Daily Devotions

Today’s Bible Verse So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. John 15:12 (TPT) Loved Back to Life In the verse above, Jesus says it so simply—love each other the same way He loved us. Sometimes we may think it is impossible to love the way Jesus does, but on the contrary; it is very possible. We have the Holy Spirit, and because He dwells in us, He can work through us. But how does the love of God look when we live it out in our lives?  I remember a season in my life when I had made a conscious decision to turn from the things of God. I had a word spoken over me by three pastors, on three different occasions, within one week, and they all said the same thing about my future in ministry. I was so nervous about what they said and even more afraid of the responsibility. I tried to run as far as I could because at the time, I did not know it wasn’t me but the Holy Spirit who would work through me; I just had to be a willing vessel to be used.  I found myself going my own way and doing my own thing. Although I was married with two children, I was more focused on my career goals and my fleshly desires. Nothing else mattered. In this season, although I could hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, I ignored

Today’s Bible Verse I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared. Genesis 32:30 A New Name, A New Story One of the hardest things for any of us to do is to admit our faults.  It’s much easier to tell ourselves that life’s challenges come from without and not from within, that our problems are not our own, and that they originate from the people, environment, or circumstances that surround us.  That is the lie that we tell ourselves – it is this perfected lie that keeps us in denial of the truth, deceived about who we are, who we may have become, and where we are headed if we refuse to change.  Too many of us have become accustomed to doing just that – lying to ourselves and arrogantly denying the truth; so much so, that it becomes a defense mechanism and the very open door that permits us to continue deceiving ourselves so that we can, in turn, better deceive others.  It is as if we intuitively believe that if we can first convince ourselves, then we’ll be more effective at convincing others.   And so it is with our secret faults and secret sins; we tell ourselves that our sins are tolerable, that they really aren’t as bad as they seem; and with pride in our hearts, we refuse to expose our own suffering, and in turn, we empower the sin, further falling into the cycle of hiding our transgressions from others, only because

Today’s Bible Verse And the sheep recognize the voice of the true Shepherd, for he calls his own by name and leads them out, for they belong to him. And when he has brought out all his sheep, he walks ahead of them and they will follow him, for they are familiar with his voice. I am the Gateway. To enter is to experience life, freedom, and satisfaction.  John 10:3-4, 9 Which Voice Are You Listening To? Breaking small and living a miraculous life depends on whose voice you choose to listen to. In the Scripture above, there are a few things that God wants us to hear: 1) The sheep (that’s you) recognize the voice of the True Shepherd (Jesus). 2) He calls His own by name (He knows your name). 3) You will follow Him (willingly). 4) You are familiar with His voice (This will happen when you let his Word build and develop your faith). 5) Through Jesus, you will experience life, freedom, and satisfaction. One day my wife and I attended a football game at the Aloha Stadium. In the excitement of the game, I let out a very loud whistle. A few seconds later I received a call from my oldest Son. He asked, “Are you & Mom here at the game?”  I could hear him tell his brothers, “We were right.  It is Dad.” My Children recognized my whistle, my voice.   That’s what God wants us to do.  He wants us to recognize and

Today’s Bible Verse Encourage the believers to be passionately devoted to beautiful works of righteousness by meeting the urgent needs of others and not be unfruitful. Titus 3:14 (TPT) Leave a Living Legacy Recently, the Holy Spirit taught me some great lessons using Titus 3:14, and had me notice the endings of two other versions of that same scripture: GNT …they should not live useless lives. MSG …so that…they don’t end up with nothing to show for their lives. The Holy Spirit then had me write this out in my journal: GOD THE FATHER ↓ JESUS ↓ HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERING US = DISCIPLES MAKING DISCIPLES ↓ DISCIPLES MAKING DISCIPLES ↓ DISCIPLES MAKING DISCIPLES ↓ ETC…’TIL JESUS RETURNS! The Holy Spirit, through this diagram, emphasized four things to me: This Vision is not from man. It came from the heart of GOD THE FATHER, carried out by JESUS, and must now be carried on by US, empowered by the HOLY SPIRIT! We must be passionately devoted to beautiful works of righteousness (discipleship), and we must meet the urgent needs of others (preaching the Gospel & winning souls), otherwise, we will become useless, fruitless, loveless, faithless and end up with nothing to show for our lives!  Remember, we can’t make disciples if we aren’t being discipled! We must be DISCIPLES MAKING DISCIPLES, otherwise, we dethrone GOD THE FATHER and become our own GODFATHER: our kingdom come, and our will be done! Yikes! Each level of DISCIPLES MAKING DISCIPLES represents succeeding generations, from

Today’s Bible Verse Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be). Matthew 28:19-20 (AMPC) Stay or Go I’m sure we are all familiar with the scripture, for it is the mandate of the Father and the vision of this house. Yet, it can become so familiar merely by memorization and even rhythmic action as we go about doing the work (the “go”) in a sense of complacency and cruise control. We can remain in the same place or position yet have no progression of fruit to show.  There is a busyness, yet the heart and passionate pursuit for this heavenly vision has begun to sizzle out. This is a position we NEVER want to be in.  Have you found yourself in a position of taking it on in your own strength? This is a spiritual vision! Jesus left us the ultimate helper in the Holy Spirit who dwells and resides inside of us! Have we taken over the driver’s seat and in a sense pushed out the Holy Spirit instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct?  We must be vigilant and on alert as we do the work of