JACKS DAILY DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS
(Matthew 7:7) "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened".
Don’t tolerate prayerlessness in your life!
Don’t allow the stress of "so-called progress" and “the busyness of life” dictate how much time you will sit at the feet of your Savior, your God, your Heavenly Father!
Crave those times, schedule those times, protect those times.
In the beautiful poem "The Difference"… the passionate need for prayer in the life of a believer vividly comes alive
"I woke early one morning, and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish, that I didn’t have time to pray".
"Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. “Why doesn’t God help me I wondered”… He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
"I wanted to see joy and beauty but the day toiled on gray and bleak… I wondered why God didn’t show me… He said, “but you didn’t seek.”
"I tried to come into God’s presence… I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided… “My child, you didn’t knock.”
"I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day.
I had so much to accomplish… that I had to take time to pray".
If you are wise you will stay “prayed up” and prepared for the inevitable crises of life that come everyday.
It’s foolish to wait until trouble shows up at your doorstep to begin this essential spiritual discipline.
The famous evangelist R.A. Torrey said that two of the greatest secrets to effective prayer lay in:
1) Studying the Word of God and finding His will as revealed in the promises.
2) Taking these promises and spreading them out before God in prayer, with the unwavering expectation that He will do what He said.
Jesus said “what so ever things you ask in prayer, believe that the Father has heard you and you will receive the things you pray for. (Matthew 21:22)-(1st John 5:14)-(Mark 11:24)
There is an old cliché that says “seven days with out prayer makes one weak”.
So “stay strong in the Lord and the power of His might”. (Ephesians 6:10)
It is accomplished thru prayer!
Good Day!
(Psalm 73:25-28) “I desire you more than anything on earth"
I woke up this morning hungry!
It was all I could do to wait until breakfast was ready!
My appetite was consuming my thoughts, demanding attention!
Which brings me to my thought for this day.
Can you tell me how much of an appetite you have for the things of God?
Does your soul crave more of God?
Do you miss Him and His presence when your not in church, or gathered together with other believers?
You may be physically healthy… but are your “spiritually healthy?”
And your Spiritual Health is often diagnosed or determined by your appetite for the things of God.
Unfortunately, there are many things that distract people from having a "spiritual hunger or awareness" of God.
Life, with all of its demands can overtake our mind and soul, cramming out our thoughts concerning God.
We get busy with the daily needs of our family, our business, satisfying our own desires and pleasure, and before you know it, the day has passed by the week has disappeared by hind you and God is left standing somewhere in in the recesses of our mind.
There is an old spiritual cliché that says “seven days with out prayer makes one weak”
Did you get that?
Just as seven days with out physical food will make your body physically weak, so to does our soul and spirit become spiritually weak with out spiritual sustenance.
Today and each day forward… lets be careful to stop for a few minutes through out the day… acknowledge Gods presence and ask Him to walk with you through out the busyness or activities of your day.
I remember when my sons were just kids four and five years of age.
They were overjoyed when they could go with daddy to his work or to some activity that I was involved in.
Lets be like that today!
Lets take every opportunity to stay as close to Him as we can, despite the daily grind and demands of life.
(1st Peter 2:2) “crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment.”
Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Luke 4:4)
Are you hungry for God?
Here are five ways to develop and satisfy a spiritual appetite.
1) Remind yourself how much God loves you.
The more you understand how much God loves you, the more you’re going to love Him.
The Bible says in (Ephesians 3:18-19), “May you have the power to understand … how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God”
2) Stop filling up on junk food.
You are a spiritual being with a God-shaped hole in your heart that only God can fill.
When you try to fill it with money, status, success, passion, possessions, power, prestige, or anything other than God, it’s not going to be fulfilling.
(Proverbs 15:14) says, “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.”
3) Make knowing God your number one goal.
Happiness is a byproduct of knowing God.
Jesus says in (Matthew 6:33), “Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well”!
4) Get into God’s Word.
The Bible is food for your soul.
Eating a meal once a week won’t keep you healthy.
In the same way, you need to feed on God’s Word every day.
(1st Peter 2:2) “You must “crave” pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment”
5) Appetite is influenced by association.
If you hang out with people who only care about politics, that’s all you’re going to care or talk about.
If you hang out with people who only care about sports, that’s what you’re going to care or talk about.
Today start developing “a spiritual appetite” and make God your #1 priority!
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him will I trust" (Psalm 91:1-2)
(Psalm 107:9) “For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things”.
Good Day!
(Genesis 1:31) "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good."
Insecurity is a hideous thing!
It robs you of peace, inner joy, and the confidence to become all you can be.
African-American novelist, multimedia journalist, and radio host, Farai Chideya graduated from Harvard, worked for Newsweek Magazine, and quickly rose to the top of her field.
Yet she spent years fighting bulimia, trying to become like the glossy images in the make-believe world around her.
When she finally broke free from her disease she wrote… “Losing weight didn’t change my personality, and it didn’t lighten the emotional baggage I carried from my childhood.
I thought I wanted to be thin… but what I really wanted was to be happy, and neither my looks nor my achievements could do that.
Because I couldn’t love or accept myself, the acceptance of others was never enough.
When I tried to be perfect I came across as remote and unapproachable, yet the exact opposite was what I wanted.”
Then she shares four life-changing principles that are ideal for those of us trying to find our place and purpose in this world: (They could in fact be a whole topic each one by itself to write about).
(1) Your obsession to be perfect will keep you trapped in loneliness. Satisfying relationships can only be built on honesty and total acceptance.
(2) Your obsession to be perfect will force you to see your shortcomings as something to hide, instead of opportunities for growth.
(3) Your obsession to be perfect will keep you fixated on what you’re going to be" some day", instead of enjoying what you are right now.
(4) Your obsession to be perfect will rob you of the chance to make your life count… for by focusing constantly on yourself you’ll have nothing left to give to others.”
Bottom line is… God didn’t "need" to create you… He "chose" to.
He told the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart”!
(Acts 10:34) if God is no "respecter of persons", (choosing one over another) then that means that He saw you in your mothers womb and He formed you as well!
On the day you were born, He smiled and said, “Very good.”
When you fully grasp that, you’ll begin to overcome the problem of feeling “less than”, or inferior.
So today, get up from this reading and tell yourself these words.
I am good stuff!
I am created in the Image of God!
God does not create junk!
I am just as good, just as lovable, and just as important in the eyes of God as anyone else!
Now today, from this very moment, begin to operate your life on the premise and the promise that God loves you!
That He is walking beside you and with you through every thing you do, every place you go, and every one you meet.
Let His daily, hourly presence, give you the confidence to go out and take life by storm “being all you can be”, fulfilling your purpose and destiny!
Remember you were fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, you are not junk!
Good Day!
(Isaiah 42:16) "I will...make the rough places smooth."
Living out our lives on this planet as believers, (or children of the most high God), we many times forget that we have a "higher calling and obligation" other than living according to the dictates of this world or our flesh.
(John 17:14-19) Records the words of Jesus saying that "we are in this world but we are not of this world".
In (Luke 12:48) He also said "to whom much is given much is required"
So what does that mean for us (especially men) husbands, fathers providers and bread winners… in the light of living working and operating in this world.
There are some tremendous insights we can glean from Moses on this subject.
(1) It’s never easy to leave your comfort zone.
Living out our lives on this planet as believers, (or children of the most high God), we many times forget that we have a "higher calling and obligation" other than living according to the dictates of this world or our flesh.
(John 17:14-19) Records the words of Jesus saying that "we are in this world but we are not of this world".
In (Luke 12:48) He also said "to whom much is given much is required"
So what does that mean for us (especially men) husbands, fathers providers and bread winners… in the light of living working and operating in this world.
There are some tremendous insights we can glean from Moses on this subject.
(1) It’s never easy to leave your comfort zone.
Moses probably didn’t relish leaving the luxury of Pharaoh’s palace or the security of his new family in Midian.
Yet if he hadn’t, he’d have failed to fulfill God’s call.
Just because you don’t feel like doing something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.
The greater the assignment… the greater the sacrifice.
(2) Real growth begins once you leave your comfort zone.
For forty years, Moses benefited from everything Egypt had to offer.
But only after he left Egypt for the first time, did he begin to learn what was really important… namely, God’s plan and purposes.
It took another forty years in the desert to discover how God intended to use him… and by then he’d been humbled and made over.
The bottom line is, before you can go… you have to grow!
(3) Staying in your comfort zone will rob you of your greatest moments and memories.
Your life story is written in risks… those you took and those you avoided.
Twenty years from now, you’ll be more disappointed about the risks you didn’t take, than the ones you did.
The way to pre-empt tomorrow’s regret, is by moving forward today into the “faith zone.”
You say, “But there’s so much I don’t know or understand.”
That may be true, but here’s a promise you can stand on…
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them… turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.
These…things I will do… I will not forsake them” (Isaiah 42:16)
Listen folks if you are walking thru a trial or calamity at this time in your life, there is a good possibility that God is allowing it to bring you back on track, and point you in another direction.
Seldom is it during the "high points or victories of life" that we "storm the gates of Heaven" with thanksgiving and praise to God for His blessings… but you can be guaranteed that when we are walking through the valley’s and going through tough times, that’s when we are quick to turn our attention to God.
Because of our responsibilities in, "living life", we many times lose focus of our purpose as believers.
Jesus said (Matthew 6:33) "Seek ye first, the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you".
Good Day!
(1st Corinthians 13:8) “Love never fails”
The Bible says, “Love never fails”
Think about it: money can’t buy happiness, fame doesn’t bring self-worth, and revenge doesn’t bring satisfaction.
The only thing that never fails is love.
When Mother Teresa addressed world leaders at the United Nations, she was asked, “How can we have world peace”?
She replied, “Go home and love your family”.
If we all did that, “Paradise Lost” would become “Paradise Found”!
The great and powerful Napoleon Bonaparte of history past has been recorded as saying,
“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires… but upon what did the creations of our genius depend”?
The answer… “upon force”.
But Jesus, founded His empire upon love, and to this day millions would die for Him.’
Sometimes leaders are just "power-holders".
Because you can’t love others without making yourself vulnerable, they see expressing love as a weakness.
But the fact is, you can’t truly love yet keep all your options open.
Truly loving someone is an act of total surrender to them, yes even to the point of being willing to die for them.
When you truly love somebody, you open yourself up to them in every aspect of life, and become willing to be vulnerable.
That can be a scary thing for those who need to control and have the last say.
To truly love… whether it’s your spouse, your children, or the people you lead… you must give yourself unreservedly in such a way that you can be hurt and even rejected.
The fundamental principle on which power-holders operate, is to protect themselves and everything they have,
Self absorption, selfishness and self righteousness are their main motivators in life.
Whereas the fundamental principle of true love, is to “give of yourself”, with no holds barred.
Love, as an intrinsic characteristic of leadership seems outmoded, yet according to Scripture it’s still the winning strategy.
The Bible says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2nd Timothy 1:7)
“Love covers a multitude of sins “ (1st Peter 4:8)
When asked what the greatest and most effective commandment was in life, Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself". (Matthew 22:34-36)
There is no argument in that statement!
There is no debate or "what if’s".
We are told, advised and commanded to be "love carriers".
“Love never fail’s”!
If you want to be a success in life, make loving others your priority!
It is the "winning strategy"!
Good Day!
(Psalm 34:10) ‘But they who seek (inquire of and require) the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing.’
It is true that we are living in economically perilous times!
However as children of God we need not fear that we will never have enough or be taken care of!
(Psalm 37:25) says "I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor His seed begging for bread?
Yes there are many whom have grown up in poverty, and yes there are those whom struggle with poverty today.
Even here in our own country!
As a result of circumstances, some have grown up in poverty, but poverty doesn’t have to grow up in the life of the believer, nor control your thinking.
When we determine in our heart to trust God in spite of circumstances around us, we will experience His provision and care.
Now the world will say that you have to hoard, gather and save for a rainy day.
The world says you need to look out for yourself.
But God says when we share with others, give to others in need and give to the work of His kingdom… it will come back to us pressed down shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38)
And by the way, what is the determining factor of whether you have enough or not.
Do you have food in your belly?
Do you have a roof over your head?
Do you have clothes on your back?
Then you are living better off than many in our world today!
(Matthew 6:33) says "seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you"
Who do you believe is responsible for your success, yourself or God?
As long as you believe that you are, then you’ll remain vulnerable to people, circumstances, and economic conditions.
But when you know and believe that God is responsible for your success and your well being… you will begin to experience "Kingdom blessing"!
We have two options in this world… trust ourselves… or trust God!
The Psalmist writes: “There is no want to those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear.
The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek (inquire of and require) the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing” (Psalm 34:9-10)
Now you might be thinking “But that’s an Old Testament promise”.
Then here’s a New Testament one: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2nd Corinthians 9:8)
Listen if we make God “the priority” in our life, you can be confident and sure He will prioritize you in life.
Believe it or not He really loves you!
Believe it or not He will take care of you!
So believe it and experience His great care for you!
It all comes down to trust!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path”. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Good Day!
Listen if we make God “the priority” in our life, you can be confident and sure He will prioritize you in life.
Believe it or not He really loves you!
Believe it or not He will take care of you!
So believe it and experience His great care for you!
It all comes down to trust!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path”. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Good Day!
(Matthew 5:43) "Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you."
Jesus had much to say about how we treat each other.
And in the word of God, there is written some very pointed instructions as to how we are to respond to humanity around us.
When people mistreat you, Jesus makes clear how you should respond.
(Matthew 5:38-48) “Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: "An eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Is that going to get us anywhere?
Here’s what I propose: Don’t hit back at all. If someone strikes you, stand there and take it.
If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, gift-wrap your best coat and make a present of it.
And if someone takes 'unfair advantage' of you, use the occasion to practice 'the servant life'. No more' tit-for-tat' stuff".
Live generously.
You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend' and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy'?
Well I’m challenging that!
I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.
When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.
"This is what God does. He gives His best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and the bad, the nice and nasty".
If all you do is 'love the lovable', do you expect a bonus?
Anybody can do that".
"If you simply say 'hello' to those who greet you, do you expect a medal?
Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that".
In a word, what I’m saying is, 'Grow up'.
You’re kingdom subjects, now live like it.
Live out your God-created identity".
Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you”!
Wow!
These are words from the lips of Jesus that fly in the face of our Godless, selfish society today!
As I have written before, God is not concerned about "our rights" as we live in this world,
He is more concerned about "our witness".
If you are truly a "Kings kid", God is calling you to "act like it" live like it, respond like it.
(John 15:19) "If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
If you were of the world, it would love you as its own.
Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world".
We are not of this world any longer, so we need to stop “imitating it” trying to be a part of it and letting it mold our character.
Jesus said "a new commandment give I unto you" (John 13:34-36)
So you consider yourself a "child of God", a "believer", a Christian?
Then its time to start acting or living like it.
(1st Peter 2:9) says we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people called forth to show the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into Hi marvelous light.
Good Day!