Author Archives: Chris Hendrix

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About Chris Hendrix

My name is Chris Hendrix and I live in Houston. I've had some spectacular failures in my life. I've been divorced, bankrupt, lost a business and just about everything I once held dear. I've lived through them and learned from them. God has somehow found me worthy enough to use me to share my testimony, give hope, teach lessons I've learned and to bring encouragement from His Word to others. My hope is that in reading these devotionals that I post Monday through Friday, you will start your day off thinking about God and His promises to you instead of all the worries that life brings. If we learn to focus on Him first instead of our problems, we will see that He is greater than anything we'll face today. You haven't gone further than His love can reach or failed so badly that He can't use you. You can follow me on twitter at @devotionsbyme or to set up a speaking engagement, you can send an email to chris@devotionsbychris.com
June 21, 2023 · 5:25 AM

Conditioning

When I was in high school I played basketball. I loved being on the team, but I always hated the start of the season. I’m not talking about the first few games though. When we were allowed to start practicing, coach would spend the first few weeks conditioning our bodies and getting us back into shape. We ran sprints, horses, long distances, did calisthenics, jumped over benches and more exercises. I don’t remember touching a basketball those first few weeks. It was painful and my body was sore. I spent a lot of time soaking in epsom salt trying to recover. However, once the season started, we were better conditioned than any team and could out run them and wear them out giving us lots of victories. It turns out coach had a plan the whole time.

We read the story of Joseph in the late chapters of Genesis. When he was just a teenager, God gave him dreams that his family would now down to him. Foolishly, he told his brothers all about them. Being the younger brother, he probably rubbed it in while wearing the special coat his dad made for him. It’s clear that he wasn’t ready to lead at that time. His brothers then decided to kill him, but sold him into slavery instead. He was then falsely accused of trying to rape his master’s wife and thrown in prison where he was forgotten. He went through this period of conditioning for 13 years before God exalted him to be second in command of Egypt. When he ruled Egypt, we see a very different person because of what he went through.

Psalm 66:12 says, “You’ve allowed our enemies to prevail against us. We’ve passed through fire and flood, yet in the end you always bring us out better than we were before, saturated with your goodness” (TPT). God allows us to go through storms and difficult times in order to condition us for the plans He has for us. His plans are good, but we are often not ready to fulfill them yet. In His processes, we are changed for the better and made ready to receive His promises. If you’re going through a tough time right now, hang in there. God is building your endurance and your character so that you’re able to handle what’s coming and help others. Conditioning doesn’t last forever. Victory is on the way.

Photo by Alex McCarthy on Unsplash

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June 20, 2023 · 5:35 AM

Small Beginnings

In the early 2000’s, Starbucks was growing at a rapid pace. There were Starbucks popping up everywhere. Sometimes they were right across the street from each other. Their rapid growth became unsustainable and they had to close 20% of the new stores they had opened. As the CEO looked at the list of stores he was going to have to close, he learned a lesson: success isn’t sustainable if it’s defined by how big you become. It’s a lesson I’ve tried to teach many people. I like to say, “You have to start with Timex before you get to Rolex.” We all want to be experts immediately. We want maturity now. We want success before we’ve been through the fire. We also want others to think we’re doing better than we are.

Before David became king, he was on the run from King Saul. He fled to the cave of Adullam and holed up there. 1 Samuel 22:2 says, “Everyone who was suffering hardship, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. There were about four hundred men with him” (NLT). David had dreams of leading the nation and the army, but the first group of people he became captain over was a bunch of outcasts. He could have turned them away because they weren’t what he imagined leading, but he didn’t. He trained these 400 men to become warriors. The nation saw what he did with these men and began wanting him to be king.

Zechariah 4:10 says, “Do not despise these small beginnings.” It’s easy to want to jump to the good part, but when we skip over the small beginnings, we miss vital lessons we need for sustainable growth. The small beginnings are where the foundation is laid that will uphold you later. We still need to keep our eyes on where we’re going, but don’t miss what God is trying to do right now. The people, resources or success God has given you right now may not look like much, but He made us a promise. If we will be faithful in the little things, He will trust us with bigger things. Sometimes we must step backwards to get to a place where we can grow again the right way. God’s desire for each of us is to grow in Him. Where you are now is on,y temporary and it’s also necessary to learn what you can so He can take you further than you’ve dreamed.

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

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June 19, 2023 · 5:38 AM

Trusting God’s Will

I’m asked to pray with people often. There are times when they’re looking for direction or even permission from God for something. After praying for permission, I’ll usually say, “I know we’re believing and praying for a ‘yes’ from God, but you need to understand that His ‘no’ is just as good as His ‘yes’.” It can be a hard concept to think about or even accept. Growing up I used to ask my parents for things. Sometimes their answers were “yes”, sometimes they said, “No” and sometimes they said, “Later.” God, who is a good father,” may give us those same answers. It’s important that we understand that His will is best, even if it is a “no” or “later”. He sees the bigger picture and we do not. Submitting to it is for our greater good, even when we don’t feel like it.

In 1 Samuel 20, King Saul had shown David his intent to kill him. When David fled, he met up with Saul’s son Jonathan, the next in line to the throne. They were best friends, even though David had been anointed as they next king. Jonathan didn’t believe his dad was really going to kill David, so they devised a plan where David wouldn’t show up for a traditional meal. If Saul was angry, it meant he wanted to kill David. If not, David was safe. When David didn’t show, Saul was furious. In verses 30-31, Saul acknowledged he knew David was to be king. He said, “Do you think I don’t know that you want him to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your mother? As long as that son of Jesse is alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!” (NLT) Saul opposed God’s plan of making David king, while Jonathan embraced it even though it meant he wouldn’t be.

In Matthew 6, Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray in what we now call “The Lord’s Prayer”. In verse 10, after honoring God’s name, Jesus said, “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” How many times have we repeated that prayer, but never really thought about that part of it? We’re asking for God’s will to be done, not ours. That’s the way Jesus taught us to pray. When He tells us His will, we have a choice in how we respond. We can be like Jonathan and embrace it, or we can be like Saul where we’re angry and try to fight it. Understanding that God’s “no” is just as good as His “yes” will help us respond correctly. It may not be what we want to hear, but we know that when His will is done, our lives are better for it in the long run. He often has something better for us, once we submit to His plan instead of ours.

Photo by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash

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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

Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash

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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.

Photo by Oscar Keys 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 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.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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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.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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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?

Photo by Christopher Osten on Unsplash

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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

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash

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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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