Monthly Archives: June 2023

June 16, 2023 · 5:03 AM

Working Hard

We live in an age where we tell people to work smarter, not harder. However, there is no substitute for hard work. If you want results at anything in life or ministry, you’re going to have to put in some hard work. You’re going to have to make some sacrifices as well as put in some time an effort. God has never been ok with trying to skip the work that was necessary to accomplish something. Since the beginning, we’ve tried to cut corners and find the easiest path. What I’ve learned is, the easier the path, the less sweet the reward is. I remember hearing people quote quote Ecclesiastes 9:10 to me saying, Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” They were reminding me, and others, to give my best at whatever I’m called to do. It’s something we still need to be doing.

Here are some Bible verses on working hard.

1. And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Acts of the Apostles 20:35 NLT

2. Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men.

Colossians 3:23 AMP

3. If you work hard at what you do, great abundance will come to you. But merely talking about getting rich while living to only pursue your pleasures brings you face-to-face with poverty.

Proverbs 14:23 TPT

4. Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.

Proverbs 13:11 NLT

5. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Romans 12:11 NLT

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June 15, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Expect Great Things

A few years ago, a video went viral of a man who was terrified to touch a teddy bear. They had blindfolded him and made him think he was on a show like Fear Factor. When he got the courage to put his hand in the plexiglass box, his fingers brushed up against the teddy bear. He squealed and yanked his hand out. For about two minutes he kept trying to reach in, but his fear was overwhelming. When he finally takes the blindfold off, he realizes it’s just a teddy bear, laughed, then grabbed it and spiked it on the ground. Everyone around him was laughing because he was too afraid to pick up a teddy bear.

It was easy for us to laugh at that because we weren’t the one blindfolded. Everyone else could see and knew he wasn’t in any danger. That’s kind of how Faith works. We’re blindfolded and can’t see. God is asking us to trust Him, but too often we are terrified. Our minds psych us out and we start freaking out. When we take a tiny step of faith and we experience something we aren’t anticipating, we squeal and pull back. All the while, God is saying, “Would you just trust me?”

In Matthew 9, two blind men were following Jesus calling out to Him for healing. Jesus asked if they believed He could heal blind eyes, and they said yes. Verse 29 says, “Then Jesus put His hands over their eyes and said, ‘You will have what your faith expects!’” (TPT) I believe He is still saying that to us today. Don’t let your mind expect the worse and create fear of what God is going to do. Expect God, who is good, to give you what you need. You don’t have to be terrified of what He has for you. Expect great things from Him because He gives good gifts.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other 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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June 14, 2023 · 5:36 AM

Memorizing Scripture

One of the things I learned about myself early on was that I could memorize pretty easily. I could watch a movie once and pretty much be able to quote it. When my parents would send me to vacation Bible school, I found out they give prizes to kids for memorizing Scriptures. That was all the motivation I needed. Then when I got into junior high and high school, I was required to memorize entire chapters in the Bible. Since it was for a grade, it didn’t have the same motivating power, but I did it. One of my friends there didn’t just memorize chapters in the Bible, he memorized entire books in the Bible. I never got that far, but memorizing Scriptures all those years helped me to know God’s Word and to be able to recall it whenever I need it.

Right after Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to fast for forty days. At the end of the fast, Satan came to tempt Him. Jesus responded to the first temptation by telling him that man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by the Word of God. The third one was always interesting to me because Satan used God’s Word against Jesus to try to get Him to sin. Jesus recognized it being out of context so He wasn’t able to fall for the temptation. He often pointed to the Scriptures throughout His ministry while teaching to help us understand it more and to show us that it needs to be foundational in our lives. He built His life on God’s Word and so must we.

Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (NLT). Just like Jesus used God’s Word to defeat the enemy, we can too, but we have to have it in our heart. It’s good to read God’s Word every day, but when we memorize it, something different happens. We plant it in our mind to stay. Our brain sees it as important. Studies show that we typically can only recall about 10% of what we read. That’s why reading alone isn’t enough. Memorizing Scripture isn’t just for kids. We as adults need to be doing it as well. It will take discipline and effort on your part, but the rewards outweigh that. Not only will it help you fight temptation and keep you from sinning, it will help your brain and change how you think.

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June 13, 2023 · 6:20 AM

Led By God’s Love

I grew up seeing things very black and white. I believed I had a firm grasp on all the rules in the Bible. The way I interpreted those rules was simple, if you broke any of them, you were going straight to Hell. There was no room for mercy or grace in my mind because those things don’t follow the rules very well. They aren’t easily definable and didn’t fit into my black and white world. It wasn’t until I got older that I began to make room for those in my mind and in my life. The more I looked at the things Jesus did, the more I saw that He wasn’t about the rules as much as the Pharisees were.

One of the stories that helps me to see differently is in Luke 13:10-17. Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. There was a woman listening who had arthritis so bad that her body was twisted and she couldn’t look up. Jesus saw her, laid hands on her and healed her. The head person was furious with Jesus. He said, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.” But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?” (MSG).

Jesus was telling them and us that it’s not just about the rules. We’ve got to have compassion, mercy, love and grace too. As I said, those don’t always fit into our predefined understanding of the rules, but Jesus constantly showed us that those things trumped the rules we try to force people to live by. Jesus was constantly at odds with the legalism of the Jewish leaders and did things like this to help open their eyes to what God really wants from us. A life led by God’s love for others will always yield more fruit than one bound by legalistic thinking. Yes, we need the rules, but without compassion we miss the point.

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June 12, 2023 · 5:26 AM

Waiting Before God

If you didn’t know, I’m Gen X. Our motto is, “If it is to be, it’s up to me.” With that kind of mentality, I find it hard to wait. I like to make decisions and move into action. Sitting around having endless discussions drives me nuts. Would someone just make a decision and let’s go? That kind of thinking can be good in certain scenarios, but it can also be dangerous when God says to wait. I’m not sure why He likes to wait or take His time on things, but sitting around waiting on Him is difficult for me. It’s something we all must learn to do. God is rarely in a hurry, and almost never operates on our time table. When situations worsen, that’s when He seems to take the longest and the temptation to move becomes strongest.

King Saul was also a person who struggled to wait. In 1 Samuel 13, Samuel had told Saul to wait seven days, then he would show up to make the sacrifice for the battle. When seven days had passed, Saul looked at his situation instead of his instructions. His mean were fearful and deserting while the enemy was amassing in numbers. He went ahead and did the sacrifice himself without waiting for Samuel. It cost him the kingdom. David, who replaced him, was pretty good at waiting however. A few times, he was given the opportunity to kill Saul and become king, but he waited. He knew God would make a way. It wasn’t up to him to remove Saul. He was simply to replace him, so he waited. Because of his patience, God made him victorious and gave him a lasting legacy.

In Psalm 62:1 David wrote, “I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him” (NLT). When was the last time you simply waited before God? When is the last time you put away all your distractions, stopped thinking about everything that needed to be done in that moment and just waited? We forget that God is the one who gives victory. He is the one who gives success. We’re so busy trying to do it ourselves that we forget He is our supplier. He is our source. We, like Saul, think everything has to be done right now, and we try to do both our part and God’s. However, He is calling you and me to sit at His feet and wait. We must be more like David and less like Saul. Our human nature pressures us to be like Saul, but His Spirit in us beckons us to wait. What will you choose today?

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June 9, 2023 · 5:24 AM

Waiting For God

One of the hardest things to do is to wait for God to act, especially when He’s promised you something. There’s a temptation to be like Abraham where you find your own way to bring about the promise. That kind of impatience leads to problems though. There’s also a temptation to think that God has forgotten you or that He’s withdrawn His promises. However, God doesn’t change His mind and you don’t have the power to revoke His promises or calling on your life. The best thing we can do is to trust in God as we wait knowing that His timing is best. Ask Him to give you wisdom as you wait, to help you to grow through His process and to build your trust in Him. If God said it, He will do it. Keep holding on to the promise and don’t give up. The appointed time has not yet arrived, but it will come. Keep your eyes on Him and stand on these Bible verses.

Here are some Bible verses on waiting for God.

1. Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be entwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting—for he will never disappoint you!

Psalms 27:14 TPT

2. The Lord is good to those who wait [confidently] for Him, To those who seek Him [on the authority of God’s word].

Lamentations 3:25 AMP

3. Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in.

Galatians 6:9 AMP

4. You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full.

Hebrews 10:36 TPT

5. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.

Habakkuk 2:3 NLT

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June 8, 2023 · 5:30 AM

God Likes You

Some verses in the Bible have so much packed into them that you just have to stop and chew on them for a while. Zephaniah 3:17 is one of those verses. It says, “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (NLT). Think about that verse for a minute. Some versions say, “God is present with you” (MSG) or “God is with you” (GNT). No matter what version, it’s important to know that wherever you go, whatever you do, God is there, present with you in each situation. We just need to learn to be more aware of His presence in our day.

From John 3:16, we know that God loves us. We’re taught that as a kid, but do you ever stop to think that more than that, God likes you too? He really does. He takes delight in us with gladness it says. He sees the deep, dark places of our heart that we keep hidden, and He still likes us and wants to be around us. So many of us keep those parts hidden from others because we think, “If they knew this about me, they wouldn’t like me.” God knows you and I are broken and have sin nature lurking inside. He wants to bring healing to those places, and calm our fears about them. Fear does not come from Him. It comes from not understanding who we are in Him and who He wants to be in our lives.

This verse then ends with a bang! God rejoices over you and sings joyful songs over you. Psalm 32:7 says that the songs God sings are to deliver us and to bring us victory. Just like a parent sings songs to their kids, God sings to us. He knows that wherever we go or whatever we do, we need His comfort, His protection and His victory. Today, God is present with you. He is mighty enough to save you from whatever you’re facing. Listen for His voice that will calm your fears as He sings over you. Because of this, every day has the potential to be a great day. We just need to keep this verse in mind so we can understand how God sees us and know that He both loves us and likes us.

Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other 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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June 7, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Overlooked

Have you ever been overlooked for something? I’ve been picked last before on the playground. For some people, it started there and has stayed with them their entire lives some people get overlooked time and again when it comes to getting promotions at work. They’re talented enough, but for some reason, the boss looks past them. Other people seem to be overlooked within their own family. They might not be outspoken enough, outgoing enough, big enough or strong enough in the eyes of the ones they love the most. It hurts to be overlooked, but somehow it feels worse to be overlooked by the people who know you best.

In 1 Samuel 16, the Lord had had enough of Saul. He told Samuel to go to Bethlehem to anoint a new king from Jesse’s family.. Samuel was fearful that Saul might kill him, so the Lord told him to take a cow to sacrifice. When he arrived, he was met by the city leaders who asked him what he was doing there. He didn’t tell them his true purpose. He invited Jesse and the city leaders to join him in sacrificing. When Jesse and his sons showed up, Samuel saw the oldest, who was tall and handsome. He thought that this guy must be the next king, but one by one God rejected all the sons of Jesse. When he asked if this were all his sons, he said that he had one more son whom they left watching the sheep. When they brought David in, God immediately said to anoint him as king.

In John 15:16, Jesus was giving His farewell address to the disciples, while He was talking to them, His Words are for us too. He said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you” (AMP). You may be overlooked by people, but you have been specifically been chosen by God to be His representative. You have been purposefully been planted exactly where you are so you could make a difference. People may not see you, but God does. He has been working out His plan in your life. Don’t give up hope yet. You may feel forgotten, but God’s plan for you will prevail.

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June 6, 2023 · 5:36 AM

Consider God’s Benefits

In recent years, there’s been a rise of subscription apps. They got them for TV, groceries and a host of other things. The market place is getting crowded, so they’ve started to add incentives. I didn’t even consider getting the grocery app I have now until they started adding benefits to owning it. I get ten cents off a gallon of gas, which adds up to offset the cost. I also get free deliver of online items or even in store groceries. They also added a year’s subscription to a TV app to the benefits package. All of a sudden it had enough value for me to go ahead and pay. To me, the benefits now outweigh what it costs me to make it worth it. We do this same analysis in many areas of our lives.

If you’re familiar with the Bible, you’ve probably heard that Hebrews 11 has been called the Hall of Faith. It’s full of people in the Bible who had to trust God through difficult circumstances. They held onto their faith in God when all seemed lost. Verse 37 says, “Some of these faith champions were brutally killed by stoning, being sawn in two or slaughtered by the sword. These lived in faith as they went about wearing goatskins and sheepskins for clothing. They lost everything they possessed, they endured great afflictions, and they were cruelly mistreated” (TPT). Each of the heroes of the faith paid a high price, but they keep the benefits of following God in mind to help them endure. Many never saw the fulfillment of their promise from God, but because they held onto their faith, their future generations did.

Romans 6:22 says, “But now, as God’s loving servants, you live in joyous freedom from the power of sin. So consider the benefits you now enjoy—you are brought deeper into the experience of true holiness that ends with eternal life!” You and I must also keep in mind the benefits that God offers us as we continue down the path of Christianity. You may not be faced with the same hardships these heroes of the faith had to, but you will still face difficulty times and be forced to trust in God instead of your circumstances. Our faith comes at a cost to us. It is freely given to us, but living in the world while being separate from it can be difficult at times. Trusting God over what we see can exact a price in our lives. Always keep in mind that God has more in store for us than we can even comprehend now. Remember all His benefits and hold fast to your faith. He will always do what He promised.

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June 5, 2023 · 5:44 AM

Metamorphosis

One of the most fascinating things in nature to me is the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly. I won’t go into all the scientific things that happen once the caterpillar spins itself into a cocoon, but there are some cool things that happen that we can’t observe from the outside. Did you know that the caterpillar actually digests itself? Once it’s sealed up, it releases enzymes that dissolve all of its tissue. There are certain organized parts that survive called imaginar discs that survive the process that will become its eyes, body parts, legs and wings. When it emerges from the cocoon, it truly is a new creature different from what it was before. No wonder a butterfly is a great example of what becoming a Christian is like. In our new life, we should think, act, talk and be completely different from who we were before.

I grew up seeing this transformation in church. I remember people leaving items on the altar when they gave their life to the Lord because they no longer needed them and because they were symbols of their old life. Paul is a great example of this metamorphosis. He hated Christian’s so much that he watched them get stoned to death. Later he led groups of people who would track down believers in order to put them in jail or to death. When Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, everything about him changed. He became one of the people he persecuted. After several years, he became one of the leaders of Christianity and one of its greatest evangelists. Most of the New Testament is him telling us how to live this new life once we’ve accepted Jesus.

In Romans 5:18 he wrote, “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone” (NLT). Every one of us that accept Jesus are given a new life. We submit to undergoing a metamorphic change in how we think, talk and live. Our lives should be so radically different that people who knew us before should be able to see the change. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” You have been given a new life. Don’t keep going around like a caterpillar. Spread your wings and fly. Live the way God called you to and enjoy true freedom that was given to you.

Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

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