Daily Devotion

Bloodied But Unbowed

 

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."  2 Corinthians 4:8-9

 

God never ceases to amaze me.  Tonight I had the favor to watch the most powerful testimony I've seen in a while.  You see we all go through things--willingly and unwillingly.  We experience things at our own hands and at the hands of others.  Sometimes we inflict these troubles upon our selves or we appear to be the target of a random act of violence.  Sometimes we faithfully endure these situations hoping and praying that God will miraculously deliver us from the oppression that we are experiencing while at other times we muster that last bit of courage and make whatever decisions God instructs to turn the situation around.  But most times, we do not ever leave the battle unscathed.

 

Bloodied but unbowed...taken from a very inspirational poem; now taking an additional meaning because of the scriptures above.  Everyone who followed Jesus' teachings during this time was persecuted.  Having had the favor to see what they lived in while trying to spread the message, I am humbled and truly know what they mean.(I went to Turkey in 2006 and in Cappadocia are the Underground Caves that made the Underground City where the persecuted Christians lived.)  Nowhere in the Bible does it say that life will be pain free; in fact, it often says the exact opposite.  As Christians we will suffer.  But we must not give up and surrender our power to the enemy.  We must not succumb to the attacks he brings against us.  Why?  Because Jesus already defeated Satan.  Our job at this point is to glorify God by keeping the faith.  Keep on believing and being steadfast.  Do not bow in defeat.  We are not crushed!  We are not driven to despair.  We are not destroyed.

 

'"Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.'  John 15:20

 

Here is the link from the video and I most definitely think you should look at it and give God all the glory.

 

http://www.tbn.org/watch/files/index.php?file=2010_8_3_300k.wmv&show=85
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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17

Daily Devotion #2

Change the Channel

 

"They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2 Timothy 4:4

 

You've got to change the voice that you are listening to.  Change the voice that is talking in your head.  What kinds of things are you listening to?  What people are you listening to?  What are you feeding yourself?  Are you poisoning yourself with words that go against the word of God? 

 

When I go to sleep most nights, I play gospel music or the Bible as my lullaby.  When I heard someone say to me for a 50+ time the importance of guarding my eye-gate and ear-gates, I realized that a lot of the music I listened to promoted things that did not speak to me the way I needed.  I needed to hear praise and worship, I needed to hear the word constantly.  Now I am sensitive to complaining, self-pity parties (well almost immune to my own), and anything that does not speak life into a situation. 

 

Our minds are like computers.  If you a write a program to solve some problem, that is what is will do.  If you tell it to print xyz every minute, that is what it will do.  Likewise, with your mind, if you program it with negativity, complacency, complaining, and self-hatred programming, that is exactly what will be produced in your mind and eventually your life...everything involving you.  If you were raised to by a nagging, negative mother/father that only pointed out your faults, that is all that you will see.  Honestly, I think that all of our problems are a result of some negatively programming.  You have to be strong enough to recognize that within yourself.  Stand up and recognize these things.  You cannot expect to progress and produce anything positive if you are too weak to change it.  Only you can decide once and for all to put an end to it and allow God the freedom to change the channel for you.  Stop believing the lies before it starts coming out of you.

 

"Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.  Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'"  Mark 7:14-15

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17

Daily Devotion

Adding To Your Testimony

 

'Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, "Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed."'  Luke 5:14

 

Every situation and circumstance you face adds to your testimony.  Testimonies are like resumes, detailing your experience, your skills, and your triumphs.  They tell where you have been, what things you have overcome, what you are capable of dealing with.  Like in Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God-those whom he has called according to his plan." (GWT) 

 

Now so that you know, God does not cause bad upon us.  John 10:10 says that "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."  God will use that bad situation or that diagnosis to make it all work out for His good.  You never know, He may put someone in your life that can use your insight or learn from how you overcame a situation. 

 

I'm not gonna sit here and act like I want to go through bad things.  Quite frankly, I can most definitely learn from the experiences of others.  (And for clarification, your testimony does not simply highlight the bad, but every single blessing God has laid upon you....and if you try to count all of those I am sure you'd stop complaining.)  I don't!  And if I remember correctly, that was not God's intent for us.  But where there is a will, there is a way...hence the fall of man.  But God saw fit to save us and redeem us through Christ.  He calls some of us to suffer or go through more difficult things than other people.  Just know that it is for the benefit of another...not just you.  Everything you go through adds to that testimony--and truthfully to your life!  Can you imagine where you would be without some of those experiences?  Can you be honest with yourself and identify the lessons you learned in the midst of the storm?  Be like the leper in the scripture above and be a public testimony of the magnificence of God.  To truly show Christ we have to endure in sufferings as He did.

 

"But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles; straightway I conferred not with flesh and blood"  Galatians 1:15-16

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17

Daily Devotion

Looking Through Dirty Lenses

"Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness." Luke 11:34

I just spent that last few minutes looking at some pictures from the last few years...actually almost 4 years ago. My first instinct was to cry (which I did) and ask God why did He allow me to experience the pains associated with the face that stared back at me from the picture. Why did He allow the prednisone and other medicines to ravage my body and pull out the inner ugliness caused by the deterioration of my kidney function; I still barely understand why I had to experience that. Then it dawned on me that instead of focusing on the pain, hurt, frustration and anger that I remembered from that point in my life, I should instead thank God for deliverance from that place. At first I only saw the pain--the hatred I felt towards myself and how I looked, the pain I felt walking back and forth to class, the inability to truly look at myself in a mirror. Then I realized that God used it to make me stronger, the very same situation that the enemy intended for my defeat.


The scripture above tells us what its like to have bad eyes. Its the same when you look through dirty glasses or sunglasses. Everything you see will be distorted, cloudy, or warped. Like eyes inclined to darkness, dirty lenses warp our view of reality with whatever imperfections within the lens. My eyes during that time in my life were warped by the reality of my declining health, being in school, and the one thing I felt I had control of--myself--being turned against me. Rather than looking at the fact that I was alive in spite of the hurt and pain, the fact that God kept me alive for some reason beyond my own understanding, I cried daily at my own hatred of my outer appearance, the confused stares and questions, and the uncertainty things would ever be the same. My situation is much like those of us whose eyes have been conditioned to see the way of the world as correct and that it is impossible to live life in obedience to the Lord or in the way of the Word. Their eyes have been darkened and until they turn back to the Lord, they cannot see properly. Until God reminded me of my deliverance (because I don't even look anything like those pictures of me), I looked through dirty lenses or bad eyes. God had to take me from my physical self into the supernatural to see the blessings He has given me.

Are you looking through dirty lenses, lenses warped by pain, sin, and lies? Until you ask God to clean them and reveal the truth to you, you will always find fault with whatever you are looking at.

"Therefore, be careful that the light in you isn't darkness." Luke 11:35

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17

Daily Devotion

Exceedingly and Abundantly

 

"Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" Ephesians 3;20

 

Sometimes we get in the midst of a situation and do not realize who our Creator is.  We doubt, fear, get anxious, and assume a defeated stance.  But that is not who God created us to be!  That is not who God sacrificed His Son to save!  He wants us to believe in Him and on Him in every situation or circumstance.  I took some scriptures where the word exceedingly is used to share tonight. 

 

1 Chronicles 29:25--"And the LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel."  In the case of Solomon, he humbled himself before God and asked only for the wisdom to righteously lead the children of Israel as their king.  God, in return, gave Solomon the wisdom and the riches because..why wouldn't He! Why would God not bless someone that sought wisdom--not worldly wisdom or traditional wisdom, but divine, God-ordained wisdom to make the right decisions.

 

Genesis 17:2, 6--  2: "I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly." 6:"I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you."  To Abraham, a childless but obedient man, God promised to make him the father of all nations.  Abraham listened and obeyed God when He told Abraham to leave his native country and go to the land of Canaan.  Of course God kept His word!

 

1 Timothy 1:14--"And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."  The apostle Paul received grace--he himself was one of early Christianity's most prominent persecutors.  People all across the middle east had heard of some of his acts of cruelty against Christians.  But God saw fit to use him right?  God extends that same grace to us in the same abundance.

 

God is always in the business of exceeding our expectations with abundance.  He is waiting on us to call on Him and remind Him of His word.  You see, God wants us to trust Him, depend on Him, wait on Him, and love Him because He loves us.  He loved us so much that Christ died and is risen for us!  We do not have to fight the battle alone--better yet at all because as the word says the battle is the Lord's! Expect that He will win it for you, that He will slay the dragons and beasts you face.  Trust Him and His word!!  They are not like man's words, empty promises--but no, they are proven fact.  Have exceedingly abundant expectations of what God can do in your life.

 

"Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work."  2 Corinthians 9:8

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17