Tag: Food For Growth

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. ~ 1 Samuel 3:7

Though Samuel was ministering and growing in the favor of the LORD, he didn’t know Him. Our children may be raised in church. They know Bible story after Bible story, they even share the Bible with others, but unless they have a spiritual relationship with God, they won’t know Him.

We have to make sure, especially in today’s world more than ever before, that our children have their own relationship with God. We can’t bring anyone else in through our own relationship with God. We have to train up our children to love and seek God so that they build their own relationship with Him, according to how we have taught them.

So when the world comes to lead our children astray, and they’re starting your and younger, our children will be able to stand firm. They will be able to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd leading them to living water and everlasting life. So that they will know right from wrong and good from evil in a world that has blurred all lines.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Help Them Build Their Relationship With God.

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¹⁰ She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. ~ 1 Samuel 1:10

Oftentimes, in our distress, we go to our friends or family, and we rant. I know because that’s what I do. I do one of two things, I rant and rage when things go wrong. Or I go silent and keep it bottled up inside. Oftentimes, I don’t even take it to God. Why is that? Why don’t we go to God first when things go wrong? Don’t we want a healing? Answered prayers?

I think as humans, we feel comfortable in the dirt. Leaving our comfort zone of self-pity or anger is hard. I think we know that when we bring it before the LORD, He’ll take it from us and clean us. Which in hindsight sounds good, but when we really think about it, it’s hard to be cleaned.

We no longer get to stay in our dirty comfort zone. We now have to put our flesh in check. We have to put our pride, feelings, and sorrow in check. We have to leave them behind and put on humility, love, faith, and hope. Those things sound good, but they’re hard to put on. They’re heavy at first because our flesh is weak, our Spirit Man is starved, but when we begin to start bringing things to the LORD, we will see a change in our lives. We will see a change in us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Leave the Dirt.

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² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ~ Exodus 3:2-4

It wasn’t until Moses sought out to know why the bush was not burned that God actually called out to him. If Moses had just kept walking, he would’ve missed out on his call. But because he drew near to God, even though he didn’t know it, God drew near to him. All it took was Moses seeking out the Truth for him to indirectly seek out and find God.

So, many of us miss out on our call because we don’t seek out the Truth; we seek out our truth. Whatever we seek, we will find. When we seek evil, we will find evil. When we seek good, we will find good. When we seek our version of the truth, we will find false truth. When we seek the Truth, we find the Truth. We find God.

LORD God, help us to seek the Truth. Your Truth and not our own. Help us to never seek out what is false simply because it’s easier or because it’s what our flesh desires. Guide us on the path You have laid out for us, that we might abide in Your perfect love. That we might receive every good and perfect gift, You have in store for us. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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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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