Devotion: Magnify God

The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17), but most believers do not live there, that is to say that they do not “live by faith.”  What we do instead is, we visit there from time to time.  Yes, we live by faith on occasion, but we never dwell there, nor do we take up residency there.  And though we see things that causes us to believe that anything is possible with God many times over, we fail to constantly maintain that belief, that level of faith that the scriptures say, “we should live by.”  Because we fail to live there, to take residency, we tend to be “carnally minded,” which the scripture says is “death” (Romans 8:6).  Carnally mindedness is being focused on the things of this world from a human emotional standpoint.  Carnally minded people fail to focus on God, fail to focus on his word, and fail to focus on the things of God.

“Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks.  But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened” (Romans 1:21 AMPC).

Devotion: God Gave Us Dominion

One of the most misunderstood gifts that God has ever given to mankind was “the original dominion” he gave to the first man.  When man was created, God gave man authority or “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28).  God told man to subdue the earth and have dominion over everything.  He was to reign over God’s creation.

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:  all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:3-8).

Devotion: Train Your Children

Scripture tells us “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).  We kind of like the way “The Living Bible”translates this verse.

“Teach a child to choose the right path, and when he is older, he will remain upon it” (Proverbs 22:6 TLB).

We see here that not only are we to train up a child in the way he or she should go, but we are to teach a child to choose the right path and when the child is older, the child will not depart from that right path but will remain or stay on that path.  “The Amplified Bible” translates the passage this way:

“Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6 AMP).

Devotion: God Gives Seed

Most of you are familiar with “The Parable Of The Sower.”  Jesus explains the parable to his disciples this way.

“And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:9-15).

Devotion: Prosperity God’s Way

Here we go once again, talking about prosperity and how it is God’s will for his children to prosper.  In the past, we have shared several passages of scripture that show it is God’s will for his children to prosper.

“But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18).

We have continually used Deuteronomy 8:18 as the anchor to our message to make clear the specific purpose for this wealth, which is “that he may establish his covenant,” a covenant “which he sware unto thy fathers.”  God gives us the power to get wealth to fulfill his promise, that agreement he made with our ancestors.

“Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant” (Psalm 35:27)

Devotion: God Sees Ahead

Throughout the scriptures, we see where God has always provided for man.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the beginning, when God first created the heavens and the earth.

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.  And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1:3-5).  “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:  and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness:  and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:14-18).

Devotion: God Is Rich In Mercy

Most of us have heard of God’s grace and of his mercy, but did you know that God is rich in his mercy?

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, (by grace ye are (have been) saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:  that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.  For by grace are ye (you have been) saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:  it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9).

Because of his great love for us, God showed his mercy towards us.  When we were still sinners, dead through our own offences, God showed great compassion for us by giving us our lives back when he raised Christ from the dead.  Because of his grace, his unearned, unmerited favor, we have been saved, raised up together with Christ from the grave and into glory, where we sit with him in the heavenly places because of all that Jesus did.  Now with all that he has done for us through Christ, God can forever point to us as examples of just how rich his mercy truly is.  It is by God’s grace that we have been saved through our faith in what Christ has done, which was not something that we were able to do for ourselves.  Our salvation is not our reward for the good works we have done or for us being good.  No, our salvation is truly a gift from God, given to us by the grace of God.  It is not something that we were able to earn; therefore, none of us can take any credit for it.

Devotion: Don't Be Afraid To Die

It is amazing to find people who claim to be believers, who are afraid to die.  This is not meant to be a criticism of anyone.  We are merely pointing out an observation that these same people who claim to be believers actually do believe in life after death, but still have this fear of death.  The unknown has always produced some amount of fear in all of mankind and death is one of those unknown things that we all will have to go through.  Not knowing, being unsure of, and having no control over the future tends to bring out a little anxiety in even the best of us.  Please do not get us wrong, we are not so naive to suggest that every believer shares in this fear of death for the same reasons.  Some are just selfish.  They love themselves and the things of this world more then they love God and the things of God.  They are not interested in pleasing God but solely interested in pleasing self.  They fear death because it would cause them to lose the things that they have come to cherish most in this life: their money, their status, their popularity, and themselves.  Even though they claimed to be believers, they have no hope for the future because they be not in Christ.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matthew 16:24-26)?

Devotion: Always Be Thankful

We know that this world will eventually fade away and everything in it, everything on it, and everything around it will fade away as well.  The things that people have placed so much importance on, those things that so many crave, all those evil forbidden things that people seem to be drawn to, each and every one of them will also fade away as the world fades.  But those who are pleasing God and doing the will of God will live forever.  Therefore, for this reason, we should be thankful.  God is working things out for us, even when we don’t see it or feel it.  We just need to keep our faith in God and be thankful for all that he has given us.  There is always something to be thankful for, if we would just look.

It has been said that the more thankful we are, the more we attract things to be thankful for.  Those who take life day by day, complain very little, and are thankful for the things in life, for they are happy.  Scripture tells us to “always give thanks for everything to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20 TLB).  Maybe this is why those who are thankful for the things in life are happy.

Devotion: Rest A While

When we are tired or worn out, most of us know what it means, “to rest a while.”  Most of us would define this “rest” as a period where we would take a break from our labors in order to relax and regain our strength.  We would use it as a time to refrain from all strenuous or stressful activities so that we could refresh or rejuvenate ourselves.

“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:2).

Following his six days of creation, God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because he rested from all the work of creating he had done.  When we think of God resting, we should not confuse this “rest” with being worn out where he could not do, make, or create one more thing.

Devotion: Be An Encourager

Are you an encourager?  Or are you a discourager?  Most people are discouragers and do not even know that they are.  Don’t get us wrong, there are some very negative, very disgruntled, and very unhappy people in the world.  Normally, the things that they say can identify them.  But, when was the last time you checked yourself to see what kind of things you say?

“And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).

Scripture tells us that it is what comes out of us that contaminates and makes us unclean.  From inside of us, within our hearts flow evil thoughts, fornication, sexual sins, thefts, murders, adultery, covetousness, greed, wickedness, evil actions, deceit, licentiousness, unrestrained immorality, envy, reviling, insults, pride, arrogance, reckless folly, and foolishness.  All these wicked things come out from within our heart to contaminate and make us unclean.

Devotion: God Has Already Given

Most believers do not understand what the statement, “God has already given” actually means.  Some believers have accepted religion’s definition of “the sovereignty of God” and believe that nothing happens without “the approval of God.”  They make God responsible for any and every thing that happens, whether it be good or bad, and completely removes our responsibility as to what happens in our life.  Other believers have accepted the other side of the coin, where the belief is that we control what happens to us.  They believe that we can motivate, convince, or even persuade God to move on our behalf through our persistent prayer, by our obedience to God’s laws, and even because of the good works that we do.  They make us responsibility for any and everything that happens, whether good or bad, and make God’s response subjected to our performance.

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (II Peter 1:1-4).