Daily Bread Archives

May 9, 2024May 9, 2024

No Sacrifice Left

²⁶For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ~ Hebrews 10:26-27

Once you have accepted Jesus as your own personal Savior and have had your sins forgiven, you are now expected to live a life free of sin. You no longer indulge in the blatant sins you used to commit. But the popular saying these days is, “No one is perfect. We all make mistakes,” and that is true. There is no one that is perfect, and we all do make mistakes. But that does not hinder us or stop us from chasing down perfection and pursuing holiness in order to try to achieve it. And the mistakes that we make are not the same ones that we’ve been making everyday for the last two years.

I believe that when someone starts talking about no one is perfect and we all make mistakes, the question that needs to be asked is, what kind of mistakes are you referring to? Because adultery, or fornication, or pornography is not a mistake, it is blatant sin, and if any of those are current in your life, you need to repent and change your ways. Living like that is not chasing perfection. That is a fearful expectation of judgment.

The next thing is, if you continue living in a way that is contrary to what Jesus has determined is the right way, then that would suggest that you have more self-love than you have love for Jesus. You would never deliberately hurt your parents, your spouse, or anyone you truly love. It is the same with Jesus; you can’t use the excuse that Jesus understands…That is an excuse for you to continue feeding the lust of the flesh, and when you willfully feed the lust of your flesh, you hurt Jesus and grieve His Holy Spirit. And we are not to do that. We are to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). We no longer do the things that we know will hurt Him or cause Him pain. We love our LORD, therefore, we must protect our relationship with Him by keeping in Him and He in us. We can only do that through obedience.

The bottom line is, if you are saved but you continue to deliberately sin, there is No Sacrifice Left for you. You cannot trample the blood of Jesus and expect no consequences. So, if you have walked away from the LORD, or if you have been doing things that are wrong in Jesus’ sight, stop making excuses and repent and begin to live a righteous life in the strength of the LORD and pursue holiness.

Heavenly Father, help me to live for You. Help me to be obedient to Your commands and to Your Word. Help me to guard and protect my relationship with You that I might be pleasing to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Back to Growth?

Back to Daily Bread?

Put It Into Practice

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians 4:8-9

Look at Paul’s instructions to the Philippians. He said, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things. There are four sources.

What you have learned
What you have received
What you have heard
And lastly, what you have seen in me

Far too often Christians will sit through a good sermon where God is speaking directly to them, and they will turn to their neighbor and say, “This one’s for you.” No it’s not, that one was for you. Or they will participate in a really good conference with all kinds of tips and helps and are energized at the conference but as soon as they leave, two days later, they’ve forgotten everything that they were so excited about. What we, as Christians, need to do, is to put into practice what we’ve learned, and what we’ve received, and what we’ve heard and what we’ve seen. Now, I’m not saying that we ought to blindly do all of those things, we must first match all of that up with Scripture.

Because Paul doesn’t leave it to our own interpretation, he says, if it is honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, having any excellence, and is praise worthy, think about these things, or in other words, put these things into practice. He gives us a guide to follow so that we will not be easily led astray with useless things. We must make a conscious effort to find these things, or notice these things and then put them into practice.

What I am saying is we need to put more of what we have learned, received, heard, and seen in Godly Saints, pastors, and teachers into practice. It is no use having all of the best tools but never using them, or only using them for a very short period of time and then go back to the old way. So, let us determine to put what we’ve learned, received, heard, and seen into practice if it lines up with Scripture.

Heavenly Father, help us to put into practice all that we’ve been taught, read in Scripture, and seen in other saints of God. Help us not to become stagnant, but moving forward in growth and maturity in the things of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Back to Spiritual Slumber?

Back to Daily Bread?

Let The Spirit Lead

²³ So after he had eaten food and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴ When he left, a lion attacked him along the way and killed him. His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too. ~ 1 Kings 13:23-24^CSB

There was a prophet in the time of King Jeroboam of Israel. This prophet directly heard from the Word of the LORD to go speak against the high places Jeroboam had built. Of course Jeroboam didn’t take too kindly to being called out the way he was, so he reached out his hand to call for the prophet to be seized. But as Jeroboam did this, his hand withered, and he couldn’t pull his hand back to him. So, he pleaded with the prophet to pray for him, and he did so his hand was restored.

After he did this, Jeroboam pleaded for the man to remain with him, but he refused because the Word of the LORD told him not to remain there and drink or eat in that place. Now, as he was leaving out of Bethel, an old prophet heard of him and sent his sons to get him. He came and told the old prophet that he couldn’t stay with him because he had a command from the Word of the LORD to follow. The old prophet told him that he was also a prophet, and an angel came to him and said that the prophet needed to stay with him and eat and drink.

Now, while they were eating and drinking at the table, the Word of the LORD came not the prophet but the old prophet who had deceived him. The prophet was told he wouldn’t make it home because of his disobedience to the LORD. He then saddled his donkey and left. He was killed by a lion before he got out of the city.

I want you to really think about that for a second. The Scriptures say the old prophet deceived him, but it wasn’t the old prophet that died. It wasn’t the old prophet who was punished with never hearing from the Word of the LORD again. It was the prophet who was deceived and disobeyed. That may sound harsh, but think about it. The LORD Himself came to him, gave him orders, and showed him signs and wonders, yet he still listened to the voice of man instead of God. His faith was in man, not God.

God has called each and every one of us to do something. He’s given us sign after sign, answered prayer after answered prayer, but then sometimes someone else comes along who is older or has been a Christian longer and begins to weigh in on your call. They begin to cast doubt in your mind. They’ll point out that they’re older and, therefore, wiser or that they’ve heard from God as well. This is the enemy using a willing victim. Someone who already has preconceived notions about your call, so the enemy will use them to try to get you off your path. Does that mean that they aren’t of God and they’re now evil? No. The old prophet is never called a false prophet. His deception of this young prophet didn’t take away from his overall call. Was he wrong? Yes. But the young prophet who heard directly from God was still even more wrong because he should’ve followed God instead of Man.

Don’t allow someone to dissuade you from your call just because they’ve been a Christian longer than you have or because they’re older. Let the Spirit guide you. Take instruction and guidance from those who are in step with the Spirit. Not everyone you meet will be in tune with the Spirit, but they may have an opinion. Know the Shepherd’s voice by spending time with Him. By worship and prayer. Reading your Bible and meditating on His Word. Asking for a sign and paying attention so you’ll see it when it’s there.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let The Spirit Lead.

Back to Faith?

Back to Daily Bread?

Show Yourself Approved

¹⁵ Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. ~ 2 Timothy 2:15^CSB

When I was younger, a movie entitled “Think Like A Man” came out. The plot, from what I remember, was a group of women who bought a book by Steve Harvey explaining the way a man thinks and how to get the most out of a relationship with a man. There were about maybe five different men with different personalities and faults, but the book explained how to deal with and get the most out of the relationship with each one. This group of women was so desperate that they bought the book, read it every night, highlighted it, and put it into practice daily with faith and hope of results. And you know what happened? They saw results. This is how the Church should be.

Today, the Church barely knows what’s in the Bible, let alone lives it. If you go online, the majority of people hate the Church. They hate any form of Christianity. We’re seen as lowlives, scum, cheats, the worst of the worst. When someone questions our faith, the majority of us can’t defend why we believe what we believe. The majority of us have never read the Bible all the way through before. The majority of us don’t have any kind of prayer life. The Church has a bad reputation in the world, so what are we going to do about it? How can we fix it?

We take a page from that group of women who wanted to see a change and we start with ourselves. We study the Scriptures daily to show ourselves approved. We spend time in prayer and worship putting our flesh into submission. We put into action what Jesus commanded and we start living for Christ instead of for ourselves.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Show Yourself Approved.

Back to Spiritual Warfare?

Back to Daily Bread?

Remove The Illusion

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. ¹⁸ The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit. ¹⁹ One who is righteous has many adversities, but the Lord rescues him from them all. ~ Psalms 34:17-19^CSB

All of us have experienced losing a loved one. We’ve all suffered some form of loss. Many of us, when we lose someone we love, we lose part of ourselves, but we try to hide it. We try to convert it up by wearing a mask that we’re all okay. That everything’s fine. Our outside is okay, but inside, we’re falling apart.

It makes me think of a scene from one of the marvelous movies when Thor and Loki’s mother dies. Thor goes to speak to Loki in prison, and Loki is fine. He’s relaxing. Enjoying reading a book in his cell, but Thor knows better. He forces Loki to remove the illusion he’s created so that Thor can see his true self. And he does. He shows his brother how distraught and broken he is over his mother’s death. His cell isn’t neat, and neither is he. Books are destroyed. His hair is disheveled. His soul is aching.

Many of us hide our hurt deep down within us, refusing to show it to anyone. Maybe it’s because we don’t feel we have anyone to go to. But even if we have no one to go to in this physical world, we have someone to go to. Jesus told us to lay our burdens on Him. We can go to God. We don’t have to figure it out on our own. We don’t have to hide it from God because He already knows. He isn’t angry at our hurt or our pain. It doesn’t make Him uncomfortable or want distance from us. He embraces us in our filth when we come to Him, so how much more would He embrace us because of our hurt if we go to Him?

God’s arms are wide open. He’s waiting for you. Cry in His arms. Mourn in His presence. Give Him your burdens, and He will take them from you. He will comfort you. He will give you peace. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen if you remain faithful.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remove The Illusion.

Back to Cleansing?

Back to Daily Bread?

Seek The Anointing

¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah. ¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him, ¹⁵ so Saul’s servants said to him, “You see that an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Let our lord command your servants here in your presence to look for someone who knows how to play the lyre. Whenever the evil spirit from God comes on you, that person can play the lyre, and you will feel better.” ¹⁷ Then Saul commanded his servants, “Find me someone who plays well and bring him to me.” ¹⁸ One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is also a valiant man, a warrior, eloquent, handsome, and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹ Then Saul dispatched messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” ²³ Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would pick up his lyre and play, and Saul would then be relieved, feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. ~ 1 Samuel 16:13-19, 23^CSB

David was a good musician, but it wasn’t his skill that helped Saul; it was his anointing. See, oftentimes, we think that our skills and talents are what will let us touch lives, but that isn’t true. God doesn’t just use us because we’re talented or skilled. Look at Moses. He uses us because He anoints us for different things.

Look at Peter’s Pentecost message; it’s not deep. It’s nothing special. He just repeats the series of events as they happened, and three thousand souls were saved and joined the Church (Acts 2). My Dad always talks about an old-school preacher who preached a simple message of repentance, yet those in the audience gripped their chairs with all their might because they were afraid they fall out of their chairs and straight into Hell. Hundreds were saved.

God isn’t limited by your skill or talent but by the willingness of your heart. The Spirit of the LORD will move with the anointing of the LORD. It’s not based on anything physical like your talent or skill. It’s based on the spiritual; it’s based on your willingness to follow God regardless of what may or may not happen.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek The Anointing.

Back to Growth?

Back to Daily Bread?

Don’t Justify The Means

⁶ When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled. ⁷ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God. ~ 2 Samuel 6:6-7^CSB

The Israelites had just recovered the Ark of The Covenant. They were dancing for joy before the LORD as they were bringing it to the city of David. They set the ark on a new cart and two men guided it, Uzzah and Ahio. All was going well until the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out his hand to stable the ark.

He didn’t do this because he had no respect for God but because he didn’t want the ark to fall. Yet God struck him down instantly because of his sin. God didn’t see Uzzah as protecting the ark. He saw him as disobeying God’s commands. The ark was to be transported by specific people carrying it by the poles, not on a cart pulled by oxen and guided by two men.

The Ark of The Covenant was beyond sacred. It housed the Mercy Seat on top, where God Himself would descend in a cloud. Now they’ve not only put it on a cart pulled by oxen, they’ve almost dropped and had to touch it to re-steady it. The action and intent may seem to justify the means but it doesn’t.

So often, we think that if we do the wrong thing for the right reasons, God will justify us, but that’s not true. God is a just God who doesn’t see in grey like we do. He only sees in black and white. Either it’s wrong, or it isn’t. In fact, God would rather you do the right thing for the wrong reasons than the wrong thing for the right reasons.

Here’s what I’m saying, Uzzah’s intentions were to keep the ark from falling and being damaged, yet He still sinned and was therefore punished. In the New Testament, Paul addresses those who preach the Gospel for money, and says at least the Gospel is being preached. It may be done for selfish reasons but at least people are hearing about Christ. At least people are hearing about the hope of salvation.

The intention will never override the action. Because at the end of the day we are judged by our actions, not what we intended to do.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Justify The Means.

Back to Growth?

Back to Daily Bread?

Persistent Prayer

¹ And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ³And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” ⁶And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? ⁸I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” ~ Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told this parable in order to teach them the importance of persistent prayer. In the parable, the judge was not interested in giving the widow justice against her adversary. Every day she came with the same complaint: “Give me justice against my adversary.” And every day, it was the same thing: “You have no case.”

She came the very next day saying, “Give me justice,” and again, it was the same answer, “There is nothing here.” But the woman did not give up; she kept coming day after day after day. Soon, all the members of the court, even those who just came to watch the court proceeding, recognized her and knew her name. I can imagine people gathering early in the morning before court even started to place their bet. “I have ten dollars here that say Ms. Rosie ain’t coming today.” And others would jump on that, “I have twenty that say she will.” And sure enough, Ms. Rosie would show up to court to the amusement of those who bet on her. “Give me justice,” she would call out to the unjust judge.

The judge was getting weary with her coming and said to himself, “I better give her justice, or she will wear me out with her coming.” And he did give her justice.

Jesus said that if that unjust judge who neither feared God nor had respect for man would do what is right, how much more would our Heavenly Father do right by us?

It is our Father’s good will that we enjoy peace, joy, and justice. It is our Father’s good pleasure to give us good things, but we must stay persistent in prayer. We can’t come one day and not the next. We must bombard heaven with our coming. Give Him who promised no rest until we receive what we ask for. Believe me, God wants to give us good things.

What if Daniel had given up after two weeks? I suppose we would not have Daniel chapter ten to be encouraged with.

Next time a problem bombards you, you bombard heaven, and God will see that you get justice.

Heavenly Father, I ask You to help me not to give up so easily but to be persistent in my prayers. Hear me when I call on Your great Name. Thank You that You not only hear us but that You answer us as well. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Back to Spiritual Warfare?

Back to Daily Bread?

Move

¹⁹ You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe — and they shudder. ²⁰ Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ~ James 2:19-24 ^CSB

One of my favorite songs that I have loved since childhood is the song Dare You To Move by Switchfoot. The lyrics go:

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be, yeah
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened

Jesus left us with this frightening thought,

⁸ … when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Luke 18:8b

This song is all about stepping out in faith. Moving forward past your fears and your past failures. It’s asking if you are going to live in faith or not. So many of us think that the faith Jesus is looking for is faith that is strictly, “I believe Jesus is the Christ.” But that’s not it. Jesus isn’t looking for a basic faith that has no depth to it.

He’s looking for faith that moves mountains. Faith that says I don’t care what I see; I know who my God is and His plans for me. Faith that says I will dare to move regardless of my fear, past, or obstacles in my future. Faith that doesn’t speak but faith that moves.

Without this kind of faith, faith that is willing to fully trust God and follow His plan for our lives, we can’t please Him. Because if we only have the kind of faith that says I believe He is who He says He is, but I can’t trust Him in every aspect of my life, then that’s not true faith. That’s doubt. That’s a person who built their house on the sand instead of on the rock. That house will not stand in times of trouble. Even a little drizzle will shake the house off of its foundation.

Therefore, build on the rock that is immovable, unshakable, and eternal. Build on Jesus and let His Word kindle that flame inside of you so that your faith might grow.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Move.

Back to Faith?

Back to Daily Bread?

Be Unleavened

⁷Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 5:7-8

Paul tells us to clean out the old leaven so that we might be a new lump because that is who we really are. So often, we allow our past sins and/or sins we struggle with to label us and define who we are and who we will always be. Paul tells us to clean out the old leaven (fight and overcome our sins) because that leaven, that sin, isn’t who we are. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, and the Holy Spirit now dwells inside of us. We no longer have to be slaves to our sin. We can be transformed by the renewal of our mind and the blood of the lamb.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Unleavened.

Back to Cleansing?

Back to Daily Bread?

Category: Daily Bread

No Sacrifice Left

Similar Content

Put It Into Practice

Similar Content

Let The Spirit Lead

Similar Content

Show Yourself Approved

Similar Content

Remove The Illusion

Similar Content

Seek The Anointing

Similar Content

Don’t Justify The Means

Similar Content

Persistent Prayer

Similar Content

Move

Similar Content

Be Unleavened

Similar Content