Daily Devotional December 14 - Are You Living With God Right Now?

"Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Revelation 2:7 "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Revelation 3:21 "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 John 5:4-5

I'm wondering if you have been taught that to overcome the world you have to become a member of this or that church or that you have to speak in tongues or be baptized in the Holy Ghost or maybe that you have to tithe or do good works until you die. If we (pastors) were to tell the truth, we would simply point people to Jesus and then tell them, that, after they gave their heart to Jesus Christ, by faith in the work of Jesus on the cross, they have already overcome the world.

It was just yesterday that I asked this really nice older guy about his faith. I said to him, after we had dug his car out of the snow, "how's your relationship with God?" He said to me, "I'll find out when it's all over." I remarked. I already know and I don't agree that you have to wait until you die to find out if you had faith in Jesus enough to get to heaven." He then went on to tell me a long story about how God intervened in his life many times through his wife and his children. He admitted that God had been working with him all along, but he still didn't understand that he could have peace in his heart about the end of it all.

That's the way it is for many people who have been taught in their denomination that they have to work and worry all through this life in hopes that at the end they will somehow slip in under the wire, in hopes that they will have asked forgiveness for the last of their sins prior to dying or they will not get in; as if to get to heaven was based on all kinds of things except the vicarious work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If you are counting on you to get to heaven, you might very well be disappointed. The entire Bible points to Jesus as the Saviour, not you. You can't save yourself, nor can you do anything that will make up for your sin. You are lost until you accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and nothing you did or will do can earn you a place in heaven. Give it up if that is your philosophy. God does the work of saving you from yourself by calling you out into His kingdom. You come by simple faith in Jesus. Nothing else will do and nothing else works.

Why does it matter whether we believe that we get to heaven by being good or by believing in Jesus? The reason is that you can be good on your own. You were born with enough godlikeness to do good things to other people, but salvation is not found in doing good things. God sent His Son to die in your place because you have sinned against God. In essence you forfeited any rights that you thought you had the first time you sinned against God and prior to that you were born into the race of Adam, which has already fallen. You were born into a fallen race and of your own volition you have sinned against God. The only way that God could save you so that you could overcome the world was to impute into you the righteousness of God by faith in His Son. God designed every soul with the answer to the sin problem. It was to come and die for you. Faith is the connector and the Resurrection from death unto life. Faith in what Jesus did for you outweighs anything you could ever do, even in ten thousand lifetimes of working hard to be good.

• You get saved by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, by faith.
• You overcome evil with that same faith.
• You live out your life with that same faith.
• You come to the end of life with that same faith.

In between while you are living out your life, faith is what draws you closer to God to find out more about your purpose and to get to know God better; to learn His ways and to follow them; to receive from God all that is rightfully yours by faith as heir to the kingdom, now, today, not just when you die.

Doesn't it make sense that if you overcome by faith, that you would want to find out everything you could about your faith?
Isn't it likely that you will enjoy life more and have better success in life if you trust Jesus for more than just getting you a ticket into heaven?
Isn't it likely that the same Jesus that saved you from you sins has a plan for you for this life?
Isn't it likely that if you were to discuss this with Jesus that He would fill in the blanks and open your eyes to all that He is doing on your behalf.
Isn't it also likely that if Jesus saved you it was for a purpose greater than to know where you are going when you die?

Please seek His face today and get things on track. You were saved to co-create with God while on the journey. Give up this idea of holding on to your ticket to heaven with clinched fists, hoping all will end well and enter into His rest right now. That's what salvation is really about. Living with God right now.

Daily Devotional December 13 - Being Like Christ Or Finding Religion...?

"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." Matthew 6:7

First of all Jesus says "when ye pray." Jesus doesn't say if ye pray. Praying is part of the connection between God and man that God grants. It's not just that your prayer is heard, but if you are born again, inside of you - you have the indwelling Holy Spirit to assist you with what to pray for and how to pray. Now you can see that God says that the heathen, (those who do not have Christ) think that if they pray they will be heard because they pray often and sometimes loudly. The heathen pray out of duty and religious upbringing. It's true, those without Christ pray and many of them pray fervently, some five times a day, some more. The non-Christian world prays and they have religious ceremonies. Entire nations are built upon this premise.

Jesus is instructing believers that when they pray, God does not need to be reminded that He is God, nor does God need to be reminded of anything. Don't use vain repetitions. Why is that important? Because anybody can use vain repetitions and appear to be in touch with God because they pray or they say something religious over and over again. That's not prayer at all. That's religious rhetoric filling the minds of the people with false hope and false belief.

Jesus is instructing you to be real with God. In the presence of no one, speak to God your mind. Ask for wisdom. Seek His face to know Him, not just so that you can get things from God, but to know God personally. When you pray, talk to God. Let God know your frustrations. Talk about your battles, your losses, your pain or your successes. Come boldly before the throne, not cocky as if you knew it all, but boldly, in that God wants to hear from you and it is your turn to speak. Praying is communication with God, not whining and complaining about so and so. Praying is about finding the heart of God on the matter so you can believe it in your heart and go and do God's will.

But what about all the weirdos out there that claim God told them to do this or that? And what about all the people that claim God told them to take or steal or kill or maim in the name of God? Don't be fooled by the tricks of the devil. You, nor anyone else will ever be told to do anything against the Word of God, against mankind or against disrupting or destroying God's creation. Those who are hearing that voice are not hearing the voice of God. They are the heathen. They are the ones that claim God on one hand while slaying innocent children with the other. That is a trick of the devil.

Pray because Jesus says to. I find that time in prayer just confessing my shortcomings and asking for wisdom takes a great deal of time. I find that God enjoys when I come to Him just to come to Him, no agenda, no questions, no preconceived ideas about the moment, just mindfully wandering into the throne of grace and thanking God and praising God and worshipping God.

Another reason that Jesus says "when thou prayest," is because God already knows about your situation. God has already gone before you and made a way. God has already intervened to bring about His will. But you and I, we don't see very far and we need to go to prayer so that we can see with the mind of Christ. Otherwise we could not handle the injustice and the improprieties that come our way. Pray to be filled with understanding about how God wants you to be like Christ. The scriptures make more sense when being like Christ is the goal and not just finding religion.

Daily Devotional December 12 - Nothing Else Will Do

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you;" Matthew 5:44

I remember preaching this in Redland Florida. It was their first Sunday as they had just split off from another church in Princeton Florida. I was not taking sides, but their newly formed church board had chosen two candidates to be their new pastor and I was one of them. As you can imagine, this is quite an honor and I was selected to preach the first sermon of their first service. I talked to God about this as I was searching through the scriptures attempting in my mind to try to find something conciliatory and comforting to bless this newly formed group of believers. I perused through some of my previous sermon material, thinking that maybe there would be something that fit the day. But God would not let me get away from this very verse. I really thought that this verse was inappropriate because of the recent church split, again of which I was not involved. And furthermore, everyone likes to hear these words of God's true way for man to live at peace with one another, but few follow these ego crushing words spoken by Jesus to the whole world at the sermon on the mount.

I wrestled with this verse, because I knew deep down inside that it was so much the heart of God to teach His people how to live with one another in harmony and peace and how to live with the world at large even though the world at large was not going to play by the same rules. What could this verse possibly benefit a newly formed group of seasoned believers? I did preach the sermon and it wasn't received well. I guess I will never know why this was so important, and by the way, they chose the other pastor to lead their flock. But I can tell you now that Jesus knows what works and these words were written to embed your soul with the heart of God and this is the heart of God.

Unfortunately as you read in yesterdays daily devotional, even our Christian brothers and sisters are capable of doing frightful things to their fellow church members or anyone for that matter. Hear the heart of God on the matter. He has instructed you to do a few things that go against your human propensities.
Love your enemies
Bless them that curse you
Do good to them that hate you
Pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you

You will have to read these over and over again until your inner man believes it is true. This is an uphill battle and if you are not serious about following Christ, you will not win it. It goes against our very nature, that nature that we were born with that looks out for number one. But Jesus spoke it and that makes it true.  Why is it important to believe and practice these strange commands? It is important to God and God made us to be like Jesus and nothing else will do.

Daily Devotional December 11 - You Reap What You Sow

"Save me, O God, by Thy name, and judge me by Thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah." Psalm 54:1-3

Strangers and oppressors shall come against you. I hope you are not currently experiencing the angst that goes with having people want something from you that is not theirs. Maybe you have fallen prey to those who can't stand you because you are in love with Jesus. Or maybe you have acquired enemies for no reason at all except they just want to do you harm or make your life miserable. They are out there in great number. And I am very sorry to admit that many of the oppressors and those who would attempt to overthrow our peace, are Christians. I won't stay with this very long, but it hurts worse than anything when a so-called brother or sister becomes a turncoat and sets out to destroy what you have worked for or are currently working for. The worst scenario is that it is sometimes a supposed good friend.

If you read through Psalms it reveals two sides of God's heart about these marauders who use their time on this earth to cause others pain and suffering.  They are cavalier about it and sometimes proud of their accomplishment as if they were doing God favor handing out their form of justice and equity.

The first move of God toward these marauders disguised as Christians is to have them come to their senses through rebuke or exhortation or through finding out how blatantly ungodly their behavior is and asking forgiveness for their crimes against God and man. This is the preferred method. It serves the purpose of having man work out their offenses one with another. But don't think that God will not intervene on behalf of the one who has been wronged.

The second move of God is for God to intervene and stand against the oppressor or the offender, as a just God against an unjust action. God is not just lolly-gagging around heaven handing out lollypops to the kids and sitting around telling stories to the adults about the good old days. God is Sovereign and will have the last word and will intervene and bring to pass His will. It is not God's will that those who wrong others get their just reward, (else all of us would not have the opportunity to be converted and have our sins forgiven) but it is the will of God that you reap what you sow. And for those who continue to cause trouble, as they continue to claim Christ, will find trouble of their own, multiplied by their lack of commitment to the things of God; consolation and peace of mind will be hard for them to find.

Rest assured if you are troubled by others who want what you have or they just trouble you because that is who they are, or they trouble you because they are vindictive, God is in charge and God always does the right thing. "For we know Him that said, vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the LORD. And again, the LORD shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:30-31

Daily Devotional December 10 - Trust God Through It All

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5

I believe what God says. Every word in this verse is true. But , you may be thinking, that hasn't been my experience. That's the problem with interpreting scripture. This verse is true, but there are many other truths also. Sometimes we base the results of an experience on the way that we perceived the end. We thought that if God was involved it would end differently than it did. So when we don't receive the desired end that we thought should be the end, we think that there must be something wrong with the way that God does things. Why does God let us go through so many things that are unfair or worse?

Read this carefully:
God lets us go through things because, in order for us to receive the full blessing that comes with salvation we must exercise our freewill and suffer at the hands of those who exercise their free will. It is this free will that makes us like God and exercising our freewill to choose the things of God is what makes us godly. It is in your choosing, not in the outcome of your choosing, where God is found.

We live in a fallen world and as long as we are in the flesh, we are subject to its parameters. One of the parameters is that others are exercising their freewill as we are exercising our own. Sometimes there is conflict, because not everyone is following God and not everyone seeks the will of God. The results of this dichotomy is that sometimes you will be the one that disrupts the plan of God by your behavior and sometimes someone else disrupts the plan of God by their behavior.

You haven't always been living a godly life. Now that you are doesn't preclude the rights of those who are not, to continue to exercise their free will against the will of God. As long as free will exists, there will be crime and terrorism, foolishness and sin, pain and suffering, unfairness, liable and fraud. That's the results of free will.

But this same free will that allows for those who stand against the things of God to cause havoc also allows for those who choose to follow God to cause good things to come to pass. It is in the choosing to do the will of God that godliness is found, not in the final results of our work. You may set out to do some great thing and have it thwarted by others with a different plan, but it is in the choosing to set out to do some great thing that your trust is rewarded, not in the outcome of that venture. The path that God sets before you is the direction that you are in, not the results of the day. The path is pure, the road is full of corruption, but it is in choosing the path and taking it that your faith is proven, not in what happens to you along the way.

It will never be that when you find God and you become saved, sanctified, and filled with the Spirit, that your roads will all be cleared and each day will end in peace and serenity. You are following a holy God in an unholy world. That's why God doesn't want us traversing the road in our own understanding. First we will misunderstand God and make false presumptions about God and second we will start to think that our own path is really safer and better.

The truth is:
God is true to us and every word in the scriptures is to assist us on our journey
God is on the journey with us
God intervenes in the journey within the parameters of prayer just as He says He does
The outcome of things isn't always what we see with our eyes
The closer you get to God the more you get to see how we are co-creating with God all the time
It is in exercising our free will to follow God that we are found in God, not in the outcome of each event of the day
Learn to trust the 'follow' and not the 'outcome' and you will see much more of God than ever before.

Daily Devotional December 9 - You Already Have The Power

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

You have been given the authority by God to live your life free of bondages. This freedom from bondage comes when you are born again. You are endowed with the power to overcome. The Holy Spirit dwells within you and you can decide to deny the flesh or the mind certain vices and it will come to pass. For some it might be as easy as drawing a line in the sand and for others a process, but either way you have the power to overcome anything that is not godly.

All of us have different weaknesses. No one is exempt from the rudimentary and mundane things that perpetuate sinful behavior, but don't let anyone convince you that you don't have the power to break free, because you do. It is a gift from God. You can if you think you can. You can say no to anything and keep it at bay. You can overcome anything that is not of God. Here's the tiff. First of all you have to believe you can. There is so much watered down preaching to new converts its possible to be lead to the Lord in one breath and told that you will struggle indefinitely in another.

When Paul says stand fast, he means stand so firm that you are like a rock, immovable and impenetrable. The Word of God is powerful and sometimes you just need a little kindling faith to get you on your way with victory. Sometimes we just need somebody to believe in us. Sometimes we need someone to give us some tough love. Unfortunately there are some people so stubborn that it takes calamity to bring them around. But if you are born again you can overcome.

I don't want to put a timeline on your particular issue, but if you have been fighting against some vice or bent for more than five years, you really don't want to overcome. You aren't trying to get out, you just want people to feel sorry for you. You play the Christian card, but only because it is convenient and you know what saps the Christians are for reaching out and helping someone. You use people under the pretense of trying to get out, but you haven't even wanted to get out. You have been playing people and playing with people's lives. You are a user, a fool and a fake.

There are probably spouses, children or parents that you have hurt and are continuing to hurt over and over again, friends and family that you have abused or betrayed or used, more than once. You keep making promises, but you can't overcome because you don't want to. You have been called out. Your future is bleak and your life a waste, not because it has to be, but because you want it to be. And yet within you you have the power to turn around and make good. That shows you the power of the devil. He will hold onto anything you let him have and rub your face in it forever. Just give him one little ungodly vice and you can ruin many lives, even as a Christian. I know you don't want to hear this, but the liberty we have and the power to overcome must be activated and used or else it lay dormant. God works in us and through us, by us, not in spite of us.

You have got to lend your heart and mind to God and believe God and let your faith rule in your life if you are going to operate in the liberty wherewith you were set free. It doesn't just happen by chance. You don't just automatically do and say the right thing. You have to get to know God to emulate Him. But being born again gives you the power. Don't through away such a precious gift.

Daily Devotional December 8 - Faith Is Proof Enough

"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 has 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 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. But 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 without 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.