Devotionals

Intro: All Scripture—Old and New Testament—leads us to understand the Kingdom of God as a system of government and territory that is ruled and controlled by God. It has not yet manifest as a physical realm of government. Rather, the Kingdom is a spiritual realm of government that begins with Christ in the heart of a person, but it is certainly not limited to the heart. It begins like a mustard seed, but the Kingdom grows and begins to branch out and produce righteous fruit that permeates the natural realm and has the power to influence everything and everyone (John 15:5). The Kingdom exists among us; it impacts every aspect of human life.

The Kingdom is open to those who accept the sacrifice of Jesus, repent from sin, and begin to live as witnesses to others. Jesus said we must “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness (His way of being right in Christ) and God’s blessing and favor in the Holy Spirit will provide for us (Mat 6:33). The Holy Spirit seals and marks believers as the children of God and one day the Kingdom will touch absolutely everything on earth.

Believers know the work of the Kingdom refers to: 1) acknowledging the rule of Christ on earth as it is in heaven, 2) the blessings that cover those individuals who obediently live under Christ’s Lordship and rule, and 3) those under Christ’s Lordship—the Church—assemble to worship Him and share in His favor and purpose to redeem the world. God has been getting His Church ready, because believers will rule and reign with him when He sets up His physical Kingdom on earth. Exciting times await us in God’s future plans!

Here is the Truth that is hard for many to accept: Not everyone will enjoy the Kingdom of God, because it is only open to the poor in spirit (Mat 5:3). To be poor in spirit is to individually acknowledge our sinfulness and spiritually bankruptcy without Christ. We can do nothing to save ourselves from the death penalty of sin, so by faith we must call on the mercy and grace of God. We can do nothing in divine power without Christ, so we are to connect with him in producing the righteous fruit that will influence the world. In fact, Jesus says it this way, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Mat 7:21). The will of the Father is to believe in the work of the Son and obediently follow him (John 3:16).

Matthew 25:31-46 (VOICE)
31 When the Son of Man comes in all His majesty accompanied by throngs of heavenly messengers, His throne will be wondrous. 32 All the nations will assemble before Him, and He will judge them, distinguishing them from one another as a shepherd isolates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put some, the sheep, at His right hand and some, the goats, at His left. 34 Then the King will say to those to His right,

King: Come here, you beloved, you people whom My Father has blessed. Claim your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of creation. 35 You shall be richly rewarded, for when I was hungry, you fed Me. And when I was thirsty, you gave Me something to drink. I was alone as a stranger, and you welcomed Me into your homes and into your lives. 36 I was naked, and you gave Me clothes to wear; I was sick, and you tended to My needs; I was in prison, and you comforted Me.

37 Even then the righteous will not have achieved perfect understanding and will not recall these things.

Righteous: Master, when did we find You hungry and give You food? When did we find You thirsty and slake Your thirst? 38 When did we find You a stranger and welcome You in, or find You naked and clothe You? 39 When did we find You sick and nurse You to health? When did we visit You when You were in prison?

King: 40 I tell you this: whenever you saw a brother or sister hungry or cold, whatever you did to the least of these, so you did to Me.

41 At that He will turn to those on His left hand.

King: Get away from Me, you despised people whom My Father has cursed. Claim your inheritance—the pits of flaming hell where the devil and his minions suffer. 42 For I was starving, and you left Me with no food. When I was dry and thirsty, you left Me to struggle with nothing to drink. 43 When I was alone as a stranger, you turned away from Me. When I was pitifully naked, you left Me unclothed. When I was sick, you gave Me no care. When I was in prison, you did not comfort Me.

Unrighteous: 44 Master, when did we see You hungry and thirsty? When did we see You friendless or homeless or excluded? When did we see You without clothes? When did we see You sick or in jail? When did we see You in distress and fail to respond?

King: 45 I tell you this: whenever you saw a brother hungry or cold, when you saw a sister weak and without friends, when you saw the least of these and ignored their suffering, so you ignored Me.

46 So these, the goats, will go off to everlasting punishment. But the beloved, the sheep (the righteous), will go into everlasting life.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Intro: Recently, John and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. As well, our family got together to celebrate two birthdays and I thought to myself, “Where did the time go?” Have you ever felt like you were watching time fly by? Was it ever actually slower or was I just more immersed and engaged in the details of parenting and purpose of life during those moments? As we gathered for dinner to celebrate, I looked at each loved one there and said a prayer, “Thank you, Lord, for my heart is full and my thoughts overflow with sweet memories of the love we have shared during the years.” There are no perfect times or perfect families, but God is good and his love is perfect. I must never forget it.

We all have the same number of hours, minutes, and seconds in a day. We cannot slow time down, nor speed it up. Therefore, we must be purposeful about what our call is each day as God’s children: to love God wholeheartedly, as well as love other people. If we want to know that we are using our time each day wisely, God has given us an indicator for our lives. We are to avoid selfishness, hunger for righteousness, deeply love our brothers and sisters in the faith, and reach out to serve Christ’s purpose for redeeming love in our spheres of influence. If we are not living purposefully each day with those things in mind, we are “wasting” our divine opportunities to share eternal life with others. The love we should be sharing is the love of the Father, because the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with His love (Romans 5:5).

In our passage today, the Apostle John wants us to evaluate our faith when it comes to eternal life, because within the world we witness good and evil. Are we sharing saving faith and hope in God’s goodness and perfect love with those around us or just going through the motions of life; sleepily moving through the duties of our worldly roles? Can we lay our heads on our pillows knowing we have been purposeful that day to touch the lives of others with the indispensable character of God’s love? When we are deliberate about extending God’s love we demonstrate that we know Christ and are tasting the power outflowing his resurrection (Phil 3:10-11).
The hope of every believer should rest in Christ’s final work one day within us to conform us to his perfect image; he will finish that work and we will be just like him in how he loves. In the meantime, the desire should be growing within us to share his likeness now in the many ways the Spirit makes available.

1 John 3:11-17 (NLT)
Love One Another
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

Prayer: Father, thank you for the love you have given me through the Holy Spirit. Help me to use every day as a way to share your love with others who are facing some kind of lack; may I rise to help them spiritually, emotionally, or physically. Continue to form me in your image, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Intro: A Christian believer is a person who has repented from sin against God and accepted the salvation the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, offers. To be a believer is to reflect the heart of Jesus and his ongoing work of salvation to lead us into abundant faith as we learn to live in the Truth. In Greek, the word “believer” brings with it the understanding of making a deep commitment. Believing in Jesus is about clinging to him as our only hope for abundant life. Sometimes people have the mindset that a believer is someone who ascribes to a religious preference or organization. On the contrary, attending a religious service does not make a person a Christian believer. Loyalty to Jesus makes one a believer. Salvation from sin is a priceless gift from Jesus to believers who desire the new life he offers—to experience life from above (heaven).

In our passage today, Jesus has been talking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus—a Jewish leader—about the new birth or new life that is required to be able to see the Kingdom of God. New life is about regeneration or conversion by the Spirit of God. When we connect to Christ, our perspectives begin to change. Jesus wanted Nicodemus to understand all his education and religious training did not give him this new life; he needed Jesus to save him. You and I need Jesus, too. God did not wait for humanity to turn to him before choosing to love us. Instead, God chose to love us and prepare a way of salvation so with Him we could be safe and sound. How long can we expect to be made safe and sound as we follow Jesus? The answer is for eternity…God’s love for you is limitless! Let that soak into your soul, today.
John 3:16-18 (Amp)

16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in or relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

18 He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ’s name.]

Prayer: Father, thank you for sending Jesus to save the world. Help me to grow in my trust each day as I cling to Christ. I know your love for me has no limits. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Intro: There are many changes going on in our world, today; however, some things in life never change. Some things remain constant like the saving love of God. Another constant is the reality that someone around us every day needs a form of help. This is why we are called to love our neighbors in spiritual, emotional, and tangible ways. We are to care deeply about the well-being of the people in our sphere of influence—in other words, our neighbors. We are to pray for wisdom on how to love them. Do we have a righteous level of concern and mercy for others? Or, in life, do we only position ourselves or a certain group of people as the center of importance?

The Christian faith is identified by what we produce; we are to look like Jesus. If we do not extend care and mercy to our neighbors, we have not genuinely met the God of all mercy (2 Cor 1:3). When we extend mercy to others, we demonstrate we have receive God’s mercy—we reveal a living faith! Otherwise, we are simply making a mental assent to the words of Christ while never attaching faith through acts of obedience. The Word of God is alive and active (Heb 4:12). God sends His children to operate in Christ’s saving faith; when our words and actions are in harmony with the character of Christ. Obedience to God’s Word is the call to every sinner—all of humanity. Who governs our lives spiritually, how we deal with life and people emotionally, and how we choose to live morally are all involved in saving or living faith.

Christ never showed partiality to his “neighbors.” He used his faith to help those whom he knew would welcome him, as well as strangers whom he simply encountered each day. James is not teaching about two methods for salvation. There is only One way to our Holy God and that is through Jesus the Son who offers to forgive our sin and impart to us his righteousness, so we can have personal fellowship with God. Instead, James is teaching us about two kinds of faith: 1) a living faith that saves, and 2) a dead faith that does not. Be a part of what is constant: the saving love of Jesus Christ shared in the midst of a fallen world of sinful and broken people wrestling with the question, “Who do I trust?”

James 2: 14-20 Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Prayer: Father, may the love and mercy you have poured into me, be released to others, today. May I place you in the center of all that I can be as I love those around me. And, may I be a positive influence for salvation to others through active and living faith. Should you bless me to be that vessel, today, may I tell them about you as my Source. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Intro: Recently, John and I took a short trip to Utah. While there, we had a fleeting encounter with a farmer from Minnesota who provides produce for the Del Monte Company. He said farming had drastically changed over this past year and it was harder and harder for them to hire sufficient workers or to purchase additional equipment due to rising costs. I know very little about farming, but this gentleman told us about a small window of opportunity to harvest when the spring and fall fields are ripe. Multiple times he expressed the urgency for workers at harvest time. It made me think.

Jesus taught much about the urgency of the spiritual harvest. In Luke 10:1, Jesus decides to appoint seventy people—36 teams of two—to work the salvation fields in the towns he would later visit. Jesus told his workers, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (Luke 10:2). Not only were these teams of workers to go and to pray, they were to go with a kind and gracious heart, because they would face challenges and opposition (Luke 10:3). As well, these disciples were to trust God to provide everything for them (Luke 10:7). These workers were to preach about God’s Kingdom and to heal people. Jesus knew healing the people would authenticate the Kingdom message (Luke 10:8). Every instruction Jesus provides points to the shortness of time and the urgency of the work for the Kingdom harvest.

Our reading for today picks up in verse 13 with Jesus explaining to these harvest workers what will happen to the people who reject their message—the unbelievers. Chorazin was a city near the Sea of Galilee [2 miles north of Capernaum] where Jesus spent a great deal of time. Jesus fed the five thousand near Bethsaida (Luke 9:10-17). In fact, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum made up what scholars call the Evangelical triangle; three Jewish cities in which Jesus performed most of his miracles. Tyre and Sidon were Gentile regions where Jesus taught, as well. When Jesus used these two cities in his message, he was highlighting the way the Jewish people in the other three refused him. The Jews failed to see Jesus as God with them, so they refused to listen to his urgent call for them to repent and be God’s representatives to the nations. Our take away must be that Jesus expects his Word to be taught, believed, and put into practice.

As Christ’s present day disciples, we need to see ourselves as part of the seventy people sent out. We are responsible to share the gospel of God’s Kingdom that is near and pray for God to send more workers. Because he is coming to reap the harvest of souls, there is a shortness of time and an urgency for the work. We are to be filled with Christ’s righteous Spirit and about our Father’s business of redemption. As we tell others about the love of Christ and his work for salvation, we cannot leave out the message of a coming judgment. To refuse Christ is to refuse the eternal life offered by the Father.

Luke 10:13-16 The Unbelieving Towns
13 Jesus said, “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago sat down, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins! 14 God will show more mercy on the Judgment Day to Tyre and Sidon [two cities considered extremely wicked] than to you. 15 And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell!”
16 Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Prayer: Lord, I pray for you to send more workers to us for the harvest fields. Help us to trust you for provision, stir our hearts for the lost, and empower us to heal the broken and sick. Please don’t let us as your representatives waste this precious time we have been given to bring your saving grace to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Intro: While I was in seminary, I did a great deal of driving back and forth from Seminole to Orlando (FL). Traveling I-4 has never been my favorite thing to do, but during my seminary commutes (115 miles) I continually faced significant traffic issues resulting from accidents, weather, road construction, and a bunch of detours that took me way off course. I became so nervous about the drive each time, John bought me one of the first plug-in GPS models. How wonderful it was to be able to make choices on how to move around the ever-changing and sometimes dangerous road conditions. My GPS helped me navigate with greater confidence.

The Word of God is our spiritual GPS—God’s Positioning System—to give our lives direction around the issues of life Satan uses to rob, steal, and destroy our abiding relationship with God. The choices we make today give direction for our lives in the future. There are two choices before us: the righteous path or the wicked path. We love choices, but we don’t always love where our choices take us. In fact, I am going to encourage you to pray a great deal about the choices you make today, because every choice becomes a seed sewn that will bring a time of reaping. We face rewards or consequences in the harvest of our choices.

In our passage today, God addresses Israel’s choices based on the spiritual leadership they have welcomed. False prophets had successfully twisted God’s Word; making it what the people wanted to hear. The people let go of the Truth they received in the beginning from God. Therefore, God judges the nation of Israel for living in sin by choice. So, please hang on to the Truth of God’s Word and apply it to your life. You will never regret living to please God. He is the ultimate GPS, my friends!
Jeremiah 8:4-9 Deception by False Prophets
4 “Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again?    When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?
5 
Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?    Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?They cling tightly to their lies    and will not turn around.
6 
I listen to their conversations    and don’t hear a word of truth.Is anyone sorry for doing wrong?    Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”?No! All are running down the path of sin    as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!
7 
Even the stork that flies across the sky    knows the time of her migration,as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.    They all return at the proper time each year.But not my people!    They do not know the Lord’s laws.
8 
“‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,”    when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?
9 
These wise teachers will fall    into the trap of their own foolishness,for they have rejected the word of the Lord.    Are they so wise after all?

Prayer: Lord, thank You for the wisdom of Your Word to guide our lives. We desperately need Your Word and the work of the Spirit in the days in which we live. Navigate our lives into successfully living for Your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happy 4th of July! Today we celebrate our independence as a country, but you and I know that as Christians we should be celebrating our full dependence on the Lord each day. Far too often we like to think that we are independent and can navigate a situation or a period of time within our life without the Lord. But, for those of us who are honest enough to admit that we’ve done that, we know all too well that it never works out. When life is really hard and when we’ve sinned or stepped away from God and the path He has for our life, we need to be quick to respond like David does in today’s passage. David goes right to the heart of the matter, and he does not make any excuses or attempts to justify his own innocence. Rather, he humbly comes before the Lord in fervent prayer and seeks the Lord’s forgiveness, compassion, healing, restoration, and love.

Psalm 6 is one of seven penitential psalms. These are psalms that express confession and seek repentance. We do not know the specific incident in David’s life that is ascribed to this psalm, it could be King Saul wanting to assassinate him (1 Samuel 19:1), or his sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:9), or the rebellion of his son, Absalom (2 Samuel 15:13). Regardless, the situation is dire enough that David understands that it connects with his physical suffering, and his fear for his own life. Despite a time of fear (v. 6-7), David has faith that God will rescue him and respond to his enemies.

Remember, when life seems too hard, God still loves you beyond measure and He does not want you to helplessly wander anymore. He wants to gently nudge you to grow more and more like Him. So, get on your knees and pour out your heart and soul to the Lord like David did, and then get up and move forward with Jesus in confident assurance of His love and care for your life.

Psalm 6
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.

1 O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your rage.
2 Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
3 I am sick at heart.
How long, O Lord, until you restore me?

4 Return, O Lord, and rescue me.
Save me because of your unfailing love.
5 For the dead do not remember you.
Who can praise you from the grave?

6 I am worn out from sobbing.
All night I flood my bed with weeping,
drenching it with my tears.
7 My vision is blurred by grief;
my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.

8 Go away, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord will answer my prayer.
10 May all my enemies be disgraced and terrified.
May they suddenly turn back in shame.

Prayer: Lord, we come before You seeking Your forgiveness, Your compassion, Your healing, Your restoration, and Your love. Thank You for being our guide all of the time, and especially during difficult times. Help us, Lord, to be fully dependent on You every second of every day. We ask this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.

Over the last few years, we have seen our culture and our society start to worship other things other than God. They begin to worship people, material things, different social movements, and many other things. What we need to do is to worship the one who made the things on the earth. Genesis 1 talks about who exactly made the world. Psalm 24:1 says that everything on the earth is God’s. Matthew 28:18 says that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. In Luke 17:11-19, it talks about how all ten men being healed of leprosy but only one of them not only received physical healing but also received spiritual healing. In today’s passage, it talks about worshipping the Lord. In verse 4, it says “Everything on earth will worship you; they will sing your praises, shouting your name in glorious songs.” At the end of verse 3, it says “Your enemies cringe before your mighty power.” In other words, the enemies of God will cringe in the power of God. That’s how powerful the name of God truly is. James 4:7 says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. Revelation 3:15-16 says to be either hot or cold and that we cannot be lukewarm. In other words, we cannot be a fence sitter or be neutral when it comes to worship. Either we are worshipping God or we are worshipping the material things or the temporary things in the world. Matthew 10:32-33 says that if we acknowledge Him before others, then He will acknowledge us before the Father, but if we deny Him before others, then He will deny us before the Father.

I want to challenge you to take some time out of your day and worship God. One thing that I do is to turn the radio to The Joy FM or I plug my phone in and listen to some worship music and sing praises to Him while I’m driving. Whether you listen to worship music or tune into His word, take some time and worship. I would recommend to start with 15-30 minutes each day. Once we start getting into that habit, we will begin to see just a difference that will make in our lives and we would want to keep doing that going forward in this life. It’s important to get ourselves fueled up. If we don’t get ourselves fueled up, then we would be running on empty. Don’t run on E. When I see E in my car, I’m reminded to get fueled up. In our spiritual lives, we need to examine ourselves and see if we are on E, if we are, then it’s time to get fueled up and ready to go for the Lord.

Psalm 66:1-9 NLT
For the choir director: A song. A psalm.

1 Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth!
2 Sing about the glory of his name!
Tell the world how glorious he is.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Your enemies cringe before your mighty power.
4 Everything on earth will worship you;
they will sing your praises,
shouting your name in glorious songs.” Interlude

5 Come and see what our God has done,
what awesome miracles he performs for people!
6 He made a dry path through the Red Sea,[a]
and his people went across on foot.
There we rejoiced in him.
7 For by his great power he rules forever.
He watches every movement of the nations;
let no rebel rise in defiance. Interlude

8 Let the whole world bless our God
and loudly sing his praises.
9 Our lives are in his hands,
and he keeps our feet from stumbling.

One of my favorite games to play is bowling. I love being in the bowling alley and having the opportunity to improve my game as best as I can. One of the many things that I struggle with in this sport is how to hook the bowling ball. In other words, how to make it spin. I haven’t mastered it yet. When I try, it always fails every time. When I want it to go a certain way, it always goes the exact opposite. It’s like Paul in today’s passage from Romans 7:14-25. Paul discovers that he wants to do good, but when he does it always the exact opposite. In verse 19, he says “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” Our human self would kick in and take over our decision making and we end up doing the wrong thing when the reality is that we are supposed to do the right thing. In verse 23, Paul talks about a different kind of warfare. It says “But there is another power me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.” In the next verse, Paul says that he’s miserable and he asks just who can save me from this life that has been taken over or dominated by sin and death. In verse, 25, he discovers the answer. It says “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

I want to challenge you to keep Satan out of your mind. It’s easier said than done, but the reality is that God is on the throne. Think about positive thoughts and positive things. Philippians 4:8 explains how we need to think about good and positive thoughts. John 10:10 says that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came so that we can have life and have it abundantly. Here’s my little prayer for you today: Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that we will continue to focus on You every single day. No matter what we face, let us glorify You in all that we say and all that we do. I pray that we will think more positive thoughts and positive things. I pray that we will be more positive in our lives when it comes to our thoughts, our thinking, our emotions, and our actions. Continue to remind us how we need to be more positive in our lives. We will give you all the glory. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Romans 7:14-25 NLT
Struggling with Sin

14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

There is a very famous story that most children read and heard about called “Little Red Riding Hood.” It’s about a little girl who is on her way to see her grandmother. When she gets to the house, she begins to notice that something didn’t seem right about her grandmother. She had hair on her hands, big eyes, and she had big ears. Clearly it wasn’t her grandmother at all, but rather the big bad wolf. He was trying to trick her. I’m not sure if you know this or not but there are wolves in sheep’s clothing all around us. In other words, they are people who are trying to trick us into doing something that we clearly shouldn’t be doing. In today’s passage, Jesus is reminding us that we shouldn’t be afraid or worried about people in authoritative positions. Jesus says in Matthew 10:16, “Look, I am sending out as sheep among wolves. So be as a shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.” In other words, we as warriors for God will have a target on our backs when it comes to sharing the gospel to others. He says in verses 19-20, “When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” In the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus tells His disciples that they ought to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. Even though there will be people who aren’t going to like what we have to say, but we need to remind ourselves that we are not the ones doing the talking. God will be with us when it comes to us sharing the gospel. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus says for us to let our lights shine before others in a way that they may see our good deeds as well as glorify our Father in heaven.

I want to challenge you today to not be ashamed of the gospel. In Romans 1:16, Paul tells us that he isn’t ashamed of the gospel. If Paul isn’t ashamed of the gospel when he was in a Roman prison, then we shouldn’t be ashamed of the gospel when we share it with our friends and family. There are people who would use the gospel to try and trick us into believing something that isn’t scriptural or biblical. We just need to be careful about who the wolves are and who the sheep are as well. Be sure to be alert and paying attention in this life (1 Corinthians 16:13 and 1 Peter 5:8). Just be careful and remember that God is always with you no matter what.

Matthew 10:16-25 NLT

16 “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. 17 But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. 18 You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. 19 When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. 20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21 “A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. 22 And all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. I tell you the truth, the Son of Man will return before you have reached all the towns of Israel.

24 “Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master. 25 Students are to be like their teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of my household will be called by even worse names!