The well-known quote, “It ain’t over til it’s over.” came from American baseball legend, Yogi Berra. Now it may have originally meant the outcome of a Divisional baseball game…but we can also apply it to our journey through life. Isaiah 46:4 tells us, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Both Scriptures speak of our future in Christ with that simple word – will. God will sustain, rescue and heal us…for as long as we have breath, God will take care of us. So our journey called life isn’t over, until God decides it’s over.
Category: daily devotional
Luke 6:45 ” The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. “
The old saying goes something like, “Whatever’s in the cup will spill out.” And it’s really true! When life shakes you, out of the abundance of your heart emerges either good or bad. So it’s so important to remember the advice given in Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” In other words, the source / or the starting point of all good or evil within you… is your heart.
Psalm 119:161 ” Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart trembles at Your Word.”
Jesus reminds us in the Gospels that just as He was persecuted, Christians all around the world will be unjustly accused. And as evil domination snowballs…so will injustice towards those of the Christian faith. For it’s not a matter anymore of if, but of when…for the world is becoming increasingly more brazen and emboldened in its attack of what once was considered sacred and off limits. But just as David declared to King Saul… the Lord is our only judge and it will be Him that will vindicate and deliver us. ( I Samuel 24:14-15)
James 2:8 ” If you keep the royal law found in Scriptures, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’, you are doing right.”
To love your neighbor as yourself, is an excellent example of unselfish love. It’s a love that isn’t contrived, plays favorites, or is narrow-minded simply because the person don’t look or act like us. Jesus Christ patterned this unselfish love for us… always looking on anyone He encountered with love and mercy. And since the Lord has shown such great mercy towards us…how can we not show this same mercy to others?
Ezekiel 33:11 ” Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ “
God does not desire nor does He delight in the eternal damnation of the wicked. He has given all of us a free will to chose our own actions and behaviors, but in this verse God is imploring us to reconsider our choices…and sadly, the consequences that come along with them.
Revelation 3:3 ” Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.”
What was John telling the Church in Sardis they needed to remember? It was the Gospel Message…the Good News of Jesus. We should never discount or dismiss the wonder-working power of the Gospel. For within its message is the Holy Spirit at work in hearts and minds. And when we hear and receive the Good News, it’s then our responsibility to obey and repent. For true repentance is a moral reorientation of our soul…a acknowledging of the error of our ways and a turning towards truth and righteousness…of turning to God.
Job 41:11 ” Who has a claim against Me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to Me.”
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” (Psalm 24:1) So look around you today…God has made everything you see, smell, touch, hear, and taste. And He is under no obligation to anyone for this creative work. For God is totally and absolutely self-sufficient.
Galatians 5:15 ” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
There’s nothing sadder than internal division and strife within a Church. For Satan doesn’t need to attack from outside the walls when he can use the Body of Believers to annihilate each other. This cautionary verse tells us to be on guard against murmuring, back biting, and back stabbing which can only lead to ruin.
Psalm 7:14 ” He who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment.”
Let’s get this straight…God does not tempt us. Instead, our own evil desires do a really good job of that. And it’s when we allow our own deceptive imaginings to fester and grow, that sin has a foothold. You might call this day-dreaming…part pleasant reverie, part suggestive fantasy…but all of it giving rise to deception and lies in our thought life. And whenever you allow your day-dreaming to “go there”…whatever that is for you, you’re being tempted to give in to sinful thinking. That’s when we need to stop and remember II Corinthians 10:5, which cautions us to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.
Hebrews 10: 11-12 ” Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.”
Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest who became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him…(Hebrews 5:9) No longer did we have to keep offering the same sacrifices to remove our sins…for the truth is we can’t on our own abolish our sins…only the blood of Jesus can once, for all, do that.
Safetypinlove 