Daily Devotional By Awftl

The Faith of Christians, Churches, and Nations Can Be Tested and Doubts Arise in Today’s World; However, God Is Faithful and Will Not Forsake You MESSAGE SUMMARY: God will never leave you or forsake you. Even when difficulties arise and you are tempted to walk away from your faith, God will not leave you. When you are tempted to doubt God, remember that God is faithful. When the Apostles questioned Jesus about faith and prayer, Jesus told the Apostles, in Mathew 21:21-22, that your faith is powerful and that God will respond to your faith: “And Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.’”. Hold, unswervingly, to the hope and faith you profess because God, who promised us, is faithful. While you are endeavoring to hold onto your faith in God and Jesus’ Gospel,

Pray for One Another in Our Race Issues and Go Make a Difference in Our Communities; Jesus Followers Are Here for Times Like This MESSAGE SUMMARY: With regards to our race issues, it will NOT be through political parties, rallies, elections, slogans, or marches that our attitudes and practices are changed or the souls of our nations are converted. Rather, the deep change, which we all need, will only be through a spiritual awakening. This spiritual awakening will come only from repentance – the turning away from our sin and toward God and his righteous ways in Jesus Christ. As Jesus commanded us in John 5:12: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”. Also, in John 13:34-35, Jesus commanded us: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”. Jesus’ “one another” is all inclusive and not just those that look like you

God Is Focused a Jesus Follower’s Heart, and He Changes Their Thinking and Attitude Through a Change in Their Heart MESSAGE SUMMARY: God makes you a new creation through your new heart created by an indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your life. God is interested in your heart, and He wants you to have a righteous heart– God changes your thinking and your attitude through a change in your heart. In Romans 8:26-27, Paul describes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Followers resulting in a new person, with a new heart, in Jesus: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.". As a Jesus Follower, you are salt and light, comes from your righteousness – not just in deed and appearance but, also, in your inner person -- your heart.     TODAY’S PRAY

When the Bottom Falls Out in Your Life, Ask God to Get Involved Through Prayer AND Thanks – You will Be Amazed! MESSAGE SUMMARY: Sometimes the bottom falls out in your life, and you wonder where God is in all your stuff. Well, the challenge to you is to “Thank God” by turning your eyes away from all your life’s “stuff” and turning your eyes to God and thanking Him! We have no better teacher, of the need to address God with our thanks, than when, in Luke11:2, Jesus responded to His Disciples’ request to teach them to pray: “And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.’". By taking your situation to God in prayer AND thanks, you will be amazed at what will happen to your situation which, before you asked God through prayer AND thanks, seemed insurmountable. What do you usually do? You worry and fret – you focus on the negative and give the adverse situation so much power, in your life, rather than focusing on God and giving Him thanks. In Mathew 6:34, Jesus tells y

Jesus Followers Are to Pray Directly to God for “all people” Because God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” MESSAGE SUMMARY: Jesus taught us to pray to God for others and ourselves. We are told, in Hebrews 5:7-8, that Jesus, as a Human, prayed to God in both content and manner as: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications {submissive requests}, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.". In your personal relationship with God, you can come before God, as Jesus did, on behalf of yourself or others in Intercessory Prayer. You are given the privilege of following Moses’ example for Intercessory Prayer because of what Jesus has done for you. Jesus has given you the privilege of entering the Throne Room of God to have access to God the Father – this access to God is through prayer.  In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, we ar

Your Sin Is Never Too Great for God; If You Return to God, He Will Return to You MESSAGE SUMMARY: We all sin, and sometimes you may perceive your sin to be so horrendous that you think your life is lost to God’s willingness to forgive you; therefore, you believe that you are lost to God’s Salvation. If you repent to God of your sins and return to God in your life, He will return to you. Whenever we fall into sin, do we repent and return to the Lord? Hopefully, our answer is: "I will, with God's help.". Our God wants us to return to Him because He loves us -- He is a covenant God. In Malachi 3:7, God admonishes His people who have turned away from Him; but God promises His return to His people if they return to Him: “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’". However, Malachi asks the question: “How shall we return?”. Joel 2:12-13 provides the Lord’s answer to

America Will Not Survive as a Nation Unless the People of God Stand Up and Plead for Our Survival - Pray for America MESSAGE SUMMARY: As Americans, we are a privileged people, all of us, to live in a country, relative to the rest of the world, that is privileged. The key element of this privilege” is freedom. However, something has been changing -- we are seeing many of the freedoms and blessings of America changing into curses. For example, our obsession with materialism has put most Americans into the bondage of debt; and our drive to feel happy has led many into the addiction of drugs and alcohol. We must all realize that our freedoms and liberties must be used for Godly purposes, or we will lose our freedoms. As we are told in Psalms 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!". Today, through our actions, laws, and the cultural revisions of our founding Christian principles, we have told God that we do not want Him around. While God is love, He is,

Wake Up America! MESSAGE SUMMARY: Paul points out to us, in Romans1:18, that God is not a disinterested bystander in either our lives or the life of our country: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.". From the end of WWI, in 1918, through the middle of the 1930s, Hitler and the National Socialist Party coopted the Christian Churches in Germany as the National Socialists rose to power politically, thereby, reducing Germany to only one state-supported religion. Also, the National Socialists coopted all of Germany’s political parties to reduce Germany to a one-party country. Is the Christian Church, here in the US, abdicating its role, as the Christian Church did in Germany, by not speaking with a voice that is heard against the changing culture? As followers of Jesus, we and our churches need to wake up to the cultural changes that are opposed to Jesus’ teachings and the Bible. The US was created, by th

Reflections on the Elections   Background: This daily devotional was drawn from a sermon delivered by Dr. Foley Beach during a Presidential election season. While this sermon was delivered in the past, its thesis that “God is right in the middle of our elections” is based on Daniel’s interpretation King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men”. America is once again in an election cycle. MESSAGE SUMMARY: “Where is God in all of this”? We were so engaged in prayer leading up to the election that it’s hard to believe that God was not involved in this election. God was and is in the middle of this election and our country’s governance just as He was in the time of King Nebuchadnezzar’s vision and Daniel’s interpretation (Daniel 4:17 ESV). “Someone asked me: ‘How could God allow a pro-abortion president’?”. At this time, we cannot answer this question, but God can and does use anyone in His plan for Salvation that begins in

Wake Up America! MESSAGE SUMMARY: Paul points out to us, in Romans1:18, that God is not a disinterested bystander in either our lives or the life of our country: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.". From the end of WWI, in 1918, through the middle of the 1930s, Hitler and the National Socialist Party coopted the Christian Churches in Germany as the National Socialists rose to power politically, thereby, reducing Germany to only one state-supported religion. Also, the National Socialists coopted all of Germany’s political parties to reduce Germany to a one-party country. Is the Christian Church, here in the US, abdicating its role, as the Christian Church did in Germany, by not speaking with a voice that is heard against the changing culture? As followers of Jesus, we and our churches need to wake up to the cultural changes that are opposed to Jesus’ teachings and the Bible. The US was created, by th

Jesus Followers Can Personally Talk to God, the Universe’s Creator, About Issues Like His Will for You; but Do You? MESSAGE SUMMARY: As a Jesus Follower, you have a personal relationship with God, the Creator of the Universe; and you can talk to God like you talk to your father. Remember God loves you. Imagine climbing up into His lap and imagine Him wrapping His arms around you – He is God your loving father. As God tells you in 2 Samuel 7:14-15: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.". You need to start talking to Him as the best dad there could ever be. Talk to God, regularly, about your life; your concerns; and your needs. You need to ask Him for His counsel, and you need to ask Him questions regarding His will for your life.     TODAY’S PRAYER: Father, may the pains I experience

Reflections on the Elections   Background: This daily devotional was drawn from a sermon delivered by Dr. Foley Beach during a Presidential election season. While this sermon was delivered in the past, its thesis that “God is right in the middle of our elections” is based on Daniel’s interpretation King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men”. America is once again in an election cycle. MESSAGE SUMMARY: “Where is God in all of this”? We were so engaged in prayer leading up to the election that it’s hard to believe that God was not involved in this election. God was and is in the middle of this election and our country’s governance just as He was in the time of King Nebuchadnezzar’s vision and Daniel’s interpretation (Daniel 4:17 ESV). “Someone asked me: ‘How could God allow a pro-abortion president’?”. At this time, we cannot answer this question, but God can and does use anyone in His plan for Salvation that begins in

On this election day, Will You "Stand in the Gap" for Our Country to Participate in and Lead a Great Awakening and Spiritual Renewal in America? MESSAGE SUMMARY: On July 4, 1776, the signers of the Declaration of Independence began a revolution which started the United States of America. The Revolution was rooted in the belief that all people, even the King and governmental leaders, are subject to the rule of God and not above the law and; and everyone is endowed by God, our Creator, with certain inalienable rights. Many people have tried to deny that America's founders created a country which wove together the idea of self-governance with Christian principles. Now, it appears, the focus is to get rid of things relating America to Christianity, the Bible, or anything that smacks of God – and, pretty much these efforts to remove God’s influence from the public square, appear to be succeeding. We need to hear, in Today’s sermon, what our founders said regarding America’s Christian base. However, not long after

America Will Not Survive as a Nation Unless the People of God Stand Up and Plead for Our Survival - Pray for America MESSAGE SUMMARY: As Americans, we are a privileged people, all of us, to live in a country, relative to the rest of the world, that is privileged. The key element of this privilege” is freedom. However, something has been changing -- we are seeing many of the freedoms and blessings of America changing into curses. For example, our obsession with materialism has put most Americans into the bondage of debt; and our drive to feel happy has led many into the addiction of drugs and alcohol. We must all realize that our freedoms and liberties must be used for Godly purposes, or we will lose our freedoms. As we are told in Psalms 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!". Today, through our actions, laws, and the cultural revisions of our founding Christian principles, we have told God that we do not want Him around. While God is love, He is,

As our national election day approaches, Will You "Stand in the Gap" for Our Country to Participate in and Lead a Great Awakening and Spiritual Renewal in America? MESSAGE SUMMARY: On July 4, 1776, the signers of the Declaration of Independence began a revolution which started the United States of America. The Revolution was rooted in the belief that all people, even the King and governmental leaders, are subject to the rule of God and not above the law and; and everyone is endowed by God, our Creator, with certain inalienable rights. Many people have tried to deny that America's founders created a country which wove together the idea of self-governance with Christian principles. Now, it appears, the focus is to get rid of things relating America to Christianity, the Bible, or anything that smacks of God – and, pretty much these efforts to remove God’s influence from the public square, appear to be succeeding. We need to hear, in Today’s sermon, what our founders said regarding America’s Christian base. Howev

Many Focus on Earning Money and Living a Financially Driven Life Which Lets Money Become Their “god” MESSAGE SUMMARY: We are so focused on earning money and other financially driven life activities so that it is easy for money and finances to become our god. Making finances “our god” violates the Second Commandment. Jesus is Lord over all Creation, as we are told in Psalms 24:1: “The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.”. Therefore, everything that has been entrusted to you is God’s. In James 5:1-3, the author of the Book of James provides insight into someone who does NOT make God the Lord of their finances: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in th

America Will Not Survive as a Nation Unless the People of God Stand Up and Plead for Our Survival - Pray for America   MESSAGE SUMMARY: As Americans, we are a privileged people, all of us, to live in a country, relative to the rest of the world, that is privileged. The key element of this privilege” is freedom. However, something has been changing -- we are seeing many of the freedoms and blessings of America changing into curses. For example, our obsession with materialism has put most Americans into the bondage of debt; and our drive to feel happy has led many into the addiction of drugs and alcohol. We must all realize that our freedoms and liberties must be used for Godly purposes, or we will lose our freedoms. As we are told in Psalms 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!". Today, through our actions, laws, and the cultural revisions of our founding Christian principles, we have told God that we do not want Him around. While God is love, He is

Here You Are in Your Sins Without One Plea for Innocence; Would You Rather Plea for God’s Justice or Mercy? MESSAGE SUMMARY:  We do not deserve it; but we are able to come to God, in a Personal Relationship with Him, to plea for His Mercy. We are all sinners. As Paul tells us in Romans 9:18: “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.". With God’s Justice without His Mercy and His resulting Grace, you would face only eternal death as Justice for your sins. We can never enter God’s presence for prayer when we are in our pride with our focus on ourselves. Also, Paul reminds us, in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, that, in your Salvation through God’s Grace, Jesus makes us “boast” only in the Grace provided us by God: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”. We can only enter God’s presence when we humble ourselves in Jesus. Humi

God Exhorts Us: “1) Do not fear; 2) Continue to tithe; 3) Get out of debt; 4) Help our brothers and sisters in need; and 5) Pray” MESSAGE SUMMARY: In the Bible, you can find five exhortations, from the God, that are right on point for our tough times in America: 1) Do not fear; 2) Continue to tithe; 3) Get out of debt; 4) Help our brothers and sisters in need; and 5) Pray. The people in Malachi’s day were withholding what was God’s, and they were paying a price. But even in those conditions of sin, God said to the nation, in Malachi 3:7, “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’.”. God does not change – God today is the same faithful Creator of the Universe as He was in the time of Malachi. Return to God, both as an individual and as a nation; and see how God will bless us!     TODAY’S PRAYER: Lord, help me to be still and to wait patiently for you in silence.

Jesus Followers Will Be Tempted, but God “will not let you be tempted beyond your ability . . . to endure” MESSAGE SUMMARY: You will be tempted again and again, but the temptation itself is not the sin. The sin resides in your grabbing onto the temptation; dwelling on the temptation; and following through on the temptation. Jesus was tempted, and He always faced temptation by quoting scripture to the temptation source. As Jesus tells you about Temptation and sin in Matthew 18:7-8: “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.". Also, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, confirms that God will not permit us to be tempted in a manner that we will be unable to resist: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is fai