Tag Archives: daily devotional

March 17, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Ruth’s Vow

  
Most every one of us are familiar with Ruth’s vow given in Ruth 1:16-17. Ruth said to Naomi, “Don’t ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!” (GNT)

Ruth perfectly demonstrates what it means to leave your father and mother and cleave to your spouse. I know that scripture was for men, but here Ruth does it. When her husband died, she clung to her husband’s family still because she knew that Ruth had no one left in the world. It may have been out of respect for her husband, it may have been done because she didn’t like her parents, or because she truly loved NaomI. I believe it was the last one, but we don’t really know.

No matter what, it’s the depth of her vow that draws us to this story. To me, it’s the same vow and devotion we should enter into with Jesus. In II Corinthians 2:2-4, Paul says that we, the Church, are like a bride engaged to Christ. He doesn’t want us to be a bride like Eve who was deceived and corrupted who will “abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ.” He doesn’t want us to be easily deceived or to turn back to the life we once knew. We are committed to Christ the was a spouse is committed. Jesus deserves our full devotion.

Just as it’s wrong to cheat on your spouse, it’s wrong for us as believers to cheat on Jesus by going back to sinning. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, you have taken the vow to go where He goes, live where He lives, till death do you part I believe if we as Christians began to show that kind of commitment in our Christianity, we could change the world. If we could leave this world and cleave to Him, the depth of our commitment to our vow to Christ would be just as compelling as the story of Ruth and would draw in those looking for something real.

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March 10, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Crazy Faith

  
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is found in Joshua 10. Joshua led the Israelites into war against five kings. As they were fighting, God threw hailstones from the heavens and killed more men than the Israelites combined. The battle continued to rage, but the daylight was going to end. That’s when Joshua stopped, looked up into heaven, and said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon” (Joshua 10:12 NLT). The next verse says the sun stood still until Israel defeated their enemies.

Can you imagine the kind of boldness, courage, and faith it took to make such a request? This is one of the greatest miracles of the Bible. God paused time so that Joshua could defeat his enemies. I love it when God shows off like this. To me, it’s Him saying, “If you can think it, I can do it. All you have to do is ask.” The problem is that I feel like I’m bothering God when I ask for something crazy like this. But God is sitting there wanting me to stretch my faith and ask Him for the unthinkable.

Ephesians 3:20 is a familiar verse to most Christians, and I love how the Amplified Bible writes this verse. It says, “Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams].” God can do infinitely more than your wildest prayers, craziest hopes, and unrealistic dreams. He’s just waiting for you to trust Him enough to do it.

Many times I wonder if I’m asking God for enough, is my faith big enough, or do I trust Him enough. Joshua asked the sun to stand still, a widow asked Elisha to bring her son back to life, and Peter asked to get out of the boat. All three were granted because they were bold and courageous enough to ask. All three had the faith in God to answer their requests. If God is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we could ever ask or think, I believe it’s time we had a faith that’s crazy enough to ask for those things.

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February 22, 2016 · 5:41 AM

All Things Are Possible

  
I scoff sometimes when I read about Moses. He met with God consistently, he physically saw God, He had the Shekinah glory over the Tabernacle that led them, and there was Manna on the ground every morning. He still found a way to doubt God. When the people were tired of Manna, they whined and complained. God called out to Moses and told him that He would provide meat for a month. Moses immediately thought of the impossibility of the situation instead of the ability of God.

The disciples were in a similar situation. They had been with Jesus for a long time, seen Him heal the blind, cure diseases, and raise the dead. Yet when there was a crowd of hungry people, they looked at a couple of loaves of bread and some fish and saw the impossibility of the situation instead of the ability of Jesus. They projected their abilities and limitations onto Jesus instead of His onto themselves.

You and I find ourselves in the same struggle thousands of years later. God has proven Himself over and over to us. He has answered our prayers, He has opened closed doors, He has changed our life, and has spoken to our heart. Somehow, we still find ways to doubt His ability to come through in the impossible. I have to remind myself what Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, “With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God” (AMP).

God reminds you and I over and over in scripture that what’s impossible for us is possible for Him. I love His answer to Moses in the situation above. In Numbers 11:23, He asked Moses, “Has my arm lost its power?” (NLT) I believe He’s asking us that today. Has anything changed with who God is? I don’t know what impossible odds you’re facing today or how bad your situation looks. I do know that whatever it is, our God is able to provide. His arm has not lost its power. He specializes in coming through in the impossible. Rely on His ability, not yours.

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February 11, 2016 · 6:08 AM

Be Thankful

  
I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (NLT). It’s one of those verses we can quickly read over. Paul was wrapping up his letter and was writing several commands for these new believers. He was wanting them to take these instructions and I brain them in their new lives early on so that they would become a habit long term. Each of the things he said were important, but this one always jumps out at me.

He said, “Be thankful in ALL circumstances.” He didn’t say we had to thank God for our circumstances, but that we need to find something to give thanks for. In my most difficult time. I was living minute to minute. I would watch the clock and tell myself, “If I can survive this minute, I can get through this problem.” When the minute would pass, I would thank God for helping me to survive that minute, then the process would start over. I didn’t thank God for the mess I was in. I thanked Him for keeping me alive in it.

Paul, the writer of Thessalonians, had gone through some pretty dark days himself. He learned that if you focus on your problem, despair sets in. If you focus on finding something to be thankful for, praise fills your heart. That’s how he and Silas could praise in prison. I’m sure it started out as a conversation on things to be thankful for that turned into singing praises to God. It was in those praises that God moved the earth and set them free from their chains.

Don’t miss that powerful truth. When you praise, God frees you from your chains. Praise comes from a heart that is thankful. A thankful heart comes from a person who looks for the good in every situation. If you’re breathing, you’ve got something to be thankful for. If you have a bed to sleep in, you’ve got something to be thankful for. Your world may be falling apart, but God has not abandoned you. Give thanks for that. When you learn to give thanks in all circumstances, you’ll learn to praise in all circumstances. 

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January 21, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Consistent Christianity 

  

One of the things I love about the book of Job is that it goes into depth about his thinking during his suffering. So much of the book is him conversing with his wife and friends about his situation. You can feel the pain this man went through as you read it. After his children died and his possessions were stolen, he became very sick. He was covered from head to toe with sores. He felt like trash and that’s just where he went, to the dump.

In Job 6:2-3 he said, “If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales, they would outweigh all the sands of the sea” (NLT). He was struggling with the loss of his family, the loss of his stature, and the loss of his health. He was weighed down by everything that had happened in his life, but he was determined not to let it affect his relationship with God. He refused to let his external circumstances dictate what His thoughts about God were.

For me, that’s one of the greatest lessons of Job. Choose to serve God anyway. Don’t let circumstances determine the depth of your faith and trust in God. We cannot be fair weather Christians. We cannot only serve God when things are going well and it’s convenient for us. We also can’t let the only time we run to God be in the bad times. God wants consistent Christianity out of us. He wants us to be in communion and fellowship with Him no matter what is going on in our life.

Consistent Christianity is more than going to church. It’s more than performing rituals and memorized prayers. It’s about taking the time to know who God is for yourself. It’s about having a daily time set aside where you pray and meditate on what God’s Word says. It’s about living your life the way you say you believe. It’s not about being perfect, but holy. It’s not about being a Christian in name only, but in our lifestyle and through the words that we speak. Consistent Christianity is a daily choice to live a life that is different than the world lives.

I Peter 1:15 says, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.” It doesn’t say to only be holy between 9-12 on Sunday’s. It’s a command to be holy in every area of our lives. When we live that way, we can survive what Job survived and more. We can fall to our knees and worship God the way he did because our relationship with God is deeper than any struggle. That’s how we were intended to live.

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January 4, 2016 · 5:30 AM

Giving The Best

One of the oldest stories in the Bible is the story of Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a rancher. They both grew up in fellowship with God. They knew who He was and talked with Him. To show their appreciation of His provision, they each offered God a gift. At harvest, Cain offered God some of his crops. They weren’t the best crops or he first part of the harvest. There was nothing outstanding about them. It was just some of what he grew, and the Bible says that God did not accept Cain or his gift.

Abel, on the other hand, offered God the pick of the litter. Genesis 4:4 says, “Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock” (NLT). He wanted to give God his very best and the first pick. He knew that all he had came from God nod he wanted to show how appreciative he was. God accepted this gift because it wasn’t his leftovers or just a few lambs from his flock. It was the best lambs and the best cuts of meat.

Each of us have a choice in what we offer God. Are we giving Him the best part of our day or the leftovers? Are we giving tithes and offerings as soon as we get paid or are we just dropping a twenty in the plate? Are we using the talents He’s given us to further His kingdom or to fill our pockets and fill our house? One of each of these choices pleases God and the other causes Him to not only reject what we give, but to reject us as well.

This time of year, so many people make resolutions that they probably won’t keep because they don’t want to sacrifice. If they were going to make those changes, they’d already be doing them instead of waiting until the first of the year. They don’t make them because their heart isn’t in it. The same thing is true with our gifts to God. If God doesn’t fully have our heart, we won’t give Him the best of what we have to offer. If we trust Him and His Word, and we truly believe that all we have comes from God, we will give Him our very best.

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December 30, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Life Is A Journey

  
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” One of these things is certainty and one is not. It’s all the uncertainties that make our journey worthwhile. Life is anything but certain. No one is guaranteed anything and hard times fall on each of us. It’s God’s desire that we find Him on this journey and to find our purpose in Him. I Peter 1:18 says, “Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God” (MSG).

Even though life is not a destination, we all have one. Finding God, through His Son Jesus, determines that destination. Once we have a destination, we begin to plot our course just like any other trip. Even though we have a course laid out, there will be traffic, detours, pit stops, and other unforeseen events in our path creating the journey. Some of our best stories come from those things, and the same is true of our journey to Heaven.

Since none of us are perfect and all of us are incapable of living exactly like we are supposed to, our trip to Heaven gets a little bumpy. Those bumpy times are what creates our testimony. Even though we detour at times, go through construction, or find a bumpy road, God is there with us like a GPS constantly rerouting us and asking us to take a U-Turn. We make the choice of following His direction or our own.

In John 14, Jesus told the disciples that He was going away to Heaven and that they knew the way. They responded, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?” Jesus was inviting them and us on this journey to Heaven, but they were lost as we are sometimes. So Jesus responded, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!” He was telling us how to have a deep consciousness of God. It through knowing Him.

Wherever you are in this journey, it’s important to gain a greater consciousness of Him. There is no one who has a full knowledge of Him so there is always room to grow. Each one of us has to find it on our own. It doesn’t just come through reading the Bible or hearing about other people’s journey. It comes through having a relationship with Him. It comes through spending time praying, walking by faith, and in mediating on His Word. He’s calling each of us to a deeper knowledge and consciousness of who He is. The more you know Him, the more meaningful your journey will be.

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November 20, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Blueprints (Video)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

If you are having trouble viewing this video, click here.

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November 19, 2015 · 6:12 AM

Refined Faith

  

We don’t have a choice of whether or not we will go through hard times. What we do have a choice in, however, is how we choose to respond. We can choose to look at hard times as if God is against us or that He’s making us stronger for something down the road. Some times they are a consequence of a past mistake. God rarely takes away consequences when we’ve chosen to disobey. No matter what though, He always offers us grace to endure.

God purifies our faith through hard times. I once watched an episode of “Gold Rush Alaska” on Discovery channel. Parker, who runs his grandfather’s mine, had been working all summer for gold. He took what looked like a lot of gold to the gold refinery. They heated it up and kept removing the dross from the top. In the end, he had a small bar no bigger than his hand. Though it was a small amount, it was worth more because it was pure.

God does that with our faith. He send us through the fire to remove the dross so our faith is pure. It may seem small afterwards, but it is more precious than gold. When I’m going through hard times, I like to read these verses. I hope they help you too.

1. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

Psalms 23:4 NLT

2. My brothers and sisters, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.

James 1:2-3 GNB

3. Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.

1 Peter 4:12-13 MSG

4. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.

Psalms 34:19 NLT

5. But He knows the way that I take [He has concern for it, appreciates, and pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I shall come forth as refined gold [pure and luminous].

Job 23:10 AMP

6. For You, O God, have proved us; You have tried us as silver is tried, refined, and purified.

Psalm 66:10 AMP

7. The purity of silver and gold is tested by putting them in the fire; The purity of human hearts is tested by giving them a little fame.

Proverbs 27:21 MSG

8. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honour on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:7 GNB

9. I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.

Isaiah 48:10 NLT

10. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:3-5 NLT

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October 22, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Second Hand Religion

  
How do you know what is sin? Do you let your pastor decide that for you? Do you let your political party tell you what it is? Do you let society define it? Maybe you just go with what feels right to you. The fact is that none of these have the power to define what is right in God’s sight and what is wrong. There is only one source that defines what is sin and what is not. It’s the Holy Bible. God’s Word was written by about 40 people over the period of about 1,500 years. II Timothy 3:16 tells us that all scripture is inspired by God.

We know that even though it was written by so many people over such a long period of time, that it was all inspired by God. The beauty of God’s Word is that it stands the test of time and will remain relevant forever because human nature doesn’t change. The Bible looks at human nature, defines what sin is, but more importantly, shows us how to get forgiveness from it and how to avoid it. Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (NLT).

To avoid falling into sin, we must first know what sin is to God. James 4:17 gives us a simple definition of sin. It says, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” If you know what’s right and then choose not to do it, then you’re sinning. The Bible is also filled with other things that it names as sin like lying, adultery, stealing, etc. at the heart of each of those and every other sin is that basic definition. You know there’s a right and a wrong and you’re willfully choosing the wrong.

So how do we avoid falling prey to our desire to do the things we want to do, but aren’t the right things? Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” If we want to know what sin is and also to have the ability to overcome it, we must put God’s Word in our heart. We must read it, understand it, meditate on it, and memorize it so that we can live the way God wants us to. It’s not up to other people to tell you what it says. It’s up to you to read it and to understand it. When it come to your eternity, don’t rely on second hand information alone. 

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