Morning Devotional August 16, 2015

Ephesians 2:1-3

 

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

 

Praise God we have been quickened!!! Praise God we are no longer dead in our trespasses and sins!!!

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and shed His blood so that His people could have life. Eternal Life!!! What a great joy should come over us when we think on these things. What a great joy should come over us when the Lord opens our eyes to these truths.

And yet, we still seek after those sins of our past on a daily basis. What a sad testimony we show others when we follow after those lusts of the flesh and walk after the course of this world. If we are truly the children of God we must leave behind the sins of our past. We must leave behind the lusts of the flesh and the things this world glories in and follow the One who saved our soul from eternal death.

As long as those trespasses and sins are haunting us and we are craving after them we will have no peace in this life.

Hebrews 12: 7-11 “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

O but Praise God we have a Savior!!! Praise God we have a Heavenly Father who has forgiven us our sins. Our past, present, and future sins are forgiven in Him!!! What a glorious thought to know that our Heavenly Father loves us so much He sent His only begotten Son to die so our sins would be forgiven.

Praise the Lord we have a Heavenly Father who chastens us when we do wrong. Praise the Lord He uses the chastening to teach us how He expects His children to act and it is all for His glory.

If you are not receiving chastisment for your sin and worldly ways remember the verse in Hebrews above; “for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Are you a son or a daughter of God? If you are He will convict you of that sin and will chastise you in a way that will teach you a lesson to not do it again.

Are you not convicted of your sins? I pray all who read this will be convicted and repent of there sins. I pray if any who read this are not a child of God, He will convict you of your sin and cause you to see your need for the Savior. Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved!!!

Child of God turn from your sin. Heed the chastening hand of our Heavenly Father and seek His face and His forgiveness. Take the lesson He is trying to teach you and learn how He wants you to live.

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional August 14, 2015

Ephesians 1

“1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

8Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

10That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

 

Praise the Lord for His election and Predestination!!! Without Him chosing us we would be on the road to hell and eternal torments. And O the love He has shown unto us! He knew us before He created the world. He loved us even knowing before we were born how evil and wicked we would be. And even now when we rebel against Him, He still loves us!!!

What a blessing this chapter is to the child of God. To know that our Heavenly Father chose us before the world began and notice He said “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”. “ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL.” We were chosen by Him. We did not chose Him. We could not chose Him when we were dead. Without His Amasing Grace we would still be dead. Without His chosing us and His predestinating us unto His adoption where would we be? Dead in our sins. Dead for all eternity.

If you are a child of God, this chapter should be a great blessing to you. To know our Heavenly Father loved us so much that He chose us above all others before He created the world and that His plan of adoption for us is true and eternal. Nothing or nobody can take us from His loving hand.

Where is man's free will we here so much about today? Where is the false doctrine of “come as you are” that is so popular? Praise God we are not left to ourselves for our salvation!!!

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!

 

 

Morning Devotional August 9, 2015

II Peter 2:1-3

 

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”

 

Today, more than any other time in history we are seeing a great number of false prophets. By this I mean there are those who are out to purposly deceive the people of God for their own gain. Whether it is by preaching a false gospel of salvation or by preaching a false health and wealth gospel. Many say they believe in salvation by grace in Jesus Christ alone, but their teachings and their actions prove otherwise. By preaching salvation by grace they draw in those who once sat under some of the best Bible teachers our Lord put on this earth. The Lord's churches are dwendling down to nothing because His people have began to fall away into false doctrine because they love the world and not the One who saved them from the world.

The false promise of good health and great wealth has lead many a “good” Christian away from the Lord's true churches and to the false hope of that old snake the devil. These false preachers are nothing more than wolves in sheep's clothing. They preach a nice, pretty sermon of love and compassion then tell you “if you will send money to me the Lord will bless you 10 fold”. What great hogwash!

As God's children we should be ashamed of ourselves for following after any false teaching at all. What a testimony to our Lord if we stand on the truth of His Word! But O what a disgrace we are if we fall for every wind of doctrine that leads us away from our Lord.

Watch and study. We should be like the Bereans. Study daily the things that are preached to prove that they are so. Go to God's Word. If what you are hearing preached cannot be found there, if it is taken out of context, or if it is spoken of disceivingly. Stop listening. Ask the Lord to help you find a church that preaches the truth. As many on this e-mail list are without a local church there are many on the internet. There are those who will send you recordings. All you have to do is ask.

My prayer this morning is that the Lord bless you all and keep you in His truth.

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional August 2, 2015

Isaiah 59:2

 

“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

 

O how horrible the thought that our Heavenly Father would hide His face from us and hear not our prayers!

And why would He do this?

Because of our sins.

Many in modern religion today think that because we are saved by God's grace that we have a free will to do what we want and that because our price was paid for on Calvary that nothing we do can harm our relationship with our God.

God's people will pray and seek His face yet all the while they are living in the most hainess of sinful ways. Yes, we are to go to Him in times of need, but if we are living a life of sin,which most of us are, it must be with a repentive heart first. If it is our iniquities that have separated us from our God then it must be our repenting of those iniquities that brings us back together with our God.

Now, I would remind you here that, this verse is written to God's people. Not to the lost and dying world. But to those that are already saved. For how can one be separated that was not joined to start with?

Why would our Father in Heaven turn His face from us and not hear our prayers? Notice in this verse that He does not say He leaves us. In Hebrews 13:5 He promised never to leave us. No, but it is us who have sinned and caused the separation. It is us that have left our Lord and followed after the sin we once knew.

As the children of God we are commanded to leave our old life of sin and rebellion behind and follow our Lord in a new life of joy and peace and free of sin. Yet as long as we are on this sinful earth and in these sin ravaged bodies we are prone to wander back to the life we once were enslaved to.

Praise God!!! His Son Jesus Christ paid the price and bought us from that old slave master of sin!!! Praise be to God that we no longer are bound to follow that road that leads to death and hell!!!

Then why do we continue to rebel and follow after this old sinful world? Because of the sin of our father Adam that has been passed down from generation to generation. The sin of rebellion against our God. Our wanting to follow after our own “free” will and not follow after the commandments of our loving Heavenly Father. But our will is not as free as we think. We are either bound by sin and death or we are bound to the commandments and life given by our Lord and Savior.

So, even though we are now children of the God of Heaven, the Creator of all things, we still have a desire to be a part of the sin of this world. We still rebel against His commandments. It is a struggle we will have as long as we are on this earth and in these bodies.

What can we do then? What we must do is follow our Lord. As Jacob did, run from evil. Leave our coats in the arms of those who would lead us astray. And even though false accusations may arise against us, keep our eyes on the Lord and He will get the glory for it all.

Follow His commandments and His Word. Seek His face with a repentant heart and ask that He reveal His will to you and to make His will for your life the same that you want for your life. We can have no joy and peace until we are following our Lord and not rebeling with every step we take.

 

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!