Choose a devotional below
Breaking Ground For Example Head vs Heart Hypocrites Immunized Junk Drawer Kindness Liar Liar Pants on Fire One Step at a Time Peace Out Sabbath The Holy Bible The Red Pill or The Blue Pill Trust Underrated Prayer Unseen Battle
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Breaking Ground
Sow yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and showers righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12, NIV)
Healthy and fertile soil is soft, easily cultivated, and purposefully used. It is rich in nutrients, contains life giving water, and consistently gives of itself for the growth of all kinds of life giving activities around it. But none of the benefits of good soil can be had without first plowing up and tilling the dry, hard, and unhealthy ground. Given the right environmental conditions, almost any kind of plant life may be placed into good soil and bear good fruit. The soil will become the very foundation upon which the plant roots will take hold and firmly grasp- the base from which to draw life. The ground can become the fundamental reason for the success of plant life, but it may also become the reason why it withers and dies.
The very purpose soil was created was to be tilled so it may absorb water and give of itself to everything around it; it is the vehicle in which water may hold together the fragile ecosystem around it. The rejection of water, however, becomes the reason that there is no life. If good soil is not used as it has been purposed, it becomes hard and unhealthy. When it is not tilled, broken, and torn apart, season after season, it is unable to absorb life-giving water and nutrients, rendering the soil completely useless. When the ground is in this condition water will simply travel across the stubborn hardened surface until it finds an area to settle where it is accepted- somewhere it is wanted.
We can become hard, dry, and brittle like untilled soil. We can refuse to be tilled. We can refuse water and refuse to grow and give of ourselves to others around us, but that refusal comes at a cost. Refusal means we will not be refreshed by showers of joy and we will not reap the fruit of God’s unfailing love. Is your heart in need of a little tilling? Have you been so hard and dry that everything around you dies? Seek the LORD! Desire Him! Allow Him to till you up and soften you up. Allow Him to refresh you and send the rain. Then He will bring new life to you and to those around you and shower you with righteousness. Let God break some ground in you.
For Example
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:11-12, ESV)
I believe the best way we can learn in life is to learn from the examples that have been set before us. I am the second born of two boys. My brother is four years my elder and we could not be more different. One of the best things about being the younger brother is that it has afforded me the opportunity to learn from his life experiences- through observation and without any of the consequences. But sometimes I am just hardheaded and stubbornly refuse to learn from the examples of others until I suffer the same consequences.
Life lessons are primarily learned through experience, both experiential and observed. The Word of God is full of examples of life lessons. We are blessed with the ability to learn from the events and examples of both the righteous and the wicked, the surrendered and the rebellious, the proud and the humble. And we can learn these lessons from the examples set before us in Scripture. God allows us free will to make our own decisions in life. We may use this free will for righteousness or wickedness. Either way, God allows us to make our decisions and reap a reward or suffer loss. We freely decide to help others or to hurt others, to live for ourselves or for God, to give or take, to surrender or rebel, to learn and grow in the Lord or remain ignorant and stagnant. We decide to learn from the example that has been set by others, or to go through the same experiences ourselves and learn the hard way.
But it is never too late for us, or those around us, to learn. Even from our failures. Anything may be utilized by God as a teaching tool. Perhaps someone is watching you and learning from you. What kind of example are you? Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Head Vs. Heart
I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God. (Psalm 84:2, NLT)
Sometimes it seems as though our heads and our hearts speak two completely different languages. Even the intent of the head and heart (if it were possible for a mind and heart to have intent) is different from one another. It’s like our minds must know something while our hearts want to know something, and often times there are conflicts between the two because our analytical minds just cannot explain or understand our regenerated heart’s desires.
Throughout the years, Christians have diligently searched to understand God intellectually. Theologians and scholars struggle to fully explain God’s plan for salvation and pour over Scripture to understand how predestination is possible while simultaneously retaining man’s free will. Entire libraries are full of books that have been written by men attempting to understand God’s triune nature, and how that nature may be better understood. Unfortunately, man’s pursuit of knowledge sometimes comes at the expense of our passionate pursuit of God’s heart.
One of the things that God loved about King David so much was his heart. David passionately desired to intimately know God’s heart, not because his mind intellectually understood God’s divine nature, but because his heart yearned for God. David was not content just discussing the finer points of religion with priests and prophets. He wanted to know the very heart of his Creator.
Even if it were possible to fully understand all that may be spoken about God, without a proper heart-to-heart relationship all of that knowledge would be completely worthless, and you would miss out on the longing. Your heart longs to discover more of God with every beat. Unfortunately, so may people will never discover their hearts desire for God. A.W. Tozer puts it this way: “How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting’ Christ and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls… He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain. Now as always God discovers Himself to ‘babes’ and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent.”1 Do not allow your desire to know God intellectually outweigh your desire to know God in your heart and soul. Give Him your heart and search for His. You’ll figure out the rest.
Hypocrites
Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” (Mark 7:6-8, NLT)
The word “hypocrite” has been widely misunderstood and misused, however, we can learn much from the Gospel According to Mark 7:1-23 when Jesus specifically addresses the Pharisees and their hypocrisy.
Hypocrites point the finger others- they are judgmental faultfinders, eager to find faults in others but never in themselves. The Pharisees wanted to find fault in Jesus and His apostles and then accuse (judge) them from their own sense of self-righteousness. It is important to understand what is meant by the word judge in this context. It means something very different than the way in which it is often used today. In Matthew 7, for example, Jesus does tell us not to “judge,” but He does not say we are never to discern truth from error or neglect correcting others. In fact, we are given specific instructions in both of those situations (Matt 7:15-23, 18:15-17). Jesus was addressing the self-righteous condemnation of others with no regard for one’s own faults and flaws. “Judge not” can more accurately be translated as “do not constantly be condemning others out of self-righteousness.” Jesus tells us first remove your plank and then help your brother remove his speck (Matt 7:1-5) – make sure you’re not doing the same thing you are correcting in others, and when you correct others, do it with a gentle and loving spirit (Matt 18:15-17, Gal 6:1-15).
Hypocrites are also fakes- they don’t practice what they preach (Matt 23:3). Jesus said the Pharisees “honored me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me… their worship is a farce.” Quite simply: the inside doesn’t match the outside. They wear a mask. Interestingly, “hypocrite” is the name used for Greek actors on a stage- a person playing a part. Greek actors used to carry around different masks on stage. They would remove one mask and replace it with another, depending on the part they needed to play, and in order to impress the audience. Everything hypocrites do is for show, to impress others (Matt 23:5-7).
Please understand, failing to live a perfect life does not mean you are a hypocrite. Living a perfect life is impossible! That’s why God had to do it for us! The Holy Spirit does live within Christians and empowers us to live a righteous life, but we will fail repeatedly in this life. That’s why forgiveness is necessary. Our failures to overcome our sins are not what make us hypocrites; having an unrepentant, self-righteous, judgmental, and fake heart does. If you have been playing a part, self-righteously condemning others and wearing a mask, take it off. You’ll never know complete and unconditional acceptance if you never allow people to see who you really are. Stop pretending and open your heart to Jesus Christ; don’t be a hypocrite.
Immunized
I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.(Ephesians 3:16-19, NIV)
We have immunizations for just about everything these days. The premise for receiving an immunization is to expose yourself to a small and regulated amount of disease so that your immune system has a pattern to design a defense against any future exposures. Immunizations build a defense against the disease by giving you that exact same disease, just not enough to catch the full effect. If we participate in “Christianity” but never fully grasp who Christ is, we are in danger of immunizing ourselves to the Gospel. Some people have just enough “Christianity” in them to prevent them from becoming Christian- they never get the full effect of Christ.
Perhaps they visit church on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and an occasional Sunday service. Maybe they even go to a Bible study or men’s group every week. They shake hands, smile, sing songs, and politely listen to the pastor’s sermon, then go on their way, never having been fully exposed to Jesus Christ. They never open themselves up and receive the full measure of our Savior’s love into their hearts. This is a dangerous position to be in.
Because America had been founded on traditional Judeo-Christian values, the Gospel of Christ has been woven into the very fabric of America, but some people take Jesus in small doses. They get the pattern, idea, or the design of Christ but never get the full dose of Him. They are never exposed to the truth in its entirety, and they build up immunity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, one booster shot at a time. Without an intense and powerful revelation of the passionate heart of Jesus, these immunized Christians will continue to be numb to the gentle persuasions of the Holy Spirit.
God uses us to show the sincere love of God, not a superficial façade of Christianity. We must be intentional and sincere about loving others the same way Jesus does. We must ensure that we take steps to expose every single person that we meet with the full measure of God’s grace and love. Do not simply go through the motions, be intentional about living your life for Christ. If we are not careful, we may be immunizing the very people we are to love.
Junk Drawer
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. (Psalm 51:2-3, ESV)
I have this drawer in my kitchen that has become absolutely useless. It is where I keep all kinds of useless stuff that I hate but just cannot bring myself to throw away. I call it, “The Junk Drawer.” I dread opening up my junk drawer and looking at all that clutter because it is filled to the brim with broken pens and pencils, markers and crayons, a few flattened coins from Sea World or the Zoo, half of a deck of cards, a few poker chips, broken rubber bands, and dead batteries. There are keys and remote controls that go nowhere and even prize tickets and coins from Chuck E Cheese’s. If you can think of it, I probably have it in my junk drawer, and it’s all just garbage.
Without even consciously trying, I have filled up that drawer with things that have been broken and that are out of place. These things have no purpose in my life. They take up space in my drawer that could instead be filled with things of value, things with meaning, and things that have a definite purpose. By refusing to throw away all of the worthless junk in my drawer I am also refusing to replace them with things that are actually valuable. I’m choosing to hold onto my garbage.
Every day of our lives we open that junk drawer of our hearts. We make choices that decide what we retain and what we throw away. We all probably have a bunch of useless stuff in that old junk drawer of our heart that we hold onto for no good reason. In times of reflection, study, prayer, and worship, we open the drawer of our hearts and decide what we are willing to part with and what we just won’t throw away. What are you keeping in your junk drawer? You may be keeping the unforgiven resentment, anger, addictions, hurt, envy, or depression stuck in that drawer. You hate it. It’s useless. There is no value in it. But you choose to keep it clogged with junk for some reason. The next time you open up that junk drawer, make some room. Choose to get rid of some junk so that the LORD may place things of value in that drawer of your heart.
Kindness
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12, NIV)
Some time ago, I was speaking to a friend of mine about relationships and how they dramatically impact us as individuals. We were discussing communication and how much of a part it plays in our interpersonal skills, perception, and reception. Then he said something profound that I thought about at length. It was, in-fact, a turning point in my studies of human relationships. He said, “You know, the biggest lie about relationship conflict is that there is always an assumption that communication must be lacking. Every book out there says that communication is the key to a successful relationship, but that just is not true. It’s kindness.” He is so right!
Our example in everything is Jesus Christ. Jesus was kind when dealing with every person He encountered, with the exception of those that had been entrusted with God’s Word and Temple- those that were to teach and shepherd God’s people but were selfishly misrepresenting God (Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, scholars, and priests etc.). To the sinners, outcasts, rejects, and helpless, Jesus was kind, gentle, and compassionate. Even when ridiculed, mocked, beaten, tortured, and crucified, Jesus was kind. Even to those that had rejected Him and who were torturing and murdering Him, Jesus’ kindness poured out.
To those that had been selfishly misrepresenting and disregarding God’s clear commands in order to gain money and power, Jesus had some very unkind words to say. He called these people, “den of thieves,” “brood of vipers,” and “hypocrites.” Jesus even kicked out everyone doing business within the Temple, on two separate occasions! In John 2:14-15, Jesus braids a whip and turns over money changing tables. Three years later, Jesus returned to the Temple on Palm Sunday and “overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:12-13, NIV). It was out of Jesus’ zeal for God’s Word, respect for His Temple, and His immeasurable kindness to the people, that He spoke these harsh words. (Psalm 69:9, NIV, Psalm 119:139, John 2:17, NIV) His harsh behavior towards these religious leaders was actually a kindness to the people who were being taken advantage of.
We can be the best communicators in the world and speak with eloquence all day long, but if we are unkind, we are probably just being a jerk. I know that most times when I am unkind it tends to come from my own selfishness, greed, or bruised ego. Perhaps if we reminded ourselves that we are God’s chosen people and consistently look to Jesus’ actions and attitude as our daily example, we may clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Maybe in the middle of arguments, disagreements, or even ridicule, we may show kindness, because Jesus did.
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong–ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them. (2 Peter 2:1, 3, ESV)
Heresy is alive and well. False teachings compromise the Word of God, deny the truth, water down Scripture, and lead many astray from the truth. One of these false teachings of today is called, the “Health, Wealth, and Prosperity” Gospel. This heresy twists Scripture in a way that promotes greed and rebellion. It teaches that, as long as you give to their specific ministry, God will prosper you in this physical life with lots of money, you will never get sick and you will never go through hardships; your life will be filled with candy canes and lollypops. This is a big fat lie. Don’t believe that nonsense.
While it is important to monetarily give back to God what He has freely given us, more often than not, the ways in which He blesses us is not financial at all, but in family, relationships, careers, wisdom, discernment, peace, joy, a deeper understanding of Scripture, a deeper relationship with Christ, etc. When we give God our time, treasure, and talents, He wants us to happily and joyfully share it out of appreciation, not begrudgingly or in order to get more stuff.
One of the most common reasons we endure financial hardships is because we are financially irresponsible. Maybe you have brought your current difficulties upon yourself and God wants you to learn financial responsibility. Maybe you are greedy and money is your bent. Maybe God is just trying to teach you dependency on Him and not your bank account. Perhaps we have allowed our desire for stuff to enslave us, and if we are the ones that choose to go under the yolk of slavery then we are the ones to blame for our financial hardships, not God.
There is no limit to the extent of how God will bless us in this life. He will bless us how He chooses and when He chooses, and it will be the best blessing we could receive. Teaching that God will always fatten your wallet because you give some television mega-church ministry money is misrepresenting Scripture and that is a serious sin. The fact is, sometimes it is the will of God for us to go through financial difficulties in life. God may have plans to bless us financially, but if we are financially irresponsible, we will only waste God’s blessings. He may be allowing financial assets to dry up so that we are willing to learn and listen from Him, but you’ll never know that by listening to liars.
One Step at a Time
An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; because of his great foolishness. (Proverbs 5:22-23, NLT)
How has my life become such a mess? How did I end up here? How does a ‘good dude’ become a liar, a cheat, a drunk, a gambler, a gossip, a glutton, an adulterer, a homosexual, or a murderer? The answer is one step at a time. One compromise leads to another, one sinful act leads to another, and one small step in the wrong direction leads to a full-on sprint towards self destruction. But they often start through small steps.
Very few men screw up all at once. They make one bad decision, followed by another, then a lie, followed by another to cover up that lie. Little by little, you dig a hole that is seemingly impossible to climb out of. You make a decision to step off of the righteous path and neglect making any course corrections. You keep it a secret. You cover it up. You ignore the warning signs. You get stuck, and then finally ask yourself, “How did I end up here?” The answer is always the same: one step at a time. Every sin begins as a compromise from God’s standards- one choice- one step in the wrong direction.
We are designed to be men that are stronger than our physical urges or our emotional responses. We are created to be godly men of honor and integrity who fight for some One that is more important than indulging our own temptations and desires. And these battles are fought and won in a similar fashion to losing them: one temptation at a time. One decision to turn off the television and go to bed rather than staying up late channel surfing. One decision to keep women out of your phone rather than to blur the lines of appropriate friendships and boundaries. One decision to pay attention to your family rather than social media. One decision to faithfully attend church rather than sleeping off the hangover from the night before.
If you’re heading in the wrong direction, it’s not too late. You can still find reconciliation in relationships, restoration for the broken, and healing from hurt. You may be at the beginning of this slippery slope, or hitting rock bottom, but there is still time for a course correction. A change of only a couple degrees may have a huge impact on your final destination. But it takes a choice. Stop walking away from Jesus. Stop your sinful actions and attitudes and come back to Christ. Own your bad decisions. Surrender and confess everything to Jesus. Break free of those chains of bondage that have been holding you down as a captive, and start walking with Jesus. It all begins with one step, and the most important step is turning to Christ.
Peace Out
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3, ESV)
God never promised that our lives would be free from trouble. In fact, Jesus says exactly the opposite (John 16:33). But Jesus also promises us peace in the midst of our troubles (John 16:33). One thing that an unbelieving world will never have is the peace that only comes through a genuine, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Even when we are in the most dire of circumstances, and every bone in your body tells you to freak out, we may have peace of mind in Christ (Philippians 4:6-7). This peace is a gift that only followers of Jesus may attain: I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27, NLT).
Our circumstances do not give us peace and happiness; God does. If we are not at peace in this life there may be something wrong with our relationship with the Lord. The Lord’s peace is given through constant communication with Him and a permanent grateful attitude: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7, NLT)
When your heart is in the right place, your circumstances tend to fall in the right place as well, even if they are undesirable circumstances and hardships. Please understand: your peace does not come from your desire for peace. The perfect peace of God only comes from your trust in the perfect God. That is the peace that transcends all understanding and circumstance. Keep your mind and your heart steadily focused on God, pray to Him every chance you get, thank Him for everything you face every day, and give Him complete control of your life. If you trust God completely and have given God complete control over everything in your life, what could you possibly have to worry about? God’s got this. Peace out.
Sabbath
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8,11, ESV)
When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and gave them His commandments, He was also establishing an entire social structure and moral standard that had been severely lacking. God was speaking to a generation that had been raised in oppressive slavery and captivity. The Jews had been slaves for over four hundred years in Egypt, and over the years they had adopted many of the same traditions and customs as their oppressors. But God wants His people to be different than the world. He wants us to trust Him and to live a life that mirrors His standards and morals. And He wants us to put into practice a way in which we relieve ourselves of our burdens and completely trust in Him. He wants us, in a very real and practical way, to find our rest in Him. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)
As an oppressed slave in those days, a man’s entire life revolved around work. A slave would wake up early and harvest, cut, sort, grind, and prepare grain that would be used for that day’s meals. They would care for all of the livestock, household needs, and even care for the master’s children. If a slave did not work tirelessly to please his master he and his family may not eat. Worse yet, they could be sent to prison or even executed. Taking a day off was not in a slave’s vocabulary. A day off would mean leaving grain un-harvested and un-milled, livestock un-kept, and a family unfed. If you are not allowed to work- not allowed to ensure by your own hand that your family will be provided for, it forces you to rely on Someone other than yourself. It forces you to place your trust in God to provide for your needs and to give all the credit to God when your provisions arrive just when you really need them. That sounds to me like, “give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11) It forces us to be content with what we already have and to stop wearing ourselves out in the pursuit of material things.
God has set us aside as something special. He knows our limitations and He knows our needs. Observing a day rest allows us to be in complete awe of God, to completely trust God, and to completely rest in God. It allows us to recognize that we are so special and so valued by God that He actually want to care for our daily needs (Matthew 6:25-34). Trust God. Be different than the world. Take a day off. Enjoy the Sabbath and say, Thank You, LORD.
The Holy Bible
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15, NIV)
The Word of God is one of the names of Jesus Christ (John 1:1) and it is also the name used to reference the Holy Bible. This is God’s living and breathing written word that He has given us (Hebrews 4:12), written by man but guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21). It is the primary means by which God speaks to us, instructs us, comforts us, and guides us through this life. But it has one primary purpose above all the rest: reveal the salvation of man through Jesus Christ.
We call the Bible “Holy” because it is holy. It is a sacred love letter from God Almighty to us- His church, His bride. God has masterfully penned this story of His love for us and He has reached into the hearts and minds of mankind to live and to love. He tells the story of His heart’s desire and sends us an invitation of salvation- to live for eternity with Him.
The Bible has history but is not a history book. It has wisdom but is not a self-help book. It has child rearing advice but is not a parenting book. The Bible is a salvation book. Every letter of every word in the Bible inevitably points to salvation through Jesus Christ as the Messiah- The only One able to save us- and has been preserved by God throughout the centuries for us. It is a user manual for our lives that provides us with absolutely everything needed to attain salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and to live faithfully for Him. Open up that sacred love letter and you’ll see salvation through faith in Jesus on every page. That’s the Holy Bible.
The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26, ESV)
Several years ago, there was a movie entitled The Matrix. Within the first thirty minutes of the movie, the main character, Neo, was given a choice: take the blue pill and go back to a dream world that masks truth and reality, or take the red pill and wake up in the harsh reality that was nothing like the world he was accustomed, It wasn’t comfortable, but it was the truth. Moses, much like the movie character Neo, chose to take the red pill.
Moses chose to live a difficult life as a slave. [Moses] considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:26-27, ESV) He chose the truth. In spite of the consequences and adversities, Moses could not live a lie. He chose to meet the difficulties of facing the truth rather than living a life of comfortable dissolution. He saw his people (Hebrews) and their severe burdens and he identified with them and felt compassion for them. He heard the calling of God pulling him from this distorted version of reality, out of a fictional life. Moses was faced with the decision of going back to sleep in a fairly comfortable self-seeking life, or facing the harshness of reality and living in a persecuted and unpredictable life. The choice was clear for Moses. Once he knew the truth of who he was he could never go back to living a lie, regardless of how fiercely he would be persecuted.
We have all been given the choice to take the red pill or the blue pill. To live according to the truth or to live according to this world’s distorted version of the truth. If we take the blue pill, we may quietly fall back asleep and live a more comfortable lie, but we will never know the truth of what God has planned for our lives. Choose to live your life for Jesus Christ. Choose to wake up and face reality. Choose the red pill. It will not be comfortable, but it will be the truth.
Trust
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:7, ESV)
Have you ever sat in the passenger seat of your own car while someone else drove? It can be very uncomfortable sitting back and trusting someone else to drive your car. It’s not my idea of fun and I always find myself silently (sometimes not so silently) second guessing and critiquing their sense of direction, route choices, ability, and worrying about possible damage to my car. I guess, without fully realizing it, I never really trusted that person.
It can be very worrisome to entrust people with things of great value, but we do it all the time. We trust our wives with our hearts, our homes, our money, and our children. We trust school teachers with our children’s education. And we trust the bank with our money. We place our trust in things as well. We trust our seatbelts and airbags to save our lives in an accident and we trust the food that we buy in the grocery store is safe to eat. We trust that, while passing through our green light, the light adjacent to us remains red and the majority of citizens abide by the rules of the road.
We place vast amounts of our trust in things, people, laws, policies, and in principles, but do we place the same level of trust in God? The route God takes us through may be unfamiliar to us at times, but He always knows where He is going. He knows all the shortcuts and He knows how to get there safely. The route He takes may be longer than the one you would take, and He may choose to drive slower than you would, but you will get there. And you will get there exactly when God wants you to, safe and sound, as long as you place your trust in Him. Let the Lord direct your life and trust Him; you will be blessed for it.
Underrated Prayer
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16, NLT)
Generally speaking, God operates in direct response to our prayers. We have a special privilege of praying for God’s will to be done and then following through in action and participating in it. Sometimes we are allowed to see this work in action and to be a part of the result of these prayers. Sometimes we are not. Either way, without prayer that mountain won’t move (Mark 11:23-24, Matthew 17:20, 21:21).
I think most of us forget just how much authority God has given us. As Christians, the Holy Spirit (one Person of the Triune God that consists of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) actually lives inside of us. He empowers us to do the impossible through our faith and trust in God. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14-15, ESV)
The Holy Spirit gives us guidance, direction, conviction, wisdom, motivation, comfort, power, and authority to accomplish God’s will. When God wills something to happen and He wants to do a good work through us, He actually places the desire in our hearts to pray for this work to be done. And when we are sensitive to the soft-spoken voice of the Holy Spirit that God uses to whisper to our hearts, we recognize that the Lord is speaking directly to us and He offers us an opportunity to be involved when He rolls up His sleeves! Knowing just how God works through us and through our prayers should get us excited. The Bible teaches us that the earnest (heartfelt, sincere, passionate, constant) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (dynamic in its working). Earnestly praying is passionately praying and putting your whole heart into it. It’s putting your confidence in God’s ability to make the impossible completely possible through our prayers.
Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent or long; it just needs to be genuine and from the heart. When we seek God’s will to be done and we are genuinely excited and passionate about it, that is when the Creator of mountains will move mountains. There is nothing on this earth as powerful as a man of God pouring his heart out to God in prayer. So, passionately pray and see God’s power produce wonderful results! Prayer shouldn’t be underrated.
Unseen Battle
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12, ESV)
A few years ago, God was making some major moves very rapidly in my life. I began each day in prayer, along with a daily devotional and Scripture. The morning routine prepares me to accomplish God’s purpose for my life. Every day, like clockwork, God would use something from my morning prayers or readings to make a direct impact on that specific day. Some days it was speaking encouragement to a co-worker and others it was revealing a deeper understanding of Scripture and its practical application. I could sense God moving pieces around in my life and setting things up in a very particular way, similar to the way you would set up a chess board. I soon discovered that God was strategically preparing me for battle.
I began that day like any other. My devotional reading was Ephesians chapter six: The Armor of God. That morning I had accepted an additional shift and would work sixteen hours straight. The entire day seemed rather quiet regarding God’s activity in my life. The hours passed by and it seemed that this might be a relatively mundane day. However, the day was not done.
Just prior to the end of my shift I had to perform a security check called a “Fire Watch.” I walked through the Industries area of the institution and was finishing my walk through the Physical Plant. I turned the corner and started down the Avenue and felt an eerie stillness in the air. I suddenly realized that I heard no noise of life: no crickets, or frogs, no geese- nothing. I didn’t ever hear the sound of the halogen street lights, air compressors, or laundry machinery that were always audible. As I continued to walk, the eerie feeling intensified into an almost fear-stricken panic. I felt as if I were stepping into an unseen fog that got thicker and heavier with each step. I turned the corner and walked by the Sweat Lodge that the Native Americans use for religious practices–the last leg of the Fire Watch. Nervously I unlocked, walk through, and re-secured one door after another, until I came to the room where the Sweat Lodge materials are stored. I turned the key and opened the door to the storage room and felt a sudden blast of heavy warm air blow past me. The air was hot, old, dry, and smelt of rotting wood and sulfur. I could feel the hair on my head, face, and arms move as if wind were blowing just before a storm. Incidentally, the heat was turned off in that room. With my heart beating rapidly I stepped into the room and stood motionless in the dark. Briefly scanning the room, I saw a handwritten prayer on the wall. I began reading it and, suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I turned and saw, not with my physical eyes but with my spiritual eyes, a dense, thick but translucent, black and grey fog hovering in the air. The fog slowly drifted and swayed back and forth as if it were being tossed by the sea. Its appearance was almost fluid.
Within the fog were millions of yellow, hate-filled eyes staring directly at me. The eyes never moved and never blinked. I knew they were not looking at who I was but rather what I was. I felt an immense hatred for me as both a human and a follower of Jesus Christ. Somehow, I knew that the desire of these entities was to inflict pain; to watch me suffer; to rip the flesh from my body and to break every bone I had. They were pure and unadulterated hate!
I stood there, motionless, for what seemed like hours- not moving a muscle. I wish I could say that I stood strong and quoted Scripture powerfully and with authority, but the truth is my human instinct took over and I fled. I thought to myself, “This place can burn down for all I care. I am out of here!” As soon as I turned to leave I could feel the evil forces immediately converge on me. I felt disgustingly dirty and had the indescribable sensation of being both hot and cold simultaneously. I had the feeling of being covered with insects and snakes from head to toe. Every fear I ever had and every painful memory of my life poured into my mind. I knew that millions of evil spirits were attacking me and trying to get their claws into me. I could almost see their long and thick talons trying to dig into my body, but they were unable to sink in. Strike after strike they thrashed their talons at me to no avail. I checked my hands and arms to try and see the slashing of my skin I was feeling but saw nothing.
After multiple failed attacks, I began to feel this hoard of evil spirits slowly begin falling off, one by one. It seemed as though they could not remain near me if they could not gain a grip on me. Outwardly, I was calmly [and quite swiftly] walking down the Avenue back toward the Security Gate, but inwardly I was running and screaming like a scared little girl. Step by step I could feel the evil spirits drop off. Slowly, my fears began to dissipate as I began to catch my breath. The closer I came to the lights on the Avenue the more free I felt from these spirits. It took nearly thirty minutes to feel completely free from the attacks and oppression- to feel safe and clean again. It is an experience I will never forget. It is as vivid and blood-curdling of a memory, even now, years later.
The truth is, I was always safe in Jesus. He had been preparing me for this attack weeks in advance by faithfully placing in front of me the Scriptures and events I would need for this battle. He provided the defense, but I brought no offense– I had no Scriptures memorized, and failed to stand firm and fight. “For the word of God is living and active,… Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Hebrews 4:12, Ephesians 6:13, ESV)
My sword was not drawn for battle that day, but God graciously used this confrontation with evil to provide the motivation to keep my sword sharp and battle ready. “…and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Hebrews 6:16-17, ESV). Make no mistake; we are in an unseen battle for the very souls of this world, including our own. Our enemy hates everything about us. There is no mercy in him, only evil. We must always be alert and prepared to wage war. Stand firm in the Armor of God– and sharpen your sword! Your unseen battle may be today.