Tag Archives: christian living

October 3, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Goodness In Action

I was just telling my son, that Romans is my favorite book in the Bible. It’s full of so many treasures and some outright blunt speaking from Paul. One of which is Romans 2:4. It says, “Are you [actually] unaware or ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance [that is, to change your inner self, your old way of thinking—seek His purpose for your life]?” (AMP) Through this verse, Paul revealed the part of our process of the change in our heart and mind that led us to seeking forgiveness for our sin. When you think back to when you received Jesus as your savior, there was kindness or goodness in action from God towards you that led you towards trusting in Him. That kindness created a change of heart in you. That same kindness that God demonstrated to you is the same kindness listed in the Fruits of the Spirit that we are to display to others.

In Genesis 43, Joseph’s brothers returned to Egypt for more grain. Joseph showed them kindness by feeding them at his own home. They knew they didn’t deserve this kindness as their consciences reminded them of what they had done to their brother. After having lunch with them, he planted a cup in Benjamin’s bag that was found later after they left. When he said Benjamin had to go to jail, Judah stood up and offered an act of kindness by saying he would take the punishment for Benjamin. When Joseph saw this, he knew their hearts had changed and he revealed himself to them. Forgiveness and restoration took place because kindness (goodness in action) was demonstrated when they didn’t deserve it.

Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you” (AMP). It’s not just God’s kindness that leads to repentance, it’s our goodness in action and forgiveness that points them to Jesus too. Who in your life least deserves kindness from you? We are to readily and freely forgive others as Jesus readily and freely forgave us. We need to show kindness to those who have wronged us rather than seeking revenge. Pray for wisdom and help from God to help you forgive and show you ways to express His kindness to them and to others you meet. We know that when others see our good works and goodness in action, they’ll glorify God and turn to Him.

Photo by ROCKETMANN TEAM on Pexels.

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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October 2, 2024 · 5:39 AM

Holding On Tightly

If you could go back in time and watch anything in the Bible happen, what would it be? Watching the walls of Jericho fall would be high on the list for me. I wonder what the people on both sides thought as they marched around the walls. To hear the trumpets blast and the people shout because God had given them the city would be incredible I think. Then to stand there in awe as the walls collapsed and feel the earth shake from it would be the experience of a lifetime. I have read that story many times since I was a kid. I have even marched and driven around situations praying for spiritual walls to fall and for breakthrough. I’ve experienced the miracle of God moving in the moment like He did that day, but I’ve also experienced standing there waiting for the walls to fall. How do you respond when you’ve done everything you can and the walls remain while breakthrough eludes you?

In Mark 5:25-34, we read about a lady who had done everything she could, but her breakthrough never came. For 12 years, she had suffered with an issue of blood that made her unclean according to the Law. For 12 years she had gone to every doctor she could find only to get worse. For 12 years she faced disappointments and set backs. Think about where you were and what was going on in your life 12 years ago to put that into perspective. Somehow this woman kept marching around the walls praying for them to fall, when one day she heard about Jesus. She thought if she could just touch the hem of His garment, she would be healed, so she snuck up behind Him in the crowd. When she touched it, her breakthrough came and she was healed.

Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (NLT). It’s hard to keep holding on when your breakthrough doesn’t happen or is delayed, but like that woman, we can’t let go. Our hope is not based on the moment we’re standing in, but in the promise of the Great I Am, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Our faith must be greater than our feelings if we’re not going to waiver in those times when we’re staring down walls we’ve prayed would fall. Like the Israelites we need to keep marching and thanking God for the victory that’s coming. Like the woman we must seek out the hem of His garment when everything else has failed. We can trust in God’s promises and who He is because He’s been faithful. I don’t know when your breakthrough will happen, but I know you must keep holding on tightly to your faith in Him no matter what.

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September 30, 2024 · 5:45 AM

Controlling Everything

How do you handle it when everything is going wrong? There are times and seasons of disappointment that we all go through. For some of us, we start trying to control everything when things start spinning out of control. The truth is that we can’t really control anything except our response and our attitude. I’m not a person that is constantly worried about things, but in these seasons, worry tries to creep in. My sleep gets disrupted, my appetite goes away and I get quiet because I’m trying to handle it and solve it on my own. Doing all those things is still simply masking the fact that I’m trying to control the situation rather than my response. Ultimately I have to realize that only God can control my circumstances.

In Esther 3, Haman had been promoted to second in command. The king ordered that he be given the same treatment and respect as if he were king. People were told to bow when he went by them. Everyone obeyed the edict except Mordecai. Haman was infuriated and decided not to simply attack Mordecai. His response was to eradicate all Jews. He convinced the king to sign a law that gave people in every province of the kingdom to kill Jews and take their possessions. In chapter four, Mordecai read the decree and began crying and wailing. He put on mourning clothes, fasted and prayed for a resolution. He may have felt the blame for the situation and knew he didn’t have the answer, but he knew God did. He sent word to Esther about what was going on and God used her to save His people.

Psalm 121:1-2 says, “I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!” (NLT) When things are out of control, God is still in control. We must look to Him because He is the only one who can help in these seasons. He is the one who had the plan and people in position to protect you and bring the season to a close. Like Mordecai, we should turn our hearts toward heaven in fasting and prayer. Like Esther, we should be ready to do whatever God asks no matter how difficult. Things may look bleak, and times may get rough, but in those moments we must look to God and seek Him more than ever. He is still in control of everything and nothing happens without Him knowing. Control your response and let Him take the burden of controlling everything else.

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September 26, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Honoring God’s Presence

I take a spiritual growth assessment a couple of times a year to get a snapshot of where I am. It helps me to visualize the different aspects of my disciplines, see where I’m gaining ground and where I’m losing ground. I’ve noticed when certain disciplines, like listening in my prayer time, are low, there are fewer experiences with God. There’s a direct correlation between my listening to His voice and experiencing His power and presence in my life. If I want more of it, I have to make time to listen instead of just talking through that time to Him about my needs. Listening is a great way to honor God’s presence.

In 1 Samuel 3, Eli was the High Priest of Israel. He was their spiritual leader, but the first verse says, “Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon” (NLT). The reason why the messages and visions were rare is because Eli had quit honoring God’s presence. He no longer slept in the tabernacle tending to the candlestick, he allowed his sons to steal God’s offerings and turned a blind eye to their promiscuity. God had enough of it and spoke to Samuel a prophetic message of how He was going to remove Eli and his sons from their positions.

In Matthew 13:57-58 it says, “Then Jesus told them, ‘A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.’ And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.” Our belief and honor have a lot to do with how much we experience the power of God in our life. If it’s been a while since you’ve heard God’s voice or experienced Him in a real way, take a close examination of your life. Are you honoring Him in all aspects of your life? Have you been relaxed on your spiritual disciplines? When we honor God, He shows up in our life in real ways.

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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 25, 2024 · 5:45 AM

Leaving The Pit Of Despair

September 25th holds a special place in my heart and on my calendar. It’s the day where I hit rock bottom in my life. After seven months of having the bottom fall out from underneath me, this was the day I gave up. I walked into my house, laid down on the living room floor, curled up in the fetal position and bawled like a baby. I was hurting inside so badly and was tired of losing everything. In that moment I cried out to God and told Him I was done. It was then that I heard a still, small voice say, “Finally.” I had been doing thing on my own and living how I wanted to live. God spoke and said if I was ready to build my life His way and live how He wanted me to, He would rebuild my life. I repented right there and agreed to change. I walked over to my calendar and wrote, “The Bottom.”

In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus told a parable about another man who tried to do things his way. He went to his father and demanded his inheritance while his father was still living. He insulted his father and his whole village. He took the money, went to a foreign land and lived how he wanted instead of how he was raised. He was having a good time until he ran out of money. If that wasn’t bad enough, there was famine that caused food to be scare. Then the economy crashed and he couldn’t find work except the lowliest of positions. After struggling, he finally hit rock bottom and decided to seek forgiveness. He headed home. Verse 20 says, “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him” (NLT). His father put a new robe on him, put the family ring on his finger, killed the best calf and had a celebration. His son had returned and agreed to live by the father’s rules.

Psalm 40:2 says, “He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.” I’ve been to the pit of despair and cried out like the Prodigal Son. A friend recently asked for practical steps to get out of that pit. I to,d him it starts with repentance and crying out to God. It takes determining to make changes in your life and leaving situations, people and places that got you there. It takes committing to reading the Bible, praying daily and getting involved in a body of believers who will love you. When I made these changes, God lifted me out of the pit, put my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I made progress. It took more than ten years to get back to the point where I felt like I was back to level ground. It’s not easy climbing out of that pit of despair, but it’s possibly by surrendering to God.

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September 20, 2024 · 5:35 AM

Following Direction

Have you ever prayed asking God for direction? Me too. Knowing what to do or which decision to make or where to go plagues all of us. Sometimes we’re at a loss to know and other times we’ve got paralysis through analysis. Gideon was in the same boat. In Judges 6, God met with him and called him to lead Israel. In verse 36 he laid out a fleece to find out if God was really directing him in that direction. He did it again the next night just to be sure. God answered his requests and he followed where God was leading him. Because he did, God used him to set Israel free from the oppression of the Amalekites.

I don’t know if God is calling you to lead, something great or something small. However, I do know that God directs each of our steps. Whatever you’re asking directions for, He has an answer and a plan. As with anything else, you then have a choice. Are you going to follow God’s direction or are you going to choose your own? If you choose the later, take a moment to read up on Jonah. Instead, ask for wisdom in how to proceed, that God would open the right door and light up your path. God is not trying to hide his plan for you, but there are times He asks us to step out in faith. Abraham had to start walking towards something before God told him where to go. Whatever situation you find yourself in, seek God’s direction and then follow it.

Here are some Bible verses showing that God directs us:

1. What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature.

Galatians 5:16 GNT

2. The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

Psalms 37:23 NLT

3. The holy God of Israel, the Lord who saves you, says: “I am the Lord your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go.”

Isaiah 48:17 GNT

4. A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], But the Lord directs his steps and establishes them.

Proverbs 16:9 AMP

5. It is the Lord who directs your life, for each step you take is ordained by God to bring you closer to your destiny. So much of your life, then, remains a mystery!

Proverbs 20:24 TPT

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September 18, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Getting Rid Of Things

I’ve spent year teaching people about personal and spiritual growth. I’ve found that our human nature wants change, but doesn’t want to change in order to achieve it. We want to de clutter our lives, but we don’t want to get rid of anything. What holds most of us back in our growth is our inability to let go of things, people habits and comforts that are holding us back. They may have a helped us in the past to get where we are, but they’re dead weight when it comes to getting us where we need to go. The people who experience growth in their lives are the ones who are able to lay things down that hold them back. I’m guilty of this myself. There’s a fear in letting go partly because what we’re holding onto is comfortable and partly because we’re afraid of the unknown. If we’re going to walk by faith, we have to be willing to let go of things.

When Jesus called Peter, James and John to follow Him, they had to lay down their nets. Those nets were their source of income and represented a lifetime of learning the skill of fishing. When David defeated Goliath with a sling and a stone, the Bible says he picked up Goliath’s sword. We don’t read of him conquering nations with a sling. He did it with what he picked up. Gideon was found by an a age as he was hiding from his enemy. In order to lead the nation, he had to lay down his insecurities and embrace the mighty warrior within himself. Moses had to lay down his fear in order to set God’s people free. He faced his past, trusted in God and stood before Pharaoh. The list goes on.

Hebrews 12:1 says, “As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us” (GNT). What do you need to get rid of that is weigh in you down and holding you back? God had more for you, but you need to lay some things down in order to receive it. Getting rid of things isn’t easy, but it is necessary. Ask the Holy Spirit to identify things, habits, people and comforts in your life that are keeping you from all He had for you. Then ask for the strength, faith and courage to let go. There is freedom in getting rid of things.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.

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September 16, 2024 · 5:32 AM

Handling Blessings

Several years ago a book about the prayer of Jabez became popular. I read it and memorized 1 Chronicles 4:10. It said, “Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!’ And God granted what he asked” (ESV). I began seeking God’s blessing and favor over my life like Jabez. I’ve found out that we can seek God’s blessing, but many times we aren’t prepared to receive it. We haven’t built our storehouses to contain it. Some people manage God’s blessings well and others not so well. One of the true tests of our heart is how well we handle and manage God’s blessings.

In Genesis 40, Joseph was in prison awaiting his blessing. While waiting, he got two new cell mates – Pharaoh’s baker and cup bearer. When they had a dream, Joseph interpreted them. He told the cup bearer that he would be restored and the baker he would die. He then told the cup bearer to remember him, but when he got his blessing, he forgot Joseph. I believe Joseph learned a lesson about handling blessings that day. When he was placed as the second highest command in Egypt and his brothers showed up, he cared for them. After he revealed himself, they were terrified he would use his blessing and power against them. However, in Genesis 45:7 he said, “God sent me ahead of you to rescue you in this amazing way and to make sure that you and your descendants survive” (GNT). He understood that God’s blessing was to be used to bless others, including those who had destroyed his life.

In Luke 12, Jesus said, “Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant? He is the one that his master will put in charge, to run the household and give the other servants their share of the food at the proper time.” In verse 48, He concludes by saying, “Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given.” The more of God’s blessings we receive, the more that will be required of us. He is looking for faithful and wise stewards of His blessings. If we can’t manage well the amount of blessings we have now, how will we handle more? God truly wants to bless His people, but we must be willing to use them for His purposes.

Photo credit: Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

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September 11, 2024 · 5:58 AM

Return To The Basics

I met with a person who was going through one life changing event after another and they were beginning to overlap. As they talked I began to express empathy for their struggles knowing full well the thoughts and feelings they were going through. After sharing everything, they looked me straight in the eye and asked, “What are some practical things I need to be doing to climb out of this hole.” My mind immediately remembered a quote from Zig Ziglar that says, “If you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.” I asked about their spiritual disciplines and encouraged them to get their spiritual house in order first. A week after committing to be consistent with their spiritual disciplines, they called and began to share some of the changes they had seen and some blessings they had received. Returning to the basics created changes in their life and gave God margin to move in their life.

In the book of Ruth, Naomi and her family went through one life altering event after another. Famine chased them from their home and into a foreign land. Her husband died and then so did both of her sons. She knew she needed to get back to where God’s blessing was so she asked her daughters in law to stay. One, Ruth, decided to go with her. The people were excited to see her, but she asked them to call her “Bitter” because of how my life has been going. However, once she got back, it was harvest time and God began to care for them and even open doors for a lifetime of blessings. Ruth found her way into the field of Boaz who would later redeem her, marry her and give Naomi a grandchild. God’s blessings returned once she returned.

In Revelation 2, Jesus is addressing the Church at Ephesus. He recognized that they were going through a hard time. Then in verse 4-5 He said, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (ESV). Jesus was calling them back to their first love and to do the basic disciplines they did at first. We can all get busy and distracted doing things for Jesus. We can also let life throw us out of our rhythm of serving Him because we’re just trying to keep our head above water, yet He calls us to return to spiritual disciplines. I’ve found that I’ve had to move things in my schedule, break away from certain relationships and create margin in my schedule in order to return to the basics. Once I did, I opened the door to God’s blessings and my love for Him was renewed. What are the basics He’s calling you to return to?

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September 10, 2024 · 5:40 AM

While You Wait

I had read once that when you’re waiting your perception of time gets warped. Your mind tricks you into thinking it was three times longer than it actually is. I’ve experimented with groups where I would start a timer while they sat in silence. After a period of time, I would ask them to guess how long they sat there. Sure enough they were guessing two to three times the time they were there. I then like to ask what thoughts were going through their mind and what emotions were they experiencing the last time they had to wait at a restaurant or a retail establishment. It turns out we don’t like to wait and often get worked up in the process. Waiting is hard by itself. It’s even more difficult when you’re not sure it is going to end or if you’re going to get what you want. God uses these times to test us and grow us.

Abraham had to wait around 25 years for the promise of a son. God used that period in his life to grow his faith and to show him anything was possible. Joseph waited in a prison in Egypt for his dream to come true. While he was waiting, God was maturing and positioning him to fulfill the dreams. David went back to watching sleep while he waited after being anointed king. Then he spent years on the run living in the wilderness. God used that time to teach him how to shepherd people, win the hearts of a nation and develop leadership skills. In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, five waited patiently and did what they were supposed to do in that period. Five didn’t. What we do while we wait matters.

Lamentations 3:25 says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (ESV). Are you seeking God in the waiting or are you complaining? Has your mind told you it’s been too long? We must trim our wicks in our waiting so we’re ready to be used when He’s ready to fulfill His promise. We must let our endurance and faith increase when nothing seems to be happening. God may be positioning you and others and you don’t even know it. He may be developing skills as well. Don’t rush His process because the promise is on the other side of it. I don’t know how long you’ll have to wait, but God has a pattern of having His people wait. He also has a pattern of being faithful to those who do and to those who seek Him in the waiting.

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