June 10, 2024 · 5:44 AM

Created To Do

I used to travel a lot for work. I often ate at the same restaurants in the cities I visited where I got to know servers and owners. At a restaurant in New Orleans, I came across a server named Ike. He wasn’t like any server I ever had before. He loved waiting on tables and it showed. It wasn’t long before he served some Hollywood casting agents filming there. They cast him in several shows over time. We were laughing about it one day and I told him that one day they were going to take him away to Hollywood. Suddenly his face got serious and he said, “That’s not going to happen. God made me to wait tables! Acting is fun, but this is why I’m here.” It struck me that night how important it is to find what we were created to do.

In 2 Chronicles 2, Solomon began to build the Temple. He got about 160,000 people to work on it. He hired Hiram, king of Tyre, to send cedar because people there were excellent at cutting wood. He hired Hiram-Abi who was created to work with good, silver and other metals. He could make any design Solomon thought of. This man made it into the Bible because he found what he was created to do, and God used his skills to create all the holy objects that were in the Temple. Throughout the first few chapters of 2 Chronicles, you’ll find his name over and over in relation to his skill. God doesn’t just need ministers to build His Church, He needs all of us doing our part using the talents and skills He’s given us.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV). You are God’s handiwork and you were created to do specific things for the Kingdom. Don’t look down on your skills and think they’re not as important as someone else’s. Nehemiah’s skill built a wall. David’s let him play the harp for the king. Paul made tents to earn money while being one of the most prolific missionaries. God can use whatever skill He’s given you to do good works and make a difference. He’s got work that you were created to do. Quit making excuses or demeaning your skill. Home it, find where you are to use it and get busy!

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June 7, 2024 · 5:28 AM

Winning The Victory

In 1 Samuel 17, David had to reject Saul’s armor and physical strategy to defeat Goliath. Then when he stepped onto the battlefield, the Bible says Goliath walked out mocking David with his shield bearer out front. Then David said, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!” (NLT)) What are you trusting in for your victory? Is it yourself, others or what you’re able to do? David only mentioned Goliath’s weapons, but the mentioned he understood victory comes from God. It’s not about what you can do, but in what God will do. You still have to step on the battlefield and use what’s in your hands, but you must trust in God for your victory more than your abilities because victory comes from Him.

Here are some Bible verses on victory from the Lord.

1. The Lord your God is going with you, and he will give you victory.

Deuteronomy 20:4 GNT

2. I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.

Psalms 62:1-2 NLT

3. For everyone born of God is victorious and overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has conquered and overcome the world—our [continuing, persistent] faith [in Jesus the Son of God].

1 John 5:4 AMP

4. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us].

Romans 8:37 AMP

5. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory [as conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 AMP

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June 6, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Stop And Look

Have you ever been sitting at a red light, or in traffic, and looked over and thought, “When did they build that?” It happens to me all the time. I take the same route to work each day, but sometimes the traffic patterns change. I’ll look over and see a building or something else and wonder how I missed it before. I’d driven by it a 100 times before, but somehow I’d never seen it. Was I too tired every other time? No. The difference is that this time I stopped and then looked around.

It makes me wonder how much of who God is, and what He says, that we miss because our prayer is just us talking. I wonder how much He’s trying to show us, but our lives are too busy. He created us to be industrious. That’s a great trait that He put in us, but He also knew that it would mean we need to be reminded to stop and breathe every once in a while or we’d miss Him. I believe it’s part of why He instituted the day of rest. We are so busy and have a tendency to make everything about us, that we lose sight of our creator. Stopping helps us focus on what matters.

In Psalm 46:10 God said, “Be still, and know that I am God!” (NLT) When we learn to be still in His presence, in prayer and in life, we begin to notice things about Him that we’ve never seen. Society has taught us that growth and advancement come from being busy, but God teaches us that they come from being still. Today, make time to stop and be still so you can see things you’ve never seen. God is waiting and wanting to reveal Himself to you. Are you willing to slow down and notice?

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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 5, 2024 · 5:28 AM

The Power Of Encouragement

One of the things we have to be aware of are people who will deter us from accomplishing our God given dreams and calling. When you share the vision God has given you, there will be those who tell you that you aren’t qualified, you misheard God or will try to talk you out of it. You must protect the seed from people like this. Their words often sink in and echo in our minds causing doubt and inactivity. It’s important to keep moving beyond their discouragement so that you do what God called you to. On the other side of the coin, we must make sure we aren’t discouraging others from their God given plans. We must use discernment and wisdom in both scenarios.

In 1 Samuel 16, David was anointed to be the next king in front of his dad and brothers. In the next chapter, he was watching sheep while his older brothers were off to war. His dad gave him some food to take to them. When he showed up, God stirred something in him regarding Goliath. Verse 28 says, “But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. ‘What are you doing around here anyway?’ he demanded. ‘What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!’” (NLT) His own brother, who knew his calling as king, stood in the way of his destiny and discouraged him. However, David persisted and continued despite it. He led Israel to a great victory that day because he gave more weight to God’s words than someone else’s.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” Be an encourager when someone shares what God has called them to do. Build them up instead of trying to tear them down. Be a person who helps them on their way rather than the person who stand in their way. Also, look for people who will encourage you on your mission. Find people who will pray for you and lift you up. If you don’t find them right away, be like David and keep looking around until you do. Not everyone needs to know what God has planted in your heart. The encouragement you find from other believers will be like water for the seed. Be a person who waters the seeds in others and find those who will water yours with their words. If you’ve been discouraged and quit moving towards it, make today the day you decide to move past the discouragement and begin moving forward again.

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June 4, 2024 · 5:42 AM

Minimizing Distractions

Stephen Covey developed and taught his four quadrants model to show how we spend our time. Quadrant one is on things that are urgent and important. It includes pressing problems, crisis and things with deadlines approaching. Quadrant two is on things are important but not urgent. It includes things like personal growth, long term planning and relationship building. Three is on things that are not urgent but important. It includes interruptions, handling other people’s issues and emails. Finally four is on things that are not important and are not urgent. This includes watching TV, social media and down time activities. These are all things we spend time on, but three quadrants are full of distractions while one invests in your future. Quadrant two gives us the greatest impact to our lives, but we spend most of our time in the other three because we’re easily distracted.

We all heard of Samson and how strong he was. From a child, God gave him a set of rules to live by that would set him apart and give him supernatural strength. Over time, he quit living in the area God told him to and started getting distracted. In Judges 14, a woman from an enemy country caught his eye and he wanted to marry her against his parent’s wishes. The Lord used it though. Then he killed a lion which later he ate honey out of going against God’s Laws. In chapter 16 he met Delilah who distracted him and cut off his hair removing his strength. In the end, he prayed and killed more of his enemies on his last day than on all his other days. He was a man whom God could have done so much more with, but he lived a distracted life that minimized the impact he could have had.

In Psalm 119:37 David prayed, “Turn my eyes away from vanity [all those worldly, meaningless things that distract—let Your priorities be mine], And restore me [with renewed energy] in Your ways” (AMP). This is a prayer we all need to pray. Our lives are filled with distractions (some necessary and some unnecessary) that keep us from our purpose. Our eyes and hearts are like Samson’s at times drawing us away from the things God has called us to. We can spend all day doing things, but are simply spinning our tires going nowhere with no impact. We must take time each day to focus on God’s priorities for our life and ask Him for renewed energy like Samson did so we can accomplish all He’s created us to do. Take some time to think about your distractions and then find a way to create some space where you minimize them or remove them from your life so you can spend energy and time on God’s priorities for your future.

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June 3, 2024 · 5:33 AM

Learning To Surrender

Our minds are powerful. They like to control everything we come in contact with. They change how we see life. That’s how so many people can witness the same thing and all of them see something different. Our minds fight against anything we don’t want, reject things that are different, resist change and manipulate us to keep things the way they are. It’s important to understand that’s how they work because God calls us to grow which invokes change. Our minds will try to keep us where we are instead of where He’s leading us. It’s a battle we have to fight against ourselves every time we try to do what He asks. Surrendering to His will is key. We must relinquish the plans, ideas and thoughts our brains want for what he wants. It’s a fight we are all in, and will continue to be in, so learning to surrender is key.

After Israel left Egypt, they had to fight some battles in the Sinai. Joshua, one of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the Promised Land and said they could take it, became their military leader. He led this wandering nation to victory several times with God’s help. When they entered the Promised Land he became their leader and led them to Jericho. After sending in spies, I’m sure he was forming a plan to take when he encountered God’s commander carrying a sword. Joshua 5 says he asked him if he was for them or against them. Verse 14 says, “‘Neither one,’ he replied. ‘I am the commander of the Lord’s army.’ At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. ‘I am at your command,’ Joshua said. ‘What do you want your servant to do?’” (NLT) Immediately Joshua surrendered to the Lord and His plan.

In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, “If you truly desire to be my disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace my ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to my ways” (TPT). Following Jesus requires surrendering on our part. We think of surrendering as bad because it means losing or giving up, but that’s what we must do with our own plans and desires. We must be willing to surrender the, for His plans and ways. Romans 8 reminds us there’s a battle going on in all of us between our flash and the Spirit. It’s up to us to resist our brain’s wiring and our fleshly desires, force them to surrender and ask the Lord what He wants us to do. We must disown our desires, embrace His cross and surrender our ways to receive the victory in His Promised Land for our lives.

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May 31, 2024 · 5:35 AM

Being Together

In Exodus 17, while the Israelites were trekking through the wilderness, they were attacked by the Amalekites. Moses knew they needed the Lord’s help for victory, so he sent Joshua to take men to the battle while he went up a hill with Aaron and Hur. While Moses’ hands were raised, they we’re winning, but when he got tired and out them down, they began to lose. Aaron and Hur held Moses’ hand up until the battle was won. They gave a great representation why we need people in our lives around us. Even when God is fighting our battles, we need to be together with His people. Like God told Adam in the Garden, it’s not good to be alone. We need to be together for strength, encouragement, victory and more. Don’t try to face life alone. Get together with God’s people who will support you and hold you up the way Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms.

Here are some Bible verses on being together.

1. Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel.

Philippians 1:27 GNT

2. For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.

Matthew 18:20 AMP

3. Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NLT

4. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.

Hebrews 10:25 TPT

5. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

Thanks to Unsplash for the photo.

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May 30, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Miracles In The Wilderness

There were two instances where Jesus wanted to feed a large crowd. One was a crowd of 5,000 and the other was of 4,000. In both instances, they were away from the city with nowhere to buy food. In Mark 8, we find the story of the 4,000 people who were following Jesus and it says they ran out of food. Jesus had compassion on them and indicated he wanted to feed the mass of people. The disciples were incredulous and asked, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?” (NLT)

They knew that Jesus was looking to them to feed the people. I’m sure the “we” in that sentence had some inflection in it indicating they thought He should be the one finding the food. He was the Son of God after all. But Jesus didn’t waiver. He stayed true to who He has been since the beginning of time. He looked to them for an act of faith. He wanted them to be the ones who looked at an impossible situation and to offer Him something to multiply. If you remember your multiplication tables, anything multiplied by zero is zero.

When their faith saw only the impossibility, He threw them a hint. In verse 5 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” He was looking for them to trust Him with their own bread so He could do what only He could do. He wanted them to see He could perform miracles in the wilderness. He didn’t have to be in a lush environment or around a lot of people in a city. He just needed to be by a few people with enough faith to trust Him with what they had.

You may be in a wilderness right now wondering what God is doing. You may look around you and think you don’t have anything to offer God to take care of the mass of problems in your life. I believe God would say to you what He said to them, “How much bread do you have?” What is your bread that God could multiply? What is it that you can offer Him in the wilderness that you need Him to multiply? If your faith can’t see what your bread is, ask God to point it out to you like He did with the disciples. When you put it in His hands, He’ll perform miracles in your wilderness.

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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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May 29, 2024 · 5:41 AM

Affirmation From God

When I’m working with a leader and teaching them how to coach an employee, I tell them that the last step is the most important. After creating a collaborative action plan for future behaviors, they must end with an affirmation of belief in the employee. It’s critical for the leader to say, “I know you can make this change and it will change your results.” When we haven’t met expectations or have fallen short in an area repeatedly, our negative self talk can keep us in a cycle of failure. Affirmations of belief from a superior resonate in a person and can replace that self talk. There’s something to having someone believe in you that encourages you and gives you the will to face a battle you’ve lost before.

In Judges 6, israel was being bullied by the Midianites. The Israelites would often hide from them in caves and other places where they wouldn’t be seen. The Midianites would destroy their crops, take their livestock and make life unbearable for the Israelites. That’s when we’re introduced to Gideon. He had managed to grow some grain without them destroying it and was hiding while threshing it. Suddenly God visited him in the form of an angel and spoke to him. He said, “The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man!” (GNT) Gideon didn’t see himself that way in the moment and asked why God hadn’t delivered them. That’s when God told him to go in the strength he had to deliver Israel. God believed in Gideon and affirmed something in him that he didn’t see in himself. He went on to defeat the Midianite army and become the leader of Israel.

Galatians 1:21-22 says, “God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete” (MSG). God has put His Spirit in you as a believer affirming your calling and giving you strength to accomplish His will for your life. He sees you as a mighty warrior who is able to defeat the thing standing in your way. He’s given you strength to complete what you haven’t been able to do on your own. He calls out of us abilities and strengths we didn’t know we had. We access those by stepping onto the battlefield in faith the way Gideon did. When God calls you to something, He equips you and strengthens you when you step out in faith. Gideon had to step onto the battlefield with 300 men to face 130,000. He didn’t feel qualified and he didn’t feel prepared, but when he stepped out in faith, God showed up. The same is true for us. God affirms who we are in Christ and gives us strength in our weaknesses.

Photo by Jordan Donaldson | @jordi.d on Unsplash

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May 28, 2024 · 5:13 AM

Hidden Motives

When I was in high school, my dad told me that chewing gum could be a sin. That was a shocking thing to hear, and I doubted it, so I asked him where that was in Scripture. I figured he would point to Leviticus or something, but he went to James 4:7 which says that it’s sin to know to do right and then to choose not to do it. Since chewing gum was against school rules, I would be in willful rebellion knowing the rule and choosing not to obey it. That day my concept of sin changed. I had associated sin with an action of doing something that was a “thou shalt not.” My dad was teaching me that sin is often a matter of the hearts and my motivation. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

In Numbers 22, we read the story of Balaam and his donkey riding through town. I’ve always kind of thought positively about him despite this story, but everywhere he’s mentioned in the Bible refers to him negatively. He had refused to curse Israel no matter what. They kept trying to bride him to go with them to do it, but he refused. He then told them to stay one more night to see if God would change his mind. That’s when God told him he could go with them. The next morning Balaam saddled his own donkey to go with them indicating his desire and eagerness to go with them. Verse 22 says that God got angry at Balaam because his motives were wrong in going. That’s when the donkey began to act crazy and finally spoke to him.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 says, “For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts” (NLT). You and I are able to do the right things for the wrong reasons. God looks at our heart though. We might be able to fool others, but we can’t fool God. What has God asked you to do, but you’re hesitating or choosing to do something different? What have you been doing with the wrong motivation or desire in your heart? We have to be careful that we don’t become like Balaam or Jonah who said and did the right thing, but had improper motives that were hidden. God sees our heart and will use whatever He needs to in order to correct the sin hidden in our lives, including a donkey or giant fish.

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