Tag: Spiritual

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Build On The Rock

Matthew 7:24-27

[24]  Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. [26] And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. [27] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

Over the years I’ve debated many different belief with many different people. Each and every debate started with the other person telling me I was wrong. And each time ended with me showing them Scripture after Scripture of why I wasn’t wrong to which they, 90% of the time, get upset, deflect, or straight up insult me then refuse to believe what the Bible says. Now, I don’t say all of this to make myself sound more than I am but show that it’s more important to base your beliefs on the Word of God than on our own personal opinions and feelings.

When we argue and debate on options and feelings instead of the word of God, it’s now no longer seeking Truth but seeking to prove yourself right out of pride. No matter how wise, smart, knowledgeable, or a genius we think we are, we cannot even compare to God’s foolishness, let alone his wisdom.

Therefore, build your life on the Word of God in Jesus, not on yourself. You, just like all of humanity, is only dust. We one day use all stand before the Creator and Judge wiser beyond comprehension or understanding. How can we try to compare ourselves to the Creator of knowledge and wisdom, when we are like the flower, here today and gone tomorrow?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build On The Rock.

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A Leader Matters

[12] Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. [13] But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. [14] Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” ~ Daniel 10:12-14NIV

When Daniel was in the land of Persia under the reign of the pagan leader his prayers were held up by spiritual beings in the heavenly realms that had authority over the land because of the king. Paul tells us to pray for our leaders and those in authority over us so that we have peaceful lives living in all godliness and holiness (I Timothy 2:1-2).

Therefore, when there is a president or leader in office that aligns with your views, it’s not the time to back off or relax. It’s time to push in because it’s at that time that we have more opportunity to get our prayers answered.

Dear LORD, please guide the hand of the leader of our nation and those who make the laws and judge our people. Please open their eyes to Your Truth and soften their hearts to things of Your Kingdom. Direct their paths that they might not seek evil but chase righteousness. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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Ignorance Destroyer

6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” ~ Hosea 4:6NIV

I heard a quote the other day that said, “The ignorance of the church is more dangerous for the culture than the decadence of the world” (Schaffer). God told the people of Hosea’s day that His people were destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. He went on to say that even though the number of priests increased in the land righteousness decreased. The people were engulfed and consumed with wickedness. They had given up the True God for idols of wood carved by their own hands. Today is no different.

The people of God today are consumed with other perversion, unforgiveness, hatred, fear, depression, and even the occult. Why? Apathy. The Church no longer cares about the Truth because if they acknowledge the Truth they’d have to change. They’d have to crucify their flesh. They’d have to I give up their own desires and truly follow the LORD God, so they embrace ignorance and allow apathy to control them. The religion that does not change you, cannot save you. Therefore, forsake your flesh and cling to the word of God.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for every time I’ve allowed my flesh to control me and numb me into apathy. Please be me to sacrifice my own desires for Your good and faithful plan for my life. Give me a desire for Truth, a hunger for knowledge, and a heart set solely on You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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Build Eternal

1 In early autumn, when the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled in Jerusalem with a unified purpose. 2 Then Jeshua son of Jehozadak joined his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with his family in rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel. They wanted to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as instructed in the Law of Moses, the man of God. 3 Even though the people were afraid of the local residents, they rebuilt the altar at its old site. Then they began to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar to the Lord each morning and evening. ~ Ezra 3:1-3NLT

The Temple was destroyed and the land laid waste in 586 BC. It stayed that way until King Cyrus the Great of Persia liberated them in 538 BC in his first year of reign after defeating the Babylonian Empire. Seventy years the Jews had spent in exile, living in a foreign land not their own, serving a pagan king.

After King Cyrus’ proclamation, a group of over 42,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest. Despite the mandate that King Cyrus had given the Jews living in all his kingdom to rebuild the Temple, they had not begun any work on the Temple thus far. Now, it may have been King Cyrus’ proclamation, but it was God’s mandate. The LORD God had mandated that the time had indeed come to rebuild His house. They had the finances. They had the skill. They had the help. They even had the Temple vessels for worship, because Cyrus had given them back. But still, no one was doing anything about it, including Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest.

They were all too busy building their own homes. Planting their own vineyards. Starting and running their own businesses. They had gotten caught up ‘in life.’ Yes, they had rebuilt the altar and were sacrificing on it. Yes, they were even celebrating the Feast of Booths in the seventh month, but the Temple … not so much. It hadn’t even been started.

Why? One word: Fear. Fear had gripped their hearts. Fear had stayed their hands. Fear kept them quiet. Fear stopped God’s work. The same is true with us today.

Why do we not witness? Because of fear of persecution. Why are we silent about issues that the Church should be involved in? Because of fear. Why do we not speak up about the insanity of so many different genders, although we know that it is not of God? We don’t speak up because of fear.

Although we know that the Scripture says that those who do such things will be condemned, still fear keeps our mouths shut. Listen, God said that He made man in His own image, male and female He created them, therefore, there is no other choice, it’s either male or female that is it, nothing else. You are either a man or you are a woman. You cannot be both, and you cannot change from one to the other, or to anything else for that matter. What you have is what you are.

It’s not about your feelings, it’s about the Creator and Judge of the whole earth, and He’s coming back soon. And it’s His laws that we will be judged by, not man’s. So, fearlessly build His Kingdom regardless of what mankind has to say. God’s Kingdom is the only Kingdom that will remain forever and ever; therefore, focus on the eternal and not the temporal.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build Eternal.

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LORD LORD

21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ~ Matthew 7:21NIV

I’ve noticed throughout the years that the identity of Christ becomes more and more skewed. More and more people twist, manipulate, and straight up lie about the identity, personality, and person of Christ. Why? To ease their own minds.

Jesus is often portrayed as a chill, peaceful, hippy who loved everybody and just wanted everyone to be happy. Others portray Jesus as an outlaw, biker gang type man who surrounded himself with only other outlaws and whores. I can’t lie, whenever I hear anyone make either of these arguments it infuriates me to my core. Why? Because each of these false representations of Christ would be corrected if only the person opened up their Bible and read even one Gospel in its entirety.

There are Christians being beaten, imprisoned, persecuted, and even murdered for reading their Bibles. Whereas we, over here in the West, especially in America, a country built on Christianity, won’t even read our Bibles to make sure our idea of our LORD, Savior, and God is Biblically accurate and sound. That infuriates me. We have so much freedom here in the West, yet we use that freedom to spout absolute foolishness about Jesus on our extremely large and influential platform and never once open the Bible to check if what we are telling our millions of audience/followers is true or not. It upsets me that we waste our time pushing a Jesus that doesn’t change anybody. A Jesus that doesn’t demand that we pick up our cross and follow Him. A Jesus that hangs out with sinners and says, “No. No. Don’t bother changing. I love you as you are.”

We no longer know Christ in the Church because we no longer read His Word to get to know Him. Jesus didn’t embrace sinners dwelling and enjoying and pushing their sin. Not one single time did Jesus ever do that. Jesus embraced every sinner that ran to Him, fell at His feet, and sought mercy. Then what did He do? He told them to go and SIN NO MORE, yet we don’t talk about that. Why? Because then we wouldn’t be able to use Jesus to defend our sinful way of living.

One day, we will all have to stand before the throne of Christ. Very early on in His ministry He was very clear, just because you know His name and believe He is the Christ the Son of the Living God, does not mean you will enter into eternity with Him. How you live your life matters.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the time I’ve wasted not getting to know You. I’m sorry for every time I’ve made an excuse for my own sinful ways and tried to justify it by falsely representing who You are. I’m sorry for any time I have refused to let go of something corrupting me. Please wash me clean. Give me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me. Hear my prayer, oh LORD, and reveal Yourself to me through Your Word. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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Crucify, Crucify

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ~ Galatians 5:24NIV

Yesterday, I got a massage with the massage gun for the first time in a very long time. As that pulsing gun hit my hamstring, I screamed, spun, pushed it away. I did anything I could to get away from it because it hurt. It was more than just unpleasant. Why? Because the massage guns break up muscle tension and knots. They even break down scar tissue and adhesions. So, when you haven’t felt that kind of pain in a while, it shocks your system and your brain screams “run,” which I did indeed try to obey.

This is much like crucifying the flesh. That first nail in the flesh causes it to scream and try to run away. It tries to convince you that it’s not necessary to do it. It’ll try anything to get you to stop, but just like the massage gun, the more you allow the pain to happen, the less it hurts.

The more we crucify our flesh, the easier it becomes. The more we crucify our flesh and then build up our spirit, the more we walk in the ways of the Spirit. Therefore, don’t stop at the first flinch. Don’t stop at the screams. Keep crucifying the flesh, so that the passions and desires of the flesh can no longer control you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Crucify Crucify.

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Cast Your Bread

1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. ~ Ecclesiastes 11:1

King Solomon tells us to cast our bread upon the water and it will return to us in many days. This, in many ways, is King Solomon’s version of ‘you shall reap what you sow.’ Now, I realize that this portion of Scripture is normally applied to finances in specific, but it can also be applied to other things in general.

What if we applied this verse to soulwinning? Let’s consider this thought for a moment … Jesus is the bread of life. He said plainly that He was the living bread that came down from heaven in John 6:51. As a matter of fact, all through the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus identifies Himself as either the True Bread or the Living Bread. In fact, several times in this chapter, chapter 6, He refers to Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6:33, 35, 48, 51, 58).

So, with that in mind, what if we cast Jesus, the Bread of Life, upon the waters, with the waters representing people, what would that look like? In other words, what if we shared the Good News of Jesus with people that we meet, and people that we know?

And the many days would represent the end of time, when Jesus comes back to judge the quick and the dead. Those who eat the bread that you cast upon the waters will be there to receive life from Jesus, and you will get the credit. So, in many days, because Jesus’ return is close at hand now, all your hard work will pay off, and you will reap a great reward for soul winning.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cast Your Bread.

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An Eternity In A Night

Leviticus 16:20-22 NIV

[20] “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. [21] He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. [22] The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

The night Jesus was betrayed, He and His disciples went up to the Mount of Olives. He asked the eight to stay there, but He took Peter James and John with him to pray a bit farther away. Then Matthew says He began to be sorrowful and troubled (Matthew 26:37). Then He tells these three disciples

My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.

Matthew 26:28

Then He went a throw away from them and prayed (Luke 22:40-42). Luke records that Jesus prayed earnestly til His sweat became like drops of blood on His head (Luke 22:44).

Now, Jesus has already faced the flogging, crown of thorns, and cross. I want you to understand that no matter how hard His mission was on this earth, that wasn’t what He was sweating blood over asking His Father to let pass from Him if possible. Think about it for a second. There’s Christians that have been skinned alive. Others have been impaled on a pole, covered in tar, and set on fire, all still while being alive. There’s others who have been ripped to shreds by wild animals. Christians have suffered much over the years. His own disciples have been boiled alive in burning oil, yet someone survived (John the Beloved).

Jesus would not expect us to carry a burden that He Himself tried to get out of. That He Himself sweat blood over. No. Jesus was sweating blood over fulfilling (well partly fulfilling) the Day of Atonement, which was to take the sin of the world upon Himself and carry it away to Azazel. Away from the presence of God.

There’s only one place in the afterlife described in such a way, Hell. Jesus was sweating blood because of Hell. He had to endure those flames of Hell itself in order to take away the sin of the world from us. So, the LORD Himself has to go to eternity outside of time and carry such a great sin away. This eternity didn’t feel like a set time but like eternity. Christ’s sacrifice didn’t end on the cross. His work wasn’t finished. He still had to carry away the sin of the world.

Dear LORD, thank You for taking my sin away from me. Thank You for freeing me from such a cruel slave master, such as sin. Thank You for loving me enough to sacrifice Yourself for me. Thank You, God, for Your never-ending love for me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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A Weary Spirit

It was now late at night. Jesus had just eaten. He had washed the disciples’ feet. He had instituted the LORD’s supper. They had sang a hymn on the way to the Mount of Olives, and now He was on the Mount of Olives. I never really thought about it before, but the LORD didn’t sleep His last night before this death in less than 24 hours.

Think about it. If it was your last night, what are you doing? Many would say all the things they hadn’t done that they could do in that last night.” Others say they would make sure their family knew they loved them.

Think about it for a second. Jesus did none of that. Jesus spent His last night before His death with His disciples preparing them for what for what was to come and in prayer to His heavenly Father. He didn’t go see His mother. He didn’t go see His siblings. He prepared His disciples and prepared Himself for what was to come.

How many of us would spend the last night of our lives on earth forsaking our freshly desires? I’m sure Jesus would’ve loved to be with His mother reassuring her it was all going to be okay. I’m sure He was exhausted and could do with a good nap.

Think about it. He was stressed and just spent the previous night and day preparing His disciples for the future. All of that would stress anyone out. It would cause anyone’s body to be exhausted, yet He didn’t sleep. He spent the night preparing. Jesus forsook the needs and desires of the flesh to tend to the desires and needs of the Spirit. Jesus understood His call. He understood His call.

A weary body can be dealt with, but a weary spirit, that’s something else.

Batman

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all of the times I’ve put the desires of my flesh above the needs of my spirit. Thank You for never leaving me nor forsaking me. Please help me to love You with all my heart, soul, and mind. Help me to pick up my cross and follow You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

 

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Are You Betraying Jesus?

22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. ~ Luke 22:1-6

It’s Wednesday, and Jerusalem’s still buzzing from Jesus’ grand entry on a donkey, hailed as king just three days ago. He’s been teaching daily, pouring out truth and love, even as the religious leaders plot against Him. But today, something darker stirs. Judas, one of Jesus’ closest followers, makes a choice that changes everything—he agrees to betray his Teacher for a handful of silver, 30 pieces. Can you imagine? Walking with Jesus, seeing His miracles, hearing His words, and still turning away. Luke says Satan entered Judas, but Judas opened the door, letting greed or disappointment take hold. Thirty pieces of silver—about four months’ worth of wages—was enough to trade the Son of God for a fleeting gain. It’s a heartbreaking moment, showing how close someone can be to Jesus and still miss His heart.

Yet, even on this day, Jesus keeps on teaching, keeps on loving, even though He knows He will be betrayed today. He knows that it is Judas who will betray Him. Around this same time, He might’ve shared the greatest commandment teaching: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-34). While Judas chose betrayal, Jesus called for devotion, showing us the way to true life.

Today, Wednesday, three days after celebrating Palm Sunday, let us look inside our own selves and ask, ‘Are we loyal to Jesus?’ Or ‘Do we let things like money, fear, selfishness, anger, or pride pull us away?’ Judas’ story isn’t just history; it’s a mirror. We all face moments where we’re tempted to trade Jesus for something less. Every time we are disobedient or break one of His commandments, we betray Him and sell Him out to the enemy, the devil. Even when we feel the urge to repent, but refuse, we betray Jesus all over again. But here’s the Good News, we have hope: Jesus knows our weaknesses, and He’s still calling us to follow Him, to choose love and loyalty before it’s too late. As the cross draws near, let’s recommit to Him, trusting He’s worth everything.

Take a few minutes today to identify at least one temptation that pulls you away from Jesus. Whether it is a habit, a worry, or a lingering desire, if it separates you from the Savior, repent of it and leave it behind. And pray for loyalty, so that you will not fall into temptation, as Jesus told His three disciples.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your steadfast love. Thank You that one day, because of Your great love for the world, You sent Your only begotten Son into the world, to die for us. Search my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me. Bring conviction on those things that I need to repent of and give me the strength to forsake them so that I might not betray the Savior with a kiss. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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