Devotionals Archives

March 8, 2024March 7, 2024

Devout

²¹ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 7:21^CSB

Whenever you hear a celebrity is a “devout Christian” they use examples of going to church every Sunday, praying before each meal and before bed as reasons why they are so devout. Whenever I would hear this in the past, I felt annoyed. These aren’t even the minimum requirements of God, yet somehow the have the audacity to call themselves devout. Then it hit me, I’m no better than them.

When Christ asked Peter, James, and John to pray with Him and they all feel asleep, Jesus asked “could you not watch with me one hour?” Jesus did this twice. The third time, He left them sleeping. What a terrifying thought. The bare minimum Jesus asks for is one hour watching with Him, when the average Christian, including myself, struggles to pray for 10 minutes straight without your mind wandering off or getting distracted. What a sad state of the Church.

We can’t spend 10 minutes in prayer but wonder why God isn’t moving in our lives. We can’t spend 10 minutes reading our Bible but wonder why God isn’t showing us His glory. We’ve become a selfish Church. We want God to give us rewards for the least amount of effort.

Abraham stayed up all night protecting his sacrifice. Jacob wrestled with God all night. Daniel fasted for 21 days. Moses communed with God for 40 days. All of these men who received great blessings and were used greatly by God sacrificed their time for a chance to see the glory, blessings, and fulfilled promises of God.

Time is speeding up right before our eyes. There aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. So what are we to do? Prioritize the Kingdom and the rest so fall in place. We put our relationship with God above all else. We take a step closer to God every day. We strive to build the Temple of God, our spirit man, in order to give God more than the scraps off the table. We’ll never be able to give God all that He deserves, but it’s time we stop giving Him offerings that cost us absolutely nothing.

God already died for us and gave us everything we need for salvation, it’s now up to us to draw near to Him. He opened the door and split the curtain; now it’s time for us to run to Him.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the times I put the things of this world above You. I’m sorry for not making You my main priority in life and not making You the center of my life. Kindle the flame in me that I might never take You for granted or offer You a worthless offering. Soften my heart and renew a right spirit in me, that my soul might pant for You as the deer pants for the water. Help me to crucify my flesh and build up my spirit man within me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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The LORD Is Not Slow

⁹The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ~ 2 Peter 3:9

Peter said that some people don’t understand the LORD because they judge Him by their own understanding and by their own deeds. God is not slow in keeping, or fulfilling any of His promises, especially the promise of His return. He is patiently waiting for the last soul who will be saved to get saved. Believe me, at least believe the Scriptures, there is a time set for the return of Jesus, but all things must be fulfilled.

Remember that in the fullness of time, Jesus came as a baby to suffer and to die for the salvation of mankind. His return is no different. He is not slow to fulfill His promise of returning to get us. Just think about it, it may be one of your loved ones that He is waiting on. Or maybe it is you that He is holding up His turn, because He knows that you will accept salvation and He wants to give you the chance at all costs.

Have you felt a slight tug on your heart in terms of the things of God recently? Have you felt a drawing toward the Bible or toward Jesus? Maybe a dream or a series of dreams? If you feel the LORD leading in any part of your life, listen closely, it just may be your chance to get right with the LORD and receive His full pardon. Accept it and He will make you shine as bright as the noonday sun in all of its glory.

The LORD loves you and cares for you and wants you to come to repentance and receive eternal life from Him. He died to pay for it, and He will give it to you.

Heavenly Father, I come to You today in full repentance. I am sorry for straying from Your side and for refusing to listen. I am listening now, speak to me Jesus so that I can hear Your voice. Teach me to live for You so that I can be ready for Your great return. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Blessings For Generations

⁴⁰ The Lord told Moses, “Register every firstborn male of the Israelites one month old or more, and list their names. ⁴¹ You are to take the Levites for me — I am the Lord — in place of every firstborn among the Israelites, and the Levites’ cattle in place of every firstborn among the Israelites’ cattle.” ⁴² So Moses registered every firstborn among the Israelites, as the Lord commanded him. ⁴³ The total number of the firstborn males one month old or more listed by name was 22,273. ~ Numbers 3:40-43^CSB

When we read in the Scriptures that Israel and its people are God’s chosen nation and people, it’s easy to feel unloved by God or even less than them as if they are better but that’s not the case. To be the chosen people of God doesn’t mean that God loved them more than us or that He sees them as better. How can we be sure?

Within the 12 tribes of Israel, God had a chosen tribe that He kept for Himself. It wasn’t the tribe the Messiah came through either, it was the tribe of Levi. Why? Because of Moses and Aaron. God chose Israel because of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham was called a friend of God. His faith was accounted to Him as righteousness because He believed God. So, His descendants were chosen. His offspring was chosen to save the entire world. This was Abraham’s reward.

Moses spoke face to face with God and Aaron went and spoke on behalf of Moses when he refused. So the Levites, their tribe, were chosen by the LORD as His special tribe. God honors those who honor Him.

Dear LORD, thank You for choosing me. Thank You for having a plan for my life. Please help me to stay faithful to You, so that I might bring a blessing upon my children and my children’s children until You return for Your own. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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The Benefits of God

¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. ² Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. ~ Psalms 103:1-2

Have you ever heard someone try to convince you that serving God is a useless obsession? “Only the weak-minded needs religion,” they try to convince you. But that is a learned response. They have been taught it either by someone, or learned it subconsciously, because the world would love to make you believe that there is no God. Therefore, there are no benefits in serving Him. They have convinced themselves that there is no God and now they desperately want to convince you of that, because, after all, misery loves company.

But the contrary is true. God does exist, and He does not expect you to serve Him for nothing, nor does He want you to. That is why He has made it a point to give you aid in your time of need. Yes, there are benefits to serving God. Benefits such as Salvation for our souls, healing for all our bodies, peace for our minds in times of distress, satisfaction of our desires with good things, justice for all the oppressed, and many more like it.

But somehow the God haters have even convinced God’s own Church that the benefits no longer apply to us, it was only for the first-generation Church. But James 5:15 says, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” All we have to do is to come and believe that and accept it as truth and the promise will be ours. Jesus Himself said in John 14:14, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” You can’t get any more personal than that. But the catch is first, you have to be a child of God, and you must follow His commandment to love everyone. Then you must ask in faith, or you will not receive James 1:6-8.

So, I ask, why would anyone ignore such great salvation? Or to know it and yet give it up? Don’t give up your benefits!

Heavenly Father, please help me to realize the benefits of serving You. Keep my heart true no matter what may befall me. Take my hand and lead me ever, guiding me along life’s bumpy paths. Help me to have the courage to share these benefits with the ones I love and with those I meet. Please give them the desire to know these benefits as well. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Don’t Let Fear Suffocate

³⁶ Their father Jacob said to them, “It’s me that you make childless. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!” ~ Genesis 42:36^CSB

Jacob was now an extremely old man. He had little over a decade of his life left. Joseph was gone, and in his mind, Joseph was dead. Now that there is a famine in the land, and they go to Egypt to get food, Simeon is left behind until they return with Benjamin. Jacob’s whole world seems to be crashing down. His faith that his sons will be okay is seemingly completely gone, and, in its place, fear has overtaken him. Little did Jacob realize God was trying to restore his sons that were gone to him once again, by forcing him to face his fear and have a little faith.

Today, the Church is in the same position as Jacob. We’ve seen our children fall into darkness and taken from us, and we begin to lose hope of them ever returning. We begin to have fear of our children we still have being taken from us as well. We allow fear to control us instead of walking by faith and not by sight.

See, Jacob never saw Joseph’s dead body; he came to the conclusion that his son had been ripped to shreds and was dead. Now, Simeon had been kept in Egypt until they brought Benjamin before him. Fear had completely consumed him, but God had a plan not only to redeem Joseph to him but to rescue his entire family from dying of starvation during the famine.

Sometimes, you have to face your fear in order to see a breakthrough in your prayers. You have to walk by faith and not by sight. Your child may be far off and led astray by the world, but as long as their heart is still beating, there is hope. So, don’t give up. Don’t let the enemy convince you that he’s won the war by showing you all that’s gone wrong. Instead, look to God, who turns everything to good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for every time I’ve given into fear. Please strike fear from my heart and help me to build my faith. Teach me how to build my faith in You so that I might be perfected in Your love. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Recognize The Weight

⁷ During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. ⁸ Although He was the Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. ⁹ After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, ¹⁰ and He was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. ~ Hebrews 5:7-10^CSB

Though Aaron was given the role of High Priest and then it was passed on to his descendants, because of Aaron’s sin, his descendants wouldn’t remain as high priests forever. The priesthood was given to the descendant of Judah, who didn’t fall under the order of the Levites but under the order of Melchizedek because of his faithfulness to the LORD.

The hand we are dealt doesn’t always seem fair; nevertheless, the same is true for our descendants. Our faithfulness to God will directly impact our descendants for either good or evil. Moses’ descendants aren’t remembered or even of high standing. Aaron’s descendants are the ones who had Christ crucified and the priesthood taken from them.

Our decisions on this earth matter, not just for our eternity but for the generations to come.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Recognize The Weight.

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Cleanse Before Partaking

²⁰ But the one who eats meat from the Lord’s fellowship sacrifice while he is unclean, that person must be cut off from his people. ²¹ If someone touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, abhorrent creature, and eats meat from the Lord’s fellowship sacrifice, that person is to be cut off from his people. ~ Leviticus 7:20-21^CSB

Both the author of the book of Hebrews and Paul explained that the Law was a shadow of good things to come. No longer do we give the LORD physical burnt offerings but spiritual burnt offerings. Paul warned that if we take Communion while we are dwelling in sin, then we are opening ourselves up for spiritual attack from the enemy and even could allow the Spirit of Death to take our soul before our time.

We take for granted having the privilege of entering the presence of the LORD, so we remain in our sin. We continue doing whatever we want, refusing to fully submit to the LORD because we don’t think God will punish us for our sin. We think the love of God will overlook sin, but from the very beginning sin cut us off from God. It separated us.

Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden. Cain and his wife had to leave the presence of the LORD. Those who sinned under the Law were cut off from the entire congregation of Israel. Today is no different. If we would just bow our knees before the LORD, we could see that, yes, Jesus loves us, but He won’t overlook our sin. Think of the price He paid for our sin. Why would He do that if our actions mean absolutely nothing and His love alone can save our soul?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cleanse Before Partaking.

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Follow The Light While You Still Can

¹³ Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ~ Matthew 22:13^CSB

Jesus describes Hell as a place of outer darkness. Paul explains that darkness has no light in it. And light has no darkness in it. He then explains that the fruit of light is doing what is good, right, and true (Ephesians 5:8-11). Therefore, the outer darkness that Jesus is speaking of has absolutely no light in it. This is now beginning to make a little more sense.

God is light (John 1:4), Hell is outer darkness. Therefore, Hell is outside the realm of darkness that has no light in it because to die in your sin would be to die without God.

If you die without God, then you will be without God forever. You will continue in darkness, the kind of darkness that has no light whatsoever. There isn’t even the hope of Jesus being somewhere in that darkness and you being able to find Him. This darkness is outside the world; it’s outer darkness. So, the Light of the World isn’t in this darkness. There is no hope there. None whatsoever.

Dear LORD, thank You for delivering me and saving me from this eternal punishment away from You. Thank You for making a way for me and shining Your Light into this present darkness so that we might find our way to You. Please open the eyes of all of my unsaved loved ones so that they might escape this coming destruction. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Choose Now Your Eternity

¹¹And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. ~ Revelation 14:11

Hell is eternal because God is eternal. If Hell is like falling into the hand of the Living Everlasting God, then that punishment would last for all of eternity. The debt or wages of sin is death. If we can’t even change our hair color at will, how can we give ourselves life? Therefore, Hell is an eternal punishment.

I saw a comment that stated that Hell may be eternal, but those in Hell will die just like those in prison on earth will one day die and leave the prison cell empty. Here’s the thing. The soul is eternal. It doesn’t die. It doesn’t fade away. It is eternal, lasting forever.

This is what we face if we refuse to follow Jesus. Why? Because there are only two options in eternity. Eternity on the New Earth with Christ as a child of God, or eternity within Hell with Satan. If we refuse to be a child of God, then we are actively choosing to be a child of Satan. If Satan is our father, then we will dwell with him in his home, which became Hell when he was thrown from Heaven in Revelation 12, according to Jesus in Matthew 25:41. Therefore, choose now whom you will serve and follow, and flee from false doctrines that tickle your ears or ease your fears; your eternity depends on it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Choose Now Your Eternity.

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The World Deceiver

¹⁴ And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:14^CSB

I’ve heard many say that the enemy’s greatest weapon is convincing people he doesn’t exist, but I have to disagree. I believe Satan’s biggest weapon is convincing people he isn’t evil but is good. In the Garden of Eden, Satan deceived Eve into thinking he was trying to help liberate her from the constraints around her mind that God had set. Today is no different.

Satan convinces people that what he did in the Garden was an act of love. That he tried to give knowledge to humanity instead of keeping them in the dark like God. People who don’t even believe he’s a real person follow his example and name their religions after him. Some even believe he and God are one.

The enemy doesn’t care if we believe he exists or not; he cares whether we believe his lies or not. This is why he is the Deceiver of The Whole World. He isn’t an angel of any kind. He’s a betrayer of mankind and an accuser of the Church. He isn’t for us but always against us.

Dear LORD, please help me to see the difference between good and evil. Help me to discern right from wrong. Fill me with the Spirit of Discernment that I might be able to see through the deception and lies of the enemy. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Tag: Devotionals

Devout

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