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| Today |  | August 9 - August 15 2026 |  |
Aug9
Loving, The Difference
Romans 12:9-13 | |
| 9 | Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. NKJV Modern day acting originates from the Greeks who were the first to have theater or dramatic plays in world history. Many times, the actors and actresses on stage would use masks to show that they were a different character in the production. The word hypocrite is a word that we have brought into English that literally means an actor, like someone who puts on a mask and acts like someone else. In English, we use this word to describe people that say one thing and do the complete opposite. For example, someone who speaks out against foul language in public, but in private they curse all the time would be a hypocrite. When people start leading others, they usually start with good intentions. For some reason when you give people a stage to stand on, and a microphone to hold, they have to decide whether or not they are going to be real both on and off the stage or not. Whether it be an entertainer, a pastor, a worship leader, an athlete, a musician, whatever... when you get in front of people you have to decide are you going to be real or are you going to be an actor. Many people who act on films, television, and the internet are very different on camera to who they are off camera. Many are not followers of Jesus; and therein begins the problem. They are many times rich in life, but very poor on the personal side. They turn to substance abuse, sexual activity outside of marriage, or even can’t keep the marriages they have together. They are so lonely. Why? They are so busy acting for a living that they likely lose track of who they really are. However, as a believer, you don’t have to be that way. You can have amazing relationships and so much joy you won’t even be able to explain it. Romans 12:9 encourages us to let our love towards others be real. Love really isn’t something you fall into. Love is something you must practice. Don’t just act like you care for people, really care about people and show them your love. Give them first place. When standing in line, show someone you care by letting them go before you. Let them eat first. Give others preference as you are led. When that person comes to mind, call them and see what they are up to. When the Holy Spirit reminds you about someone (when you think about them), that’s the time to pray for them. This is the way it works. You’ve got to pray. As you read this, imagine people loving others, refusing to do wrong, full of joy and helpful every day, talking about what Jesus has done for them, patient even when things don’t go their way, praying all the time, thinking about the sisters and brothers at church and making an effort to take care of them. What would that be? That would be heaven on earth! That will be you and your church family as we all practice love. That is what differentiates us from all else. The love difference. Today’s Reading- |
| 2 | Peter 1-3 |
Proverbs 7 | |
Aug10
Placing The Word
Rom 15:4 | |
| 4 | For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. NKJV In the fall of 1898 in the United States of America, a man by the name of John Nicholson took a room at a hotel at Boscobel, Wisconsin, for the night. The hotel was fully booked, so it was suggested that he share a double room with another man named of Samuel Hill. After a bit of a chat, the two discovered they were both followers of Jesus. They talked into the evening about God and retired that night to prepare to depart the next day to go about their business. They met months later at another hotel and came up with an idea to start a professional association of believers in business. For many traveling from city to city and staying in various hotels is a very lonely life. This association of believers was created and in a later meeting one of the business people suggested that they make an effort to get a Bible in every hotel room in their area. From this idea was born the important of this group called the Gideons. The famous Gideon Bibles that are distributed in local languages in 190 countries around the world was born from that suggestion. Through this group of business people started more than 100 years ago, hundreds of thousands of people have come to follow Jesus and receive the salvation through His Name. Romans 15:4 tells us that we have hope through the Word of God. Just by placing the Word of God in hotel rooms, people open the drawers of their nightstands to see Bibles in the drawers. There are a myriad of testimonies of people near taking their own lives, in deep depression, major financial difficulties, and many other situations where they thought they had no hope. Just sitting in that hotel room and reading that Bible they had found, they were changed. The received hope. Colossians 1:23 talks about the hope of the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news or the Word about Jesus and the only way of life through Him. He is the Word. The only hope we have is the hope of the Word applied in our lives changing us. So what is it that we are to believe? Romans 4:23-25 says |
| 23 | Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. NKJV Even in our imperfection, we were perfected by Jesus. It is hard to be excited and positive, when you realize how weak and imperfect you really are. If you think about all the mistakes you make, the things you’ve lost, the people you’ve offended by a stray comment, you could easily depressed. But like those business people who met in Wisconsin, when you love Jesus you get excited to talk about what Jesus has doing in your life. He is SO good and just to see how much He cares for you is amazing. I have found that the more I talk about Jesus and what He is doing in my life, the stronger my faith becomes. The more I read the Word and thank Him for His goodness throughout the day, the quicker my breakthrough comes. When you are baptized in the Spirit, you just have this contagious case of being passionately positive. Why is that? It is because you’ve place the Word, both the written Word (the Bible) and the manifest Word Jesus the Messiah high in your life. Place a Bible in your life. Carry a copy of the Word in your pocket, bag or purse. When you have idle time on a bus, train, waiting for a friend, pull it out and meditate on the promises of God. Feed your spirit a bit of the Word throughout the day and what your inner man become strong in faith and the authority of God. Today’s Reading- |
| 1 | John 1,2 |
Proverbs 8 | |
Aug11
Growing Spiritually Powerful
Rev 1:10 | |
| 10 | I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, NKJV In this world today, there are so many people that are unfulfilled or empty feeling. There are even some people who have repented and turned to Jesus. Frankly, the majority of Christians these days are not hearing God’s voice. If they heard God’s voice, they would make better decisions, live each day of their life with such purpose, and leave behind them an amazing life of signs, wonders and miracles. Even if you don’t see yourself as an evangelist leading thousands of people to Jesus in huge meetings, God wants to walk with you each day just as He did with Adam and Even in the Garden. There is so much more that we need to tap into of God’s power. In Revelations 1:10 we see that John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. What does that mean? “In the Spirit” means that he was seeing beyond the things around him with his physical eyes and was beginning to see things with his spiritual eyes. When does this type of thing happen to you? How do we get in the spirit? Let’s look at another situation and where we seem more vividly another person “in the spirit”. In Acts 10, we see Peter also saw a vision when he was in the Spirit. When you are in the Spirit, you have become less sensitive to your body and the physical and more sensitive to what is going on around you. It is interesting, the word Spirit here is pneuma, it is translated both human spirit, and Holy Spirit in the Bible based on context. We see spiritual people are people who are spiritual are those who have spirits sensitive to the Holy Spirit. |
Acts 10:9-10 | |
| 9 | The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance NKJV What happened here with Peter? He had gone to spend some quiet time with the Father. He had gone up to the rooftop of the house to pray. It was lunchtime so it was before he was going to have his meal apparently. He fell into a trance. What does that mean? As he prayed, he was able to see the spiritual things not just the physical things around him. In other words, he was in the spirit. How did he get there? He got there in prayer, and in this case it looks like he may have been fasting as well. Fasting is going without food for a time (you should never go without water). Prayer and fasting are ways to help you communicate better with Yahweh. When Peter made time to pray, that is when he saw the vision that helped him to understand that God loves all the other peoples of the earth, just as much as He loves the people of Israel. “Well, pastor, Peter and John this is just a couple examples. Is this really for me?” you may ask. Let every word be established by 2 or 3 witnesses. Here is the third witness in the Word. Paul also learned to walk ‘in the Spirit’. In 2 Corinthians 12, we see a similar situation that Paul describes. He said he (or someone he knew) was called up into the third heaven. Clearly he was relating his own experiences. |
2 Cor 12:3 | |
| 3 | And I know such a man — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows... NKJV When you see visions, they are just as real as physically seeing something. We as believers have something deeper. It is not just a physical life we live, we are to live according to the Holy Spirit. How do we get to these places? We seek Him with everything we have. We make time to praise Him, to thank Him, to fellowship with Him. This is what followers of Jesus and the way do. While Peter was waiting for lunch, he followed the example of King Jesus and went and prayed in a quiet place. A praying believer is a powerful believer. After reading this, you are convinced you want to go deeper with God. You know you must get into the spirit more and you will be changed, you will be fulfilled. Well, there are 4 things you need to keep in mind if you want to go to the next level. Here they are- 1) Be Holy- Deal with sin immediately, seek God all the time, and be thankful all the time for His goodness. 2) Don’t be afraid to deal with the enemy and cut off demonic power from your past. 3) Be focused- Not moved by any people or situations, grounded in the Word, not distracted 4) Have faith vision- Believe God for what He has promised. Believe Him for the great things that are going to happen in your life. Stand against the things that are not of God. Have you prayed today? Have you spent time with Him? You can start by just setting aside 10 minutes and going to wait on Him. That is exactly what Jesus did. He made time to fellowship with the Father. He was spiritually powerful and He wants you to be as well. Today’s Reading- |
| 1 | John 3-4 |
Proverbs 11 | |
Aug12
You Are Not Alone
1 Corinthians 10:13 | |
| 13 | No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. NKJV When you screw up, when you sin, it is so easy to feel all alone. We feel like failures and that God can never forgive us. What most of us never realize that when we sin, many times the enemy comes in and tries to make us feel even more condemned. You see the demons want you to give it up, to throw in the towel, to take your own life and end it all; or at least not be a threat to the darkness. Remember, Jesus said the enemy wants to kill, steal and destroy. Yes, you might have screwed up but there is nothing that the grace of God can’t cover by the washing and cleansing of the blood of King Jesus. “But pastor, I have such feelings to deal with on the sexual side,” you might ask. Well, I want to tell you that whatever you are dealing with is not something just you have to deal with on your own. We have all had to go through it. For husbands, sexual drive is something we all have to learn to deal with, and NOT sin. Just as the woman has the monthly menstrual cycle, so the man too has a time each month where he has a very strong sex drive and desires. Is it wrong? Absolutely not. These churches that make their leaders take vows to celibacy are in outright error. Due to this error, many people are hurt by this vow against what is natural. The Word is very clear that we should not forbid people to marry. |
1 Tim 4:2-3 | |
| 2 | speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. NKJV The street goes two ways. And of course, the wife also has desires. The point is that a husband and wife and not to keep themselves from each other but to love each other and put each other first. Marriage takes work, but it is a wonderful thing when you work on it and power of one believer is doubled. You have got to realize that whatever you are going through, it is not the first time a human has gone through that. Undoubtedly, someone else has been in the same situation. We have all had temptations to do something; to yell at someone, the punch someone, to use foul language, to look at the opposite sex with the wrong thoughts, to take something that doesn’t belong to use, to change the numbers slightly in our favor, to eat or drink more than we should... The list goes on and on. You’ve got to remember that there is nothing special about what you are going through. Many others have been through the same thing, experienced the same feelings, struggled with the same situation...and overcome by the power of Jesus. But you, as a person of strong faith must stand against the wrong and do the right thing. We have got to hold fast to our faith and our hope. |
Hebrews 10:23 | |
| 23 | Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. NKJV God is faithful, but we have to suit up and be ready for the game of life. He will take care of us, but we have to fight the good fight of faith. We can’t just sit around and take everything that happens. We’ve got to be praying, we’ve got to know the Word, we’ve got to be baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 Thess 5:24 says, |
| 24 | He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. NKJV You are not alone. Never think that you have gone through something that no one else has. Don’t feel sorry for yourself and just cave in. Don’t think that you have this ‘thorn in the flesh’ and you are under a different attack. God has given to each of us a measure of faith to overcome. Faith starts small but increases with your knowledge of the Word. Now it is time for you to increase your measure of faith! Today’s Reading- |
1 John 5 | |
Proverbs 12 | |
Aug13
Making The Choice
Rev 22:17 | |
| 17 | And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. NKJV You can whine, ball, and cry about how bad your situation is but if you aren’t following King Jesus with a passion, then I wouldn’t bet too much on you. “Ah, but Pastor that sounds so harsh” someone might say. When it comes to the things of God, Jesus was very direct. I too want to be be direct, in a loving way with people. Why do I not expect much from people who each week don’t come to church on the Lord’s Day and prayer meetings? They are clearly not hungry. When you are hungry, you go to get food don’t you? If you are eating junk then you are distracted. Many believers are on spiritual junk food. Totally distracted by their job, the internet, or even their social life not putting God first. Some people treat God like He is some Santa Claus type that you just read your wish list to and ask for presents from Him. That is not how it works. In Tokyo, we received a call from a non-Japanese guy. He was married to a Japanese woman and out of work for nearly two years. The wife was working. He emailed to say he was coming to prayer meeting Saturday that week. That Saturday morning, he came but just sat there as the rest of us prayed and waited on God. We had people kneeling, walking around, flat on their faces, praying by faith. There was the presence of God there as we sought Him. It was good to have him there but it just seemed like he was waiting there. When we finish the prayer time, we come together and share the visions, the impressions and the various other things the Holy Spirit revealed to us. We also pray for the people that God has showed us need it and pray for each others needs as guided by the Spirit. When we asked about needs, he mentioned that he was looking for a job. We prayed for him, and guess what? He got a job after two years of being out of work. However, there is a sad part to the story. He has not returned to church. He got what he wanted and did not show up again. It is a very pathetic story because obviously he was not hungry. It seems he wanted to use us for prayer to get him something from God. Once he got it, he was gone. I told one of our leaders about it as it is not a good feeling to feel taken advantage of. One of our pastors commented, “He’ll be back when he needs something, because he knows our prayers work”. We have to come to God, Jesus paid the price so that we can even do that. I felt used by a guy that only came for prayers to get something. If I felt this disappointment in this individual, can you imagine how God feels when we just come to Him with our wish list of what we want from Him? I just see Him there as we are praying saying, “Of course, I would love to give you that but I want to spend time with you. I want you to rely on me my child. Why are you so busy?” |
1 Cor 2:12 | |
| 12 | Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. NKJV Praise the Name of Jesus! We have received freedom because of what Jesus has done for us. We do need to pray for people, but the Word for today is, are you choosing God or are you choosing things? Are you looking for a genie god that grants you those three wishes or are you looking to know the Creator of the universe? The only person that can make the choice is you. Joshua summed it up well when he challenged to Israelis in Joshua 24:15, |
| 15 | And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." NKJV Who are you going to serve? There’s a saying, ‘Actions speak louder than words’. For the man or woman of faith, words reinforce our actions. Today’s Reading- |
2 John 1 | |
3 John 1 | |
Proverbs 13 | |
Aug14
You’ve Got To Clean Your Closets
Exodus 34:7 | |
| 7 | keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation." NKJV I have a desk where I keep my computer, my Bibles, a printer, and phone. It is my little command center as I prepare for worship each week, pray in the AM, research the internet, catch up on email and go about my daily business each week. I am pretty good about sorting through important items and filing them as well as trashing pamphlets, flyers, and the other items that don’t need to set around taking space. Usually, for the items I do need to think about keeping, I end up with a little stack of papers that I need to file in my desk drawer which is my ‘to sort’ stack. Once a week or so, I have to sort through the stack and put the items away to clear my desktop. Most of the time, the stack just grows as I can’t get to it each week. Behind me, when I sit at my desk, I have a closet that I store items that I don’t need to access every day. I can work better with a clear desktop as I can layout a couple Bible translations, open the lid on my notebook computer, as well as have a notebook out to take notes and organize my thoughts. If my ‘to sort’ stack becomes too tall, I will sometimes move the stack to a shelf in my closet. My closet is a great place to put things out of sight. Unfortunately, when you put things out of sight, it is easy to forget things. Why is it that we have children of parents who love Jesus with violence issues, people that can’t assimilate with the good in society, mental health issues, demonic control issues, and various other complications for believers? Why is it that some people can accept Jesus but still hear demonic voices telling them to do evil things or just discouraging them? The answer is just as we have to clean our closets physically, there is some closet cleaning that needs to be done spiritually as well. You need to ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there is sin in your life. He will do it. According to Exodus 34:7, the closets of our parents, grand-parents, great-grand-parents, and great-great-grand parents can affect us. We must deal with these curses and cut them off in the Name of Jesus. That is right. If grandma or grandpa was a prostitute, then you need to cut that curse off your family. If mom was demonically controlled, then you have to cut that off from you. If Dad practiced witchcraft, then you need to cut that off and in prayer, cover yourself with the blood of Jesus. If there was a homosexual spirit in your family, you’ve got to deal with it and get it out. If there is murder, lying or other vile spirits in your family you need to break them off. “But pastor, I accepted Jesus. Aren’t I a new creation?” Yes, your spirit is a new creation but you still have to deal with your soul area. Remember that is your mind, will, and emotions. Just as you have to forgive someone who wronged you in the past, you have to deal with other soul-related issues. Romans 12:2 tells us we have to renew our minds by the Word of God and transform our minds. You can’t just ignore your past, you have to deal with the trouble in past and cut it off in Jesus’ name. Deuteronomy 8:18-20 says, |
| 18 | "And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God. NKJV God gives us the power to get wealth. Conversely, poverty in a family can be a curse. No matter what some people do, they can’t seem to be blessed. Things just don’t seem to go well. You’ve got to deal with it, renounce it and break it off your body, your life, your finances, your family, your church, your children, and whatever else the Holy Spirit leads you to. He is speaking to you now, you need to deal with what He is telling you. Pray this prayer now- I thank you Father for your freedom and ask you Holy Spirit to reveal to me whatever I need to deal with in my life. Father in the Name of Jesus, I break the curses of my family off me right now in the powerful Name of Jesus my Messiah. I refuse to allow this curse to hold on to me. Right now, from this day forward I break the spirits of ______________ off me and will no longer give them hold of me. Today’s Reading- |
Jude 1 | |
Proverbs 14 | |
Aug15
Dealing With Demons In The Church
1 Tim 4:1 | |
| 1 | Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, NKJV Going about your day as a lost person in a big metro area can become monotonous. Get up in the AM, wash your face, eat breakfast, jump on the train (or sometimes in the car) and head off to work. Nip off to lunch at 12pm and back to the office in the afternoon. About 3PM or so many folks run and get a snack and finish work sometime after six. Head home, have dinner shower, talk to the family, and hit the hay (bed). Then wake up in the morning and do it all over again. If this is all we think about in life as a follower of Jesus and The Way, then likely we are just living in the physical world. We are forgetting that there is a spiritual world that surrounds us that is more real then the physical world that we see with our eyes. When you learn to see with your spiritual eyes, a lot will open up to you. If you want to be spiritual, you have to make the effort. James 4:8 says, |
| 8 | Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. NKJV You’ve got to draw near to God. You must make the first move. You need to clean your hands (get free from your wrongs) by the blood and forgiveness through King Jesus. When you draw near to Him, then He will respond and come near to you. Love is a choice and the Father wants you to choose to love Him. But who is this double-minded? I suppose it is open to interpretation, but to me a double minded person is someone who is always looking to the right and the left. Who is looking at God, but is also very distracted by the things of this world. “If I only work hard for now I can get that car then I’ll start going back to prayer meeting.” “Well, I give from time to time, God will still bless me even though I don’t give my full tithe.” “I’ll just do it this time and ask God to forgive me later.” These are examples of being double-minded. In the meantime, there is a spiritual world around you. There are demons, spiritual beings that are tasked with taking you down. In our church we all know their purpose is to do one or all of the following; kill, steal, and destroy. If they can’t get you through substance abuse, sexual impurity, or material things, they’ll try to pull you down by other ways. One way is through false teachers in or outside of the church. Yes, demons go to church. We’ve had a lot of them come to our church, but we see they tend to flee when you are preaching the uncompromising Word of God, demonstrating signs and wonders, and are baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit. As a follower of Jesus, you are not a robot just to do what you are told. You are a close friend of God representing Him on this earth until Jesus returns. You need to be responsible for making sure who you are listening to, supporting, and participating with. They must be people who preach God’s Word and nothing that contradicts that. If a preacher has a teaching point, there must be two or three justifications in the Word to prove that is true, otherwise it is just hot air. If you are not careful you could be enticed by people preaching their own messages that may sound like the Way but are running in the wrong direction. |
| 1 | Tim 4:1 makes it clear that there will be those who fall away because they are not faithful to the Word. That will not be you or I because we will be committed to Him. Remember these people have a seared conscience (verse 2). That means they are already misled, they don’t care about you or I. They are controlled either knowingly or (they may be) oblivious to demons. How do these people do it? If you read on in 1 Timothy, you can see. These deceived teachers tell you, you can’t do this, you can’t eat that, you shouldn’t do that or conversely you have to go there, you have to eat that, you have to do such and such. They put rules on you. These days the places you can see the same things are, people telling you to study more on spiritual warfare or demons more than necessary. You see others going way off in the spiritual dance classes, doing deep studies about that universe and aliens or other distractions that make no difference in the Kingdom of God’s Way. If you are in this type of church or under what seems to be a false teacher, pray about it as the Holy Spirit to show you. Sometimes he may tell you to go with others to talk to the false teacher, but most the time He will likely tell you to get out. Be led by the Holy Spirit. We must be diligent and we must be focused as a believer. Hebrews 10:22-23 sums it up, |
| 22 | let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. NKJV He is faithful! Hallelujah! Today’s Reading- |
Revelation 1 | |
Proverbs 15 | |
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