Tag: Food For Growth

³⁸ Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, ³⁹ and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. ~ 1 Samuel 17:38-40

Sometimes we lose sight of what we are meant to do. We get caught up in the glamour of things. And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have nice things or that God doesn’t want us to have nice things. I’m saying that sometimes God wants to use something simple and easy to show how great and powerful He is.

King Saul, out of concern for David’s life, clothed David in his own armor, not realizing that God had something greater in store for David to use. David, because of his quiet time with God, had the Spirit of Discernment. He could discern that that armor wasn’t meant for him. He understood that God had something greater in store for him to use so that God could get all of the glory and praise.

Sometimes God uses large, elaborate things to get His point across, but sometimes He just uses something simple like a rock and a sling. This is the importance of quiet time. The more time you spend with God, the better you know Him and the clearer His subtle voice becomes. Because as you become closer with God, you will be able to discern when to use your sword and when to use your sling.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Ready Your Sling.

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^11b … for they loved not their lives even unto death. ~ Revelation 12:11b

There is a famous quote that is always popular around this time of the year. It says, “All gave some, but some gave all.” Today we remember those who gave all. The fallen, those who loved country more than self. Who loved family and freedom more than their own lives.

We remember and honor those soldiers who kissed their loved ones goodbye as they proudly donned their uniforms, knowing fully well they may never return. Yet through tears and heartache, they tore themselves away to fight a war and pay the price for others to have the right to kneel when the national anthem is played. To chant death to America while enjoying her freedom.

With their own blood, they bought and paid for the right and freedom for others to say how unfair and unequal America is and how they are being kept down while being paid millions of dollars a year and living in mansions.

These were just ordinary men and ordinary women, making an ordinary salary, with ordinary lives that were cut short way too soon. Not given the chance to live, to enjoy the freedom they so desperately fought so hard to preserve, we honor you.

We thank their families for their sacrifice, a sacrifice we do not take for granted. While it may just be a holiday to some, to us, it’s a day of remembrance. A day to call to memory the countless names, the faces, the friends, the fathers, the sons, the daughters. We will never forget their great sacrifice. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Father, thank You for freedom. Thank you for the brave soldiers who died to give us the right to live free and without fear of persecution. May we never forget their sacrifice, and may America always remember the blood that was shed for her, including the precious blood of Your Son Jesus. Thank You, Father, in Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ~ James 2:14-18

James made an earthly/physical comparison with the spiritual. He said that if it is not enough to wish someone well who is starving or freezing to death without doing something about it, then it is not enough just to believe. Therefore, you are saved for good works and not by good works.

Faith without action is dead. Because, once we are saved, that isn’t just the end of it, and we just have a free ticket to Heaven. Instead, we have to continue our spiritual growth. We have to fulfill the great commission. We have to put our faith into action. Unless we live our lives for Christ and become more like Christ, we are not changed. And if we are not changed, then we have no part in Eternal Life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Change.

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¹ On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, ² and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ~ Luke 5:1–7

Please notice that Jesus, knowing that Peter had not caught anything all night fishing, wanted to pay him for the use of his boat. But Peter knowing good, said it was useless to go back out there because there were no fish out there. Jesus, knowing best, told Peter to go ahead and push on out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch. Peter was tired and weary from working all night, now he had the added burden of washing his nets and will have to wash them again after catching nothing again. Peter knew good, and well, there were no fish out there to catch.

But Jesus insisted, go on, Peter, just try it. Peter did not want to go and try it. He wanted to feel sorry for himself and go home. But in obedience, he did as Jesus had instructed. The result? They caught so many fish that they had to call for help from their partners, and both boats were filled that they both began to sink.

The moral of the story is: even if it doesn’t make sense, even if you know that it is probably a useless thing to do if Jesus says to do it, do it. Just trust Him because we know good, but God knows best.

Father, help me to be obedient to Your word, no matter how silly and useless it may seem to me. Help me to understand that I might know good, but You know best. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. ~ Hebrews 12:14^NIV

Holiness is a word we don’t hear very often in the Church anymore, and when we do hear it, it is taken a bit out of context. We are led to believe that holiness consists entirely of our outward appearances. I heard a sister commenting on another sister’s way of dress, because of the no sleeves, that she would rather sit in church with someone who did not have love than someone dressed like that.

I’m not saying dress is nothing because it is something, but not everything, and it definitely is not the sign of holiness. Look around at some of the folk who are covered from head to toe, is that holiness?

But we’ve strayed so far from what true holiness is that we’ve lost our way, and nobody is trying to point us back in the right direction. We watch any old filth on the TV with the most explicit language and nudity and sexual content, and we don’t even bat an eye. Our consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

Holiness isn’t necessarily the way you dress but the way you act. Holiness is what’s on the inside. So, if all you’re pumping inside of you is filth, then all that can come out of you is filth. Feed your spirit with Godly things, and deny your flesh that you may grow and become more holy like God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Strive to be Holy.

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²³ Therefore He said He would destroy them— had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them. ~ Psalm 106:23

Can you just imagine that God said that He would have destroyed them if it was not for one man standing in the gap? Now think about if it was your family and God was about to destroy them, but He’s waiting for a little while hoping for someone, anyone, for you, the Christian, His chosen one, to intercede for your family. But you’re busy doing this and caught up doing that. Maybe things that even seem important now, or maybe it’s just unimportant things, me time, that keep you from praying for the souls of your loved ones. I shudder at the thought. If I would have only prayed…

Father, help me not to grow weary of interceding for my family and loved ones. Help me to see the extreme emergency of praying for my lost loved ones. Help me to remember that every day is precious, and you never know when it will be someone’s last. Teach me to pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.

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²⁴ Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. ~ Proverbs 13:24

A mother corrects and disciplines her children. Mothers, you cannot see your children in blatant error and say nothing. You cannot accept something your child has done when you know it is against the law of God.

There is no such thing as God understands when it comes to breaking His laws. You must correct it, even if you yourself were guilty of the same error in your younger days. That is not who you are now, hopefully. We are talking about eternity here. Correct your children.

When you love someone, you correct them so that they are saved from trouble.

¹³ Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. ¹⁴ If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Proverbs 23:13–14

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⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ~ Isaiah 55:9

God is not limited by our limitations. He’s the God that spoke life into being. He’s the God that created the Heavens, the Earth, and everything in between. Even though He is God of the entire Universe, He takes the time to make a plan for our lives. He knows the beginning and the end. He guides us through life so that we can avoid pain and suffering.

Oftentimes, we feel like we know what’s best for ourselves. We allow our fleshly desires and feelings to control us. We look inwardly for guidance instead of looking upwardly to God. Sometimes His plan doesn’t always look safe. It doesn’t always look easy. Sometimes it even looks impossible, but if we trust in God, He won’t let us down.

If we allow God to guide us, we wouldn’t have so much pain and suffering in our lives and in the world. He wants what’s best for us. He doesn’t change. He was love, and He still is love. Our God has done great things, and He is still doing great things. He is doing great things in us and through us. If we follow Him and listen to His instruction, God will guide us into our promised land. We have to set aside our fleshly desires and feelings in order to follow the plan of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow His Ways.

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⁵⁸ Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. ~ Acts 7:58–60

Over here in the West, there isn’t much persecution against Christians. We have so much freedom, yet we lack so much love. When someone wrongs us, we want revenge. When we see someone doing wrong, we want to send them to Hell ourselves, but is that how we are to live our lives? Look at the men of the Bible; they didn’t call for instant judgment; they pleaded for mercy on behalf of the men who were persecuting them.

The men whom Stephen was witnessing to dragged him outside the city and began to pelt him with rocks. I’m sure he was trying to dodge a few, but they hit him in the stomach and in the head, and in his face when his hand would try to protect one part of his body, ten more rocks would hit him in another part of his body, until he was full of blood. Bleeding from the hits he received from the stones.

And what did he cry out? LORD save me? Or LORD, where are you? NO! He cried out, “LORD, do not hold this sin against them.” In other words, please forgive them; they know not what they do. He learned and understood from his Savior, Jesus Christ. Were his eyes on the temporal? NO! His eyes were on the eternal. This world held nothing here for him. He understood that there was something bigger than him and all of them at work. He understood what was in store for them if they didn’t repent. Stephen looked at his murderers with only love.

When we look at the world, do we look at them with love or with hate? Do we want God to show them mercy and soften their hearts, or do we want the wrath of God?

LORD God, help us to look at the world with love. Help us to pray for our enemies and bless those who curse us. Fill our hearts, oh LORD, with compassion. Help us to be the light in this dark world. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

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¹¹ Now on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ~ Luke 17:11-19^NIV

Jesus was in Galilee and was on His way to Jerusalem to actually die on the Cross. A huge crowd was following Him; after all, He fed them with five loaves of bread and two fish. He also healed their diseases and raised their dead. Now He was at the end of His earthly ministry and on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified for the sins of the world. But He comes to a problem. The Jews with Him do not pass through Samaria, so He travels along the border between Samaria and Galilee.

The people who lived in Samaria were Jewish people who intermarried with non-Jews and were considered half breeds. They hated each other to the point that Jews would rather walk around the border of Samaria than to take the shorter route through Samaria.

We have that seem divisions today in our culture. We have the black people not wanting to mix with the white people and the white not wanting to mix with the Spanish and Spanish only wanting to hang out with other Spanish people. But that is not the way God intended it to be. And as Christians, we are determined to break down those walls that separate the cultures.

There is a Latin term ‘Divide et impera.’ It means ‘Divide and Conquer,’ or ‘Divide and rule.’ It is a military tactic but just as effective when applied to a political strategy designed to keep the people separated and fighting amongst themselves while the ruling class gain more and more power. And that is what is happening right now. We are so busy at each other’s throats that the real plan is virtually going unnoticed. The majority of people spend the majority of their time sitting in front of the tv being indoctrinated by the same media companies that are keeping us divided. But if we would only put our differences aside and unite, we can say enough is enough. United we stand, divided we fall.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Unite.

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