Are you holding on to a past hurt by someone who has wronged you? If so, how is it affecting your relationship with God? David recognized God’s unlimited righteousness and love: “The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made” (Psalm 145:17). Righteousness and love are two components of […]
Yield (Psalm 145:17)
Ask (Psalm 145:13b-16; Matthew 6:11)
What do you ask of God when you pray? Because David depended on God, he asked Him to supply his needs. He recognized God as faithful, loving, restoring, giving, and satisfying (see Psalm 145: 13b-16). Today, we are offered the same opportunity to ask God to supply all our needs in Christ (see Philippians 4:19). […]
Renew (Psalm 145:8-13a; Romans 12:1-2)
How often do you renew your mind from the toxic thoughts that enter it? David renewed his mind to be focused on God’s kingdom rather than his own. A kingdom is the effective reach of one’s will. In a monarchy, a king’s will reached to the ends of his kingdom. However, atypical of an eastern […]
Praise (Psalm 145:1-7)
How frequently do you take time to praise God? Praise means “to bend down and to lift up.” David bent the knees of his heart and lifted up the name of God daily: “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise […]
Online with God 24/7 (Psalm 145)
When, where, and how do you pray? Is it only in times of crisis or need, possibly once a week at church? Prayer is being online with God when our hearts are connected with His: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). Being online includes […]
Hope In Christ (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Do Satan’s schemes leveraging his bait, hook, line, and sinker leave you feeling hopeless? There is hope, and that hope is Christ. He will guard our hearts. When temped with the bait, God always provides a way out in Christ: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; […]
Satan Preys on Our Feet (Proverbs 4:26-27)
Wherever our feet carry us, we can sin. Even our hands are subject to where our feet travel: “Make level paths for our feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:26-27). The third of the three pathways that temptation […]
God Hates Sinful Eyes (Proverbs 6:17)
What is the focal point of your eyes? We are reminded God hates eyes that sin (see Proverbs 6:17). Still, when the day’s images replay in our minds, they often include what we have seen on the internet, whether wise or foolish. Our culture, especially millennials, is bombarded by social media images on a daily […]
Satan Preys on Our Eyes (Proverbs 4:25)
What has been the focal point of your eyes this week? Think about the images that captured your gaze most frequently. Now here’s the big question: What do those images reveal about your heart? The second target of temptation is the lust of our eyes (see 1 John 2:16). In our peripheral vision, we see […]
Satan Preys on the Mouth (Proverbs 4:24)
Have you ever uttered something and then wished you hadn’t? Solomon recognized the potential danger in our speech: “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips” (Proverbs 4:24). John said that one of the three pathways temptation flows is from our hearts to our mouths. Each of us can fall […]
Satan Preys on the Heart (Proverbs 4:23)
Priority number one is that we should guard our heart with wisdom because all of life flows from it: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). God gave us at least four primary desires (see Genesis 1:27-29). They include (1) the desire for significance from being created […]
The Work of a Defeated Being (Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8)
Have you ever watched a football game where one team is way ahead of the other as the final seconds tick down on the clock? With no hope of victory, the squad being trounced on the scoreboard results to cheap shots, baiting the winning players into a brawl in an attempt to somehow take them […]
Why does God ask you to walk through a door that He decides to shut?
Recently, a friend asked me this question, after sensing God’s clear prompting to become a candidate in his company’s search process for their new CEO, only to make it to the final four and not be selected. The search committee even communicated that he was a leading candidate for the next time the CEO position […]
Satan is a Destroyer (1 Peter 5:8; John 10:10)
Are you experiencing destruction from falling prey to Satan’s temptation? Did you succumb to his enticement, only to discover his bait concealed the hook of dissatisfied desires that trapped you in sin, and now you stand accused before God and others? Satan is a destroyer: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around […]
Satan is an Accuser (Revelation 12:10)
Have you ever noticed how an accuser typically practices the act which he accuses another of doing? Satan is the origin of the evil that he accuses humanity of committing. Satan is an accuser: “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of […]
Satan is a Deceiver (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Have you ever been deceived by Satan? Did you take his bait, only to discover you had been duped? Perhaps it was a lustful act, an angry tirade, a substance abuse, or a foolish risk that left you feeling dissatisfied. Satan is a deceiver: “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of […]
Satan is a Tempter (Matthew 4:3-11)
Have you been tempted this week? Satan is a tempter. Too often, we see temptation as a sin. Temptation is not from God, and being tempted is not a sin (see James 1:13-14). Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, and yet He did not sin (see Hebrews 4:15). King David warned his […]
How Do We Let Go of Resisting Blessing Horizontally in Relationships? (Matthew 7:12)
Can you honestly say that you love your offender? How do we truly let go of resisting blessing our enemy horizontally in relationships? We wish our enemy well before others. First, we love our enemy by serving them in order to meet a legitimate need in their life. This love fulfills the Law: “In everything, […]
Praying for Your Offender (Matthew 5:43-48)
Have you tried praying for the person who wronged you? If so, what did your prayer sound like? Too often we hold on to resisting blessing our offender, the fourth prison wall of withholding forgiveness. Resisting blessing does not wish our offender well before God or others; it treats others as they have treated us, […]
How Does Resisting Blessing Affect Our Vertical Relationship with God? (1 John 4:20)
Are you involved in a conflict where you simply cannot bless the offender? Resisting blessing does not wish our offender well before God. It treats others as they treat us. Jesus said, that His followers had been taught a legalistic interpretation of the greatest horizontal commandment to love one’s neighbor (Matthew 5:43). They had learned […]