Monthly Archives: July 2023

July 17, 2023 · 5:40 AM

Seeking To Know God More

Several years ago I was at work when a crazy thunderstorm popped up. My boss called me and said she needed help. When I went out the front door of the building, her car was in the street with water over the hood. I waded through the water into the street and told her to put it in neutral. I then pushed the car into the parking lot. As she was getting out of the car, I noticed my wedding ring was missing. I began searching through the high water for it while lightening was striking and it was pouring down rain. I searched for an hour and a half and couldn’t find it. I then waited for the storm to stop and started looking again as the water receded. After another hour of searching, I couldn’t find it. I prayed, “Lord, I give up. I don’t know what to do.” When I opened my eyes, the ring was between my feet.

In Acts 8 there’s the story of an Ethiopian eunuch who went to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home. What you may not know is that the Old Testament forbid eunuch from entering the Temple. This man had traveled a long way searching for God only to have been turned away. Even in his rejection, he kept searching for God and bought a scroll of Isaiah to help him. As he was reading it, God sent the disciple Philip to go meet him. Philip heard him reading and asked if he understood. The eunuch said no one had guided him to know God or to understand it. So Philip explained the prophesy of Isaiah 53 in reference to Jesus and the Good News. The eunuch wanted to be baptized after that and asked what laws would stop that. I’m sure Philip smiled and said that Jesus was available to all who seek Him. Then he baptized the eunuch.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart” (GNT). Even though you have found Jesus as the Ethiopian eunuch did, you must still continue to seek God. Just as you can’t know a person after one encounter, you can’t know God with one. That first encounter brought salvation, but there is so much more God wants us to know about Himself. Have you grown complacent with where you are in your relationship to Him? He says if we will seek Him and search Him out more, you will find there more to Him and that He wants to reveal Himself to you, but you must seek Him with your whole heart. Don’t stop trying to get to know Him, His Word or His ways. Search for Him like a lost treasure. Don’t give up in the middle of a storm. Don’t quit searching just because things are going well either. There is more to God than you can ever know or search out, and He’s willing to show Himself to you if you’re willing to seek Him out.

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July 14, 2023 · 5:31 AM

Receiving Wise Counsel

It matters who you get counsel and advice from. You may be the head who makes the decisions, but the people you seek counsel from are the neck and they are controlling the direction of your life. If you don’t like the direction your life is headed, you need to find different people to give you advice. I look for people who are older and wiser. I also look for those who are further up the road in the direction I want to travel. However, the most important quality I look for is that they are a Christian who is grounded in the Bible because I want godly advice above all else. When we enact God’s principles, we open ourselves to His blessings. It is very scriptural to seek advice. Don’t be afraid to seek counsel on decisions you need to make. Ask God to show you who to ask, then follow the godly advice you receive.

Here are some Bible verses on receiving wise counsel.

1. Wisdom opens your heart to receive wise counsel, but pride closes your ears to advice and gives birth only to quarrels and strife.

Proverbs 13:10 TPT

2. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed, my heart (mind) instructs me in the night.

Psalms 16:7 AMP

3. Oil and perfume make the heart glad; So does the sweetness of a friend’s counsel that comes from the heart.

Proverbs 27:9 AMP

4. Listen well to wise counsel and be willing to learn from correction so that by the end of your life you’ll be known for your wisdom.

Proverbs 19:20 TPT

5. Without consultation and wise advice, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they are established and succeed.

Proverbs 15:22 AMP

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July 13, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Trusting In God’s Goodness

In Numbers 11, the children of Israel had left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land. They began to grumble about how hard their new life was and it upset God. They then began to crave something they didn’t have: meat. Manna, God’s provision, was getting old. They were sick of having it every day, so they complained that they wanted meat. God told moses He was going to give them meat. So much meat that they were going to get sick of it. He was going to provide it for 30 days, and lots of it. In verses 21-22 Moses replied, “I’m standing here surrounded by 600,000 men on foot and you say, ‘I’ll give them meat, meat every day for a month.’ So where’s it coming from? Even if all the flocks and herds were butchered, would that be enough? Even if all the fish in the sea were caught, would that be enough?” (MSG)

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been guilty of this. I look at my needs, then I look at what I have and I tell God how impossible the situation is. Depending on how desperate the situation is, I may even go a step further, like Moses, and tell Him that even His resources are not enough. I try to take a supernatural God and put our natural constraints on Him. This attitude, though temporary, is wrong and it comes from not having the right perspective. In my desperation, I tend to look at God through the lens of my problem rather than the other way around. This attitude is telling God that I feel He is incapable of taking care of me or unable to meet my needs. God’s response to Moses is the gut check I need in those situations. He said, “So, do you think I can’t take care of you? You’ll see soon enough whether what I say happens for you or not.”

When I start thinking this way, I go back to Philippians 4:19. It says, “And my God will liberally supply (fill until full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (AMP). I need to remind myself of God’s promises and of His faithfulness. He doesn’t always answer in the ways that I think He should or could, but He always fills my needs. He has been faithful all of my life, and when I look back on desperate situations and times in my life, I can see the hand of God at work. He has not failed me yet, and I can tell you that He will not fail you either. His mercies are new every morning and His faithfulness is great (Lamentations 3:23). You don’t have to know where or how He will provide for you. Just trust in His goodness, and make your requests known to Him. He will take care of you.

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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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July 12, 2023 · 5:51 AM

Doing Something Great

I grew up seeing Billy Graham crusades on TV. I read and heard about ministers like D. L. Moody, Charles Finley and A. W. Tozer. I was impressed by their ministries and the impact they had made. The number of souls they had won combined is staggering. Years later, I went to see Reinhard Bonnke preach. Afterwards people flooded the altars wanting to be saved. Seeing them and reading about them put a desire in me to do something great for God. I began consuming the Bible and learning as much as I could about it and God. I’ve studied the great revivals in history. It’s incredible to think how culture changed completely and how periods of time, like the Renaissance, were products of people doing something great. What I’ve also learned is that before any of us can do something great for God is that first we must allow Him to do something great in us.

I love the story of Nehemiah. Israel had been conquered and taken to a foreign land where they had lived in captivity for decades. The new king had allowed them to return to their land, but only a few did. When a few had returned to the capital Susa in Persia, Nehemiah asked how things were going in Jerusalem. They replied, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire” (NLT). At this moment, God did something great in Nehemiah. He broke down and wept for days at the condition of his homeland. God birthed in him a burden to restore the walls of Jerusalem. His job was no longer satisfying and all he could think about was returning and restoration. Because God did something great in him, he was able to accomplish something great for God.

I love the prayer David prayed in Psalm 51. Though it was birthed out of repentance for sin, the words have the ability to birth something great in us. In verse 10 he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.” I believe a prayer like that gives God permission to change our heart, our spirit and our life. It gives God permission to give us His burden. The men I read about and studied all had moments in their lives where they surrendered everything to God and picked up His desires. What we see and read about are the effects of what God did inside of them first. Every great move of God has begun with people who have allowed God to first do something great in them. If you want to do something great for God too, surrender your will to His first and then give Him permission to do something great in you.

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July 11, 2023 · 5:43 AM

Water In The Wilderness

When I was young, I loved the poem “Footprints In The Sand”. It tells of a person looking back on their life and seeing two sets of footprints. In the hardest times, there was only one set in the sand. They questioned why the Lord would leave them during the hardest times, but He replied that there was one because He carried them. Having been through some difficult times, I’ve learned that God doesn’t carry us in those times. I’ve also learned that it is normal to feel alone and even abandoned by God when we’re in the wilderness. What I do like in the poem is the idea of reflecting on the past. When we look back at the hardest times, we can see we were never abandoned by God, nor were we alone. He often uses those times to draw us close and even shows up in unexpected ways to meet our needs. The wilderness is often the path to growth.

In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah had literally had a mountain top experience. God had met him on Mount Carmel and sent fire from Heaven to burn his sacrifice. Israel began to turn from their false gods to serve the Lord. However, Jezebel wasn’t happy and wanted to kill him for it. His fear led him into the wilderness where depression took over. He wanted to die and felt alone. While he was sleeping an angel brought him food and water. He rested and the angel brought more. From there, he continued deeper into the wilderness and stayed in a cave where it was dark. Again God called to him and asked him what he was doing. He gave God a sob story about how bad his life was. God then called him out of the cave in the wilderness where he saw an mighty wind, an earthquake and a fire. All great signs, but God wasn’t in them. Then there was a still, small voice that God was in. Elijah found God in the smallest of moments in the wilderness rather than in big ones.

Isaiah 35:4-6 says, “Tell everyone who is discouraged, ‘Be strong and don’t be afraid! God is coming to your rescue, coming to punish your enemies.’ The blind will be able to see, and the deaf will hear. The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy. Streams of water will flow through the desert” (GNT). If you’re in the wilderness right now wondering where God is, He is on the way to rescue you! He will cause stress to flow in your difficult time and make it a place of growth. You may be struggling to see Him now or even feel Him, but He is there caring for you and leading you through this time. When you look back at this period you will see how the still, small voice led you to a place of abundance. You are not forgotten. You are not forsaken. You are not alone. There is water in your wilderness.

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July 10, 2023 · 5:47 AM

Peer Pressure

We’ve been talking to our Sunday School class about peer pressure. They’re a bunch of middle school kids, but I told them that peer pressure never goes away. Even as adults were constantly pulled to worry about what others think and to do things that please the crowd. We also discussed how the longer it takes you to do something that God asks you to, the harder it is to overcome peer pressure that wants you to do something else. I don’t know why there’s this thing in us that wants to go along with the crowd, but it’s in there for most people. There’s a fear that people will make fun of us or reject us if we don’t go along. However, the road to Heaven is straight and narrow with only a few who are willing to not go with the crowd down the broad and wide path to destruction. We must learn to obey God no matter what the crowd thinks.

In Mark 14, Jesus was about two days away from being crucified. He was having dinner at someone’s house when a woman came into the room. She had an alabaster jar full of expensive perfume with her. Quickly she broke open the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head. The disciples and those at the table began to pressure her and scold her saying she just wasted that bottle. They told her she should have sold it and helped the poor. She didn’t try to defend herself as the crowd attacked her for her act of obedience. That’s when Jesus stepped in and spoke up. He rebuked them for shaming her and said that she had done what she could and had pre-anointed Him for burial. Then He said that wherever the Gospel would be preached throughout the world, her act of obedience would be remembered and discussed.

In Acts 5:29 Peter told the leaders, “We must obey God rather than men” (ESV). They were trying to pressure him to quit preaching in Jesus name. You may not be brought before a court like Peter, but you will be asked to obey God in front of other people. They may try to convince you that what you’re doing is a waste or try to shame you, but we must remember that it’s more important to do what God asks. At the end of your life, you will stand before God and give account. I think of that when I’m struggling between obeying and worrying about what others think. It’s more important to please God instead of others. I don’t know what God is asking you to do. I don’t know what forms fear and rejection will take to try to stop you. However, we must push past that fear and act quickly like the woman with the perfume. When we do, it will release a beautiful smell to Heaven that God will breathe in and He will defend us from the peer pressure.

Photo by Luke Porter on Unsplash

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July 7, 2023 · 5:34 AM

Matters Of The Heart

Ive heard it said that your outer world will always be a reflection of your inner world. What’s in your heart will always find a way to the surface. Jesus said that the words we say are a reflection of our heart. Proverbs says that we are who we are based on what we think in our heart. It’s no wonder that when David sinned, He asked God to create a new heart in him. He didn’t want to be the person who committed adultery and then murderer. He knew he needed to become who God wanted him to be. The truth is we all need to become who God wants us to be and it begins in our heart.

Here are some Bible verses on the importance of the heart.

1. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 ESV

2. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7 ESV

3. A calm and peaceful and tranquil heart is life and health to the body, But passion and envy are like rottenness to the bones.

Proverbs 14:30 AMP

4. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23 TPT

5. For your heart will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure.

Matthew 6:21 TPT

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July 6, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Equipped And Ready

Gideon is one of those stories in the Bible that I go back to over and over again. He was scared of his enemies, so he was hiding when the angel appeared to him. The angel then greets him with, “Mighty Hero! The Lord is with you” (NLT). I’m sure Gideon had a confused look on his face and then looked around for the hero. He then asked a great question any of us would have asked. If the Lord is with me, why are things so bad? He didn’t get an answer though. Instead, the angel calls on him to save Israel from the very enemy he’s hiding from.

In Judges 6:14 the angel of the Lord said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” I love this response because it is a great picture of who God is. He calls us to do things in our own strength and giftings. When we see ourselves in the mirror, we think who we are and what we have is not enough. God sees beyond our fears and insecurities though. He sees who we can become if we would trust that He’s with us and will pick up the slack for the things we lack if we will simply step out with what we have already been given.

I believe every one of us are called to do something. There is a purpose and a plan that God has for each of our lives. It’s up to us to trust Him to be with us, and to walk in that calling. It’s time for us to quit looking at ourselves with these human eyes so we can trust what God sees in us with His eyes. It’s in our weaknesses and inabilities that His strength is made perfect. He only asks that we trust Him enough to do the things He called us to. If God has confidence in you, I think it’s time you had it too. Through Jesus, you are more than a conqueror. You are a mighty, valiant hero ready and equipped to do what He called you to.

Photo by Nathan Trampe 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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July 5, 2023 · 5:37 AM

Bothering Jesus

I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to bother famous people. If I see them in public, I’ll usually make eye contact and nod instead of trying to go up to them because they get it all the time. Several years ago I was at a conference put on by a household name. You could pay $150 to get a professional photo with them, but I had already spent a ton on the conference, plus flight and hotel. They told us that if we couldn’t afford it, we could ask them for a photo when we saw this person walking around. Sure enough they happened to walk right past me with their entourage. I called out, “Could I get a quick photo with you?” They stopped, but didn’t turn around to face me. A person in the entourage said, “They’re a busy person who can’t be bothered. We can’t stop and take photos with anyone who asks. You should sign up for one.” I bit my tongue in that moment, but lost a lot of respect for them.

In Mark 10, Jesus and His disciples were sitting around talking. A group of parents noticed Him and thought that they would take their kids over to be blessed by the Messiah. As they approached, the disciples jumped up and stood in their way. They scolded the parents for bothering Jesus. Verse 14 says, “When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, ‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children’” (NLT). It turns out He wasn’t bothered at all by these people who simply wanted to request a blessing.

I’m afraid that you and I feel like we’re bothering Jesus at times with our prayers or requests. We don’t take them to Him because He has enough people bothering Him. If that’s you, I want to remind you what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” The phrase “all of you” jumps out. Jesus is inviting you and me to come to Him with our problems and burdens. He’s not too busy for us, nor is He overwhelmed by everyone else. It’s time to quit thinking you’re a bother to Him and to quit carrying that heavy load. It’s not yours to carry. He has a burden for you that is light and easy to carry, but you must approach Him. You are not a bother. You are His child.

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July 4, 2023 · 5:38 AM

Partnering In Prayer

I’ve had friends reach out for prayer for things because they know I’ll agree with them in that moment. I’ve also had friends reach out and ask for prayer saying, “The last time you prayed, God answered.” I’ve seen people healed, loved ones come to the Lord, children get adopted and more. I’ve also seen my prayers feel like they’ve fallen flat without an answer. I’ve fasted and prayed and have seen God move in what seemed like an unmovable situation. I wish I knew why some prayers go unanswered while others seem to be answered right away. No matter what they outcome, I still make my requests known to God. I still partner with others in prayer.

In Mark 9, a father brought his child to the disciples for prayer. After praying for him in front of the crowd, nothing happened. Arguing began to break out over it. Jesus walked up and asked what was going on. They explained the situation and brought the boy to Jesus. The father asked Jesus to help the boy if He could. Jesus then said that anything was possible for those who believed. He then asked, if the father believed. The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (NLT) Jesus then brought relief to the boy and his father. When the disciples asked why they couldn’t do it, Jesus replied that some things happen only through prayer and fasting.

In Matthew 18:19-20 Jesus said, “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” There’s power in the prayer of agreement. There’s power in fasting. There’s power in your faith. If you’ve been seeking an answer to prayer, don’t just keep repeating it. Ask God to help your unbelief no matter how strong you feel your faith is. Spend some time fasting and praying over it. Most importantly, partner in prayer with other people of faith. I believe faith gets multiplied when we pray together and invite God’s presence into the room. I believe God answers prayer today. Whatever you have need of, don’t stop asking. Don’t stop seeking. Don’t stop knocking. The effectual, fervent prayer avails much.

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