Daily Devotional November 27 - Faith Is Proof

 

Daily Devotional November 27 - Faith Is Proof

 "So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out unto Galilee, he went unto him that He would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."  John 4:46-48

You almost can't blame the man looking to Jesus for a miracle. His son was dying and he was desperate. He did have the faith within himself to know that Jesus could perform the miracle and Jesus did perform the miracle. Jesus didn't even go, He just spoke the word and the man's son was healed.

The statement that Jesus made, "except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe," was a statement about the condition of the people in Israel (God's chosen people) and the people outside Israel as well; a statement about what they had become over time. They had become a people of 'show me and I'll believe.' They had become a works based society. Their leaders, the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees who were overseeing/handling the faith of the nation had turned from God's ways and made a new set of rules for themselves. Over time they dismissed the miracles of the 'freedom from slavery of Egypt' generation and the 'crossing of the Red Sea' generation and the 'wandering in the wilderness' generation, and the 'fed with manna' generation. They had killed off the prophets and they were bent on having an Israel with a worldly leader, someone magnificent and full of splendor, someone who would destroy the Romans and bring glory to Israel like never before.

They missed the coming of the Saviour and now they had a reputation to uphold, proud, strong men, men who needed a sign or to personally witness a miracle or else they would hold to what is sure, their place in the temple. They had become so enamoured with the temple, they forgot the God who once inhabited it. They were bent on creating for themselves a place of acceptance by the Romans. They had become slaves again, but this time of their own doing.

The Saviour of the world had come among them and they were either rushing toward Jesus like a kid watching a parade, hoping to get a piece of candy thrown their way or they were ignoring His presence altogether as that of a charlatan. Jesus' message was not enough for the hardened of heart. Many of them had already made up their mind that even if this was the Saviour, they would kill him, because he threatened their current religious system. But more than that the hardened of heart had reduced Jesus to a man who practiced legerdemain. Jesus knew their hearts and that is why He could say, "except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."

Is it really that different today? Tens of thousands of people go to single stadium events just to see someone perform a miracle. Except they see it with their own eyes they will not believe. And even if they see it with their own eyes they still are only giving mental assent that what they saw was true or real. While godly men and women are talking to atheists or agnostics about faith, they say that they will believe if God was to come down and strike them dead or something like that. I've heard it too many times. "Just show me a sign and I will believe." I don't think so.

Even in the story of Lazarus and the rich man Jesus confirms Abraham's words, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the unbelieving world is under a strong delusion. It is very likely that they would not admit that Jesus is Lord even if they personally witnessed ten miracles in a row. They already deny the miracle of life and they already deny the miracle of creation and they especially stand against the miracle of faith.

Don't be discouraged if you have never seen a miracle of witnessed some wonder performed by Michael or Gabriel. It is your faith that has saved you and healed you and brought you this far and it is your faith that will take you all the way home. Jesus make it pretty clear how it really works. "Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." John 20:29b

Faith enters through the mind and resides in the inner man. Faith comes when you hear God calling you and you answer yes. Faith is the visible proof of an invisible work. You need not that God ever prove Himself if you have even the tiniest faith. But with faith, mountains could be moved out of your way, riches spilled throughout your house, talents lavished on you without reserve, love at your side, a healed body over and over again, life's best at your fingertips and you can't see any of it, because blindness due to faithlessness is total blindness and there is no cure except faith.

Daily Devotional October 3 - Which path are you on?

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Note: There is a real battle going on in your world. The quality of spiritual understanding has been watered down by the plethora of so-called spiritual connotations from all sorts of sources and even from those who claim no affiliation with any spiritual entity, in other words atheists and agnostics and humanist. Those without inner man sight are teaching those without inner man sight, how to see. 

Unbelievers and naysayers call Christians narrow-minded. The truth is that non-believers and naysayers are the narrow-minded. How can I say that? Easily. Before we have Christ our entire outer world is within the bounds of what scientist have discovered and our inner world is the expanse of the natural man's mind, concentric at best. Talk about narrow. Once we have Christ we understand that all the worlds that we can see, even with the most powerful telescopes, is just a handful of our outer world. Our outer world goes beyond and includes heaven. Our inner mind is expanded and we have the mind of Christ as it is developed by the Holy Spirit of God within. We can see further and deeper into a situation and our inner world is vast and capacious.

Strait is the gate is referring to the direction inside the gate. If you were in a tunnel, the tunnel is strait, not curving around and no exits to the left or the right. The way of passage to God is strait through the gate that leads to God straight ahead.

Narrow is the way has nothing to do with narrow-minded. It has everything to do with the means by which one must come to God. God designed us to come to to Him through Christ. There is no other way. There is no spiritual ladder based upon levels of intuition or restraint of specific activities. The atoning blood of Jesus is the only way to God. That's what narrow is referring to in this passage.

Maybe that's why there are few that find it. It's so simple and so easy to enter into the strait gate and follow the narrow passage to Holy God. God designed it this way so that everyone could easily come in and partake. But man is hardened by such an invitation from God. Man wants it to be difficult and easy to distinguish who is doing it best and who is trying harder and who is doing the most.

Man's corrupted and nurtured ego is the wide gate and his foolishness the broad path and through it man finds himself in the end, with much disappointment. You can start out on the broad path and still find your way, but few there are that find it. Once you have wandered aimlessly in the vast wasteland of the broad path, it's hard to tame the ego, it's hard to see clearly and it's hard to give it up, even if it is killing you. Because on the broad path there are offers of a great many illusions, some of them can make you think you have found your god, and you did.

Daily Devotional July 31 - You Do Not Need A Mediator

 "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh;" Hebrews 10:19-20

Note: It amazes me that many denominations go out of their way to keep you from a personal and private relationship with God. Some more than others, but in the case of the Catholic Church there are actual walls built where the parishioner is expected to stay on one side of the wall while the Priest on the other side communes with God. For as many things that the Catholic Church does that are very good for society, this is not one of them. Furthermore many of those so-called mediators are not fit to mediate between you and God.

You can boldly go before God, because Jesus made the way for you to enter into His holy place. Jesus paid the penalty for sin and thereby changed the way we obtain righteousness and changed the way we bring our sacrifices and changed the way we enter in to His presence. It's no longer through a physical door, nor is God hidden behind the veil, nor is His presence summoned by burnt offerings or sacrifices, nor is it through the prophets, nor is it through the priests. The new way is through the inner man. There is no more veil, it was torn down by Jesus. The new way is a living way where living people trust in and serve a living God and have living conversation and living cooperation and living co-creation.

We are not serving God through a textbook experience. We are serving a living God that lives within us and without. He has consecrated us by the blood of Jesus to become righteous, positionally and experientially. Positionally through the work of the cross and experientially through personal experiences with Jesus. God wants us to come boldly before the throne.

God wants us to come boldly as in confidently. We can do that if we know Him. God wants us to come to His throne with expectations. Not expectations like rubbing the genie in the bottle and making a wish, but expectations that whatever God hands you, is for you only and to be utilized for your good and the betterment of all mankind.

Yes, God has global expectations for all mankind and those parameters and instructions are established in the scriptures, but when you come boldly before the throne it is for personal instruction. We are not lemmings and the scriptures were not written so that we could all do the same thing and be the same thing. The scriptures were written to memorialize God's intent for mankind so that when you forget your way, you can go to the scriptures and find your way back.
Don't be afraid to come boldly before the throne. Nothing will happen there other than you will be made a little more like Jesus. Don't believe anyone that tries to tell you that someone must mediate between you and God because you are not able and they are. It is a lie. God wants you, just as you are, to come and meet Him, at His throne.

Daily Devotional July 30 - The Secret Place

 "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

Note: Reminds me of a great book written by Bob Sorge, The Secret of the Secret Place.  Don't hesitate to buy it and read it.  It is on my top ten list.

Where is God's dwelling place so we can dwell with Him? It is the tabernacle of our body. God indwells the believer. "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry (workers), ye are God's building." 1 Corinthians 3:9

God indwells the believer and to dwell in the secret place of the most High, we need to be in the presence of God that dwells in us. We do that by listening to the inner man, the one that God lives in.
Your inner man is in touch with the Holy Spirit.
Your inner man is saturated with the presence of God.
Your inner man has been taught all things by direct communication with the Holy Spirit.
Your inner man is the secret place.

You are body, mind, spirit and soul. You are a whole being, but you are able to operate independently one of the other to a degree. The Bible talks about carnal Christians, because God knows that you can be born again, have a spirit that has been made alive by faith in Jesus and still do things contrary to the perfect will of God. You can also, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, fight against the propensities of the flesh, using your mind as the tool to bring your flesh into subjection to your spirit.

If you want to be in the secret place with God and benefit from it, you will have to obey the laws of God while in His presence, in the inner man.

In the presence of God in the secret place, you will have to enter without an agenda. What God has to say to you when you are listening, is not what you are thinking of. What God has to reveal to you might even be foreign to your thinking, unless you have been following Jesus faithfully for some time; unless you have been on the mountaintop and also the deep valley; unless you have been through the fire, not just skirting around it; unless you have suffered a little and not just ridden comfortably in the pew; unless you have been reading your Bible and not just hearing it interpreted.

In the presence of God in the secret place, you will have to listen. I would say without a doubt that listening carefully is not the average Americans most distinguishing characteristic. Too often we want to speak so badly that we don't even hear what someone is saying. It's that way with God too. If you are more interested in railing on God about all that is missing in your life, you will not be able to hear God speak to you. God might say something to you that you don't want to hear. God is not man. God does not speak fluffy, candy coated, sayings that resemble a reading from Confucius. God is going to speak to you what brings you into alignment with His perfect design for your life. I can say without any doubt, that what God will speak to you will surprise you. If all you are hearing from God are platitudes about how you are going to get everything you want, you haven't been in the presence of God.

In the presence of God in the secret place, you will be changed. If you were to get into the presence of God, (not in the inner man) but in the flesh, you would burn up; no questions asked. When you are in the presence of God you come away changed, not a little. God is conforming you into the likeness of Himself and if you consider just how far we have drifted from the original idea, it should be clear that change, and a lot of it, is eminent. You can't help but be changed in the presence of God, because God designed you to grow in grace and to grow in faith, both of which are increased in the presence of God.

If you don't want to change your agenda, and if you don't want to hear a better idea than your own and you don't want to change what is familiar to you, don't get in the presence of God in the inner man. "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." Ephesians 3:14-16

Daily Devotional July 29 - What Are You Leaving On The Table?

 "And He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His own city. And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins have been forgiven thee."  Matthew 9:1-2

I want to talk about faith. There is so much to gain from the scripture. The men who were carrying the man with the palsy is whose faith was recognized. The men who were carrying the man with the palsy had faith that if they could get to Jesus, their friend would be healed. Jesus not only forgave the man with the palsy his sins, but he healed him and sent him home also.

This is one of many examples where we see a direct correlation between faith of man and action from Jesus. What is your faith capable of? I'm serious. What is your faith made of? Here's why I'm asking. If your faith is made of going to church and reading a little bit of Bible, your faith is probably commensurate with your attendance. In today's society you need faith that can move mountains, not faith just as a namesake.

• You need faith that you can speak and the heavens move things. 
• You need the kind of faith that can pray against terrorism and at the same time pray for the terrorist. 
• You need the kind of faith that can do battle against the world. 

This world's system is designed to take everything you have and even more. You need faith to come against that mind-set and take back lost territory.

You need the kind of faith that can say to your neighbor:
"I pray in the name of Jesus that you will be healed."
"I pray that your financial situation will turn around."
"I pray that your daughter will call you and make amends."
"I pray that your son will come to Jesus."

You need the kind of faith that Jesus gives liberally to all who ask. If you don't ask you won't grow in faith. You can go to church until you die and stay stagnant if you haven't started a personal relationship with Jesus. Faith grows like a tree. The root needs to be watered. The trunk needs to be protected. The branches need to be pruned. The leaves need Son-light. The flowers need to blossom and the fruit needs to flourish and be picked and used.

Evaluate yourself. What is your faith made of? Could it be that you are leaving on the table much that could and should be yours? Learn to apply your faith and get results. God designed us this way. Having faith, and a lot of it, is the way of God for man. Don't find yourself under-faithed when you might really need a miracle. Get serious and let God fill you up. Then, you can take a few friends and someone you know who can't fend for themselves and take them to a Jesus meeting and let them down through the roof and have their sins forgiven.

Daily Devotional July 28 - Is There A Limit As To What God Will Do For You?

 "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."  John 7:37-38

It amazes me that God would make a plea for us to believe. Again God reaches out to man and man rejects Him. God comes to man and gives to mankind faith and reveals Himself in the person of Jesus, the Christ, and makes a plan to die for our sins, (while we are yet sinners) while we are still ascertaining whether God is real or not, while we are living like the world, while we are entertaining the the possibility of maybe living the godly life in our later years.

God, who created everything and gave us all that there is stands before you and pleads and cries for you to recognize Him and accept His free gift of eternal life.

• What could cause God to bend so low as to try to make sense to us when we are so caught up in ourselves, thinking we are really something?
• What could cause God to give to us living water, knowing that we will drink it like an elixir and use it for our own exploits?
• What could cause God to allow us to participate (co-create with Him) in the greatest of all creations, salvation of the human soul?
• What could cause God to even begin to trust any of us with so precious a gift as His only Son?

Only the love of God for us has the efficacy to overcome our faithless, stubborn and sinful nature. If it were not a gift and if it were not free and if God didn't give us faith, none of us would be saved.

Daily Devotional July 27 - Quit Judging Others

 "And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto Him (Jesus) Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yes; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" Matthew 21:15-16

We condemn the way that the chief priests and scribes treated Jesus. We abhor that they marvelled at their own pride, while they spurned Jesus at every opportunity. It kind of sickens us that the same people that Jesus came to be with, not only denied Him His rightful place among them, but they created a plan to kill Jesus. Doesn't it amaze you that the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that Jesus did and they hated Him even more? Has that ever happened to you? It has to me.

We still have some of that kind of thinking going on today. A man or a woman can work diligently for the Lord and do great things for the kingdom, even just be present when God heals the sick, and Christians, (not non-believers) want to spurn them. Christians talk down other Christians who don't do church like they do on Sunday or Saturday or Saturday night, or the Sabbath day or whatever day. Christians are telling other Christians:
that God doesn't heal today
that the Bible stories are just allegories
that prayer is just for the individual to benefit themselves internally
that you must do this or that to please God
that you have to give this amount or that amount to get God's blessing
that you have to do it their way with their instruments, their lighting, their media

Christians are judging other Christians. This ought not to be.