Tag: Devotionals

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Share The Gospel

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life… ~ 2 Corinthians 2:14-16a

Not everyone is going to accept our message of life. Not everyone is going to accept or tolerate the pain of being cut in their souls when the spotlight of Jesus Christ shines its piercing light into the never before seen crevasses where the darkness hides.

But nonetheless, we are to let our light shine so that we can do as Jude instructed and snatch others out of the fire (Jude 23). But in today’s society, it’s backward. It’s hateful to want to share the Gospel with others. Why? Because the enemy knows that if we will remain quiet and not teach the Gospel, he will retain the power over more souls.

We’re called to evangelize the nations. We’re called to go throughout the entire world and share the Gospel of Jesus with as many people as possible. We’re called to plant seeds and water them. We are never called to be silent about our faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Share The Gospel.

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Turn Back To God

19 Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the Lord? ~ Isaiah 42:19NASB

If you think about this statement by the LORD, it is a pretty frightening one. He is not talking about the blindness or the deafness of the heathen, or those who hate Him. No, God is talking about His own people, His own servants. The very ones who are supposed to be serving Him. The ones who should have a close relationship with Him. But instead of closeness we find distance. Instead of intimacy we find lukewarmness. Instead of affection and tenderness, we find separation and detachment.

Just because we claim to have a relationship with Almighty God does not mean we actually have one. So, don’t be lulled to sleep thinking you are all good, because you go to church, or that you serve on the church board, or in some church office capacity. God’s people –the ones who should know Him intimately and serve Him wholehearted– are the very ones who are trampling the blood of Jesus underfoot and making the name of the Holy One something common. That’s why God asks rebellious Israel the questions in Isaiah 1:5 “Why should you be beaten anymore?” “Why do you persist in rebellion?”

In other words, why are you bringing more punishment on yourself by persisting in your rebellion? He has redeemed you with His own blood. Turn back to God for He takes no pleasure in dealing out punishment. He would rather see you saved than punished. That’s why He made a way for us to be saved with His own death. It is not God’s will that anyone perish, but all come to repentance. But people refuse to draw close to God because they love the pleasures of the world more.

After considering the great price that was paid for our redemption, let us forsake evil and turn from lukewarmness to cling to God in pursuit of holiness, holding fast to our profession of faith and coming unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace. That is what Jesus offers and desires for us obtain. So, let us lay hold of grace and take serious our salvation so that we are not swept away with the wicked.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the grace that was lavished on us. Thank You for offering us salvation that with You we would never be able to attain. Help me to draw close to You forsaking all else and cleaving to You alone. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

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The Power of the Tongue

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

The tongue has power. In fact, James, in his epistle, wrote, “the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things” (James 3:5). He claims that the tongue is set on fire by hell. It is the hardest of all things to control. He goes on to explain that mankind has tamed all sorts of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and sea creatures, but it is useless to try to tame the tongue. It just cannot be tamed because it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. We are blessing one moment, and the next, we are cursing and carrying on, and all with the same tongue.

Have you noticed, especially on social media, how some people can be so spiritual one moment but very worldly the next? They’ll say things like, this is the day that the LORD has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it. Or if God is for me, who can be against me? Or God is fighting for me. Your house is about to be abundantly blessed. Can somebody help brag on Jesus? Or if it wasn’t for Jesus… They make a big ado about God and the things of God. I’m blessed going in and blessed coming out. Then to read their next post would make a sailor blush.

Then there are the others who post all the dirt they can dig up on somebody they just had a falling out with. They call them all kinds of blanky, blank names and say all manner of evil about them.

This is the deadly poison James is talking about. Running each other down and cussing and going on. Using the foulest, most offensive language, they can seem to find.

God is not pleased with this kind of talk, for this ought not to be. James asks:

11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and saltwater? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James 3:11-12

Therefore, if we are going to please God, we had better begin to bridle our tongues; otherwise, God Himself will deal most severely with us. We cannot please our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ, acting like that. We must change our ways from unbridled evil to ways that are more pleasing to God.

Start today to put your tongue into check. When you find you’re running somebody down or ridiculing someone else, stop and change your negative words to positive words. Replace curses with blessings, and you please the LORD.

Heavenly Father, please help us to learn how to control our tongues so that we might not use the same tongue to bless and to curse. Help us to take note of when we are being negative and give us the ability to change it to positive words. Help us to take the power out of the tongue and place it in our own hands with Your help. Thank you, LORD, for it is in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

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Evangelize The Nations

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:18 NLT

Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthian Church explaining that we aren’t to just abandon the world after we’ve been reconciled to God. Jesus told Peter after he fell and got back up to go help his brother. King Solomon tells us that iron sharpens iron. There is never a time when God wants us to leave people where we found them. There is never a time when God wants us to not share His Word with others.

We are His hands and feet on this earth. Whether or not people hear about the Gospel of Christ is up to us. God did His part. He came down to earth and paid the price for our salvation. It’s now on us to share the Gospel. It’s on us to witness to the nations, regardless of whether it makes us uncomfortable, puts our job in jeopardy, causes us to lose friends, etc. Imagine if every day we each set out to share the Gospel with just one person and actively prayed for the person we were witnessing to.

The early Church turned the world upside down with evangelism, prayer, and supplication. They fasted, taught the Gospel, sought the face of God, and willingly took beatings and oppression for the sake of the Gospel. They faced so many obstacles, yet the Word of God flourished wherever they went. Why? Because they understood that they were the body of Christ. They were the light of the world to the nations. To live is Christ, and die is gain.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Evangelize The Nations.

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Be Primitive

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

The ancient world is considered to be primitive and stupid, yet each civilization talks about encounters with the gods. Throughout our own Bible, God came down a walked and talked with Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, etc. As time went on and man became more and more self-sufficient, God’s physical walks and talks with mankind has seemed to cease. We say that we’re more educated and evolved than our ancestors. That we’re better off than they were because of technology, medicine, etc. But are we truly better off?

We gained a lot in the 26 years I’ve been alive. We have phones that we video communicate with people all over the world. We can record ourselves saying something in our room, and it reaches millions of people around the world. We have men and women building AI technology so that cars can drive themselves. There’s been a large leap forward in technology, but there’s also been a large leap backward from God.

The more we, as mankind, become self-sufficient and un-needing of God, the more God willingly leaves us where we are. It’s not that the ancient world was more primitive and ignorant; it’s that the ancient world understood their need for God or some sort of God in their lives. They understood their own morality and their shortcomings, but today we aren’t satisfied with God showing us the way. Today, we want to be our own god. We want to be in complete control. Even in the Church, we don’t want to bow our knee to every single Scripture; it may blatantly say, “Do not do this,” but because we want to do that specific thing, we say that’s not what God really meant or completely call the Bible corrupted and changed throughout the years.

Whenever mankind believes they can be their own gods, is the moment that mankind begins its downhill spiral into self-destruction. Why? Because we’re flawed and make countless mistakes. Our bar of standards constantly changes depending on our mood for the day.

If you want to see God work in your life. If you want to hear God and have Him walk with you, you have to remove all self-sufficient ideas from you and fully live your life hanging on every word from the LORD. Then and only then will God begin to truly reveal Himself to you as He did to the ancient world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Primitive.

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Be A Light Carrier

12 … I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. ~ John 8:12b

We have the light of life because we have Jesus. And if we have the light of life, then we must share that light. Let your light so shine … Jesus prompted us.

Remember, the night will come when we hide the light of Jesus that is within us under a basket or under a bushel instead of sharing it with the world. When the night comes, then no man will be able to work the good works of Him who has called us to be the light to the world.

Are you a light carrier? Or are you a bystander? Have you received the light of Jesus that brings life? If you would like to receive Jesus as LORD and Savior and thus receive life, it’s free. It will cost you nothing. Jesus paid the full price for you and for me so that we might not have an excuse. It is not His will that anyone should perish; therefore, He gave His own life that you might live.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Light Carrier.

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Shine The Light

1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ~ John 9:1-5

Night is the absence of the sun in the sky above. In other words, night is the absence of the dominant light. There is still the moon and the stars that shine their light upon the earth, but the darkness is the dominating force that prevails.

The night will come when we Christians begin to take the light that is within us and hide it under a bushel instead of placing it on the lampstand so that it might light the whole room.

Therefore, when the oppressing darkness of night comes, the Christians, the light of the world, will hide their light instead of sharing it with the world. We see it happening today. We can’t tell some Christians from non-Christians. They look alike. They talk alike. They act alike. And neither emit any light.

Oh, but Brother Kenny, Jesus said that He was the light of the world. True, but only as long as He was in the world, then we, as His representatives, would carry His light to the world.

Once Jesus was taken up into heaven, we became the light to the world. Now we are to reflect Jesus’ light, to guide the unbeliever out of darkness and into the light, not join the darkness or try to look like the darkness.

How can darkness reflect light?

Christians want to be all tatted up, looking like the world in order to win the world. They dress any old how, again looking like the world, to go to worship so that the world will feel comfortable. It’s not about feeling comfortable; it’s about shining your light in order for the unbeliever to see your good works and let Godly conviction consume the nonbeliever bringing a sense of the need for repentance.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Shine The Light.

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Be Not A Part of The World

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ~ John 15:19

We live in the world, but we’re not a part of the world. In other words, do not participate in the things of this world; they are passing away. Yes, we live in this world. Therefore, there are things that we have no choice but to participate in, such as voting, but only according to Scripture. We don’t vote for things that are blatantly against God. We need to get back to the basics where righteousness is the rule of thumb, and holiness is the way of life. We need to get back to where our main objective is to follow the teachings of Jesus and to be our brother’s keeper.

Without this, we are saltless salt. But the thing about saltless salt is when we become saltless salt, we are of no use to Jesus in His kingdom. Without action, our faith is dead. We are to work out our salvation with much fear and trembling.

But what does that look like? Well, for one, we are always self-disinfecting. We are disinfecting others. And we are always spreading the light of God with others. But before we can start correcting our brothers and sisters, we must do self-correction. We must evaluate our own lives to make sure they line up with the LORD and not with the world. Jesus should be our goal, not to be like a celebrity in the world but like the one who overcame the whole world.

We are called for greater things than the world can offer us. Therefore, we are to live in the world but not be a part of the world because we have been called out of the world. We’re not to seek approval or acceptance from the world. We aren’t of the world. Therefore, if the world hates you because you follow Jesus, cling to the Truth of what that really means. If the world hates you, it’s because you’ve left it behind and have clung to the Light of the World. You’ve clung to the cross, and you are running this race set before you with all that is in you. Be encouraged and finish your race strong and filled with hope, and the LORD will reward you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Not A Part of The World.

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Judge With Mercy and Grace

1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. ~ Matthew 7:1-5

When Cain was confronted by God after he killed his own brother, he asked God if he was his brother’s keeper. The answer is yes, Cain, you are. And so are we. We are our brother’s keeper, but here’s the catch though, we must also keep watch over our own souls. If I’m honest, this is one of my least favorite verses, but only because of how people have taken it out of context in order to make an excuse for their own sin that they want to live in. The older I get, the more in contact I come with people who are quick to judge and pronounce judgment on anyone who refuses to accept their beliefs. And as time goes on, I understand why Jesus made a point to say this.

It’s easy to judge someone else and think ourselves better than them. We don’t sin like them. We don’t make mistakes like they do. When we act like this, and we make a true self-evaluation, we should easily see that we have become Frollo (the villain of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Throughout the movie, he’s wicked, evil, and unjust, yet he sees himself as better than the common person. As better than the hunchback because the hunchback is deformed and Frollo is not. He then sings this verse:

Beata Maria…
You know I am a righteous man.
And of my virtue, I am justly proud.

Beata Maria…
You know I’m so much purer than
the common, vulgar,
weak, licentious crowd…

Throughout the song, he defends himself. It’s never his fault. He’s never to blame. It’s Esmerelda’s (the Gypsy Girl) fault. She set a flame in him, causing him to sin. He then even blames God.

It’s not my fault!
If in God’s plan,
He made the devil so much
stronger than a man!

Never do you see him look in the mirror and say, it’s my fault. I’ve messed up. I’ve made the mistake. Instead, he becomes more and more evil and wicked without even realizing it. His own pride blocked him from seeing that the judgment he set for others was the very judgment by which he would perish. He set all of Paris on fire and wanted to cast those he deemed as sinners into that fire, but instead, it was he that fell into the fire.

When we are quick to pronounce judgment on others and never show mercy or grace, that same judgment will be how the LORD judges us. So, we are to judge with mercy and grace. We’re not to judge with hatred, but we’re to judge the fruit. We’re to look at people’s actions and judge whether they are good or evil. Whether they need to be corrected or praised. This is our duty as Christians. We are not to want punishment for the wicked, but we are to pray for them that the LORD might show them mercy and open their blind eyes to see the Truth of who He is.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Judge With Mercy and Grace.

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Remove Anything To Follow Him

43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell. ~ Mark 9:43-47

These are some very strong words. A very hard teaching that we just brush over. Listen to what Jesus is saying; you have to examine yourself and remove anything from you that isn’t of God. You have to remove anything within you that contradicts the Word of God. You can’t walk in the Light and walk in the Darkness. You have to choose one. You have to make an active decision to pick up your cross and follow Jesus.

Oftentimes, we get so caught up in other people and what they’re doing wrong and how they’re making mistakes and we completely miss our own shortcomings. Jesus is warning us that we have to be self-disinfecting. Being salt is not just for others but for yourself as well. You must take a self-inventory and evaluate yourself. You can’t take for granted that you have accepted Jesus as LORD and Savior, and there is nothing else to do.

This admonishment or warning is directed toward Christians, not the world. It is us Jesus is talking to. If you, my servants, find that your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. Even if it is your eye that causes you to sin, pluck it out. Do not let any of them cause you to be thrown into the unquenchable fires of hell. It would be better for you to enter eternal life maimed or crippled or even with one eye or even blind than the alternative.

The treasures, toys, and fruit of this earth will one day pass away. You can’t even take it with you into Eternity. It doesn’t last forever. Eternal things last forever. Each of us is building up eternal property and treasure. The only thing is our property, and our treasure aren’t always in good real estate. Some of us are building up property and treasure where the moths and locusts can’t get into harm. A place of peace, love, and God’s Holy presence. Whereas others are building up property and treasure in a lake of fire. In a place of eternal torment and destruction. In a place where you have to pay for each and every sin that you’ve committed because you refused to accept the free gift of life purchased for you while you were on this earth.

As long as your heart is still beating, there is a chance of redemption. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. He’s calling for you to remove that sin from your life. To put away the greed, sexual immorality, anger, unforgiveness, rejection, and everything else that is keeping you from wholeheartedly following Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remove Anything To Follow Him.

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