Tag Archives: bible

October 6, 2016 · 5:45 AM

Spiritual Healing 


Imagine that you woke up so sick this morning that you couldn’t go to work. So you call the doctor, but they tell you, “Sorry. We are having check ups for healthy people this week and aren’t taking any sick patients. We can fit you in sometime next week. Will Wednesday at 11:30 work?” How would that make you feel? Being sick, and not being able to see a doctor, would compound an already bad day. Yet situations like this happen all the time in our churches. Spiritually sick people walk through our doors and we put them off.

You and I interact with spiritually sick people every day. We come into co tact with them at work, at the store, at the park, and at the gym. We rarely interact with them, and if we do, we don’t always invite them to church where they can find spiritual healing. For those who do walk in our churches, many times we are too busy interacting with spiritually healthy people to notice or to say hello to them. It’s more comfortable to hang out with our friends than to introduce ourselves to a stranger who may be in need of the Great Physician.

I love the example Jesus set in Matthew 9. He was walking down the road and saw a tax collector stand. He walked up to it and said, “Follow me and be my disciple” (NLT). Immediately Matthew recognized he was sick, and Jesus was a doctor who could heal him. He then invited Jesus to his house and then invited a bunch of spiritually sick friends. He wanted them to get better as well. But the religious minded people couldn’t understand why Jesus would hang out with such people. In verse 11, they asked His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”

I love Jesus’ response. He said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do.” It was a reminder to them (and us) that we have an obligation to help the spiritually sick of this world. Our goal shouldn’t be to get through this life without interacting with non-believers. We should want to interact with is many as we can. Why do you think the majority of Jesus’ ministry was outside the synagogue? He wanted to be where the sick and hurting were. Somehow we’ve changed from His example. We expect the spiritually sick to come to the church, yet when they do, we often ignore them. It’s time we remembered we were once sick too and needed spiritual healing. 

What can you do today to bring spiritual healing to those you come in contact with?

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October 4, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Quit Doubting God



I began my daily devotional journey over four years ago. I’m often asked how I can write so often without running out of things to write about. In the beginning, that was my greatest fear. What if I woke up one day and had nothing to write? What would my readers think? Would they forgive me for letting them down? I honestly worried that that day would come, but I’ve since learned that I wasn’t doubting my abilities – I was doubting God’s

Several months after I started, and while I was wrestling with those thoughts, I got to meet and have breakfast with William Paul Young, author of “The Shack”. As we talked, he said something that changed how I looked at God. He told me, “Quit looking at God as well and start to see him as a river flowing from an eternal spring.” In that moment, my perspective changed. I had been looking at God as a well that could run dry instead of an endless source of creativity. I truly had been doubting Him instead of myself.

In John 4, Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well. After asking her for a drink, He remarked that if she knew who He was, she would ask Him for water that never ran out. In verse 11, she said, “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket, and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water?” (NLT) She was still looking at the well to be the source. She, like us, had a very small idea of who God was and what He was capable of. She tried to confine an infinite God to a finite space. She tried to place Him inside our laws instead of herself in His.

I love Jesus reply to her. He said, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” When we put God into our laws, we become thirsty again and fear that His goodness will run out. When we see Him for who He is, our laws go out the window because nothing is impossible to Him. He isn’t your well – He’s the one who gives you a fresh, unending, bubbling stream so you’ll never thirst again. When you change your perspective of who He is, you’ll quit doubting His abilities. 

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October 3, 2016 · 5:46 AM

Losing Pride


When I picture John the Baptist, I picture a Grizzly Adams kind of man. Bearded, tough, and furry clothes. The Bible describes him as a guy who lived in the wilderness and ate locust. I wonder what people thought of him when they saw him. I wonder if they took one look at his exterior, made a judgement, and discounted his message or dismissed him as crazy. Sure, on the outside, he was rough, but on the inside was a heart and spirit we should all strive to have.

I believe he was able to amass a great following based on his heart. How many people do you know who have charismatic personalities, yet are very humble? Those two things rarely go together. Usually the person who enjoys being the center of attention doesn’t give it up happily, but John knew his place and his calling. When Jesus came along, he had no problem yielding the stage to Him. To me, that’s what admire most about him.

When some of his followers came to him to tell him that Jesus was baptizing not far away, they expected him to get upset. After all, his name was John the Baptist. Baptizing people was kind of his thing. His followers were a lot like us. They didn’t like to yield the stage, and they really didn’t like that Jesus was taking people from their ministry. How dare He? After all, it was John who baptized Jesus. But John knew what was going on and he didn’t let his pride get in the way of his calling

In John 3:30, John showed us what was behind his wild and rough exterior when he told his followers, “He must become more important while I become less important” (GNT). That’s the attitude that each of us should strive for each day. We should make Jesus more important in our life while we become less important. We should understand that our lives were created to serve His purpose, not ours. Each day, we should be looking for ways to have Him increase in our lives. If you want to fulfill your purpose, you have to lose the pride that tries to make your name known so you can make Him known.

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September 30, 2016 · 5:00 AM

God Still Heals

I believe God heals people. I always have believed it and I always will. I have a personal rule that when someone asks me for prayer, I pray with them on the spot. That way, they know I’ve prayed for them and later I don’t have a guilty conscience because I said I would and I didn’t. Because of this rule and my faith that God heals, I get calls often to pray with people. Recently, there have been a lot of calls. After I prayed for one person, my son said, “You pray about doctors a lot!” He hears me pray for these people and for the doctors who treat them. 

I don’t know why every person that’s prayed for doesn’t get healed. I’ve read tragic stories on social media of people who have been prayed for by thousands of people that didn’t receive their physical healing. A man who lost his 3 year old son recently said that his son’s death has provided him with more motivation to go to Heaven. Another man I know had been given six months to live because of cancer. Several months later, after lots of prayer, the cancer was gone from his body completely. God only knows why some are healed and others aren’t. Either way, it doesn’t change His ability.

Here are some verses in the Bible that speak about healing. May they boost your faith and bring you hope.

1. Lord, heal me and I will be completely well; rescue me and I will be perfectly safe. You are the one I praise!
Jeremiah 17:14 GNT

2. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Psalms 103:2-5 NASB

3. All the people were trying to touch Him, because [healing] power was coming from Him and healing them all.
LUKE 6:19 AMP

4. Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.
James 5:13-15 MSG

5. In the church God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:28 GNT

6. Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
Matthew 8:7 NLT

7. But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.
Isaiah 53:5 GNT

8. O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
Psalms 30:2 NASB

9. But for you who fear My name [with awe-filled reverence] the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go forward and leap [joyfully] like calves [released] from the stall.
MALACHI 4:2 AMP

10. He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26 NLT

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September 29, 2016 · 1:20 AM

Let’s Make A Deal


One of the game shows I grew up watching was “Let’s Make A Deal”. It’s a fun environment where the audience dresses up in ridiculous outfits hoping to be chosen by the host to come on stage. They can choose to trade what they have for what’s behind Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3. Sometimes, they would win a fabulous prize, but often they would get a Zonk (a worthless prize). There are a lot of times in life when we make bad trades. We sometimes trade moments of pleasure for a lifetime of regret. We sometimes trade happiness for a better paying job. Life is full of trades.

When Jesus was fasting in the wilderness, just before He began His ministry, Satan met Him and offered three trades. The first trade was to trade spiritual strength for a full belly. We know He was hungry and it must have been tempting to turn those stones into bread, but Jesus knew it wasn’t a good trade. Too often we are tempted to give up our spiritual significance for an insignificant morsel. In Luke 4:4, Jesus said, “It takes more than bread to really live” (MSG). 

In the second temptation, Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world if He would bow to him. The trade here was to displace God from the throne of His life and put Himself there. Satan still tries that with each of us. Our flesh wants to play “King of the Hill” with God for who’s in control. Like Jesus, we need to understand it’s a bad trade. Jesus reminded him and us that the way to a successful life is to worship the Lord with absolute single-heartedness. We can’t give in to the temptation to trade places with God on the throne of our life.

The third temptation of Jesus was to jump off the Temple and let the angels catch Him. Satan was asking Him to doubt God’s protection by testing it. Jesus knew God would send the angels if he fell, but to jump would appear to be an act of faith, but would really be an act of disbelief. That’s why Jesus quoted the commandment, “Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.” Our enemy often masks what you’re really trading to make us think we are doing something spiritual when really, we’re doing the opposite.

The best way to make sure you don’t trade for a Zonk, is to know God’s Word. It’s what Jesus used to look at each trade that was offered. Every one of us are tempted daily to make trades. We need to take a closer look at what we are being offered and what we are being asked to give up. Leading a Spirit led life, immersed in the Bible, will help you to make fewer bad trades. Whatever you’re being tempted with today, I hope that you will take a moment to look at it in the light of God’s Word and ask God to help you make the best choice.

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September 28, 2016 · 5:50 AM

Come Here


One of my favorite songs in high school was “The Call” by Steven Curtis Chapman. I don’t think it ever made the top ten on Billboard, but it told a powerful story of some fisherman who left their nets on the waters edge. A man named Jesus had called them by name, and with reckless abandon, they walked away from everything they had known including their jobs and their family. The chorus of the songs says, “We will abandon it all for the sake of the call. No other reason, but for the sake of the call. Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call.”

For most of my life, I have imagined that scene. The sun was just coming up and there were fishermen all along the shores of Galilee. They were beside their boats cleaning their nets, tossing sticks and seaweed to the side. They were talking about the productivity, or lack there of, from the night before, and discussing where they would try tonight. That’s when, in Matthew 4:19, a stranger walked up and calmly said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” They put down their nets and started following Him.

I think I got most of it right, but what I didn’t get right was the “follow me” part. Jesus didn’t say that calmly. When you look at the original language, it was more of a, “Come here!” It was authoritative. When He spoke those words, it struck a chord with something in them, and they walked away from everything they knew. James and John walked away from their father. Imagine that conversation. It sounds crazy when you think about it, but that’s what happened. 

I took my five year old to a baseball game a few days ago. As we were walking through the crowd to find food, he kept wandering away. I found myself yelling, “Come here” a lot. He would run back to me, but would wander away before long. That’s how it is for many of us in our walk with Jesus. He’s constantly yelling us, “Come here!” We wander off, and He’s calling us back. The call He gives to all of us is to follow Him. He doesn’t stay in the same place. He’s constantly moving and drawing us into deeper relationship with Him. The question is, are you too settled in where you are to follow where He leads?

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September 27, 2016 · 8:05 AM

Prove it


I think we can all agree that there is a difference between saying something and proving something. When we were kids, we all had that friend that told tall tales. He was related to famous people. He was going to be on TV. He had a hundred dollars. You name it, he either did it or had it. After a while, we found the phrase, “Prove it!” It turns out, he could tell you just about anything, but he couldn’t prove any of it. Without proof, we had no reason to believe the things he said.

When I was younger, I heard someone ask, “If you were to be accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to prove it?” That’s a tough question we should all think about. A court can’t convict anyone unless there is some form of evidence against them. In some cases, that evidence comes from first hand witnesses. Other times it comes from physical evidence left behind. What evidence are you leaving behind for others to know you are a Christian? Can others eye witnesses tell by how you live that you’re a Christian?

In Matthew 3:8, John the Baptist was out at the river baptizing people when the religious leaders came to take a look. One of the things he said to them was, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God” (NLT). He knew they were manufacturing false evidence to try to prove they were righteous, but their lives contradicted that evidence. Jesus later said they were whitewashed tombs. They looked good on the outside, but were full of death on the inside.

Today’s devotion is not to say that you earn salvation by your works – that’s what the religious leaders were trying to do. It’s saying when you truly experience the power of God in your life, it changes you. Your life changes inside and out. You find that going to church isn’t evidence that you’re a Christian – living for God is. When you experience the power of salvation, you begin to leave evidence everywhere that you have repented and followed Christ. My challenge to you today is to take an honest look at the evidence in your life. What does it point to? Is it manufactured or is it natural from a changed heart and life?

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September 26, 2016 · 5:51 AM

First Responses Matter


In Luke 1, two different people are told by the angel Gabriel that something amazing will happen to them. They responded almost identically, yet one was punished and one was praised. One spent the next several months unable to speak, while the other used their voice to praise God. How we respond to the plans God has for us matters. When God first puts them in our heart, they scare us because they seem impossible to accomplish on our own. Through the years, I’ve discovered if God put it in you, it’s impossible to do on your own.

Zechariah was a man who was up in age. He was a faithful servant of God and even served as a priest in the Temple. One day, while performing his duties, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary to burn incense before God. After he entered, Gabriel appeared to him to bring him the message that his wife would become pregnant and have a son. In verse 18, Zechariah responded, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years” (NLT). It seems like a logical question, but it upset Gabriel to the point that he made Zechariah mute until the baby was born.

Mary was a young lady who was engaged to be married. She believed in God, but wasn’t involved in ministry. She was going about her normal business when Gabriel paid a visit to her. He gave her the incredible news that she would become pregnant while still a virgin. In verse 34, she responded, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” Again, this is a logical response to the angel, but this time he wasn’t angry. Instead he gave an explanation. So what was the difference? Their responses are very similar.

One was born out of doubt and one out of faith. One saw the impossibility and questioned God’s ability, while the other’s faith made them curious. Look at their responses again. One wanted proof it would happen and the other wondered how God would accomplish His will. There’s a significant difference, and I think it’s important how we respond to the things God reveals to us. So many times we want proof from Him instead of trusting that He’ll do what He says. I don’t know what God placed in your heart, but I can imagine it’s pretty big. Instead of asking Him for proof, trust Him to do it, and be available as Mary was.

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September 22, 2016 · 5:00 AM

This Little Light Of Mine


© International Space Station / Facebook

When you were little, I bet you sang this, “This little light of mine. I’m going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Don’t let Satan blow it out. I’m going to let it shine. Don’t let Satan blow it out. Im going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let us shine.” Good times right? I hope this song gets stuck in your head today because it carries a simple, but powerful truth: You have God’s light in you! Think about that. In the midst of any dark situation, you are filled with God’s light. Don’t hide it under a bushel.

Speaking of the light God placed in us, John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (NLT). As a kid, I was worried that Satan could blow it out, but now I know that darkness can’t extinguish it. That means that there’s nothing the enemy can bring against you that will put out the light God put in you. You can walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and not gave your light put out. You can be in a hole that either you dug or that life has thrown you in, and your light will still shine.

Today, I was looking at some pictures from the International Space Station (shown above). It had pictures of Italy, Spain, and several other countries at night. All throughout those photos, there were spots of light. It’s a great visual example of what God is doing. He knows that where there is light, darkness has to flee. Darkness is simply the absence of light. It can’t put out light. It can only exist where there is no light. Just like those photos showed lit up areas in the middle of the night, so should our lives light up the darkness around us.

When we accept Christ, we have the true light living in us. Therefore, wherever we go, darkness has to flee. Whether your light is small and dim or big and bright, it chases darkness away. I know there are days when my light doesn’t feel very powerful, but even on my weakest days, the light in me is stronger than any darkness. In Matthew 5, Jesus said we are like a city set on a hill that can’t be hidden. If you’ve ever seen a city on a hill at night, you know what He’s talking about. Go be that light to someone today – God knows someone needs your light in their life.

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September 21, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Praise Break


I don’t know about you, but there are times I just want to spend hours praising God while listening to praise and worship music. I set my Pandora to Bethel, and then let it play. I love how so many songs put words to how I feel and what I want to say to God. Right now, one of my favorites is “Great Are You Lord” by All Sons and Daughters. The part that resonates with me says, “It’s your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you only.” I find myself repeating just that phrase over and over.

I learned a long time ago how important it is to be in God’s presence, especially when I’m under attack. I can find peace and clarity in times of chaos by praising God. Psalm 22 tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people. I’ve found that God shows up when I praise Him. I find that if I sing to Him, He gives me strength when I’m mentally and physically exhausted. I know I don’t sing in tune, but thankfully, He hears my heart over my pitch. He just enjoys it when we take the time to invite Him into our busy day and to praise Him.

Sometimes I feel like the psalmist in Psalm 106:2. He wrote, “Who can tell all the great things he has done? Who can praise him enough?” (GNT) Several years ago, Sonicflood sang a song called, “I Could Sing of your Love Forever”. I believe we could do that and still not be able to praise Him for all He’s done. I don’t know that we can praise Him enough. I do know that He is worthy of whatever praise we give Him because if He never did another thing for any one of us, He’s already done more for us than we deserve.

Today, I challenge you to think of things God has done for you and to praise Him for them. Make a list and watch it grow. We get so good at asking Him for things, but we rarely stop to thank Him when He does. Take time to praise God from your heart. If you don’t know what to say, search for your favorite worship song, play it, and sing along. Don’t worry if you don’t sound good to human ears. You aren’t signing for their approval. You are worshiping the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When you do this, watch how your day changes. It’s amazing how praising God shifts our perspective and how His presence gives us peace.

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