Faith Builders Devotional

Daily Devotional

June 28 - July 4 2026

Jun28

Your Part In Making Him Famous

2 Thess 1:12
12	that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV Girls, glory, gold... the three Gs. This is what I first heard from the founder of a famous ministerial association I served in for a number of years tell me in Missouri when I met him for a meeting. When you are new minister, it is easy to get caught up in the wrong thing if you don’t protect your heart. ‘Girls’ is sex outside marriage, ‘glory’ is just wanting to become famous, and ‘gold’ is seeking money, finances or other things. If a believer, especially a minister, gets entangled in sin, it is usually one of these three things that trip them up. The older I get in life, the more true Proverbs 4:23 which says
23	Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. NASU The Amplified Bible makes it even plainer. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. AMP If you fall into sin, it is because you let your guard down. You may have looked at something you shouldn’t have looked at and thought “It won’t hurt just this once.” Just don’t forget, sin separates, love brings together. The last thing you want to do is dishonor your God or chase away the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life. Being a committed Christian is a lifestyle. It is an everyday thing to choose to love your neighbor as yourself, to honor God with your first fruits, to put on the garment of praise. It is not religion, it is reality. Remember you can protect, keep, and guard your heart by not allowing yourself to be exposed to junk. What you watch, what you listen to, where you go, and what you expose yourself to can all affect what you believe. Although my parents were not raised in committed Christian homes, they had turned to Jesus as newlyweds and raised us with every opportunity to know Jesus. They are the best! When I was at University, I compromised how I was raised. With school friends, I went to see many action and adventure movies that were filled with foul language and a lot of violence. It seemed like every movie had to have some type sex scene, and although I did not mimic that sin, I found myself starting to think that it was okay to have sex outside the marriage commitment. I finally realized that the world’s morality was poisoning me and if I would have followed these new “morals”, I would have gotten in a lot of trouble and derailed God’s plan for my life. Sin will derail you, righteousness will accelerate you and your life mission. Here in 2 Thessalonians we see that God can be glorified in us. His name is lifted up when people get healed, when you help a neighbor, and especially when someone repents and turns to Jesus. What you do can glorify God. But, you can also get Christians labeled as religious bigots or hypocrites. Have you ever started to share what Jesus is doing in your life with someone and see that person with a spiritual wall? These walls block them from coming into the Way, the Kingdom of God. If you ask them, you’ll see it is usually because someone who said they were a “Christian” told them one thing and did something different. Just always remember who you are! Look to the Word and you will always know who that is. I love 1 Peter 2:9 that says,
9	“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” NKJV Make His name famous by what you do and what you say today!

Jun29

The Bill Is Paid- Freely Given

Matt 10:8
8	Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. NKJV* As a kid, I had to pick strawberries or do some type of summer job to be able to buy school clothes and school supplies each September. My parents fed me but there was a lot I had to do myself. (They had four birth children and three adopted girls from Korea). It was a great way to learn the value of money and the work behind earning it. When we purchased items, we would measure the value of that shirt, jeans, or whatever based on how many boxes (we would say “flats”) of berries we would have to pick to buy that item. “That extra pair of jeans is three flats” the kids would tease each other when we were shopping. My wife’s parents also didn’t come from such an easy life. My Japanese father started working in Tokyo when he was 14 so that he could send money back to the countryside in Ibaragi prefecture where his family had a farm. His wife was from the Southern island of Kyushu and from all we can see, was orphaned at a very young age. My wife’s parents also worked very hard but as they only had two children, they paid for everything for their kids growing up. They worked very hard and were away from home almost every day. Upon completion of my university studies in Seattle, my wife and I immediately moved to Japan so I could become fluent. We left with 5 suitcases... and that was pretty much everything we had. As newly weds in Japan, of course we had to work as well. (If you want to eat well, you have to work well). However, the in-laws have been an extreme blessing to us in many ways. Whenever we went out to eat, they would never allow me to treat them or even just pay for my family. They always treated us. The bill was always paid and I have never felt comfortable just receiving only. I have found other ways to give back to them because I love and appreciate them and I want to be a blessing. King Jesus demonstrated many signs and wonders when He was on this earth. He taught people the Word, He healed the sick, He raised the dead, He changed the weather, He discerned the hearts of people that came to Him, and He did many other things that are recorded in the Word. However, the most important thing He did was that He died for you and I to make us right again before the Father. He died to take us back to that unfettered relationship we had with God in the garden of Eden. We must remember this. He paid the price by dying and resurrecting back to life for us. He has already paid the bill. That doesn’t mean that you are not just to sit there and get fat. You are to share what He won for us. That is why He said freely paid the bill for us. Romans 8:31-32 says,
31	What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? NKJV We are to freely give. We’ve got to do our part. What are we to do? In Matthew 10:8 King Jesus makes it very clear. We are to pray for the sick, we are to cleanse the leper through healing prayer, we are to raise the dead, we are to cast out demons. Wow! How many believers are doing this? As I read and reread Matthew 10:8, I see one common element. It is faith. All these things we do by faith. When you see someone suffering under the control of a demon that wants help, you should help them. At the powerful Name of Jesus those demons are going to flee. I have seen it many times. When you see a brother or sister needing healing, pray for them. As God blesses you financially, be a blessing to others financially. Freely you have received from Him, freely pass it on. When you step out in faith in these areas that is when things start to happen. “Silver and gold I have none, but what I have I will give to you. In the Name of Jesus stand up!” is what believers in Acts said as they put their faith in action in the books of Acts and saw their faith and God’s power heal the disabled man at the gates of the temple in Jerusalem.. Hallelujah! The world is going to be a very different place with people like you and I of strong faith sharing the power of the Gospel and the Name of Jesus with others!

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. NKJV

If you look at any developing country, you see an element of people in that society that seem to think that education will save the society. They think that if more and more people get educated, they will save that society from poverty and hardship. My Filipino friends have told me about many of their senators, presidents and other politicians that have gone and got education and returned to the Philippines. They say these people have some of the best education going to the Ivy league schools and being trained right along with future president of nations with 1st world economies. However, even though these people get the best education and exposure possible, they still go back to their home country and end up practicing corruption and graft.

These highly educated people go back to their own countries and instead of using their education to help, many apparently focus on more self serving activities. Why? Education and actually doing the right thing are two different topics.

Communism has failed in the world, socialism instead of being a society of equals becomes more of an oligarchy (rule by a choice few). We see the same thing happen around the world. We know that people in the world are self-seeking and that we should not be like them as believers. Years ago, the president of one African nation was educated in the ‘free’ West only to come back to become a tyrant in his country. He was later arrested for crimes against humanity and sent to trial in Europe. I don’t know about his guilt or innocence, however I do know one thing. We live in a world of blinded people.

Hope and change cannot come through a political figure, and true peace cannot truly come through a treaty. It all comes down to the hearts of people. I do know that life gets better for us when we are in a land where justice prevails but these types of countries are limited in number and far from perfect. The only true hope, peace, and justice can come through the Word of God and God’s principles. Everything else is just a corrupted copy.

We have learned from the Word that the enemy is a hoard of demons who want to blind people. Their goal is to keep people out of God’s Kingdom and make sure that they are eternally separated by being condemned to hell with them. Once your human spirit departs from your body, a human has no chance (except by God’s grace) to repent and turn to Jesus. If a demon cannot make you physically blind like one did to the man in Matthew 12:22, they want to blind you spiritually.

Much of the world is getting more educated, and the ‘smarter’ society seems to think it is, the less visible the enemy seems to be. People think they are such experts but they really don’t understand that there are scales on their eyes that blind them. If you go to a less developed nation, you will see that the enemy is still doing the same things and much more covertly.

As I have been praying for these types of spiritually blind “experts”, I break the blinding power of the enemy on them and ask the Holy Spirit to convict their hearts (notice I don’t pray for condemnation but conviction) so that they will see the light of the Gospel. I also pray that God will put people that love Jesus across their paths so that wherever they go, that person I prayed for is going to hear about Jesus. If not through me, it will be someone like you or I that has a passion for the lost and knows God’s signs and wonders.

Do you know a person like this? A person who thinks they know it all but really is just spiritually blind? Pray for them today and watch the Holy Spirit begin to move in their lives. Your prayer alone can change them, so imagine what could happen if you pray for them at your church prayer meeting!

Jul1

Learning To Abound In Grace

2 Corinthians 8:7

But as you abound in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us — see that you abound in this grace also. NKJV

When I started yearning for more of God in the 1990s I discovered faith and the power of the Word. I discovered that there was no reason to ever be sick and for 7 years I never got sick. I don’t really know what I was thinking, but I began to slowly think that health, healing, and prosperity were just something that automatically came if you generally knew the Word. I discovered I was dead wrong. Just as you have to daily feed your body food to keep it alive, you have to daily feed your spirit spiritual food for it to stay alive and thrive!

I was working very hard. Working long hours at the company and beginning to think I was some hotshot chief executive officer (CEO) now. One night I was driving home very late from a dinner meeting of CEOs in central Tokyo, when I noticed my throat was really starting to hurt. I prayed in the Name of Jesus but because I wasn’t in the Word I didn’t sense the power of God as usual. You see, I had eaten after my daughter that had the mumps a few days earlier. I was under attack of sickness. My spirit was spiritually starving so there was no word for my soul (my mind, will, and emotions) to feed on in the time of need.

The next morning I woke up in incredible pain. I knew I couldn’t just stay at home by myself in that condition. My wife was not around so I had to call a taxi to go to the hospital. I was hospitalized for a week with intravenous needles in my arm pumping fluids and antibiotics into me. Some people came to visit me, it was such a blessing. (If you know people in the hospital, go visit them and pray the prayer of faith over them. God will raise them up through your faith. They will also be encouraged).

One person was not such a blessing. This person I wished would have never showed up at the hospital. They came and said, “If you are such a faith man then you should not be in the hospital”. They asked what was wrong with me and why I was sick in the first place. They said so much more that I care not to remember. It was so mean and discouraging to me. A few hours after that experience, I remember going to a pay phone in the hallway of the hospital to call and talk to my parents in the US and really being encouraged by them. Praise God for parents who love Jesus! After a week in the hospital and thanks to the prayers of many, I recovered from that sickness and was released.

As I look back at that situation, I praise God for His grace over me. I had learned to abound in faith, healing, and prosperity. However, I had taken it for granted and just thought I would be well even without doing my part. (It is like expecting to live a long life and not exercising your body (physically) and your soul (mentally), your body will die soon with that kind of thinking). I got sick because I was spiritually weak.

You must abound in faith, in what you say, in what you know, and in your love for others. You’ve got to be diligent about doing this. When I think abound, I think bouncing around because you are so full, so full of His presence. However, the last part of 2 Corinthians 8:7 talks about abounding in grace.

Of course, I forgive the condemning words of that hospital visitor, but I do not forget lest I do the same thing to someone else. Grace is exactly what that person needed to do for the guy in the hospital, they needed to abound in grace and not harsh words. They needed to show grace to others when they needed encouragement not rip them down. If you want grace, you need to give it to others and when you need it, it will come back to you. If you want love, you need to show that to others. If you have spoken harsh words to someone, go to them and ask their forgiveness. You’ve got to do it. Show His love in you.

Abound in grace today and watch the world around you change!

Jul2

Why Givers Never Lose Their Joy

2 Corinthians 9:6-7
6	But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. NKJV Did you know that if you are 40 years old you are one third through your life? That’s right, if we go by our Biblical promise we can get 120 years out of our bodies. Of course, we have to eat natural foods and exercise our body 3 or more times a week. But we can go long, and we can go strong. Did you know God is our perfect example of a giver? When I started to really search the Bible I realized that being a believer is all about giving. Our God is the perfect example of a giver. Just check out the fundamental for the Messiah’s coming, John 3:16 says, “...for God so loved the world, that He gave....” God is the first giver; because He gave we can give. If you think about it, we are here for a limited time on the earth. Everything we have will eventually go to someone else. We all work for money. We don’t work because we love our governments or our politicians. I don’t know too many people who like to pay taxes. However, King Jesus said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” meaning pay the taxes that are due otherwise, you will have to pay the price later. It costs to live on this earth. Another thing to remember is that Jesus said that the enemy is a thief. And you know what the enemy wants to do... kill, steal, and destroy you and whatever you’ve got (John 10:10). The enemy are also huge liars. You thought that friend in back in junior high school had a lying problem, those demons are even worse. They try to manipulate people to do their bidding. Seductive spirits, lying spirits, thieving spirits, sexual spirits, deceptive spirits, violent spirits, the list goes on. But a common thing that happens to us is we’ve all been ripped off. You’ve heard about my experience with my car being broken into during my undergraduate work at University. But you know, I am careful, but I am no longer that concerned about losing things because I discovered that if you take from me, there is a price to be paid. Of course, I protect what I have but ultimately God is my provider. One day I was listening to a preacher from Texas and I got turned on to Proverbs 6:31 which says,
31	Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house. NKJV Here, it talks about catching a thief. I realized whether this is talking about a human thief or the enemy behind them, ultimately it is the enemy. If the enemy rips me off, then I am going to demand a seven-fold return. That’s right, if someone steals $100 then spiritually I am going to expect $700 back. However, I have noticed that I have to keep my joy and can’t get all up set or out of control about it. If I get ripped off at the department store by the clerk not giving my full change back, of course, I am going to go back and let them know. If they do not return my money, I am going to keep my joy and tell the enemy and thank God for my seven fold return. If you check out Exodus 22: 1-9 you will see when you catch a thief there is a heavy price to pay with varying penalties for varying crimes. The Law Of Retribution is clear there, there is a price to be paid. When I first heard about Proverbs 6:31, I realized that there is no reason for me to lose my joy about losing anything. Give the situation to God and the enemy will have to pay back. Next time you lose something just expect your seven-fold return and don’t fret a bit. Just watch, wait, and keep expecting until you get it. Once it comes, be sure to glorify God with your first fruits and watch Him bless you more and more as you do His will. We must never forget that God loves a cheerful giver. Frankly, the more you give in life, the more you get. We don’t give to get, we just love to give. Why? Certainly because He first gave to us. A great prayer for today. Father I thank you and praise you for the life in me. Right now I repent for any bad choices I have made over the years. Please forgive me. I pray your glory in me will be greater in my latter years than my former. I command everything that has be taken or stolen from me to be restored in the mighty Name of Jesus. The thief is a liar and I command right now a seven fold return of everything that was taken from me. Father, I thank you for your anointing on me and your abundant blessings. I keep my joy because your joy is my daily strength. In the powerful Name of Jesus, Amen! Also see Joel 2:23-26.

Jul3

Who You Associate With

2 Cor 6:14

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? NKJV

The Word of God commands us not to marry unbelievers. If you love Jesus and you marry someone who doesn’t love Him, you are just asking for trouble. Have you heard of ‘missionary dating’? This is when a believer is dating unbelievers because they think they are going to save that person. If you have ever helped in the leadership of a church, through your career (and depending on where you minister) you will likely see hundreds of people who have compromised. They missionary dated and got attached to some unbeliever. Then they got married and these are the people you meet, people who are married to someone who is not a part of the Kingdom. These people have the hardest time.

Most of the time, these people are women, who dated some guy hoping that he would come around. He didn’t but then they got attached emotionally to that person. Somehow they thought “After we get married, I bet he will become more open to repenting and turning to Jesus”. They got married and nothing changed. In one case, I saw a western guy who married a Japanese woman when he was back-slider from God. After marriage he got turned on to Jesus again and his wife went even farther away from Jesus and at that point started actually verbally abusing him constantly for being a follower of Jesus. This is not the type of thing you want to come home too.

You see after making a decision to follow Jesus, marriage is probably the most important decision you have to make after deciding to follow Jesus. You pick the wrong spouse, you are going to be in trouble. When you pick the right one, you can stand together. This verse in 2 Corinthians 6:14 is very graphic. It says don’t be ‘unequally yoked’. When our generation thinks of yokes, we think of eggs. But until the invention of motorized vehicles, people were pulled around by animals; horses, oxen, donkey, mules, and other large animals. (You thought carbon monoxide from cars is bad, I am sure the ‘exhaust’ from these animals must have been foul smelling on the roads in the old days).

If you needed to pull something heavier in your wagon, you would yoke (a yoke is one large piece of wood they would put on the necks of two animals so that they could pull together) two animals together. This way you get more power and could do more.

When you are married to an unbeliever, it is like riding a two seater bicycle. The unbelieving spouse becomes extra weight on the back of the bicycle because they are not pedaling and in many cases may be actually breaking. When you marry a believer, it is like two people on this bicycle flowing together. They can move faster, go farther, and do it for a longer amount of time. One can compensate by riding harder if the other is unable to. They support each other.

Marriage is a beautiful thing. Don’t get married just because you’re getting older and still single, the person is rich, you’re lonely, or any other reason. Marry because you love that member of the opposite sex and want to spend the rest of your life with them. Most importantly marry someone who has a passion for Jesus. The husband and wife working together can go farther, faster, and much longer in life.

Jul4

Your Faith Access Credentials

2 Cor 5:7-8
7	For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. NKJV As a man or a woman of God who has just turned to Jesus, a very difficult thing to do is to walk by faith. Somewhere somebody got the idea that quitting your job and hoping that food to feed your family would magically appear on you doorstep was faith. No, walking by faith is not throwing everything out the window and hoping for the best. God will use whatever you got. By faith, God enhances your giftings, your talents, and your resources so you can do more, go farther, and impact the world for the Kingdom. Hallelujah! King Jesus had 12 people He poured His life into. He taught them the Word, He taught them to love like God, and He brought them a direct connection to the heavenly Father. He taught them so that they could go out and spread the Word and affect others. Their faith grew as they heard the Word and saw the signs and wonders that followed. You and I were not there, but we have incredible documentation and first hand testimony of His goodness from the people who were. Jesus’ friends were able to see these great things in front of their eyes. I’ve heard people say they wish they were living in the times of Jesus so they could have seen all this. Of course, I would have loved to see the great faith of King Jesus in action (but I would certainly miss plumbing for bathing, cooking and rest room). Oh, those signs and wonders would have been great to see, but I am thankful for the time period He put me into. He put you and I here for a reason. He was thinking about us as well. Did you know that even though you weren’t there, Jesus talked about you too? In John 20:29 we read,
29	Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." ESV Hallelujah! If you believe, you are blessed even more because you were not there. We are blessed because we believed in Him even though we have not seen Him. Faith is all about believing, faith is about living for Him and faith is about watching your dreams come true. Remember that you are only here for a time. Don’t waste your life away. In 2 Corinthians 5:8 we see that when our spirit (and soul) leaves our body, our time is done. We go to the only perfect place there is, heaven. If you are a follower of Jesus, when you leave your body you go to be with Him as it clearly says:
8	to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Heaven is a better place. Clearly. When you repented and started following Him you gained access. That is why we can confidently say,
21	For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Phil 1:21) NKJV We need to constantly remind ourselves that we should ‘walk by faith, and not by sight’. Don’t live your day today going by what you see. Make up your mind that nothing can take your joy, make up your mind that you are blessed in whatever you do, make up your mind that you are healthy and whole, make up your mind that you are going to serve King Jesus no matter how you feel. Tell someone about Jesus today. If they are not living by faith, they will be eternally separated from the Kingdom and God’s love. If you don’t tell them, who will? For them, the Good News you have really means the difference between eternal life, or eternal death. Live by faith and don’t be afraid to tell someone they need Jesus. Tell them what He did for you. Tell them what He is doing in your life and ask the Holy Spirit do the rest. Lift up Jesus and watch what happens. In John 12:32, Jesus says what will happen,
32	And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." NKJV We’ve got to lift Him up!

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