Tag Archives: Devotional

December 1, 2016 · 5:45 AM

A Life Of Grace 


I think grace is one of those things that’s hard for us to understand because it goes against human nature. It’s forgiveness. It’s free. It’s unearned. Not only are we supposed to receive it, we are supposed to give it. Doing those two things seems like a constant battle for most of us. How can God or anyone else forgive the things I’ve done? How can I forgive something someone else has done to me? Those are tough questions that we all wrestle with, but in my life, I’ve found God’s grace to be sufficient. 

In the New Testament , Paul used the word grace over and over. If anyone needed it, it was him. He had hunted down and murdered Christians. He even referred to himself as the chief of sinners. If anyone had a past that was seemingly unforgivable, it was him. He had to learn to accept God’s grace and forgive his own past. If he struggled with it, he knew others would too. That’s why in Acts 13:43, referring to Him, it says, “The apostles spoke to them and encouraged them to keep on living in the grace of God” (GNT).

He had to remind himself, others, and us to keep living in God’s grace. Our past sin is not greater than God’s grace. You might be thinking, “But you don’t know what I’ve done!” I don’t have to know. As I said, Paul was a murderer. Specifically he murdered Christians. God’s grace is more powerful than anything you’ve ever done. Learn to accept His grace, forgive yourself, and then live in that grace. Remind yourself over and over that God has cast it as far as the east is from the west. If He’s not going to hold it over you, then don’t hold yourself down with it either. 

Part of loving life in the grace of God is also giving out grace. For me personally, this is harder than receiving God’s grace. I have to remind myself that they’re intertwined. To continue to receive God’s grace, I need to give grace. Jesus said that if we didn’t forgive others, God couldn’t forgive us. The first person we need to learn to forgive is ourselves. After doing that, learn to forgive others for what they’ve done. Living a life of grace is hard to do, but not impossible. You can do it with God’s help. 

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November 30, 2016 · 5:42 AM

Working Together


One of the most powerful things I got to witness this year was at the United Cry event in Washington, DC. The leaders of predominately white denominations asked the leaders of predominantly black denominations for forgiveness of the racial injustices that blacks have suffered in this country. After seeking forgiveness for being quiet during those times, they then washed the feet of those ministers and joined in prayer together. They then agreed to work together in unity to bring about revival.

Separating ourselves based on race, skin color, and language has gone on since the Tower of Babel. Somewhere along the line, people stopped treating other people as equals because they weren’t the same. This line of thinking became part of cultures and even grew into the Church. The Early Church, including its leader Peter, struggled with it. His whole life he had been taught that non Jews were unclean and he couldn’t even go into their house. But all that changed one afternoon while he was praying on a rooftop.

In Acts 10, God gave him a vision of a picnic type blanket lowered from the heavens, and it was filled with unclean animals. God told Peter to kill and eat the animals. As Peter was struggling to understand, some servants of a Roman centurion knocked on the door. God told Peter to go with them. When Peter arrived at Cornelius’ house and he heard how God had spoken to him too, he said, “I now realize that it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis. Those who fear him and do what is right are acceptable to him, no matter what race they belong to” (GNT).

Peter learned that day that God is against racism. He learned to love other races. That one encounter changed Peter’s entire life and ministry. So many of us are like Peter before that encounter. We are content to keep God’s love within our own race, language, and culture. We disassociate with people who don’t look like us, act like us, or think like us, but that is wrong. Racial reconciliation should begin in the Church. It should flow from God’s love for all His children. What happened in Washington, DC was a great start and should be happening all over this country. It’s time we put down our walls, sought forgiveness, and worked together for one cause.

If you’d like to watch the video of what happened at United Cry, click here. It’s about 30 minutes long.

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November 18, 2016 · 5:00 AM

The Holy Spirit


If you’re a Christian, the Holy Spirit plays an important role in your life. He was a gift provided to us from Jesus to help us live the life we are called to live. Because the Holy Spirit is the least understood part of the God-head, many Christians tend to be afraid of it. My pastor says, “The Holy Spirit isn’t weird. People are weird.” Because of how the Holy Spirit has been represented by so many through the years, we tend to shy away from talking about it or incorporating His gifts into our lives.

Because of that, I believe so many of us are missing out on the fullness of the life that God has for us. Today, I want to bring scriptures in the Bible that describe the Holy Spirit and His role in our lives. The New Testament is full of verses to help us understand and incorporate this integral part of our Christian walk. My hope is that each of us will live our lives to the fullest through the Holy Spirit as we know Him and His role in our lives.

1. But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
Acts 1:8 AMPC

2. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.
John 14:26 GNT

3. But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!
Jude 1:20-21 MSG

4. And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
Romans 8:26 NLT

5. We have not received this world’s spirit; instead, we have received the Spirit sent by God, so that we may know all that God has given us. So then, we do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit. Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them, and they seem to be nonsense, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis.
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 GNT

6. “For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice]. So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
Romans 8:3-4 AMPC

7. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
Galatians 5:16 NLT

8. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
1 John 2:27 NLT

9. But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].
Galatians 5:22-23 AMPC

10. The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory!
Ephesians 1:14 GNT

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November 17, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Intimate Conversations 


I like to tell people that I’m the busiest person I know. I carry two phones with three numbers attached to them. I work a full time job, write, do ministry, and drive for Uber at night. I look around though, and see other people who are just as busy. Somehow in our world, we equate busyness with value. The more we do, the greater we are. Even in the Church, we have adopted this mentality with ministers and lay leaders. We are always on the clock, we never take a sabbatical, and we never say “no” to anything or anyone.

That’s not the example Jesus gave us for ministry. Even though He was very busy and sought after, Luke 5:16 says, “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer” (NLT). The model He gave us was to step away from our duties often to spend time alone with the Father. He understood that it is not wise to continually give without going to the Father for a refill. As our lives become more busy, our intimate conversations alone with God in our prayer closet should increase.

Revival is coming and we need to be in the habit of stepping aside from all the distractions to spend time alone in prayer. Performing miracles, leading the lost to the cross, caring for the poor, and preaching are not supposed to take the place of our quiet time with God. He wants us to understand that busyness equals distractions and distractions keep us from going into our prayer closet. We can’t have the power of God flowing through us until we have been intimate with Him. God has always valued alone time with Him more than our busyness for Him.

Think of Martha and Mary. Martha was the one who welcomed Jesus into their home and as Luke 10:40 says, “was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing.” Mary was the one who was just sitting at the Lord’s feet listening. When Martha complained that she was doing all the work, the Lord replied, “There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it.” Each of us need to discover what that is as well. We need to take time often to just sit at the feet of Jesus, away from the distractions, and listen. That is what Jesus values and what we should value as well.

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November 16, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Going Fishing


For three years the dis piles followed Jesus. They witnessed people receive their sight having been born blind. They watched leprous skin clear up right before them. They were standing there when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb four days after he died. They handed out the five loaves and two fish to the 5,000. They not only saw Jesus walk on water, they saw Him calm the wind and waves. They had countless fireside discussions that you and I will never know about. That’s why I’ve always been baffled by this one thing that happened after the resurrection.

John 21:3 says, “Simon Peter said to the others, ‘I am going fishing.’ ‘We will come with you,’ they told him” (GNT). After all they had seen and done, they went back to their old life. It’s hard for me to comprehend how they could experience everything they did, and then just simply go back to their old life. Had they forgotten that Jesus had told them that from now on they would be fishers of men? How could they go back to being regular fishermen? No matter how perplexing it is, I have to wonder if we are any different.

We may not have seen those miracles as they did, but if we accepted Jesus as our savior, we experienced the power of God in our own life. We felt that initially cleansing feeling and the peace that passes understanding. Yet somehow, many times we go right back to our old way of living. We know we are supposed to be a new creation, but that old life that’s supposed to be dead and buried, calls out to us and tempts us to go back. Even though we experienced the power of the resurrection, we sometimes live as though it had no affect on our life.

That life is as fruitless as that night of fishing for the disciples. The great news for us is that Jesus is on the shore calling out to us, “Have you caught anything?” Then He reminds us to cast our nets on the other side. He reminds us to return to Him and to live our life in the power of the resurrection. When we live that way, our nets will be full. Jesus’ words to them that morning were simple: Follow me. That call goes out to us too. You can’t follow Him and go back to your old life at the same time. Each of us have to make that choice. 

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November 15, 2016 · 5:00 AM

The Bus Station


What I love about having been to Israel is that when I read the Bible, I can picture each place in my mind. There are two sites celebrated as the place where Jesus was crucified. One of them is in a magnificent church and the other out in the open. I got to visit both places on this last trip, and both were incredible in their own way. Personally, I enjoyed the one outside better for a number of reasons, but I was a little offended at first by what I saw.

We were sitting on the property of the Garden Tomb, and they read Matthew 27:33. It says, “And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means ‘Place of the Skull’)” (NLT). They pointed to a hill just about 50 yards away, and asked if we could see it. They showed us pictures of about 50 years ago and another from over 100 years ago. You can see how it looked like the Place of the Skull. But when I looked at the base of what could be Golgotha, there was a busy bus station. I couldn’t believe such a holy place was being disrespected.

That’s when it hit me that a bus station at the foot of the cross was the most appropriate way to honor it. One of Jesus’ final instructions before His ascension was from Mark 16:15. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” The buses that I saw there were a representation of the Great Commission. Those busses carry people all over the place the same way we are to carry the Gospel. Our message is summed up by what happened at the Place of the Skull.

Where Jesus’ mission was fulfilled, ours began. Where He said, “It is finished,” He was handing the baton to us. That place of death became the birthplace of eternal life. We are the bus drivers of His message. We carry His spirit within us to be witnesses in all the world. Wherever we go, whomever we meet, we are to transport His message of hope and love. We can turn this world upside down at He disciples did, but we have to be willing to get on the bus and go.

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November 14, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Under The Press


As many of you know, I went back to Israel this past summer. One of the most visited places in Jerusalem has to be the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s filled with Olive trees as pictured here. On this trip, I discovered that the name Gethsemane means the olive press. We got to see an olive press to understand how it crushes the olives to make oil. That first pressing of the Olive is holy and belongs to God. I think that’s important to know when considering what happened there the night before Jesus was crucified. 

Matthew 26 tells us that Jesus went there with the disciples and that grief and anguish came over Him. In verse 38, Jesus said, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me” (GNT). He was being pressed like an olive in that moment. His prayer in the next verse is what I want to focus on today. He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want.” 

Each of us have times in our lives when we are being crushed by problems and things going on. Just like Jesus, our first instinct is to pray, “Father, if it’s possible, get me out of this!” We cry and we pray for God to help us. But what if God wants to use that time to create a holy offering in your life? What if He is allowing you to be crushed so what’s inside comes out? I’m sure the olives in the press don’t appreciate the stone mill rolling over them, but what comes out is more useful than just the olive by itself.

Jesus understood this. That’s why His next breath was, “Yet not what I want, but what you want.” Instead of praying for God to get us out of the press, ask God that His will be done instead of ours. James 1:12 says, “Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him.” Remaining under the press, like Jesus did, is the way to receive the life God promises us. 

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November 10, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Effective Replication 


Have you ever wished you could be at two places at one time? It’s a struggle all too real in today’s world. Living in the digital world has made us busier than ever and away from our homes more. It’s become difficult to meet all our obligations that we have for our families who are spread out and have spread us thin. We are coaches, chauffeurs, tutors, chefs, counselors, encouragers, and guardians for our kids. It’s exhausting. If only we could replicate ourselves, we could be more effective. 

We like to think we are the only generation who has wanted or needed to replicate ourselves, but it’s an age old problem. In fact, Jesus experienced it. Think about all the walking around Israel He did. Everywhere He went, there were people who needed His healing touch, His compassion, and His wisdom. Huge crowds followed Him and people were constantly asking Him to go to their town to heal their loved one. 

Sometimes He walked there, and other times He spoke the word and they were Healed from afar. After three years of ministry, Jesus realized what needed to happen. He couldn’t be as effective as He wanted to be in physical form. Since people needed help everywhere, He needed up be everywhere. So in John 14:16 He said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever” (AMP).

Just like our kids need us to be many things for them, we need Him to be many things for us. He’s not just our savior. He’s our comforter, counselor, helper, intercessor, advocate, and strengthener on standby for us. Jesus went to the Father so He could send the Spirit in order to meet the needs of everyone, not just a few. Whatever you need God to be for you today, He’ll be it. You simply need to ask Him. He’s more than our savior. He’s our everything. 

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November 9, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Deadlines


When it comes to taking a test, there are two main methods: taking your time and cramming. I usually found myself on the cramming side. I remember staying up all night trying to get as much information in my head in as little time as possible. When you’re up against a deadline, an all nighter is common. Deadlines make force us to focus and put our energy into what’s critical to us at that moment. Remember the last time you were up against a deadline? You got rid of all distractions and did what was necessary. 

Jesus faced a literal deadline. He knew that He would be sacrificed as a Passover lamb. The night before His crucifixion, He pulled an all nighter with His disciples. He spent all night helping them to cram as much information as they could before He died. He focused on the critical things with them. He showed them servant leadership, had supper with them, then gave them final instructions. In John 14:1, I believe He said one of the most important things to them, and it applies to us today.

He said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me” (NLT). That word “let” means to allow. He told us not to allow our hearts to be troubled, anxious, or worried. We have control of that by choosing what we think about and who we trust in. Jesus was telling them, and us, “Don’t panic. I got this. Trust me.” He knew that the disciples were about to feel like sheep without a shepherd. He was reminding them that when life gets chaotic, He may not be visible, but He’s there with us. We can trust Him to work His plan.

If you believe in Jesus, then you have to know that our God is not a hands off God. He is one who is intimately involved in our day to day lives. We can put our trust in Him instead of in the uncertainty and chaos of our life. Don’t let your heart be troubled. God is in control. He sees the whole picture of your life, and is working things for your good. You may to see it now, but that’s where faith and trust comes in. If you trust Him and have faith in Him, you don’t have to let worry rule your heart.

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November 8, 2016 · 6:29 AM

Election Day Prayer

Father,

We come to you today to lift up our nation. We pray that your will be done here as it is in Heaven. Our nation is not where you desire it to be. We have slowly walked out from under your protective hand. What we need today is not a political leader, but a spiritual leader who can call your Church to be unified. We need your help in putting aside our differences so we can focus on what unites us. Help us to be One Body with One Purpose. Help us to heal this divided nation so it can continue to stand.

I pray for the hearts of voters today. Since we have a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, I pray that the people will vote in a way that brings about your will for us. None of us can see what the future would be with any of these candidates. Only you can. So I’m asking that you help us to elect people that will allow us to not only to continue to serve you freely, but to be able to preach your Word freely. 

Stir our hearts, Lord. Begin a revival in your Church. We recognize that to change the nation’s culture, we must first allow you to change ours. Set a fire in each of us that burns away the things that are not of you. Let that fire spread throughout this country and the world. We know that to change the world, we must live changed lives. May our lives lift you up so that you can draw all men unto yourself.

Forgive us for our past mistakes. Give us a unified vision of who you want us to be. Give us your compassion to heal the broken. Put in our hearts to pray for our leaders. It’s in our nature to tear them down, but it’s in yours to build them up. Help us to remember that whoever we elect will not change who you are or our role in society. Direct our paths. Guard our lives. Help us to show your love to everyone we meet regardless of whether we agree with them or not. Help us to see people the way you see them so we can create a culture that reflects your desires in the world.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen. 

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