It takes faith, trust, courage, and perseverance to serve God in today's unstable world. Yet, we are never alone. Pray every day and pray often. Study the Bible. The Scriptures are a Love Letter from God to those who accept Jesus as their personal Savior. You will receive comfort, knowledge, and wisdom from the Holy Spirit. "I have loved you with an everlasting love." Jeremiah 31:3. Be blessed in Jesus' name. Amen.
Our Daily Walk with Christ Devotional – July 22, 2024
“Give us this day our daily bread.” —Matthew 6:11
This morning when we awakened to the mercies of a new day, God had already proven His amazing love. Yet, He continues to shower us with loving-kindness by reassuring us, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25).
“Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” —Matthew 6:30
God’s promises are steadfast because He never changes, yet all of his promises are conditional. And the condition to receive His blessings is not above and beyond our capabilities. Christ gives everyone a measure of faith which He expects us to use by believing in Him. As we pray in faith for what we need, we also thank Him for answering our requests in the same prayer.
Christ knows we need Him, therefore, He soothes our souls by promising to supply our needs for the given day. Letting go of self-reliance is the only way to enjoy His gifts of peace and joy. We are never alone. We have a Loving Father who promises to care for us in every situation. Jesus, our Shepherd, waits for our prayers to invite Him into the routine activities of our daily lives. If we possess the gift of faith and believe in His love and sovereign power, why do we struggle when facing adversity?
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” —Matthew 6:33
Prayer is our lifeline to heaven. Humanity is God’s priority. Not only did we receive the gift of Jesus, but we also have the promise if we dedicate ourselves fully to Christ, we will receive the reward of eternal life. From birth, until we close our eyes in sleep, we have guardian angels who protect us from unseen and seen dangers. Express your love by talking to Jesus throughout your day.
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ” —Matthew 22:37
We know God is love, but His love must be reciprocated. Can you imagine being in a relationship or marriage where you love the individual but you are not loved? Often, we take our lives for granted by awakening every morning without a thought to pray and whisper abundant words of gratitude to our Loving Heavenly Father. Redirecting our focus to God is an easy fix. Establish a new habit of proclaiming, “Thank you, God, I love You” as soon as you awaken every morning. In return for everything we have been given, it is only fitting that we express our love for Christ through our words of gratitude.
“Through the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.” —Lamentations 3:22-26
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
Lord God, we thank you God for this new day of life. Thank you for Your faithfulness. We believe in Your promises to take care of us. Thank You for loving us. Jesus, we love You and thank You for Your unfailing love, compassion, and mercies. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me (Matthew 14:30). In Matthew 14:30, Peter, filled with faith, steps out of the boat to walk on water towards Jesus. This act shows courage and trust in the divine. However, as Peter begins to focus […]
It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed (Luke 1:3-4). The things we believe in Christianity aren’t assumptions; they’re clear-cut, absolute truths. And […]
….our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3) If you ask many people why Jesus came, they’ll likely say it was to save us from sin or to defeat the devil’s works. However, Jesus’ mission was about more than just saving us from sin and combating evil; these […]
Our Daily Walk with Christ Devotional – July 19, 2024
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” —Romans 12:2, NIV
Most of us think of weight management and achieving a healthier lifestyle when we reflect on pursuing optimal health. And yes, we are only as efficient as the nutrients we eat. If we meet our nutritional requirements our minds and bodies are well-nourished and require no further intervention to maintain proper homeostasis. But what about the diet we feed our souls? What we allow ourselves to see and hear saturates our thinking and affects our minds, morals, values, and characters which determine our spiritual health.
Our thoughts, attitudes, habits, and actions define our characters, revealing our integrity. Daily, we are in a continuous battle of choosing between right and wrong and between God’s Truth, False Doctrines, and Worldviews. Our senses gather information from various forms of stimuli. We choose most external stimuli, yet there are times when exposure is not a choice, such as a mandatory seminar or training in which the speaker includes personal opinions intended to persuade our values.
“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” —John 17:16-17
Diligently studying the Bible is the only God-given Book that renews our minds, bodies, and souls. Our faith allows God’s Words to evoke power and we are spiritually transformed. Prayer for wisdom and discernment as we study the Scriptures is immediately provided by the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, and Interpreter of the Truth. The human effort of asking for Divine Help empowers us to stand for God’s Truth because we receive the spiritual wisdom to perceive life through spiritual eyes.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” —1 John 2:15
The believer who stays close to Christ is also in danger of compromise. When tempted, if our first response is the simple prayer “God, I need help” heaven responds to our cry for Divine Intervention. The Holy Spirit immediately empowers us with knowledge bringing the Scriptures from our memory bank to our Pre-Frontal cortex-PFC [the PFC is responsible for “executive functions” like decision-making, problem-solving, and self-control. It also helps regulate emotions and impulsive behavior.] “The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17).
“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: ‘Here am I.’ ” —Isaiah 58:9
Not only do we receive a spiritual full-alert that Satan is tempting us to sin, but we also receive a spiritual boost of Christ’s Sovereign Strength to say No, and to walk away. Our unseen guardian angels fight the evil angels who strive to influence us to sin against God. Without embracing God’s Commandments and Righteous Principles, we are left defenseless when Satan attempts to persuade us to compromise especially when everyone else is enjoying a life of compromise.
God has given us free will of choice and the responsibility to renew our minds. With our God-given power, we must do our best to avoid watching and listening to the mind and soul-altering information, music, and sermons based on the speaker’s opinions. When we remain grounded in the Word of God, we can live as Bible-based soldiers who carry the Sword of Truth. Christians live in the world, but they are not part of it, and they should not follow its values, beliefs, or actions.
Persistent Prayer reinforces our bond with Christ, allows us to receive His strength, and the discernment to recognize and stand down the enemy’s tactics. From staying connected to Christ, our minds are renewed and we begin to see life through the Mind of Christ. Sabbath Peace and Blessings!
Prayer: Lord God, we pray for the spiritual wisdom and discernment to understand the Truth of Your Holy Words. Empower us to live as courageous soldiers who refuse to compromise. In Jesus’ Holy Name, we pray, Amen.
Our Daily Walk with Christ Devotional – July 19, 2024
“Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.’ ” —Exodus 1:22, NIV
The story of Moses’ life is proof of God’s Divine Love and Sovereign Power. Despite the obstacles of oppression, enslavement, and Pharoah’s decree to put all of the Israelites’ newborn sons to death, no human defiance or satanic power can stop God’s Divine plans from coming to fruition.
The Giant Leap of Faith—Making Courageous Decisions
“Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.” —Exodus 2:1-4
Moses’ mother and young sister demonstrated great faith and courage by hiding him for three months and then taking the baby [God’s chosen one] to initiate God’s Divine plan for Moses’ life. “Ancient Egypt was rich in natural resources, including the Nile River, which provided fertile land and a major route for travel and communication.” God intervened by not allowing the river’s natural current to dislodge the small basket from the reeds on the bank nor did other travelers notice the basket or hear the baby’s cries.
God’s Plan is Revealed
“Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew babies,’ she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’ ‘Yes, go,’ she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.’ So the woman took the baby and nursed him.” —Exodus 2:5-9, NIV
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” —Jeremiah 29:11
How is it possible for us not to trust God? Not only did God spare Moses from a certain death, but Moses’ mother was paid by Pharoah’s daughter to nurse and care for her own son. As the story progresses, Moses is returned to Pharoah’s daughter, raised in the palace, and enjoys the status of a prince.
Although his life was overflowing with tangible wealth and princely power, Moses embraced his mother’s teachings of the One and Only God and his Hebrew heritage. As he grew into manhood, Moses faced the test of every Christian, to choose God or the world’s wealth and status.
“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2:11-12, NIV).
“The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?’ The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘What I did must have become known.’ ” —Exodus 2:13-14
God proclaims that everything done in secret will eventually be revealed. Moses’s decision to take another person’s life was revealed, exposing him as a murderer. The ancient Egyptians valued the sanctity of life unless self-defense was proven and accepted by the judges, the punishment for murder was the death penalty.
God revealed His great love and mercy by allowing Moses to escape for his life. Even in his wrongdoing, God did not forsake Moses who fled to Midian, married, and lived with his wife and father-in-law. While Moses was enjoying his new life, the Israelites remained enslaved and severely oppressed under the rule of a new Pharaoh.
God Calls Moses: “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ “The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering..’ ” —Exodus 3:5-7
God Reveals Moses’ Commission: “And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” —Exodus 3:9-10
Moses’ Insolent Response to God: “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ ” —Exodus 3:11
God’s Promise of Protection and Source of Strength: “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’ ” —Exodus 3:12
Moses’ Character Flaw: Moses’ inability to control his anger propelled him to kill the Egyptian. Sadly his anger would surface again—in an emotional outburst, he broke the original stones on which God wrote the Ten Commandments. Moses allowed himself to become agitated due to the Israelite’s incessant complaining. Many years later, another temperamental episode prevented him from receiving the reward of entering Caanan, the Promised Land.
In anger to the people’s complaints of not having water, Moses disobeyed God by striking the rock instead of speaking to the rock. The people who God loved and emancipated still disobeyed by participating in Egyptian pagan worship. Because God worked miracles through Moses, the Israelites regarded Moses as a god instead of giving reverence to the True and Living God. God’s command for Moses to speak to the rock had a spiritual purpose, to reveal God’s Sovereign power to the Nation of Israel.
“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). With hearts filled with gratitude, we thank God that His love and mercies still extend to fallen humanity despite our character flaws and continuous disobedience. Christ is still knocking on the door of our hearts to send us to witness and complete the work on this earth.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”—Matthew 22:14
Christ appointed and anointed twelve disciples to be apostles, yet, there are six times in the Scriptures that Jesus chose Peter, James, and John to go with Him to various places including the Mount of Transfiguration: “After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light…” (Matthew 17:1-2).
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” —John 15:16
Are you one of the Chosen? Has the Holy Spirit spoken to you and revealed that Christ has chosen you to do a great work for God? Yes, deep within your heart, you cannot deny it, you have heard Christ’s call saying “Follow Me.” God has set you apart as His disciple to exalt Him and to witness His saving power of salvation. But your love and loyalty to God wavers because of the familiar ties to family and friends, your church membership, or your current lifestyle choices.
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’ ” — Luke 9:23
To take up our cross daily and to follow Christ is to surrender oneself every day in faithful obedience. Our sacrificial offering of love, loyalty, faithful surrender, and obedience is required of us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The commitment to give the rest of our lives in service to God is the life of all chosen disciples of Christ. What is the one thing [belief, tradition, habit, or person] preventing you from wholly surrendering to God?
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…” —Philippians 3:8
As the apostle Paul testifies, the one chosen for a definitive ministry will suffer many earthly losses. To align ourselves with God’s goal to give us eternal life, we must give up our desires and dreams for God’s service. Daily we approach God in prayer with the humility and obedience of a child to hear His will and perfect plans to guide us in our ministry to others. A life of sacrificial self-denial is one of continual testing of our faith, love, and loyalty.
“We need a spirit of love and of true dependence upon God. When we have implicit faith in Him who is Truth, we shall realize that worry and anxiety are unnecessary.” Sharing the Vision, EGW
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” —Matthew 24:12-14, NKJV
Christ is no respecter of persons, His loving call to accept Him as our personal Savior is poured out to all humanity. After we say yes, to Christ, our responsibility is to witness in our communities, share our testimonies, and help those in need. To demonstrate the love, compassion, and saving power of Jesus Christ is the responsibility of every Christian believer.
Still, as the Apostles Peter, James, John, and Paul were set apart for assigned ministries, the chosen few were selected to walk side by side with Christ to prepare them and receive strength for a heavier burden in their earthly lives. As we study the books of the Bible written by Paul, Peter, James, and John [the Revelator], we are reminded that our lives are not our own when we agree to fulfill our Christ-appointed ministry.
To The Chosen, you can’t run from it, you can’t hide from it, you were anointed and appointed before the foundation of this world! Choose the Eternal! Amen.
Lord God, we ask You to reveal Your will and plans. We know that You have chosen us and like Jonah, many of us have run from our spiritual assignments. We ask for the anointing of wisdom and spiritual discernment from the Holy Spirit. Speak to us that we can serve You faithfully in humility and obedience. In Jesus’ Worthy and Righteous Name, Amen.
Our Daily Walk with Christ Devotional – July 17, 2024
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
I can come to Jesus just as I am, but I cannot stay just as I am. The process of sanctification is lifelong. Every day the Holy Spirit empowers us to obey the will of God and receive spiritual growth and transformation.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father! Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. …in the evening, at midnight…coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’ ” Mark 13:32-33, 36-37
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