Daily Bible Reading and Thoughts Shared
Replies
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Bible Reading
Colossians 1:13-17
Ephesians 1:7-10
Commentary
I love cream in my coffee. I never drink my coffee black. Whenever I pour myself a cup of coffee, I always add the white cream and mix it together. At that point, a union has occurred. I once had black coffee and white cream, but now I have brown coffee. If I take the coffee with me into my office, the cream comes too. If I take the cream with me into my den, the coffee comes too. Nothing can separate these two once they have been joined.
Jesus Christ brings all things together in heaven and on earth. God’s will is to “to bring everything together in the Messiah.”
Paul stated it this way in the Book of Colossians: “He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).
As I preach I often repeat things to emphasize a point. Parents often do the same thing with their children. Paul did just that in Ephesians 1.
“ ... in Him …” (verse 7)
“... in Him ... (verse 9)
“... in the Messiah ...” (verse 10)
“... in Him.” (verse 10)
In Him, the One who stands exalted like no other, you will discover both the fullness and the summation of everything you will ever need in heaven and on earth. It’s all there ... in Him.
Everything you need for victorious living is in Jesus.
We so often forfeit Jesus’ power and authority simply because we do not remain in Him.
Colossians 1:13 tells us God “has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” You used to belong to Satan’s kingdom, but now, as a believer, you are part of a new kingdom, and Jesus Christ is its King. Satan can do nothing to remove you from God’s kingdom, but he will do his best to get you to ignore the kingdom rule of Jesus Christ.
How can this happen in the life of a Christian? It happens when we participate in church on Sunday under one kingdom, but go out into the world Monday through Saturday and function under the influence of another kingdom.
It happens when we study the Bible in one kingdom, but socialize in another kingdom. Many believers participate in this flip-flopping and then wonder why they don’t have victory in their lives.
Satan is influencing believers’ lives because they are yielding the power to him; not because of any rightful authority he has, but simply because of a failure to align their thoughts and decisions under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
By not exalting Jesus Christ to the proper place in our lives, homes, and churches—the first place He deserves—we miss out on the benefits of His covering.
Do you want the benefits He provides to His people? Then remain in Him and reflect Him in all you do.
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Bible Reading
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalms 51:17
Commentary
Many people today lack the answers they need about how to address the problems in their lives. What’s more, they lack the assurance of faith- that what seems broken in their lives, homes, and nation could ever be restored. Perhaps it’s a broken marriage.
Maybe a dead-end career. It might be a miserable mentality. Whatever has caused so many Christians to lie limp on the ground seems to have sucked away hope for a solution as well.
If that’s you, remember that it’s hard to fix a problem when you don’t know, or choose to ignore the cause.
Hope leaves when we focus on the symptoms and not on the sins that brought the symptoms about.
Whenever you are looking for a cure, you must address the cause.
Far too many laymen, pastors, and politicians are focusing on symptoms rather than dealing with the systemic roots that have caused the decay.
If we are ever to get our lives, homes, churches, and nation right, we have to address the spiritual causes beneath the brokenness we are experiencing.
Is there an area in your life where you have kept yourself from identifying the cause of the troubles you face, which has kept you from either healing it or overcoming it?0 -
Bible Reading:
Revelation 1:3
Revelation 2:7
2 Timothy 3:16
Commentary:
Revelation 1:3 says that those who hear the Word are blessed. Thus, the first step to take in growing in the Word is to be sure and "hear" the Word.
What does hearing the Word involve? It means more than letting the sounds into your ears.
To hear in the Bible means to let the Word of God talk to you. Let it sink down into your mind and heart. Remember that Jesus said, “He who has an ear, let him hear” (Revelation 2:7).
Personalize the Word as well. Some people approach the Bible as a book that was written thousands of years ago for the people of that day.
So they read it as if it were speaking to someone else, and not to them. They don't really hear God speaking to their own mind in the pages of His Word.
But the Bible was written to you and for you. The Constitution of the United States was written a long time ago. But do we take it as if it were written for us? We sure do.
The reason people can’t just break into your house and search it without a warrant is because of that piece of paper written more than two hundred years ago. The reason we have other legitimate civil rights is because of that document written a long time ago.
You get the idea. The Constitution may have been written generations ago, but it is very relevant to the freedoms that we enjoy as citizens of America today.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,” writes Paul (2 Timothy 3:16).
To hear the Word is to take its truths and apply them to yourself. Ask God to give you wisdom to
understand what the Scripture means with regard to your own life, thoughts, choices and relationships.
The Word is God talking to you and me. We have to respond to what He says. Reading the Word without hearing it is like chewing without swallowing.0 -
Bible Reading
Joshua chapter 1
Key Verse Joshua 1:8
Commentary: by Tony Evans on todays Devotional Reading and Study
Joshua chapter one also shows us how powerful meditation is. Joshua had a big challenge ahead of him. He had to conquer the Promised Land with its walled cities and giants. He was getting ready to face a formidable foe. Did God give Joshua a surefire military plan? No, He told him:
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (Joshua 1:8)
The power of meditation is that it gives you success in your life. Does that mean a BMW in every believer’s driveway? You and I know better than that. For us as Christians, success is fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives, whether or not that includes driving a nice car.
God told Joshua in my Tony Evans' paraphrase, “If you are going to accomplish the goal for which I am sending you into the Promised Land, you will need to meditate on My Word until it is part of your very being, until it guides every step you take and every decision you make.”
If meditation is that important, we’d better find out what it means to meditate on Scripture day and night. The word “meditate” makes me think of the activity of a cow in chewing its cud.
A cow will eat grass and swallow it. But later, the cow wants the taste of that grass in its mouth again, so it regurgitates the grass and chews on it some more.
The cow keeps doing this until the cud is thoroughly chewed and ready to be swallowed for a final time and taken into the digestive system to nourish the cow.
That’s the picture of what God wants us to do with His Word. We may chew on it on Sunday and swallow it. But then on Monday, we bring the Word back to our minds and think about it some more, turning it over and over until we absorb more of it.
Or we read and swallow the Word on Tuesday, but then something happens on Thursday that causes us to bring the Word back up to meditate on it again.
If we do that often enough, the Word will become so much a part of us that it infiltrates our entire being.
Then we begin to act and react with a kingdom mindset as a way of life.
You say, “Tony, how will I know when to meditate?”
You won’t have to worry about that. If you are consciously aware of trying to please God through your life, whenever God teaches you something from His Word, He’s going to give you a chance to bring it back up again and apply it, meditate on it, and gain insight from it.
The reason many Christians don’t experience this process is that they aren’t looking for it. They aren’t sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit. They have forgotten most of what they once “ate” from the Word. Meditation is the second step in understanding and applying God's Word.0 -
Bible Reading
Hebrews 5:1-12
Matthew 28:19
Commentary by Tony Evans
Here’s the third step to help make sure you have heard the Word in the biblical sense of grasping it and letting it do its work. Teach the Word to someone else. Yes, you!
If you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, that means you are going to become a teacher of His Word. You say, “Wait a minute, Tony. I haven’t been called to preach. I haven’t been called to hold a teaching position in the church.”
That may be true, but God has called all of His people to be proclaimers of His Word. A disciple is first of all a learner, but a disciple is also one who teaches what he or she has learned to someone else. All of us are called to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).
This is hard, but I need to say it because the Word says it. If you are unable to teach someone else the basics of the Christian faith, it is because you are an immature believer. That’s what the author of Hebrews says.
In Hebrews 5:1–10 the writer was going deep with his readers. He was teaching them about the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus Christ. This is not the stuff you teach new Christians the first week after they are saved. This is part of the deep things of Christ.
So the writer was putting all this down, but then he stopped in verse 11. He had more good things to share about Melchizedek and how he illustrated Christ, but he realized his readers weren’t ready to receive them because they had a maturity problem:
Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (vv. 11–12)
The problem was that these Jewish Christians had become “mule-headed,” the literal meaning of the phrase “dull of hearing.” These were everyday believers, ordinary Christians.
But the writer says they had been saved long enough to be teaching others. Instead, they were still in spiritual kindergarten playing with the little ABC blocks.
If a new believer came to you and said, “I need help understanding the Bible,” could you help? If your child came to you with her Bible and said, “Daddy, Momma, what does this mean?” could you explain it, or at least know where to go to find an answer?
You need a growing, working knowledge of the Scripture so you can help someone else who comes along.
It’s like everything else you learn. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Every time you learn something from the Word, find somebody to share it with. Talk to a family member, friend or co-worker, but find a way to teach what you are learning to someone else. When you apply these three steps to your study of God's Word, you will be amazed at how much faster you grow as a kingdom disciple.0 -
Bible Reading
Psalm 119:105
Revelation 22:16
Commentary by Tony Evans: New Devotional Started Today: The Morning Star; Praying Jesus Names
The Morning Star: A Prayer of Adoration
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Revelation 22:16
Jesus, I adore You and I praise this name of Yours, oh bright morning star.
You are the root and descendant of David. You have sent Your angels to testify of Your power and might. May we have ears to hear and receive this name of Yours.
In this name, we discover Your light. We discover the guiding presence You provide. We uncover the illumination of Your wisdom and direction of Your Word. I honor You for Your wisdom, truth and guidance which I depend on each moment of my day.
I worship You for the way You seek to make known to each of us the fullness of this great name.
Praying this in Your name,. Amen.0 -
Bible Reading
Revelation 22:16
1 John 1:5-9
Proverbs 3:5-8
Commentary
The Morning Star: A Prayer of Confession
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Revelation 22:16
Jesus, I wonder how different my life would look if I truly set You as the morning star of my heart and mind. How much wiser my choices would be if I depended upon Your leading rather than my own.
Will You be patient with me and extend a greater grace as I turn from the way of my own wisdom? Will You gently lead me toward Your light so that I can have a compass of compassion, kindness and love in my life?
You are the guide, oh bright morning star. You are the hope of my calling. Help me when I fail and fall short to repent and return to You, Jesus, my morning star.
Praying this in Your name. Amen.0 -
Bible Reading
Psalm 94:17-19
Revelation 22:16
2 Peter 1:19
Commentary:
The Morning Star: A Prayer of Thanksgiving
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Revelation 22:16
Jesus, thank You that You are a lamp shining in a dark place. Thank You that I am not left to my own ways and given over to fear in dark places.
You provide the light for me to follow. You lift my head when I am afraid to look up. You are the morning star who encourages me to keep going knowing that a new day is on the horizon. As 2 Peter 1:19 says,
“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”
Thank You for the prophetic word made sure in You, the morning star arising in my heart.
Praying this in Your name. Amen.0 -
Bible Reading:
Revelation 22:16
2 Peter 1:19
Psalm 94:17-19
Commentary:
The Morning Star: A Prayer of Thanksgiving
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Revelation 22:16
Jesus, thank You that You are a lamp shining in a dark place. Thank You that I am not left to my own ways and given over to fear in dark places.
You provide the light for me to follow. You lift my head when I am afraid to look up. You are the morning star who encourages me to keep going knowing that a new day is on the horizon. As 2 Peter 1:19 says,
“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”
Thank You for the prophetic word made sure in You, the morning star arising in my heart.
Praying this in Your name. Amen.0 -
Bible Reading
Acts 13:2
Jeremiah 29:13-14
Commentary by Tony Evans
A deeper recognition of our spiritual identity aids us in discerning our spiritual purpose.
Jeremiah’s challenge to the exiled Israelites was not to seek their purpose but, as God’s chosen people, to first seek God in the midst of their circumstances. However, it was in the seeking and searching after God with all their hearts (Jeremiah 29:13) that God’s purposes and plans for His people became clear:
“I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you…and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:14).
You can see a similar pattern at work in the calling of Saul and Barnabas to be missionaries in the book of Acts:
“While they (the church at Antioch) were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’" (Acts 13:2).
It was only as the church at Antioch sought after God and learned more of His heart that the Holy Spirit granted discernment concerning the calling of Saul and Barnabas to the mission that God had set for His church.
Many of our lives lack direction because we are pursuing a purpose that is inconsistent with who God is and what He has created us to be. Like a parent correcting a child who is misusing a kitchen utensil, God is saying to many of us concerning the direction of our lives, “that’s not what that is made for!”
Are you listening when God directs you down the path to your purpose?1 -
Bible Reading
Jeremiah 29:7-14
Commentary
Discernment of our spiritual purpose gives us hope in the midst of the trials we face.
Jeremiah’s word of encouragement to the Israelites on the brink of despair was that God was at work in the midst of their mess. Jeremiah comforted the people with these words:
“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
The Israelites could settle down, build houses, and seek the welfare of the city where God had sent them into exile (Jeremiah 29:7) because they knew God’s ultimate plans to restore their fortunes and gather them from all the nations and from all the places where He had driven them (Jeremiah 29:14).
When we understand our spiritual purpose rooted in who God is and who He created us to be, we can look back, like Joseph, over the trials and messy spots in life, knowing that God has always been with us (Genesis 39:3, 21).
We can say confidently, as Joseph said to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
I want to bring to mind a scene from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. When the bad guys had stolen the map to find the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and his father, Indiana was perplexed at what to do next. His father, however, reminded his son not to worry, because he was the one who had written the map in the first place.
When our own lives seem directionless, we need to remember that our Heavenly Father has
already meticulously drawn out the maps of our
lives (Psalm 139:13-16).
As we seek God and come to know Him more intimately, He will give direction to our directionless lives, granting us the benefit of spiritual purpose.0 -
Bible Reading
Numbers 20:10-12
2 Peter 3:9
1 John 1:9
Commentary: by Tony Evans:
New Devotional: Turning Things Around
If you’re anything like me, you have areas of your life you regret. If given the opportunity, there are aspects you would go back and do over again. Some of the choices we have made in the past continue to haunt us to this day, and while we know there is nothing good that comes from living in the past, each of us would take the chance of righting our wrongs.
Well, such is the case with Moses. He made a miscalculation and it came with a price tag. He chose to strike the rock twice to bring forth water instead of speaking to it, as God had commanded. As a result, God told him that He would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
Our sins do bring consequences, but the beautiful thing is that the consequences don’t have to be the last word in your life or my life or the lives of the people that we love and care about. God has a way of hitting a bullseye with a crooked stick.
If you look back and you wish things were different but you can’t change them, I want you to know that God is the God of second, third, fourth and fifth chances and so on. Come clean with Him and you’ll open up what He wants to do in your life. He can take the misery of the past and turn it into the miracle of the future because you are dedicated to Him in the present.
Don’t let discouragement rule. Don’t let it take you
down. God has a way of using you in spite of
yesterday.0 -
Bible Reading
Luke 15:11-32
1 Corinthians 9:24
Commentary: by Tony Evans:
Focus Thoughts: Turning Things Around
Sometimes our mistakes and sins can become a lifestyle. We develop bad habits and wrong choices as a way of life. If that’s you, you might say, “Wow, how could I have done that for that long?” or “How could I have gotten trapped in this addiction or this scenario or this bad relationship?”
Well, the good news of the grace of God is that He can even take extended stints of rebellion and sin like the prodigal son who went on his way for an extended period of time and wasted not only money, but his life.
If you feel you have a wasted life, if you feel like too much time has been lost, don’t lose heart. In a race, when you trip and fall and you find yourself behind the curb, you can’t change and go back to the starting block, but you can pick up the pace where you are and make a comeback.
Let me encourage you to pick up the pace with God right here where you are. Give God all you’ve got and watch Him help you make up the ground you thought was lost because of the extent of the time you were separated from Him.
If your sin has become a lifestyle, and you are now ready to get real with God, He can take you from where you are to where He wants you to be, and you can still come out a winner. In fact, your name can still be written in the Hall of Faith.0 -
Bible Reading
Genesis 27:1-46
Proverbs 10:9
Commentary: by Tony Evans:
Focus Thoughts: Turning Things Around
Nobody likes a trickster. Nobody likes a conniver. Nobody likes somebody who is running a game on them, but we’ve all been affected by tricksters, or maybe we’ve played the trickster in the past.
The thing to remember is that it’s hard to run a game on God. He knows where we’re coming from. He knows why we’re doing what we’re doing, because He is the reader of personal motives. He not only hears what we say, He knows why we said it.
When you are willing to be honest with God, you will find out that God responds to that honesty.
You put the tricks behind you and you come clean with God in prayer, in communication with Him, you’ll find out that God can use you, because now you’re being real.
Let me put it another way: God doesn’t deal well with fake. He doesn’t deal well with jewelry that appears to be the real thing but in fact, is either gold-plated or cut glass.
He knows the real deal and He knows the real you.
Honesty with God is the root of being used by God in spite of the tricks you have played in the past.
We live in a world where it seems like you have to “play the game” to survive or get ahead.
That may be how the world works, but that’s not how greatness is in the kingdom of God.
In fact, Jesus told His disciples that they couldn’t roll like that with Him if they wanted to be used by Him for good.
So, don’t be like Jacob, who thought he needed to deceive his brother and father to get God’s blessing.
You can’t deceive God.
It can come back on you like a boomerang, and you’ll wind up being deceived by the devil, who is out to trick you as you and I try to trick others.
Come clean with God, so that He can take you to where He wants you to be.0 -
Bible Reading
Esther 2:5-7
1 Corinthians 10:31
Commentary by Tony Evans
We all know fashion is a huge commercial industry. How you look, how you present yourself and how you walk and talk is all designed to impress others within the world of fashion.
What God is interested in is whether or not we are trying to impress Him. Whether we take what He has given us in our resources, in our looks, in our habits, or in how we relate to other people, He can kingdom-ize it. He can stitch these gifts together and use them for eternal purposes.
Esther was a beautiful lady. She just hadn’t made the connection between her looks and God’s kingdom. God wanted to use the beauty He had given her to place her in a strategic role to protect God’s people for God’s glory, and be a tool for keeping God’s promises. God is not impressed with the external.
He likes the internal to be beautiful but when the external can complement it and reflect the beauty on the inside, you then become useful to God because He has a heart and a soul that He can use and it’s in a person He can be proud of.
Righteously impress others, but more importantly, impress God.
When He is impressed with you, you can now be used for eternity and not only to impress people here on earth. That will fade away.
We get older, then all the clothes wear out, and the money sometimes dries up, but a righteous man or woman who can be used by God for God’s purposes, that pays eternal dividends.0 -
Bible Reading
Philippians chapter 1
Key Verse:
Philippians 1:6
Commentary by Tony Evans
The Importance of Development
When you were in school you would have to take regular tests. These tests let the teacher know where you stood on the material you needed to learn. If you were unable to pass these tests, then more assignments and more tests would have to be given.
God also gives tests. His test show where we are on the road of our personal development. God is not going to bring you to the fruition of your destiny until He knows you are able to handle it spiritually, emotionally, physically and the like.
If you cannot handle it, you will lose it rather than use it for His glory. That is why He focuses so intently on our development as He takes us to our destiny.
The timing and length of our detours in life is often dependent upon our personal choices and growth. God may have a short detour planned for us but we make it longer through our hard-headedness, stubbornness, resentment or immaturity and doubt.
For those of you who work out or exercise, did you know that your muscles change almost immediately after a strength training session?
The process called protein synthesis occurs anywhere from two to four hours after exercising.
This is how the muscles grow stronger and bigger. Yet even though it happens so quickly after strength training, it is typically four to six weeks before noticeable muscle changes are seen by others.
Have you ever started an exercise regime only to quit it because you did not see any results? Many people do because they expect results a lot sooner than the results take to actually develop.
Similarly, many people stop pursuing the pathway to their destiny when they don't see things lining up as quickly as they thought they should.
But God is intentionally using the delays and detours in our lives to develop us for where He is taking us.
Arriving at your destiny requires patience in the process.0 -
Bible Reading:
John 17:17
Key Verse: Joshua 24:15
Commentary: by Tony Evans
Faith involves a choice. You will either choose to go God’s way or not, and choice involves your will. You and I have been given an opportunity. God’s sovereignty has allowed us to choose to follow Him, because He doesn’t want us to be robots. He wants us to be creatures that He created in His own image who can choose to follow Him or not. Moses chose to follow God, and not to follow sin or the cultural norms of his day.
Perhaps you’ve already made wrong choices, or even faithless choices. The good news of the grace of God is that you can change your choice and decide to go God’s way. The question is, will you choose now to be a person of faith and not follow the sins of your own life any longer? Will you choose to follow God and to say, “Lord, not my will but Thy will be done”?
For a moment, it may seem like a loss to choose God over your own self-interests. But don’t be deceived. Choosing God promises to be the one best choice over all other choices you will ever make.0 -
Bible Reading:
Hebrews chapter 11
Key Verse: 1
Commentary:
The Bible abounds with people who triumph through faith—a whole litany of people who decided to trust God over themselves, over other people and over their circumstances.
The beauty of faith’s triumph is that you get the benefit of divine approval.
It doesn’t mean everything goes smoothly, but it says of all the others who are people of faith, that they triumphed because they got a divine okay, they got a God-stamp of approval.
And when you get the highest approval possible in creation, then that means you are victorious and you are successful, regardless of how other’s circumstances are at any given moment.
I wish I could tell you that a life of faith means a problem-free life, but that’s not the world in which we live, that’s heaven.
On earth, there are going to be ups and downs, but you still can be approved.
That’s when God says, “You did it and there’s nothing that will make you feel better or be better than My divine approval.”
So, let’s be approved of God, because we’re going to believe Him, even when believing Him is the last thing we want to believe.
Walk by faith, not by sight, so that you can be part of the others who are approved of God.0 -
Theme: Walking in Faith: Online Bible Study Plan by Tony Evans
I do my regular Bible Reading and Prayer but follow YouVersion Bible Study with them which I share here with you. Hope it’s a blessing as much to you as it is to me. 😊📖
Bible Reading:
1 Corinthians 1:18
Galatians 2:20
Mark 8:34
Commentary:
The blessing of the cross means that you are now more than a conqueror. That means you’ve had-something to conquer. The cross doesn’t mean that there aren’t Friday nights in your life, where things are going against you.
It means that there are Sunday mornings in your life when you get to be resurrected, and you get to supersede whatever is coming against you.
The cross is a tool, because it means victory over sin and victory over Satan and you have the privilege of overriding circumstances. That’s called great victory and great blessing.
And it all becomes part of your hope because of the accomplishments of Jesus Christ on the cross that are attributable to you.
So, I invite you now to come to the cross. If you’re not a Christian, you ought to place your total faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and His substitutionary work on the cross, trusting Him alone to be your sin-bearer.
He says that when you come to Him by faith, He will forgive your sins and give you the gift of eternal life.
If you already know Christ, recommit your life to Him and say, “Lord, I want to become a person of the cross, to make that my point of reference for victory in every aspect of my life. Not only for heaven, but so that I can be victorious in history.”
Let me pray for you that you will experience afresh the blessing of the Cross.
PRAYER: Father, thank You for all those who are seeing this message and I pray, Lord, that You will make them victorious as they appeal to Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. Give them victory over sin, Satan and circumstances, so that they may see the hand of God showing favor to their lives because of the cross. In Jesus’s name, Amen.0 -
Theme: Walking in Faith: Online Bible Study Plan by Tony Evans
Bible Reading:
Genesis chapter 7
1 Corinthians 1:20
Commentary:
Like Noah, we’re all called upon to exercise faith in the most inconvenient of times. Noah had never seen rain and yet he was to act based on what God said, even though it made him look very foolish.
Not only that, but faith is often anti-cultural. Noah had to go against the whole community in which he lived and the world in which he existed. Faith will make you seem like a loner sometimes. It will make others think that you are a fool, but we see at the end of Noah’s story that he was not the foolish one. Those who rejected him were actually the foolish ones.
So, you walk with God even if it makes you odd in the culture. As long as you are obeying God, even if it’s something you’ve never experienced before, you will be walking the right path.
God cannot be put in a box. He will blow your mind. Let Him blow your mind. If you have to build an ark on dry land, or something else outlandish, let yourself be led by faith. It’s okay, because when you obey Him by faith, you set yourself up for not only a miracle, but the covering up of your own family, even when there is destruction in the culture taking place all around you.
Obey by faith, and watch God work..0 -
Theme: Walking in Faith: Online Bible Study Plan by Tony Evans
Bible Reading:
1 Corinthians 1:20
Genesis 7
Commentary:
Like Noah, we’re all called upon to exercise faith in the most inconvenient of times. Noah had never seen rain and yet he was to act based on what God said, even though it made him look very foolish.
Not only that, but faith is often anti-cultural. Noah had to go against the whole community in which he lived and the world in which he existed. Faith will make you seem like a loner sometimes. It will make others think that you are a fool, but we see at the end of Noah’s story that he was not the foolish one. Those who rejected him were actually the foolish ones.
So, you walk with God even if it makes you odd in the culture. As long as you are obeying God, even if it’s something you’ve never experienced before, you will be walking the right path.
God cannot be put in a box. He will blow your mind. Let Him blow your mind. If you have to build an ark on dry land, or something else outlandish, let yourself be led by faith. It’s okay, because when you obey Him by faith, you set yourself up for not only a miracle, but the covering up of your own family, even when there is destruction in the culture taking place all around you.
Obey by faith, and watch God work..0 -
New Devotion Started:
Theme: Sarah; Waiting for God’s Promise
By Tony Evans
Bible Reading:
Galatians 6:9
Jeremiah 29:11
Commentary:
“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her
(Genesis 17:15-16).
Now, the promise of a son doesn’t seem like a big deal unless you take into account the potential parents’ ages. By then, both Sarah and Abraham were advanced in years (Sarah was 90), neither of them still in the normal childbearing years.
So this promise from God simply didn’t fit the facts of their lives. What He’d promised wasn’t practical.
Not only was Sarah old, but she’d also been barren her entire life. She’d never conceived or given birth to a child. Her physical capacity to do so was absent, and time was no longer on her side.
It’s possible that Sarah’s story resembles your own but in a different way. You could be barren in other forms. Your capacity to experience what God has for you just doesn’t seem to be there. It’s not working out. You’re not producing what you thought you would be at this stage in your life.
You’re not delivering on the destiny you believed to be yours. You’ve heard Jesus’ promise in John 10:10, when He declared, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” But you don’t see the results of that promise in your everyday life.
If that’s you, you may be stuck in emotions of disappointment, despair, and hopelessness. But, like Sarah, if you are patient, you will receive God’s promise.
What promise are you holding onto that requires patience?0 -
New Devotion Started:
Theme: Sarah; Waiting for God’s Promise
By Tony Evans
Bible Reading
Psalm 37:7-9
Hebrews 11:13-16
Commentary:
Why does God sometimes put us in a situation that seems hopeless?
God does this so that when He does what He wants to do, only He gets the glory. He may not change your scenario or your struggle until He sees you are waiting well within it.
To wait well as a kingdom hero is to not go outside of God’s prescribed ways in order to bring something about. It also means waiting with hope and expectation, not sarcastic doubt.
The first time we saw Sarah laughing, she was mocking the promise God had given her (Genesis 18:12).
But the second time she laughed; it was out of awe at God’s ability to pull off the impossible (Genesis 21:6).
Sometimes God puts your back up against the wall—not to be mean but to let you see He is truly God.
Sarah had to grow and mature to the point of waiting well. She made mistakes along the way.
We all do. But the good news is that even if you’ve made mistakes, and even if you have your own set of Ishmaels running around as a result, it’s never too late for God to intervene.
Sarah had made a mess of things. Then to make matters worse, Abraham had gone and lied—making even more of a mess of things.
Yet once they both witnessed God’s power to both close and open wombs, they discovered just who they were dealing with.
What has been the result when you have tried to manipulate the situation to try to fulfill God’s promise? What has been the result when you have patiently waited upon Him?0 -
Theme: Sarah: Waiting for God’s Promises
By Tony Evans
Bible Reading:
2 Peter 3:8-9
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Commentary:
As you’ve grown older, I realize some of you may have had the thought cross your mind that you’re wasting your life. But I want to remind you that when God comes through for us with His blessings, like He did for Sarah, He can also give us the years to enjoy them.
Nothing is too hard for God.
Some of you may be midway through life, having invested most of your adult years in caring for a family, yet feel you still have personal dreams deep within. But you believe it’s too late for those dreams. You may believe it’s too late to enter a career field of your hopes and make something of it. Maybe you look at your résumé and wonder how you could ever attain the career you desire.
If you’re wondering if it’s too late, I want to assure you that when God is in the equation and you learn the skill of waiting well—waiting in faith with a heart of hope, surrender, and honor—God can not only bring about your promises and your dreams but also bring them suddenly. You don’t have to climb a career ladder when God is involved. He can usher you straight into where you’re supposed to be if you’ll look to Him to do it according to His will and His ways. He will do this if you look to Him in faith.
Are you willing to trust God to fulfill His promises even when they are delayed in arriving?0 -
New Study: by Tony Evans
Study on Faith
We have multiple markers that identify us, and verify we are who we say that we are, such as a driver's license, social security number and birth certificate. But sadly, identities get stolen and exploited.
In a recent study on identity theft, it was reported that over $107 billion dollars have been stolen in the past six years. The victims often face difficult challenges in reclaiming their identity.
As Christians, we receive a new identity that is essential to our spiritual growth. It is vital to know who you are, how you have been changed and the purposes God now has for you in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says our old lives are gone, which means spiritual growth presupposes that new life has begun.
When a sinner places their faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life, a new birth has taken place, and a new identity has been given.
That identity places us with Christ, giving us everything we need to grow spiritually.
According to Ephesians 1, we have blessings, holiness, redemption, forgiveness, grace, revelation, an inheritance, hope, assurance, power and victory in our new identity with Christ!
Unfortunately, many Christians either don’t understand their new identity or have allowed Satan to steal it.
This is why Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened. That is, he prays that we can recognize or reclaim our identities in Christ.
Once you understand who you are in Christ, you will begin to experience spiritual growth like never before.
How would you describe your old life before accepting Jesus Christ versus your new life in Christ after your conversion?0 -
New Study: 5 Day Study on Spiritual Growth
Bible Reading:
1 Peter 2:2
Hebrews 5:11-14
Matthew 4:4
Commentary:
Most people I know love solid foods—whether it’s bread, steak, vegetables, fruit, potato chips or even candy bars.
However, I’ve never seen somebody trying to feed a 3-month-old baby a piece of ribeye. Why? Because a baby can’t process solid foods like steak at that age.
Instead, a baby needs milk. Everything required for the baby’s growth and maturity is found in the milk. It’s built in.
A similar rule applies to believers regarding how we process spiritual food. Food is fuel for growth and health. God's Word provides the nourishment we need to grow and mature. In other words, Scripture is our spiritual food.
Therefore, the Bible is indispensable for spiritual growth. Reading, studying, internalizing and digesting Scripture strengthens the soul, encourages the heart and transforms the mind.
If you go to the store and look at baby food, you’ll notice a “stage number” somewhere on the label.
This number tells us, based on the baby’s level of maturity, what foods it can handle. We don’t start babies off on steak because the baby isn’t mature enough to handle it.
Likewise, every believer should begin with a spiritual diet that fits their level of maturity and progresses from there.
For the new believer, this means you should start with the basics of the faith, including core doctrinal truths and spiritual disciplines like prayer, worship and service.
This is your milk. As time passes, you should progress to what Scripture describes as solid food.
This points to not only more difficult doctrines and teachings, but also to the application of Scripture to your daily life.
Either way, this suggests that Christian maturity involves a movement “from milk to meat" as we grow spiritually.
Just like the baby, everything required for our growth and maturity is found in the Word of God.
It’s built in. The question is, are you eating enough of the spiritual nutrients you need to grow and mature?
Do you have a regular "feeding schedule" for Scripture? What schedule should you develop for sitting down and reading God’s word?0 -
New Study: 5 Day Study on Spiritual Growth
Bible Reading:
Hebrews 10:23-25
1 Corinthians 12:4-13
Ephesians 4:15-16
1 Peter 4:10
Commentary:
In school or on the job, many of us hold mixed feelings toward group projects. On one hand, they are great because everybody contributes to the overall success of the project. Different members of the group possess different skills that advance the project along.
Because there are more people in a group, the task gets divvied up among the members so that no one person does all the work alone. On the other hand, sometimes members of the group fall off.
They don’t participate or add any value to the group, adding extra burdens and workloads to the other members. When they depart from the group, they no longer receive the benefits from the group.
God didn’t design our spiritual growth to occur apart from other believers. Spiritual growth is a group project, and that group is called the church.
The word church means "the called-out ones," and is used over one hundred times in the New Testament, primarily referencing gathered assemblies of believers. It never meant a building. It never meant a program.
Instead, church always referred to the body of believers who congregated to celebrate and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
We receive certain benefits as members of the church and as members of God’s family. God gives every member of His family, every member of the church, a spiritual gift.
These gifts are to be used to serve, build up, encourage, and strengthen the family as a whole.
When believers who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit come together for worship, praise, teachings, encouragement, and service, God shows up in a special way, and we grow spiritually as we experience His presence.
But this only happens in the context of corporate worship. Meaning, you won’t experience God in this way on your own.
Without the church, your spiritual growth will be impeded. You need the church, and the church needs you!
In what ways have you found your spiritual growth "stirred up" or "stimulated" by the community of the church?0 -
New Study: 5 Day Study on Spiritual Growth
Bible Reading
James 1:2-3
John 16:33
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Commentary
All of us know what it’s like to take a test in school. You get taught specific lessons throughout the semester. At a certain point, the teacher will administer a test to the students. The test is designed to reveal what the student knows.
They are never designed by the teacher to hurt the student. Instead, the teacher desires and takes joy in the students’ ability to pass the test. However, when you fail a test, you won’t progress to the next grade. Some of us have experienced moving up a grade in school, while witnessing a friend having to repeat the grade. Why?
Because they failed too many tests, meaning there was no retention of information, no growth and no development. So, they had to repeat the lessons.
God is the perfect teacher. He develops us spiritually through His Word and through trials.
A trial is an adverse circumstance that comes into your life designed to develop you spiritually.
They don’t come on our timing when we’re ready for them.
Instead, they typically pop up when we least expect them to. Sometimes trials involve pain and suffering.
Trials may be unpleasant, but they nevertheless teach and transform.
God always has a purpose in permitting trials because through them, He moves the believer towards spiritual maturity.
Tests are slightly different. A test is a situation that comes into your life and forces you to apply spiritual resources to determine the best course of action.
In other words, a test evaluates if you know the right answer. God uses trials to develop us, but eventually, He will administer tests in our lives to reveal what we know about Him.
Have we retained the information that we learned through our trials?
Is there any real growth and development in our spiritual walk?
And if we fail the test, we must repeat it.
God will only allow us move forward when we pass the tests because in passing the tests, we
become more like Christ.
What are some trials and test that you have experienced in your life that God used for your spiritual growth?0 -
Every Christian is in a battle.
New Devotion Series on the Armor of God: by Tony Evans from YouVersion Online Bible App.
Bible Reading:
Ephesians Chapter 6
Key Verse: Verse 11
Commentary:
The Christian life is not a playground; it’s a battleground. God wants us to be victorious and not defeated in this spiritual war zone that we find ourselves in. He has provided armor for the conflict. It has to be appropriate for the fight.
If you use fleshly armor in a spiritual battle, then you’re going to lose, because it won’t be appropriate for the enemy that you are fighting.
Satan, the demonic world and the realm of evil are the sources of attack.
Everything physical and visible is preceded by something invisible and spiritual.
So, if you want to be victorious over your struggles in the physical world, you have to learn to fight against these spiritual invisible forces coming against you, and that is why it is absolutely critical that you know, understand and utilize the armor of God, so that you do not fight in defeat but in expectation of victory.0 -
New Devotion Series on the Armor of God: by Tony Evans from YouVersion Online Bible App.
Bible Reading:
John 16:13
Ephesians 6:14
John 14:17
John 14:6
John 8:32
Commentary:
Truth is the absolute standard by which reality is measured. Let me say it another way; truth is God’s view on any subject. He is a God of truth.
The Bible says the Spirit of God is “the Spirit of truth (John 14:17)”. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
God only functions in a realm of truth, whereas the evil one is the father of lies. The spiritual battle in which we are engaged is a battle between lies and the truth.
If you want to see victory in your spiritual life, you’re going to have to start with God’s view of a matter.
Many times in our spiritual war, we get everybody else’s view on a matter, including our own. We may even have the facts, but you can have the facts and still not know the truth.
Jesus said in John 8:32, only the truth can set you free.
You can have information and not have the truth.
You can have emotions and not be responding to the truth.
If you and I want to have spiritual victory in this spiritual war, that means we have to identify the issue—the subject at hand, the attack that we are experiencing, the evil day that seems to be coming against us. Then we’re going to have to rush to find out what God says about that matter.
Once you know that, His truth will inform the facts, and then you will know how to feel about it.
When you start operating on God’s view of the matter truthfully because you are operating on the truth, you will begin to see the supernatural enter into the circumstances of your conflict and of your battle.
Go to war with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God, so that you can free God up and make Him comfortable to intervene into your circumstances with what He knows is the real deal.
Our scope of knowledge is very limited. If all we see is what we see, we really don’t see all there is to be seen, since it is a spiritual and invisible battle. Focus on the truth and watch God use it to bring you victory.0
