Faith Builders Devotional

Daily Devotional

May 31 - June 6 2026

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. NKJV

I was in the train on the way into central Tokyo. When I travel, I am always armed. Not necessarily with some type of pistol, knife, or club. It is something much more powerful.

I am armed with the Word of God. I always have it on me. I encourage you to do the same thing. Always make sure you are armed. Armed with the Word of God!

On that train, as I read this verse in Romans 1:16, I got stuck there on it.. When you get stuck on a verse, don’t be in such a hurry to read on. Meditate on it a bit and see what the Holy Spirit has to say to you. Meditation is not getting into some yoga pose. Meditation is to be thinking deeply about something. Think deeply about that scripture that God has given you.

As I read that the Gospel is the power of God, I thought, the power of God is the Gospel. What is gospel? “Gospel” means good news. What is the good news? The good news is that Jesus died and came back to life to cover up all your mistakes and failings and make you perfect in God’s sight. The power of the gospel is that Jesus died and resurrected for us.

When you look further on in the verse, you see there is more to the story. Who is the power of God for? It is for ‘everyone who believes’. That’s right. If you are believing then you are everyone.

Do you see how the Holy Spirit can teach you something just by meditating on one verse? Isn’t that marvelous?

I love God. How about you? He is so good and just! He does everything perfectly and treats everyone fairly. Everyone has a chance. If you want God’s power in your life, you’ve got to have got to have the Gospel. The good news that King Jesus made us right before God.

Meditate His Word today and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you. There is amazing power and authority that you will learn. For every day you meditate the Word of God, the more power you will have in your daily life.

Jun1

Demons & Dolls

Matthew 8:16-17

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
"He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses." NKJV

We are living in a very fallen world. Everyone around you is trying to get ‘happy’. They think that parties, alcohol, sex, drugs, or more realistically even marriage or raising children will make them happy. It is just not true. The only way that people can be happy and fulfilled is by knowing King Jesus, repenting from their wrong ways, and learning to walk in His abundant life.

We must recognize though, that we have an enemy who wants to take us down. Many people talk about satan or the devil, but I think some tend to give him too much credit. The devil is a fallen angel. He can only be in one place at one time. He was thrown out of heaven and fell to the earth. He has surrounded himself with demons which, from what we can see in the Bible, are fallen angels. We think these are lower level angels that sided with him when he tried to mount his rebellion against God.

When these angels fell they went to the dark side and lost the glory that they had from being in God’s presence and turned into impish, vile beings. Of course, they can put on a show, which is why any unbeliever who thinks they saw a ghost had better realize that what they really saw a demon doing some type of impersonation. Demons, our enemy, want to deceive us and draw us away from the presence and power of God. They try to do this through sin.

The enemy will use people, lust, the media, music, world leaders, sparks in our imagination, and whatever else they can to try to deceive us. This is why we have to remain diligent and seek God with all we’ve got. That is why Proverbs 4:22 tells us to protect our heart (spirit/soul) diligently. Then when the enemy’s counterfeit comes along, we will spot it immediately and be able to rebuke it and blow it out.

Years ago, I visited a Brazilian pastor’s New Year’s services up in Nagano. It was a wonderful time of worshipping God with some of the South American community living in Japan. The worship was loud, the message was fiery, and the people were passionate about Jesus. That is my kind of church.

My children were small at the time, and I remember a small character from an American entertainment company fell out of my baby bag. It was nothing demonic or evil looking (otherwise, we wouldn’t have had it), but the pastor’s wife saw it and reacted strongly. The pastor came over a bit later and asked us not to bring that character into church because it was demonic. We were a bit surprised as we saw it more as a children’s character but honored his requests and put the character out in our car (we later threw it out). I kept and open mind and put this event ‘on my mental bookshelf’ to consider more another time.

The next time I visited the park owned by the company promoting this and other characters, I began to see what this pastor was talking about. I saw witches, death, ghosts, haunted houses, people involved in plundering, raping and pillaging others (pirates). Overall, I began to see the evil that these ministers had been talking about. From that time, I decided not to buy or promote anything that this company was marketing because I didn’t want to do anything to promote the demonic attributes of this company.

Was there a demon in the doll that fell out of the bag? I am not exactly sure, but I learned a good lesson that day. Keep an open mind, and if in doubt, throw it out. We need to be careful about what we buy, participate in, or promote. The enemy wants to tangle up people in sin and take them to hell with them to be forever separated from God. The angels are here to minister to us to help and protect us as we employ them.

God wants us to have abundant life. Remember how King Jesus dealt with demons and you should do the same.

Jun2

God’s Blessing & Your Body Temple

Daniel 1:12
12	"Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink...” NKJV They have a saying with computers and software called GIGO. This stands for ‘garbage in, garbage out‘, which means whatever you program or set up with your computer is what is going to run there. I have been telling my church and family that I will live to 120 years. I will live long, and I will live strong. That is my faith confession. It is not just a confession, there is action to my faith because I stand on the promise of 120 years in Genesis. But there is also one other area relating to this. I am starting to learn to be careful of what I eat and be led by His Spirit. The basic rule for healthy eating is, if it is processed through some machine from its natural state, don’t touch it. Eat only those things that are natural, as your body can process what is natural not all these rich processed foods that companies are trying to sell to you today. Yesterday, as I was meditating on the Word the Holy Spirit reminded me of Daniel 1:12. Daniel and his friends said they wanted nothing to do with the kings food that was sacrificed to demons (idols). It seems they did a good job keeping things positive. Rather than criticizing the diets for the others, they said “please test us” for 10 days. There was a super-natural blessing on what Daniel and his friends did. They did not compromise and Yahweh blessed them. It says in Daniel 1:15,
15	And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. NKJV Hallelujah! When you honor God, even if you’re not drinking all these protein drinks, God can make you even better than the competition. To me, a huge point of the story is, don’t just do something because everyone else is doing it. God can bless you when you obey Him. But you say, “Pastor, everyone is seeing that movie”. Don’t bow to the world. “Spencer, there are not that many bad words in there.” Don’t bow to the world. “Just one cigarette or one drink won’t kill me”. Don’t bow to the world, keep your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. What you compromise to get, you will have to compromise to keep. Daniel and his friends honored God and they were blessed for it. God raised up Daniel into a high level of leadership because Daniel honored Him. There is more to this picture. If you want to live long and live strong. You also have to take good care of your body. The Word tells us that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The word spirit there in the original Greek is pneuma. This can be interpreted either Spirit or Holy Spirit depending on the context. I see it both ways. Your body houses you, which is your spirit/soul. You need to exercise vigorously (20 minutes plus) at least three days a week. But also you have to eat right. Eat things that are living because you are living. Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit. Not processed potato chips, carbonated drinks, and foods filled with sugar. Fill your body with natural foods. Each morning, you should also fill your spirit with God’s presence. Remember Ephesians 5:18 says, "Be not drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." Eat right, exercise regularly, but most importantly seek Him with all you’ve got. When you do these things, you will live long, and live strong.

Jun3

Spreading That ‘Feel Good’

1 Timothy 1:5-6
5	Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, NKJV When you watch the secular news, you will find very few stories that are inspiring or even “good news”. In many cases, you will actually find many that are anti-Christ or anti-anything moral. However, I have recently been following the news reported by believers on a Christian network and discovered it is a much different story. As a believer, we should be in the light. The people I have been watching are definitely in the light and I have seen many programs and been inspired about how much good news there is out there to report as they see the stories from God’s perspective. Watching secular news doesn’t leave me feeling too good, but hearing about the latest news and what God is doing in peoples’ lives is inspiring. I feel good. Being a Spirit-fllled, Bible-believing, committed believer is not all that easy. While we are here on the earth, we are going to have to deal with some nasty people, and in many cases the wicked spirits behind them. They are in a spiritual darkness. We are to be in the light of our Messiah. Believers should be sincere, hard-working, and very intelligent. We should have open minds and be blessed with good health, wonderful families, and growing wealth and prosperity. We also should be very transparent and kind to people. Even though every day in life might not be a bed of roses, it is what we make of it. Even if you have bad things happen during your day, you have to decide by faith that you are going to have a good day.
1	Timothy 1:5-6 really shows that being a believer is really the only way to truly say, “I feel good!” Timothy says we are to love from a pure heart, have a clear conscience, be sincere in faith and not go off in some wrong direction based on empty words of someone twisting the Word. I started a monthly meeting of Chief Executive Officers (CEO) many years back. It is good to see these people and learn from these experienced leaders. As I prayed one morning, I sensed through the Holy Spirit that these guys (men and women) were mostly lost. Of course, being a believer is a good thing but many people just see us as religious people as they don’t see the relationship we have with the Creator because they are blinded. I really sensed that these individuals were lost and have interceded for them. Learning to apply God’s Word completely to your life will change you. You love God, you are committed and faith to your church, there is nothing in your conscience to hold you back. You feel good. However, how could I share a meeting with these people every month and not tell them about Jesus? I can’t and I haven’t. What about you? Are you meeting people repeatedly and not telling them about the King and how He changed you? Don’t get comfortable with where you are at. Tell people about Jesus and although it might make you a bit nervous at first, pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you and you will feel so good! Not only will the open heart of the person feel good after hearing the truth about God, you will go to bed that night feeling such peace and accomplishment. It is such a spiritual high!

Jun4

Make Your Bible Your Mirror

1 Cor 2:16

For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. NKJV

In the 4th grade my father received a promotion at his job. With that promotion he had to move our family to Washington State to better cover his region of Washington and Alaska. As I look back on it, it was a good move. My oldest sister had already moved out. My older brother was in the process of finding his place in life (and job), my middle brother, my sweet adopted sisters, my parents, and I were living at a brand new house in Kent, Washington.

We had gone to a good baptist church in Oregon where I had repented and accepted Jesus in March of 1978. When you move far away, a very important first thing you have to do is get rooted in a spirit-filled, Bible-believing, tongue-talking church. It will take a bit of work to find a place, but once you find it, plant yourself and help that church. We ended up in a denominational church that happened to be spirit-filled. I remember it as a great experience. I learned so much being there. The pastor was a new Bible school graduate with a young wife and young children. Things must have been going well. My father is big on giving so he was helping in the leadership team.

As the church was growing and getting successful, the pastor evidently was getting a bit confident. The leadership team was having their regular monthly meeting and suggesting one idea which the pastor was not happy with. He responded by trying to shut down all discussion by misquoting 1 Corinthians 2:16 saying, “I have the mind of Christ on this issue guys” [so there is nothing else to discuss]. What a horrible thing to say. Does anyone have a corner on the God market? No.

We all need to make sure we are becoming more and more like Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit are His characteristics (peace, joy, patience, kindness..) and we need to exhibit those as well. We all need to think more and more like Him. When we do that we will see our situation change. All believers need to have the mind of Christ. How do you do it?

Start to see yourself in the Word as you read it. Don’t just read about how Abraham prospered, see yourself prospering as well. See yourself as dealing well with the political leaders just like Daniel did. See yourself gaining great wisdom like Paul had. The possibilities are infinite. As you do this, the Word becomes more and more like a mirror.

A mirror shows you the areas on your face that need to be dealt with; a bit of rough skin, a blemish, something that needs to be washed off. As you read the Word, you are going to notice the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit. He is going to show you about that attitude issue you had with your spouse or parents. He is going to give you insights on how to fix that issue at the office. He is going to show you the weak areas in your life. Hebrews 4:12 says the Word is living and active. It really is. Have you read it today and checked your spiritual face?

Jun5

Peace in Home & The Workplace

1 Corinthians 7:2-4

Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. NKJV

A major cause of personal trouble with a lot of married people in the world is the dysfunctional marriage. What does that mean? The husband and wife do not have a normal relationship both in their marriage union and in the physical act of marriage.

I remember one day getting a call from a American lawyer. I had asked him to give me a quote to check an agreement. Without any approval he had the agreement reviewed and told me it cost about $1000 for 2 hours work. I reminded him I had in writing requested a price, not the work. We ended up not finishing the discussion. He sent an invoice and since there was no authorization for the work, nothing was done with it in the finance team.

Days later, he called asking about the invoice and cursing. (You should not stand for foul language, so at that point) I disconnected from the phone call. I promptly wrote him an email to follow up. The next morning he wrote a venomous reply trying to attack my character. I wondered why this guy was so mean. However, when I looked at the situation closer I suspected that he was going through some type of problems in his personal life because of how mean he was acting. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that this guy was having marital issues with his wife. I prayed for him in that situation, and I prayed that the Holy Spirit would draw Him.

The 1 Corinthians 7:2-4 is directly talking about sex. Once you are married, you become one with your spouse. If you start to withhold yourself physically or spiritually from your spouse then you are guaranteed a deterioration in your relationship. If the relationship is spiritually unhealthy (fighting, not talking to each other, ignoring each others requests), then the physical side is going to be unhealthy as well.

A friend told me about his sister-in-law in Wisconsin. She was withholding herself from her husband, and they even had separate bedrooms! From what we know, everyone involved here are unbelievers. My friend watched as the husband and wife’s relationship fell apart. Every time my friend was around this couple they were constantly bickering and fighting. He was amazed at how brashly the husband verbally abused the wife in front of visitors. His comment to me was, if his sister in law would not be trying to use sex as a weapon their relationship could begin to heal.

These people didn’t know 1 Corinthians 7, but we do. Want a great relationship with your spouse? Make time for them. Share your dreams and visions. Tell them of your concerns. Pray together. Hug and kiss them each day. Work hard at your job to show them you want to contribute and help take good care of them. Build relationships that are spiritually healthy and physically healthy as well!

Jun6

Confession & Commitment

Matthew 10:32-33

"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. NKJV

When you get to the end of a service at church, you’ve heard the message, you’ve had an awesome worship with great music and singing, you’ve had a chance to give your tithe in thanks to your awesome God; at end the end of the message we get a chance to repent, turn to Jesus and confess Him.

Why is this so important? Confessing Him before others to your spiritual life. After someone has repented and turned to Jesus, I always them to tell others what happened to them. They can stand up in front of the church and tell Jesus how they have changed. God is so gracious.

If you are unwilling to talk about what Jesus has done for you, then there is a good chance that you haven’t really made the decision. If King Jesus has changed you and you have become a new person you are going to talk about it. It is important that you talk about it. Faith is speaking and telling people how you have changed will really solidify your faith.

They say that a good liar is one who believes what he or she is saying. If you tell the same untruth over and over you are going to eventually believe the lie that you made up. I found that this is even more powerful with faith. If you feel someone has wronged you, every time you think of them you confess, “I forgive X (put in their name”. After you have received prayer for healing, say by faith “I thank you Father God for healing me. I am clean and clear of X (put in the the name of the sickness or disease). Speak the truth over and over and it will change you. God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).

Think about a wedding. When I married my wife, I confessed before hundreds of people near Seattle Washington that I would take care of my wife. She confessed that she would take care of me as well. We promised before those hundreds that we would love each other for our whole lives. This was no little commitment. The church was rented, flowers purchased, family members bought dresses or rented tuxedos, lots of food was purchased, a special cake was made by a famous Italian bakery, the pastor was hired, the invitations were sent out, and most importantly the pre-marriage counseling was completed. There was a lot of time, money, and effort made for this public confession of the love of this young couple. Once the wedding has been done, and everyone has seen the marriage, it is going to be very awkward to annul the whole thing because we had witnesses.

Confessing King Jesus as your savior is much like a marriage. When you confess Him, you are saying ”I am committed”. Doing it in front of others gives you those same witnesses. People who do the ‘Las Vegas style wedding’ which is to just stand in front of some city official and sign a marriage license, is not the same, and is more likely to lead to divorce. However, when you have put the time, thoughts, effort, and work into having a public display of affection for your spouse, you will not easily fall away from that commitment. Clearly it must be the same for our most important commitment. King Jesus tells us to publicly proclaim that commitment. If we tell the world that we are Yahweh’s and committed to Jesus, then there is no stopping us.

Are you committed? Then tell people. Tell people what Jesus has done in your life today.

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