Belief

Hebrews 10:32-36

How could someone joyfully accept the plundering of their goods? What would make a person accept mocking and suffering when they don’t have to? It’s called belief. The Christians in Paul’s letter believed so strongly that Jesus is God and that His promises will be fulfilled and so they were willing to accept harassment and torture. Is our faith that strong? Is our dependence on God so strong that we are willing to lose everything for Him? I admit I’m not there yet, but that’s the goal I aim for. I want to trust God so much that I will go through hell and high-water for Him. I want no other source but Him. Who’s with me?

This Little Light of Mine...

Proverbs 4:14-19

“But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” Does the sun illuminate itself only? No, it shines its light for many millions of miles. Even when you cannot see the sun, its light still shines through the moon. Christians don’t live to bless themselves only; we are to bless others. “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.” When light goes into a dark place, it brightens the places. So how do we let our light shine? We pray for people and we show them the love of God and we tell them the Good News of Jesus. We are to extend our light so others can have some and illuminate their world as well.

Contending

Jude 1:3-12

To contend for the faith means to fight to defend it. Why would we need to fight for our faith? Because people will oppose us. I saw a video on Youtube of someone criticizing Christianity. What we as contender for the faith do when we see things like that? Do we just not listen to questions about our faith or do we just ignore questions? No, we answer them. There are things about God we will never understand, but He has left us with the ability to understand the world around us and how He created it all. Contending for the faith means being able to defend it against confrontation. We have to be ready for questions and to do that, we study the bible (not just read it) and ask more mature Christians when we don’t understand. When we see just how perfectly the universe lines up with the bible, it becomes easy to have and contend for faith.

Boast in God

Jeremiah 9:23-26

As Christians, we are to boast in one thing: God. Wealth, health and everything else can be lost in the blink of an eye, but God's love always remains. God is always there when we call on His name. We may not always be popular but God is always with us. He is the one that always provides for us according to His riches in glory. However, He wants us to take pride in the blesser, not the blessings. Don't take pride in wisdom, might or riches. "But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me."

He STood Still...

Mark 10:46-52

Jesus doesn’t value the multitude more than individuals. He could have easily just kept going with the crowds and nobody would ever remember the name of blind Bartimaeus, the beggar. After all, Bartimaeus was a beggar and of no value to anyone, right? No. Jesus stopped the crowd to heal the beggar. Jesus cares about everyone, even when nobody else does. He is love and love cannot stand to see pain without doing anything. But here’s the flip side. Bartimaeus was the only one who cried out. There were probably many other beggars on that road and only Bartimaeus got healed, because he cried out to God. Only when Jesus heard someone cry out to Him in faith, did He stand still and heal. Cry out to God because He cares for you. No matter what the prayer is, God will stop to hear you when you pray. He knows your need, but you need at ask.

What is God worth to You?

Psalm 119:65-72

“What is God worth to me?” That’s a question we ought to ask ourselves regularly. Matthew 6:21 says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus told us to store up our treasures in heaven with God and so we make God worth more to us. When trials come and we feel afflicted, we don’t go astray. When God is worth so much to us, we delight in His law, because we look forward to seeing our treasure. When God is worth so much to us, we can say, “It is good that I have been afflicted, that I many learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. We must live our lives to store up treasure with God so we can count on Him through hard times.

RBC Today

Pornography, once a secretive backdoor industry, is now out in the open. The easy access and anonymity of the Internet have turned it into a multibillion-dollar-a-year “business.” But it leaves a trail of broken families, ineffective Christian leaders, and men who have lost the respect of their loved ones.

The apostle John was known for his great love for Christ and His church. In 1 John 2:12-17, he warned fathers and young men against these three lusts:

The lust of the flesh—the insatiable appetite to indulge in pleasures that inflame the flesh but never satisfy.

The lust of the eyes—wandering eyes that continually want more riches and possessions but always remain covetous.

The pride of life—the vain mind that thirsts for man’s applause. But the glory evaporates quickly.
Pornography damages users and victims alike. It feeds lustful desires in ways that can never satisfy. True satisfaction is found only when we give our affections to eternal things—to a right relationship with our heavenly Father and with those He has created in His image.

“The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (v.17). — Albert Lee

Many Christian men struggle with the temptations of pornography. Find help by reading When A Man’s Eye Wanders
Inner peace springs out of inner purity.

Keys to Righteousness

Psalm 112:1-10

The righteous man is blessed, but what makes him righteous? Is it because he deals fairly or because he walks uprightly or because he gives to the poor? Those things are nice, but they don’t define biblical righteousness. The righteous man is the one who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. Nothing we can do can make us righteous. The bible says the righteousness of man is like a filthy rag before God. We can never be clean before God because sin is a stain that can only be removed by the blood of Jesus. He is the only way to righteousness. The righteous man is blessed and exalted and secure and established. That’s a pretty good deal.

Entertaining Sin

Genesis 3:1-9

You wanna know where mankind’s first sin really started? It started before Eve actually ate the fruit. It started when she looked at the fruit and saw that it was pleasant to the eye. Sin begins in the heart. Jesus recognized that when He told us that “whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Different subject matter, same principle. The act of sin is what gets punished but vey few sins are committed without the person thinking about it first. Today’s message: Don’t look at the fruit. Keep your focus on God so it becomes easier to resist temptation. Sex, drugs, overeating, lying, theft, etc all look good and pleasing to the eye, but when we focus on the goodness of God, these things look dirty in comparison. The temptation is not so overwhelming.

Blind Belief

John 14:1-12

Sometimes my personality is like Thomas. I want to know all the answers right now. “Why God?” “Show Me God”. “Prove yourself to me God.” And sometimes I’m like Phillip and I want to see something to prove that God exists. It’s so hard for someone like me to have faith sometimes because there are too many questions I can’t answer. I know God is real but sometimes it’s hard to believe in Him. And I’m not the only one. So when Jesus said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Jesus didn’t answer them the way they wanted. He told His disciples, “If you believe in Me…” and left it at that. It’s natural to doubt God and sometimes wonder if He really has everything in His hands, but you have to keep believing. When it doesn’t look like it, God still has all the answers. As for me, I cling to the hope that I will see and know all in heaven. For right now, I just accept that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and I live in Him. Amen

Very Good Person

Romans 12:9-21

Oy! The person described here in Romans 12:9-21 is a very good person. They the kind of person I would love to hang around. This person is the standard of Christian living. "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good." When we abhor evil, we get rid of jealousy and rejoice with those who rejoice. We don't seel vengeance bcause we leave it to God. As we cling to what is good, we become dilligent, fervent in the Spirit and live peaceably with all men. How do we do this? We continue steadfastly in prayer. When we become praying Christians, we commune with God frequently and His presence in our life helps us live right. Prayer is important.

The Temple of God

2 Chronicles 7:12-18

"Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I chose and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever." the temple of God that Solomon built was important because God's presence was there. In the book of Nehemiah, the people of Israel rejoiced when the walls of the temple was rebult and even more when the temple was completed. Why? Because they know that God was in the temple and that His power was manifested in that building. Well guess what? We are the temple of God as seen in 1 Corinthians 3:16. So God's power is manifested in us. We are sanctified. The Lord has chosen us for Himself and His eyes and ears are open to prayers made by you. His eyes and heart are in you perpetually. You are the temple of God and as such you are sanctified. So live as one who is truly sanctified. Live right because of God living inside you

Ask

Psalm 2:7-12

“Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” God has a lot to give us, but He tells us we have to ask. It seems pretty easy to do. We just ask and God gives to us the nations of the earth. In order to ask for something, we must first recognize that we don’t have it and we cannot get it by ourselves. Then we must believe that God has it and He was the ability to give it to us. Today’s message is nothing deep. “Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” It’s not selective, He gives to all. When we realize that God has so much to give to His children, faith comes easier. And when we have faith in Him, today’s scripture calls us blessed. So when we ask in faith, we receive AND we are blessed. Sounds like a good deal to deal. God is good, don’t you think?

The Tongue

James 3:1-12

The tongue. That’s a big problem for most peoples. No other organ is as difficult to control as the tongue. “For we all stumble in many ways. Anyone who does not stumble in what he says is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body.” The thing is that what we say can change our future. What we say opens door in the Spiritual realm for either God or the devil to work in our lives. When we put ourselves down, the devil can come and put us down, but when we speak in faith, God is able to work with that and operate in our lives. It’s hard to control what we say, but we have to learn to do so. Control the tongue and you can control your destiny.

Choosing Life

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

God gives us free will, and with free will comes a choice. Do we choose life or death? It looks like an easy decision, yet many people, even Christians, make the wrong decision daily. Life- as defined by today’s scripture- is, “That you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.” Life is not sex and drugs and parties and popularity. Life is not even schoolwork and part-time jobs and community service. Life is not food or sleep or sports. Life is loving God and obeying His voice. It’s a constant decision. Every choice you make should show your love for God. You just have to keep your eyes on God. Death is defined as, “Your heart turning away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, so that you worship other gods and serve them.” Choose live, my friends; choose life.

Grief Processes

2 Samuel 19:1-7

How many people have grieved? How many people have had something happen that made them just want to sit in the corner and cry? I know how it feels and I have some bad news. Even in our grief, we are still expected to serve others. King David was weeping over the death of his son when Joab came to him and told him that his people needed him. "Arise, go out and speak comfort to your servants." Jesus lost His cousin, John the baptist, and He went to the mountains to grieve. But He saw the people who needed Him and He ministered to them. Even when things are hard, there are people who need us. And when we feel like we can't do it, the bible says the joy of the Lord is our Strength. When we are weak the strength of God is made perfect in us. Amen

Lukewarmities

Revelations 3:14-22

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.” Don’t be lukewarm with God. Think about it: Jesus came down to Earth to die for you. He committed His life and death to you, and all He wants is you to commit your life to Him. Why is it so hard? Too many times we want the blessings of Christianity, but we aren’t ready to live the life of sacrifice and discipline. “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked-”Only in Jesus can you be clean; only when you commit to Him. Verse 20 doesn’t tell us to let Jesus in and then kick Him out when we wanna party. We let Him into our hearts to stay and build a relationship. So today, commit yourself to Him (and if you already have, reaffirm your commitment) because that what He wants from you.

The First Commandment

Mark 12:28-34

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.” Jesus said it, not me. When a word in the Bible is repeated, you know it’s important. The word “all” is repeated four times in this verse. All is a big word that includes everything and has no loopholes. We are supposed to love the Lord with ALL our heart, ALL our soul, ALL our mind, and ALL our strength. That means every fibre of our being should love God. Every action we do, every thought we allow into our minds should glorify God. Well, what does that look like? Reading your Bible daily, and taking time to study it. Praying everyday, not just to ask for things but to praise God and acknowledge Him for what He has done. Proclaiming boldly to your friends that you believe and trying to get them saved all the time. Respecting everyone and helping out every time you can. Most importantly, a person who loves God lives his life by the Spirit. So let’s get lovin’.

Keep Your Birthright

Genesis 25:29-34

Why did Esau give up his birthright? His birthright was everything that was his right because he was the first son of Isaac. And because of that position, he was entitled to so much. He gave it all up for stew. Now many of us may look on this and find it funny, but many of us do it all the time. We decide to trade the blessings that we have as children of God for temporary satisfaction. That’s what sin is. When we purposely sin, we place a higher value on the earthly pleasures than eternal life. Earth may look like it’s all that, but it’s only the blink of an eye. There’s eternity waiting for us after this and how we spend that eternity is based on what we do on earth. Esau wanted for his hunger to be satisfied so badly that he gave up his father’s blessing, as we see later on in Genesis. Esau got hungry again, and he ate again many times in his life, but he never got his birthright back. Before we do anything, we must realize that everything has a price, but not everything is worth the cost. Sin is never worth it, no matter how good it may look.

Did He Not Say?

John 11:32-44

In verse 40, Jesus asked, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" Jesus told Mary and Martha something, but they allowed their circumstance and the people around them to shake their faith. The bible said that Jesus groaned when He heard the voice of the people doubting. Ladies and Gents, God can still do miracles. God's Word still doesn't change. All He wants is your faith. So keep believing. What God has said will come to pass, so keep holding on. You don't want to be the one to whom Jesus asks, "Did I not Say?"

Action Faith

Nehemiah 4:1-9

"Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.” Nehemiah and the people of Israel did not pray and wait for God to deal with Sanballat and Tobiah before continuing the work of God. They prayed to God and continued rebuilding the temple. That is faith. Faith is an action not just a collection of words. The people of Israel had faith that God would bless their endeavors, and they continued to build. No one is too young to have faith. In fact, Jesus taught that we should have the faith of children. This should be easier for teenagers because, and I hate to say this, we are just a little older than children. So if adults can have faith, we should be able to do it as well. I can talk about having faith to start up a devotional for a month, but until I step out and actually create the devotional, talk gets me nowhere. So from now on, do faith, don’t just talk faith.

What is Love?

1 Corinthians 13

We hear a lot about love. Jesus said that people will know we are His disciples when we love. Paul tells us that of faith, hope and love, the greatest is love. But what does love to a teenager? Too many times, the word 'love' is misused in the context of dating and sex, but what does the Bible say about love? Well...love is patient, kind, not envious, not arrogant, not boastful or rude or self-centered or angry or evil. When you love someone, you can bear their weaknesses. Love is helping out. Love is rejoicing when your friends get something you wanted. I know I love my teachers because I respect them and try to make their lives easier. When you begin to love as the Bible dictates, then no relationship of yours can fail, because Godly love never fails. It's easier for others to show you favour because this love makes you likeable. Love is not about sleeping with someone, but helping them, putting their needs first. This is the love that Jesus had for us throughout His life and to the cross, and as Christians, this is the love that we should display. Christianity does mean imitators of Christ.

How Do We Know That We Know?

1 John 2:3-11

"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." In this world of doubt and different doctrines, how can we be sure that we are saved? We can have that certainty if we keep His commandments. When we are saved, we have the Holy Spirit inside us who fills us with the desire to keep God's commandments. Before we were saved, we didn't have this. Even if we were good people, we didn't think much of the occasional lie, or many "little" sins. But now we should hate sin because the Spirit we received upon salvation hates sin. We may not always be perfect, but we won't be so chill about sinning. As Christians, we should have a desire to love because that is the greatest commandment. That, my friends, is how we know we are saved.

Fruit Of The Spirit

Galatians 5:14-26

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” We’ve all heard of the fruits of the Spirit but what does it really mean? Well…every action has a reaction. Galatians 6:7 tells us that whatever we sow, that’s what we reap. To walk in the Spirit means all our actions reap the fruits of the Spirit. That’s how we can test ourselves… we look at our fruit. What kind of fruit is our lifestyle reaping? Are we walking in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? When we feel a leading to do something, does it exhibit those characteristics? I talked about knowing God’s voice a few days back and this is one way to tell. So as you grow, always look for the fruits of the Spirit being exhibited in yourself.

Shut Them Up

Luke 20:20-26

“So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous.” People are really good at pretending. My pastor always says that people watch Christians to see if they can walk the walk. But some people will try to make you fall and some will come pretending to be Christians. Those are dangerous because it’s easy to let your guard down and trust people in church. You may never be able to detect a phony Christian…on your own. However, we have the Holy Spirit to help you ID phonies. But what is more important is being able to answer them. Jesus was able to silence the spies with His words because He had wisdom. You can know all the answers, but wisdom is what’ll truly silence opposition. Wisdom is knowing how to apply knowledge. So get some wisdom today. Ask God for it.

Love...The Keyword

Galatians 5: 1 – 15 (ESV)

Today’s scripture talks about what we are called to be as Christians. We are not called to do the religious acts commonly associated with Christianity: going to church, praying “now I lay me down to sleep…” every night, etc. Christianity is about loving one another. Verse 14 says, “The whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The word “Christian” means follower of Christ and one characteristic that Jesus always displayed was love. God is Love. You are not any less of a Christian because you miss a day of church or accidentally swear or things like that. However, that is not an excuse to do those things. “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,” (Vs. 13). Deed are important in our christen walk, but not as important as love. God looks at the heart of your actions, and I pray that when He looks at your heart, He sees love. Amen.

Hear God's Voice

Ezekiel 37:1-14

There are so many advantages to knowing God. When you are in a deep relationship with Him, you can hear and recognize His voice. The prophet Ezekiel was told by God to prophecy to dead bones. Ezekiel prophesied what God told him and experienced miracles. The bones got flesh and then came to life. Christianity promises no rewards unless we are in relationship with God. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and heed it.” When my mom calls me, I know it’s her because I know her voice. I know her voice because I’ve spent lots of time with her. It works the same way with God. We get to recognize His voice when we know him and spend time with Him. And when you heed His voice, you experience power as a Christian. Power to talk to people and get them saved; power to encourage; power to change circumstances; power to pray. That power is yours when you walk according to God’s voice.

The Armour Of God

Ephesians 6:10-20

What does it mean to be strong in the Lord? Is it just knowing the Bible or praying everyday? Or maybe it’s about knowing all the “Christianese” so nobody can understand what you’re saying. Nah. Being strong in the Lord is about being able to uphold His standard of life even when troubles come. It’s about having faith that God can do anything when it looks like He can’t. How does the Bible expect us to do this? We put on the armour of God. The Helmet of Salvation protects your head from thoughts that try to make you doubt. You KNOW you are saved and belong to the Kingdom of God and you know what rights you have in Christ. The Shield of Faith helps you believe in God when it may look like He’s not there. Faith is the ASSURANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Without faith it is impossible to please God. The Breastplate of Righteousness protects you from condemning yourself. When you live right, it’s easier to pray to God because you don’t feel guilty. The Belt of Truth helps keep the breastplate on. When you know the Truth, which is the Word of God, you know the wages of sin is death, you know God cannot be around sin. That makes it harder to sin. Finally, the only weapon we have is the Sword which is the Word of God. Only in His Word can we know how to pray, what rights we have, and how do defeat the devil in all areas of our life. I know is really deep and a little confusing, but this is how you become strong in the Lord as today’s text says. Nobody ever said our Christian walk would be easy. Even Jesus told us we would be persecuted for our faith. But God has given us what we need to stand strong and guard our minds. Now we just gotta use our tools.

What Are You Asking For?

1 John 5:14-17

There is power in prayer. How many times have we prayed so hard for something and not received it? Well, the confidence we have is that when we ask for something in the name of God, he hears us. And... whatever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. One thing my mom taught me is that when you pray, find a scripture that promises you what you are asking for. That ensures that you are asking according to the name of the Lord so you can have confidence. Sometimes it might take a while, and it may get worse before it gets better, but keep believing. God will come through in the end.

Get Back With God

Ezra 3:1-13

It feels good to be doing God’s work. Laying the foundation of the temple represented getting back with God for the People of Israel in today’s text. In their time of captivity, many may have felt separated from God and seeing the temple getting rebuilt was such a joyful occasion for them. Dudes and Chicks, being in a relationship with God is beautiful. There’s such joy in the presence of God, it’s indescribable. If you’ve allowed yourself to get separated from Him, today is as good a day as any to reconcile with Him. You know what you have to do because you have the Holy Spirit living in you. The people of Israel were ecstatic to be getting back to worship because they knew what it felt like to be away from Him. Get back with God today