Tag: Spiritual

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A Dangerous Test

18 And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’  ~ Numbers 11:18-20

The people of Israel have left Egypt and are now on their way to the Land of Canaan, but they have complained and grieved the LORD time and time again. This time, they complained that they missed meat. They even brought up the food they ate in Egypt, as slaves, I might remind you, going as far as to say that it was better for them as slaves in Egypt. This angered the LORD so much that He didn’t just give them what they whined and complained for, He turned it into a punishment.

It’s difficult for us to understand why the People of Israel were the way they were, but the Church today, really isn’t much different at all. We, just as the people of Israel, often return to or desire to return to slavery. Not physical slavery, but spiritual slavery. Paul wrote to the Romans:

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:15

Sometimes, we look at the things that were easy before Christ, before we were freed from the passions and desires of this world. We overlook how we were slaves to sin. Slaves to the passions of this world. And now that we have been freed, and have across to carry, a race to run, and a battle to fight before we reach our eternal Promised Land, we begin to grieve the LORD, just as the People of Israel did in the Wilderness, but instead of giving us so much meat that it comes out of our nostrils, He gives us over to our own passions. Paul gives the example of a first level of punishment:

4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5

18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 1:18-20

Then there is the final punishment from the LORD that comes from not just desiring your past sin, but justifying, affirming, and pushing those sins.

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Romans 1:21-32

It’s easy to look at the sins and mistakes of others and ignore our own. The sins of the past aren’t for the judgment of the future, but so that we might learn from them. Jesus said a very simple, but powerful statement/warning while being tempted in the Wilderness by Satan.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Not Put The LORD To The Test.

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Love God First

34 Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 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 10:34-39

These words are hard to grasp. In fact, I’d venture to say this is one of the hardest teachings Jesus has given us. It’s not just denying our own flesh but choosing Him above all others, including those we love most. See, a common theme we have in the Church today is Christians standing firm on the Word, until a loved one decides to live in sin. So, instead of loving the person, not the sin, they embrace the sin and begin to justify it, even by twisting and cherry-picking Scripture. Their love for that person overrides their love for God. When we choose others over God, we end up causing ourselves to never truly love anyone.

God is love. Without loving the LORD above all, we fail to truly love anyone. That love we feel we have for our loved are living in Sin that causes us to affirm their sin, isn’t true love. True love doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but in Truth. Christ is Truth. Teaching what the Spirit of Truth authored through the Scribes of the Scriptures is Truth. Someone’s feelings, emotions, thoughts, or desires aren’t Truth. And affirming these things isn’t love. It is hate in disguise.

Hatred will disguise itself as love and lead many to Hell. It will convince you that to do anything other than to accept and affirm is hatred. False love. Loving others more than the LORD God leads to a reprobate mind. The LORD demands we love Him above all, not because He wants to divide the family, but because He understands that He alone is perfect and is love itself. So, when you love Him first and put Him first, you will learn how to truly love others, just as God loves the World.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love God First.

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Identify To Root

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” ~ Mark 9:25-29NKJV

I have really bad allergies. I suffer all year round with no break. From Spring to Winter, allergies. So, I always have allergy tablets with me. In fact, usually, three different kinds at all times. Why? Because one size does not fit all. It all depends on the root of my issues in that moment, whether it’s pollen, some type of grass or plant, trees, or even food. Different root issue, different tablet. It doesn’t matter how many tablets I take; if it’s not the right kind, it will not work. The symptoms might all be very similar or even the same, but the source or root is the key.

See, my symptoms often present as a cold or flu, but again, no matter how many cold and flu tablets I take, my symptoms are not going away because they are never addressing the root or source of the problem. The spiritual realm is exactly the same way. No matter how many times you pray, if you do not fast, that mountain is not going to move. No matter how many times you pray, if you never worship, that harassing spirit is not going to loose you. No matter how many times you go to church, if you never spend time with God, you are not saved. There is no one-size-fits-all. No, one verse for every situation. You need to first identify the issue and then the source or root.

Too often, the Church just blindly says let’s pray about it and nothing else. Or come to church, and Jesus will fix it all. Yes, the Church is intended to be a hospital, but just like a physical hospital, you cannot cure each sickness, each illness, with the same prescription. You have to first identify the issue and then attack its root or its source. You can’t just say a prayer and expect everything to be fixed. Some things take fasting, some worship, others Scripture, others communion, others confession, and all overcoming is rooted in faith, prayer, and a relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Identify To Root.

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Plug Your Ears

Lamentations 1:12-16

[12] “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. [13] From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back; he has left me stunned, faint all the day long. [14] My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck; he caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand. [15] The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. [16] For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”

Jeremiah starts the book Lamentations mourning for Judah going into exile and Jerusalem being destroyed and ransacked. Then he says to the people “Is it nothing to you, all who pass by?” Jeremiah then switches his focus to himself and those pass by him without care, worry, or concern.

See, Jeremiah had just spent years prophesying warnings to the people of Judah and they did not listen, now God’s judgment had fallen on them. He had been persecuted by their own hands for his prophecies, and now that they have come to pass, they still have no care for him. Today, the Church is very similar.

Missionaries go to places we don’t want to go in order to share the Gospel, yet we, as a whole, have no care for them or their anguish. Some of us even belittle them and if they die, say it’s their own fault. It has become nothing to us to see the Church persecuted, oppressed, and/or killed.

We turn a blind eye to it. Why? Apathy. If it does not directly affect us, we don’t care. Our love has begun to grow cold. Jesus said, “They (the world) will know you by your love for one another,” yet, we love only ourselves. We are like those who passed by Jeremiah without even giving him out the situation a second thought.

See, apathy lulls its victims to sleep so that they never even feel their own spiritual death. It’s like the scene in the Jungle Book. Mowgli is lulled to sleep by Kaa so that when Kaa went to strike and devour Mowgli he was unaware. Completely subdued, unable to fight back or defend himself. It takes Bagheera intervening to save Mowgli.

Apathy is a dangerous foe. It doesn’t beat you down like other strongholds. It plays the ally as it seduces you. So, quiet its lullaby. Follow the words of Christ and love your brother/sister. Pray for missionaries and the Underground Church. Don’t turn a blind eye to them or their pain.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Plug Your Ears To Their Lullabies.

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Beware The Other Attack

9 So Moses told the people of Israel what the LORD had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery. ~ Exodus 6:9 (NLT)

Notice what the verse says: they refused to listen anymore. It’s not that they couldn’t. Or that they struggled to. It’s that they wouldn’t. They flat-out refused—they would not listen anymore because of their dire situation.

Sometimes your situation and your circumstances can push you so far down. You feel like you can’t even get back up. It certainly did to the Israelites. They had become too discouraged. They didn’t feel like going to church. They didn’t feel like getting involved. I’ve got too much going on, brother. You don’t know what it’s like. You haven’t experienced this before.

That is what discouragement does—but God’s promises don’t stop speaking, even though we stop listening. Discouragement is one of the enemy’s favorite weapons—because he can’t. He cannot stop God. So, he tries to stop God’s people from listening and believing, and so he brings in discouragement. Things always seem to get worse just before they get better.

For Moses, slavery worsened. The people turned on him. Pharaoh’s heart hardened. See, discouragement makes us stop listening. It makes us doubt. It spreads like gangrene. Look at how it made the Israelites react. They stopped listening. I don’t care what you have to say, Moses. I don’t want to hear it. I’m done. They had lost hope.

See, if the enemy can get you to stop listening, he can get you to stop hearing, and when you stop hearing, your faith is stolen. So, keep your eyes on Christ. Keep your eyes on your promise. Don’t let the enemy steal your hope. Keep going. Fight for the promises the LORD has given to you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop The Enemy From Stealing Your Promises.

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Pay Attention To What You Do

Exodus 34:6-7

[6] The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

There’s currently a bit of an imbalance in the ecosystem of Florida. Burmese Pythons, Anacondas, Lion Fish, and even Green Iguanas have negatively impacted Florida’s ecosystem. Why? Because they have no natural predators, so they breed and eat freely without restraint. That means that they are multiplying faster than other species in the area and they are consuming more than other species in the area. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time.

How’d this begin? A few exotic pet owners let their exotic pets go in the wild, fully believing it would have no impact on anyone else. When we introduce a foreign organism to an ecosystem that cannot sustain, that foreign organism begins to take over. The spiritual realm is no different.

When we open doors in ourselves through our actions, it affects more than just us. It affects those around us as well. And depending on the door we open, generations to come. So often we see generational curses plaguing families. Generation after generation. Alcoholism, abuse, addiction, greed, violence, anger, depression, anxiety, fear. We pass down spiritual doors that we don’t even realize. Things we turn a blind eye to because we don’t think it affects anyone but ourselves. But it does.

There is no such thing as an action that affects only you. Generational curses are real, so be careful the doors you open in your life and the lives of those around you. And those who will come from you in the future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To What You Do.

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Stay In God’s Plan

Matthew 7:21

21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

I recently heard a Catholic exorcist say, “God has a plan for you; so does the Devil.” This is an interesting concept. We often think about the LORD having a plan for us, but we don’t really think about the Devil having a plan for us as well.

See, the Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. In fact, a lot of the time it seems good. It seems like a good idea. Like our own idea.

It could be as simple as staying home instead of going to war (King David) or numbering the kingdom (King David). These in themselves, weren’t evil, but because they weren’t a part of the LORD’s plan, they were evil and brought great consequences upon David and his household.

Sometimes the Devil’s plan looks a little more mischievous like saying you sold something for one and amount when you really sold it for another amount (Ananias and Sapphira), and as innocent as making a sacrifice instead of being obedient from the beginning (King Saul).

The Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. It doesn’t even have to be an evil action. All he really wants is for us to be outside of the will of the LORD. Why? Because Jesus warned us that it’s only those who do the will of the Father that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So, be careful not to be distracted by the enemy. Be careful not to miss God’s plan for your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay In God’s Plan.

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Stay Prepared

 

If you’ve read a few of our devotionals, you know that The Hobbit is one of my favorite trilogies. One thing I love in the series is how Dain, Thorin’s cousin, comes prepared to battle the elves, specifically. See, the elves are masters at hand to hand combat, but they are also masters at archery. Their archers send perfectly coordinated arrows into the air at their opponent, that it takes out much of the army before the even reach the elves. Dain’s army prepared for this.

They created large arrows that spun a large chain of sorts around the arrow like a propeller. When the elves shot their arrows, the dwarves shot these special arrows that destroyed the elve’s arrows, and the large arrows impact killed many elves when it landed.

The dwarves studied their enemies. They knew their gameplan, so they prepared for it. They planned for it and when the time came, they defeated their enemy. We have to do the same.

See, we are not unaware of the Devil’s schemes. We know how he attacks. What his go to jabs are, so we have to prepare for them. We have to get ourselves ready. We train our spirit man through prayer, fasting, memorizing Scripture, worship. We memorize Scriptures that help us when we are tempted. We know what the Devil likes to attack, so we prepare for it their Scripture. That way we are never caught unaware. Never caught by surprise. Always prepared to defend ourselves no matter what comes our way.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay Prepared.

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A Key To Success

Proverbs 6:6-11

[6]  Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. [7]  Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, [8] she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. [9]  How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? [10]  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, [11]  and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Success can be fleeting, or it can be seized through focus, action, and purposeful intent. Success is drawn to the diligent and the hardworking, but it avoids—and even evades—the sluggard and the faint of heart, slipping past those who hesitate like sand through the fingers, leaving only memories of what could have been.

It refuses to come to those who merely call from a distance, but runs swiftly toward those who chase and pursue it with relentless diligence, like a river rushing to fill a dry and weary land.

In short… success responds to intentional effort, not passive desire. So… get up and chase it. Don’t wait for it to knock or for everything to be perfect; it never will.

Success is a stubborn heifer that refuses to plow if left unprodded; therefore, chase success with all your strength and with the full intention of capturing it, no matter the cost.

Wake up every morning with success on your mind and in your heart, aligned with what God has for your life. But never sacrifice your relationship with God or your family, or your integrity.

Our Christian success is not independent of God, but is centered in God. Therefore, our vision and our goals must be rooted in Christ. They must find their existence in Him because we find our existence in Him, “For in Him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:28a).

We don’t bring our plans to God and demand that He bless them, but instead, we come to God and ask Him to bless us with His plans and vision for our lives and our ministry.

So, today, let us apprehend that for which we have been apprehended, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippian Church (Philippians 3:12). Because, in reality, Christian success is not self-made, but is fulfilling the purpose that Christ has apprehended, or saved us for. Therefore, when you become as desperate for God and for Jesus, as for your next breath of fresh air, then success is halfway achieved.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Not Sacrifice Him. 

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Understand The Relationship

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ~ Psalms 23:1

Psalms 23 is the most well-known psalm written. It includes some of the most recited verses in all of Scripture. In it, David described the LORD as his shepherd. In describes a very personal, intimate, loving relationship between him and God. He doesn’t say the LORD is my master; I shall not want. He doesn’t say the LORD is my King; I shall not want. No. David says the LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In other words, because the LORD is my shepherd, I have everything that I need. I don’t have to worry about anything because He has me.

David chose this analogy because he understood the love of God. See, David was a shepherd himself. He understood how much the shepherd loved his flock. He knew that the shepherd would do anything to protect the flock, including putting himself in harm’s way in order to defend the flock. David knew this firsthand. He killed the lion. He killed the bear. Not just for the sake of hunting, but for the sake of defending his flock.

David, a shepherd, compared the relationship between the LORD and us to that of a shepherd and his flock because David didn’t just know the love of a shepherd, but the dependency of a sheep. See, the she-bear is ferocious. She will destroy anything that comes towards her cub, BUT the cub will one day grow up and no longer need the she-bear to protect it. One day, it will outgrow its mother. The sheep, however, never outgrow their shepherd.

They are dependent on that shepherd. They will forever need that shepherd because they only come when that shepherd calls. If they wander off, they need to depend on that shepherd coming to find them, or they’ll be destroyed by predators. They have to depend on the shepherd to defend them from lions, bears, wolves. The sheep always need the shepherd, which is why our shepherd will forever and ever dwell with us on the New Earth for all eternity.

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Revelation 21:1-8

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Understand The Relationship.

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