Tag Archives: christian living

August 23, 2024 · 5:20 AM

Being Strengthened

Each of us have days or even periods of our lives where we don’t feel like we have the strength to face the day. I remember a period in my life where I kept repeating to myself, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” It was a way to remind myself that God provides strength in those moments. When I looked up the Hebrew word for “strengthen,” it does mean to make stronger, but it also means to grow and develop. God uses some of the darkest moments in our lives to grow and develop us as a way to strengthen us for the future. He will use the struggles we face to develop our character and faith in Him. Though these moments feel impossible to stand in, keep trusting in God’s plan. He is strengthening you.

Here are some Bible verses on being strengthened:

1. I will be strength to him, and I will give him my grace to sustain him no matter what comes.

Psalms 89:21 TPT

2. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

3. May He send you help from the sanctuary (His dwelling place) And support and strengthen you from Zion!

Psalms 20:2 AMP

4. I am the Lord your God; I strengthen you and tell you, Do not be afraid; I will help you.

Isaiah 41:13 GNT

5. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NLT

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August 22, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Reading The Textbook

When I was in school, I tried to get the best grade with the least amount of effort. I developed a system where I didn’t have to truly study for tests. I took notes in class on what the professor said. The day before the test, I simply read my notes and got a good grade. It worked so well that I quit buying textbooks at college and saved a ton. Then I had one professor who lectured and lectured every class, but when the test came, none of what he lectured was on it. I asked him where the material came from on the test, he simply replied, “From the textbook. Haven’t you been doing the daily readings?” I had a choice to make, I could drop the class and lose that money or I could buy the textbook and read. That was one of the few textbooks I bought.

There’s a lot of people who approach Christianity the way I did college. They show up for a Sunday lecture, but never open the textbook between Sunday’s. I’ve tried that too and it doesn’t work. You can never know if what’s being taught is true or not unless you know what the Bible says. In Acts 17, Paul and Silas were preaching in Berea. Their message was intriguing, but different than they had ever heard. They didn’t just accept it because they were good speakers or spoke with authority. Verse 11 says, “And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth” (NLT).

As believers, you and I must learn to search and study the Scriptures ourselves. Then use the tools that are available today to understand the context of them. After that we must meditate on them and learn how to apply them to our lives. Hearing and reading other people’s interpretation of them is good, but nothing replaces your study of the Scripture. Psalm 119:27 says, “Help me understand the meaning of your commandments, and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds.” If you struggle to understand the Bible, ask God to reveal it to you in a way you can understand. God doesn’t want you to be in the dark about what He says. Remember it is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path (Psalm 119:105), and you are to hide it in your heart to keep you from sin (Psalm 119:11). God gave us this textbook to help us. Make sure you read it.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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August 21, 2024 · 5:33 AM

Being Vulnerable

Have you ever been in a group setting where the opportunity to be vulnerable in front of the group came up and there was a long pause of awkward silence? Inside you wanted to be vulnerable, but the voices quickly rushed in that said they were going to make fun of you, no one else would be vulnerable and that no one would like you if they knew that about you. Your heart started pounding through your chest. Your throat tightened up. You didn’t know what to do. I’ve seen. It go both ways in that group. One where everyone stayed silent and one where someone stepped out and shared. The one where the person was vulnerable opened the door to deeper relationships and stronger community while the other group stayed very surface level and growth was inhibited.

In Matthew 14, Jesus put the disciples in a boat and sent them across the Sea of Galilee while He remained behind to pray. That night, while they were a long way from Jesus, a storm blew in. The waves beat against the ship. The rain poured down and the wind was trying to impede their progress and push them backwards. Just then they saw a crazy sight that scared them. They saw someone walking on the water. Fear gripped their hearts. Was it a ghost? Was it coming to attack them? A voice called out trying to calm them saying it was Jesus. Peter, decided to be vulnerable in that moment of uncertainty and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (ESV). He wasn’t sure if it was Jesus, and he knew he couldn’t walk on water, yet his vulnerability allowed him to get out of the boat in a storm of rain and fear. He was the only one who walked on water that night.

In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus gives us the opportunity to be vulnerable with Him. To admit you can’t do it on your own is hard. To say you need help isn’t easy, yet Jesus extends His hand to us the way He did to Peter that night as He began to sink and called out to Jesus. If you could carry the burden and do everything on your own you wouldn’t need faith or God. By going to Him, admitting you can’t do it and casting your burdens on Him, you’re giving Him margin to move in your life. You’re giving Him the opportunity to call you out of the boat onto a storm tossed sea to walk with Him. Will you be vulnerable enough with Him to do that or will you stay in the boat? One truly offers rest and the other a false sense of security. The more vulnerable you are with Christ, the deeper your relationship will be.

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August 19, 2024 · 5:42 AM

Breaking Habituation

Not long after i moved to Egypt, someone gave me the best advice. They told me to take as many pictures of things that surprised me because in a few weeks, I would grow accustomed to them. I didn’t believe them honestly, but I followed their advice. I took pictures of boats sailing on the Nile, bedouins bring their goats into the neighborhood to eat our grass and more. In psychology, habituation is the term used to describe that situation. It’s where we grow accustomed to our surroundings or situations to the point it no longer bothers us. Examples are when you see someone up north walking around in shorts in cold weather, someone tuning out noisy neighbors or even a hoarder getting used to their living conditions. After a while, the brain stops responding to the surroundings that we’re once shocking, creating a new normal.

You can see it in the book of Nehemiah. When Nehemiah asked his brother how things were going for those who returned to Jerusalem, he was told that the city walls remained broken down and that the gates were burned. Nehemiah wept for those living there and was then sent by the king to make repairs. When he arrived, he didn’t tell anyone what was on his heart. He again was moved by their situation. I’m sure he was shocked that it didn’t bother them. They had rebuilt the Temple and then began to get into the habit of living without protection. In those times it was disgraceful to live in a city without walls. I’m sure it bothered them at first, but they lacked the energy to rebuild them after they rebuilt the Temple. They became habituated to their living conditions until Nehemiah showed up and changed their perspective.

Nehemiah 2:17 says, “But now I said to them, ‘See what trouble we are in because Jerusalem is in ruins and its gates are destroyed! Let’s rebuild the city walls and put an end to our disgrace’” (GNT). In that moment their eyes were opened to their condition. They rallied around Nehemiah’s vision and rebuilt the walls. Their condition is no less different than the one many of us are living in. We’ve grown accustomed to sin in our life, the culture around us or the condition of our heart. God wants to open our eyes and reenergize us to repairing the breeches we’ve grown accustomed to. He wants to break the effects of habituation that have stagnated our growth and relationship with Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where your walls are broken down and to reignite your love for the Lord. God is ready to take you into a new season, but you have to be ready to break out of the habituation of the one you’re in.

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August 16, 2024 · 5:26 AM

The Greatest Reward

So many companies are offering rewards for downloading their app or being loyal to them. My grocery store give gas discounts, restaurants offer free food, credit card companies offer points and even the police offer money to help catch someone. We seem to be motivated by rewards. Maybe that’s why God offers us rewards as well for seeking Him and following His way of living. The reward He offers is greater than anything here on earth. He offers us the reward of finding the one thing we are all seeking. There’s a hole in everyone’s life that they spend a lifetime trying to fill. It can only be filled by Him. When we seek Him, we will find Him. When we find Him, we find our purpose. When we find our purpose, our life is fulfilled. What a reward that is! When we seek Him and draw near to Him, He draws near to us and we experience His presence moving and working in our life.

Here are some Bible verses that show God rewards us:

1. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

2. There’s a crown of righteousness waiting in heaven for me, and I know that my Lord will reward me on his day of righteous judgment. And this crown is not only waiting for me, but for all who love and long for his unveiling.

2 Timothy 4:8 TPT

3. Trouble follows sinners everywhere, but righteous people will be rewarded with good things.

Proverbs 13:21 GNT

4. The Lord rewards me because I do what is right; he blesses me because I am innocent.

Psalm 18:20 GNT

5. Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.

Revelation 22:12 NLT

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August 15, 2024 · 5:30 AM

God’s True Path For You

A recent news headline that caught my attention said, “Magnetic North Shifting By 30 Miles A Year”. As a person who grew up learning how to orienteer using a compass and maps, that’s a significant shift. It creates a greater difference between where compasses point and the North Pole (geographic north). It also creates significant problems for airplanes, your phone’s GPS navigation and migratory animals who use magnetic north to orient themselves. It has created such a problem that scientists are having to update the World Magnetic Model, the system that calibrates all GPS, a year early. If they hadn’t done that, the GPS in your phone, car and on airplanes could take you to a place that would be different by several miles depending on the length of the trip. In short, you would think you were on the right track, but miss your destination.

In today’s world, what the world considers “north” and what God considers “north” are separating at faster rate than ever. The world tells us that each of us have our own truth, but Jesus said He is the Truth. He is our geographic north if you will. The more we rely on our own truth or follow the truth of this world, the farther we will be from our destination when we arrive. This is not a new phenomenon. It’s been going on since the Garden of Eden when the serpent got Eve to switch from God’s north to her own. Today, he is still trying to get each one of us to make that shift and is blurring the lines between where each of us believe north in our lives is. We must be grounded in God’s infallible Word if we’re going to stay on the paths God has for us.

In Psalm 86:11, David realized the pull on his heart to switch from true north to a worldly magnetic north. He prayed, “Train me, GOD, to walk straight; then I’ll follow your true path” (MSG). That is a prayer that each one of us needs to pray daily along with reading and meditating on the Bible if we’re going to stay on God’s true path for our life. The great news is that if we have veered from His path, there’s time to make adjustments and get back onto His path. We simply need to recognize that we’ve made the shift, ask for forgiveness and then pray for guidance to get back on His path. He has given us to Holy Spirit to be our guide and to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). God has given us everything we need to follow His true path for our life. We just need to make sure we’re headed for His destination guided by His truth.

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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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August 14, 2024 · 5:35 AM

Outsourcing Our Worship

When we think of worship, we often associate it with singing in a church service. However, in the Bible it took on many forms, and it was always an act of humility in response to the presence and power of God. That act of humility showed up in different ways. For some, they bowed down to the ground in worship. Some, like David, raised their hands and sang of the greatness of God. Abel brought the best of his flock to the Lord and sacrificed it as an act of worship. Later, in Leviticus 1, God would ask for each person to do the very same thing as they came to the Temple. They were to bring the best and unblemished animals from their own flock to give to Him. This act of worship also provided margin in their lives for God to provide for them.

In Matthew 21:12-13, we read the famous story of Jesus entering the Temple and flipping over tables. It says, “Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, ‘The Scriptures declare, “My Temple will be called a house of prayer,” but you have turned it into a den of thieves!’” (NLT). Did you catch what they were selling? It was the animals to be used as an act of worship and it made Him angry because they were outsourcing their worship. Instead of bringing their best, the just bought something from someone else and offered it. Their act of worship became a ritual part of going to the Temple rather than something that came from their heart. He was about to offer Himself as a sacrifice in an act of worship and their actions were mocking true worship.

Romans 12:1 says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Jesus was our example of physically offering His body as an acceptable way to worship. Here, Paul is asking us to give our whole life to the cause of Christ, not just on Sundays. He wants our hearts to respond to the power of His presence in our lives by committing everything to Him as an act of worship. Many times we only offer Him a portion and not everything. When we hold back or only give Him a portion of our lives, we are outsourcing our worship, and that is not acceptable. He wants every part of your life. What parts and habits have you been holding back from Him? As an act of worship today, would you commit it to Him?

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August 12, 2024 · 5:34 AM

Guard Yourself

There’s a story that the writer of Proverbs shares with his son that we all should be aware of. In verse 6, he says he was looking out his window over the city and saw a naive man walking down the street. He crossed the street near an immoral woman’s house and began to linger a bit. He knew she was immoral and chose to walk by there anyway. She came out, approached him and threw her arms around him. She said something religious to throw him off. She then said she had been looking for him and spoke seductively to him wooing him inside. He followed her like a bird into a snare not knowing it would cost him his life. The writer is warning us how temptation works and is begging us to guard our hearts so we don’t follow in the same steps as this naive man.

In Ephesians 6, Paul reminds us that we must be strong in the Lord and in His might so we can stand up to the temptations of the devil who seeks to steal, kill and destroy. He reminds us to put on God’s armor to help protect us. Verse 14 says, “Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness” (NLT). This body armor, or breastplate of righteousness, was meant to guard the heart which is the seat of our emotions and representative of our spiritual life. It is meant to shield us from the attacks and temptations from the enemy that would pierce us and lead us down the road the naive man went down. It’s accompanied by the belt of truth because we must know God’s truth in order to push back against the enemy’s lies the way Jesus did. Putting these on requires us to know the Word and to make choice’s consistent with our faith.

In Romans 13, Paul tells us we must live differently than the people of the world. We must live as people of the light rather than of darkness. In verse 14 he says, “Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.” We must put on the righteousness provided by Jesus and make decisions in our thinking that reflect His way for our life. Otherwise we will be caught in the enemy’s web of deceit drawing us away from God’s righteousness. He causes us to think about sin and it’s pleasures rather than the end result. Instead of playing around with it and walking near the street of the thing that tempts you, guard your heart and stay away. Don’t be like the naive man who went near the temptation. Put on truth and righteousness. Don’t entertain thoughts of temptation. Just like the woman luring the man in, our enemy is trying to lure us away from living as people of the light. Guard yourself with the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness.

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August 8, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Combating Internal Lies

When you’re going through a difficult season or through a hard time, you start seeking out sympathy. One of the things you’re going to hear in your mind is, “You don’t deserve this. Why is God mad at you?” Another thing you will hear is, “No one has it as badly as you do. No one will understand what you’re going through.” I know because I’ve heard them. These are lies to get you to be upset at God, to get mad at others and to isolate you. If you’re mad at God, you won’t pray and a root of bitterness can spring up. If you’re mad at others, you won’t accept help from them. If you’re isolated, you’re easy prey for your enemy who roams like a lion seeking to devour you.

To combat the first lie, I use Romans 8:28 as a promise to hold onto. I believe that no matter how bad things get, God can always work it out for my good. To combat the second lie, I look for people who had it worse than I did. There is always someone else who is having a more difficult time than you. I’ve also come to realize that while my circumstance are unique, it doesn’t disqualify anyone from understanding and offering empathy. The pain and stages of grief are where others can connect to help me from getting isolated. I also keep at least one friend nearby who knows that during difficult seasons I may push people away, but really I want and need them close by. They know I need encouragement and to be refocused during those times.

Hebrews 12:3 is a great Scripture to help refocus in difficult times. It says, “So consider carefully how Jesus faced such intense opposition from sinners who opposed their own souls, so that you won’t become worn down and cave in under life’s pressures” (TPT). Jesus, who is our intercessor, has been through worse things and attacks than anyone. The verse before this one reminds us that He endured all that for the joy set before Him knowing what good was going to come from it. Now He is able to be empathetic and to pray specifically for you to the Father. You are never alone in your struggles. You are never left without an intercessor who is praying for you. Don’t believe the lies you hear in your mind. Read the Word of God and stand on His promises. It may not feel like it, and you may not be able to see it, but He is working things out for your good.

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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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August 6, 2024 · 5:24 AM

Life’s Seasons

Seasons change. We seem to always be looking for the next season. Whatever season we’re in, we seem to complain about it. We complain about the heat of summer, the cold of winter, the rain in spring and the shorter days of fall. We’re always wanting out of the season we’re in. However, it’s the different seasons that create the lifecycle of growth and production. Without winter the ground couldn’t rest. Without spring seeds wouldn’t spout. Without summer, plants wouldn’t grow. Without Fall we wouldn’t see a harvest. Our lives experience these same cycles and seasons. Just like the regular seasons, we complain and look for the next one.

The people in the Bible were in different seasons and they taught us what to do in each one. In a season of temptation, Jesus quoted scriptures. In a season of being on the run from Saul, David found strength in the word of God. In a season of battles Joshua trusted the word of the Lord. In a season of lamenting Jeremiah found hope in the faithfulness of God. In a season of barrenness Abraham trusted the promise. In a season of persecution, the Early Church counted it joy to suffer as they looked forward to the return of Jesus. Each season passed for these men and women of old, but while they were in them, they held onto God’s Word.

Isaiah 40:8 reminds us, “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever” (NLT). I don’t know what season you’re in right now. It may look like everything in your life is fading away. It’s in these moments, you must trust in God’s Word. Everything will change except it. His Word is our solid ground in a world of shifting sand. It is the stability we need, the shelter we can hide in, the water we can drink from and the firm foundation to build our life on. Though the storms come, our life can be anchored to hope knowing it will last forever. Instead of complaining about the season you’re in, seek out what God is trying to do in your life during it. Hold fast to the promises you find knowing He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. What He’s done in His Word, He can do today, and will do forever no matter what season you’re in.

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