Morning Devotional March 24, 2018

Acts 16:25-34

“25And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

27And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

29Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

33And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

34And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional March 23, 2018

Psalm 24:10 " Who is the King of glory? The Lord of host, he is the King of Glory. Selah."

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional March 11, 2018

Proverbs 16:18

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Pride is an awful thing. It can destroy families, friends, marriages, and all sorts of relationships. Most times all involved are guilty. No one is totally innocent.

But what about when it comes to God's people?

What about when two individuals or two groups who disagree on doctrine? Even when we are undoubtedly in the right our pride can take over and put us in the wrong. Are we humble enough to let a brother or sister know what God says in His Word without bragging of the knowledge He has given us? The same knowledge they may not have obtained yet?

Now, don't misunderstand here. There are times when, according to God's Word we must not fellowship with some. There will be those false teachers and false prophets that come along that we should flee. Those preaching the doctrines of devils and preaching another gospel. But then there are those, who like us, are willing to humble themselves and seek the Lord's guidance in our disagreements. When both parties can throw their pride out the window and set and peaceably talk about their differences and come away in peace. Even if the matter is unresolved. Or if we can throw our differences aside and enjoy sweet fellowship with the things we do agree upon.

Pride has split many a church and caused many a church to not fellowship with other churches. Pastors and members fail to fellowship because of pride from one or all involved. Pastors refuse fellowship from other pastors because they so pridefully think they are more holy than another or that they have more knowledge than others. We must remember who that holiness and that knowledge came from. Maybe the Lord will use you to teach that one a great blessing and at the same time increasing their knowledge of God's Word.

John tells us in 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” It is true, we must choose our fellowship wisely. Sometimes there will be just too many differences. Sometimes it may even be someone we are closest to that we must flee. And then there comes that time when the one we least expect is the one we can have the sweetest of all fellowships.

We must be careful not to make our circle of fellowship so close that we cut off our own toes.

Praise the Lord when He sends those you can fellowship with. But also praise Him when He shows you those to stay away from. Try the spirits. If they are to far removed from the truth then flee. But if they be of a kindred spirit then cherish the fellowship and praise the Lord for it.

O child of God, do not let pride run your life. Do not let pride rule your life. Do not let pride ruin your life. If you are struggling with pride toward a brother or sister in Christ, humbly submit to the Lord and forgive whatever wrong you think has been done. Follow our Lord's example and show mercy and grace to those whom we should be having sweet fellowship with.

As our text verse says “Pride goeth before destruction”. Before your pride brings you to ruin, beg our Lord for forgiveness. Beg Him to remove this most hideous sin from you. Ask our Lord to show you how to approach the one you have been prideful against and go to them asking forgiveness. It would do us all some good to humble ourselves before our Lord and our brethren when we have so foolishly let our pride show it's ugly face.

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional March 10, 2018

Proverbs 16:5

“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.”

O what a sad state we are in this life. The sin of pride often times affected us all. Often times unknowingly and unintentionally our pride shows it's ugly face in our every day walk. We have become a society of lovers of pride in self. So much so that we often don't see past the tip of the nose on our face.

Our Lord speaks much on the pride of man in His Word. And never in a positive way. Yet we hear the popular motivational speakers preach how man must love himself first. This way of thinking is totally against what our Lord taught in His Word.

This is not to say we do not have hope in life. As children of God, we have a Great Hope. Even while we are here passing through this old sinful world, we have hope and peace and joy. But only through our Lord and Savior.

This is not to say we are to be constantly down on ourselves or depressed with our life here. Fore we have a Great Advocate for our sin. We must remember who are and whose we are. We are children of the King!!! We belong to the God of the universe!!! The Creator of all things!!! Praise God He is our Heavenly Father!!! Praise God for His Son who is our Lord and Savior!!! Praise God for His Holy Spirit who is our Great Comforter and will abide with us until He calls us home!!!

We have no right to be proud in ourselves. We have no right to put ourselves high on a pedestal, bragging to others of our accomplishments. We must give credit where credit is due. Fore we are nothing and nobody without our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Follow Him today!!! Forsake the false teachings of the world and follow the Word of God!!! Praise Him for all and seek His face in all that we do!!!

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional March 5, 2018

Psalm 118:24

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

As creatures of this world we often have a great dread of the first day of the work week. The day “Monday” is almost as curse word to many people. The thought of having to go to our jobs for another week gets us down and out before we even go out the door to go to our jobs.

But where should our thoughts be at the first of the week? Should we not be thinking and meditating on the things of our Lord? Most of us just came from spending most of our Sunday with worshiping our Lord with God's people. So why how and why are we, less than 24 hours later down in the dumps because we have to go back to our jobs?

After spending the first day of the week in worship we should be ready to run with telling the world of the Gospel of Christ. But instead we walk into our jobs with a frown on our faces and complaining in our voices. Where is our witness for Christ? Do our co-workers and customers and family members see our disgrace or our do they see Christ in us?

Child of God, remember who you are and whose you are. You are a child of God. We should be more than happy to declare our Lord to all around us. Why? Because “This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional March 4, 2018

James 5:7-8

“7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional March 3, 2018

Jonah 3

“And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

Men, has our Lord called you to service? There are churches and missions seeking God to send a man to preach and to work the fields. Are you willing and ready to go? Or do you sit back in your comfortable life with your big money job and your nice home and happy family? With all the bills to go along with all that. Are you truly happy with the way your life is and the direction it is going? If God has truly called you to preach He will make you miserable with your current situation. Once God puts that fire in you you will no longer be satisfied with the status quo. Follow the Lord!!! Brother, when the Lord calls, answer that call. Don't try to run. Don't try to hide. We serve the Sovereign God. We can not get away from Him when He is ready for us. Refuse rebellion and follow.

Sisters, if the Lord has called your husband to the ministry, follow the Lord with your husband. Don't be a stumbling block. Don't be the reason he rebels against the Lord's call. Be a dutiful wife. Be a loving wife. Be a godly wife. Be the wife your husband needs. There will be times when you are the only one he can talk with. There will be times when you will be the only council our Lord gives him. Be there for him. Be there with him. Be his support and encouragement. But also don't be a distraction when he needs time in God's Word. Or when he needs time alone with our Lord. There will be times he may seem distant. But remember the great burden he has to serve the Lord. Remember the great responsibility he has to the Lord's work and to the Lord's people.

Brothers, if our Lord has blessed you with a wife who will stand by you and with you in the ministry, praise God for her often. Let her know what a blessing she is to you and to the Lord's work.

Child of God, If our Lord has called a man to the ministry, encourage him and his family. Be a blessing to them in whatever way the Lord leads you. Whether it's financial, physical, or if all you can provide is prayer. Prayer being the most important of all. Be a blessing to the man God has called and his family.

Praise ye the Lord!!!