Tag: Food For Growth

“¹⁷ But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin. ¹⁸ For though He wounds, He also bandages. He strikes, but His hands also heal.” ~ Job 5:17-18 ^NLT

When God disciplines us, it isn’t to destroy us. God corrects His children with love. He may take away, but He also gives. God doesn’t just leave us in our sin; He corrects us. Then when we are corrected, He brings us back into His presence. He takes the shattered, broken pot that most others would just throw away and molds us into a new and beautiful creation.

God doesn’t just leave us in our filth; instead, He guides us through His Holy Spirit into the life He has planned for us. God’s correction isn’t out of hatred; otherwise, we would have no second chance. We wouldn’t get chance after chance to make it right with God. His laws aren’t restraints; they are freedom. His discipline isn’t wrath; it’s love. Only a father who doesn’t love his child would allow them to blindly walk off the edge of a cliff to their death.

His laws aren’t a list of do’s and don’ts; they’re a guide to life. They keep us safe from harm. If God doesn’t discipline us, then He cannot be love. Don’t be discouraged or angry or even ashamed when you feel convicted; that is the Holy Spirit nudging you back onto the path to life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Ignore His Nudge.

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³¹ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ~ Isaiah 37:31

Every Christian’s goal is to bear fruit. Good fruit, fruit that will last. If we don’t bear fruit, we won’t receive rewards. Fruits are what separate the righteous from the unrighteous. Jesus said we would recognize false prophets by their fruits. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit, and a good tree cannot bear bad fruit.

So, what does it mean to produce fruit? Proverbs 20:11 says, “¹¹ Even a young man is known by his actions–whether his conduct is pure and upright.” Therefore, fruits are your actions, good or bad. It’s what you do and not necessarily what you say. People make beautiful promises that they never intend to keep. They can’t because a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. They describe the devil as having a silver tongue. Meaning, he is skilled in persuasion. He makes it sound beautiful and appealing, even desirable. But the intent is vastly different, and the end is death. So, good fruit is so very important, but how do we produce it. We cannot produce good fruit above without taking roots below.

Now, what does that mean? Jesus told a parable about the sower who went out to sow his seed. He said, “but when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.” Our roots, therefore, are our belief and faith in the good soil, which is the Word of God, that we are planted in. If the soil is good or fruits are good. The more nutritious the soil, the more abundant the fruit. The sweeter and better the fruit. The greater our faith, the greater the miracles. Jesus told the two blind men in Matthew 9:29, “²⁹ According to your faith let it be done to you.”

Get into a Bible-believing Church, who doesn’t restrain the power of the Holy Spirit but teaches that the same Spirit that raised Christ freedom the dead still dwells in us. And if He still dwells in us, His power had not diminished in the slightest. Grow those roots and bear those fruits in Jesus’ name.

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“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” ~ Matthew 4:1

A lot of people don’t realize that there is a difference between temptation and sin. The above Scripture goes on to say that Jesus was hungry, so He very much wanted something to eat. Therefore, His temptation to turn those stones into some nice soft yeast rolls with some good hot chocolate and have Himself a good ole time was very real. But He didn’t sin because He didn’t act on the temptation. Please understand that if the temptation is not appealing, then it is not a real temptation.

Jesus had just fasted 40 days in the desert and was starving, so tempting Him with a giant house wouldn’t be very tempting to a starving Jesus. The point is, in order to be a true temptation, it has to be appealing to the one being tempted, and that is not the sin. The sin happens when we act on those lustful desires called temptation. We know it’s not a sin, for Jesus was without sin, and He was tempted. So, don’t be discouraged when you are tempted; everyone is tempted, but stand strong and overcome as Jesus did.

Heavenly Father, give us the spirit of wisdom and discernment so that we may know the schemes and tactics of the evil one. Protect our minds from evil and lustful thoughts. And when we are tempted, help us to know that You will provide a way out so that we will never fall. Also, help us to understand that when we are tempted, we have not sinned. It is not until we have acted on those temptations that we have crossed the line into sin. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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“⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” ~ Exodus 20:8-11

We often overlook this commandment as unnecessary. We can’t see a need for it. Why is that? We see a need for all the other commandments except this one. I may be wrong, but was this not the first commandment God Himself observed? He rested on the seventh day. Now let’s clarify, the seventh day doesn’t have to be Saturday or Sunday, but the Seventh Day of your workweek.

For instance, if you work Friday through Wednesday, your Sabbath would be Thursday. Though I do like not working on Sundays, that’s not everyone’s reality as Pastors work Sundays. Therefore, their Sabbath could not be a Sunday. Here’s what I’m getting at, God created each of these commands for our benefit. And if God needed a day of rest, don’t you think you need one as well? Pastor Robert Morris once said, “God can do more in six days than you can do in seven.” So don’t overwork yourself; take time out to rest.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remember The Sabbath Day.

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“Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. ‘I know the Lord has given you this land,’ she told them. ‘We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.  No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.’” ~ Joshua 2:8-11^NLT

Rahab was a woman living in sin behind the walls of Jericho. Even though she didn’t know the LORD, she heard of Him and what He did for the people of Israel. Even behind the walls of Jericho, she was able to see God at work in the lives of the Israelite people. Imagine the walls of Jericho as a spiritual blinder keeping anyone inside of them cut off from any word of God. This is what the world is today. It’s surrounded by giant walls that try to keep out the Holy Spirit, but if we allow God to work in our lives, the walls of Jericho will begin to open, and they will be able to hear of the good news.

God can’t reach others without you. Though that sounds blasphemous, God doesn’t move without partnering with someone first. God could have easily destroyed Pharaoh, removed His people from Egypt, destroyed all the inhabitants of the land without Moses, Aaron, or Joshua, but God uses people. He uses us so that He can build a relationship with us and use that relationship to reach others. Allow God to do the miraculous through you so that His Name and His Greatness may be spread throughout the world, even passed the great walls of Jericho.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Your Legacy Point To God.

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“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:8‭-‬13

We often get caught up in the desire of the wicked to be punished, but what does that get us? Why do we seem to take pleasure in others being punished as if they deserve it more than we do? We were sinners, just like them. We deserve Hell just like them. It was only the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ that separated us from them. Yet, we still feel a satisfaction in the wrath of God. Why? We lack love.

Love has escaped our languages. Our theologies. Our culture. And our daily lives. What good is it to be a great prophet, preacher, teacher, athlete, policeman, firefighter, parent, etc., if you don’t have love? Without love, we have nothing. We can have the faith to move mountains, heal the sick, raise the dead, but what are we if we don’t love? We are the representatives of God Almighty, and God is love. So strive today to be LOVE to everyone.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Love.

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“¹⁹ And He said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” ~ Matthew 4:19

In part 1 of ‘Following Jesus’, I asked a question, “Could it mean to follow Jesus is to do what Jesus did?” Then I noted the two things that Jesus did the most; pray and evangelize. Every day Jesus was either in the Temple preaching and teaching or going from town to town preaching and teaching. Jesus said to follow Him, and He will make us fishers of men. In other words, He will help us to evangelize. How do we evangelize?

Jesus tells His disciples in Acts 1:8 that they will be His witnesses. And that’s the key. We have to witness. But how do we witness? All we have to do is to tell someone what Jesus has done for us. Jesus told the demoniac in Luke 8:39 to go home and tell how much God had done for him. The result was, the next time Jesus was in town, all the people came out to see Him. There is no right way or no wrong way to witness. All you have to do is tell how you use to be and how Jesus has changed your life for the better. It’s not your job to convict; that is the Holy Spirit’s job. Your job is to tell how much the LORD has done for you.

So, let me be clear because I know a lot of Christians don’t like to evangelize. They don’t like to talk about Jesus outside of Church, but how would we win the world to Christ if we don’t? The world tells us to be quiet; it is not politically correct to speak that name. Well, Peter and John were told that same thing. They were even beaten, thrown into prison, and yelled at, but they replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God” (Acts 4:19). In other words, Peter and John were saying, “This is our only responsibility, our act of worship. This is what we are called to do, and we don’t want to be found not doing what we are supposed to be doing when our Savior comes again.”

Let me tell you if you want to see God’s glory; if you want to hear from Jesus, you must do these two things. You have to pray, and you have to witness. You will never see miracles until you begin to witness, and you will never be the most effective witness until you engage in prayer.

Father, give us the desire to witness. Give us the boldness and the confidence to witness. LORD direct us to the person You would have us witness to today. Let us not miss the divine appointment You have set for us. We want to be found doing what You have commanded us to be doing when You return. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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“¹⁹And He said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men’” ~ Matthew 4:19

Could it mean to follow Jesus is to do what Jesus did? And the two things that Jesus did the most were: pray and evangelize. Notice what Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” When we follow someone, we essentially walk in their footsteps. Today we will take a closer look at prayer. Why we Christians find every excuse not to pray is beyond me. We let secular thoughts invade our prayer time, we let to-do-lists cut our time with God short, and the list goes on and on.

So what exactly is prayer? In a nutshell, it’s a two-way communication with God. It’s the time we spend with Him to pour out our hurts, our needs, our anxieties, our dreams, and our hopes. It is the time when we seek out direction for our lives. David, the man of God, had his whole family (his wives, his children, and all his possessions) stolen by the enemy. Our first instinct is to go after them. David’s first instinct, after weeping and mourning his loss, was to ask God for direction. “And David inquired of the LORD, ‘Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?’ (1 Sam 30:8a). And David got a clear answer. “He (God) answered him, ‘Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue’” (1 Sam 30:b).

This was not a fluke. Why, such a clear and definitive answer? David described himself as a man of prayer in Psalm 109:4. This was a way of life for him, not something he did only out of desperation. So, how do we get started? First, we find a place of prayer. Second, we set a time of prayer. Most pastors say that if you’re not a morning person, then set your time of prayer to night time. I’m not here to agree with the logic or wisdom in that, or the lack thereof.

What I’m saying is, Jesus got up early in the morning; before the sun came up, He was found to be in prayer. David declares in Psalms 3:5 that God will hear his voice in the morning. Could it be that we would rather schedule our time around our own likes and dislikes and our own schedules instead of scheduling around God’s desire? God wants our first of everything; I believe that includes the first of our day. Instead, we give it to the espresso machine or the coffee maker. But either way, begin with prayer at the time suitable for you, and let the Holy Spirit lead you into growth from there.

Father, give us a desire for prayer, and with the desire, teach us to pray. Help us not to let the enemy distract us from the time we should be spending with you. LORD, teach us to listen to Your voice, that we might get direction. And help us not to give up but to be diligent and consistent in prayer. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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“² to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. ³ For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.” ~ _­Titus 3:2-3

Sin is a manipulative partner that only takes and makes you feel bad when you want something more. It manipulates your thoughts, actions, dreams, beliefs, everything about you. As the Church, we shouldn’t be shocked when sinners sin. Neither should we push them away, but instead, we should show them love, so that they may see the ultimate love of God through us.

Often times, we judge the world harshly. We forget that we were once led astray by various passions, and it took someone’s love for us to show us the right way. We forget what it’s like to be caught up in the world, and we begin to look down upon the world instead of showing the world love as Christ first showed us love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let God’s Love Shine Through You!

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 “And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers.” ~ 2 Chronicles 11:16

Sometimes in life, we have to uproot and move to fulfill the need for the Presence of God. We have to leave everything behind, all that we are comfortable and familiar with, but moving to the place of His presence is the most important thing to do. Sometimes we may have to change churches and even have to move to a new country, new city, new school, new job, new career, leave friends and family, but chasing God and abiding in His presence is worth it all.

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