Faith Builders Devotional

Daily Devotional

March 15 - March 21 2026

Mar15

Living Long & Living Strong

Deut 30:19-20
19	I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; NKJV God has given to all of us a certain number of years to live. Before the flood, humans could live hundreds of years. My theory is that the ‘firmament’ that the Word talks about that covered the earth was an amazing cloud cover. It protected the earth from the sun’s harmful rays and created a tropical type of environment as it trapped the incoming rays. I believe this is why scientists have discovered ancient tropic plants and animals all over the world. The earth was like a big comfortable tropical paradise. Where did all the flood waters come from to cover the earth in water during Noah’s time? How could it rain and rain? The Word says the flood waters came from the firmament and the depths. I think the earth was quite different before the Flood. All this water that flooded the earth came from the cloud cover that was above and from the water table below the earth. What does that have to do with you and me? Interestingly enough, after the flood, the life-spans of people born after the flood got shorter and shorter. This is my theory about why people lived longer before the flood, we may never know all the details. One thing we do know is that you and I can live to a certain age. What is that age? Genesis 6:3 says,
3	And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." On a flight back from Los Angeles, I picked up a book on nutrition that I read on the plane. It was written by two medical doctors. It talked about how important it is for us to eat right if we want to live well and long. One interesting point that they made, and that I will never forget, is that the human body is made up of cells. Those cells are designed to live hundreds of years. However, for some reason at about … you guessed it… 120 years… the cells start to shut down. I did a bit of research and found that the oldest living people of our recent generations live to 119 or 120 years of age. At the time I found out about a woman in France who was at 119. Isn’t that amazing? You can live up to 120 years if you take care of yourself. What is so important about long life? Check it out,
Ps 91:16
6	With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation." Long life is satisfying. Long life is a testimony of God’s goodness to you and I to the people around us. So do you know what I decided? I decided, I am living my 120 years. I am going the full route. We’ve got to realize that how long we live is based on our decision. It’s our choice. We just read in Deut 30:19-20 how we have to choose life. We have to do are part; eat natural foods (not processed), exercise regularly and strengthen our physical hearts, but most importantly, we need to seek God with all our being. Do you want to live long and strong? You can if you want. It’s your choice.

My child, if you have put up security for a friend's debt
or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger…go and beg to have your name erased. NLT

I have heard unbelievers say in the past that the Word is not in tune with the days we live in. Obviously, they don’t know the Word or the God of the Word because the Bible is an awesome book that is more solid than any newspaper, book, or financial magazine. Carrying it around may not change you. It won’t even work as a charm to ward off bad things. The Word is powerful when you read it and you make it a part of you.

Tokyo is a massive city of 28 million people. It was originally a feudalistic society so the roads are not exactly well planned out. The center city of Tokyo is considered to be the Imperial Palace, where the Japanese emperor lives. The Imperial Palace is considered to be the center of this great city and much is built around that palace. Although newer roads are straighter and wider, some parts of Tokyo have some winding and confusing streets. I learned to master the roads after getting lost driving when I was younger. The best mode of transportation is the excellent train and subway system. However, depending on your schedule and where you are going, it may be more convenient to take a taxi. In Japan, becoming a taxi driver is considered a job that anyone can fall back on.

I once took a taxi to a building in Toranomon. The driver seemed a bit older and more educated than I was used to. He was in his early 50s and well-kept. In that short ride, he explained to me how he had owned his own company and was married with children living not too far from Mount Fuji, South of Tokyo. His friend had asked him to become a guarantor on loans for a company the friend was going to start. Without talking to his wife, he became a guarantor for this ‘friend’. Later the friend went into extreme debt and rather than paying off those debts, the friend decided to run off with his secretary leaving the all these debts and trouble. This taxi driver had been the president of his own company, but when his friend defaulted on his loans the friend’s creditors all came to him. They took his house, his company, and all his savings. He lost everything. His wife was so upset that she divorced him. His family fell apart. He came to Tokyo and became a taxi driver.

It is such a sad story, but if he would have known and acted according to the Word of God, this taxi driver would have likely still been the president of a company. Why? Proverbs is very clear that we should never cosign on a loan or ever become a guarantor for anyone. Proverbs 6:3 implores us to beg the person we are signed with to release us from the contract if we are.

I may never know what happened to that taxi driver that lost it all. I pray that the words I gave him regarding Jesus will have taken root and he is a changed man now. God is the god of new beginnings. So as long as you are alive you have a chance to get out of trouble. However, wrong decision are painful to recover from.

If you are a guarantor or a cosigner on a loan, follow the wisdom of the Word of God and remove yourself from those dangerous arrangements immediately. You should not unnecessarily open yourself or your family up to the risks of others. You can still encourage people to become more dependent on God and believe Him for the funds. Believers have got some wonderful houses, built amazing ministries, universities, churches, schools, and even businesses by their faith. Completely debt-free!

Mar17

What’s Behind The Shrine?

1 Cor 10:19-21
19	What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Yesterday, as I was coming home from church I saw an older man walk into a little shrine in the neighborhood. He walked past the dog statues, up to the little altar with the two thick ropes attached to a bell. He moved the rope from side to side ringing the bell, stood straight up and clapped his hands together twice. This is the Shinto religion. This is how they pray. They are not into praying to idols too much but they are doing a ‘prayer’ at the shrine. The shrine is an idol. Japanese tend to mix that Shinto with Buddhism and just have confused lives spiritually. Many times, they get dedicated as babies in Shinto, married western style (they call Christian-style), and they die with some type of Buddhist ceremony. It is sad because without Jesus, you are lost. The greatest kings in Israel’s history were the guys who completely ripped down the heathen shrines and temples. God commends them for having the guts to rid the country of these places. Why is that? Behind these shrines and temples are demons. What are demons? They are evil spirits that want to torment and control human beings. You’ve probably sensed them before. Their names are insecurity, addiction, doubt, rejection, unbelief, fear, gluttony, rage… the list goes on. They want humans to suffer and be discouraged. Their ultimate goal is to pull people away from God and take away any chance of becoming right before Him. If they can distract us from God, then the chances of us going to heaven and being with God forever are minimized. They have freedom to roam the earth for a short time and will be thrown into the lake of fire (eternal torment) at the end, so they are wanting to take as many of us with them as they can. Remember that statue of that half-elephant human looking creature at the Indian restaurant? That is the Hindu god for ‘blessing’. In actuality, it is an idol because people pray to it. If you want to know the root of it, it is demonic. The word of God is very clear on that. “But pastor, that’s not being sensitive to other cultures!” I didn’t say it, 1 Corinthians 10:19,20 says that when we pray, sacrifice, or even bow to these idols, we are honoring an idol. Behind that idol is a demon. When we are praying to a dead relative, we are really praying to demons. When you ring a bell and clap your hands, you are praying to the demon behind that shrine. When you listen to a fortune teller (spiritualist) or believe that crystal ball, or try to contact dead people, all you are getting is a demonic show. Of course, these spirits have been around for a couple thousand of years so they are great liars and story-tellers. They are happy to act like the long dead Aunt Kathy or Uncle Ted. Demons love attention and they want to distract us from God. Don’t be distracted by demons! In the last week, I have been told twice that people know they need to get to church but they feel pressure not to go to church. Where does that come from? I bet you can guess. The enemy doesn’t want you in church and getting stronger in faith and living in victory. God loves us so much. His desire is that we fellowship with Him and worship Him. He doesn’t try to control us or kill us. God’s desire is very clear. Deuteronomy 6:5 says,
5	You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Give your all to God. Don’t let people or things distract you from the Almighty God. Yahweh loves you more than you can even imagine. With Yahweh, there is peace, joy, patience, kindness, and the knowing that good things will happen to you. Go after God with everything you’ve got. He loves you more than you can imagine. When you have Yahweh behind you, nothing can stand against you. When you feel doubtful, depressed, discouraged or just plain down, rebuke that spirit in Jesus’ name and lift your spirit up. Speak joy, speak hope, speak faithfulness, speak happiness, speak blessings, speak God’s things over yourself. Speak His Word and His giftings over yourself in Jesus’ Mighty Name. Watch what happens!

Mar18

The Importance of Unity

Acts 1:14
14	These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. NKJV Unity is so important. When you are in unity with your brothers and sisters in Yahweh, there is nothing stopping you. Prayer is more powerful, worship services are awesome, the preaching and messages cut right to the heart of the people. Why? The Holy Spirit operates in unity. I have visited churches all over the United States and around the world. I have been to dead churches (one in Chicago) and I have been to live churches (one in Florida). I have been to mediocre services, and I have been to marvelous services. One of the most amazing services I went to was one in Edison, New Jersey. When I travel, wherever I go, I want to visit a rocking church (where the presence of God is obvious). I want to visit a church that is so filled with the anointing and the power of God that you cannot deny it. It was a Wednesday night. I was in New Jersey on a business trip. The day before, I had driven by this church building that was in this warehouse type of facility. Next door, there was a a rental storage lot, on the other side was a park. For some reason, I sensed the Holy Spirit directing me there, so I found that they had a Wednesday meeting. So I went. I went in to the meeting and people were friendly. It was a large facility with television cameras, a stage, and even a full choir. They seemed to have a very interesting mix of blacks, whites, some Asians, and South Asians. The worship started and they had a great choir (why is it that so many blacks are such blessed musicians and singers), they were really good. The worship leader was an Italian American standing up front with an electric guitar. It didn’t seem to match what I was used to. They began to praise and entered in to worship. As they worshipped you could sense the presence of God in that large room. For 45 minutes they only sang 3 songs, however it didn’t matter because people from all over where there for one thing, and that was to worship God. People were entering in to His presence. By the time the pastor came to preach, the people were ready to have a word from God. It was a powerful service that I will never forget. Getting into God’s presence like that is wonderful, it is addictive. There is no place I would rather be. The reason it was so powerful was, the people were unified in the faith. When you become a believer and follow Jesus, your nationality becomes irrelevant. You’re no longer British, French, Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, South African, Saudi Arabian… you are a part of the Kingdom. You are His child. Your culture is His culture, you begin to act more and more like God acts. You want to be in God’s presence at every opportunity. At our church, we have people that are so hungry for God, they are at every meeting. Whenever the church building doors are open, they are there, because they love God so much. That dedication brings them deeper in relationship with God. When these types of believers congregate at a church, the spiritual power level of that church goes higher. Things begin to happen. The move of God begins. Why is that? It is all about unity. Psalms 133:1
1	Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! Unity is essential for the local church just like it is in the home. It is essential for a husband and wife to be unified in belief (that is why we are commanded not to marry unbelievers). When a husband and wife are unified in faith, the family is unified. Divorce is not coming to that house. They know, to be a good leader, you first need to be a good follower. The husband and wife both know that they need to get to church. They are both working to raise their children in Yahweh’s ways as they themselves draw nearer to God. The church is a similar thing as we are called the bride of Christ. If you are a believer, we are united with Jesus. We are submitted to Him and He guides and directs us. As our church is unified, that unity will come into other churches that are open to God as well. Ephesians 4:13 talks about being in the unity of the faith. What is this unity? This is all of our differences between believers melting away as we draw nearer into Him. As you think about your church, help and encourage that body of believers. Work together for unity and go for God with everything you’ve got.

Mar19

What You Put In, YGO (WYPI-YGO)

Acts 4:33-35
33	And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. If you are a believer, you are a part of The Way. You are a follower of Jesus. We know from Luke 6:38 that you should,
38	Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." If you give it is going to come back to you. If you are tithing and giving offerings, God can bless you. The more you give the more that comes back to you. I have noticed that when you are excited about something, you are going to give. I love to give. We give our tithes to our local church because that is where we are ministered to. Then we give various offerings to ministries that we really believe in. There are groups in Japan, America, and Africa that we are a part of. Yes, that is right! We are a part of something. We are a part of the ministry of an American couple that is helping the orphans in Mozambique. How is that? We are giving into their ministry and helping them to feed, educate, and love this kids in this other nation who have lost their parents. When you give into your local church, you are a part of those salvations, those miracles, the breakthroughs of the people through that ministry. In the early church, people were very excited about the signs and wonders that were happening. I am sure their excitement led to more and more miraculous events. We know that from the book of Acts. People wanted to be a part of that giving. In life, what you put in (WYPI) is what you get out (YGO). Whatever you give is going to come back to you. If you put time into your marriage, then you are going to have a better marriage. If you make an effort to know your kids, you are going to be a better parent. If you study hard and get a good education, you are going to be able to use that for rising into a great job. WYPI is what YGO! Life is all connected. You cannot stop the flow of life. If you do good, good is going to come back to you. If you do evil, that evil is going to come back on your on head. We have many groups of people from various countries in Tokyo. There are a lot of great people. However, there are some people doing evil as well. There is an area of Tokyo called Roppongi. It is famous for bars and drinking because of the American servicemen who would come up from their US bases in Japan since the 1950s. It is not a bad area, but bad things have happened there so it is a bit tainted. Recently, a number of foreigners from a certain African nation have been robbing people (particularly other foreigners). They stand along the streets and invite guys to ‘Gentlemens’ clubs promising unlimited drinks and girls. What they do is they drug the drinks of the target and once the victim is unconscious, they rack up great charges on the victim’s credit cards, take all their cash, watches, and whatever else they can get. These robberies has gotten so bad that several embassies have sent email warnings to their citizens telling them to beware of this criminal activity. It is so sad that people would do this to others. Most of the perpetrators are from the same country, so it actually projects a horrible reputation on other people from that African nation. It is not right, but there is a consequence. Don’t these guys realize what you put in, is what you get out? Push and someone will push back. Basic physics teaches that for every action, there is a reaction. If you steal and deceive others, you will be stolen from and deceived. This works for both the negative and the positive. Therefore we have to all make a choice, every minute of every waking day. What are you going to put into your life, your marriage, your children, your job, and your church? What you put into it, is what you will get out of it. Choose to put in the good.

Mar20

Fruit Inspectors

Matt 7:1-2

1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. NKJV

We humans tend to like to think we know everything. We have ways for testing what type of personalities people have. We want to try to understand things so we want to put people in categories. For example, we look at people and say they are a salesperson, a white-collar worker, blue-collar worker, a day laborer, a business person, an entrepreneur, a creative, a musician, an international executive, and all sorts of other labels. That can continue into all sorts of ethnic or people group labels. If we are not careful, we can start judging people based on their category or label and pre-judging (that is where we get the word prejudice, pre judging) folks. Jesus tells us to be careful about judging people. To state it clearer, we are to be careful about being judgmental or prejudice.

In my undergraduate days at University, my best friend was an African American. We had great talks and helped and encouraged each other as we went through school. We learned a lot from each other. I got a Volkswagen compact car, it was fun. After I got one, and he liked the idea so he went out and got one as well. The problem was his car didn’t have a newly rebuilt engine like mine did. One day as we were driving somewhere in his car, it broke down.

As we walked along the road to get help with the car, some young guys driving by rolled down their window. They saw the two of us walking along the street and shouted, “Nigger!” I couldn’t believe someone would be so ignorant because my friend was not white but black. I was shocked that people would be so judgmental and prejudice towards someone they didn’t even know.

The point is you always need to give people a chance. Just because people dress a certain way, or have a pierced ear we shouldn’t label them. We are not to be judgmental. However, that does not mean we are to just ignore what is happening around us. Jesus likened people to trees. Their actions are the ‘fruit’ of their lives. In Matthew 7:17-20, we see Jesus say,
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

At an office, a woman was doing some nasty things. She was rude to people and inconsiderate of others. She would tell people ‘Judge not, lest you be judged’. She was misquoting and hiding behind a scripture hoping that people would not bother her. Well, we are not to be judgmental of others, however Jesus made it very clear that we need to have good fruit. If someone professes to be a believer, but yet “talks like a sailor” (curses and uses foul language) then as a believer, you could determine that as bad fruit. What is in your heart is what is going to come out.

We are encouraged not to be judgmental; however we should all be ‘fruit inspectors’. We need to make sure we are right before God and have good fruit in our lives. That’s right! We need to look at ourselves first. Make sure we are acting in love, we are in church, we are helping others. Our good fruit becomes a testimony. As we are loving others, we can help. When we see others in error (bad fruit), we can help them. If you continue on in today’s reading, you’ll see that we’re told to remove the plank in our own eye before you try to help someone with the splinter in theirs. This is exactly what Jesus is saying. Don’t be judgmental or prejudice. However, that is no excuse for people to hide behind sin and be a bad witness to other believers and especially unbelievers. We all need to be fruit inspectors, throwing out the bad fruit and developing the good.

Mar21

SHOUT It Out!

Ps 32:11

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart! NKJV

One of the things I have learned about faith is that you’ve got to voice it out. We have to remember that there are two worlds we live in. Everyone knows the physical world we live in. They can see its trees, rivers, buildings, people, sky, and so forth. However, there is a world that is more real than that. As an unbeliever, we have little influence or power over this world. I am talking about the spiritual world.

The spiritual world is more real than the physical world. The human eye cannot see the spirit world, but the human spirit can. When you repent and come to Jesus, you become spiritually new. The Word says we are a ‘new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:17). When your spirit becomes new within you, you can begin to see God’s spiritual world. Faith is our connection between the spiritual and the physical. It does not stop there. Faith is the connector and your mouth is how you express your faith.

When you read through the Psalms you will see that Psalms talks a lot about what we do with our mouths. Singing, exhorting, shouting… I love that shouting. Psalm 32:11 says to shout for joy. Why is it so important that you say things? The Word says that faith comes by hearing.

After a couple years in Japan, the church we were attending was taken over by a new pastor, sent from the denomination in the US. They made a big mistake as he was clearly not called as a pastor. He was not loving or kind and did not care for people. He did some nasty things to many people in the church and really hurt that family of believers. My wife and I decided to leave as we didn’t enjoy the church. However, he had hurt me and I left a bit spiritually wounded.

Every time I thought of the guy I had negative thoughts and feeling about him. I couldn’t believe what he did to people. However, when I was talking to God, the Holy Spirit showed me, I had to forgive him for his horrible actions. From that point, whenever I thought of him I would verbally say, ‘I forgive’ and say his name. I did it every time. You know for the first few days, I had to do it by faith because I didn’t want to forgive him. However, within a week of saying “I forgive”, when I thought of him, I was able to forgive him. I was so joyful because I realized what the enemy wanted to use to wreck me, I turned around and got my joy back. I had something to shout about. I was free from unforgiveness! I had peace and saw that guy as God saw him. He was a hurt person. Hurt people, hurt other people.

Shouting is something you do when you have confidence. When I am watching my daughter play basketball, I can shout ‘shoot’ to encourage her that the time is right to put that ball in the basket. When you can shout, you are close to victory. In Joshua 6:20 Joshua told the people of God to shout.

So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

That shouting connected the physical world with the spiritual world. Their faith shout brought the walls of the enemy tumbling down.

If you want to be a powerful believer, don’t be afraid to shout it out. Speak to your problems, speak to the challenges, rebuke the heavy spirits you feel trying to take your joy. Most importantly, shout for joy and watch the walls come down!

Confession-
Thank you Jesus for your deliverance! Thank you for your blood this wash me and makes me clean and pure before you! Thank you for your protection on my family! Thank you for healthy children! God, you are good! I sing and I shout your praises! You are good and your mercies last forever!

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