Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY THURSDAY!

Today’s scriptures are about remaining strong in the Lord. To be strong in times of trouble is great, and necessary, but to be strengthened in the Lord is a little different. We are called to complete God’s will, just as Jesus had a job to complete so do we, and we must remain strong in our faith, in order to accomplish those things. Yes, we’ll all have moments of weakness, and times of strife, but all we need to do to cry out to the Lord, and He’ll give us strength. However, these times help us prepare for the next weak moment, which gives us the opportunity to be strengthened.

When we’re born we go through the cycle of life. For awhile our bodies develop, and all we can do is lay there. We’ll eventually start to move our head, then legs and arms, and next then you know we’re strong enough to crawl. Watch out world, because once we’re mobile, we’re ready to explore, and see new things. We’ll then start to pull ourselves up and stand. What do our parents do then? They give us a walker, which is an apparatus that supports us while we’re strengthening our muscles, to become strong enough to walk on our own. In the time between birth, and learning to walk on our own, we’ve probably fallen over one thousand times, because it took that fall, to help us understand how to get back up, and do it right the next time. If God gave us that much sense to strengthen ourselves as infants and toddlers, imagine what we’re capable of now.

We must remember that we are children of God, and through Christ all things are possible. We have inherited His Kingdom, on Heaven and on earth, because of His works, and now it’s time for us to follow His lead. Nothing can come to us without work. To be strengthened requires faith, love, courage, prayer, praise, and worship, and all of these words are verbs—things that require action on our part. All of these things are like muscles in our Spirit, and they each work together, to produce a strong and healthy Christian life. We must strengthen them all individually, in order to help the entire body to function correctly, hence the reason why we must bring every part of our life into submission.

I’m currently in physical therapy, because I have arthritis in my knees. My therapist says that my knees have been doing all of the work, because my other muscles weren’t strong enough to do the job that they’re designed to do. In order to correct the problem with my knees, we had to figure out my weak spots, and work on those, so that those muscles can take some of the pressure off of my knees. I’m working on strengthening my quads, gluts, calves, and even the muscles in my feet, so that they can do the job they were intended to do. Paul taught us: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Gal 5:22-23) We need to exercise all of these fruits of the Spirits, which make up our spiritual muscles. If we’re using one more than the other, it’ll become warn out and frayed. Life is about balance, so the only way to be strong, is to use each at its proper time. It’s almost impossible to have joy but no peace, or kindness without goodness. If you push one to its limit, without using the others, you’ll eventually lose the gentleness that’s required to maintain self-control.

I stress to you today the importance of being in touch with the Holy Spirit, and learning to hear His voice. He’s the most important component in building strength in our faith walk. He’ll make it so that we can avoid some of life’s pitfalls, and He’ll comfort us through the ones that we have to experience. He’ll help us see the meaning behind it, and so that we can effectively communicate with God. These things are surely easier said than done, however they are doable, when we lean on God for strength and understanding. By Christ we have that option, but without Him we’re nothing, just as the clay of the earth. There are many Christians who don’t utilize all of their resources and end up living as an unsaved man. That’s very dangerous, and a waste of time, so be sure to exercise all of your spiritual muscles. First by self-reflection, which will help you pinpoint the areas of weakness, so you work effectively work on them. Remember, you have to take action, and keep moving. It’s a lifestyle change, and not just a quick fix. Our muscles are only good if we’re using them. If you don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you’re in the worst shape of your life! Allow Him to be your Savior [and Personal Trainer], and watch things change for the better. Take a few moments to take the God Quiz right now! My favorite verses today are: Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. (Isaiah 35:3-4)

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Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Today’s scriptures are about the Spirit of discernment and knowing people by their fruit. People are who they appear to be, because what comes out of your mouth, and the way you treat people comes from the heart. People do change, but you can always tell their fruit by what comes out of their mouth. If they speak evil and act evil all the time, then in some ways they’re evil. However, if they speak righteousness and truth, and you can see that in their heart, then they are righteous people. We must be careful with everything we do, because we are representing Jesus Christ. People see Him in us, so it’s imperative for us to walk upright. It’s also important for us to be real, because people can see through the façade. If you know you have an anger problem, or an unforgiving spirit then ask God to help you work on that. Be aware of everything you say and do, and if need be, seek Godly counsel, and allow someone to help you work out those feelings of aggression and anger. This is what’s best for you, because God requires us to love one another, and it’s hard to do that with anger and hatred in your heart.

Someone recently told me that if they ever needed help, or someone to talk to they would avoid talking to “church” people, because there’s something about them that exudes impatience, and harshness. When I heard this I immediately started to examine myself, because I am a “church person”, and I pray that I don’t send off that type of vibe. I can understand where this person was coming from in saying that, but you can’t lump all church-going Christians into one group, but it happens often. I am constantly defending my religion, because people constantly say, “Christians are this and Christians are that”, and in some ways their opinions are rightfully gathered. Take for instance all of the controversy with Bishop Eddie Long, the Pastor of a mega church in Atlanta, GA. Because of these accusations, people who aren’t Christian can be easily turned away from Christ, due to the actions (or alleged actions) of one person. This is why it’s so important to be genuine and true in everything you do.

God loves you regardless of who you are, and if you’ve confessed Jesus as Lord, then He’ll begin to create in you a clean heart and a right spirit, but He won’t do it alone. He’ll need you to not only surrender to this process, but also seek righteousness. When it comes to substance abuse, the number one step to getting clean and sober is that you want to change. Nobody can be ready for you, but you have to want it for yourself. You have to be the one to check yourself into treatment. The same goes for living a life in sin, because with that life comes a whole lot of unnecessary strife, confusion, heartache, and pain–you reap what you sow. When you get tired of living a sinful and wicked life, you have to reach out to Jesus first, and actively work to get better. I think a lot of Christians, and people in general, put too much emphasis on the outer appearance, but spend very little time working on the heart. How may diet and/or exercise equipment commercials do you see on television today? The fashion industry may be the largest industry in the world, because people take pride in their appearance, but unfortunately, people don’t invest that type of energy and time on themselves. If we take at least one hour a day, five days a week to work out in the gym, then we should be able to give God the same amount of time. If you spend $100 per month on clothes and shoes, then you should be able to pay your tithes or sow that money into a worthy cause.

The more time we spend building a relationship with God, the greater our spirit of decrement will become. The enemy will use anything and anyone to try to get us to stray from the path of righteousness. You can’t trust everyone–it’s sad but true. I’m a very optimistic person, and want to see the best in everyone, and God has truly helped me with that. At the same time, I’ve witnessed and experienced some traumatic things in my lifetime, so I know the evil that does lie in people. It’s written: Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (John 2:23-25) We each have the potential to be used by the devil, because he comes to steal kill and destroy. That’s why it’s so important to spend time in the presence of righteousness, and to put on the Armor of God, every day. Also know that you do unto others has you would have them do unto you. The things you put out, comes back to you ten fold.

If your heart is filled with anger, hatred, envy, and unforgiveness, there has to be a reason why. Most of the time it’s because of traumatic experiences in your past that you haven’t let go of. God understands that that isn’t a very easy thing to do, so He wants you to seek the answers in Him. If you don’t have a relationship with Him, then take some time to take the God Quiz right now, I promise you won’t regret it! My favorite verses today are: Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. (Matthew 12:33,35)

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