Simple Devotions

Tag: goals

  • to fulfill

    “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  matt 5:17

    The greek word “pléroó” which means to make full, complete or satisfy, in this way it was meant to fully preach or teach.

    Jesus goes on to say “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (You good-for-nothing) shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.

    This leads to the evidence that every breathe we take we are either keeping the law or breaking it. Wait? What?! Yep..it’s a matter of principles. So lets ask ourselves some honest questions. Can we keep all the laws?

    Lets play a game, below I’ve listed The Ten Commandments how well do you think you keep them? For every one that you keep without any hesitation give yourself one point. I included an “underlying principle” so that you may see how it applies effectively to your life today.

    Only 1 rule: be perfectly honest with yourself because your answers affect only you.

    Exodus 20:3-17

    Then God spoke all these words:

    #1 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You must have no other gods before me.

    • Don’t praise yourself ( Have I ever said ..yeah..that’s what I’m saying!? Look at me – like a boss , obviously)

    #2 Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

    • Don’t look at yourself in the mirror every 5 min or take “selfies” constantly. ( guilty on a good hair day..)

    #3 Do not use the LORD your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the LORD won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way.

    • Don’t say OMG ( or use it on text .. your still saying it)

    #4 Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. Six days you may work and do all your tasks, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. Do not do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. Because the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

    • Don’t do your own thing. ( often)

    #5 Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the LORD your God is giving you.

    • Don’t disrespect your parents council or authority. ( they are so old..l’m gonna do it my way, they don’t understand.)

    #6 Do not kill.

    • Don’t harm your own body, drinking, drugs, unhealthy lifestyle choices. ( what’s the matter with the occasional killing my brain cells, oh maybe the fact I was created in His image, my body -His temple. )

    #7 Do not commit adultery.

    • No porno, no sexual immorality. (Lusting doesn’t count right see #10 )

    #8 Do not steal.

    • Don’t take from others. ( pretty simple unless it’s taxes..)

    #9 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.

    • Don’t gossip. ( but is it if it’s true? or if you pray for them afterwards does it still count as gossip..)

    #10 Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

    • Don’t envy or be jealous others. ( unless they are not being real then we can call it righteous indignation.. every Christian carries that card that only belongs to Jesus..)

    So how many points did you score?

    Well you know my score. I really need to work on my surrender skills and I guess I should have told you this beforehand. According to the one who scored a perfect 10 and holds the long standing record. Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in Him.  Anyone who continues to live in Him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know Him or understand who He is.

    We are no good on our own merit..the good points in our lives are as filthy rags, but His rightousness is our robe of hope.

    He fulfilled the law perfectly and He will teach us if we surrender and repent of our sins, telling Him we need Him.

    He is the law for us and will show us the way to walk, if we lay it all down.

    Pray, ask, seek.

    In Christ love, Amen

  • united to Him

    We are all naturally united to something. Whether family traditions; culture upbringing maybe a college team in sports or other team sports with all the fan gear. Maybe it’s the youth group at church or other special interest outreaches. Nothing new, in every generation there’s a need to belong somehow.

    But here’s the realty of that nature, if we are not united to Christ in the way that we just read, there’s no future for sure.

    So I ask this question, what are you united in? And my answer is I want to be united to Christ, but I am a sinner and I have an enemy who wants my life so how will I stay united with all the temptations?

    And the Word gives me all the answers.

    Psalm 12:6 ( Pure are the words of the Lord purified 7x means complete)

    His Word will never fail me.

    2 Sam 22:31 ( the Word is proven; a shield for all who trust)

    His Word is alive and active.

    Psalm 18:30-32 (His way is perfect. Our Rock, our strength)

    His Word never fails.

    Psalm 119:40 (His Word/precepts revive me)

    His Word is righteous, giving life.

    Rev 15:2-3 (John sees a perfect mix of peoples “united”)

    His Word unites in the end.

    Jesus was fitted for all the conflict by the indwelling (uniting) of the Holy Spirit. He never consented to sin, not even a thought. He was perfect in every way even in temptation He recalled the Word. He came to make us partakers with Him of divine nature. As long as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no more dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of faith to direct us to lay hold of Christ perfection of character.

    So when we are tempted, rely on God’s Word.

    Which will UNITE US TO HIM ! YAY JESUS!!! GO TEAM JESUS!!

    In Christ love, Amen

  • It is Him

    Based on Isaiah 40

    On this day 30 years ago I married my best friend, the one God appointed for me to walk with on this life’s journey. We have seen the goodness of life because He was put in the center of our marriage. It was Him who taught us to surrender our self-will and conceed in an argument. It was Him who gave us eyes to see with love. It was Him who reminded us of true love towards one another in forgiveness. It was Him who provided when we didn’t know how it would work. It was always Him.

    In this life that is like that of grass and flowers, here today and gone tommorow, we can be assured of only one thing that will last, the Word of God stands forever.

    When we surrender our life to Jesus we will never be defeated. He will never cease to care for and minister to the needs of His children. He purposed to come and reason with us, to lay down His life for us that we may believe and have life enternal.

    It is He who sits above the circle of the earth. There is non like God, and you will learn this, when you trust in His Word.

    Pray, Read, Repeat.

    In Christ love, Amen

  • sweet smelling

    As a follower of Christ we have an unconscious influence, meaning we either “smell good or we can smell offensive” at times.

    Have you ever found yourself standing in public and you smelled a really good scent and you wondered what it was they were wearing? Your thinking “wow I want to smell that good”?!

    That I can remember this has happend only once to me and I’ll never forget the persons response when I asked: “the One”.

    {Now that I think about it how appropriate for this post.}

    Needless to say I went out and bought it.

    Is our Christian aroma putting off the same reaction?

    That someone likes what we are “wearing” enough so that they want to run out and purchase it for themselves?

    There’s so much we could learn in the way of scriptures today, but lets keep it simple.

    Romans 14:19 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

    Are You sweet smelling?

  • know Him

    How often have we asked the question,

    “what must I do to please God?”

    Maybe:

    We start praying more; reading our bibles more or maybe we are just nicer to others.

    Make plans to go to church more, give more money to the offering plate.

    Then there are those who say : ” it’s impossible I’m not good enough and I won’t stick with it, therefore why even try.”

    This is actually a lie of the conscience that won’t allow them to believe that they have not gone to far from God.

    The problem here is they didn’t even get to know Him.

    The truth is how do we get to know anyone?

    If you answered “spend time with them” then you just answered the first question as well .

    To know Him is to love Him, that’s how we to please Him.

    Here’s something to read to know Him better today.

    {Psalms 111}

    In Christ love, Amen

  • the void God fits

    Based on Matthew 19;16-26 ; Mark 10:17-27; Luke 18:18-27

    Depending on the heart and ones perspective it seems many are always filling their lives with one thing or another.

    Goals are good but even they can take up a lot of space in our lives. Work goals ; relationships goals ; health goals; vacation goals and even hobbies that give us an outlet or downtime sometimes mindless times. Then comes the things of comfort and yes, even more things added to a cart and shipped to the door of our homes.

    And even when we try to simplify because of the stress of all the responsibilities, there remains a feeling of void “something is missing”.

    The rich man Jesus talks with appears to have everything and it seems he is doing everything right. BUT when he asked Jesus what he must do to enter into the kingdom of Heaven this shows the truth of his situation, something is missing.

    If the rich mans heart was filled with all that he needed would he have asked “what must I do..” it’s because he didn’t have this assurance. And that my friends is the void.

    So he asked and Jesus explains very plainly what he must do.

    In essence a self filled life leaves no room for a God filled one.

    Ask God today to remove from your life anything that separates you from Him, and fill you with everything that matters!

    In Christ Love , Amen