Devotion: Choose Life Words

There is a phrase that people say when they have finished complaining about something or when they want to complain but choose not to say anything that goes something like, “But why complain, no one listens anyway.”  We have been cleverly trained to speak certain negative catch phrases that actually speak words of doubt, fear, sickness, and even death and many of us have no idea that we are speaking such things into our lives.  We recently learned that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), which suggested that the words we say can actually affect our life.  We also learned the words we speak are like seeds that are planted in the ground and from those seeds; we reap a harvest from what we have sown or in this case, spoken.

However, we have a bigger problem; there is someone actually listening for those complaints.  We have an adversary, who “wanders back and forth about the earth walking up and down it (Job 1:7) like a roaring lion, seeking those that he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  As we have mentioned many times before, the fact that he is seeking or looking for those that he may devour means that he does not have the right or the permission to devour anyone.  Guess where that permission comes from?  We know that many believe that the permission comes from God (Job 1:8-12), but it is actually the words that we speak that gives him “permission.”  Scripture tells us that we have been trapped by what we say, ensnared by the words of our mouth (Proverbs 6:2 NIV).  It just goes to show that the words you speak are more important than you may have thought.

The Bible tells us “neither give place (opportunity) to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27), but those negative catch phrases that we speak actually give him place or opportunity.  It is the permission that he needs to do what he does best, which is “to kill, to steal, and to destroy” (John 10:10).  We need to be very careful with what we say, careful to choose life words because there is a little more riding on those words than our reputations.

As you read today’s inspirational message, reflect on those negative catch phrases that inadvertently come out of your mouth and remember that there is someone who is just waiting for you to speak them.  We pray that you will be blessed, informed, and all the better for having read both, the commentary and the message.  If this message is a blessing to you, please share it so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings. - KW

Devotion: Fear Of The Lord

During the days of my youth, I remember that “fear of the Lord” I had when I first heard the story of the flood and the stories about the fire and brimstone.  Those stories made me absolutely petrified of God.  I remember thinking that one disobedient act on my part would cause God to punish me for that sin.  Because of my youth and my understanding of what was being said (taught) and/or my misapplication of what I heard, I believed God would strike me dead, raining fire and brimstone on me as punishment, when I committed a sin, because in my mind, immediate death was associated with a sinful act.

As I look back at the fear that I had for God then, I realize that that kind of fear was not the kind of fear I needed to have for God.  It was extremely unhealthy and gave me the wrong impression of who God truly is.  Though I was taught to never question God, the pastor, or any adult leaders in the church, I could not help but wonder why the God everyone told me loved us so much could be so cruel and mean.  Today, my definition of fear as it pertains to God is completely different.  Instead of being petrified, I now have a reverence for God and a desire to do all that I can to please him.  Funny how your opinion of God can change when you “diligently seek to truly know him” (Hebrews 11:6).

A Psalm of David.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.  For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.  And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.  When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.  Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27:1-14).

We pray that today’s inspirational message will give you a new perspective on what it means to have “a fear of the Lord.”  As always, we pray that this commentary along with the devotional will bless you, inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If you are blessed by this message, please share it so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

Devotion: Claim Prosperity!

It is so amazing that when there is talk about good health (III John 1:2), wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18), and total life prosperity (Joshua 1:8), the nay-sayers come out of the woodwork to denounce these messages.  They believe that as children of God, we do not have a right to these things.  They claim that if these things were “of God,” then there would be no sickness, no poverty, or the like.  They do not acknowledge the fact that there is a thief, an adversary, that is come to kill your good health, steal your wealth, and to destroy your total life prosperity (John 10:10).  If these be not those things, then what be the things that the thief is come to kill, steal, and destroy?

According to scripture, God has given us or provided for us, everything we need.

“So don’t be proud of following the wise men of this world.  For God has already given you everything you need.  He has given you Paul and Apollos and Peter as your helpers.  He has given you the whole world to use, and life and even death are your servants.  He has given you all of the present and all of the future.  All are yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ is God’s” (I Corinthians 3:21-23 TLB).

God has already made provision for us in every area of life.  He has prepared and given us everything that we need or will ever need.  Scripture says that we have the whole world to use, but for some reason, some teach that we are supposed to live in a state of poverty and humbleness.  God created enough abundance for all mankind.  While we see many believers struggling with financial problems, health problems, and your basic life problems, we must understand that these issues have little to do with God himself.  We have to know that God is not withholding anything from us.  However, our problem is a two-fold one.  First, we are being “destroyed because we lack true knowledge” (Hosea 4:6) about our new covenant promises, which by the way includes prosperity, amongst many other things.  The second is that we fail to remember that we have an enemy that wants to kill us, an adversary that wants to destroy us, and a thief that wants to steal our covenant promises.  We need to fight to keep all of our covenant promises, once we find out what they are.  By faith, we need to take our good health, our wealth, and our total life prosperity just like we would reach up and take fruit off of a fruit tree.  God has provided all of these things, this fruit, in abundance, and it is your responsibility to take or claim it as yours.  Do not allow your lack of knowledge or your adversary, your enemy, or the thief to keep or take it from you.  It is yours, so claim all of it.

Keep in mind that Paul said it was “no great thing for men to appear as false apostles, workers of deceit who were able to transform themselves to appear as Apostles of Christ.”  He told us that even “Satan himself is able to transform into an angel of light, so it is nothing for his servants, his ministers to transform into ministers of righteousness” (II Corinthians 11:12-15).  It is these servants of Satan, these ministers of righteousness and Satan, himself that have deceived the many.  We will be the first to admit that there have been many who have abused “the so-called prosperity message,” but should the behavior of these abusers be used to invalidate the truths contained in God’s word?  We think not.

As you meditate on today's inspirational message, do not allow the mere mention of the word “prosperity” to affect your ability to remain open-minded either; for a closed mind can only grow within the limits of its enclosure; an open mind grows with endless possibilities.  This message is a little different from most messages on this topic, but we believe that you will enjoy it and that it will minister to you if you allow it to.  Amen.

If this message has been a blessing to you, please share it so that others may be blessed by it as well.  Blessings.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

Devotion: To See God, Look At Jesus

Recently we talked about God raising up a prophet from among the Israelites saying, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18).  This prophet that God raised up would later tell us that he has not spoken of his own authority but on the authority of the Father who has sent him and that he speaks all that the Father has commanded him to say (John 12:49-50).

We found that knowing this prophet, “the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:11), would enable us to also know God.  According to scripture, the prophet tells us that he can do nothing of himself, not one thing in relation to himself, but does only what he sees the Father doing and that he does everything in the same manner in which the Father does because it is the Father who shows or reveals to him all these things that he himself, the Father does (John 5:19-20).

With all that said, there is still one interesting point that is seldom mentioned in our efforts to know God.  Scripture tells us that “God was actually in Jesus Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” and that it was God who gave us “the wonderful message of reconciliation” (II Corinthians 5:19).  This passage really does give a completely new meaning to these words spoken by Jesus, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words I say are not my own but are from my Father who lives in me.  And he does his work through me” (John 14:10 TLB).

So, if you really want to know God, then all you have to do is to look at this prophet that he raised up because it is through him that you can truly know and see the Father.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him” (John 14:6-7).

We pray that this commentary will bless you, inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

Devotion: God Is Like Jesus

Moses spoke these words to the Israelites: “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken… I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  The prophet Moses spoke of is “the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:11).  We know that some will disagree that this is that prophet, but so did the people of Jesus’ day.  Many said he was “the Prophet,” (referring to the prophet spoken of by Moses), while others claimed him to be the Christ, and yet others questioned if the Christ would come out of Galilee, thus causing a division among the people because of him (John 7:40-43).

According to scripture, Jesus tells us that he can do nothing of himself, not one thing in relation to himself, but does only what he sees the Father doing and that he does everything in the same manner in which the Father does because it is the Father who shows or reveals to him all these things that he himself, the Father does.  He goes on to say that it is the Father who will show or reveal to him greater works then these (John 5:19-20).  Jesus also tells us that he does what the Father has taught or prepared him to do, for these are the things that he speaks of.  And because the Father is always with him, he always does those things that pleases the Father (John 8:28-29).  Last, we find where Jesus tells us that he has not spoken of his own authority but on the authority of the Father who has sent him and that he speaks all that the Father has commanded him to say (John 12:49-50).

Jesus stated that he speaks all that the Father has commanded him to say, which is interestingly a reference to what God said in Deuteronomy 18:18.  More interesting is the fact that all of this was done because the people of Israel, in the day of assembly in Horeb desired this of the Lord, saying “Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not” (Deuteronomy 18:16).

We pray that this commentary will bless you, inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

Devotion: God's Word Makes You Free

Every product that we purchase normally comes with an instruction manual, designed to tell us everything about the product.  In this manual, we find the manufacturer’s best practices, a list of do’s and don’ts to efficiently operate their product safely and to maximize the life of their product so that we can fully enjoy it.  In following these instructions, the manufacturer offers a warranty, a certain guarantee that their product will function accordingly and that we will be pleased with its performance.

God tells us to “study to show thyself approved” so that we can “rightly divide the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15), but most of us do not adhere to this command.  This word of truth is given to tell you what to believe (for doctrine), what is wrong (for reproof), how to correct wrong (for correction), how to live (for instruction in righteousness).  You are to rely on the word of truth because it includes everything needed to grow in maturity, to be perfect (meaning proficient or capable), and to do what God wants (II Timothy 3:16-17).  The idea that we are to “attend to his words” holds little meaning for some because just carrying a Bible with them fits the commandment.  When we attend to his words, we learn that “they are life unto those that find them” (Proverbs 4:20-22), meaning, “God’s words are full, abundant life unto those that hunt for, look for, or seek those words.”  This is why there is more to knowing God then just opening the book, reading a verse or two, and coming out with an opinion about the entire plan of God.  We must immerse ourselves in his word; we must hunt for, look for, and seek the answers that he has provided us through his instruction manual.

The manufacturer of the heavens and earth has given us an instruction manual, designed to tell his best practices, that list of do’s and don’ts that allows us to efficiently operate safely and to maximize life in this world’s system.  It is in following these instructions that we get certain guarantees, those promises that only he can honor.  As you read this inspirational message, we pray that you will understand why reading, studying, and following this instruction manual is so important, it will, as the scripture says, “make you free” (John 8:32).

We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that you will share it so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

Devotion: God Is Dependable

Recently we spoke about the sovereignty of God and how God’s capabilities and abilities are mistakenly confused with the characteristics that makes God who he is.  We mentioned that the capabilities and the abilities of God speak to his sovereignty and that God is the supreme authority, an omnipotent or all-powerful entity, who operates totally independent of any part of his creation.  We also mentioned that there is absolutely nothing that God does not have the capability or ability to do, and that just because God “can do” a particular thing, does not mean that God actually “does” that particular thing.

We went on to mention that God has the capability to be unfair, immoral, unrighteous, and to do evil and bad things; the ability to change anything that he chooses to change, especially his mind, if he chooses to change it; and the ability to lie as well, if he wants or chooses to.  We then mentioned that God has chosen not to make these characteristics part of the distinctive qualities that makes him who he is, choosing to have absolutely no injustice, immorality, unrighteousness, or wrong doings with him.  All of these things speak to the very nature or character of the God we serve and what he wants man to know about him.

Can you imagine serving a god that is unfair, immoral, unrighteous, and does evil or bad things?  What about serving a god who had respect of person or whose favor could be brought for a price?  How about serving a god who constantly changes his mind or one whose mind could be changed at all?  And while we cannot speak for any of you, we can answer each of these questions with a great big “YES.”  Yes, we can imagine serving a god such as this because once upon a time we served a so-called god just like that.  Yes, we are speaking of the one called “the god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4) or “the prince of this world” (John 12:31).  However, after discovering the truth, we are truly thankful that these are not the characteristics of the sovereign, omnipotent God of all creation that we now serve, who has chosen not to make these characteristics part of the distinctive qualities that makes him who he is.  If you think about it, it would be extremely hard to please a god who changed things all the time, especially one who changed his mind, much less trusting one who was unfair, immoral, unrighteous, and did evil or bad things.

If we had to sum up God’s character or nature in one word, “integrity” would definitely be at the forefront.  “Integrity” is defined as “the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards; uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty; or the state of being complete or undivided.”  Integrity is definitely the one word we would choose to sum up the very character or nature of the God we serve.  God tells us that he is God and that “there is none else besides him,” (Deuteronomy 4:35) for there is no one else like him.  God tells us that “he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath,” for there is no other god than him (Deuteronomy 4:39).  God has chosen to be “the One of integrity” as a way to set himself apart from all other gods that man could claim to serve (Exodus 20:3), that way, his children would recognize him over all others.

As you read today’s inspirational message, we pray that you will be inspired as well as understand why “God is dependable;” it is one of those characteristics, that distinctive quality that makes God who he is.  As always, we pray that this message will bless you, inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW