Devotionals Archives

January 18, 2024January 18, 2024

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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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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