Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional

The crowds that followed after Jesus wanted to be entertained. They were miracle junkies wanting another fix of excitement. They were chasing after wonders not Jesus…they were looking past the Savior for signs…they were running after the Miracle Worker and totally missing the Messiah. That’s because real faith isn’t dependent on signs but on Christ. Romans 10:17 tells us that, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.” So all the signs, and wonders the people came looking for could not save their souls. But if they truly listened & received after being first drawn by the miracles, it would all point them to Jesus Christ the Savior of the world.

Yes, the Lord really does know you. To Him you aren’t just some nameless face in a crowd of billions of people. He knows your name & it’s engraved on the palms of His hands…not should God forget, for His memory is infallible. No, God has written a permanent reminder on His hands to constantly remind Him of you. (Isaiah 49:16) He knows you and has an intimate understanding of everything that’s ever happened in your life… that’s because He is omniscient…aware of your most private thoughts and areas of life that you thought no one knew about…for they’re not hidden from God. Finally, God knows your heart, (Psalm 44:21) loves you for who you are, and wants only the very best for you.

We can foolishly think we can somehow manipulate God or influence Him with our selfish wants…or we can stubbornly resist what He’s doing & refuse to acknowledge His Sovereignty in our life. Either way we’re gonna lose. Psalm 115:3 is quite plain about this, “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” Need more proof? Read Isaiah 44:24-28 which essentially says, I Am the Lord Who does all things according to My desires. So how does God accomplish this? Through His Word. Or as Isaiah 55:11 says, “So is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” The Lord and His Word are unchangeable, sovereign, and will always fulfill His divine plan and purpose.

Like here and in Romans 12:4-8, Paul is using the analogy of the human body and its many parts to illustrate the nature of the Church…(the human body having 206 bones, 650 muscles, 78 organs, and billions of smaller structures of cells and tissue.) And like the human body, the Church is also comprised of billions of parts, each of which (like our bodies) has its own unique purpose and significance…each part not functioning independently, but cooperating mutually together in its unity, diversity, and service together. Paul too makes a point to show that as the body of Christ, we are all one in Him…the wall of separation, prejudice, and favoritism is gone…we are united together as one body (The Church) in Him.

The crowd that had just been fed by the miracle of loaves & fishes finally found Jesus and they were ready for more entertainment & food. But instead Jesus had challenged their carnal thinking & told them, “Don’t work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” … quoting from Isaiah 55:2 which says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, & your labor for that which does not satisfy?” But they only latched on to the word “work” and asked Him, “How consistent must we be then in working to keep God’s commandments, and what is the bare minimum work we must do?” In other words, looking at it from a totally legalistic & temporal viewpoint. But then Jesus totally blew them out of the water with His reply as He clarified what God truly required of them.. “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

In this verse and in fact in the entire 13th Chapter of I Corinthians (Which is called the Love Chapter) Paul not only distinguishes among faith, hope, and love, but links them together to show their mutual dependance on each other. In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus gives us the first & greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Unlike the passive type of love we usually think of…this type of love – Agape love- is active and was shown by God the Father to us when He gave us His one and only Son to die in our place…it is a perfect love that proceeds out of a heart of care & concern for others…all others. But we need faith, a trust and belief in Jesus, actively expressing itself to manifest this love. (Galatians 5:6) While hope is no more than faith looking towards the future with sure confidence & expectation. Paul sums this up wonderfully in I Thessalonians 1:3, when he wrote, “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Temptation itself isn’t sin – it’s something we’re bound to all face simply by being a sin-natured human being. Even Jesus Himself was tempted for 40 days in the desert by the devil. (Matthew 4:1-11) And that’s where the big difference lies…God tests, the devil tempts. James 1:13-14 is clear, God cannot tempt us, but our temptations are included in His Sovereign plan for our good. For if we overcome temptation, we are strengthened spiritually…but if we succumb to our unrighteous passions & desires, we will be hit with our own desperate need for further sanctification & grace. God will test us, but He will never tempt us in the sense of enticing us to sin. And if we need a good example of this, we only have to look to His Son, Jesus, Who was tested & tempted in every way, yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

None of us are exempt from life-altering conditions and/or circumstances that change us. A serious cancer diagnosis, a loss of a spouse, a devastating house fire, or a fatal car wreck can instantly remake our life. And suddenly there we are , looking at the half glass of water…trying to decide if it’s half full, or half empty. In I Peter 4:12-14 it’s quite evident, trials are our destiny, to one degree or another. For in these sufferings we can intimately identify with and unite to Christ & His sufferings for us…and through this participation of suffering, the power of Christ’s resurrection can be manifested in our lives as Christians. We were never promised a life without suffering and it’s our choice to bloom where we’re planted, or to rot in the ground.

Four times in the Old Testament we see a man sit by a well and God brings him his wife. Isaac & Rebekah in Genesis 24:16, Jacob & Rachel in Genesis 29:10, and Moses & Zipporah in Exodus 2:15-21. In John 4:1-42 we see a man sitting by the well – Jesus- and a unnamed Samaritan woman. She was a half-Jew outcast, shunned by even her own people, and a social reject with a scandalous past. But despite it all Jesus had traveled into Samaria for this divine appointment. But the marriage He was arranging was preparation for the Bride of Christ, the Church. His mission and purpose there, to speak eternal words…words of life & living water to that lost woman. This encounter so important in the fact, that it was the first time Jesus declared to anyone that He was the Messiah.

Paul sometimes accepted support for his ministry from the established Churches. But when preaching in a new city where he wanted to exemplify the freeness of the gift offering, he worked for his keep. (Paul was a tent-maker & weaver of black goat hair used for tent material.) But he also plied his trade in Thessalonica to set a strong example for those who were refusing to work. That’s because certain members of the new Church had erroneously concluded that since Christ was returning soon they need not worry about being gainfully employed and instead, wandered from house to house daily gossiping & meddling in other people’s business…to the point of becoming a burden on the rest of the Church members for their needs… when they were fully capable of working. And as a result, their lifestyle had become lazy & undisciplined and the Church was forced to deal with it all.