Daily Devotion

You are Responsible for Your Own Salvation

 

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53:6

 

I got my little brother to download a lot of old cds for me.  I'm not sure if y'all remember, but there is this song by Helen Baylor, where she is giving her testimony about her life.  How she went from growing up in church, getting saved and living for Christ then went in the totally opposite direction.  She was in the nightclubs at 12, started singing for major acts and got involved with wrong crowd.  She started doing drugs.  But she always reiterates the fact that she "had a praying grandmother."  But notice when she got down to her lowest point how she called on God for herself; the devil was rebuked and she turned her life around.  Now don't stop praying for people, because this story shows that there is hope for everyone.  On the eve of the new year, have you assured your own salvation?  I love you and be safe!!!  Happy New Year!

 

That if thou(meaning YOU) shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  Romans 10:9-10

Daily Devotion

Sacrifices

 

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."  John 19:30

 

How do you tell the person you love that you are willing to do anything in the world for them?  That you are there for them through thick and thin.  That you can carry their load, and relieve their pains. (Matthew 11:28)  That you only want to love them with all your heart, and pray that they love others the same way. (Matthew 19:19)  That they go forth and tell others about your love, and preach the good news, the way to salvation and righteousness. (Acts 8:25)

 

You die for them. "he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross." Philippians 2:8 Like a lamb ready for slaughter, He died. When they did not hear anything, believe anything, receive anything, they receive that you and others were willing to deliver that message to them.  They see that you loved them more than life itself, and that you died so that they might live.  They see that others were willing to die because of you and your love.  They see how they were willing to live in dire and destitute situations in order to spread the good news of salvation.  For through Him, we are all now redeemed and the sons and daughters of the Father. 'When the centurion who stood facing Jesus saw how he had cried out and breathed his last, he said, "This man certainly was the Son of God!"' Mark 15:39 Then, hopefully, they love you back.

 

Love God, and love Christ.

 

"And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.  1 Peter 2:24

 

Merry CHRISTmas!

Daily Devotion

Cutting off the Dead Part 

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."  John 15:2 

Have you ever noticed if you prune the dead leaves off of a plant how much it grows and blossoms?  Or for you ladies, if you cut your hair (for maintenance) how it seems to grow much faster?  Even in diabetic patients that have to have an appendage amputated, how they seem to do much better physically after the part that has died is gone?  I know that ever since I have been on a "search and destroy" mission for my split ends how much faster my hair grows. 

Death, or in this case, negativity infects everything it touches. It starts at one point and then it spreads. Like cancer if untreated, it spreads to the next most vulnerable spot.  Split ends in hair can eventually cause baldness if ignored. So imagine what happens if you are spiritually dead and ignore your need for God. If you are not nourishing your heart and soul, if you do not know Jesus and love Him, do you really want to know what the consequences are?  Do you really want to know what kinds of social, physical, financial, moral, and spiritual ills you leave yourself to become a victim to? You cannot be physically well without being spiritually well too. We were made to be fruitful—to blossom and produce good fruit—in particular here the good fruits of the spirit. (Genesis 1:28)  We are also to allow our seeds to be shared with others (the Word of God), thus planting good fruit in them and continuing the cycle. 

Jesus says above that the dead parts—the parts that don't produce fruit are cut off, taken away.  And even those that produce fruit are pruned—perfected—in order to bear more fruit.  But in the very next verse Jesus says that by receiving His message, we have been pruned.  "You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you."  John 15:2   But it does not end there:  we must stay alive—stay spiritually well by continuing to seek Him and abide in Him.  So stay alive, keep allowing God to prune you, and grow you for His divine purpose. 

"Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a pruned branch and dries up. People gather such branches, throw them into a fire, and they are burned up. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and you will receive it. This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and so prove to be my disciples."  John 15:4-8

Daily Devotion #2

You Don't Know Me NOW

 

' "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.'  Mark 6:3

 

I'm going to bed but I had to finish this.  My own personal devotion mentioned this today, actually the reference in Matthew.  But its so relevant, because I am not the person I used to be, not in high school, college, last year, last month, last week or even yesterday. As living beings, we are in a constant, ever-changing state. Anyone who is in Christ becomes a new person, born of His glory.

 

I am not the same Marquita.  Through countless trials and situations, I have become a different person.  Therefore, you cannot hold me to things I did before, you cannot assume that I still like the same things, you cannot believe that I think the same.

 
Take Paul for example.  He was one of the BIGGEST persecutors of Christians ever mentioned.  Saul, as was his name before, used to go around to the synagogues and "wrangle up" Jews that believed in Christ and deliver them for imprisonment and execution.  Christians had to hide and live in secret places.  They could not worship God publicly. When I visited Turkey, I got to walk through part of one of their underground cities in Cappadocia.  Can you imagine living UNDERGROUND so that you can freely practice your faith?  Constantly hiding and fearing for your life, unless you were caught?

 

Here in Acts 9:21 the Jews we baffled at his preaching and zest for Christ:  'All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, "Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?"'  Then he himself says in Galatians 1:13-14 of his former life:  "You heard about the way I once lived when I followed the Jewish religion. You heard how I violently persecuted God's church and tried to destroy it. You also heard how I was far ahead of other Jews in my age group in following the Jewish religion. I had become that fanatical for the traditions of my ancestors."  But then the most important part--the part that matters is this: "But God, who appointed me before I was born and who called me by his kindness, was pleased to show me his Son. He did this so that I would tell people who are not Jewish that his Son is the Good News..." Galatians 1:15-16  And because people did not know the new Saul also known as Paul anymore, they still went back to his past.  But because he was a convert, because Jesus himself intervened and revealed Himself to Paul, many were brought to Christ and gave Him the glory. 'The only thing they kept hearing was this: "The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!". Galatians 1:23 Because if God can change the very person that tried to and succeeded in killing His followers, then turn around and use him to bring others to Christ, what can God do for you!

 

You don't know me anymore.  There is a new me.

 

"So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me."  Galatians 1:24

Daily Devotion

Investing 101 

"By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him."  1 John 4:9 

God loves you and believes in you.  His love is like a parent that is willing to give all they have so that their child can have a better future and life than they had.  Actually it's beyond that.  God sent part of himself to be born into the world to save people that were not originally entitled to His promises.  Yes the Bible mentions many people that believed in God that were not Hebrew, but He made His love known globally at Jesus' sacrifice.  Do you know anybody like that, willing to die so that you can be saved?   

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32 

Trusting God and believing in Christ is a GUARANTEED high yield.  In layman's terms:  if you believe God and trust Him, you are guaranteed to receive the highest return: eternal life. There is nothing better than that; money can't buy you eternal happiness. Much like investing in stocks, if you try to change what you believe or "sell or buy" each day, you are definitely gonna lose out because the stock market, like life, is volatile. If you believe in God one day, then change your mind the next, quite possibly you may miss the opportunity to return to Him. Things come each day to cause your profits to tank. (1 Peter 1:6)  But it is always the long term investor that profits the greatest.  If you invest time, love, money, and dedication in your relationship with God, you will benefit much.  You will see dividends of peace, love, grace, mercy, favor, and blessings from all around. (2 Thess. 2:16) 

God has already invested greatly in your life and future life.  Why not start investing in your own life and the lives of others by sharing His love and His word? 

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."  2 Corinthians 9:6

Daily Devotion

You are Never Too _______ to Learn

 

Everything written long ago was written to teach us so that we would have confidence through the endurance and encouragement which the Scriptures give us.  Romans 15:4

 

I left that blank because people have all sorts of excuses about learning new things.  I have long believed that you should learn something everyday. You can learn something from anyone if you are willing to try.  Don't rule someone out because they are young; don't ignore someone because they seem incompetent or don't live as well as you do. 

 

For example, I find it so interesting that children regardless of their age love unconditionally.  You could have the world's worst mother but still love her in spite.  What I learned from it is that this illustrates the agape love--regardless, no matter what you do kind of love that God has for us. 

 

You have to allow yourself to be fertile enough to let someone plant seeds in your mind and heart--now, don't take that to mean let anything someone says be taken as a lesson--that's where discernment and wisdom come in.  Actually, you need both of those in order to know what to listen to in the first place. "But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true--it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ." 1 John 2:27  Yield to the Holy Spirit and learn something and share it!

 

"Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning."  Proverbs 9:9

Daily Devotion

Ye of Little Faith

 

Stop letting your mind cripple you and believe, have faith I tell you!! Six different times in the book of Matthew Jesus says to the disciples "O Ye of Little Faith."  In Matthew 8:26 during the storm on the sea Jesus says:  'He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.'  In Matthew 14:31 when Peter began to sink as he walked out on the water to Jesus, he cried out for Jesus' help.  'Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"'  In Matthew 17:14-20, Jesus meets a man with a possibly schizophrenic child; the man took his son to the Disciples and they could not heal  him.  Jesus says "O faithless and perverse generation.." in Matthew 17:17.  I hope you're getting the central theme--a lack of faith and unbelief open the doorway for fear to take over. Its like on TV when the teenager is only having a few friends over, they open the door and in comes the party... 

 

2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."  God did not give fear to us; rather, we inherited it after Pandora's box was open at Adam's sin.  Because we are but flesh, we fear, we get scared, we get afraid.  And because our minds are inclined to rational reason, we doubt what we do not see, we do not believe what God tells us.  We do not believe, therefore we do not have faith.  Jesus reprimanded the Disciples after they failed to believe in the abilities He gave to them:  "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."(Matthew 17:20)

 

I had a beautiful experience today.  Y'all know I have been applying to seminary, and I found out yesterday that one of the scholarships I am applying for had the date bumped up for the deadline for the essay.  It was only God, because of my anal tendencies--the paper I had originally printed looked raggedy to me, lol--that I went back on the website to print another application.  I learned that the essay and scholarship application are now due January 15 instead of February 1.  So obviously I'm going to crack down and crank it out.  But I called the admissions office and God spoke to me directly through the woman that answered the phone.  I called to clarify and make sure that the information I had was correct, because I could no longer find the original application that I have.  I of course lately had been letting doubt and unbelief because of all the uncertainties in my life dictate what I have been doing--like not writing my devotions and slacking on my applications.  (I'm glad to say that I am nearly done with the exception of recommendations by the way, . It was only God that I called today, because He knew He needed to get me directly on the line.  She only started working there this week, and she was only in the office because no one else was there--she is a MTh or ThD student.  There are no coincidences people!  So she told me her testimony of how God moved her to Atlanta to go to Emory--she missed the original deadline; God told her to keep pressing and apply even after the deadline and was accepted anyway. She had to defer for a year because she did not have the money to attend, but then God told her to pack as much as she could in her car and just go and drive to Atlanta.  She was afraid and skeptical but obedient. Of course when she got there, she had the money to go to school.  Then the next year, she was uncertain of finances for school again, and was gonna pack her car and go back to New Haven, but of course God made a way for her.  I told her I don't like saying I'm afraid and uncertain because we are supposed to--and she immediately went in on me.  Like I'm telling you, she said that because we are human--we are flesh, we get scared--which is very true. By that time, I was crying, because at that moment, I needed that word from Him; God knows us and what we need--He promises to supply them, right? I then realized before she could say it, we can have fear and faith--its just we have to believe in God and not doubt His word because He gave us proof--The Bible!  We must trust God and know that what He told us will come true.

 

Trusting God trumps being afraid any day if you believe and have faith. God's promises and His word do not return void.  Its a guaranteed investment.

 

"So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."  Isaiah 55:11