Tag Archives: spiritual growth

January 17, 2018 · 5:34 AM

Period Of Preparation

“One time Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him even more.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭37:5‬ ‭GNT‬‬

Joseph is one of those people in the Bible that no matter how many times I read his story, I always learn more. He was disliked by his own brothers, sold as a slave, lied about, put in prison, I pressed the pharaoh, got promoted to second in command and saved his family. One of the catalysts for this series of events in his life was a dream that God gave him. I’m sure he was excited about what God showed him and he just wanted to share it.

Has that ever happened to you? It has to me. God gave me a vision of the ministry He was calling me to. At first I was terrified and ran from it. When I finally embraced it and gave in, things began happening quickly in my life. People of influence in my life asked what was going on. When I shared with them what was happening, they said, “Well, don’t get too carried away. I don’t know that God will keep doing it like that. Slow down and be patient.” Just like that, the air was let out of my ballon. I lost my momentum and faith in what God called me to.

Another friend recently asked about my calling. After a few minutes of beating around the bush, i finally told him. His response was, “A calling like that requires preparation and that’s what God is doing right now in your life.” It breathed new life into me. Just like Joseph had to go through these years of slavery and imprisonment to prepare him to fulfill the dream God gave him, you and I have to go through preparations too.

If you feel like God has forgotten the dream He gave you or you shared that dream and were made fun of, keep holding on. God isn’t finished working out His plan in your life. It’s not too late. You’re not too far gone. Just like blowing on some embers can rekindle a fire, God can easily move in your life and complete that which He called you to. Look at this time as your period of preparation. It may feel like you’ve been forgotten in a prison in Egypt, but God is placing you where He needs you and giving you the tools to be successful.

Photo by Chase Lewis on Unsplash

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January 15, 2018 · 5:45 AM

Wrestling With God

When Jacob and Esau were born, the Bible says that Jacob was holding onto Esau’s heel. His mom then gave him the name Jacob which meant “heel” or “deceiver”. People have asked, “What’s in a name?” Well, Jacob lived up to his. He was a heel to his brother and got him to trade his birthright for some food. Later, he deceived his own father in order to steal his brother’s blessing.

He was so afraid his brother was going to kill him over that last deception that he fled to the country of his ancestors. There he met his wives and stayed for twenty years. God spoke to him to return to the land He had given Abraham. He knew he had wronged his brother and was still afraid of him. On the night before they met, he was alone. An angel appeared and began to wrestle with him. Jacob held onto him the way he hung onto his brother’s heel. Finally, the angel gave up and blessed him, changing his name to Israel.

In Genesis 32:28 says, “‘Your name will no longer be Jacob,’ the man told him. ‘From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won’” (NLT). When his name changed, so did he. No longer was he the deceiver he had been. He was now a person that knew God and prayed to him often. He quit relying on his own wisdom and started trusting the God of his fathers.

Some of us wrestle with God trying to find out if He’s real. Some of us wrestle with Him in prayer over our loved ones. I love that it says, “He won.” If you’ve got something pressing in you, don’t let go of God until He answers. The more we wrestle with God, the more we are changed. God is not afraid to come to where you are. He wants to help you get to where you’re going and to become the person He’s called you to be. Don’t let go. Don’t give up in the struggle. Your blessing is waiting on the other side of the wrestling match.

Photo by Katerina Radvanska on Unsplash

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January 12, 2018 · 5:48 AM

Trusting God

Trust is one of those things that’s a little different for everyone. Some people give it freely, while other make people earn it. Either way, when you trust someone, you tend to be more vulnerable with them and have a stronger relationship. Think of someone you trust right now. How does that relationship compare to others? Trust is essential in any real relationship. That’s why you and I must learn to trust God.

If we are going to have a real relationship with God, trust has to be what it’s built on. We often call it faith in religious circles, but what we are really saying is that we trust God with our lives. Just like an interpersonal relationship, the more trust you have, the deeper the relationship is. God is calling each of us to trust His plan for our lives no matter what our current circumstances are saying.

Here are some Bible verses on trusting God.

1. Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!” Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall. But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

Psalms 13:4-5 NLT

2. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 HCSB

3. But blessed is the man who trusts me, GOD, the woman who sticks with GOD. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 MSG

4. The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith [our ability to confidently trust in God and in His power].”

LUKE 17:5 AMP

5. So then, those who suffer because it is God’s will for them, should by their good actions trust themselves completely to their Creator, who always keeps his promise.

1 Peter 4:19 GNT

Photo by Davide Foti on Unsplash

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January 5, 2018 · 5:46 AM

Waiting

Do you know the difference between going to a fast food restaurant and going to the DMV? At one of those places, you’re going to have to wait a while. I recently had to get my drivers license renewed. As I looked around the waiting room, no one was upset. Everyone was waiting patiently. We all knew going in that we were going to have to wait, even if we were in a hurry or had other things to accomplish that morning.

When we pray though, we treat God like the drive thru at a fast food restaurant. We want it now, we want it quick and we get mad if it takes longer than a minute. Good things take time, and our answers to prayer are often complicated with a lot of moving pieces. When we pray for things, we should think of ourselves as going into a waiting room. If God answers quickly, what a blessing! If not, wait patiently and trust His timing. He’s working in your favor.

Here are some Bible verses on waiting for God.

1. Listen to my cry for help, my God and king! I pray to you, O Lord; you hear my voice in the morning; at sunrise I offer my prayer and wait for your answer.

Psalm 5:2-3 GNT

2. Wait for and confidently expect the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the LORD.

PSALM 27:14 AMP

3. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.

Lamentations 3:26 NLT

4. And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you.

Luke 24:49 GNT

5. But those who wait for the LORD [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.

ISAIAH 40:31 AMP

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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January 4, 2018 · 5:30 AM

Plant The Right Seeds

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

My son and I planted a small vegetable garden in our yard. It continues to be a source of lessons to me and him. As we were eating dinner out recently, he pulled the lemon off my drink, pulled out the seeds and said, “Here you go, Dada. We can plant these and get lemons from our garden.” At first I was impressed that he made the correlation that seeds inside of fruits and vegetables are what grow and make the plants. Then, as I thought more about it, there was a deeper truth. Only lemon seeds can produce lemons.

That’s knowledge that you and I don’t think often about. We know it as a law of nature, but not as a spiritual law. We know that if we plant watermelon seeds, we’ll grow watermelons every time. But somewhere along the line, we think we can break that law with spiritual seeds. We think we can plant seeds of discontentment and somehow reap peace. Worse yet, we think we can skip out on paying tithes and reap the benefits of giving.

The same law that causes a physical seed to reproduce itself works in the spirit realm as well. What you sow, that shall you also reap. If you want more peace in your life, sow peace into the lives of others. If you want joy, put the work in to make it happen. The great thing about seeds is that when one is planted, several are reproduced. You rarely get a one to one ratio. One kernel of corn can produce a stalk that has several ears containing hundreds of kernels each. You won’t get the benefit of multiplication until you plant the seed where no one sees it.

In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” (NLT). He talks of giving just like a harvest from planting seeds. Whatever you plant, it’s going to be multiplied and given back to you. Make sure you plant the right seeds, cultivate the soil they’re in and your harvest will come guaranteed

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January 2, 2018 · 5:43 AM

The Right Route

Whenever I’m on the road and need directions, I usually use Waze to help me get there. It finds the quickest route and gets me there at the promised time. To do that, it often takes detours through neighborhoods or back streets I’ve never been on. I’m at the mercy of this app, and have to trust that it knows what it’s doing. Sometimes it takes me through places where I wonder if I’m safe.

There are times when it tells me to exit or turn, and I think, “That’s odd. My exit is just ahead.” Early on, I just thought it was a glitch and kept driving. After trying to correct me a few times, it finally gave up and added a lot of time to my arrival time. It saw what I couldn’t up ahead and tried to help me avoid it. When I didn’t listen, I got stuck in the traffic it was trying to help me avoid. I’ve learned to trust that it knows best and can see what I can’t.

God is a lot like Waze in our lives. He knows our destination and the route He wants us to take. He plans out each detour to help us avoid hurts or pains, but often we think we know best and drive right past what He’s telling us to do. We can’t see what He sees up ahead in our lives. It takes trust to follow His instructions when we don’t understand. He even takes us on detours through places we didn’t know existed, but it’s all for our benefit.

Psalm 1 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It gives great promises to those who listen to God’s instructions rather than man’s. One of those promises says that God charts the road you take (verse 6 MSG). God has charted out a road for each of us. It’s up to us to listen to His Word, meditate on it and follow it. He knows best how to get us where He wants us. It’s up to us to follow the path He’s charted out.

Photo by Truman Adrian Lobato De Faria on Unsplash

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December 29, 2017 · 5:30 AM

God’s Not Finished

This week, I’m counting down my top posts for the year. This was my most popular post written in 2017.

There’s a viral video that’s been floating around Facebook for a while now. It’s of an artist on Ukraine’s Got Talent. She has a large canvas and begins to draw what appears to be one of the judges. As she continues to work on it, the judges become impatient. One by one, they give her the dreaded X. After all judges give her the X, she takes the canvas, turns it upside down, then throws a chalky substance on the canvas. When the dust clears, it’s a portrait of someone else.

I think we are all a bit like those judges at times when God is trying to do a work in our lives. We think we know what He’s up to, and we don’t agree with it. We think we know best and we X out of His plan. We are always trying to put together the pieces of what He’s doing, and we are judging it. The problem is that we truly have no clue what He’s doing because we have the wrong perspective, and He’s not finished yet. We’ve got to learn to have patience while God works in our lives.

We’ve become a part of the culture that tries to figure everything out before it’s done. We like things now rather than later. We don’t let things develop and mature like they’re supposed to. God wants us to be patient, especially when He’s working in our lives. Isaiah 30:18 says, “But GOD’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. GOD takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones” (MSG).

God’s message to us today is to be patient while He works. He’s taking His time, doing the things that are necessary. You may not understand it, or be able to see the full picture of what He’s doing right now. If you will wait for Him to complete what He’s started, you won’t be disappointed. Don’t be like those judges and miss out on the art that God is trying to create in your life. God’s not finished yet. The final product is worth the wait.

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December 26, 2017 · 5:49 AM

Exchanging God’s Truth

Next to Black Friday, the day after Christmas is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Why? Because it’s the day people take back the gifts someone else gave them, and exchange them for what they want. It doesn’t matter that someone else looked high and low for the perfect gift. We want what we want, and now we can take what was given to us and use it to get something else. It’s a day full of long lines and enticing sales.

Mankind has been doing something like this since God gave us the gift of His Son. We have tried to exchange His gift for something that doesn’t make us change. We want the benefits of Him sending His Son without the cost to our lives. Paul said it best in Romans 1:25, “They exchange the truth about God for a lie” (GNT). People like certain parts of the Bible, but they don’t like others so they exchange them for things they want to believe.

We can’t get caught up in doing this ourselves. It’s easier to want to exchange God’s truths for things we want to believe, but that isn’t how God operates. The good news is that Paul goes on to tell us that God is patient with us. Romans 2:4 says, “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” (NLT). Even when we try to exchange God’s truths, He is patient.

What ways have you tried to exchange God’s truths? We’ve all done it. I believe we can pray, and ask God to open our eyes to His truths. We can ask for help from the Holy Spirit to help us live the lives we were called to live. God Loves each one of us and is patient with us. We are capable of living the life He called us to through the power of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 8). Our lives are the most fruitful and fulfilled when we accept His truths instead of exchanging them.

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December 18, 2017 · 5:42 AM

God Revealed

Around Christmas, we begin to see clever signs like the ones that say, “Wise men still seek Him” or “Born to die”. As Christians, we tend to spend a lot of our attention on that last one because salvation hinges on it, and our reconciliation with God is made possible. The truth is that Jesus didn’t come down to earth just to die for our sins. He had another mission as well – to reveal who God Really is.

We’ve all been misunderstood at some point in our lives. We did something with the best of intentions, and someone else took it the wrong way. Depending on how that person or group of people react, determines how hurt you got from their misunderstanding of you. If we misunderstand people’s intentions, how much more so do we misunderstand God? Part of what Jesus was here for was to clear some of that up.

One of the greatest misunderstandings about God is that He’s our God collectively instead of our God personally. This idea that God wanted to have a personal relationship is one of the things that angered the religious people of Jesus’ day. They couldn’t get past their misunderstanding of Him, so Jesus went to the people who weren’t so set in their ways to educate them and to reveal God to them.

What misconceptions do you have of God? Are you so set in your belief that He’s a certain way, that you’re refusing to let Jesus reveal who He really is to you? Don’t let your misunderstanding of who God is keep you from a deeper relationship with Him. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us” (NLT). Pray today that Jesus would reveal who God really is, and to help you get past your misunderstandings of Him.

A friend of mine wrote a book called “Misunderstood: A Refreshing Guide To Dumping Religion For Good And Diving Deep Into A Personal Discovery Of The God Who Changes Everything.” You can check it out here.

Photo by Stefano Pollio on Unsplash

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December 14, 2017 · 5:35 AM

The Best Gift

One Christmas I was invited to a party. On the invitation, i saw the words “white elephant”. I got so excited, and my mind began to race about what piece of junk I own would be the funniest gift. I looked in my closet, in my room and in the garage. I finally found a piece of junk that I could get rid of and would be the talk of the party. I couldn’t wait to get there and play the game.

On the night of the party, I kept laughing to myself at the poor person who would open my gift. After we sat down and drew numbers, the game began. When the first person opened their gift, it was nice. I was confused. The next person went, and their gift was nice as well. Did these people not know what a white elephant was? I opened the email while I waited for my turn. I read the whole thing that said, “White elephant style with a $20 minimum gift.”

When the person opened my gift, the looked confused. There wasn’t laughter at all. They said, “Really?” Another person chimed in, “That’s all?” The hits said, “Maybe there’s a gift card in there.” Instead of bringing the best gift, I had brought the worst. I stayed silent as they asked who brought it. I was embarrassed and didn’t want to own up to it. It got me thinking about the wisemen and how they didn’t just bring their leftovers. They brought their best gift that fit for a king.

Matthew 2:11 says, “They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (NLT). You and I may not have gold, frankincense or myrrh laying around, but we have giftings and talents we can offer the King. What are we offering Him? Is it our junk? Or is it our best gift? We will each present Him with something on judgement day. Let’s make sure we are giving God our best.

Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash

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