Tag Archives: Devotion

May 7, 2015 · 6:54 AM

The National Day Of Prayer

As you read the Old Testament in the Bible, you come across several places where the nation of Israel were summoned to pray to God as one nation. It was usually during times of captivity that they remembered the Lord, fell on their knees, repented of their sins and prayed. God heard their prayers every time, delivered them from bondage and returned them to their land. Some times it only took a few people to humble themselves before God and He would rescue them. I don’t know why sometimes it took the whole nation and others it didn’t, but I do know that God hears our prayers.

Today is the National Day of Prayer. It’s a day where we as believers have an opportunity to pray with a unified voice for our country and to repent of our sins as a nation. I understand that most Christians may not join in this day of prayer and certainly not all Americans will. Perhaps today will be one of those days where God will listen to the voice of a few and restore an entire nation. Today could be the day that starts a revival that turns the hearts of our people back to God. Revival is sparked by a few and then spreads untamed across the land. Will you be one of the few that sparks it?

The most famous scripture used for days like today is II Chronicles 7:14. It says, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (NLT)” This requires more than a one day commitment of prayer. It requires continual prayer for this nation. It requires us, who are called by His name, to seek His face beyond a day of prayer. The Amplified version says, “Pray, seek, crave and require of necessity my face.” We have got to seek God as if He were a necessity like air in our lungs if we want to see this nation return to Him.

I’m glad that we live in a nation where all but two presidents since George Washington have set aside national days to pray and to seek God’s face on behalf of our nation. The leadership that God has placed in our nation has always understood the value of prayer of its people for the nation. It just hasn’t always been understood by the people. When we pray for our nation, God hears our prayers and moves on our behalf. God desires to restore this or any nation who will get on their knees and seek Him. It starts with a remnant of people who will accept that call. It starts with you and me. Will you join other believers today and in the future to pray for our nation? 

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May 6, 2015 · 7:24 AM

Being Led

At work, every once in a while, I’ll do an activity to teach people how to lead.ill split the group in two and give half blinders to put over their eyes. To the other half, I give the rules of engagement. They can’t touch the person with the blinder that they are leading. They can only use their words to safely have them exit the classroom, walk down the hall into another room, guide them to an object in that room, get them to pick it up, describe it to them without saying what it is and then guide them back to their point of origin.

In a crowded room, you have a lot of people talking. The person with the blinders should only be listening to one voice. When they listen to the instructions being given to someone else, they’re often confused, go the wrong way and bump into something. Some people wait until the room has cleared until they start so they can avoid the confusion. Once in the hallway, they have to guide them around corners, people and objects. It’s important to know where they’re going and how to tell this person how many steps before going right or left.  It’s a fun exercise to watch, but also has a lot of powerful principles.

I use it to teach people how to lead and guide others using their words, but there’s a deeper lesson for us. Not many of us know how to follow or trust what we can’t see. For me, it’s an accurate representation of what it is to walk by faith. I can’t see where I’m going or the obstacles in my way until I bump into them. If I’m not listening or don’t understand the instructions given to me, I walk into walls, hazards and become scared to take the next step. My walk becomes a crawl and it becomes difficult to reach the goals God has for me.

Another powerful parallel is that God uses His words to guide us instead of grabbing us by the hand and taking us where He wants us to go. We know He’s there because we sense His presence, but unless we learn to listen to His voice, we won’t be going very far. I believe that God is always speaking to each one of us, but we hardly ever listen. He is telling us which way to go, when to duck and when to turn, but if we aren’t listening to His voice, we’ll be lead astray. God rarely speaks in a booming voice that is above all the noise in our life. Instead, He speaks in a still, small voice that we have to be listening for.

David must have experienced the same frustration that you and I face today when it comes to knowing God’s will and direction. In Psalm 5:8 he prayed, “Lead me to do your will; make your way plain for me to follow. (GNB)” He, like us, wanted to do God’s will, but he struggled. Instead of staying in one place, he prayed that God would lead him. He also asked that the path would be made plain. I think that’s a great prayer for us to pray today in searching for God’s will. When we pray it, we will need to listen for His voice and to be prepared to follow where He leads. Be careful to obey everything so you won’t bump into objects and arrive at your destination in a timely manner. 

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May 5, 2015 · 7:45 AM

What Pleases God

When I look at my social media feeds, I’m always intrigued by what goes viral. I think it gives a glimpse into who people are and what’s important to them. My favorite viral posts are those of someone doing good for someone else. Inevitably in the comment section (yes I read those too), someone will write something to the effect, “Why are we so intrigued by this? They did what we are supposed to do. This shouldn’t be viral. This should be common.” They have a point. Doing good for someone else without knowing you’re being seen or hoping to go viral is what we should be doing.

As Christians, we have a particular responsibility to help others in need. Throughout the Bible, God tells us to care for the poor, the weak and the defenseless. He asks us to show His love to those whom society deems the least worth it. Yet, in our day and age, someone who does something God commanded, goes viral because it isn’t commonplace in our society. We have stopped looking around because we are looking down at our phones. We have abandoned reality for a virtual world of fantasy. The by product of those exchanges is that we fail to fulfill our purpose in serving others. 

Hebrews 13:16 says, “Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the  sacrifices that please God. (GNB)”  When we are so busy with work or so enthralled in our mobile devices that we forget to do good, we are too distracted to see those whom God places in our path. We have to find a way to lose the distractions that prevent us from seeing those to whom we could be doing good for. The Message Bible writes the end of this verse in very specific terms for us. It says, “God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship – a different kind of “sacrifice”- that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.”

The opportunities to do good are all around us. If you’re not seeing them, you’re too distracted. If you’re seeing them and not doing anything about it, you’re neglecting to do the sacrifices that please God. There are people who come to your house who need a kind word, a smile or help. There are people beside you at work who are hurting and feel like no one cares. They desperately need a child of God to bring light into their darkness. There are people walking past you on the street, in the parking lot or in the store who could use a smile, a kind gesture or someone to lay it forward. That’s not someone else’s job. It yours if you call yourself a Christian.

We shouldn’t do things in order to be seen or to go viral. We should do it out of the love God has placed in our hearts for others. Jesus said in John 13:35, “If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples. (GNB)” That love is expressed in outward acts of kindness that others can see. It’s not done in order to be seen, but as an expression of love from the Father. So today, put away the things that are distracting you from seeing those who need help. Look to do good for someone. Smile and tell them, “God said He loves you.” God takes a particular pleasure in those acts of worship.

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May 4, 2015 · 6:47 AM

Spiritual Hunger (Video)

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”
Matthew 5:6 (MSG)

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May 1, 2015 · 5:30 AM

10 Scriptures On Light

 
1.   The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:4-5 NLT)

2.   “No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It’s put on a lamp stand so those entering the room have light to see where they’re going. Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room.” (Luke 11:33-36 MSG)

3.   You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 AMP)

4.   You, Lord, are my light; you dispel my darkness. (2 Samuel 22:29 GNT)

5.   Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. (Psalms 119:105 NLT)

6.   Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people, Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. (Psalm 97:11 MSG)

7.   The life of the godly is full of light and joy, but the light of the wicked will be snuffed out. (Proverbs 13:9 NLT)

8.   For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [lead the lives of those native-born to the Light]. (Ephesians 5:8 AMP)

9.   Now the message that we have heard from his Son and announce is this: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him. (1 John 1:5 GNT)

10.   So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures. (James 1:16-18 MSG)

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April 30, 2015 · 7:46 AM

Character Development

I’m always intrigued by the story of Joseph found in Genesis 37-45. No matter how many times I read it, I come away with a new respect for him. God gave him a dream as a young man that one day his family would bow down to him, including his own parents. His brothers were so outraged that they wanted to kill him. His own father was so disrespected that he rebuked him. Even through that, he still believed in the dream that God had given him. That wouldn’t be the end of it though. For the next several years, he would face one trial after the other without wavering in his belief of that dream. Psalm 105:19 says, “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character. (NLT)”

When God gives you a dream, hard times are sure to come. There will be people who will openly resist you in your efforts to bring about your calling. It will not be an easy road. In fact, fulfilling your calling will be one of the hardest things you do. God does not choose the weak to carry out his plans. He calls the faithful ones who will endure anything to see it come to pass. He gives His assignments to those who will survive the pits of despair that they will be thrown in. He gives them to those who are willing to leave family and friends to travel to distant lands that are engulfed in spiritual famines so that others may find the spiritual food that God gives.

Joseph wasn’t the only one this happened to. Think of Peter and the early Church. Jesus told Peter that He would build His Church through him. When Peter was emboldened by the Holy Spirit, he was beaten repeatedly and thrown in jail. He was opposed by people he knew. He didn’t quit because there were hard times. He let that fuel the fire that God had placed in him. He used those hard times to grow his faith and endurance. Because he didn’t quit, the early Church grew and Christianity spread like wildfire in that region. He trusted the calling he was given over his external circumstances. 

Paul was another person who faced opposition. He went from being someone who killed Christians to one who was martyred for his faith. He was stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, bitten by a poisonous snake and carried off to Rome because he would not keep quiet about the dream God gave him. Because he was willing to endure the hard times, God used him to write most of the New Testament. The Gospel didn’t just stay in one region, it began to cover the known world. His character was tested over and over and he proved to be the person God saw in him.

God tests those He trust His message to because He knows it develops character. Romans 5:3-4 says, “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. (NLT)” When God calls you, He tests you in order to develop in you the characteristics necessary to fulfill that calling. He allows you to be moved around in order to create the relationships you need in your life and to put you into position. Don’t quit because hard times come. Let them do the work God intends them to do and continue to walk in your calling. 

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April 29, 2015 · 6:27 AM

Thinking Problem

  

The Bible talks a lot about what we think because God understands the power of our thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Our thoughts determine who we are and how we act. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. (GNB)” Another version wrote that same verse, “More than anything you guard, protect your mind. (CEB)” Solomon understood the importance of our thoughts and wanted those who read his writings to understand it as well.

Brian Tracy’s Law of Concentration states that whatever you dwell upon grows. If you worry a lot, then those thoughts will snowball and continue to grow. The things you think the most about take the center stage in your life. They control your schedule, your mood, your attitude, your actions and so much more. We often let our minds dwell on something for so long that it grows into an obsession. There was a time when I couldn’t get enough of the news. At home, I had my 24 hour news channel on and in my car, I had new radio. When I realized it was controlling my actions and mood, I had to break free.

Brian Tracy also teaches the Law of Substitution that says, “The conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time.” It can be a positive thought or a negative thought. I am the one who chooses what I think about. I am the gatekeeper. As Solomon said, I have to be careful of how I think. I cannot allow thoughts of worry overrun my mind. I cannot permit thoughts that are detrimental to my faith and family to stay in my mind. I cannot entertain thoughts and ideas that are contrary to God’s Word. I must consciously substitute those thoughts for the thoughts that lead me down God’s paths.

Philippians 4:8 tells us, “Fill your mind with things that are good and deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable. (GNB)” The way I fill my mind with those things is to force myself to think about them when the other thoughts come in. I must protect my mind if I’m going to protect my actions. I have to constantly watch each and every thought that enters my mind and learn how to push out the thoughts that are detrimental to who I am in Christ and to replace them with the thoughts that feed who I am in Him. According to that first scripture I shared, I become what I think about. 

Food for thought: Who do you want to be? What thoughts are detrimental to being that person? What thoughts can you replace them with? You can change who you are by changing what you think.

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April 28, 2015 · 7:10 AM

Readjusting Your Course

Every time I fly, I think about a friend of mine who is a pilot. I’ve asked him many questions about the process of flying and what it’s like to be in the cabin. I’ve even questioned him about autopilot. He told me that before a flight, he plots the course based off of information he gets from others who are flying that route. Once the plane is in the air and cruising, he turns on autopilot. I wondered if it was really that easy. He then explained that at the cruising altitude, the winds can blow us off course and he has to readjust to get the plane back on course. If he doesn’t, we could arrive miles from our destination.

Our walk with God is a lot like that. We love to set our lives to autopilot and think that will get us directly to Heaven, but the Christian life is more than autopilot. In order to be successful at living this life, we need to have people in our lives who are ahead of us and gave walked the path we are on. We need to listen to the information they’re giving us because they’ve seen first hand where turbulence lies. It’s important to have people in your life who can give you guidance and the information you need to make the right decisions. Proverbs 13:20 tells us that if we want to be wise, we need to be around wise people.

The next thing we have to do is be aware of how the winds of life shift us from our course. Things happen. Problems are going to arise. We need to be in a constant state of questioning if we are still on course for where God has us headed. Reevaluation is an important part of your Christian life. Asking if we are where God wants us when God wants us to be there. Are we still on the path that God put us on? That path is hard to see sometimes. We need to have God’s Word in our hearts. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

Applying God’s word to your life and taking advice from others will help you to live the most impactful Christian life. When we know what God says in His Word, we are able to defeat temptation that would take us off course. If we do get knocked off course, it’s not the end of the world. God offers forgiveness and course corrections. He makes a way to get back to where He had us heading. Don’t quit because you’ve been blown off course. Take the advice of someone who has been blown off course and been given a path back. God will not abandon you or the plans He has for you no matter how far off course you get. There’s always a way back. 

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April 27, 2015 · 6:23 AM

The Balcony Of Boldness (Video)

That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

“In the Last Days,” God says,
“I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes,
I’ll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they’ll prophesy.
I’ll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved.”

Acts 2:14-12 (MSG)

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April 24, 2015 · 5:45 AM

10 Scriptures On Flowers

 
 1.   “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” (Matthew 6:28-30 NLT)

2.   Attention, all! See the marvels of GOD! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” (Psalm 46:8-10 MSG)

3.   The LORD says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. (Hosea 14:4-5 NLT)

4.   My lover is mine, and I am his. Nightly he strolls in our garden, Delighting in the flowers until dawn breathes its light and night slips away. Turn to me, dear lover. Come like a gazelle. Leap like a wild stag on delectable mountains! (Song of Solomon 2:16-17 MSG)

5.   Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the LORD will display his glory, the splendor of our God. (Isaiah 35:1-2 NLT)

6.   I will sing for joy in GOD, explode in praise from deep in my soul! He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jeweled tiara. For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers, and as a garden cascades with blossoms, So the Master, GOD, brings righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before the nations. (Isaiah 61:10-11 MSG)

7.   [SHE SAID] I am only a little rose or autumn crocus of the plain of Sharon, or a [humble] lily of the valleys [that grows in deep and difficult places]. (Song of Solomon 2:1 AMP)

8.   Look how the wild flowers grow: they don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. (Luke 12:27 GNT)

9.   Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance! Deck her out in spring showers, fill the God-River with living water. Paint the wheat fields golden. Creation was made for this! Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods With rainfall as harrow and rake bring her to blossom and fruit. Snow-crown the peaks with splendor, scatter rose petals down your paths, All through the wild meadows, rose petals. Set the hills to dancing, Dress the canyon walls with live sheep, a drape of flax across the valleys. Let them shout, and shout, and shout! Oh, oh, let them sing! (Psalm 65:9-13 MSG)

10.   It is your father’s God who helps you, The Almighty God who blesses you With blessings of rain from above And of deep waters from beneath the ground, Blessings of many cattle and children, Blessings of grain and flowers, Blessings of ancient mountains, Delightful things from everlasting hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, On the brow of the one set apart from his brothers. (Genesis 49:25-26 GNT)

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