Tag: Spiritual

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Pray With Intent

[11] And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ~ Genesis 1:11

When God spoke to create, He was specific and intentional with His speech. He made it clear so that nothing could be taken out of context or misunderstood. He over-explained “fruit trees bringing forth fruit that is from its seed and kind.” When we speak, we have to be intentional with our words. We have to speak intentionally and pray intentionally. God created almost every single thing just by speaking. Therefore, words are powerful.

When we pray, are we praying specifics or generalities? When we ask God for something, are we specific in our prayers or are we more general? LORD bless me. What do you mean by that? What do you want the LORD to do for you? How do you want Him to bless you? When we pray, we often times don’t see results because our prayers are too vague. Too general. If we want to see our prayers being answered and God moving in our lives, we have to be more specific and intentional with our prayers. We have to put more effort and thought into our prayers.

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a loving and patient God. That You don’t just write me off when I mess up, but that You show me and guide me to the Truth. LORD, please help me to become specific in my prayers. Teach me  how to pray prayers that will move You on my behalf, oh LORD God. Give me the words that I might get Your attention. Help me to not just be general in my prayers but to pray bold, specific, intentional prayers that moves You, oh LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Ovid’s Hate

Matthew 23:13, 15

[13]  But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. [15] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Luke 11:52

[52] Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.

Myths, religions, beliefs, etc., all interest me. What people believe and why they believe it always piques my interest. One ancient story that I find interesting is the ancient Greek story of Medusa. Medusa was one of three monstrous sisters with wings, scaly bodies, fangs, and brass or bronze hands. Hideous and frightening to look at, whose gaze turned its victims to stone. And most notably, snakes for hair. In the original Greek myth, they were always monstrous beasts. Hideous. Ferocious. Terrifying. But 700-800 years later, a Roman author changed Medusa’s story.

Ovid, an ancient Roman poet, wrote in his Narrative Poem “Metamorphoses” that Medusa was once a beautiful woman desired even by the gods. One day, Poseidon (Neptune), the god of the sea, raped Medusa in the temple of Athena (Minerva). Instead of finding comfort, peace, or empathy from the goddess, being that it took place in her temple, Medusa was cursed by Athena (Minerva). She turned the locks of her hair into snakes and turned her gaze into a petrifying gaze that turned those who looked upon her into stone. So, why the change?

Ovid was exiled by Emperor Augustus around 8 AD. Because of this, he took gods who were originally just, wise, and trying to do good by the people, and turned them into the villains of the story. His anger and chip on his shoulder, stemming from his exile by the emperor, led him to distort the gods’ very depiction, character, and desires. His story is the one portrayed today, not the original. It’s the one used by women in the feminist movement. It’s the one society knows, yet it’s not the original. To this day, it is used to show why gods are all evil at their root and/or even the idea of a loving god is folly.

One man changed the legacy of the gods for millennias. Today, in the church, this happens as well. People who have been hurt push their ideologies into the Word of God. They distort characters, peoples, the gods of old, and the LORD God Himself. They allow their own thoughts, opinions, and feelings to influence their judgment. To influence their understanding. So, they lean not on God or His intention of His Word. They lean solely on their own understanding, desires, hurts, and hearts.

When we do this, we corrupt the Truth. We distort God’s Word for ourselves and others. We become a hindrance to those seeking the Truth and a pitfall to those who hate the same way.

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a forgiving and merciful God. A God that loves and gives Himself for His people. One of patience, mercy, and grace. Please forgive me for distorting Your Word. For allowing my feelings, pain, hurt, heart’s desires, and hate to confuse and distort my understanding of Your Word. Please forgive me. If I have led others away with any false belief, please forgive me and show them the Truth of Your Word. Teach me Your Truth and not my own. Hear my plea for understanding and wisdom, for You give to anyone who will ask and seek diligently. Teach me, oh LORD. Hear me from Heaven. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Pray For Your Persecutors

23  A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly. ~ Proverbs 12:23

Posting videos online comes with people hating you for absolutely no reason other than they ultimately hate God but can’t get to Him, so you’re the next best thing. We recently got a span of sixteen hateful comments from two random people (hiding behind fake names) having a conversation about how much they hate “Christ-tards” and our God. One explained that God had to be evil to create something as cruel as winter because only the rich can enjoy it, and the poor homeless people suffer. The absurdity of the messages just kind of blew my mind. How silly they sounded while thinking they were wise and enlightened beyond their years. The other made claims of how evil God is and how God Himself claims to create evil in the Bible.

These kinds of comments no longer anger me but genuinely confuse me. If you hate a religion or group of people that much, why are you watching their videos and going out of your way to let them know you hate them and their God (which, by the way, they claim they don’t believe in)? It makes no sense. There’s no reasoning in it. But that’s what happens when you allow hatred and ignorance to consume you.

Hatred is blinding and numbing. It blinds you to the Truth so that you can dwell in the lies that stir and flame the hatred within you, so you never truly realize you are even ignorant in the first place. When hatred gets a hold of you, there’s little wisdom and understanding can do to help. Now, it’s up to the LORD to change your heart. It’s up to the LORD to soften your heart, but He’ll never do it against your will. He will never do it unless you want to know the Truth and not your own twisted version of it.

What a slippery slope hatred is. One that leads to death. One that few are able to return from. Debate and Truth cannot help alone, but coupled with prayer and faith, anything is possible. That is why we love those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us, and we bless those who curse us. We do not return railing for railing, but instead we turn the other cheek, and we love, even when it’s difficult and feels impossible, we love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray For Your Persecutors.

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Don’t Sleep On God’s Plans

Genesis 5:28-29

[28] When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son [29] and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”

From Adam to Noah is ten generations. Lamech (Noah’s father), when his wife gave birth to Noah said that he would bring relief to the people. Lamech didn’t know how, but he knew something was special about Noah. Something was different about this newborn baby. Lamech’s spiritual eyes were opened, and he was in tune with the Spirit.

Noah ended up being the sole reason eight persons survived the flood. Survived the punishment of God upon sinful mankind. Noah not only fulfilled his father’s prophecy about him but he fulfilled being the tenth from Adam.

See, 10 is the number of covenant. It is Noah whom God makes a covenant with because of his righteousness and obedience. It’s because of Noah that God made a covenant with all on the earth that He would never flood it again.

Noah truly lived up to his name, the prophecy, and his place in his generation. Are you? Are you living up to what the LORD has laid out for you? Yes, it’s difficult because of distractions, temptation, etc. but is that truly an excuse? Noah lived in a time that was so evil and wicked, filled with temptations and distractions that God destroyed all of them except for eight people. Noah’s day and age was difficult as well, but his desire was to please God, not please man.

Today, ask yourself, who am I trying to please? Others? Myself? God? Whose plans for my life do I want to follow? God’s or man’s? God has plans for our lives, but so does mankind. But God’s plans are for our good and not our harm. Plans to give us  and a future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Sleep On God’s Plans.

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The Benediction

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our LORD Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. ~ Hebrews 13:20-21

These two verses are the writer’s benediction over his readers. A benediction is the declaration of God’s blessings over His people. It is usually pronounced by the pastor just before he dismisses the congregation after a church service. And this, being December 31st, the last day of this Old Year, it is totally appropriate for us to declare the blessings of the LORD over you.

So, as we close out this Old Year, 2025, we look forward to a New Year, with peace, joy, hope, and the love of our God all around us, and in us. May the LORD God Almighty, the Father of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ, equip you with every good thing that you need to accomplish His will, and complete the work that He has called you to do. May His presence always be felt, His peace enjoyed, and His love eternally experienced. For the LORD is good and His mercies are everlasting.

Our Heavenly Father, we give You thanks for sending Your Son, Jesus, our Redeemer, to die on the cross so that we might live. Thank you, LORD Jesus, for loving us and being obedient to the Father. In this coming New Year, help me not to miss opportunities, nor waste time, nor ignore divine appointments, nor overlook the little things in life that You send me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Learn What Grieves Him

7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ~ Genesis 3:7-8

Genesis chapter three records the fall of man and the first thing that happened to him. Their innocence was immediately lost, and guilt and shame immediately entered in. And did you notice what the very first thing they did? They tried to cover it up by sewing fig leaves together to make coverings for themselves. But who knows that only the blood of Jesus can help us with that?

So, obviously, that did not work for them, for as soon as they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden, Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves from the Presence of the LORD, still wearing the makeshift clothes made out of fig leaves. But it made no difference. They still felt shame and fear.

It’s no different today. You know… if you have a relationship with the LORD… you know when you have grieved His Holy Spirit. You know when you’ve stepped over the line. And here’s something else: what will grieve the Holy Spirit with me won’t grieve the Holy Spirit with you. And likewise, what grieves the Holy Spirit with you won’t necessarily grieve the Holy Spirit with me. To each his own, and you had better be aware of grieving God’s Holy Spirit.

So, just as Adam and Eve were warned of the sin they were to not commit, we too are warned of the sins we are not to commit. If we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit, we best learn what grieves Him and what draws Him closer to us. It’s not for each one to simply just decide right from wrong for themselves. We have been given the Word of the LORD. We have His Word, and He has written His Law on our hearts, so we are without excuse on that final day when we will stand before the LORD and give an account of our lives. When we will have to answer to the LORD Himself for our actions. What we have done and what we did not do.

Therefore, learn the Word of the LORD. Put His Word into practice. Stir up the Spirit and His gifts. Don’t just take hope for granted. Learn who the LORD is and what He demands of each of us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn What Grieves Him.

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Pursue Holiness

Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the Lord? ~ Isaiah 42:19NASB1995

If you really take a moment to think about this statement by the LORD, it is pretty frightening. He is not talking about the blindness or the deafness of these heathens, or those who hate Him. No, God is talking about His own people, His own servants. These people who are supposed to be following and working for Him. The one who should have a close relationship with Him. But instead of closeness, we find distance. Instead of intimacy, we find lukewarmness.

Just because we claim a relationship with the Almighty God does not mean we have one. God’s people, the ones who should know Him intimately and serve Him wholeheartedly, are the very ones who are trampling the blood of Jesus underfoot and making the name of the Holy One something common. That’s why God asks the question in Isaiah 1:5, “Why will you be struck anymore?”

In other words, why continue to rebel after He has redeemed you with His own blood, and now you’re receiving just punishment, punishment that He takes no pleasure in. It is not God’s will that anyone perish, but all come to repentance. But we refuse to draw close to God because we love the pleasures of the world. Let us forsake evil and turn from lukewarmness and cling to God in pursuit of holiness.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pursue Holiness.

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Stay Ready

2 Timothy 4:1-2 NIV

[1] In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: [2] Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

This is Paul warning Timothy to always be prepared. See, Timothy was the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father. Paul actually had to circumcise Timothy because the Jews they were going to only knew his father was a Greek. Timothy ends up being set up as a leader of the Church by Paul to ensure they don’t stay from sounds doctrine while he’s gone.

Paul’s warning was about keeping watch and not repeating the mistakes of his people. See, just a few years back the people of Israel denied and rejected the Messiah. They went as far as to have Him crucified by the Romans. Jesus came at a time they didn’t expect as a person they didn’t anticipate.

Jesus showed the severity of their spiritual slumber when He walked past the fig tree (out of fig season) and cursed it for not bearing fruit when its maker/creator walked by. This was symbolic of the Jewish people. Jesus, their God became man and dwelt among them, yet they didn’t see Him. They couldn’t recognize Him. They were spiritually asleep.

Paul was warning Timothy not to repeat their mistakes. Paul was warning Timothy to stay ready. See, we don’t know when the LORD will call on us to do something, to witness to someone. Teach a lesson. Share the Gospel. Or change our lives completely. God’s timing isn’t always our timing.

So, we have to make sure we are always awake. On guard. Watching. Praying. Seeking. And never sleeping. Regardless if we are in season or out of season. Regardless of whether it’s expected of us by those around us or not. Whether we have a platform or not. Whether we are wining in life or not. We are to be ready for God to call us regardless of the time or season.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay Ready.

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Be Spiritually Awake

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. ~ Matthew 1:18-25

Mary and Joseph weren’t together at the time of her conception. They were simply betrothed to one another. Joseph, when Mary was found to be with child, was going to divorce her quietly, but an angel came to Joseph in a dream explaining the matter to him.

Joseph then took Mary home as his wife. Joseph could have easily divorced Mary and refused to believe the dream. He could’ve easily just written it off as his heart’s desires and hope of Mary’s innocence, but he didn’t. He awoke from his dream and chose to believe the words spoken to him. Why? I believe it was because he was actively awaiting the Messiah. He was actively seeking God’s promises, so his spirit man was fed and on high alert.

Though his revelation came to him in a dream, Joseph wasn’t asleep. Spiritually, that is. He was on guard. Watching. Waiting. Hoping for the Messiah. If an angel came to you to give you insight, would you be spiritually awake enough to recognize that the dream was from God? Or has slumber taken you, numbing your spiritual awareness?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Spiritually Awake.

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The Ultimate Christmas Gift

16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16

John 3:16 isn’t usually thought of or seen as a Christmas verse, but when you think about it, this is a perfect Christmas verse. It’s literally Jesus proclaiming that because the Father loves us, He gave us His one and only Son (Jesus), fulfilling His promise from so many years ago. It’s Jesus literally saying all of those promises from Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, etc. have finally been fulfilled. “Here I am, the perfect gift. The ultimate Christmas Gift.”

This Christmas, as you finish your Christmas shopping, take a moment to think about the ultimate gift. Does your family have the gift? Do they know Jesus? Do they believe in Him and follow Him? Most importantly, does He know them?

Christmas is a time of family, friends, goodwill towards men, charity, gift giving, and hope, but without Christ, we have nothing. No hope. No purpose. Nothing. So, this Christmas, take the time to share the ultimate gift with others.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Embrace The Ultimate Gift.

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