Tag: Spiritual

⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. ~ Genesis 4:7

As God told Cain, Sin is constantly at our door. There will never be a time when sin isn’t attacking us until Jesus returns for His bride. But we can defend ourselves against sin by doing what is just and right. And sin’s tactics haven’t changed from the beginning. With every sin, it’s the second glance, the second look that opens the door to the crouching sin. And all it needs is a small crack, a tiny little opening and in it comes like a flood.

This is where sin gets us, in our thoughts. In our fantasies. Because someone will say, I’m only looking to see, not to find. There is nothing wrong with looking as long as I don’t touch. Just remember, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is to get in and devour you. If you don’t shut it down at this point, you’ve 95% lost the battle.

We have to tear down every thought, opinion, word, and desire that is displeasing to God. We have to crucify the flesh with all of its pleasures and desires. We have to stand firm on the Word of God and make the firm decision to follow Him. That is the only way we will ever be able to overcome evil with good.

Dear LORD God, please give us the strength to overcome. Give us the desire to overcome. Let our hearts and our eyes not be swayed by the things of this world, but instead, may our heart’s desires be for You. May we strive for Your presence and Your love. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹ In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. ² It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. ³ And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. ~ 2 Samuel 11:1-4

Today’s laxness breeds tomorrow’s failures. King David had become lax. He wasn’t where he should have been, which led him to the sin he then committed. The Scripture says that it was the time when kings go off to war. Back in those days, it was the kings who led their armies into war. The king himself, or the emperor like Alexander the Great, led the charge themselves, slept in the field with their troops, ate the MREs, and were away from home and family along with their soldiers.

David led his army bravely as well, but on this occasion, he was not where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t with his troops. Instead, he stayed back at home and sent Joab out to do what he should have been doing himself. We, too, will fall into temptation when we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing.

We can liken this situation to a failure in his private time. This is a big one. When we fail to have private time, that is private prayer and worship and mediation; we will fail to have a public time. No one excels publicly until he/she first excels privately. The same is true in that no one falls publicly unless they first fall privately. What we do in the dark will be brought to light. Good or bad.

LORD God, help us to prepare ourselves privately that we might manifest Your light publicly. Give us the desire to worship You behind closed doors so that out in the open, others might see You through us. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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^12b But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. ~ 2 Timothy 1:12b

Paul doesn’t say he knows of whom he has believed in, but rather, he says he knows whom he believed. Making it a personal connection. It’s not like he just heard about God or that he knows God from a distance. It’s not like how we say we know the latest movie star or the popular musicians. We know about them, but we don’t actually know them, and they don’t know us.

But Paul, on the other hand, has a personal relationship with Jesus. He knows Jesus personally, and Jesus knows him personally. They have a personal relationship. This is the knowledge we need to have. Not what Jesus has done for someone else, but what He has done for me. We need to know God, like how Paul knew God.

Every day is a new battle for our souls, and every day someone will win that battle. Who we seek after and what we seek after will determine the outcome of each battle. We have to make sure that we are constantly seeking after God, just like we would our best friend, because there is no greater friend than God.

LORD God, please help me to seek You and love You as You alone deserve. Help me to yearn for a relationship with You like Paul and the early Church did. Help me to truly know You so that we might have the faith to stand each day in confidence, knowing who we believe. So that when trials and tribulations come, we can stand firm, unwavering from our faith in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁵² “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³ Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” ~ Matthew 26:52-54

Jesus could have used His divine power to achieve His objectives, but then He wouldn’t have been functioning as fully man, but as God, and God is not our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer because of how the law of Kinsman Redeemer works, and I’m saying this without challenging the fact that they (the Holy Trinity) are one and the same yet are all separate individuals.

Instead, He chose to act as a servant and use the Name of God instead of His own name or power. But before His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, He basically told His disciples something new, something better is coming your way; just wait and see.

Jesus took the impossible path so that we didn’t have to. This is where the work of the Holy Spirit comes in, as we invoke and use the name of our LORD Jesus. Because when we call on the name of Jesus, mountains move, demons flee, wounds are healed, and we are made new. Jesus gave us His name and His Holy Spirit so that we wouldn’t be left vulnerable and defenseless. When problems come, call on the name of Jesus. He overcame the world so that we could overcome through Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Move Mountains.

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³⁴ In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun. ~ 1 Kings 16:34

Remember when Joshua and the Israelites marched around Jericho thirteen times and the walls came tumbling down? He placed a curse on the place, on ruined city of Jericho, but according to 1 Kings, it was not Joshua’s own original thoughts, but the word of God that he proclaimed. Clearly, this was the power of proclaiming the word of the LORD.

Prayer is our greatest weapon in our arsenal, yet it is one we hardly ever use. And when we do use it, we use it with timidity, we handle it like it’s a complicated piece of technology. When prayer is talking to your heavenly Father and your heavenly Father talking back to you. It’s the power of the proclamation of God’s word, or better yet, claiming and speaking God’s word into your life, into your situation.

There is nothing too difficult for our God to do, therefore, all things are possible for him or her who believes. You just have to believe, and then proclaim. So, proclaim God’s word over your life, but please understand that proclamation is not a mantra. Proclamation is speaking the word of God with strength, power, and faith. This is God’s word to me and my family, or to my country, or whatever situation you find yourself in.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Proclaim The Word of God.

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³² But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³ sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴ For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. ~ Hebrews 10:32-34^ESV

The writer said, not only do you remember the joy you had after Salvation, but the compassion you had on those in prison. Here in the free world, it’s easy to forget that there’s persecution and torture that the underground Church is going through today. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to them because we don’t see them. Pastors don’t really highlight them. We’ve got our own stuff going on right here right now, nevertheless, how can we turn our eyes away from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?

We are called to love one another and pray for one another, yet oftentimes we don’t pray for the strength of God to fill the body of Christ. We don’t pray for the strength of the Church in the free world. And since we don’t have physical persecution here in the free world, we need to be willing to partner with those who are being persecuted and who are suffering for the name.

There are 100’s of thousands, maybe millions of Christians around the world, who suffer beatings, torture, killings, and even being an outcast in their families. All they ask is for us to pray for them and send them the tools they need to win souls: Bibles, bicycles, and Gospel literature. Let’s partner with our persecuted brothers and sisters and make a difference in their lives and communities.

Heavenly Father, we lift up our brothers and sisters who suffer daily for your name. They pay the ultimate price for being your witness. We pray for their safety and that they will have great success. Watch over the families whose husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons are imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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³² But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³ sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴ For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. ~ Hebrews 10:32-34^ESV

The writer said, remember when you first got saved, how happy and joyful you were. You were even willing to suffer insult for His name. That’s where we Christians today need to get back to. We need to get to the place where Jesus is the most important person/thing in our life so that He takes priority. So, that when we’re attacked for our faith, we don’t get offended and angry at our persecutors or God, but instead we rejoice and praise God that we were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.

Persecution of the Church is already happening all over the eastern world, and it will soon be all throughout the free world, here in the west, as well. We have to spiritually prepare ourselves so that we won’t be angry or fall away when persecution comes, but instead, we will rejoice and hold on to our faith so that we will hold on to the hope of eternity with our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, help us to hold to Your promises. Fill us with Your everlasting love that we may love those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we might be strengthened for the time of persecution coming. Teach us how to be as the first Church was. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

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⁵ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ⁶ And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷ Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. ~ Deuteronomy 6:5-7^NLT

God said we are to constantly talk about the things of God. The Romans picked up on that with their proverb “repetitio mater studiorum,” or “repetition is the mother of all learning.” We have to keep God at our center so that He can be our anchor in the storm. When our minds are constantly on other things, the fire within us dwindles. God isn’t going to stoke the fire for us. It’s our job to keep that fire in us burning through prayer, reading our bibles, worship, fasting, meditating on His Word, and discussing the Scripture.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We can’t understand everything on our own; otherwise, we’d be the entire body of Christ. It takes discussion and learning from each other to grow. Iron sharpens iron.

I’m not saying you can’t enjoy talking about something other than the Bible, but we can’t let the secular stomp out the spiritual. Our heart and our mind should always be set on God so that we won’t stumble. So that our fire won’t dwindle.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stoke The Flame.

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