Month: June 2023

Friday Devo
“Fight the good fight of faith…” 1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Every true child of God knows that living a genuine Christian life is a battle. Every day it is a fight of faith as we battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. But why did the Apostle describe this as a ‘GOOD Fight’? By its nature, a fight is not a good thing on a human level. But this fight is good because it is for the highest and most noble purpose possible! We are fighting for the glory of God in this world! We are fighting to see the increase of His kingdom in the hearts of men. As the song ‘Press the Battle On’ tells us, “We are battling for the truth and right, and we shall triumph in Jehovah’s might!” So this fight is also good because we know the outcome. We know that as long as we are standing with Jesus that we will be more than conquerors through Him! But also, this is a ‘good fight’ because everywhere it is fought it brings good. It brings good to the souls who fight in faith. It brings good to the world around us as we fight in the army of the Lord. Where this ‘good fight’ goes on, love, humility, mercy and compassion are being demonstrated to our fellow man. By God’s grace, let us follow Jesus as good soldiers of the cross and continue to fight the good fight of faith.

“…I am not ashamed: for I know Whom I have believed…” 2 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬. We are in a time when many religious people can tell you what they believe on an intellectual level. They can recite the creed of their church and talk about the things they believe. But what a difference it makes when we actually know the Person our faith is in! Christianity is not knowing things about religion. It is not in knowing a church creed or doctrinal position. Rather, it is in knowing Jesus Christ in intimate, personal relationship! Jesus said “THIS is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God…” Many people know a lot of things about the Bible and about God. They know certain facts about the Person of Jesus Christ. But the problem is, knowing things does not change the heart and life! Knowledge about things alone will not fill our hearts with love to God and our fellow man. But when we know HIM, everything changes! Jesus wants us to know HIM! He wants us to live in personal communion with Him. He wants us to live every day as the song says, “He walks with me and He talks with me”. It is only this personal knowledge of Jesus that can give us the spiritual boldness we need in this day of apostacy. Many are ashamed of the strict teachings of Jesus because they don’t know Him. But when we truly know Him, then we will understand that everything He commands us is because of His great love for us.

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life…” 1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬.
“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.” John‬ ‭17‬:‭3‬ ‭KJV‬‬. When Paul wrote to Timothy, encouraging him to “Fight the good fight of faith”, most people assume he was meaning that he had to fight in order to win the prize of eternal life. And as a result, they think of eternal life only as a distant goal. But the truth is, eternal life is not limited to life in Heaven. Rather, it is spiritual life in personal relationship with God NOW! It is that life more abundant Jesus spoke of. It is you and I possessing the very life of God in our souls through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. This is why Paul emphasized our need to lay hold on eternal life NOW, so we will be equipped to fight the good fight. But do we pause to consider the blessed privilege that is ours to partake of this life now, in this present world? Too many in religion regard eternal life only as something future. But Jesus tells us that eternal life is to Know God! And how blessed we are that we can know Him NOW! In this day where so many are interested in knowing many things, let us focus our attention more upon knowing our Heavenly Father through a life changing, personal relationship with Him.

“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life…” 1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬. In this passage, the Apostle is warning Timothy of the danger of coveting material things. He speaks of the danger of desiring to be rich and how it can bring ruin to the soul. Most unbelievers are continually trying to lay hold of more than they have or need. The cry of the lost is always “More”. They want more money, more success, more pleasure. But the more they lay hold of, the less they are satisfied. So we are warned here to flee from these things. And not only are we to flee from these evils, but we are to follow that which is right and good. We find that doing this is a battle, so we must fight the good fight of faith. But in the next words is the key to this entire passage. We must lay hold on eternal life in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what qualifies us to be able to flee, follow and fight successfully! Until we lay hold of eternal life, all our human efforts will be in vain. But for us to lay hold, we must do so with all of our heart. This means that our relationship with Christ must be the most important thing in our existence! It must be our ‘pearl of great price’ that we give up everything else for. By God’s grace, let us lay hold on eternal life.

Monday Devo
“So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Hebrews‬ ‭13:6‬ ‭KJV‬‬. There are many today who live in constant fear of man. They imagine what people might do to them or say about them, or even what the government may try to impose upon them, and it brings great fear, because they recognize the cruelty that human beings are capable of. But when we are in right relationship with God and we know Who He is to us, all of that fear is removed! God’s Word reminds us in 1 John 4:18, “…there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…” This means we can be confident knowing God’s perfect love for us will never fail! It is being confident that because His love is perfect, He will always be our Helper, Protector and Provider, and will never let us down. So as we face this troubled world knowing all that mortal man can do, let us go forward with this confidence: “The Lord is my Helper! And because He is my Defender and Protector, and is always watching over me, I will not fear what man can do to me.”

“But by the grace of God I am what I am…” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:10‬ ‭KJV‬‬. The Apostle Paul understood very clearly, that if any good came from or through his life, it was all a result of God’s grace. He knew that every good thing he possessed was by God’s grace. In this day where there is so much pride in our world and in most of religion, we would do well to remember this truth. There is no good in us apart from the grace of God. There is nothing in us worthy or deserving of anything good. All that we are and every blessing we have is by God’s grace. Realizing this will keep us humble before God and each other. The only thing that separates us from the lowest places is God’s grace. It is His grace that allowed us to be born in a place where we could hear the Gospel. It is God’s grace that provided the opportunity for us to get an education and have strength to labor. It is His grace that brings people into our lives to love us and show us the love of Jesus. May we never boast in anything except Jesus Christ and God’s amazing grace. Let us thank the Lord today for every good thing in our lives, because it is ALL by God’s amazing grace!

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death , I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me…” Psalm 23:4 KJV. Every child of God will go through a dark valley at some point. But for us, the one factor that changes the valleys of life is: The presence of our Good Shepherd with us. To walk these valleys alone would be more than we could handle. But when we know that Jesus, our Good Shepherd, is always with us, we have confidence we can make it. We know that nothing we face ever takes Him by surprise. Because He is far greater than any sorrow or heartache, that means we will be able to go through with victory in our souls. So as we walk these valleys of life, let us remember the words of the song, ‘I’ll keep holding on to Jesus’, and be sure that He is holding on to us. He is the Great Shepherd Who has already trod the path of sorrow for us. And what a blessing to know His heart of love is touched by the things we go through. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. He will be with us in every valley. That is our assurance we will be able to make it through.

“He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” Isaiah‬ ‭40:29‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Most believers desire to have more spiritual strength. We recognize as we face the struggles of daily life that we need more of God’s divine power working in us. But do we ever consider these words that define who God imparts His strength to? He does not give strength to the person who believes they are strong in themselves. He will not impart His strength to the one who is still proud and thinks he needs only a little help. God only gives His supernatural strength to the humble soul who confesses, “I am weak but He is strong. I can do nothing without Him!” Thank God, when He sees this kind of humility He will move Heaven and earth to help and strengthen that soul! This is the experience Christ offers for everyone who will humble themselves before Him. He wants to come into our hearts in His fulness and power. He wants to be our Strength. But so often our attitude of self-sufficiency hinders Him. When He becomes our strength, we will always have sufficient power for everything we face. By God’s grace, let us humble ourselves and confess our weakness. Let us know that we are not sufficient in ourselves. Then we can rejoice with the Apostle, “ It is no longer I that live, but Christ is living in me.” And then He will be our Strength.

“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬ ‭KJV‬‬. In the history of aviation many men tried to overcome the natural forces that work against flight. Those who made attempts often faced criticism and opposition as people said there is no way for man to fly. Their skeptics believed there would never be sufficient power to enable sustained flight. Every child of God knows that spiritually, we have forces working against us. We try to rise up from a life of sin but always the downward pull is more than we can overcome. But then we discover in God’s Word that He has the power to lift us up! We learn that His power is greater than anything our minds can comprehend. And what a blessing it is to know His mighty power works in us! But then each of us comes to a place of decision. We must decide if we will believe God’s power is sufficient for me. We say we believe God can do anything, but will we believe His power can lift me up above a sinful life of constant defeat and failure? Will we believe that God has power, not only to save us, but also to keep us in a life of holiness as His Word declares? We will have many skeptics and much opposition. But this is not a question of our goodness or strength. Rather, it is a question of our faith in God’s power. Let us rise up in the faith, that God’s power is sufficient.

“that He may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers.” 1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭58‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Every Christian knows that we need spiritual power. But many people do not understand that power must be properly directed in order to accomplish it’s purpose. An airplane going down the runway has tremendous power. But until the wings are inclined upward it will only continue on the ground. A failure to understand this simple truth is what keeps so many religious lives low in sin rather than rising up into a genuine relationship with Christ. Today, much of false religion presents the Gospel as a free ticket to Heaven without any significant change in the heart or life. But in real salvation God works a change in us like the upward incline of a plane’s wings. He changes the inclination of our life. He gives us a new heart and nature that seeks things which are above!This is what causes old things to pass away and all things to become new. It is because our lives are aiming in an entirely new direction. It is because God has done a miracle in us called the New Birth. Let us cooperate with God as He inclines our hearts to Him and all things will become new.