Devotionals

Some folks just love to talk. Nothing wrong with talking as long as we are also practicing wisdom while growing good listening skills. Solomon, the wisdom writer teaches, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences” (Pro 18:21). Our words have the potential to build up or tear down another person (Eph 4:29). It’s a serious thing with God since he is the pure Word.

Scripture teaches our words have power; therefore, we should choose them wisely. God’s Word is Spirit and Life and our words should drip with thanksgiving for Father God in sending His Son to save us (John 6:63). In our LIFE lessons Wednesday night, we shared about the power of praying with a deep sense of gratitude to God—overflowing with life-filled words of thanksgiving for the love of God imparted to us. Thanks, God!

In our passage today, Paul is in a Roman prison with his hands and feet in chains, but his prayers are filled with thanksgiving, because it is another opportunity to reveal the living Christ’s beautiful character within him to others. Paul is such an amazing example of a person who uses every opportunity to share about Jesus. Even while imprisoned, he shares the living Word of God through written letters to the church in Colosse expressing gratitude and thanksgiving to God for His eternal love and encouraging them to do the same.

Do we take every opportunity to share the Good News? There are people around us each day who may have a form of godliness, but their hearts may not belong to Jesus. God has promised to give us the right words to encourage others He places in our path to know He loves them and wants to live in them. May our witness to speak Truth increase in Jesus’ name!

Colossians 4:2-6 NLT An Encouragement for Prayer
2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. 3 Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. 4 Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.
5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for our lesson about sharing gracious and life-giving words with those around us. Help us to speak life and faith each day; convict us when our words fail to be wise. As well, help us to know when to be silent in order to show respect as good listeners. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

In the Old Testament, God promised to bring peace or wholeness and well-being to earth. In our passage today, the psalmist calls for the Lord’s salvation. As well, he calls God’s people to fear the Lord which means to give respect and awe to the Giver of all blessings.

When the blessings of God come together on earth—love, truth, righteousness, and peace—it begins to transform human hearts by making them new creations. Father God fulfilled the salvation promise when he sent the righteous Word, Jesus, from heaven to save our souls by dying on the cross (John 3:16; 1 Tim 1:15). God resurrected him and Jesus now sits in honor at the right hand of God the Father waiting on the appointed time to return (1 Peter 3:22). There are very few things I value as much as I do a sense of well-being—shalom; it’s wholeness and only Jesus can provide it for the believer. He is my treasure!

In the New Testament, Jesus expressed the urgent need for wholeness to his disciples, “I have told you these things so that you will be whole and at peace. In this world, you will be plagued with times of trouble, but you need not fear; I have triumphed over this corrupt world order (John 16:33). So we must focus on the wholeness God brings our lives, because it makes all the difference in a day. May the eyes of the world be opened to the glorious One who makes us whole! Hang on to you peace, today!

Psalm 85:7-13 NLT
7 
Show us your unfailing love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.
8
I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying,
    for he speaks peace to his faithful people.
    But let them not return to their foolish ways.
9 
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
    so our land will be filled with his glory.
10 
Unfailing love and truth have met together.
    Righteousness and peace have kissed!
11 
Truth springs up from the earth,
    and righteousness smiles down from heaven.
12 
Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings.
    Our land will yield its bountiful harvest.
13 
Righteousness goes as a herald before him,
    preparing the way for his steps.

Prayer: Lord, love and truth, as well as righteousness and peace have been deposited into believing hearts. Thank you for saving us and making us new creations in Christ. Thank you for the grace and blessings you continually bestow upon us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

It is the work of the Word and the Holy Spirit to convict humanity of sin which is human disobedience or rebellion against God’s will causing slander to his character. Each one of us are responsible for how we live and conduct our lives—we are to love God and love others in Christ’s righteousness. We will one day give an account to the Lord for how we have represented him as the loving and merciful living Word on earth.

In our passage today, Jesus’ brothers have no real understanding about his purpose to bring salvation. Therefore, their motives and expectations of and for Jesus are misdirected. At the appointed time, the greatest miracle Jesus would ever demonstrate—the one for which he would become famous—was coming and a huge amount of people would be involved but not at the Festival of Tabernacles.

The greatest miracle is appointed to happen during Passover when Jesus planned to respond to the will of God by giving his life—being the sacrificial Lamb—to save humanity from the work of evil that was filling human hearts. Eventually, the brothers of Jesus understood his purpose. Later in his letter to the Jerusalem church, James writes about the work of Jesus for salvation and about the necessity for believers to now develop Christ’s righteous character.

Evil in human hearts can do despicable things; things that grieve the heart of God. It is tempting to blame God for evil, but there is no evil in God; however, there is evil in unredeemed human hearts. But evil must come out of hiding as the Light of Truth takes its stand. Jesus is the Light of the World and the Living Truth of how human beings were created to live. Evil is destroyed as humans live the Truth!

John 7:1-9 NLT Jesus and His Brothers
1 After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.

Prayer: Lord, you are righteousness and we thank you for the work you continue to do in our hearts. We need you to deliver us from evil and develop your character within our souls. Your death and resurrection sets us free to live for you. As your sons and daughters, may we live what we say we believe. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

When we believe as truth the saving and righteous work of Christ on the cross, building and advancing God’s kingdom becomes the believer’s work. Every day arrives as an opportunity for us to reveal the character of Jesus for the glory of Father God. This is our purpose while we wait for Christ to return. Certainly, some days we honor and reflect the fruit of his holiness better than others, but we must continue to call on the Spirit to help us guard our thoughts and words. The fruit of the Spirit we are called to produce is: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). The harvest is coming!

In our passage today, James has a lot to say about genuine Christian behavior. Most people would describe themselves as honest, but some times our words and promises can be perceived by others as hollow. When we do not follow-through when we say we are going to do something, we are misrepresenting the integrity and character of our Lord. James wants us to understand the need for patience, endurance, and the power of a “yes” and “no” to help us produce the fruit of righteousness as we relate to others. Most of the time, we have a clear choice to say “yes” or “no” to a request. So, if you say, “yes” and commit yourself to something then do what you have agreed to do.

James 5:7-12 NLT Patience and Endurance
7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. 8 You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.

9 Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door!

10 For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.
12 But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.

Prayer: Lord, help us to remain patient with people and focused on our purpose while we wait for your return. Continue to form us in your image and help us to be careful when we commit to do something. Holy Spirit, please keep us mindful of your integrity and our responsibility. Fill us with the ability and courage to fulfill our commitments. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our passage today is a message through the prophet Ezekiel. We will pick up at the end of chapter 2 and continue into chapter 3. If you recall, Ezekiel was a priest who had been living in Jerusalem and he was amongst the first to be exiled during the Babylonian attack when the Israelite prisoners were captured.

Chapter 1 opens on Ezekiel’s 30th birthday. By tradition, it’s the year he would have been installed as a priest in Jerusalem. As Ezekiel finds himself in captivity, God opens his spiritual eyes, provides him with a supernatural vision, and God calls and commissions Ezekiel. This call far surpasses the “traditions” of priesthood. God wants Ezekiel to preach His Word and to prophesy to His people, the Jews. This was going to be challenging, as they were rebellious people against God. God knew that, and He still called Ezekiel to share His Word.

Friends, God calls us to do the same as He called Ezekiel, we are to spread His Good News to the world. Much of the world remains blinded by the darkness of Satan and they either don’t realize it or they have turned a blind eye to their rebellion against Jesus. Regardless, God still calls us to spread His Word, and to proclaim the Gospel message of Jesus and His saving love. Remember, you and I were once blind, but now we are the “Living Stones for God’s House” because we stand on the Cornerstone, Jesus. As we stand on Him and profess His Word, by the work of the Holy Spirit, each one of us are royal priests, we are God’s chosen people, a holy nation, who are called to show others the goodness of God (1 Peter 2:4-12).

Just as God handed the scroll of His Truth to Ezekiel to eat, you and I are called to feast on God’s Word, every single day, as we are called to His Table, and we too must eat (ingest) His Word. Don’t get caught up in the worldly or “literal” meaning of eat. Within the spirit realm, God supernaturally called Ezekiel, and He is calling you, me, and all believers to allow His Word to sink deep into our hearts first (ingest it into our spirit), so then we carefully spread His Word to all and pray for hearts to open and listen.

Ezekiel 2:8 – 3:11 (NLT)

2:8 Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you.”

9 Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me. It held a scroll, 10 which he unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.

3:1 The voice said to me, “Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 “Fill your stomach with this,” he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

4 Then he said, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them my messages. 5 I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand. 6 No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen! 7 But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. 8 But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are. 9 I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock! So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.”

10 Then he added, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. 11 Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.”

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for Ezekiel’s testimony. Forgive us when we do not share Your Word. Help us to grab a hold of our priesthood, and to feast more and more on Your Word, so that the Holy Spirit can keep guiding us to spread Your Good News. We love You, Jesus, and ask all of this in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Yesterday, we celebrated our national freedom knowing it costs a great deal to remain free. John F. Kennedy once said, “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it.” I am so proud of our C2C spiritual family for how we support our military and first responders who serve to preserve our freedom no matter what the cost.

In our passage today, Jesus has an encounter with two people who say they want to follow him and embrace his way of living. Certainly, Jesus welcomes these two people, but wants them to know there is a cost that may call for sacrifice of comfort, personal time, family, friendships, and pleasurable habits. To be a follower of Jesus requires loyalty to him as our highest priority.

Being a follower of Christ is not easy, but it is the most rewarding path of life. Our faith in Christ turns us away from selfish inclinations, to focus on the Father’s will and purpose for us. We live to please God; rather than live to please ourselves. So we are wise to count the cost of our commitment.

Matthew 8:18-22 NLT The Cost of Following Jesus
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.
19 Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”
21 Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being so honest with us as your children. We do not have to blindly enter into a relationship with you; we can know the truth right up front. You provide us a choice. Thank you for setting us free from the power and wages of sin and selfishness. Thank you for making us whole in your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today, we celebrate Independence Day in America. We are such a blessed nation to have this beautiful freedom. Because of this blessing, the enemy works very hard to desensitize people to the value of freedom. It is our freedom that actually sets us apart from other nations. As one nation under God, we presently have rights and privileges other nations cannot even imagine.

We have the freedom to practice our faith—to worship the Lord God—and to pursue life, liberty and happiness, because we have constitutional laws that act as a shield to protect our freedoms. Wake up, brothers and sisters, and know God’s grace is the reason we are still free even though the enemy is trying to strip away what makes us victorious. We are saved by grace through faith; so the freedom to practice our faith is an immeasurable gift of coming under Christ’s authority (Eph 2:8-9)! Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord (Ps 33:12).

Our country is blessed because of God’s grace. We are to be obedient and good stewards of grace, because apart from Christ we are blind to the truth. When we are tempted to see salvation about our outward performance rather than believe everything rests upon the Lord and what he is doing for us on the inside, we are blinded to the greatest Truth.

Certainly, how we live our lives matters to God, because we are his representatives, but we can do nothing to save ourselves. Our position must be to receive what Jesus is doing inwardly to bring us greater liberty and freedom from sin and dead living; this is how we reflect the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 3:13-18 NLT 13 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. 14 But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. 15 Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for removing the veil that tries to cover our minds. Please bring clarity to your children; awaken our souls to the truth and renew our minds and help us understand the power of obedience to your Word. Continue to make us more like you, Jesus, because then we will be living more closely to your authority as our King. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Prayer is a beautiful gift from God. Our faith grows through prayer. We appropriate grace through prayer. We learn to become more dependent upon God with each prayer we utter, because we are acknowledging our inability to meet the need we bring to God. With so much going on in the world that challenges genuine faith, we must pray without ceasing and expect to see the goodness of God triumphing over evil.

In our passage today from Mark’s gospel, several things stand out for me: 1) The argument over the prevailing power of evil; 2) People trying to decide what Jesus can do to evil; and 3) The authority of Jesus to take command over evil—the demon. Evil will always overpower unredeemed humanity. But believers do not need to face the same fate. Faith will call us to pray and grace will provide what we need to successfully serve God. As children—sons and daughters—of the Lord, we are as powerful as our faith in Christ love for us. Evil is powerless when, by faith, Jesus is Lord of the heart!

Mark 9:14-29 NLT Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.
16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.

17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.

He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”

26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”
29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”

Prayer: Lord thank you for this amazing lesson, today, about the power of faith, prayer, and grace for our victory against evil. Overwhelming victory is ours because we are loved by Jesus the all-powerful Anointed One. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we invest the time to study scripture, we learn about God, as well as ourselves. The more we learn, the less trouble we have understanding the immense gap between humanity’s sin-filled lives and God’s pure undefiled holy presence. The Word of God points to the fact that if God did not move to rescue and save us, we would never be able to connect to him and his love. Gaining eternal life with God would be hopeless.

On Sunday, I took a few minutes to share from Mark’s gospel about the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34). She experienced separation from worshiping God in the Temple, as well as forbidden to enjoy her home or her relationship with her family and friends. Because of the law of purity she could not be with them as her bleeding issue never stopped; she lost everything that made life worth living due to her affliction. After twelve years of dealing with this infirmity there are no more resources. She remains powerless to heal herself. Doctors remain powerless to heal her. But when she reaches out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, it cures her affliction and changes everything involving her life. Her blood is no longer an issue. The purity of Jesus has filled her.

When we look at this lesson from the gospel of Mark through the lens of the Old Testament book of Leviticus, we are quickly made aware of the law that brought this discouraged and desperate woman to Jesus. She knew it would take a supernatural work of salvation to restore her life. And, that is what Jesus did for her.
Sin against God’s purity is humanity’s affliction and no one but Jesus can heal us and bridge the gap with Father God. We need the blood of Jesus to cover us and his purity to fill us. Amazing Grace from our Compassionate Lord!

Leviticus 15:25-30 NLT 25 “If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period, or if the blood continues beyond the normal period, she is ceremonially unclean. As during her menstrual period, the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues. 26 Any bed she lies on and any object she sits on during that time will be unclean, just as during her normal menstrual period. 27 If any of you touch these things, you will be ceremonially unclean. You must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening.

28 “When the woman’s bleeding stops, she must count off seven days. Then she will be ceremonially clean. 29 On the eighth day she must bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons and present them to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 30 The priest will offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. Through this process, the priest will purify her before the Lord for the ceremonial impurity caused by her bleeding.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being the change in our blood DNA. Now, believers are covered by the blood of Messiah. We can enjoy life with you and live with the promised hope of heaven. Thank you, Lord! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

King David’s “Song of Praise” is a song to the Lord about the day the Lord rescued him from all of his enemies (who are controlled by the sin and darkness of this world) and from Saul, his father-in-law who sought to kill him (more sin and darkness of this world). This “Song of Praise” can be found in 2 Samuel 22 and in Psalm 18. Today, we are focusing on the first six verses of Psalm 18.

Like many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I pray with and for people every single day. Last week a dear friend said, “I am praying for strength because Lord I am on the verge of crumbling and falling apart right now”. I am not going to lie; this friend’s circumstances are extremely difficult. Each one of us can think of extremely difficult circumstances that we have had to walk through, or we are walking through right now, and if we are being completely honest, we know that we will walk through more in the future.

But, friends, we must not allow our circumstances to determine our faith or the goodness of God, rather, our faith must rest in the goodness of God, and we must trust our circumstances to Him. David helps us to understand why we do this.

Remember, David walked through many difficult circumstances, adultery, leadership of the most powerful nation in the region of the most rebellious people, death, his own son tried to kill him for power, and the list goes on and on; but, regardless of each difficult circumstance, David still said:

Lord You are my strength – friends, when you and I feel weary and weak, we must press into our faith and remember that God never gets tired, and He is our strength at all times.

Lord You are my rock – we must stand firmly on the One Who is the Rock of our salvation, Jesus, and cry out to Him when we feel like everything is falling apart around us, because He is our only firm and unchanging place of Truth, and He wants to help us. God hears our prayers! Remember, He is omnipresent, everywhere at all times. He wants to help us.

Lord You are my safe place – Jesus is our safe place, His Word lives within each of us, and it never changes. We are the ones who either physically, emotionally, mentally, and/or spiritually change or wonder into unsafe places, but Jesus was, is, and will always be our safe place of rest and restoration. Cry out to Him for help. He is our safe covering and our strong tower!

Place your faith and trust in God for every circumstance. Because one thing is certain, while our circumstances will continue to change, our God is our only stable and unchanging place of pure love. Believe that God will use all things for Your good (even the hardest circumstances) because He loves you for all eternity, and He wants to use our hardest circumstances to help others.

Psalm 18:1-6 (NLV)

Song of Thanks for Being Kept Safe

1 I love You, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, and my safe place, and the One Who takes me out of trouble. My God is my rock, in Whom I am safe. He is my safe covering, my saving strength, and my strong tower. 3 I call to the Lord, Who has the right to be praised. And I am saved from those who hate me.

4 The ropes of death were all around me. The floods of death make me afraid. 5 The ropes of the grave were all around me. The traps of death were set for me. 6 I called to the Lord in my trouble. I cried to God for help. He heard my voice from His holy house. My cry for help came into His ears.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for being our strength, for giving us Jesus, Who is our Rock, and for allowing us to call on the Holy Spirit to lovingly guide us. Thank You for hearing our prayers and for being with us at all times, especially during difficult times. We love You, Jesus. Amen.