Tag: Food For Growth

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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¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. ³ And the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ⁵ Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ and 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.’” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸ Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” ¹¹ Then 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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⁷ and 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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³⁷ Whoever 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. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever 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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² For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. ~ 2 Corinthians 6:2^NLT

As people, it’s very easy to put off what we can do today for tomorrow. We procrastinate everything, even our own salvation. It’s difficult for us to comprehend our own mortality when we wake up each and every morning. We expect to wake up each morning just as we expect the sun to rise in the east every morning.

The problem is that tomorrow is promised to no one. One of the hardest pills to swallow is the reality that each and every one of us is only one breath away from eternity. Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may never come.

Dear LORD, please help me to overcome procrastination. Help me to not put things off for tomorrow. Help me to fulfill the call You have for my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁶ The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’ ~ Deuteronomy 1:6-8

Mount Horeb is the Mountain of God; that’s where God came down to meet them. But they didn’t spend their lives there. No. God told them they had spent enough time in His presence learning His law; now it was time to put that worship into action. Sometimes, we stay in worship and don’t put that worship into action. We don’t do anything with what we have been given. We’re expected to go out into the world and carry the Spirit of the LORD with us in the name of Jesus so that we might spread His light wherever we go. We’re to break up the darkness, not just remain at the mountain. Because the LORD doesn’t just remain on the mountaintop. No. His dwelling is with mankind. He will go before us, behind us, beside us, and in us if we will follow Him.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for remaining in my own comfort zone and not evangelizing all that I meet and come in contact with. Please help me not to ever get caught up in my own little world, instead, help me to be a light in this deep darkness around me. Please shine Your light through me and give me the confidence to always share Your Word with the world. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16

Every year, my family and I pack shoeboxes that go all over the world. And every year, I ask my family back home if they’d like to do shoebox as well. Many say yes, but some say no. I’ve noticed over the years that the ones that say no are always the ones that have the most wealth to share. Christmas is a time of giving and receiving, but as Scripture says:

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts 20:35

It’s much easier to receive than it is to give. Giving means putting another above ourselves, which is against our very nature, but that’s what we’re called to do. We’re called to give to the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. We don’t withhold love or help from others, especially when they are in great need of it.

This Christmas, give to those who are in need. Share the love of Christ with others. Remember the less fortunate. Give as God first gave to us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Give To Others.

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³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus.” ~ Luke 1:30-31

Mary and Joseph were engaged, but before they were actually married, and before they had any sexual contact to consummate the marriage, Mary was found to be with child from, not by, but from the Holy Spirit.

This is really important to fully understand. Mary was a virgin, and that’s why she wasn’t sure how it would all happen. So, the angel Gabriel described something to her that she, I’m pretty sure, did not fully comprehend, as many of us do today. In fact, we read right over that without noticing the profoundness of what the angel said to Mary. He said:

… you will conceive in your womb and bear a son …

To us, that’s no big deal because we just take it for granted, but it’s a big deal. You see, Gabriel was explaining to Mary that she would become pregnant with a child but not in the ordinary, natural way, but she would conceive in her womb in a miraculous way.

Please understand that women, according to medical science, do not conceive in their wombs but conceive in their fallopian tubes and then move down to the womb, which wasn’t discovered until the 1500s by an Italian physician by the name of Gabriel Fallopius.

And just for the record, isn’t it strange that the angel’s name that first announced it was named Gabriel, and the physician who discovered it was also named Gabriel?

Just an interesting thought.

So, Mary wouldn’t be impregnated the natural way because the baby was not to be conceived the natural way, but supernatural. Therefore, baby Jesus was conceived in the womb because a man was not needed, but it was the seed of the womb who was to make restitution for the whole world.

Therefore, His name shall be called Jesus. Old Testament Joshua or Yeshu’ah. New Testament Jesus or Iēsous. These names mean Salvation or Savior. That in itself means hope. Jesus, or Yeshu’ah, is our Christmas Hope. It’s only that name that gives us hope. Hope of life eternal. Hope of peace that passes all understanding. Hope of joy, unspeakable joy, and full of glory. Hope that the world certainly cannot give, and neither does it try to give.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Enjoy The Hope of Jesus.

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¹⁷ And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. ~ Luke 2:17-20

An angel came to the shepherds while they were watching their sheep to give them the news of the birth of Jesus the Christ. Then there was with that one angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. When the angel and the heavenly host vanished, what did the shepherds do? They went to see what they had just been told.

Many of us hear of great things happening around us, revivals breaking out, healings and miracles taking place, but very few of us get up and go see if what we’ve heard is true or not. We don’t go for ourselves. We don’t have the same desires and drives as the shepherds did 2,000 years ago, and I believe it’s because we no longer have the same focus.

The shepherds were watching their flock by night. They were performing their God-given call. Many, if not the majority, of us don’t even know what our call is. And many of us don’t have a desire to find out what that call or will God has for our life is. Why? Because we’re not Christ-centered. Those shepherds weren’t just chosen at random; they were doing their jobs waiting for the long-awaited Messiah. They were Christ-centered. If we want God to move in our lives, we have to be Christ-centered and willing to go wherever He leads us. We have to be willing to do anything just to get a glimpse of the King of kings and LORD of lords, a glimpse of Jesus, the Messiah.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Christ-Centered.

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