September 5, 2025 · 5:57 AM

Come To The Altar

Tomorrow I’ll join hundreds of pastors, church leaders and Christians throughout Texas to pray for our state and nation. The theme is “Meet in the Field, Come to the Altar. Gather at the Table.” I grew up in a church that had a long bench at the front that we called “the altar.” It’s named after altars in the Bible. Altars are a place where God meets people. It’s where we surrender to Him. It’s also a place where we receive power, revelation and forgiveness. In the Bible people built altars when the had a encounter with God. Then there was a permanent one built in Jerusalem that everyone could come to. Each of us need an altar where we go to encounter God, remember who He is and what He’s done.

Here are some Bible verses on altars in the Bible:

1. At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached [the altar] and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), let it be known today that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back [to You].”

1 Kings 18:36-37 AMP

2. There he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.

Genesis 35:7 ESV

3. You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause My Name to be recorded and remembered [through revelation of My divine nature] I will come to you and bless you.

Exodus 20:24 AMP

4. How I want to be there! I long to be in the Lord’s Temple. With my whole being I sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrows have built a nest, and the swallows have their own home; they keep their young near your altars, Lord Almighty, my king and my God.

Psalm 84:2-3 GNT

5. Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!

Psalms 43:3-4 NLT

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September 4, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Symbiotic Encouragement

There are at least three types of relationships we need to have in our lives. If you don’t have these, you need to make them. The first one is where I’m the encourager. There are certain people in my life that need encouragement when they call or want to meet. Then there are the people who encourage me when I need it. Finally, the most important one is the one where you mutually encourage each other. These relationships are symbiotic and benefit both parties involved. It’s important that you identify who fit into these categories in your life. We all need to both encourage others and to be encouraged.

David and Jonathan had the symbiotic type relationship. They loved each other dearly, looked out for each other and encouraged one another. They learned to put the other’s needs ahead of their own, thereby bringing value to each other. In 1 Samuel 23, Jonathan’s father Saul was chasing David to kill him. Saul wanted Jonathan to succeed him as king, nut Jonathan valued David more than the position. In verse 16 it says, “Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God” (NLT). They then renewed their pact of encouragement to each other and Jonathan went home.

Who is that person in your life? Who is the one who comes running in your time of need? Who is it that when you both walk away from conversations you feel better? Chances are the two of you are intentional about your conversations and meetings. In Romans 1:12, Paul was looking forward to going to Rome to meet with the believers. He wrote, “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.” Encouragement is born from intentionality. It doesn’t just happen. Be praying that you would be an encourager, that there would be someone in your life who encourages you and most importantly that you would find a person to share symbiotic encouragement with.

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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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September 3, 2025 · 5:47 AM

Being A Blessing

If you’ve never read “Love Does” by Bob Goff, you’re missing out. I call him “God’s Yes Man.” This book is full of crazy stories of what happens when you believe everything circumstance and interaction is an opportunity to be a blessing. He sent a key to his home to every world leader, and some have taken him up on it. He also became a lawyer in a foreign country in order to free a prison full of boys falsely accused, took the door off the prison and shipped it to the US. The stories in this book are a reminder that being a blessing isn’t about convenience, but availability. It also shows that you don’t need a title or a stage to make a difference.

In the book of Acts, there’s the story of a man named Joseph who sold his field in order to give money to the Early Church to help them care for the poor. When Saul went from persecuting Christians to becoming one, it was Joseph who stood up for him when everyone else was scared. He was a blessing to the Church and to all who met him. In fact, the people quit calling him by his birth name and started calling him Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement.” His character became his identity and is forever canonized in the Bible.

Galatians 6:10 says, “Take advantage of every opportunity to be a blessing to others, especially to our brothers and sisters in the family of faith!” (TPT) You don’t have to wait for big opportunities to come your way to be a blessing or to have a crowd. Most of the time, God gives us small settings to be a blessing. They happen on the job, at the store, on the road and everywhere in between. You don’t need to record them or put them on social media. A kind word, a smile and some encouragement are blessings you can give today. Start small and start looking at every interaction as an opportunity to be a blessing. You never know where God will take you when you give Him you’re availability to bless others through you.

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September 2, 2025 · 5:35 AM

Don’t Manage Sin

My mother in law loves plants. She has plants all over her yard and on her porch. When she lived with us for a while she planted some in our yard too. There is one that I hate. It gets wide and it’s invasive. I cut it down with the weedeater, and it grew back. I dig it up once, and it grew again. We had a freeze that killed it. So I thought. It grew back. I tried poison and everything else you can think of, but it kept coming back. Finally, I took the shovel, dig out the whole flowerbed around it two feet deep, got everything root or pod I could find and then put in new dirt. That finally got rid of it. I hope.

Hebrews 11:25-26 says, “He (Moses) chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward” (NLT). I wonder how hard it was for Moses at times to go in the palace and not want to return to the freedoms and luxury he grew up with. Did he see the delicacies he once ate and get tempted? Egypt is often used as a metaphor for sin throughout the Bible. Our sin nature tries to call us back often. We read here how Moses chose daily not to enjoy those pleasures. He didn’t partake in temporary pleasures at the expense of the eternal ones.

Galatians 5:24 says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.” Notice it doesn’t say they manage them at the cross. No, we have to crucify (kill) them there. Like that plant, they’ll keep coming back if we don’t crucify them. Sin doesn’t lose its power because, we try to not do that anymore. We must choose like Moses live as one of God’s people rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. We must choose not to allow sin to rule our life anymore or dictate our choices. As Paul said here, it must be crucified at the cross so it doesn’t keep popping back up.

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September 1, 2025 · 5:33 AM

Inconvenient Opportunities

Years ago I saw a video of Arnold Schwarzenegger telling how he became Mr. Olympia seven times and Mr. Universe five times. He said he would get up early and workout before he went to his job. Then after working all day, when everyone else went out for dinner and drinks, we would go back to working out. He said that he would work out even when he wasn’t feeling it because he had a desire to win those titles. He pushed himself in the hard times and on the days when he felt unmotivated because he knew if he didn’t do the work then, he wouldn’t achieve the results he was working for.

In Genesis 6, God told Noah to build an ark. Eva use there was going to be a flood. After getting the instructions from God, he went to work. When people didn’t understand, he kept building. Before there was a drop of rain, he kept building. He obeyed even when it wasn’t convenient, when things were t going well and when people mocked him. He trusted what God said more than he trusted his current situation. When the rains and flood came, he had the only thing floating. His obedience in the hard times paid off when the rains came.

Proverbs 20:4 says, “The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing” (NKJV). The lazy person gives up in the times of inconvenience. What he doesn’t understand is that faithfulness in the season of plowing determines your fruitfulness in the season of harvest. There’s always an excuse to not do what God is asking, especially when it’s inconvenient and you don’t see any movement from God. Keep plowing though. Your harvest depends on your obedience in the hard times. God’s greatest opportunities often come wrapped in inconveniences. Will you be faithful when you’re not feeling it so you can receive a harvest later?

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August 29, 2025 · 5:44 AM

Unsown Seeds

I’ve got a couple of packets with seeds in them that have sat in a drawer for years. The seeds are still good. They have the potential to produce vegetables, but that’s all it is as they sit in the drawer. Potential. Seeds only work when they’re sown. They can’t take root until they’re placed in the soil. It makes me wonder how much potential each of us have in unsown seeds. The Bible is full of examples telling us to sow the seeds God has given us. Many times it tells us what we will reap if we do, yet we all have bags of unsown seeds. What seeds are you holding onto that God has asked you to sow? Don’t delay anymore. Go out and sow them.

Here are some Bible verses on sowing:

1. The wicked man earns deceptive wages, But he who sows righteousness and lives his life with integrity will have a true reward [that is both permanent and satisfying].

Proverbs 11:18 AMP

2. Sow with a view to righteousness [that righteousness, like seed, may germinate]; Reap in accordance with mercy and lovingkindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, For it is time to seek and search diligently for the Lord [and to long for His blessing] Until He comes to rain righteousness and His gift of salvation on you.

Hosea 10:12 AMP

3. This generous God who supplies abundant seed for the farmer, which becomes bread for our meals, is even more extravagant toward you. First he supplies every need, plus more. Then he multiplies the seed as you sow it, so that the harvest of your generosity will grow.

2 Corinthians 9:10 TPT

4. Here’s my point. A stingy sower will reap a meager harvest, but the one who sows from a generous spirit will reap an abundant harvest.

2 Corinthians 9:6 TPT

5. For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Galatians 6:8 AMP

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August 28, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Fresh Manna

When I first started writing for this site, I made a list of topics in my phone. I would try to brainstorm every couple of days to add to the list. I wrote on things I knew, but each day I was writing out of fear. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t have anything to say or that I’d run out of topics. As I shared my fear with an author, he told me I was approaching it all wrong. He said, “You need to go to God each day with an empty bucket and say, ‘Here i am, Lord. I need a fresh word. Will you fill up my bucket with enough for today?’” That conversation changed how I write and how I approach writing. It’s forced me to quit trying to use my knowledge, and to go to God each day seeking to hear Him.

In Exodus 16, the children of Israel had crossed the Red Sea and were on their way to Mount Sinai. They were hungry and began to glamorize their slavery. They complained that at least they had food in Egypt. God heard them and decided to supply them with what they needed. Each night, quail would fly into the camp and rest on the ground to provide them with meat. In the morning, the dew would turn to a thin bread like substance called manna. They were to take their buckets out in the morning to collect about half a gallon of it per person as food rations. They did this every day while they were in the desert.

In Exodus 16:15-16 Moses said, “This is the food that the Lord has given you to eat. The Lord has commanded that each of you is to gather as much of it as he needs, two quarts for each member of his household” (GNT). I believe the same is true for us. To move from a head knowledge of God to a heart relationship, we must go to Him each day seeking Him. Sunday’s sermon wasn’t meant to feed you all week. God is looking for you to meet with Him daily to feed your spirit. It’s time we started getting fresh manna from above each day. If you’re not sure how, pray, “Lord, I need fresh manna from you. I open my heart to hear from you today. Show me what you want to hear from you today.” Then open your Bible and read until you hear from Him. It’s not about the quantity as it is the quality. God will speak to you through His Word and fill your bucket daily.

Photo by Monika Grabkowska 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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August 27, 2025 · 5:46 AM

Presence Over Performance

We live in a culture that celebrates hustle, visibility and results. I worked for a company that placed a high value on those things as well. It became ingrained in me to say the right things, be seen by the right people and to produce the right results. It became a problem when those values seeped into my spiritual life. It can be easy to get into the habit of being performance driven instead of presence driven. What God values is different than the world. He’s not wowed by us going to the right church, doing the right ”Christian” things or going through the motions of performance if we aren’t truly honoring Him.

Isaiah 58 is a warning to Israel over doing just that. Verse 2 starts out, “They act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me” (NLT). He goes on to say that they fast, but they fight among themselves. They go through the motions of performance but lack humility. In verses 6-8 God says He’s looking for action over performance. He prefers justice, lightening the burdens of others, removing chains, helping the oppresed and helping the needy. When we do that we will receive His blessings.

Micah 6:6 says, “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Have you fallen into the trap of performance over presence? God wants us to do more than go through the motions of church. He’s wanting us to make a difference in the lives of others for His name’s sake. He wants us to spend time walking with Him, talking with Him and hearing His heart for a world that doesn’t value what He does. It’s not about acting like Christians, it’s being Christians. God doesn’t look on our outward performance the way man does. He looks at our heart instead. If you’re struggling with this, take time to be in His presence and ask Him to change your heart.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.

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August 26, 2025 · 5:48 AM

Eyes Of Vision

I was watching a video of an update on our new church building that is under construction. Our pastor was walking through the unfinished building saying, “Over here is going to be the sanctuary. Over here is the lobby. Out here we’re going to have plenty of parking with landscaping.” As I watched the video, I could see construction debris, metal studs laying on the ground, equipment and dirt. That’s when he said, lI need you to look at this with eyes of vision. Look beyond the current state to what will be.” That phrase reminded me of Hebrews 11:1 that says, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (NLT).

The same chapter is full of people who saw with eyes of vision. Abraham looked up and counted the stars as the number of descendants he would have. He did this as an old man who was married to a woman who was barren. It also mentions Noah, who had never seen rain or a boat, but that didn’t stop him from building. Then there was Joseph, whom God had given a dream, endured betrayal by his brothers, slavery in Egypt and being forgotten in jail. He didn’t look at his current situation as the end. Instead he looked through eyes of vision to the time God would fulfill His promise.

In the middle of these stories, the writer reminds us in verse 6, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Faith is being able to look beyond our current situation into God’s reality. It’s eyes of vision that sees beyond the moment and into the promise. It is impossible to please God without these eyes of vision that sees the reality of what we hope for and the evidence of things we can’t see in the moment. God rewards us when we trust His plans and purposes when we can’t make sense of the present because eyes of vision diligently seek Him. If you’re life is under construction, use eyes of vision to see what God is building instead of the mess right now.

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August 25, 2025 · 5:43 AM

Choosing Selflessness

I was really into basketball as I was growing up. I played it every day, watched movies about it and watched a lot of games. While everyone was trying to be like Michael Jordan, I gravitated to Magic Johnson and John Stockton. I loved how Magic saw the whole court and could pass without looking. With John Stockton, I loved how selfless he was in passing the ball to Karl Malone. To this day, John Stockton is the all time assist leader in giving up the ball so Malone could score. Stockton gave up the ball so much that Malone is third all time in scoring. In a world where ball hogs exist, these two showed what being selfless created greatness.

In John 3, while Jesus is gaining in popularity and having people follow Him, John the Baptist was losing followers. Some of those who remained with him were upset that people were leaving their ministry to follow Jesus. John explained that he was very clear about not being the Messiah. He then said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (ESV). The words used to say “I must decrease,” weren’t passive as a response to Jesus increasing. They conveyed active and intentional humbling of self so that Christ could increase. John was actively being selfless while his disciples were being driven by pride.

James 4:7 says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (NLT). Again we see the Bible telling us to be intentional about being humble. If you want more of Christ in your life, you’re going to have to be more selfless. You’re going to have to build up His name rather than your own. He will increase in our life as we submit to Him and actively decrease as John the Baptist said. We live in an age of self promotion, yet God’s call to us as believers has been just the opposite. Resisting the devil begins with resisting pride. When you learn to lose yourself for the sake of Christ, you will find life. Instead of being driven by pride, determine to be humble and selfless. As you decrease, Christ will increase and the devil will flee.

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