The Devotional – Ears to hear

The Devotional – Ears to hear

Comment: Psalm119-125 – “I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies.” Prayer and meditation is important, whether we are young or elderly the LORD God is close to those who seek Him with the whole heart. Many folks claim to serve the LORD, yet we must be careful that our heart is engaged in meditation and prayer and not just a religious system of works that are vain. Vanity is selfish with selfish reward, while service provides understanding to God’s statutes, precepts and justice. Through God the Son and by God the Holy Spirit we serve God the Father correctly because we consider the right paths of life and hate the false ways.

Devotional: John 5:24-30 – Life eternal and eternal Judgment are provided by the Son of God. Notice what the LORD Jesus says about the future of all humans. John 5:24-25 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears MY WORD and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to LIFE. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” 

Religion separates God the Father from God the Son. This is because religion does not hear and worship God in the Spirit. Religion seeks to appease God with human works rather than through the message of “For God so loved the world that He gave” Romans 5:8 reads the message of the gospel this way. “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were STILL sinners, Christ died for us.” All who are saved by the grace of God HEAR this message (God is love) and believe it by faith, because God the Spirit reveals it to the listening ear.

If the Godhead (The Father, The Son and The Spirit) are not active in your life this very minute than you are without excuse when you stand at the eternal judgment seat of God – Notice: “For since the creation of the world His (Christ/Messiah) invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and “GODHEAD” (Divine nature, or Deity), so that they (those who have no ear to hear) are without EXCUSE. Romans 1:20.

The grave will be empty when judgment day arrives, some to everlasting life and the rest to everlasting death, this life or death is not physical, but spiritual. He that has ears to hear, let Him hear (Matthew 11:20), do not doubt Jesus Christ came to save anyone who will believe the messenger who is the Holy Spirit of God. He guides us to the Truth, it is up to you and me to believe it to everlasting life or to disbelieve it to everlasting death, see Revelation 21:8.

The Devotional – Give Me a drink

The Devotional – Give Me a drink

Comment: Psalm119:97 – “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” How do those words strike our mind today? Many of us I know will say, gee I wish I had time to meditate on the law of God, but not now, I am simply too busy. If this is true in our life before the LORD then it is also true that we may not get understanding from God’s precepts and thus we do not hate every false way. First, I am not pointing a finger at anyone in particular, we are busy at times and we lose focus, failing to understand the power and the weakness of a moment by moment faith in the challenge of walking by faith. Psalm 119 is a powerful help for all of God’s children to meditate on daily, the understanding of this, is the assistance we need to restrain our feet from every evil way. 

Devotional: John 4:1-25 – Have you read this event in the life of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at Jacob’s well, most likely you have. The meeting at this well is not by chance, but it is a moment of opportunity for the LORD Jesus to present the gospel to the woman who came to draw water. Of course the omniscience of the LORD, not only foresees the meeting, He already knows the events of the woman’s’ life; “for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have si not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

When we meet up with people, it should be on our mind as an opportunity to knowingly present the gospel of Jesus Christ. (For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23) I have always felt that meeting people is not by chance, if God did not want you to meet a person, that person would not come near you, thus every meeting is a potential for the gospel. The problem we all face in the personal encounter is just that… it’s personal and often troubling. One of the ways to overcome this fear is that the gospel is not ours, it is God’s and He is allowing us to pass it on.

The gospel is not a humanly designed or package or gift from people to people to accept. Preparation is required. “Give me a drink” prepares for the coming dialogue. You might notice that the woman of Samaria did not just give Him a drink and then go about her business, she said! “How is it that You being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For the Jews have NO dealings with Samaritans. Man cares less about peoples, tribes and nations, but God loves all peoples, tribes and nations, thus the message is God’s, it will not return to Him void.

The meeting of this woman and Jesus is purposeful to the kingdom of God, as a result the city of Sychar, in Samaria came out to meet their Creator and Messiah and many were saved for the Kingdom. The harvest is ready for the in gathering and it only takes the conversation of ONE to reap a gathering of many. The woman said to Him, “I know that when Messiah comes He will tell us all things” imagine that when you share to gospel, you are bringing Jesus/Messiah to the soul of one and Jesus through the Living Word will tell all things to them that pertain to LIFE and GODLINESS to many, let this truly be our meditation all the day.

The Devotional - A red ballcap?

The Devotional

Comment: I am sure that you have a favorite piece of clothing, something you wear every chance you get. When I was a child (now that was a long time ago) I remember well my red ball cap. It had no writing on it, it was just red and I wore it everywhere. I must have been the only one in the neighborhood with a red cap since from afar people would know it was me. I think I know what happened to it, my mom had something to do with its disappearance. O well so much for old hats. I do not know if this parallels the hat or not, but have we as the church of Jesus Christ wore out the words, “you must be born again!” many pastors do not use the phrase at all. Many churches today are like the compromising church of Revelation 2:12-17, preaching or teaching doctrines like that of Balaam who “taught” Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel.

Devotional: John 3:1-21 – I believe that the event that brought Nicodemus to the awareness of his need for “good news” was more than the miracle at the wedding feast recorded for us in chapter 2. Nicodemus was not sent by the religious officials of his day. Nicodemus was a religious official, he came to Jesus in secret and he came because of John 21:25.

Religion and religious people seek to know and gain favor from God which is a work or effort to know God through a human system of works aimed at pleasing God, rather than the process of faith. Faith is trusting God and the Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments speak clearly that “without FAITH it is impossible to please God”, Hebrews 11:6; Genesis 22:1-19.

Nicodemus, like all of those who are unsaved do not know or understand the term, “you must be born again” this does not mean that in todays’ effort to bring people to Christ and salvation that we ought to change the gospel. Jesus did not change His words to Nicodemus, He explained what He meant and leading official of the Pharisees understood. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted. That whoever believes in Him not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:13-14.

The gospel belongs to God, it is His gift to the world. Jesus is that gift (nothing more and nothing less) a person is “Born again” when they receive this message by faith. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” This is the message of God to the world and it is the message of the church in the world today. If the church you are in does not speak clearly on being born again, find one that does. 

The message to the world is God loves them. Condemnation is already at work in the world around us, because the world around us has rejected the LIGHT, they love the darkness (religious works) and these deeds are evil, did you notice in John 3:19 that Jesus refers to darkness as deeds and not sin. It is the works (deeds) of man that lead mankind down a sinful path of darkness. If you are unsaved… believe the gospel and be born again and step into the LIGHT of God, James 1:17-18.