way.

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Tag: Devotionals

Reteach

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