Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY TUESDAY!

Today’s scriptures are about the impact of Love. As most of you know by now, love is my favorite subject. No matter how much the enemy tries beat it out of me, God’s love is much stronger and valiant in my heart. As we grow in our Faith walk, God’s love penetrates our heart. Yet we’re still in the world, so we experience the evil of the world as well, which can often times harden our heart. Throughout our faith walk, each day a part of that hardness melts away, and is replaced with the love of God. It’s likened to a fire that burns the impurities off of a raw God nugget, which makes it a valuable commodity once cleansed of its impurities. As an unsaved man, we couldn’t begin to understand the love of God, because we hadn’t yet experienced it for ourselves. However, when we make the conscious decision to accept Jesus as Lord, His Spirit enters our heart, and sparks the flame.

There’s a huge difference between earthly love, and Godly love. God loves unconditionally; can you understand the concept of that? Can you imagine loving someone so much that you forgive them no matter what they do. Jesus taught us in His Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.” (Matt. 5:38-40) Can you imagine doing this? What would happen if someone slaps you, how much strength would it take for you to not only refrain from slapping them back, but to give them the other cheek? You have to be filled with a lot of love [unconditional love even] to sacrifice yourself, lay aside your pride, and let someone slap you and do nothing. However, I get where Jesus was coming from. He’s instructing us to love each other no matter what. There has to be a reason why someone wants to slap you. They’re obviously very angry and hurt over something that transpired in the past, which may not have anything to do with you. When you turn and give them the other cheek, you’re letting them know that no matter what you do, I’m going to love you anyway, because God loves me.

Of course Jesus wants us to relate this to every aspect of our life, because the cure for hate is love. Love is the only thing that could overcome evil. If we solved every problem, or overcame every struggle with love, we win every time. I notice as my spirit matures love comes naturally. I have the ability to quickly forgive, which helps me heal faster. Jesus warned us: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matt 10:16) With this great amount of love overflowing in me, I’ve quickly learned how to be in tune with my Spirit of discernment, which helps me to make wise decisions. It allows me to see through some people, so I can love them, but love them from a distance. We are still human, and we have our vulnerabilities and weaknesses, which will bring us to breaking points. Worldly people will hate and persecute that which they don’t understand, so it’s by love that we’ll be able to build up a tolerance, and pray for those who spitefully use us, and means us harm. Does that mean that we’re going to hang out with them, and be their BFF? Hardly, but it does mean that we’ll love and forgive them regardless.

I love you, which is why I write daily—I want you to feel what I feel in my heart. I can only love you, because I’m filled with the love of Jesus Christ. Once you’re filled with His love, you’ll be able to recognize true earthly love. Love is at the core of everything that God does for us, and should be in everything that we do for Him. When we’re doing a favor for a friend, taking care of a stranger, being there for our spouse and children, we’re doing it from deep down in our heart, because we love God, and He loves us. I don’t know how many times I’ve been “slapped”, and have had to turn the other cheek, and I can now honestly say that there is no love lost, yet it took some time to get there. I’m so grateful that I’ve reached this point in my life, but it’s still a daily journey. I’m still human, and still get upset and extremely angry sometimes, but I never lose that feeling of love for anyone. It takes a lot of practice and prayer, but it works. It makes your heart lighter, and you’re free to fellowship with God, with no hindrance. When you hate or have an unforgiving heart, you only hurt yourself—bitterness is a way of life that you choose.

If you feel like you’re at a place in life where you’ve never really experienced love, then it’s time to give Jesus a try. Learn about His life, and you’ll learn about what it is to live in love. This will allow you to give and receive it freely as well. The first step to experiencing the love of God first hand is to accept Jesus as Lord. Take a few minutes to take the God Quiz right now. Remember, you can’t live life to the fullest, if you don’t know what you’re living for. My favorite verse today is: Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. (Ephesians 5:2)

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I love you!

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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I love you!