April 21, 2022 · 5:30 AM

Seasons Of Life

Did you know that there are four seasons to farming? In the Spring, it’s the time of planting. The soil is tilled and seeds are placed at the right depth and spacing. In the Summer, it’s critical to make sure the crops are getting the right amount of water, fertilizer and sunlight. With the Fall comes the harvest. It’s about gathering in the produce at the peak of ripeness and then ripping out the old stalks so the ground can be infused with organic matter. Then, when the winter comes, the land has an opportunity to rest. You also spend this time repairing your tools and getting ready for the next Spring.

As I read that, I can’t help but think of the seasons of our life. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us there is a time and a season for everything. That includes our lives. Some of us are in a season of planting and preparing for what’s coming. Some of us are in a season of working on growing what we’ve planted. Some of us are in a season of harvest where we are reaping the benefits of what we’ve done. Others are in a season of rest where things in your life have been ripped up and it’s time to make repairs so you can plant again. Have you ever considered what season you’re in and the responsibilities God has given you for that season?

Proverbs 10:5 says, “Know the importance of the season you’re in and a wise son you will be. But what a waste when an incompetent son sleeps through his day of opportunity!” (TPT) God has you in this season for a purpose. In every season you find yourself in, there are things you should be doing for that season as well as things to prepare for the next season. Ask God to give you wisdom to know the things you should be doing in your season. Every season comes and goes. You will not be in this season forever, so make the most of it. Don’t let the opportunity of what God is trying to do in your life during this season pass by.

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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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April 20, 2022 · 5:44 AM

A Conditional Mindset

Have you ever told God, “I’ll go wherever you want me to go, except…”? Or you might have said, “I’ll do anything you want me to, except…” it’s crazy how we sometimes put conditions on our obedience. The truth is that we’ve got a mindset that we’ve adopted on earth that makes us think we can do that. For some reason we’ve bought the lie that we get to pick and choose what we want to obey. You can’t say, “God, I’ll honor you, but I’m not going to honor my spouse or my parents.” To dishonor them is to dishonor God and the commandment He’s given. The mindset that tells God what we are and are not going to do is wrong.

Take Jonah for example. God told him where to go and what to say. He didn’t say anything back to God. He went down to the shore, bought a ticket like he was going and boarded a ship in the opposite direction. His mindset was the kind that said, “I’ll go wherever you want except Nineveh.” God wasn’t pleased with Jonah, nor is He pleased with us when we adopt the same mindset. He might not send a great fish to swallow you so you’ll get an attitude adjustment and a mindset change, but He will try to get your attention so you’ll follow and say what the Spirit leads you to do and say. We can’t forget that He is the potter and we are the clay.

Romans 8:7 puts it plainly what’s happening when we do this to God. It says, “In fact, the mind-set focused on the flesh fights God’s plan and refuses to submit to his direction, because it cannot!” (TPT) When we refuse to submit to God’s direction for our lives, we’ve adopted a flesh driven mindset rather than a Spirit led one. It’s a visible sign of rebellion because of a lack of submission to God. To live by the Spirit is to live in obedience and without conditions to what God says on how to live, where to go and what to say. It’s the way God has asked you and I to live. The next time you find yourself putting conditions on obeying, stop the sentence, repent and say, “I’m your servant. I’ll do whatever you want.” It may not be easy, but that’s what a Spirit led life looks like.

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April 19, 2022 · 5:44 AM

An Act Of Faith

Growing up, I loved watching the Indiana Jones movies. They were action packed, funny and took place all over the world. One of my favorite scenes came from “The Last Crusade”. Indiana Jones was standing at the edge of a cliff and needed to cross it. The instructions he had told him to do an act of faith and step off the cliff. You could see him contemplating what would happen if he just stepped off the cliff. I held my breath as he lifted one leg, lifted it over the edge and took the step. To his surprise, and the audience too, there was a hidden bridge there he couldn’t see from his perspective. His act of faith paid off.

In Joshua 3, it was time for Israel to cross the Jordan. After purifying themselves, they set out for the river. The priests who were carrying the Ark we’re out front leading the way. Their instructions were to walk into the river and then it would dry up for everyone to cross. Verse 15 tells us that when they crossed, it was the time of harvest and that the river was in flood stage and had overrun its banks. I can see the priests standing near the edge of the water as it flowed rapidly by. There might have been a moment of fear, but they took their step of faith and waded into the water. When they did, verse 16 says the waters stopped upstream and the people were able to cross on dry ground.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (GNT). God is calling you and I to step into greater acts of faith. He’s calling us to take steps into places we can’t see with our physical eyes. We’re going to have to trust His instructions even when they don’t make sense. You might get a little wet from the waters that look a little too deep, but that’s the life we’re called to. We can be sure of what He tells us because it is more certain than what’s physical in this world. There will always be that voice that wants you to question what God said, but you need to take the step anyway as am act of faith. God will do the rest.

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April 18, 2022 · 5:35 AM

Peace In God’s Presence

Peace is something that I think is misunderstood at times. We like to think it’s the opposite of problems and stresses in life, but it’s more than that. It comes from relying on and being in God’s presence during those times. Our enemy wants us to blame God for our problems so that we run from Him and the peace He offers during the chaotic times of life. He knows that when we blame God, and lack peace, chaos can have its way and begin to ruin our relationship with our creator. Thankfully, even in those times, God continues to reach out to us to pull us closer to Him.

In Job 16, Job had been arguing with his friends. They had turned his heart from the worship we saw when the chaos in his life began. Instead of worship, he began to blame. In verse 7 Job says, “But now God has exhausted me. You [O Lord] have destroyed all my family and my household” (AMP). He was still maintaining his innocence, but had began to blame God which led to him questioning God. Thankfully, this book pulls the veil back a bit so that we can see what was really going on so that we can understand it’s not God causing the chaos, even though He may allow it. Like Job ended up doing, we must ultimately draw closer to God when our life gets turned upside down.

Psalm 91:1 has been referred to as our 911. It’s what we’re to do when things happen in our lives that’s more than we can bear. It says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand].” Not only will we remain secure when we run to God during the chaotic times of our lives, but we will find rest from the peace He offers. The enemy may be able to touch your body, your family, your job and your way of living, but when you run to God’s presence, he can’t touch your peace. He can’t touch your soul. Trust in God who brings you abundant life while the enemy tries to steal, kill and destroy everything in your life. You’ll find peace and rest that are beyond understanding.

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April 15, 2022 · 5:39 AM

Why Is It Good Friday?

My son asked me, “Why do we call it Good Friday when it’s the day Jesus suffered and died?” I explained that centuries ago, they used the word good as a word to refer to something holy. Then I also explained that it truly was the greatest day in history until the resurrection. If Jesus had not been beaten and died, we would still be in our sins. It’s good that He took on our sins and made a way for us to get to Heaven. It’s good that He went to Hell to conquer it and to take the keys of it and the grave. While today is a somber day of remembrance, it is a good day in the history of the world.

Here are some Bible verses to reflect on for Good Friday.

1. Christ purchased our freedom and redeemed us from the curse of the Law and its condemnation by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs [crucified] on a tree (cross).”

Galatians 3:13 AMP

2. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

3. But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

Isaiah 53:5 NLT

4. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

Romans 6:6 NLT

5. My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine!

Galatians 2:20 TPT

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April 14, 2022 · 5:30 AM

The Importance Of Excellence

It was a sculptor named Frederic Bartholdi who designed and built the Statue of Liberty. It was built and then dedicated in New York City In 1886. It would be nearly 20 years later when the Wright brothers first took flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Yet, when building the Statue of Liberty, Bartholdi refused to cut corners, especially on the head of Lady Liberty. To think that someone would ever be able to see the top of her head never crossed his mind, but he took the time to put the same amount of work and detail up there. When you’re driven by excellence, you focus even on the details you don’t think that others will see. You understand that when you get the small details right, the big problems rarely show up.

My personal motto is, “If it has my name on it, it needs to be done with excellence.” If I’m going to spend my time working on something, I want to make sure I don’t cut any corners or do a job that will reflect poorly on me. In my mind, I think about how the things I do don’t just reflect myself, but God. As a person who bears the name Christian, I should also be concerned about the reputation of the One whose name I bear. According to 1 Corinthians 12:7, each one of us are given gifts by God in order to help each other. If we’re going to maximize our gifts and their effects in the lives of others, it’s important that we understand how to use them and that we focus on using them well. We should never take these gifts lightly.

Galatians 6:4 says, “Let everyone be devoted to fulfill the work God has given them to do with excellence, and their joy will be in doing what’s right and being themselves, and not in being affirmed by others” (TPT). You have work that God has called you to do through the unique gifts He has equipped you with. If you don’t use them, or do your work half heartedly, you diminish the ripple affect into the lives of others. To have the greatest impact on this world, we each need to know our giftings and operate in them with the excellence they deserve. Put time into perfecting the details, even the ones you think no one will ever see. You never know what God will do or how He May bless your commitment to doing all things with excellence.

Photo by Linus Mimietz 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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April 13, 2022 · 5:44 AM

What Matters Most

When I was in the Eighth grade, Nike had come out with the Air Jordan 3’s. There wasn’t anything else in the world I wanted more. I went to my parents, but they couldn’t afford an unheard of cost of $100 for a pair of shoes. Their price was $25 for a pair. Anything over that was my responsibility. So I grabbed the lawnmower and started knocking on doors. It took a while at $10 a yard, but I saved up enough to buy them. I was so proud of them and took them to my first out of town basketball tournament. That night someone pulled the fire alarm at 2:00 AM. The only thing I cared about was the shoes. I grabbed them and ran out. They were my prize possession for about three months until I grew out of them.

Job was a man who worked hard and became wealthy. As you probably know, he lost everything he owned in a day, including his children. Then he got a terrible skin disease. His wife told him to curse God and die. Then his friends came along accusing him of sinning against God bringing all this on himself. When he wasn’t defending himself, he became very reflective and introspective. He also got a little defiant. He learned what really mattered in life through his experience. When he got the proper perspective, God set things right in his life and protected him from the attack he was under.

Psalm 39:6 says, “All our activities and energies are spent for things that pass away. We gather, we hoard, we cling to our things, only to leave them all behind for who knows who” (TPT). What’s important to you in this life? Will it last for eternity? We spend so much time and effort trying to acquire this world’s wealth or items that give us status here, yet it’s what’s done for eternity is what matters. We need to take time to reflect as Job did. What changes do we need to make so that we’re not walking up to God’s throne empty handed? There’s nothing wrong with having things and acquiring wealth. Just make sure you’re laying up treasures in Heaven as well.

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April 12, 2022 · 5:53 AM

A Thorough Search

When it comes to going to the doctor, I’ve got friends on two ends of the spectrum. On one end are people who don’t like to go see the doctor. They like to say, “Every time I go to the doctor, they find something wrong.” By not going, they assume the problem isn’t there and won’t go until it’s too late to be helped. On the other end, I’ve got friends who want full body scans often. They’ll say, “If there’s something going on anywhere in me, I want to know about it.” They realize that something can pop up quickly, and they want to catch it early knowing it gives them a greater chance at success in beating it.

Psalm 139 is one of those chapters many of us quote or have memorized. It starts out saying, “O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me” (AMP). God has searched each one of us and knows what’s going on in us well before we do. He is acquainted with ALL our ways. He not only knows the number of hairs on our head, but He also knows our thoughts and intents. He knows us better than we know ourselves. The psalmist understood that and began this psalm recognizing who God is, which makes it interesting that he closed the psalm by saying, “Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

The closing search is what I referred to earlier. It’s so that he would know what’s going on inside himself. He invited God to thoroughly go through the hidden places of his heart, to the dark corners of his mind and to find the skeletons in his closets so that he could be led more surely in God’s ways. It’s something each of us need to invite God to do. God already knows what He’s going to find, and He loves us anyway. It’s truly up to us to invite Him in to expose our hidden sins and intents so that we can follow Him more closely. There’s no need to fear a thorough search. He’ll forgive what gets exposed, you’ll find freedom and walk more confidently in the everlasting way.

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April 11, 2022 · 5:48 AM

Submitting To The King

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week that leads up to Easter. Mark 11 records that Jesus rode into town on a young donkey that had never been risen. As He entered Jerusalem, the people began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” People we’re waving Palm branches and laying them in the streets for Him to ride over. The palm branches in that culture represented victory. The other thing the people did was recorded in verse 8. It says they laid their garments in the street for Him to ride over. It’s an interesting picture to me. Why place their garments on the ground?

In 2 Kings 9:1-13, Elisha had one of the prophets sons go to Jehu with a private message. The kid was to tell him that he was now the king of Israel, to anoint him with oil and then to run away as fast as he could. When Jehu came back out, his friends asked what that was about. When he told them, they got excited. Verse 13 says, “Then they quickly spread out their cloaks on the bare steps and blew the ram’s horn, shouting, ‘Jehu is king!’” (NLT) It’s the only other time I can find where this happened for a king. It’s also something we read over and miss if we read it with a western lens.

In that culture, the bottom of your foot is significant. If you point the under side of your foot at someone, you’re signifying that they are beneath you like dust. For the people to take off their garments and put them under the feet of Jehu and the donkey of Jesus, they were submitting to their authority as king. The garments represent their concerns. Remember in Matthew 6 when Jesus said He clothes the fields and that we shouldn’t be concerned about what to wear? Each of us have concerns we wear like a heavy garment. It’s time that we submitted them to Jesus by placing them at His feet. We don’t need to carry them anymore. We need to submit to His authority and ability to provide for us as our king.

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April 8, 2022 · 5:35 AM

Go Possess The Land

It’s no secret the Israelites wandered through the desert for forty years. However, there came a time where they had to cross the Jordan and possess the land. The same is true for us. It can feel like we’re wandering through life going nowhere while we wait for God’s promise. During your time of wandering though, you’re being prepared, you’re being refined and you’re being strengthened without knowing it. There will be a time coming soon when you will need to advance and possess all that God has promised. When that time comes, move forward with everything in you and take the land.

Here are some Bible verses on moving forward and possessing the land.

1. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession of it; for we will certainly conquer it.”

Numbers 13:30 AMP

2. “Come on,” they replied. “Let’s attack Laish. We saw the land, and it’s very good. Don’t stay here doing nothing; hurry! Go on in and take it over!”

Judges 18:9 GNT

3. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.

Daniel 7:18 ESV

4. As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him.

1 Samuel 17:48 NLT

5. So don’t be impatient for Yahweh to act; keep moving forward steadily in his ways, and he will exalt you to possess the land. You’ll watch with your own eyes and see the wicked lose everything.

Psalms 37:34 TPT

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