Tag Archives: Christianity

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.

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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 5, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Trust Comes First

When I’m talking with someone who is a newly appointed leader, I don’t want to overwhelm them with a bunch of information. There’s really one thing they need to focus on with their new team, and that is trust. Without trust, nothing else really matters. You can give inspiring speeches, set daring goals and create easy to follow plans, but no one will do much until they trust the leader. Think of a leader in your life that has produced the most growth in you. They had your trust I’m sure. You would follow them anywhere they led because of that trust. People will follow any leader to the extent that they trust them. If there’s little to no trust, there will be little to no progress. The way you build trust is to say what you’re going to do, and then do what you said you’d do.

We often think of people as leaders, but the Bible is full of people who followed God and did amazing things. For each of them, there was a period where they learned to trust Him. Moses learned to trust God at the burning bush. He gave all kinds of excuses as to why he couldn’t do what God was asking because there was little to no trust. God answered them all and showed him many signs to build trust so that he could lead the Israelites out of Egypt. In a similar fashion, God had to build trust with Gideon. He was timid and afraid of his enemies when God called the mighty warrior out of him. He built trust by placing dew on his door mat. So much trust was built that Gideon trimmed down an army of 32,000 to 300 men in order to fight 135,000. It didn’t make sense to him, but because of that trust, he was able to lead them to victory.

How much do you trust God? You may not have had a burning bush experience or dew on your mat, but God has been doing things al, your life to build trust with Him. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make” (TPT). Trusting God completely is what we’re called to do, but like Moses, we tend to make excuses as to why we can’t. Or sometimes we’re like Gideon where we don’t see our own potential the way He does. Either way, you can only follow God’s leading in your life to the extent that you trust Him. If you’re not experiencing the growth or movement that you want, check your trust level. God is ready to lead you into a greater life and relationship with Him, but you must trust Him with all your heart first.

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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 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 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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