Monthly Archives: February 2020

February 14, 2020 · 5:43 AM

God Loves You

Ever since we were children we’ve sang the song, “Jesus Loves Me This I Know”. It’s got a catchy tune, and to be honest, I hope it gets stuck in your head today. This timeless classic speaks an eternal truth that all of us need to know and remember. On a day where love is celebrated, I think it’s important to remember the greatest love of all – God’s love for you. While we give cards, chocolate and flowers to show our love, God gave us His one, and only Son. His gift to us was representative of the love He has for us, and it was done in order to restore our relationship to Him.

Today, there are many people in the world who feel unloved. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You are loved beyond measure, and by the only one who matters. Yes, it’s nice to have the love and affection of another human, but no human could love you as deeply or give you so generous as gift as God did. Plus, there is nothing in all of creation that could separate you from His love, nor is there anything you can do to make Him love you more or less. He loves you for who you are, so you don’t have to pretend to be someone else. While the world celebrates love today, we have an even greater reason to celebrate it. We are each loved by God, and that’s worth celebrating each and every day of the year.

Here are some Bible verses on God’s love for you.

1. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:5 NLT

2. So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!

Romans 8:38-39 TPT

3. The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.] By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him.

1 John 4:8-9 AMP

4. But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!

Romans 5:8 GNT

5. This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted…

John 3:16-18 MSG

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February 13, 2020 · 5:30 AM

A Love That Endures

When we think of the story of Joseph and Mary, it’s usually not at Valentine’s Day. They’ve got Christmas and that’s about all we give them. However, when I think of love stories in the Bible, theirs always comes to mind. Theirs wasn’t a fairy tale love, it was real. It showed that love endures hard times and difficult situations. We don’t know a lot about their story, but the parts that we do know show that their love survived what could have been a disastrous occasion.

Imagine being engaged to someone and then you seemingly found proof that they were cheating on you. What happens next? For most of us, we make a public scene and try as hard as we can to embarrass the other person because we want them to hurt as bad as we do. Joseph didn’t have that same attitude when he found out that Mary was pregnant. He knew it wasn’t his because they planned to be virgins until their wedding. Instead of blowing up and taking out his hurt on her, he let love lead the way.

In Matthew 1:19, we read, “Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.” In the Message Bible, one of the ways it describes love in I Corinthians 13 is, “Love doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others.” Joseph demonstrated this kind of love towards Mary. He didn’t act the way he could have acted because he truly loved her and acted out of love even when he was hurt.

A love that endures doesn’t fly off the handle when it thinks it’s been wronged. It follows what we read in I Corinthians 13. It acts selflessly and always look for the best in others. We shouldn’t be so quick to fly off the handle at those we love. We should be extending them the grace we expect. We can learn a lot from a young couple who had the biggest responsibility and pressures of any parents ever. They had a love that lasted because they understood how to act out of love when things got difficult. It’s a great example that we should follow.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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February 12, 2020 · 5:51 AM

Transformed By The Bible

Have you ever boiled water? I know it’s a silly question, but if you have, you have added things to it. Think about what happens when you put a carrot in boiling water. What happens? After a little while, the carrot gets soft. What happens when you put an egg in boiling water? It becomes hard of course. Water has two different effects on those objects. Now, what happens when you add ground up coffee beans to boiling water? You get coffee. The difference here is that the water doesn’t change the coffee beans, the beans change the water into something different. There are many things in life that you have the power to change, but there are also things that you allow into your life that change you.

One of the things that changes us is the Bible. The more you read it and put it into your mind, the more it has the ability to change you. If you want it to get into your heart and permeate your entire being, then you need to go beyond reading it. You need to meditate on it. Meditating on God’s Word is simply taking a verse or passage and thinking, “What does this really mean? What is God wanting me to learn from this? Why did He include this in the Bible? How can I apply this to my life? How would things change if I lived this out? How can I help others understand this better and help them to apply it?” Asking these questions helps you break down powerful spiritual principles into bite sized chunks. It also allows God’s Word to get into every area of your being fundamentally changing who you are from the inside out.

Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (AMP). Reading the Bible should not be considered a box we need to check in order to be a better Christian. It should be part of your transformation into a new creature. It gives us wisdom in how to live our lives, love others and to build up other believers. It is the foundation for the life we’re called to live. When we let it have its home in us and in our minds, it will change us into overcomes.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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February 11, 2020 · 5:55 AM

Make Today Count

Back in 2005, I started a job as a sales rep for a Fortune 15 company. I was new to the industry and to using a POS system. My boss paired me with one of the reps to shadow. One morning, we both were on the opening shift. While customers lined up outside waiting to get in, he grabbed the intercom and started speaking in a slow, one word at a time, drawn out pace. He said, “Folkssss, each day is a gift. Today, you’ve been given another opportunity to make a difference in someone else’s life. You can choose to make a difference in your life or in someone else’s life. You get to choose. Make today count.” I later figured out that each time he opened, he would do something like this as a means to motivate himself and others.

Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honorably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes” (TPT). None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, or even the rest of today. Most of us interact with different people throughout the day whether in person, on the phone or through social media. Are we thinking about what our lives say to others? Are we a positive in their day or a negative? Are we a blessing when we show up or a blessing to them when the interaction is done? Are we seeking to make our life better or the lives of others?

Paul is very clear here that you and I are to take advantage of each and every day whether we feel like it or not. If we are living our lives for His purposes, which by the way is your life’s purpose, then we do it no matter what our feelings tell us. His Kingdom is more important than our feelings. Jesus told us to seek His Kingdom first, and when we did, all the other things we seek will be added to us. If we’re going to make today count and take advantage of each and every day, we’re going to have to seek to do His will before we seek to do our own. His will is that none would be lost, and He choose you and I to be the ones to make sure that happens. Our lives should be lived so that others see our good works and lives and glorify our Father in Heaven. Live your life on purpose today taking advantage of each opportunity He gives you to be a blessing to others.

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February 10, 2020 · 5:50 AM

Doing Your Part

Years ago I would lead mission trips to Haiti not long after the earthquake. Before we would leave, I would talk to the team about what they could expect. I would remind them that it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and their infrastructure was destroyed. No matter where you looked there were needs that needed to be met. There was person after person whose story would break your heart. Then I would tell them that our job was to go in and do xyz. We needed to pick up the football where the last group set it down, then we would run with it as far as we could and set it down. If we tried to do everything and meet every need, we wouldn’t accomplish much. Helping them understand our part was key to being the most productive and accomplishing the most good.

In 1 Chronicles, David looked at his palace one day and noticed how nice it was. He then thought of the Tabernacle, a tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant. He wondered why he lived in such a nice place while God was placed in a tent. He asked the prophet to ask God for permission to build a temple, but God refused to allow David to build it. Instead, his son Solomon was picked to build it. Instead of sulking because he wasn’t going to build it, he started gathering all the supplies necessary to build it so Solomon wouldn’t spend years getting ready. After he was finished, he brought Solomon and the leaders over and showed them everything. Then in 1 Chronicles 22:18 he said, “My part in this was to put down the enemies, subdue the land to GOD and his people; your part is to give yourselves, heart and soul, to praying to your GOD. So get moving—build the sacred house of worship to GOD!” (MSG)

You were designed and created on purpose and with a purpose. There is a part for you to play in building God’s Kingdom. Don’t get distracted looking at what other people are doing. Seek God for what your part is, then do it with all your might. Understand that the work will not be completed until Jesus returns. Pick up the football wherever it is, and run with it as far as you can until you can’t go anymore. Don’t get distracted and worry about whether or not other people are doing their parts. That’s between them and God. Your part is to what God has called you to do with all your strength. Understand that your part is also a thread woven into the masterpiece God is creating. Do your part, and do it well so that when you arrive in Heaven you’ll hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

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February 7, 2020 · 5:53 AM

Opening Doors

Life can seem like a series of doors that you have to walk through. Some are open and some are closed. Sometimes you walk through an open door only to find a closed door behind it. That’s always frustrating to me. Does that mean I shouldn’t have walked through the open door? Am I in the wrong place? Should I turn around and look elsewhere? I don’t think so. Jesus told us to knock and the door would be opened. Jesus also told the story of a person who had a visitor show up in the middle of the night. He didn’t have any food, so he went to his neighbor’s house and knocked on the door. There man told him it was locked and that were in bed. The first man kept knocking until the other person came and opened the door to give him what he wanted.

When you’ve walked through an open door that God has led you through only to find a closed door, don’t panic and turn around. Knocking on closed doors is a faith builder and a prayer enabler. If you’ve knocked a while and nothing has happened, ask God to show you if you need to keep knocking or to open your eyes to see an open door you’re not seeing. God is in the habit of opening doors for us, and the doors He open can be shut by anyone. He has ordered our steps and leads us in His paths, but that requires that you and I are willing to move from where we are to where He’s taking us. As He opens doors, you and I must walk through them. I like to pray, “God, close the doors I’m not supposed to walk through, and lead me to the open doors you have for me.”

Here are some Bible verses on open doors.

1. Strive to enter through the narrow door [force aside unbelief and the attractions of sin]; for many, I tell you, will try to enter [by their own works] and will not be able.

Luke 13:24 AMP

2. Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open.

Luke 11:9 MSG

3. There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.

1 Corinthians 16:9 NLT

4. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “This is the message from the one who is holy and true. He has the key that belonged to David, and when he opens a door, no one can close it, and when he closes it, no one can open it. I know what you do; I know that you have a little power; you have followed my teaching and have been faithful to me. I have opened a door in front of you, which no one can close.”

Revelation 3:7-8 GNT

5. For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened.

Luke 11:10 AMP

Thanks to @roanlavery for making this photo available freely on @unsplash

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February 6, 2020 · 5:30 AM

Hard Problems. Simple Tasks.

Have you ever studied for a test, but the questions weren’t what you thought they’d be? You thought for sure the teacher would ask about all these other things, but they didn’t. It may not have been a difficult test, but what they asked didn’t make sense. I’ve had God test me like that. I hear Him ask me to do something that doesn’t make sense, and then I question whether it was from God. “Surely He would ask me to do something else,” I think. Sometimes what He asks of us isn’t difficult. It just doesn’t make sense. 

In the early part of II Kings, God spoke through Elisha and asked some people to do things that didn’t make sense. A widow owed her husband’s debts and the collectors were coming for her sons. Elisha told her to borrow bottles and fill them with what little oil she had. The Shunemite woman’s son died and Elisha told his servant to go put his staff on the boy’s face. There was also a pot of stew that had been made with poisoned gourds in it. Elisha threw a handful of flour in it and it was fine.

One of the most famous though was a man named Namaan in chapter 5. He had leprosy and went to see Elisha. Elisha sent his servant out to tell him to dip in the Jordan river seven times and he’d be healed. Namaan left angry. In verse 13 one of his servants asked, “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So shouldn’t you certainly obey him when he simply says, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” (NLT) Namaan went and washed and was healed. 

In each of these cases, it didn’t make sense. I think that God asks us to do things different than we expect to test our obedience. God simply wants simple obedience. If He asked us to do something that gave us the answer, we would begin to think it was what we did. When the instructions have nothing to do with it and we obey, it can only be God who answered. Whatever God is asking for you, it may not be about the problem. It could be about your heart. Simply obey and let God do His thing. 

Thanks to @mhdnohassi for making this photo available freely on @unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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February 5, 2020 · 5:56 AM

Kingdom Builders

One of the most powerful things on earth is the tongue. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that the power of life and death are in it. The words you choose to say to someone can make or break their day and even their life. According to a study done by the University of Arizona, the average person speaks about 16,000 words a day. How many of those words are we being intentional about? How many times do we say something in passing or jokingly that could hurt someone? The more we speak, the greater the chances are that we become less intentional about what we say. More than that, a UCLA study showed that 93% of communication is nonverbal. So beyond what we’re saying, how we’re nonverbally communicating it to someone is more important when it comes to how they receive it.

Several years ago in Israel, I was touring Jesus’ hometown of a Nazareth. The guide there shared that while Joseph taught Jesus to be a carpenter, that word had a broader meaning back then. It wasn’t just wood that a carpenter would have worked with. They would have also worked with stones. 1 Peter 2:5 says you and I are living stones being built up into a spiritual house. Think about what he’s saying with the context that Jesus would be a stone carpenter. Also think about how buildings were built out of stone back then versus wood today. You are a building block of God’s Kingdom that Jesus is shaping and placing in just the right place. Now think of how you and I are to be Christlike in building each other up. We are stone carpenters ourselves.

Jude 1:20-21 says, “But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love” (NLT). Each of us have a divine command to built each other up. We must use words, prayer and the Bible to encourage one another and build each other up. If we’re constantly putting others down, we’re in essence trying to undo the work that Jesus is trying to do in their lives. We are partners with Him in this, so let’s work together with Him in building up the lives of those around us. Pray each day asking the Holy Spirit to give you the right words to say to build up others when they need it most. You might just speak life into someone and save their life.

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February 4, 2020 · 5:53 AM

Self Imposed Limits

One of the first Bible verses I can remember memorizing is Proverbs 23:7. It says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (KJV). What a profound truth for all of us. Henry Ford interpreted it this way, “Whether you think you or can’t, you’re right.” The power of your thoughts are so important to being able to live out your faith and pursue your calling. Do you believe that Jesus forgave all your sins and set you free 100% or do you still carry the guilt of forgiven sins? Everything that God wants to do through you starts with how you answer that question. If you believe there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), then you’re free to fulfill your purpose. If you still feel condemnation from your past, you’re living in a self imposed prison.

Living under guilt and condemnation from your past is a self limiting belief. The enemy knows that your thoughts predict your future, so he attacks you there. He goes after how you feel too. If he can get you to feel guilty, then he can keep you from your purpose. Feelings lie, but God doesn’t. Other He has the power to forgive you and take your guilt or He doesn’t. Acts 13:39 says, “Everyone who believes in Him is set free from sin and guilt” (TPT). So we know that those feelings of guilt are a tool of the enemy to hold you back from your destiny and they are not from God. You need to let that verse sink into your soul and repeat it, along with Romans 8:1, until you believe it from the inside out.

1 John 3:20 tells us, “Whenever our hearts make us feel guilty and remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more merciful than our conscience, and he knows everything there is to know about us.” God knows who you have been and who you’re becoming. Old things have past away, and all things in your life are becoming new through Him. Trust in the grace of God to forgive and remove your guilt, then be transformed into a new person through the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Your past happened and there are scars to show, but those things are not meant to hold you back. They’re there to help others find their freedom and healing. God knows everything, everything, about you and He still loves you, forgives you and wants to use you. Leave the self limiting thoughts and feelings in the past where they belong and find your freedom and purpose in your forgiveness.

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February 3, 2020 · 5:58 AM

Owning Your Growth

From the very beginning of the Bible, we learn that God is a gardener. It says in Genesis that He planted a garden in the middle of creation. He didn’t simply speak it into existence like everything else. He took the time to plan and decide where He would plant each tree. He carved rivers around it to water it so that it would remain fertile. He walked in it every evening to enjoy it and to care for it. Then He placed Adam in there to be its caretaker. I think growth occurred naturally in that time because when Adam and Eve were removed from the garden, God told them that from now on they would have to sweat to get growth. There would be thistles and other things that would compete for the resources that he would grave to remove in order to achieve optimum growth. It then says that Adam began to cultivate the ground as soon as they left the garden.

God put the desire to create growth in each one of us. Some of us grow gardens. Some of grow families. Some money. In any case, if you look at your life, you’re spending a considerable amount of energy trying to achieve growth somewhere in something. Where we focus our time and energy is really what’s important to us since time and energy are our most precious commodities. What is it that you’re trying to grow? Will it matter for eternity? Is it only for your benefit? Each of us have to look at our lives to see if we’re growing the right things, and if we are doing the right things to create that growth.

2 Peter 3:18 says, “But continue to grow and increase in God’s grace and intimacy with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (TPT). Growth in maturity of our faith is required of each of us. Your Faith is not your pastor’s garden to tend. It’s yours. This message was from Peter, who was the head of the Church at the time. He was telling believers everywhere to own their growth. What are you doing daily to own your own growth? We must make sure we’re watering our lives with God’s Word. We have to pull the weeds of doubt constantly. We need to have a plan for the areas we need to grown in. If you’re going to own your growth, you’re going to have to start cultivating new ground in your faith and do the work of a gardener. Your pastor can give you the tools, but you must do the daily work.

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